001foreign then would you please take the role Diana Johnson yeah David Trainor here Tina Johnson here David Smith here Craig Whiteman your Fred young my Cadence here Laurie Allen here to the agenda or any changes we need to make do we order items on the agenda no all right public input is one of two times on our agenda where a member of the public May address the board I know a number of you are here going to do that this evening there's a few things I want to make clear for that but first we do have a sign-in paper up on the podium can you please sign in when you do speak it really help us make sure we get everything correct uh please announce your name and address for the record keep your comments
002brief I will be running a timer three minutes folks I gotta be oh and trying to give the many people opportunity to speak as possible Right to that effect unless the board objects I am going to limit the number of speakers we have this evening we'll aim for between 30 and 40 minutes at most if you are satisfied with that all right and to again to help move things along as you please let's refrain from Applause or any other demonstrations out loud either way about somebody speaking okay let's just we all know how to be proper Watertown I know I can depend on you to do that all right so who would like to address again my friend Molly here is going to share some of them that's what we're going to share with you
003um my name is I live at 809 Fieldcrest Court in Watertown and I pronounce Ricky small business owners and other community members are here at the show's performance for our lgbtqia students in one that everyone who is here to support our clear community thank you we are here tonight to collaborate with you board members and administrators we know that you are all here because we want the best for all the students in lot of fun areas we also know that many folks just don't have much experience with the queer community and we know it can be really personality bucks so we would like to share a little bit of knowledge each month to help you all feel comfortable with best practicing around supporting gay and transitions online [Music] um interesting information uh Senator involves around
004the government application policy and regarding architect at nine but it's it's all centered around what we can do to make our Business Association um tonight we'd like to share a little bit about pronouns and how we can use them to recognize respects pronouns are important because we use them to infern gender identities and create same statements by referring to people on the way that there's enough to accurate any of you who has a nickname probably knows how uncomfortable it can be if someone well confuses to call you by say Tony and says if that's not your prefer name it can be really uncomfortable pronouns are very similar you're welcome um according to the Trevor Project YouTube pronouns are not respected attentive suicide at two and a half times the rate of those whose pronouns were
005always or mostly respected as respect for correct pronoun as it goes down rates at attention states that grow up I know the board is very interested in data that is very well-sided study [Music] around the country our teachers have students with someone gender ambiguous names like Chris and Pat they may also have students whose names are not completely connected to gender and mainstream cultures I have a student last year whose name is Diablo on Nebraska I have no way of knowing what gender that child was we are encouraging you to ask administrators and teachers to share their own pronouns and create space for our students to share their own respect for our queer students but also under respect for all students who all deserve to be called when they prefer please um I would like
006to end my time tonight by genuinely inviting all of you to this Saturday Park I know that many of you have heard completeness information online about pride and drag shows and the current Watertown students is the MC and will be performing interactive film as many of you attend football games and dance competitions foreign thank you all right next would like to speak next go ahead my name is I currently always say that n733 I was notified of a letter to determine that a decision was made for the basement of my middle of daughter magadi at Webster Elementary for board cabin rather than not sure where my older daughter kylan currently is a legal English program my older daughter Crown is six while Webster is a great school please be advised that the decision to separate
007my daughters and have my two different schools would cause great undue hardship for my family plus put us in a stressful situation instead of reading the whole letter I'm just going to kind of summarize um about how I was recently informed I guess that Jorge does not have sibling preferential treatment when it comes to um 4K and an enrollment I have obviously three kids I have a husband who is in the military who is about to deploy next spring it's a very hard situation and I know that I'm not the only person who acts as a single parent and separating families is very hard especially when they are six four and one and so that also leads me to believe that I could potentially have three kids at three different schools I was a former
008employee for the district I did nothing but talk about how great Watertown was I advocated for students I advocated for friends that didn't even come to the school I was proud of the adult language program I was proud of the lead program and I was proud of the special education services that were offering and it was really hard when I found out that they were so quick to pull the students away from their siblings I know that this is not I'm not the only one out there that probably is going through this and I might not be the start of other students that are going through this but I am part of the district or the board or whoever to really revised that program and keep siblings together I mean I know that there's a
009big a big push for the full day all day and I know they added an extra program at Webster but the other portion of it is that all the school times start at the same time and there's only a five minute window to get from school a to school B and it's impossible I can't leave my six-year-old outside of Shores Elementary School to try to get across to get her to Webster so it's it's a very hard hard position that's separating families puts us in that's what I got thank you we'd like to speak now nobody else that you're speaking about that anyone else anyone online hello my name is Anne Francis and um I came to talk about the LGBT books in the school um I actually live in West Dallas but I am
010very concerned about young people and the well-being of young people I grew up in a time when adults protected young people and children from harmful materials I grew up in a child when doctors did no harm as sworn and Hippocratic oh when I grew up in a public schools we were not exposed to any sexual content until the age of puberty when we were only taught basic human reproduction and the girls were going to take care of the monthly hygiene I am alarmed to see what children be exposed to in public education today show the teenagers need protection for that reason we have a law to prevent minors from buying cigarettes tobacco alcohol cough syrup spray paint and even from being tattooed to the minor yet we are both the harbor materials in our school
011library uh I believe there's a definite agenda to group young people into LGBT lifestyle this could be seen as a great increase in LGBT identifying youth a new survey of students at Browns University of Rhode Island showed a rapid increase of LGBT students from 14 in 2010 to 38 in 2023 providing evidence that the increase LGBT identification is driven by social pressure just in the Washington Examiner Financial Education Association is promoting the LGBT LGBT agenda in school they have a resource page designed to provide Educators with LGBT information tools and resources to support the LGBT agenda Abigail Schreiber who is a graduate of Yale law school and an author report the sudden severe spike in transgender identification monitor an adolescent girl in the 2010 referring to teenage girl should you be such a social contingent
012among highly anxious and depressive girl who in previous decades were with Barbara to Melania and anorexia and things like that the young people are bombarded with confusing information schools and on social media so we asked me to remove the LGBT books in the Watertown schools that contain inappropriate language sexual arousal indoctrination we've had her tragic accounts of young people who've gone through social pressure or fast track into the gender reassignment surgery now with net regret and permanent mutilation of their body they speak out such as Chloe Cole Coletta Kirchner and preaching medically is even suing her doctors start fast tracking her into sex project hormones and a double mastectomy when she she really needed help with mental health issues other extensions that had horror stories and botch surgeries we need colante back and other permanent
013harm women using and correcting one minute left please we're confusing and crossing our views but early exposure to LGBT material got created this male and female in His image that said in Genesis 21 27. but he slapped out in the face and he said he made mistakes in this gendered individual God is a plan for sex only a mistakes and signs of marriage following command God's command brings protection to individuals families and Society the Holy Bible makes it clear that that before marriage adultery and homosexual are your skin why are the schools trying to take our students farther away from God and instead of encouraging love and obedience to God like if those of these two verses Deuteronomy 30 15 and 16. they have set before me this day life and good and dead and
014evil Annette I commanding this day to love the Lord thy God to walk in his way and to keep his Commandments in his statutes in his judgment that you may live and multiply in the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whether you go the fact that all right thank you is there anyone else like to address the board at this time foreign [Music] what's happened in our culture and certainly what's happening with children today even in a beautiful small town maybe he lives Watertown but I want to go to the scriptures here from Matthew as Jesus was uh addressing to his disciples who thought they could be above one another and so that's a Time disciples came to Jesus saying who then is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven and Jesus
015called a little child to him and set him in the midst of them and he said surely I say to you unless you are converting and become as a little children and become as a little children fueled by no means enter the kingdom of heaven therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven whoever receives one a little child like this in my name receives me not only we may not become like a little child on our own self-righteousness but even in a community where children are being perverted and being silent or worse condoning it and even if a parent does that I I I I couldn't by putting that child because we are to Humble ourselves and we are created an image of God and we are all
016accountable to him unless you become as a little child humbling yourself repent of our sins and abhorred what is evil and then the cleave to what is good homosexuality and the perversion that's being brought forth today even going as far as mutilating children there's an outrage for our Creator God everyone can hear my voice we're all going to be held accountant whether you're religious or not it is it is to stand against diversion protect that she was emphasizing earlier to protect children are to know a mother and father there is no different genders women thank you there is only two genders and that child should only be receiving that from how they're made in that image it's a little boy or as a little girl and hopefully raise up uh children themselves but let not
017our culture and tell me continue to go down the tubes and have the hand of God's judgment upon us so please whoever can hear my voice they keep may God have mercy on everyone that can hear you could please sign the register yeah yeah apparently hold you know Watertown Wisconsin uh I once heard the story of a preacher who would be preaching uh against adultery and cheating all the time he's claiming this mantle against it and lo and behold um it was his Mantra Lo and beholders found that he was cheating on his wife lesson sometimes those making the loud stories about something may be the greatest perpetrators and it's guilty from what they are booming out loudly I hear this claiming of the magical of bullying and safety being brought out uh who really
018needs safety from bullying who really needs safety and safety from bullying yeah it does happen to different marginalized groups No Doubt okay I had a short conversation last year at the city council meeting with the founder of the unity group in Watertown uh which I call the disunity and the divider group uh we were all living in peace and Watertown and they're decided to be a push like this happening and quote uh this was trentangus the founder it is not he said to me it is not done enough to be tolerant you must affirm and he was talking about whatever his beliefs were lifestyles lgbtq and I said you know that's totalitarian trend and he called claimed the word Unity or Community Brewing who really needs who who needs protection from bullying and whom it's
019safety as we sit here now Illinois and California and other states are preparing the laws to charge parents with felonies or parenting their children and saying I want you to wait till 18 to make these big decisions about gender and things like that they are preparing laws to charge parents of felony California and other states are actually pursuing taking the children away from the parents taking their parental rights way and huge fines do you have time for the parents and make no mistake an answer the people claiming the bullying and the safety module right now support this stuff these laws that will felonize parents this is what we're facing our families need protection from safety and bullying here it is not only true that people in marginalized communities can be bullied the people pushing the
020pronouns most and many of them support people being felonized for not going along with it so who really needs same thing and from bullying I would compose some of those yelling the loudest right now about safe and bullying our people perpetrating these laws against parents and families who who will restore it who want the parents so look out for who's saying safely and Boeing our families parents and our children need protection from this type of bullying using the full force of the long government jail and massive fines to come against our families um good evening my name is Jim grimoire I live at 213 North Church Street Watertown Wisconsin um I don't have a prepared speech but I did feel compelled by the other speakers to come up and say something um I mean I
021look around here and I think I have something going for me that a lot of other people here don't and that's that I'm a parent of children at Penn School wanted out I think you guys have a duty to try and protect the children and to make sure that their best interest is heard and taken care of I have a daughter who's a member of the lgbtq community she deserves to feel safe at her school every single day when she goes to school she deserves to feel the same and every single person who stands up here and starts railing Biblical scripture at us and talking about bullying and things like that are the people that make my daughter cry when she comes home from school because she doesn't feel safe anymore because these people present
022some kind of world view that she doesn't adhere to that she doesn't fit into I didn't make her a member of the lgbtq community I'm married to my wife for 10 plus years now we have four children together I didn't do anything to make this happen she's just who she is and she deserves to be you know loved and cared for and that's not what she's doing in this community right now so I don't have a whole lot to say on it I just feel like somebody needs to stand up for the children and I stand up for my daughter and the other children like her who right now don't feel safe and Watertown that's really annoying orange thank you very much thank you please be sure to sign it thank you anyone else at
023this time hi my name is Diane truly I live on Division Street um regarding bullying in the lgbtq community what the the anniversary of Matthew Shepard terrible murder is right now we can ask Matthew Matthew Shepard's family album he was bullied they said when he was hung up on a fence post the only clear blush color was from his cheers when those people beat him to death and as far as grooming their term growing you either are gay or you're not gay nobody can coerce you we are not out for anybody's children we are having a family event on Saturday for eight hours in one day we are going to be reading to children how many volunteers read at their school what is wrong with reading to children to drag still is no different in
024costume than the Disney princesses and princes in Disneyland and um everybody has a different belief system and they took quick feeds down scriptures and stuff of it continues well you're not supposed to eat pork either and you're not supposed to work on Sunday all kinds of other things but um Unity is a good name a perfect name for the unity project of Watertown because gay people have always been here this is nothing new we're not going anywhere it helps if I was when I was younger I'm 61 when I was in school it would have been so much better if I would have a gay straight Alliance like the kids do now because there is suicide and there is bullying and there is all kinds of matter of just respect all we want to do
025is live together and work together where your doctors and your teachers in your Cashiers 10 of the entire human population is lgbtq and we are not going anywhere and nobody is going to say that our picnic for eight hours is wrong we are a family we are bringing our children to our picnic and you're all welcome to come and and there's going to be a lot of vendors and food and drink beverages non-alcoholic but thank you for your time and please thank her to keep the lgbtq students safe in this community thank you all right thank you my name is Jim Donahue and I guess I'm going to be the shortest speaker here I've heard various people say things and I couldn't respond and I thought I'm just going to quote one scripture verse I
026know we've heard a lot of condemnation of scripture from some of the speakers so the only thing I have to say is the Bible which I believe and is the word of God talks about better to have a millstone hung around your neck and be cast into the depths of the sea and cause a little one to send thanks sir I'm sorry if you could give your address to the record please uh my address yes I live in Greenfield okay be sure to sign in please thanks in the bank my name is Caitlin Krieger I live in Watertown um as a hairdresser of 12 years I have had a lot of children sit in my chair and when their parents are in the lobby the children [Music] um have this comfortability to open up and
027talk and so um maybe over the last five years or so I started seeing a trend in the changing conversation and um like the one lady said you either are gay or you're not but that's not the conversations that I was hearing in my chair um there are quite a few and mostly they were young girls um who felt pressured um Elementary age and they were trying to figure out if what type what what they identified as and a lot of them were just told me that they were asexual like they're not attracted to anything is how they would explain it and I just think that there is a pressure on them to know what they are and the depression that that would cause in their life and the confusion that they would walk in
028every day which just 10 15 years ago that pressure wasn't there and they didn't have to know because in elementary school you're not sexually attracted most of the time and that's maybe you have been sexually perpetrated or some or you've been exposed to something like that but to have that pressure put on these children for them to think that they're supposed to know what they're attracted to and what they identify as is a whole other layer of pressure that's put on our children it's already hard being a child we've all been a child um kids don't necessarily have it easy no matter what your skin color is where you grow up um or anything like that it's hard growing up in this world and so I think it's actually quite predatory that we push this
029on these children is there a small number of children who have these conversations in their home with their parents then that's something that they decide to do in their house but to bring this into the school district and to push this on every single child putting those bags and to put this pressure on every single administrator in the building I think is um unnecessary and I think it is as a whole um I don't think it's going to produce the positive result that some folks are hoping that it will I think it's quite divisive and um you should leave that up to the families and what they believe in and what they can preach in their own homes but I don't think that we need too much out on children thank you Katie Vander London
030at 8071 High Road water park also a parent of two children here in the school district one in middle school and one in high school um first of all it is really hard to be in school right now I mean it is hard to be an administrator but it's hard to be a teacher it is hard to be anything the world is constantly changing and we aren't sure how to answer what the right answers are and where to find the resistors and part of the reason I came here tonight was because I was concerned that there's a suggestion about banning certain books and I want to tell you about my favorite book it starts out pretty kind of crazy and it talks about these two daughters who say we need to get dead drunk and
031have sex with him to have children from him and that's exactly what they do and then it goes on to talk about a guy on a boat who takes a bunch of animals and at the very end gets drone and his father or his sons find him and cover him up because Dad shouldn't be drunk when he gets off and then it continues on about raping your sister and making sure you do your white your duty as a sister to have sex with your brother-in-law if your children need to if you need to perpetuate your line of lineage and it goes on one of my favorite stories the gentleman who sees a beautiful woman bathing on a roof and he said I want her and so she's married she's bathing because she's cleansing herself and
032not only does she send off for her he sends off for her has sex with her and then impregnates her all while she is still married so what does he do eat send the husband off to the front of war and gets him killed obviously best story ever who is that guy King David what are these scriptures out of the Holy Bible are these child appropriate stories are there things you read to your kids at night maybe we need to make sure if we're Banning things we're banning all of the tough stories out there actually kept my Bible away if I didn't want you to know what book I was reading from but some of you figured into that and I just want to read you how fair and pleasant you are a loved one
033delectable mated you are stately at the palm tree and your breasts are like clusters I say I will climb the poultry and lay hold of its branches and may your breasts be like clusters of the vine and the scent of your breath like apples and your kisses like the best wine and that goes down smoothly Gliding Over lips and to this is my favorite book I preach on it every Sunday as I serve a church in your community and these stories are challenging and hard but you know what we need to learn about things that we agree with and we disagree with we have to be open to reading about things that we approve of and we disapprove of or how will we ever learn and know and believe unless we actually have the full
034story sure I was at a conference this summer and we talked about the challenge of learning about identities and how difficult that is in a larger community and there were passionate people on all sides and as much as I disagree or agree with some or the others it's important that we know unusual size so I would for us to keep the Books open and let us read all the verses even the ones we might not be too fun good morning but I recognize yes my name is Serene Stoller I live in Watertown I'm 19 North Washington Street um I've raised eight children in this community so I am here at Adventure I've lived in the city for over 30 years I have 13 grandchildren most of them are in this community um my bottom line
035for coming here is I want our schools to teach at my our children Reading Writing arithmetic I want them to learn I want them to grow I want all children to be accepted but these the LGBT community is not just wanting to be accepted they want us to approve of them they want to push this on our children it does not belong in our schools the books that have been brought up and asked to be banned are not folks that just explain things they're books that are pornography they're books that are things that I would be embarrassed to read and that children should not have access we need to continue to continue to protect our children from these things from from anything whether it's an LGBT book whether it's a regular book if it's with
036a man and a woman having sex and the different poses and the different positions that doesn't belong in our schools doesn't belong around children they can go to the public library they can go online and they can learn let's keep our schools focus on academics you know I know enrollment is going down in Watertown and public schools role enrollment in private schools is going up I talk to different people why are you pulling your kids out why are you considering pulling your kids out and it's these situations that they say listen I love this school my kid is learning great stuff but they're learning stuff that I don't approve of stuff that should be left at home teach your kids what you believe at home believe it leave the stuff out of the schools thank
037you thank you you can please make sure to sign it yeah thank you last one please connect they run two homeless shelters Pastor two churches and I've had several people from the lgbtq community get food from my food pantry helped them when they're homeless and I've witnessed to them when they were the most Broken Heart of life and when they find Jesus Christ and I've seen it in front of my eyes a girl named Liz who came to me abused broken and battered they figure out what gender God made them and they turned to the Lord and their life has changed we need to get back to God we need to get back to the faith we need to stop pushing agendas that are hurt harmful to our kids Drake souls are terrible for the
038Youth there should never be in Watertown and I would urge the past to read about Sodom and Gomorrah don't skip that biblical story God created male and female and I love the people but I have to tell them as a pastor there's a God who can change their life and heart and change them to be what he created them to be when they're hungry we feed them when they're homeless we help them but the mental issues the Brokenness of many of these people we try to minister to their hearts so they find the Lord and they find change in their life I cannot support the lgbtq agenda it hurts our kid Drake shorts are terrible for Watertown I really would pray we don't support that lifestyle as being normal because God says it's not and
039you know what we pledge the legions to God Amen in the long run we'll stand in front of God and I have to be a pastor to say I'm not a Christian who hates them at all I'd probably do more in Watertown to help them than anyone in this room but when they come to me they're so broken confused that I show them the love of God they find Jesus and their life has changed even and they know what gender God made of thank you I appreciate everyone's comment this evening it's been exactly what I've come to expect from our good community and appreciate everyone who spoke with them there will be another time late at the end of the meeting for People's Restaurant at this time you're going to move on to the next
040portion of our agenda which is announcements and recognition Communications superintendent yeah I've got an announcement to make um I'd like to welcome two new members of our administrative team uh here for their first board meeting room tonight uh Sarah Owen Owen Hogan excuse me uh coming to us from Saint Francis and Sarah is our new director of special education and student services um as well as Jason bull coming across from the mats walk school district is our new director of Technology data yeah I will never get it right um but I appreciate what they bring to us our team is getting stronger and stronger and how we are going to help support our staff and our students and families is going to get better and better so I appreciate you two for joining us um
041and this is their first official meeting this evening thank you all right um right all right thank you so um next up um oh yes excuse me all right other other uh announcement uh Gosling uh marching band um yeah I'm here you ready for me yep excellent you can just do the slides there's only five of them I think I'm happy for you to do that did you get the yeah good evening everyone my name is Reid Laduke band director here at Watertown High School I'm really excited to talk to you tonight about an amazing opportunity that our students are going to have in the upcoming years and that is as you can see on the screen there a trip is performed at the St Patrick's Day Parade in Dublin Ireland in 2026 how do
042you go ahead so student travel in the music department has been a um a really big part of our school's tradition it's also a large part of our educational philosophy as music educator here in Watertown um and by annual Travel has been a big part of our offering so our students travel in the news Department every two years some trips are close to home very domestic Chicago Memphis other trips I have been International as recent as 2011 on our trip to excuse me 2013 our trip to Canada um so we provide these experiences for students to experience people care outside of our community outside of our state and sometimes outside of our country there are always performance focused so students have the opportunity to perform in front of different communities different audiences um and uh
043of course experience culture in in these different places so musically and of course is the culture of a city or of a country um this year's uh I shouldn't say this year's travel experience the one that I'm talking to you about tonight is uh is regarding the current or what would be the upcoming next year's 7th through 10th graders so because this is an internet an international experience we're getting on board the planning about two and a half years out as opposed to our normal one and a half year uh planning process uh tonight what I'm doing is seeking your approval permission so to speak uh to continue that planning process uh the what you can see on the screen there's a snippet from the actual application process with the festival in Dublin and uh
044that bullet point number two that's highlighted is a letter of permission to travel from the school board um just basically allowing us to continue that planning process for our students the official application is due in the next couple of months we've already sent a preliminary application um a little bit of information and that got our foot in the door and now we're looking to put all of the rest of the pieces together so as I mentioned before St Patrick's Day Parade it's also the Limerick band championship in Dublin Ireland but we'll be touring the entire country as you can see on the map there um the blue lines is our mode of travel or our direction of travel around the country and so eight days six nights for this amazing experience for our students um
045to really get an idea of as much of the country as possible um seeing all of the major uh landmarks and and tourist kind of sites beautiful Cliffs and more visiting cities like Cork and Limerick Limerick and Galloway and being a part of experiences where they're not only performing but they are also enjoying Music performed by others from around the world other High School Collegiate and professional ensembles okay a couple questions you might have I'll try to answer them before you have to ask uh the big one is cost our normal uh experiences are around one thousand to two thousand dollars this of course being International is going to cost a little bit more um all of our travel experiences are student-funded experiences and we provide opportunities for all students to participate um so we
046want to make sure that any student that wants to has the opportunity to raise funds obtain grants scholarships to be able to participate in these experiences um of course this cost includes international airfare all the transportation and lodging over there it's pretty much an all-inclusive package minus uh the cost of the student's passport and a few lunches where they'll have to pay out of pocket on their own um what's important for you to know is that like all of our travel experiences this is a zero cost experience to the school district so in in no way are we asking for the school board or the school district to fund any cost of the trip The Only Exception being uh Staffing costs for substitute teachers which is allowed under current board policy this trip would happen
047uh of course the performance is on St Patrick's Day and so uh that's not unfortunately I wanted with our spring break during the year of 2026 so students would be missing a handful of days from school um further eliminating any Financial Risk to the district is the use of an individual payment system that's the IPS all of the travel companies nowadays uh unlike when I started here in Watertown in 2007 all of the travel companies now have their own individual payment systems that run through a third party so none of the financials are handled by the district students are paying with travel companies separately they have a student defaults on that payment it does not have any impact on the school district whatsoever and then of course insurance is optional for families and we provide
048them different Insurance options and packages to choose from um to ensure their their students experience any questions board members questions um I can appreciate why we have to put this application in early because they obviously don't want to start a conversation or a commitment to us without us having approval by the board correct and I know that the board has to approve the international trips but I'd be willing to bet that we rarely ever approve them three years in advance is that is that is there a way it's at least been two years in advance preview okay that's what I wanted to verify is that if we if there's going to be a resolution or an approval for this is that are we all going to remember that we approved it three years from now
049when they say okay see you later it's just it's it's it's awfully parallel in advance but I can appreciate why you're asking is because it's required to continue the process of it of setting this up to go it's not unusual and of course we will have the documentation and so if anybody ever wondered why you'd be able to write that yeah and and and pending our successful application and approval I would be happy to come back and and go through a secondary process if necessary typically for the um the programs that uh history appear in the high school that they took two years in advance okay um and there was some instances there with covid that that might have stretched out so it is this is normal but this isn't too far I've noticed okay
050because it takes that long to get people with the opportunity to raise money for it so yeah all right any other questions on this is it's like a great opportunity I'm very excited um in the absence of a formal resolution I will take a motion from the board to approve application motion second moved by Fred seconded by Mike comments or questions on the motion is it so are we saying it is under that application or this is a part Bunch go do it um they need permission from the board to be able to say yes we're allowing you to do this travel and so you're in essence approving the trip yeah yeah that application yep okay all right all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed motion carries thank you very much come
051back with photos I will be starting it's a great opportunity for our community as well thank you very much [Music] all right do we have any other items under enough recognition all right then we'll move on to strategic discussion and our first is our update from on seclusion and restraint looking at Tyler all right so good evening yes this is the collusion and restraint information for the 2223 school year uh done once a year typically in July here in Watertown Tyler so just a brief overview of what is physical restraint and what is considered seclusion uh and you can go through some of those as you as you read um again only used when a student's Behavior presents a clear present and imminent risk to the physical safety of the student themselves or others must
052only be done in the least restrictive intervention feasible all staff using seclusion or restraint must be NBCI trained and certified and a written report availability must be notified to the parents regarding that there is a written report no later than one business day should that be available to our our families next one Tyler this is the nvci non-violent Crisis Intervention that we use here in the Watertown Unified School District from CPI and there's some Trend data for you um from 2016 all the way to 2023 I'd like to pull your attention down to the bottom of 22 23. the number of trained Staff last year was a full number of 122 out of that staff there were 53 new staff members that were trained 24 recertifying and of those 76 for teachers 34 repairas 12
053were administrators and those were done over one full day and four half day trainings thanks the statistics for last year um are as such and it has changed from the year of previous I've laid out from 4K all the way through to the individual buildings and then I did put the alternative placements on the far hand side the number of seclusions has been stable compared comparatively the number of restraints has gone up in one location which was different than last year specifically it had gone up in Webster and then the alternative placements you'll see that there are 81 restraints that were done on four students that are placed in alternative placements still our students but receiving schooling in a different location do you have any questions about those numbers for me right now I didn't
054know what there was so this is a pretty comparative comparable to last year is is there I mean not not that you know for tonight or whatever but like as yeah throw our data um and things like that um you know as far as like over the years you know like how those numbers you know compare and you know things like that would be nice to see absolutely so obviously we do an excellent job training and preparing for this and having a process that it should go through but just knowing enough about situations like this they may not always go uh execute you know as trained and and so forth where does any of that data where would that show up if if somebody that wasn't trained had to had to be involved if somebody
055that was trained didn't follow the process to the T and and there great great question within the seclusion and restraint form that needs to be filled out after every seclusion or restraint incident it does make you list the people that were involved um it actually goes through so in depth that you would be able to understand what was the antecedent what was going on during the Restraint of seclusion and how did it de-escalate and it lists every single staff member that had any parts to play now again I I am a very hands-off person and that is what I'm going to be talking about entire department about because we want to make sure that our children yes are safe but we also want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to prevent
056a situation such as it sometimes it occurs and we need to make sure that all of our students and our staff members are very safe but only only trained and certified NBCI staff members which typically are the special education department members are allowed to conduct any sort of seclusion or restraint on any child but again the message will be Hands-On and Sarah don't like I taught in a different District yep typically the district that I lived in if there was a situation like this there is a code you you call you you get help it's pretty private overall but when you get that code the people that are trained to come and help so rarely is there someone in phone that's not trained because there's enough scattered within the building to do that so is
057that that is very similar here right yeah I'm still trying to try and learn a little bit about this sort of thing and I'm you know I'm noticing you know 81 um number of restraints and alternative placements any yet previously we talked a lot about um like the least restrictive environment um in this particular case um how do we know that that's like the least restrictive environment or if that's the best place for them and I obviously don't have much say over some of that stuff but um so are you talking about alternative placements being the least restrictive environment right because any one restraints I don't know I mean is that really helping these kids so there's and there is a great question about that and that's there's a caveat to that when our students
058need more programming support than we can afford um not money-wise meaning that we could we're not um we're not aligned with their specific needs at in that moment and the IEP team has decided with parents consent with parents approval that an alternative placement is the best place for that child to receive support and services um and it is the least restrictive environment for that child at that time then it it makes some sense sometimes when I took a look at the number of restraints and seclusions which exclusions aren't a lot that number specifically is coming out of two of our alternative placements there is one alternative placement that had zero for bold areas because they stated they were a very trauma-informed school they do things vastly different um but that number comes out of two
059of our locations and it is quite High um I didn't expect to see it at 81 but I also need to make sure that we're training and working in collaboration with our alternative placements I know that they are very well trained but again I'm a very hands-off person and I believe that that's what keeps our children with their dignity and making sure that they're safe in their own right using preventative measures that's a that's a high number for four kids for me so a lot of that is collaboration and training with those teams from those alternative placements which again are not least restrictive environment in general but when it comes to a student's need sometimes it might be at least restrictive environment based on that team's assessment I appreciate that thank you yeah yeah correct
060that question the name of this question and we took seclusion yes good student are we removing the students in the classroom or are we clearing the classroom that's a great question typically a seclusion really can you go back to the other slide for a second a seclusion is when you're not allowing a student to leave an environment there we go so under con under uh seclusion it really is the confinement of a student apart from other students in a rumor area from which they are physically prevented from leaving typically we don't do that in a classroom setting we would end up clearing a classroom if a student is being unsafe not only for the safety of themselves but the safety of the other students but also to to keep their dignity we don't want other
061children seeing somebody you know having a little bit of a meltdown usually we're able to move that student to into another location typically on their own accord where they can then de-escalate calm down and we're able to process through some of that information so typically it's a different setting than a regular education classroom or a special education classroom thank you yeah the last line just next steps in the process August we have a full day training for NBCI for all new staff the recertification trainings will happen two times throughout the year those are half day trainings we will be doing legal updates with all the special education collaboration on best practices and use of seclusion and restraint and I do need to do the data submission to the DPI this fall any other comments or
062questions board members thank you very much thank you thank you welcome aboard thank you foreign next up is our Communications audit up face that's the planning committee um so we kind of have to split into different parts and things like that to be able to give everybody an update regarding that um our communication review and so um it just does a little um background information um we started this process probably at the beginning of this calendar year um with the planning committee because we realized that um we really had some communication areas that we wanted to make better um and so we had had oh gosh I'm sorry I don't know about my my accuracy here I think we have like three different companies um that we had gotten bids and information from as the
063planning committee we presented different questions and scenarios to them and then we reviewed as far as like how they responded and what would be a good fit for us um as far as who was going to be doing an in-depth review on um what currently ewsd is for communication and what their recommendations might be so from that we chose um D and D as our provider for that so they came on board and we were able to gather information from that that's what this information is yeah so what are the next steps oh yeah so we've got four slides or three slides to enlightenment met with us they ran through their uh and you can see the full report but um some no surprise on some of the results from their report inconsistent use of
064existing communication tools we have a variety of tools that are in use across the district they're being used in a variety of ways we're not using it consistently there's a lot of I'm using this this is the best in my ability and there's not communication across on that um we need to have a standard operating procedure of policies and procedures to put these in place on how to use the tools who should be using the tools when they should be using the tools and processes for that this goes into the next couple steps training we need training for all the staff on a communication role for staff they're specifically communication what we need to identify which ones have that and then have training specific for them on what are they doing how's the message who
065should be sharing those messages um branding brand recognition we don't do that well we need to work more on that and more on especially when it comes to the website more on who we are what are what is our brand we have a lot of mixed messages that we're putting out as a district um and then parent Community engagement we wanted to look at this their recommendation is to do this as a campaign and you'll see this in the recommendations but there's a multi-step process after this and this would be part of that um part of this too was that they were looking at the website um they kind of did a high level review of the website they're again this message is mixed to use how do we use the website what is the
066purpose of it question so those nature came up um and so that's where a lot of the more focused ideas forward in the next slide and then just kind of by note we talked about two um as far as they did um you know they did the audit as far as what the district looks like you know from that side and and those reviews the website communication to parents um but part of that from the um like HR side of it you know another element of this could be really taking a look as far as what is our communication to staff and what does that look like um but that wasn't the scope necessarily of the Deep dive right now next slide So based on the results um we've kind of broke down to three
067goals that were recommended um based on the audits so first establishing a set of communication tools and processes like you kind of just talked about what uh the goal would be to have that by the end of the first semester of 2023 2024 school year um especially until current families will all know how the communication is going to be um there for them to retrieve any information um the school and the district levels also to higher communication Specialists Define obviously so that we can have a specialist strategize Implement evaluate um the school district communication plan and to try to have that by October 2023. as Fred mentioned that family community engagement that campaign is going to need a team to be able to do that and so as you saw we also recommend it just
068as DND recommended the communication specialist we've tried as a district to do things internally throughout um to no avail and same with this family community engagement campaign to have someone who knows what they're doing lead this in order to get the best results we did not look from a fiscal part of any of this this was mainly we took this 30 or 40 page document whatever here are all the different things they found here are the recommendations and we discussed as a group what those recommendations were and then decided to bring back forward to the board for discussion this is there um the last piece with that family engagement parent engagement that's going to take work is going to take people um so that's kind of however I don't Jared you're taking the leader helmet
069whoever that goes to with them um but that engagement piece was part of our board discussion at one point as a necessity um and when they did the audit they recognized that but they wanted to scope it out to community um it's more than just the parents and the family um so they've heard that very much about it and their involent everywhere Festival questions overall based on the audit the goals or playing anything um first of all both the summary as well is the attached more DBL report very good um what I didn't see and maybe you guys did specifically talk about it maybe you didn't I look at this as being more the proactive thing the things that we can control the websites the SOP the training uh when to communicate where parents can
070get it what part did this uh study this audit or their suggestions regarding our reactive when there's a safety issue when there's a school closure when there is something that didn't happen the way we expected that tends to be where we get a lot of information coming over the Airways that we should have known we should have been communicated we didn't get the text the phone didn't work is it was that in scope do we are we training building supervisors and admins to know when to talk to the Press when not to talk to the Press when do parents get called when you know when is it appropriate what's the timeline that parents should expect to notice in the event that police had to be in a site this is all something that I the
071website the Sops the dissimilar systems absolutely positively necessary what about when those situations where we didn't expect them is this in scope this speaks to the communication profession we need some limited into bring all of that together and build those products okay for for being reactive it's laying out policies and procedures for all of those taking a look at getting inventory of all the tools we're using who's using them making sure we have the training and stuff I need someone to bring that all together okay and that's what you would expect I mean that's that's where they would that's where they'd really lead in and uh that person is going to want to go tell us not only these are the people who talk to the Press but this is what they should be saying
072right yeah or yeah or advice obviously parent communication is probably the priority in that situation because we typically find out that they feel like they weren't they didn't know enough yeah um so I guess if someone can try to clear up clear up some Community um confusion here it's this higher communication specialist and you know I thought we did that when we wanted the contract um is this an individual that we would add to our staff then is that what I'm under trying to understand because um resolution uh 9175 says that we would approve a one-year contract or communication services with the indeed through the communication Services I saw it there's the article that was that's not it was not the have somebody sitting here running our Communications right okay so so that's a piece
073of puzzle that they've identified that were that we need to put on staff that's one of their recommendations going forward to be able to accomplish what they recommend okay so yeah good question no I was just going to piggyback okay um so I mean everything that was uncovered here I don't think shocked me at all it was pretty much on on point the one question that I'd have is I think you were saying you know we've kind of Pride things to no avail around this what does this specialist where does it reside is it marketing focused is it an administrative assistant person there's keeping and doing the tasks is it I.T related because it's it's website and its phone systems and its emails and it's I.T is it you know more of a Communications writer
074PR kind of a person what I I I'm worried that we'll still say well this is the person and they gotta have they're going to be a gatekeeper of this in a lot of ways and saying Brad you sent that email out and it wasn't on brand let me show you how to do it on brand next time I guess again yeah so um typically and and this is what we're looking at when d d recommends this um you can recall that DNA themselves um who will work there many of them have worked in school districts and have been this kind of this kind of person but it's encompassing everything that you say I mean you did a really good job of talking about the job description in general yeah yeah yeah yes and I
075do believe yesterday and yes some more um here's the thing we did hire DND to come up um and do an audit for us and then to create a plan for us to do better um top priority on their list is not only are we going to do a plan but you should think of somebody to have us work with in lieu of a group that you put together from the administration we should have somebody that does this for a living that knows that um so that when we talk to them and we talk about how to implement better procedures they're the ones who can be on staff and work that through with the rest of the administration as well as our staff so that way their plan for us is received most effectively in
076lieu of that it will be Administration figuring out who already on the administrative team is going to be that going to person to try to best implement the practices that they're asking us to implement and I will tell you that none of my administrators are are trained in that kind of depth we're training to handle situations but a lot of times we we look to those people to help us through that okay and other comments or questions on the presentation let me just make it comment on the pirated it individual is when you have someone that's their job and I I think that's famous like that 100 of the focus is on this you from bringing an ID and in communication and writing the press release and then underpresentative Focus we have not had that
077and I think that is part of the downfall um as an example we went out and we're talking about the website and they said well why do we have this website I can why do we have apps when I can get the website on my phone they do this and this I go to download the app and it says if it doesn't work on my phone because for an older version of Android we don't have someone who has that Focus to know we need to make sure these things are updated that's I think is part of what that Gap that I personally that would show for us is focus so where's the work and what's next well um you have a number of uh recommendations up there that are coming from the planning committee that
078are based on an audit from DND who did that audit for us that we paid for DND is also prepared a plan for us um a plan that is going to take a number of steps and if we do not follow through on recognition recommendation number two to hire our communication specialist then I need to make sure that I gather our administrative team and and have a good discussion about how and where and who will be the point person on this plan help get us better without that communication specialist um if the board decides to accept that recommendation to higher in communication Specialists then we need to go about hiring somebody and trying to get them on board no later than October so that we can be effective in our timeline within our Communications plan
079that was developed by DND for this next year and that timeline plan is located in that long document very specific so for Authority the planning committee is asking the board to approve the communication specialist this is a full-time position it's not a full-time position works for class so I I would say this um realizing that today is set aside for us to go through the recommendations with you um you heard that we haven't developed a fiscal plan for this yet we don't have a complete job description I would like to take a little bit of time to have that process happen through not only our fiscal department but also our HR department to bring you back a solid plan as to if you're interested in moving forward with that that's where I wouldn't direct the
080work next okay I think it would be good if at all possible to do you have to say here is here's kind of this idea plan this is what this looks like in an Ideal World and hey if it can't be ideal here's here's the next best and what that looks like contractor options part-time options what you know training options I mean some of this yeah some of my concern is like a long list of things it doesn't mean that everything that Jared does and everything that Brad does as a principal and Josh is it gets to just be dumped to this person because that that won't work either it's got to be a team effort around it so I'm I'm a little concerned about this operationally the like hey you you've had this person
081and then it becomes great I got this person or or is it better just to have a team and say you're the leader of that well if you look at the communication plan you'll see that that is a plan to improve all of us um it's just the recommendation being having somebody who is trained and does that work being part of our team will be a better production of that plan than a lay person who does do communication I do communication all the time but I'm certainly not a trained Communications specialist I I didn't I was sorry I think the clarity you're looking for would come from the job description that He suggests and I would agree in the synergies Dave wasn't so much the piling on this person as much as it was oh
082it but what about the marketing that somebody else had mentioned they're going to be if they're going to be the champion of the brand do we yet have the marketing expert to send out the postcards and the Facebook post etc etc and to monitor that brand and to push that brand are we looking for two people and I don't know where that job description I'm not saying two people I'm saying two people in one is this an FTE is this a part-time is it a contractor is it somebody we train I I have Tony I 100 agree when you say we're going to go back and we're going to come up with a job description I just wanted to understand what was in school interpretations this is a full-time role okay and sometimes seeing all
083the things you just described yeah okay you're managing the communications you're managing the brand you're leading marketing campaigns it's not to say that we might not involve an agency in helping us with a given Mark okay right it's not a matter of everything is there to do or all of it but it's all the things we talked about and with this clearly their vision is it's a full-time person and that's what they're basing on other similar districts our size have that role this would be the person who would improved marketing if we need to engage team we go to this person they say okay this is what we need we need to go outside they're the ones that answer the questions not necessarily their game okay are we looking for a motion to move forward
084with this then are we looking just for table filled I'm looking for General consent to for the superintendent to receive the developing the description and the plan for how to pay for it and to bring that back at our August meeting then president you know there's obviously there's sometimes there's compromises on what you take on yeah so I'm we'll have a specific proposal couldn't react to your Ubuntu whether you feel better right exactly leverage the committee for this discussion Okay so our capture Ivan here is a specific job description plan to pay for it by our August 14th Larry okay all right then we'll move on to our last item of strategic discussion I'm going to introduce this one so I had two board members approach about the topic of a class at the high
085school that through the course of registration was determined by the administration to not offer face-to-face and there was request to have that reconsidered I looked at our policy and this is the one we recently adopted by 105 around class size because that was the issue here and there was a lack of clarity and I'll tell you there's a specific statement in here that says Target minimum for 6 to 12 shall be 15 exceptions to a minimum of 15 for all classes will be made by those classes required by the department of the construction independent study courses or specifically authorized by the parentheses board or the superintendent of schools n parentheses I don't think that was intentional to have an or statement in there with two different bodies mentioned um so we no matter how we
086determine this evening we have a follow-up action item for the policy committee you go back and clean that up for us and determine whose job it is but in the absence of that clarity I did not feel as appropriate for me to say oh and the board's not going to do this not going to win on this because the board's name is currently mentioned is a possibility so therefore that is why it is on the agenda here this evening I'm not saying that's the way it should always be but that's the way we're here tonight you have an explanation of the background of this topic in terms of the number of students that showed an interest and the determination by the administration made thereupon and the other options that have been offered to those students
087and it is for us this evening unless you tell me otherwise it is for us this evening to make a determination to either override that decision by Administration or not questions or comments um [Music] as an online course yes you could concur I um I will tell you that in our discussion he was going through the Staffing plan he asked for more Staffing to be available because there were some courses on the cusp like this one um and I shared with him that we had a staff neutral plan that we were bringing to the school board and that he had seven overloads that he was able to align um he then chose which seven that is a staffing discussion for he and his team I support the decision he made in that Staffing plan as
088a follow-up to that do we know what the consideration is for those seven overload courses for example is it solely numbers based or do we do we have that information like this is a classic reference to try to um try to have as many students as possible um do that but he also gave thought to where students may or may not get that kind of programming available to them through other means um and a number of other things that they go through as a team to discuss which ones they're going to try to offer and different Maps so those seven there really isn't the virtual option for those where this I can't speak to every every decision that he made within that Staffing plan I can only share with you his final recommendation this is
089the third year I believe of this track of accelerated accelerated math but I believe so we we changed the math curriculum at the middle school will allow for and right and try to get there was there was the regular map honors map or whatever it is it is this is the third third group of seniors that's my understanding of and in the last two years has LBC ran I believe so with what number they don't have any permission with me tonight thank you I'm going to caution even speaking this topic I mean factual information yeah that's fine um the numbers have been different than seven as far as back to you know I'm sorry you have been advised by Council on this as if I and then a caution against speaking in the subject okay
090however didn't speak to council do you know they hadn't received the correct information on it Tina so there's an lack of clarity and option too um where the uwa waters Math course uh it's equivalent course um and they said that it's a viable in-person option uh we expected students to travel to Whitewater going forward that course that's the choice that they would have to make if that's and so if that course is offered at is this an evening course is this during the day yeah it's if you uh were to click on the link there um it is offered uh during the day students would miss a considerable amount of the first part of each day in order to have this course in your schedule which is a a large reason why um that's what
091her is recommending that we direct students towards the AP Health BC course which is the same exact course um that we teach but do it in an online format so this course is it from 10 to 11. Monday Tuesday Wednesday or Monday Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday so about a half hour 45 minutes you know depending on high school you know how high school students try in Whitewater so you're asking and we're effectively asking believe it nine and then turn around and be back you're gonna miss half the day after this course I don't know if that I would consider that enough for giving students a leave for half the day the one to us whatever other courses right and um you know these are the two options and Chromebooks and we didn't explore any options
092there isn't a third option at the bottom that's an option for us to be able to do this paying an overloading the only thing that I want to be mindful of is the reason we didn't do that was a fiscal decision and if the board wants to reverse that fiscal decision the knowledge of that means that we would be equally outside of that neutral budget I would also say that it's not a large fiscal burden for us to be able to offer the reason I asked to have a policy put in place though is for us to um really consider this because there are a number of people um who could come to the board and ask for um these types of classes to run with three four sex students if we do that more
093often than not it will become a fiscal burden I think there's there's also to me it's not just a fiscal version because we're asking teachers to have the same amount of time in the day and do more yes and we're asking them to do it for a low number of students at a high level of math I know there are many of us in this group who have taken advanced math and a b calculus level stuff but haven't probably done it for decades it's not something that you just hey let's just teach this this is a piece of cake it's like it's takes a lot of effort and to me if you're gonna have that effort you're going to put it into the older world class there's going to be something that is given up
094on the rest of the world his historically would have been our position in regards to boards the boards um I don't want to use the word stepping into the boards per um deciding upon curriculum and when it's it comes to what classes are offering in my nine years on the board I have been a all but one meeting in that entire time this is the first time that the board is being asked and specifically authorize one particular class it has never happened in those nine years here is my concerned um my daughter is obviously beautiful when she was in the middle school so do the math there non-calculus first um they removed the we dropped the sewing class and there was quite an outcry about students not learning skills selling things like this um we
095have this class is basically the same situation um and it's a board if we make my concern if the board is that if we make this decision [Music] um we open the door Forest Homes had others to come here and then we as a board are going to be asked to be making decisions on what class do we give we allowed what classes we don't like um and pick and choose and I part of that I believe is that's an administrative position not a forward decision um I pick both calculus and so when you're done very good skills to have but as a board member I don't think it's my decision to be making those whether we teach them or not match and experiences Mike gray at his hand first okay that's great um I
096do I do agree with um comments that Brett is making I I do feel that um you know as long as long as we're trying to maintain this new budget neutral you know situations that that yeah that there are some classes that are going to have to be you know uh they'll discontinue it at some point and we're going to have to deal with those types of consequences um my question and I I guess forgive me I'm assuming this is a holy year of course it's two tries two tries yeah okay so there's not really much else that we could do to you know wait for another full class you know not for seniors uh seniors yeah I I understand that because of the ones that promise tonight so fortunately it sounds like we're called
097upon to make a decision on this or we can determine that again I brought up here because there's a lack of clarity and policy if you as a board say hey we're going to put that we're already up for Your Right today and six with a superintendent then in discussion and discussion you know again I brought it here because it was a lack of claritan policy my community I kind of agree with what you just said there that's kind of where I was born do you have a recommendation in front of us uh I believe you hired a person that is capable of making these decisions um where I think we're stepping outside of board precedence if for the last nine years and I'm trusting moutoni that that your memory is good for nine years
098uh we've never made these decisions uh I I feel why would you step by the president so I don't I don't feel it should be in our hands uh and if if the next committee wants to take a peek at this and we talked about it again next year in a different light that's that's another subject man my comments are too full um one of them kind of goes more important when we get to the policy part of it where the numbers came we had extensive conversation about this that policy but the number being 15 we talked about has the only classes we call me further down the pipe the numbers get more limited and so when we look at those Target numbers we're taking into consideration the whole group when we look at how
099many kids are eligible for health BC that is very much diminished um and I don't know if those things were kind of considered through that so I agree that is this really a boring place to have that discussion so we have two things going on right now is that versus okay is it our decision is made and if so here are the facts around that decision or is it not our decision to make and therefore we leave it with our superintendent and then do we get them you know the facts at that point in time so I see two yeah ways here and I'm struggling because my kid is going to be sitting in this bad boy next year my kids started in fifth grade going through all of middle school math and I sat
100with the assistant superintendent at the time and said what's going to happen when we get to be a junior and a senior and she's already done all high school credits by the time she graduates middle school because that was reality and he said don't worry we'll have a class for her at that point okay my kid had a plan back in fifth grade and so my question though becomes with these students even though there's only seven of them they started on this pathway years ago not two months ago or five months ago and so this is a college credit in there that we're talking about it's not just a you know I don't want to say an everyday class because I taught sewing I just you know and I get that it's a very valuable
101skill and if they have to take a math credit we want to make sure they're taking America and you have a better chance of getting the accreditation in a face-to-face scenario because the other piece of that is if elt is the place where they're getting help I'm not confident that there's the timing in that because elt is also encompassed with clubs it's encompassed with career planning it's encompassed women there are other things so it's not an everyday thing we're not giving them the everyday support that it seems like hey that sounds like a great idea until you start digging a little deeper so I just want to make sure we had some other personalities yes so if the board chooses to make a decision on this this evening I understand the decision the board is
102making is for next year's class going it has no implication whatsoever on following years in the policy the following years will be assessed in the same way in the beginning by the administration and so it has no implication whatsoever because this board has not and does not make guarantees for the availability of specific classes beyond the year and products and if you want any proof of that in order to make that guarantee you'd have to have a person at the front of that room and nobody has more than a one-year contract so I can also equally say in the nine years I've been here the board has never made a guarantee of the availability of a specific class beyond the year in front of it because we don't give multi-year contracts to enable somebody to
103sit in front of that class so good uh to thank you Tony at the dynast point I think you distilled it perfectly there are two questions here and if we remove the case in point and we go back to the policy which I was policy chair so my apologies I'll follow the sword uh it went in with the parentheses of course you all approve it but uh if we were going to approve this right now today irrespective of anything that's brought up would we nine want to be involved in the go no go for classes okay so that's number one and Tony alluded to the fact that is this a decision we want to be involved in and I would put forth a motion to vote on the removal of the super I mean the
104removal of the board from this policy if the the president would accept it I would put forth that motion right now now again okay that's like I made the motion Dave seconded it if I continue the one thing to you your second Point Diana not using the word promise but we do have an option here for college credits it's not ideal covet wasn't ideal we adapt you overcome its life okay it's still available and to Tony's point nothing's guaranteed in life so I think that Josh did a good job of accommodating the need in in light of the circumstances but I would separate that entirely from the my motion and say to review this policy again and I called it up it originally came up I think in February we looked at it again as
105a first read and second reading April and May if we were to review it again almost all of us were here when it was approved I would say that that still stands my motion and I got a second there's an emotion to amend policy 5105 to remove the words board or from the one two three four five six four point Network in parentheses okay um for clarification our policy typically goes through first reading and second reading there is a provision for a emergency adoption which foregoes the two readings is that your intention uh that would be my intention yet and again emergency is non-dependent it's a housing on fire to make me a choice here just forego usual one two and just get it done to one questions or comments on the motion okay um
106part of my concern and I don't know I guess I have to look to the power to be here um was the intent behind the original language to take some of the burden off of the superintendent when it came to making a decision of this magnitude let's just say the board decides to change this language and then the superintendent is tasked with this course either making it or not making it and and the superintendent says it's out of the budget we can't we can't have this anyway um what then do you there I I feel like there's value in having board input on some of these decisions right I feel like uh if that scenario were to happen and I appreciate it Greg not if that scenario would happen I would have to think chair
107it would come to us and say hey this class is needed it's not falling under a budget right now can we work on this is my assumption I don't want to speak but that would be my assumptions so I think there's a I think there's a gateway to it right strike [Music] that particular section is talking about the target minimum for six through 12. yep so if we keep this in we are only talking about six through twelve the board is not if we have the question is well what if we want to remove something from the elementary but the board does not have purview there purvised policy this is only for Middle through high school where we would have this period well if we are going to leave this in it should be all-encompassing
108for the Lord and not just they can choose which ones we want to have Sam I would say that I would also point two Diana's point if I'm when you go into Middle School you get choose between choir and of course I believe and if I said look I'm gonna go and I'm going to go and I'm going to be in the band with Mr Ledoux because I like Mr Ledoux and I'm you know what I like what he's doing this is great I'm gonna go and I've got a musical paneling and then I my plan I get the eighth grade and I get into ninth grade and Mr Ledoux moves on which would reduce fire I no longer have that option to be with Mr Ledoux it's not the same it's not ideal I
109can still be in band but it's not what I've done for for the last few years what I've trained for there is no guarantee other comments or questions on the motion thank you please I just want to comment when I made my statement I know there's no such thing as a multi-year guarantee but if we as soon as the number of students that would be taking a class like this the chances of getting 15 or more are very slim so this is a yearly situation that that occurs so if we are solely basing this on numbers we are excluding our advancement on ovulation in a number of assets and it's just something to consider it's not saying a multi-year guarantee for this class to run but it's saying that the probability of these classes not
110known for that particular section of kids is higher than normal no word guaranteed it's just that probability did you stay on on the motion that we're on so I have a motion to adjust the policy so the top of the motion to particular to I'll make one more comment particular to the motion which is I have for quite a while now been cautioning us that we cannot continue to operate the same way with 25 of your students and that that demographic way was coming to the high school I'm highly in this because we're going to have more and more choices like this if we if we leave the board anyways we're going to have more and more choices like this come to us simply because of the numbers when you have 25 fewer students in
111your high school then you had five plus years ago it just died big for the opposite and we've got too much so great well in the converse though if if you're you're constituents speak out in opposition to a course that's being discontinued for some reason does this board want that to fall squarely on the superintendent's shoulders and all that that's a fair ask either we hired them okay other comments or questions on the motion otherwise I'm going to draw too close was that an accident that it said I guess I'm still not clear on how it got in there or what because refrain from asking Jared the original intent from the drafters of the document but I went back to the first time that it showed up your policy and it was parentheses then it
112was probably it was Quincy during the first screen so an accident but that still doesn't mean what we know the original intent was okay just wanted to be sure that we're not changing some initials I remember this but I don't know thank you any other comments or questions on the motion a very clear with emotion can you uh read it Tony or is it to remove board or from inside the parentheses under the Sixth board Point under 5105 so it would be in London to say specifically authorized by the superintendent of schools and that we are foregoing when we do reading sequence for this change okay roll call those briefings Tina Johnson say the trader yes David Smith yes okay Boardman yes Mike Higgins yes Lauren Collins yes yes Tina Johnson I'm sorry Diana Johnson
113yes Antonio yes and the motion carries all right this takes us to reports first up is a superintendent keyboard um some people ask why I always get up and do this um two reasons I like to move around a little bit um so that gives me a break to get up and out of my chair but secondly I like to really look at the people I'm talking to in some of the screens so I appreciate your Indulgence because people okay so um I do want to congratulate um our skillsusa sole Card Challenge team they did get third place overall in their division uh I know the race was cut short but the other thing I want to say um that is recognition is not only in their ability as a team to um persevere and
114take third place overall in their division even though the race was shortened but I want to recognize them in the face of adversity there were reasons that the race was cut short and to have our our coaching staff and our volunteers help from a distance to get these kids home safely and to do that without incident was phenomenal and I can't say enough about their ability to help navigate those situations with plane flights car rentals hotel rentals all the things that you take months to plan for and in less than eight hours we were able to turn around and get kids home safely can that say enough about that team of individuals and those volunteers who were along with them to do that in a time where they were worried about a lot of other
115things so if you want something that was good that was good so congratulations to them opportunities today was the first day for online registration um it's open I want to tell people that there are a number of communications that went out uh and emails uh for you to follow and move that process and part of that process but also that if you have an issue and you don't know where to turn please contact your building secretary or administrative assistance first they're there to help you through that process and if you can't get that done there then there are people here at DSC who can help you with that process but there are a lot of families out there to have them all come to this building for help would be a disaster so we're asking
116them to go to the place that their children are going ask questions of them first and if they can answer then come to us also an opportunity our German students had a great time learning in Germany here's a picture of a number of pictures that were out there about them um I am so happy that um you approved the trip uh to go to Dublin and anytime we can get our students to be World Travelers uh personal belief is that that's a good thing I know that it's not always an equitable thing so when we do approve these things us trying to find ways to or our community or others to help especially for students in need who can't afford those kinds of trips um the the better we will be for all of our
117students but they had a great time um and I can't wait to ask them what was the best thing that they saw or or have done because I I love to travel myself and I have never been to Germany yet I say yeah because it's on my list um important reminders our new teacher training days are August 15th the 16th we do have a special meeting of the board coming on August 2nd to do a little bit more on our data Journey but also then talk a little bit about how we plan on um getting to a data set and did a story that follows in line with our our two main goals this next year of literacy and math um and we have ways that as a as a district office we've talked about
118and and are talking with um our building principles about about how we want to align that district-wide and there's going to be a preview on August 2nd about how we're going to align in what kinds of data we're going to be looking for at least in draft version um I will tell you on Eighth and 9th uh of August we will be meeting as an administrative team to go into that in more detail so that's a little after the second to to put some detail on on that data picture for you um that's just how things align in our schedules um also August 8th uh 9th uh 21st and 23rd and 28th our regular scheduled meetings um that you normally have any questions a few and I didn't count the uh first line which was
119just there for um I see you can understand that it's my report which it says okay fiscal management all right thank you [Music] we had our committee meeting on the 19th myself Norman Mr Evans were there for committee members which was going uh we also had a lot of other people in attendance uh board president [Music] um board member I also have Dave lockstein and Jason and Sarah were there too um we had a couple of different things that came up payment report there was only one question me I wasn't sure on Mystery Science we had a larger purchase I was told that this was a curriculum purchase um both of your agenda items for vote up tonight are responsible of our committee the first one is for the variance report uh where we had
120some Surplus content that we are looking to put into fund the 46. we're putting the balance um this will not we're doing this because it will not adversely impact our budget then in the fall I say that right yeah uh and purchases another twenty thousand dollars we did uh the other one that will be there for tonight this would be for the uh Chromebooks for students and staff uh we get some clarification on the questions on this um this will be funded through the general budget um and they will be uh we'll be using the older devices as parts for the newer ones um and um they will be looking at bringing a comprehensive plan for the Chromebooks um and I'm familiar in January um to the board and I asked no later than November
121please um for the committee so we have time to look at that and discuss uh before it comes to the board so local continue the items that'll be up for vote tonight uh purchasing Authority um we talked about this this was um in regards to a policy that um as far as place and students outside of the district um we recommended the change um that as stated by the legal counsel and we sent to the council through review and once uh waiting for you to come skip back to us on that we will send that to the board for that basically um holds us out from understanding um who this purchase is for for Phi and pii perspective so it's a good change it's definitely the language nailed down um and then we talked about
122the planning calendar there was a draft calendar um this number put together um and what we're looking for are contracts renewals uh everything that's coming up in the next year um the draft part of this is we've got somebody like hey this is coming up in June right so now what we'd like to do is from the committee is start walking those things back so that they come to many okay months prior to when they need to get signed so that way we can review them talk them out and ask questions and not oh by the way you need to get this signed by the board on Monday so that is the first step in that process so um and our next meeting will be the 23rd of August all right questions or comments on
123that report thank you human resources HR we met on Monday July 17th our committee was Protestant um others present were Tony Arnett Jared Burke Margaret Brady and Bill Foster from school perceptions um we reviewed the consent agenda as far as pointless resignations and determinations and we have a resolution for that tonight um and then we also walked through um as part of an education peace force and things like that that had been on our agenda planning we walked through the administrator performance evaluation process um and as far as Dr Burke explain that to us there's um you know limited choices as far as the tools that we have available to us that we have to follow Wisconsin DPI standards and things like that and then with that um as far as the evaluators go through
124a training process and calibration process to make sure that um the evaluating of performance for administrators is um to ensure objectivity as far as that's concerned um and then we took a considerable amount of time and went through the employee satisfaction survey results and so um which I believe we have somewhere in our Communications I'm sorry I don't recall I do belongs posted an HR committee okay thank you Margaret um the full report is posted in um the HR committee meeting um the meeting agenda for Monday July 17th so you can find the full review there um bill was able to walk us through as far as um you know what some of that information meant um what we can kind of take from some of that information um we were able to this year
125was um our first year doing this version of the survey um so we didn't necessarily have all of comparable data and stuff like that but we will going forward um we took the survey or the the staff took the survey between April 25th and May 9th um and so then the unity will kind of we'll use that information and things like that too as it pertains to our committee and our literacy and that goals and um the Dr Burke explained that the survey of results will be shared and discussed at the administrator retreat in August and that'll be helpful as far as that goes and our agenda planning for August um is coming up the consent agenda health and dental insurance plan performance and the preliminary renewal information we will be having an attendance in
126policy discussion um and then as far as future topics for us came up um succession planning was one and then also administrator contracts and other HR related process um we joined in our next meeting is Monday August 21st thank you comments or questions all right thank you very much next is Educational Services okay so the ed Service committee meeting was Tuesday July 11th uh members a cousin or myself David Smith Dana Jensen a virtual Dave Schrader does not present there were other board members that have been quite a few administrators that were also present as an in person and virtually they're listed um first got a director update which the committee about from Jason bull who's the new director of innovation technology strategy and data don't say you remember here maybe we can abbreviation so
127then the committee also discussed the updated ed Service calendar um with changes and there were some proposed items to be added included extra learning time at the high school and restorative practices then we had an Sr updates the committee reviewed a presentation that Emily listener presented about the K-12 Panorama purchase it was proposed to use 18 000 of the sixty thousand so three dollars that were allocated for the social emotional learning Mental Health curriculum for sr3 um so 18 000 it would be for a year to buy the Panorama survey screening tool um it would include a screener to use with wusu students three times a year which would attract the social emotional learning as well as provide some interventions that the committee did require some additional information which included understanding which questions the survey
128would be using uh parental communication of administration and results how it would be implemented at the secondary level um so we did request that Administration brings that back with those questions answered and reviewed that in August I was trying to break that down as much as I could um then we had an RMS STEM Academy discussion Jason Whitaker the principal from RMS discussed on the upcoming changes to the STEM Academy this was mainly well due to the adoption of the wit and wisdom um for the ELA curriculum and also because of some staffing changes the ELA coursework would be moved out of the stomach um environment for those students and they would get their Ela instruction in a traditional classroom with the written wisdom but they would continue to take science social studies and their
129electives as their coursework in the academy Mr Whitaker also discussed the potential gift from the Benson Family Foundation which would um could be used to purchase a Smart Lab curriculum for the elective course the committee decided they would revisit the STEM Academy vision and the future meetings or a future meeting part of me last uh there was an RMS whs Chromebook take home model which was presented with by Dave lockstein and Jason Bowl they proposed um it was a proposal for the students at RMS and whs to transition to a take-home model for the one-to-one Chromebooks um the committee was really more focused on how this would look for their curriculum for their for the teaching model rather than the fiscal commitment kind of a little confusing out aware of which maybe this went to
130but uh we kind of were able to touch in a little bit more on what this would look like relating to the teaching and learning implications in the classroom with the students transitioning to a one-on-one compared to um not taking it home and then also how this would look for the wusd future ready model so this topic will also be Revisited in the honest and service committee meeting um next meeting is Tuesday August 8th all right thank you comments or questions on that report again I will say there was a number of important things that were discussed at committee this month and I would definitely encourage everyone if you've not already done so to look at all the meeting proceedings you know all the agenda items that were there in the original meetings and went
131through those it was one of those rare months where I attended every committee which I don't normally do that but stay out of your way but I was actually there to go on this time I try not to make it happen all right planning for planning um we had the DND update earlier audit the communication audit when she was already today um we also brainstormed ideas for the yearly calendar looking at different topics and things um Jared and I will eventually done with the list that the committee members put out there in them to try to find a way to fit that puzzle together and then lastly Tina and Lori are kind of heading up the board retreat working um for information from all of you what kinds of things in regards for board development
132education and culture which you see to be bid or needing at this point in time and then they will in a year on coming order treats around some of that so look for that either the end of July beginning of August of survey will go out to each of us okay we're open to all ideas it's cool to have one of our discussion items presented by one of our committees have been very rare they have this is taking time yeah right so I think it's nice the board is active involved the board is carrying some of the weight and the board presents okay next we have the consent agenda resolution 9239 do I hear emotion so moved second so the consent agenda includes our board minutes our committee summaries Personnel Staffing is both appointments and
133resignations and retirements the approval of bills and the first and second reading of policies there are a number of first and second readings this evening questions on comments on the motion go ahead Craig I just wanted to um kind of reiterate a little bit of the process if there is a first or second reading of policies yeah that I mean these are just minor revisions to the policies they don't just very slight changes usually from changing wsd to the school district or whatnot something unsubstantial um and some some board members will have the ability to bring forth um changes to those policies um and that will be an agenda item for which we would discuss the merits of those particular moving forward with those particular policies so that's a separate process than what's happening tonight
134okay she was calling attention at all this evenings are what are called minor revisions minor revisions [Music] oh yeah sorry they're all listen so the ones that are minor are always special okay other comments or questions on the motion hearing none roll call both please Tina Johnson yes David Trader yes David Smith yeah Craig Wortman yes yes Mike Higgins yes Rory Holland yes Diane and Johnson yes Tony Arnett yes and the motion carries next up are action items we have two this evening versus resolution 9240 which is the purchase of Chromebooks and licenses do I hear emotion it's all moving by Mike seconded by Laurie again this came through fiscal the comments are questions on the motion just just Clarity so this was kind of broad at one point of being started one to one
135and a four-year rotation and so forth that is subsided this is a moment just a needed replacement of obsolete your units okay all right thank you know what they asked in the physical committee uh Jason and we have brought that to us and then it made us understand the need we will have the students without computers you know do this purchase uh and that's part of that and for bringing it back to the boarding anyway will be that model um the fiscal committee all the discussed and said look we don't want to talk about the model we want to be able to physical part of it much like ed services to the opposite um and that was the askless to come back with that whole District if you're going to do a rotation on this
136if you're going to do this and change the model the library bring that back over to the boards all right other comments or questions on the motion and then by insights so that is a not to exceed 296.9331 . the candidates attached and referred to specifically it's approving that bid which has that number oh I'm sorry I missed the Insight I'm sorry yeah all right we'll call on the motion please Lena Johnson yeah David Schrader yes Craig Morgan yes yes Mike Higgins yes yes Diana Johnson yes Tony Arnett yes next is resolution 9241 which is the transfer of money into the fund 46. do I hear a motion by Fred seconded by Diana this was reviewed at Crisco this is something we have also done once before that can recall 2021 I believe was the
137last time that we did this and again fund 46 is as it's stated long-term capital Improvement and it goes in conjunction with our 10-year Capital Improvement plan so it's a special way we can set aside funds for use later comments or questions on the motion hearing none will call vocal please Jordan Johnson yes David Schrader yes David Smith yes Craig award them yes yes Mike Higgins yes Laurie Holland yeah Diana Johnson yes Tony Arnett yes and the motion carries right this brings us to our second opportunity for public input of the membership audience would like to be recognized again I'll be the same things they said earlier these two groups brief and make sure to give your name and address for the record is there anyone that I can recognize at this time please hi
138everyone I'm Molly Copeland um I live in a hospital drive I can keep this brief I appreciate your time and your effort and um seeing everybody and how hard you're working um there were some topics to talk about today especially I forgot her name I think it was Kaylee the hairdresser who talked about her concern about asexual um young teenage girls uh getting their haircut I actually had kind of the opposite um journey of mine I identify as asexual so she was talking about how this asexual makes them feel broken or it could I was the exact opposite I spent hours you know ranking hot boys and boy bands in Middle School in high school here I didn't like that I didn't need it but I felt pressured too so I felt broadly broken for
139about a decade inside until I learned any sexuality and that it is a normal thing um and so there is a community um the students are learning and you guys cannot keep that out it's on the internet they are on Tick Tock there learning it any which way so we do need to find a way to address it and to make sure they're getting accurate information and that they are getting supportive support support part of me and accurate medical terminology and things like that um likewise drag is just I've even as kind of this big Target it's a big talking point but we all love this is that better with Robin Williams Tootsie with Dustin Hoffman Bugs Bunny um there are plenty of drag instances in pop culture that we have survived we have left
140that and it hasn't done damage to us so I kind of think um take that with a grain of salt when people are speaking out against it um it's something to kind of rile up on people but at the end if you come on Saturday you will see that it's just a performance it is an art piece and you don't have to like all art but it's something to show expression um I study political science I'm kind of a nerd that's why I'm still here um someone said totalitarianism um no that's a system of government uh somebody disagreeing with you is not totalitarianism um but I do kind of want to talk about the Paradox of Tolerance and basically it's this idea from the 1940s that sorry I get excited when I talk um one
141minute one minute I I can do that so tolerance is when you have this open place of ideas everything becomes and your tolerant all of them there's going to be a rise and intolerance and I think that's what we're seeing here unfortunately so we need to find some steel in our spine and to set that down because there is a right and a wrong and for me that started with Wendy's comments about the travel project saying students children who are not called their proper pronouns are 2.5 times more likely to kill themselves than ones that have prospective pronouns and as a former teacher as a member of the lgbtqia community if I want to take that simple step to make sure my kids my students feel seen I shouldn't still be in the classroom because
142it is and can be a matter of life and death for some students so I thank you for your time um and thank you so much you can make sure to sign the registration you're completely correct anyone else all right then I will entertain a motion to go into closed sessions through the recent stated in our agenda and so on my sentence Prince foreign