001abomination with liberty and justice for all thank you thank you please take your role here here Tina Johnson here David here David dear Douglas here here all right our first item of business is the election of a temporary chairperson for pictures of doing our election for a board president I'd like your a motion to appoint your superintendents as a temporary chairperson she'll move second by David second by Mike comments or questions on the motion all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed motion carries last time I will take advantations for the presidential election for the enemy nominations is there a second second accept that nomination I will any other nominations all right hearing none uh do we have a motion to close the nominations at this time so move second seconded by Craig
002um then all those in favor of Tony Arnett escort president oh I'm sorry yes signified by saying aye you do not need to fill out your ballot that's what you said what nominee so signify by saying aye aye thank you our next item up is the election of the board vice president to uh yearly nominations for vice president Trader any other nominations I'm sorry is there a second right any other nomination and is there a second a second are there any other nominations for vice president by Mike is there a second on that no it's all those in favor of opposing nominations proposed all right nominations are opposed I'm sorry thank you all right you now have bounce in front of you please pull out the first one for vice president or either Doug or
003David foreign still tight we're still tied please take your third belt and vice president [Music] thank you we're still tied let's do it yourself foreign otherwise it shouldn't continue to be a 4-4 I presume I mean I don't know who has to vote on that I'm just saying is that we're expecting a change in the outcome without changing the voters I'm fine situation paper I would imagine that they're not sworn in the intention was to swear that individually and then immediately not immediately but uh for the following for me right you do need to reorganize the board in April yeah okay great idea I mean I've seen those ships before um foreign and okay thank you next time your domination yeah that's right rich ER all right do I hear a commotion excuse me confirm
004the remaining nominee is there a second all those in favor signify by saying aye aye aye opposed yes next is the election of board Clerk to a hearing a nominations you should accept that nomination are there any other nominees hearing none do I hear emotions those nominations are you turned in this ballot in favor by Mike is there a second second all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed and the motion pairs and lastly there is the election before Treasury do I hear nominations are there any other nominations hearing none doing your emotions you pose nominations and returning them about in favor of the Soul knowledge swimming is that Mike is there a second by Tina all those in favor of the motion by the saying aye aye aye opposed congratulations next is
005the appointment of a deputy Clerk do I hear a motion to appoint Jamie Rose now as our Deputy Clerk um moved by Mike seconded by Tina make an assumption and continue to be winning all those in favor of motion please signify by saying aye aye opposed and the motion charts for board committee assignments and rep and representatives we have two specifically we need to fill this evening and then I'll speak to our state meetings after that the first is the Watertown Educational Foundation and the next is the Watertown Family Center are there volunteers going to take on those roles I think I did talent that was the family center last year with zero meetings so I'll be happy to continue that and is there a volunteer for the Educational Foundation meetings at the Education Foundation
006are approximately quarterly they're they're also uh fairly uh infrequent meeting with lots of opportunity to give back uh and um review grants and opportunities to engage with um Staffing communities just in case you're uncertain of their role probably not because thank you with regard to our board's standing committees I will circulate a note to all of you asking you to give me your first second and third preferences and based on your feedback I would do my level best to get everybody at least their first preference last a couple times we'll be able to continue that pattern and then I'll announce all of those appointments foreign [Music] all right do I fear a motion to appoint Craig as our assistant to delegate so moved David seconded by Tina answer questions on the motion all those in
007favor please signify by saying aye aye both and the motion carries all right this brings us to preview the agenda do we have any changes that we need to make to each other I am scanning for our student board reps and I do not see them out there and they are not online either so uh right now we would not have them here but if they should arrive later when they arrived otherwise there are no changes to the agenda this brings us to one of two opportunities for the public to address the board if there's one at the end of the meeting if you'd like to be recognized when you're in the rooms please raise your hand recognize you you can step up to the podium and you can take your name and address comments
008if you're online please use the razor hand feature and again we will announce you before we enable your microphone and please keep your name and address at that time is there anyone you'd like to be recognized this time please Nigerian two Riverdale Circle Watertown Wisconsin 53094 it's really fun being on this side of the podium um I just wanted to thank all of you new board members and current board members for all the services that you do now I know firsthand what kind of commitment it is and what it involves so thank you so very much continue um doing good work for our students and staff and Community um what I wanted to share tonight was my thoughts on the safety protocols um I would like to recommend that you go back to pre-covered times
009whereas not having that on the dashboard not having that in the recording when we call in and we have to listen to that lengthy recording whenever your child is absent or you want to reach the office um I'm looking at what is happening locally and our numbers in our cases and I think it's time that we go back to pre-covered times and take it off of our dashboard and think about seriously think about the protocols you have when your child is ill and still emphasize that but not have it be so much covert related all right thank you is there anyone buddy all right there will be a second opportunity so next up we have board member recognition four members leaving the board Steve Coppell Katie Nigerian Jennifer boppy and Paul abandon Langford three of
010whom are present this evening and we will have resolutions to all these effects whereas Steve has served as a member of the Board of Education the Watertown Unified School District for the past nine years and whereas he has served with Extinction and dedication while representing and promoting the best educational interests of the Youth of Watertown Unified School District and whereas he has also served on a number of special Committees of the Board of Education therefore be it resolved in the Board of Education with Watertown Unified School District says hereby express its appreciation and gratitude to receive profile for his unselfish public service and for the significant contributions he has made to the Watertown Unified School District and public education solar seating a clock so all of you are new and existing board members know that
011you have this sometime in the future uh with a plaque with the name and the years of service to the uh to the district so thank you again Steve for all your years [Applause] next Canadian Journal we might need to give you a letter um whereas Katy Perry and the service a member of the support of Education of the Washington Unified School District for the past one year and whereas she has served the distinction and dedication while representing and promoting the best educational interests of the Youth of the Watertown Unified School District and whereas she's also served on a number of special committees at the Board of Education therefore be it resolved at the board of education of the Watertown Unified School District this hereby express its appreciation gratitude to Katie Nigerian for unselfish public
012service and with significant contributions she has made to the Watertown Unified School District and public education is unable to join us this evening but I will still read hers whereas Jennifer bakkie has served as a member of the Board of Education of the Watertown Unified School District for the past eight years and where she has served distinction and dedication while representing and promoting the best education interests of the Youth of the Watertown Unified School District and whereas she is also served on a number of special Committees of the Board of Education therefore be resolved that the Board of Education the Watertown Unified School District is hereby express its appreciation and gratitude to Jennifer bonke for her unselfish public service and for the significant contributions she has made to the Watertown Unified School District and public
013education foreign and langenberg has served as a member of the Board of Education of the Watertown Unified School District for the past six years and whereas he has served with distinction and dedication while representing and promoting the best education interests of the Youth of the Watertown Unified School District and whereas he has also served in a number of special Committees of the Board of Education therefore be resolved to the board of education and the Watertown Unified School District does hereby express its appreciation and gratitude to Paul and Atlanta work for his unselfish public service and for the significant contributions he has made to the Watertown Unified School District and public education thank you [Applause] pleasure and uh privilege thank you thank you all right you want your emotion and resolutions 9094-9095-9096 and 9097 . Craig
014if we decline can they please stay [Music] comments or questions along the motion hearing none all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed motion carries next up is the 2022 best communities for admission to education in The NAMM recognition yes we have once again uh received the best communities for music uh non-recognition which is a national recognition uh for the quality of Music programming provided here in the district uh and it is um a an award that we are so privileged to receive our music department read Ledoux specifically for kids the paperwork for this uh I have said every year that I've been here that our music department is second to absolutely none from the opportunities we give our students to the quality of the performance that we see every single year
015it's a musical that is outstanding uh in just a few weeks we're going to have the mark Woods concert a absolutely state of the art opportunity for our students there's no District doing it better we have the best music team in the State uh and I would go even farther than that they are extraordinary they do hard work to make this application and we are honored to receive it again Mr Ledoux is in parent-teacher conferences this evening and not able to be here with us to officially present it but we wanted to share that with you here this evening and we will yet again be hanging that Banner in all of our schools so huge congratulations to our music department music families and music thank you or something we have another recognition to make this
016evening this is on behalf of uh the DPI the school nutrition Association no kid hungry in Wisconsin and the hunger task force uh who are recognizing our food nutrition staff uh it is a late recognition on behalf of a national breakfast week but while it is a later recognition we are so proud of us again our food nutrition team has had many many barriers that they have had to overcome over these past two years we were one of the first districts in the state to have uh to be prepared to give students and families meals during the pandemic our food nutrition team was at multiple locations uh rain shine every other condition that we get in Spring here in Wisconsin they throw buses around town and delivered meals to everyone who needed them our food
017nutrition team has worked every summer over the course of the pandemic and continue to get those meals into the hands of our students and families we know there's been struggles with supply lines and challenges that they face Staffing challenges that they've faced uh but there is not anyone in our school nutrition program uh that is not kind to students every single day and works incredibly hard here very proud of that team and very proud of this recognition for them tonight and we also have a donation to recognize uh from Fisher Barton blades for 1 500 again huge kudos to Jesse Domer and his team uh for all the work they do to build Community Partnerships and huge gratitude towards Bishop art and Blades uh for this generous donation towards skills USA all right our students
018are not here but yes that brings us to the ends of our uh recognitions and announcements okay then we'll move on to the discussion portion of our agenda first up is in proposal for a trip to Germany in 2023 um that's you Kim come on up we're seeing me in considering my proposal to take students to Germany once again finally the last time we were able to go was 2019. we're gonna We again would like to travel with seated tourists they did a really fantastic job for us last time um the prices have gone up a bit like everywhere of course a major part of our quests are the airline tickets we're looking at about 3 300 per student if we only get 10 students to go and if we can get 12 15 or
019more it'll be down to three thousand one of the ways that I try to keep the cost down is I do provide the tour guide services at no cost to the students that saves quite a bit of money so this proposal while it's more expensive than it has been in the past is still quite a bit less than if we were to go with another company that would not allow me to do that we'll be repeating the same trip we took in 2019 staying in Dachau outside of Munich at the youth hostel there and then for about a week and doing day trips into Munich and around Munich and into Salzburg in Austria and then take spending a week with our host families I have spoken with the teachers in Germany and they are ready
020to welcome us with open arms Lord willing we are all right we hang on and do the best that we can right now but yes they're ready to welcome us they are also planning on coming next year and possibly in the fall as they should be but possibly not till the spring it depends on how the rest of the school year goes for them and how things play out on a global scale so that's what we're looking at I already have six host families recruited for the 16 students so um at least people have expressed interests are not finalized yet obviously does anyone have any questions or members questions something class refundable but yeah I'll have to review exactly the refund I was just reading it last week but I can't remember if it gets
021canceled for things out of our control if students cancel there's 125 cancellation fee up until about um two months before we go and then they start losing more money but as if students cancel if our trip is canceled be for reasons outside of our control I think that that would be changed we wouldn't lose everything that they've got I do have two potential deadlines um first for people who want to spread their payments out I have a deadline before May coming up understanding that things are uncertain people might not want to take a chance on doing that there's another deadline for October next year that just it crunches the payments a little bit together and I like to give people time to be able to spread those out but people can choose that what kind
022of risk they want to take with that um Ceta does require now all participants to be vaccinated it's just as a matter of course so that is another that's another new measure encourages them to get travel insurance thank you because that impacts that so depending what level of travel insurance they purchase they could get more of their costs refunded but actually see the I can't remember if they use the word require or strongly encourage um The Travelers to buy the travel insurance and it's quite reasonable they can get it straight through Ceta but it's very very reasonable over the past few years when we've had to cancel some of these trips we've done most of the travel companies very accommodating to either postpone um or to refund those different options especially if the students other
023questions from board members thank you all right thank you thank you for coordinating this opportunity for us there will be a resolution all right this brings us to the selection of a new member to fill our vacancy the proposed voting process is outlines in your meeting materials each candidate will be given the opportunity to address the board and explain their interests and qualifications the board will have the opportunity to ask questions after each candidate makes his remarks at the conclusion the candidate remarks and board questions board members cut these ballots again it does require your signature on it that is your choice and science thank you all right and we have three individuals who step forward which are Wendy postcode was unable to be here this evening in person at the last minute but she
024is online we have Diana Johnson and we have Trevor Thomas do I hear a motion to approve this sorting process selection process that's right so let's move by Mike is there a second second second by Lori comments or questions on the motion for the selection process hearing none all those in favor signify by saying aye opposed and the motion carries all right so next we will proceed with each candidate individually again they'll make their presentation we'll have opportunities ask them questions all right there all right so Mr Thomas do our first sir well uh members of the board uh my name is Trevor Thomas and I just want to say first off thank you for the opportunity to uh to speak in front of you this evening with regards to the vacant board um position
025so uh I'll talk a little bit about my background first and then do some of my qualifications and then you all can fire away um background I'm not from Wisconsin I actually only moved here in 2015 uh after leaving active duty Service as a marine officer um I live here in Watertown uh with my two children and wife and uh couldn't be happier but I think if we're going to talk about where I come from and kind of my my qualifications we should just really go back to well where I was born which is Wyoming uh I'm from Wyoming uh Afton Wyoming a small town uh just south of Jackson Hole if anybody's been to Jackson Hole lovely area uh definitely not a rich area um my mom is a school teacher she was an
026educator for 30 years she was actually my third grade teacher in a small town called the Bighorn which is just south of shared in Wyoming so that's a that's a unique experience my father was a Rancher and if it wasn't for a blizzard and the winner of 85 I also might have been a Rancher but we lost all our cattle and my father moved into group homes and children's care and then from there he took a job as director for volunteers in America in Wyoming and that's what he did and moved into Nevada for that as well so we moved from Wyoming to Nevada I graduated from high school in 98 and the only thing I knew at that point is that I really wasn't ready for college so I joined the Navy which was
027a tradition on my father's side grandfather all that and that has started an 18-year career for me as a military service I was an enlisted men and I got sent over to Japan really enjoyed that when I was done with it wanted nothing to do with the military ever again but I know I met first wife over there and uh we came back to the States I got orders or she got orders up to Alaska and um we spent the next three years of our life in Alaska my son was born um and I completed my bachelor's I have a BS in biological sciences for the University of Alaska um at that point I still had this nagging feeling that I hadn't done what I wanted to do as a service member and serve in
028my country and serving my community and this was in 2008 so I I joined the Marine Corps commissioned as a marine officer in 2008 the family moved over to Quantico Virginia where I completed my training I was given the job of a human intelligence and counterintelligence officer and then promptly sent back to Japan again uh and served out there on the third intelligence Battalion during my time in Japan I was deployed to Iraq from 2010 to 2011. uh once I came back from that back to the family and did my second Duty station with the Marine Corps which is at Fort Meade Maryland where I helped stand up Marine forces cyber command and gain kind of the skills that uh pushed me over into the civilian World in 2015. when the Marine Corps said that
029no more cyber stuff for you you're going to go back and do Intel stuff and I I really was passionate about that and wanted to make that transition my first wife was from Wisconsin and so when we knew we were leaving uh active duty we needed a place where there could be family and and kind of that buffer where we would spend our entire adult lives doing military things we needed that transition uh we came to Watertown and it was a great fit it was a great fit for children great Community um and well I'm still here um so what I did is I transitioned over to the civilian world and I took on a role as a consultant for cyber security uh for a company called Ernst young um I didn't realize how busy
030I was going to be and I've spent most of the last uh seven years running around like crazy uh really working as a as a subject matter expert with regards to cyber operations uh for a Fortune 500 companies helping them identify risk uh operationalize their processes um and grow steadily and you know more safely because at this point everybody wants to stay out of the news if you're a board member at a large Fortune 500 company your biggest concern is not being the news like so many others so that's why I spent a lot of time doing um but I I still have had a passion to serve and and that continued as soon as I left the active duty service um I I came over to the Wisconsin National Guard and I I took
031on I was accepted as an infantry officer here at the Wisconsin Army National Guard my first job uh funny enough was to be a Cav guy uh here at Watertown Armory and I took commanderville Watertown armor here Bravo troop for a couple years and then moved up to alpha alpha company at the 127th where I deployed Afghanistan I thought I was slowing down a little bit not the case um what I guess I say through all of that is I talk about what I've done from a military perspective and then the Cyber perspective um there's a depth and breadth of being exposed to uh complex problems in complex situations um that with no easy outcomes and I think that that is a key to um what you all do there's no secret that the school
032boards aren't easy um and it can be a difficult place and I think you know the leadership and the background that I have is is definitely something that can be beneficial to them um I will go ahead and just disclose now that I am a San Francisco 49ers fan yeah but I figured we should probably get that out of the way now before we got any further say again yeah yeah it says the bear Stanford my only condolences that Devo will probably be playing for the Packers here so all right yeah but I guess at that point I'll go ahead and uh pause I want to take all night so you know please uh ask away any questions comments concerns about where I've gone what I've done for why I'm here all right thank you
033board members what questions do you have to go first Greg go ahead what are areas of concern regarding student achievement and do you have specific suggestions for improvement um I would say that you want to look at from a student achievement perspective if I had an area of concern I would just say opportunities for children to achieve uh and I'll go back to my own experience as a young man coming out of high school um I think I graduated like a two eight nine or something like it wasn't seller um and and I have had the opportunity to be successful um because people gave me Second Chances and because people were willing to uh you know look past some of my initial challenges and so if I were worried about students you were talking about
034that I would say how to looking towards finding a way to to have a broad um a broad process for that not focusing on always just our top Achievers but looking to pull down and look across the group to say how can we encourage student achievement across a broad range of children a broad range of backgrounds in in hopefully trying to get a more representative and Community Driven process thank you and thank you for your service as well that's Tina please um so one of the next short short while and things like that you know going through a superintendent search and things like that what do you feel as far as what qualities or what skills do you bring to the table as far as being able to help us process well that's that's a
035great question um so in my role at UI I led all of our national recruiting um for college students to come in and and hire for technology uh and Technology roles so lots of opportunities and lots of experience there with just interviewing hiring and then also having those conversations along the way um also I would say as a you know just being exposed to multiple leaders at all different levels of multiple different kinds of Corporations and then also from the military side you certainly get a handle on what good leadership looks like and what good leadership isn't um and kind of what you need to look for in a leader so you know as you review resumes or look at people's backgrounds and what they've done I want would want somebody who would be able
036to provide a strategic uh Vision right I would want somebody who can go ahead and not necessarily be so focused that they can't you know so focused on the new details of day-to-day operations that they can't realize that as a superintendent your job is to provide the way ahead for the district you to provide that guidance that vision and plan and where I've seen leaders fail time time again is not trusting their subordinates not trusting those to their left and right and really being too detailed and not being able and then everybody looks around and say well how do we get from point A to point B the other part is being being able to build coalitions and being able to build teams like in effective teams right so so many caustic leaders out there
037just just can't work in a way that is is really effective and they and they manage and lead by fear or by fret um and so I think you're also going to be searching for somebody who has a demonstrated ability to to reach across Bridge differences build successful teams and if necessary bring people with them you know to build their teams as well so absolutely other board members questions okay so we just came off uh an election here a couple weeks ago and so board members what uh now this vacancy became available what made you choose this vacancy but not to be elected so I will tell you um the reason that I'm here is that my circumstances have recently changed um and when I was working at UI as a senior manager I didn't
038have the bandwidth to do anything uh my my my morning started at 3 30 with uh Global calls and then I would work until eight nine or ten o'clock at night so I have had that opportunity I've just been working like a dog and then fitting in Army life and then fitting in family life and so there hasn't been an opportunity to do anymore um I left Consulting right uh in the beginning of February and treated into a new job in March and uh so I'm now the director of threat intelligence and um Incident Management at a pharmaceutical company out west but my quality of life has changed I I now get out of bed at around seven o'clock in the morning and I get done sometimes somewhere around the size and what has happened
039in that time period is the you know the conversations with my wife about hey I've I've given and served at the national level and I found that to be rewarding um I've given and served at the state level you know as the OIC of the officer in charge for rights uh in Milwaukee in 2017 for the Burlington floods in 2017. um uh for the Madison riots in 2020 and then I was also the operations officer for the inauguration of the 500 men took to Washington DC to to protect that process so I've I've started the state level I would like to serve more directly and more involved at the community um and so I reached out and was asking questions and I realized that I missed the deadline for the the recent elections um and
040I was like well okay and then I heard about this and I thought well Trevor it's time to put your money where your mouth is uh put yourself out there um and see what you can see if you are able to contribute in this way thank you Dan other board members I have a question um swollen headlines uh there's critical race Theory there's gender inclusiveness our International headlines now um what do you think when you see these headlines or what are your thoughts well that's another great question and I'll tell you I deal with that um and these these uh these issues and have dealt with these issues you know as a leader in the Marine Corps and army for for years change is coming change has come right and so from a from a
041uh a Leader's mentality on that perspective like it's about having honest conversations uh open conversations with those those around us um I come from a place of inclusivity I come from a place um of acceptance um and and really what I'm concerned about um as a leader is that building inclusive teams where we can support children to get the job done and get the job done uh in a right way I think the children are the most valuable asset that we have right I have a nine-year-old who goes to school here in the district my son graduated last year um and and I think that it's our job to come together as a team and provide that guidance where it's a safe place for everybody to come to school and learn and we can leave
042whatever else that we think outside of that so let's say you're selected a year from now looking back how would you judge whether the deal was successful foreign if I had to look back at what success would look like um was I able to contribute and and make the school board uh better what am I am I able to contribute and have my voice be heard um you know in how this District moves forward uh I believe Watertown is a fantastic uh Community um that is full of hard-working people um and I think if I could look back and say that I was an active member on committees um I spoke up where I have my expertise and I learned when I didn't and I would say in a year from now you know when
043it comes to an end you know maybe I'll just run for re-election and it won't be done and is there one burning issue that we think we need to confront more than others right now um fulfilling this spot no uh no I I don't I don't think I come to the to this um this board with any any one burning issue um again I see myself as a generalist with a lot of different backgrounds um and just working together to find Solutions um is really where I want to focus um for the board members any other questions for this candidates thank you very much today thank you all very much I do very much appreciate the opportunity I hope you all have a wonderful evening thank you next up is Wendy blister who is online
044good evening folks I I really apologize I had every intention of being with you in person and at about 5 30 today we realized my husband's allergies were not allergies and I thought you all might appreciate me staying home and not being among you in person um I do appreciate the opportunity to speak I'm here to offer my perspective which I think is as a perspective that we do not currently have on the board in the past we've been very lucky in town to have current and former Educators um friend Milburn was a gift to the board I those of you who've been on the board long enough to remember Fran service she provided really valuable insight into not just what the community needs and what parents need but also what the staff in the
045trenches experience every day I am a practicing educator in Dane County I've been teaching for over 20 years I've gone from teaching in a private school as a social studies teacher to working at a high school in Waukesha County and serving as a reading specialist I now run our alternative education program at my current High School which is in Dane County I also have been blessed to be able to work with teachers in districts around the state in 2007 I started teaching adjunct courses for Viterbo University and I've worked with teachers from Ryan Lander to Milwaukee to Mount Horeb really across the state and that's given me a great deal of insight into what other districts do well and what are issues that are really Universal across districts throughout our state I also teach graduate
046horses to pre-service teachers so I have the opportunity to work with young and new to our profession teachers who are just getting ready to student teach that's always a really exciting group of people to work with and that's given me insight into what our new people coming into the profession are excited about what they're worried about what they're looking for and as I said that gives me insights that I don't think we currently have on the board um I decided to throw my hat into the ring because I really think that the district is at a pivotal point with Dr shrug taking a position elsewhere our district is you know we don't know where it's going right through whoever we choose for our superintendent is really going to make a difference as to what Vision
047what direction we go into and I think education in general is also really at a Crossroads um I'm sure that Watertown like other districts that I know uh is perhaps not yet finding it hard to recruit and retain teachers but I think we're all seeing that come down the road I think making sure that our children have the best possible adults in the classroom to support their learning really has to be our primary goal if our kids aren't coming to school every day excited and learning and feeling supported then essentially we failed in our most essential task um and our community like many communities around the states and around the country is really divided I would not wish your inboxes on my worst enemy I know you folks have felt the vitriol from all sides
048of the community in the last few years and I worry that if we don't have a strong superintendent and a really cohesive experience board that we may not be able to come back from that divisiveness and our kids need us too our kids need us to work together as a community and work together as a school board and work together as school staff to provide them the best that we can so that's a very simple overview of my experience and why I'm interested personally I have two kiddos in the district I've got a fifth grader at Webster I have an eighth grader at middle school she's looking forward to being at the high school next year my husband and I have lived in Watertown since 2005 and we chose this community when we got married
049and were looking to put down Our Roots because we really appreciate the sense of community here I've taught in several places in southeastern Wisconsin and there's not a lot of cities that have you know a thriving downtown and everyone goes to the football games on Friday nights and we have Fourth of July parades and we have festivals there's that that's not common here and I value that quite a bit and again I think I worry that if we don't work together to solve that divide that I see in person and online and in social media that we might lose some of that um so again that's that's really my motivation here so I think that I can bring some really valuable experience and I'm really motivated to help Watertown heal some of those wounds and
050really move forward um to be the best that it can be questions for this candidate Greg do you not know you signed up for that yeah right yeah Wendy um do you feel that parents should have a say in what is taught in the classroom and why I think that the school board and school administrators and teachers should work together with parents and the community but I see that more as a global meta partnership I don't think that I as a parent of a fifth grader should email his teacher Mrs Johnson and say I want him to read this book because I know that our teachers are trained experts and and again one of my motivations for for volunteering to serve on the board is that making sure that we have the best highest qualified
051most caring adults in the classroom is what we need I want to be able to trust that my child's teacher knows what's best for them on the other hand I do think that schools work better and children have a better learning experience when we all work together so I know just again my experiences with Webster and the middle school but my son's experience so Webster is they're very welcoming for parents um there's a lot of opportunities for parents to meet with teachers communicate with with teachers meet with a principal participate in activities with the school I have never as a parent here felt that my input or perspective or concerns were unwelcome uh really on the contrary I have felt extraordinarily blessed with the teachers and staff that my son in particular has has worked
052with so I think that would be my perspective on that I don't I don't I don't see a role for individual parents to individual to dictate individual items of curriculum but I do think that parents should be able to communicate with teachers and administrators serve on uh committees when we reevaluate curriculum uh professionally that has been my experience in the past that when districts that I've worked with in the past have reviewed curriculum propose new initiatives we have often invited parents and community members and friendly students to participate in that work and that always ends up with a better product and a better experience for our students next question Tina thank you um so as a board as an embark on our next big task of selecting a new superintendent I know you kind of
053alluded to some things before but could you um just kind of like reiterate like what skills do you bring that could add value as we go through this process of selecting the superintendents um that's a really good question thank you Tina I think I come with a blend excuse me I come with a blend of professional experience in the field of Education um and then also my own personal experience as a parent and a Community member but particularly someone who has worked in the field of education for over 20 years and has taught gosh 17 years I don't even think that sounds possible 17 years of adjunct courses um with Carroll University and for Turbo University and Edgewood College I really probably would bore some of you with the intricacies of of current initiatives in
054education um I as many of you in your own in your own careers like I live and breathe educational policy at this point so um I can Envision meeting with superintendent candidates and really being able to understand when we listen to what initiatives that they've done in the past how they've worked with their staffs how they've worked with their Community um I think I'm going I would be able to really sift through some of that to really see the the the core of each candidate um and I think I can also provide insight into you know where is Watertown now with what we offer with what we're good at with what we struggle with and what sort of candidate and what sort of criteria and qualifications would we want in the superintendent who can help
055us take that strong path into the future and not just you know paddle and stay with the status quo next question go ahead Dave Smith you you talked about uh solving a Divine healing wounds um divided culture we're at a pivotal Point um then you talked about a cohesive board as well um so we we have recently put together our our priorities and strategic plan for the next three years you know we've we've set a direction uh for uh the district as a board uh how do you see yourself as you come into that with an established plan um being able to participate in uh shaping that as it goes forward I I my primary question in any policy decision any communication um any conversation with the board is always what's best for our students
056it's really easy as adults whether parent teacher Community member board member administrator it's really easy to let our own personal feelings and experiences kind of cloud the picture and what I will always try and do is just take that step back and say but what's best for the kids and and frankly sometimes what's best for the kids may not be immediately possible with Staffing or budgets we all know those are not you know not easy things to handle sometimes but for me the the long goal always has to be in any decision that we make with the Strategic plan with Personnel decisions with you know individual policies is this helping the students is this making their experience better are we being welcoming of all of our children and if the answer is no um then
057that's something that we need to work on so that would be my Approach um working with you on the Strategic plan is just always coming back to how is this helping our kids next question hi Wendy this is Doug hi hi so a question I asked the previous candidate to um sold critical race Theory and gender gender inclusiveness are in the National spotlight how do you think of that fitting into our curriculum and what you see that looking like for Watertown well and and I will speak as a professional educator here I am not aware of any districts in the state that is teaching critical race Theory um I can't imagine that that would be curriculum that are curriculum advisors or teachers would suggest so I guess I don't even really see that being an
058issue that we would have to decide um as far as gender inclusivity partly I'll go back to my question of Are We helping our kids um and partly I'll go back with a legal perspective of um as the previous candidate stated the times are changing the courts have been fairly clear about the parameters that schools have to operate within as far as welcoming our students um I would in any question that would come before me I would look at what's best for the kids and frankly what's not going to waste taxpayer money like there's some fights that we just won't win and as a community member and a responsible board member I can't imagine pursuing a course of action that would embroil us in a lawsuit that we would lose um all right thank you
059other board members so Wendy my question first one is you selected a year from now how do you look back and judge whether you're successful or not um as I mentioned before I really see the next year one of our pivotal tasks being to choose the best possible superintendent that we can to lead the district and really that would be my primary marker you know if we can be back together next April and we either have hired a new superintendent um whether they've started or are just slated to to begin that we're all proud of and excited about and that we are confident we'll be leading our staff and students in the direction that we want them to go that's going to be my primary marker of success burning issue that you think we need
060to address as a district um as I said earlier I don't know that you consider choosing a superintendent a burning issue I think that's our primary task at hand I think the issue is acknowledging the rift or the Rifts frankly that exist between parents and community members that exist between board members that exist between I think in some cases teachers and admin and community members and and trying to get us to be taking some steps to heal those risks because frankly as long as we're all fighting each other um nobody's winning and the kids are really losing you know until the parents and the schools and the board can work together we're not putting our full energy into making the schools the best they can be for our kids and that's really a shame any
061other questions for this candidate as far as student achievement and looking at Watertown Itself by itself what area would you consider the priority right now looking at how we operate as a district report card wise or within there you know I'm I'm not I don't I don't put a ton of stock in standardized test scores um I think they're a useful measure but I don't think they're the only measure um my my big goal would always be are we providing balance and the opportunities we're giving our children I've worked in some very high performing um very well-off districts in the past and we had students going off to Harvard and UCLA and MIT but we also have students who weren't planning on a four-year college and frankly often they got the short end of the
062stick my goal for Watertown particularly being you know the the community that we are where we value hard work and we value um you know working with our hands I think we have a fairly Blue Collar background personally in my family I come from a very blue-collar background my dad was a union pipefitter my grandpa was a union painter um we need to make sure that we're providing equal opportunities for all our students so we need to make sure that our students who want to pursue a four-year college education have strong classes that challenge them and prepare them for college but we also have to make sure that we have a really strong CTE program that prepares our students who want to go into the trades who want to go into culinary school who want
063to pursue other Hands-On and and not not programs that need a four-year college and and I think we frankly do a fairly good job of that at Watertown but I think we can always do more so rather than looking at a particular you know we want 90 of our students to be proficient readers at third grade those are great goals but I would really look at boots on the ground when our students leave water on high school have we really done everything we can to prepare them from for whatever path they want to go on to next hey Smith did you have one more yeah good I wanted to drill on a little bit more you talked about you know superintendent being a priority uh filling that role um but then you talk about issues
064around acknowledging risks and in the community and trying to build that back can you be a little more specific on like an example of a riff that you believe is there and a solution that you believe that we you can help the board as a board member provide well I mean with respect I can only imagine that your email inbox has been like the email inbox that every board member and administrator that I know that in the last two years you have had Parents screaming on one side anti-mask anti regulations anti-quarantine and on the other side have parents screaming that we're not nasty enough and we're ending our students these two groups of people are not talking to each other um I I know people who've been friends for years who no longer talk who
065blocked each other in social media who look the other way when they see each other in pick and Save these are all voters and parents in our district and I I'm not naive enough to think that in one year on the board that I can solve this issue but I do think it's important that we acknowledge that people in our community are really fired up um and and really all parents were fired up because we want what we think is best for our kids we just don't agree on what's best for our kids um and so let's hope ironically as my husband's upstairs ill but let's hope that as covid kind of works its way out of our Collective systems that we can stop thinking about the emergency of the moment and start looking towards
066like okay we all just weather to really significant Collective trauma and we didn't all act our best and how do we now maybe men some fences maybe never you know have each other for barbecue again but how do we mend some some of those fences so that we can work together in the future um I don't know that I have a specific strategy in mind for that I I think that you folks on the board have done a pretty good job about being open to a parent and Community inputs God bless you because I know that wasn't easy um but I do I think the first step is acknowledging you know just pretending that everyone gets along and and that this is going to blow over I don't think that's gonna work I think we
067have to acknowledge it there's a lot of hurt and anger here and acknowledging cleaning out that wound letting it get some fresh air and sunlight that's the first step to starting to heal some of those wounds and moving forward all right Craig you had mentioned um in your comments that uh education and Watertown is at a Crossroads what do you mean by that well I think education in Watertown and education Nationwide is it a Crossroads um you know I'm I'm sure you know you you I'm I'm sure as a new board member you've educated yourself and kept up on news articles we have fewer and fewer people entering the profession we have lots and lots of baby boomers retiring um some of them frankly earlier than we'd hoped so I think you know when I
068started the profession in the late 90s a district could get 400 applications for a kindergarten teacher or a high school history teacher we're not getting that anymore um so I think our whole Community cultural view of education has shifted and if we can't at least in Watertown again work together make this a community where people want to live makes us a community where people want to teach then we I think we will start to find that it's harder to get those really excited high quality trained people to be in the front of our classroom um we all know that budgets are getting tighter you know the state's not sending schools a lot more money every year so you as the board and the administrators have to always make do with a little bit less and
069meet those needs so I really do think that we're not we're not you know in Dire Straits yet but I do think there's some issues that we need to see coming and work as a board too plan for so that in five or ten years we're not in terrible shape and we're doing that as I said before at a time when we don't have the community necessarily unified behind us right this is the Taiwan there's a lot of contention and so we're trying to solve some heavy problems when there's a lot of disagreement about what direction the school should go in nice any other questions thank you very much thank you I appreciate it and our third candidate is good evening I'm Diana Johnson and I'm a retired teacher with over 25 years of experience
070I'm married I have two high school age children and have been a member of this community for about 20 years my days now are spent enjoying my kids activities subbing occasionally in the classroom controlling the financial side of our sales company and I'm the CEO of the rock picking crew on our family farm I'm a Solutions oriented person I think it's a total waste of time to sit and debate problems as a parent I hold my kids accountable for their actions as a teacher I invested time to make every student successful and accountable for their learning and for their behaviors my goal is to collaborate with other members of the board in holding District leaders accountable for the goals and expectations that they set forth learned a lot these past 25 years on top of
071teaching I was a team leader a math department chair and district coordinator a district leader in standards-based grading a district leader and National presenter on student-led conferencing a teacher leader and mentor and educator Effectiveness a math instructional coach a leader in differentiated instruction and a math interventionist there are trials and tribulations along the way I promise to share the wisdom that I learned in that awesome 25-year Journey I can also assist in bringing Clarity to the sometimes confusing teacher lingo and jargon for both board members and teachers the board has a unique and exciting opportunity right now to implement change with the hiring of a new superintendent I look forward to the opportunity to be being a part of this process with you and I look forward to serving the community to make Watertown schools
072the best it possibly can be thank you all right thank you questions from board members right all right um what do you recognize as positive opportunities for the Watertown Unified School District can make biggest impacts on academic achievement sorry that got a little distracted can you repeat that again uh basically the last part of it would be what opportunities were would you recognize within the Watertown United school district where we could make the biggest impact on impact on academic achievement um in my opinion with providing every student the right to learn that has to be rigorous that has to be I'll use the district model rigorous and relevant you hear that in so many different districts if you are not providing rigor and relevance to every kid no matter what level they have it's not
073going to be a positive opportunity for them either way I see that you have a master's in curriculum is that a passion of yours yes education's okay right and so I'll just tell you when I started teaching I started back in colleges actually myself college and 90s started teaching in 95 and actually my principal at the time when I went for curriculum instruction I was a year and a half out of college I was coaching five sports I was doing whatever I could and I thought you know I want to make an impact in the school so I'll go curriculum instruction to get as much knowledge as I could and my principal looked at me and said I'm gonna I'm gonna be grudgingly sign up on this you should go to become a principal and
074I said maybe I'll do that someday but I've always just stayed everything I do when you think about what I've done in these years it's always been somehow oriented to making schools the best place I can be for kids so is the curriculum side of things I have unpacked and repacked the math standards for grades six seven and eight I have Rewritten assessments for the Waukesha school district for grades six seven and eight um is curriculum of passion students are my passion and frankly there are jobs that nobody volunteers to do hey I'm it it needs to be done all right next question Tina as we work at this next big task um that we have to do for selecting is superintendent what skills or you know qualities things like that do you feel that
075you have that can help us do that a few different things come to mind I'll be forthright honest I've never picked a superintendent before but I've worked with a lot of people over the years I'm going to tell you in Waukesha when I was there we had the best superintendent ever hands down um and so what skills do I bring I guess I could just bring I'll share with you now I guess maybe I shouldn't share with you now because then you won't vote me in but we need someone that's going to put students first that has a vision and so skills I am task oriented goals oriented follow-through oriented and so I want to help that resonate to bring that to the board as well um I guess you didn't ask what I want
076from the superintendent but skills is being able to sift through those qualities isn't an easy task because here's this wonderful phenomenal person that has this great resume okay let's ask some of those tough questions what's their Vision where's their strategic plan what does that look like what history do they have how is their student report card look I've done data digging my entire life there's people in here that I've worked with that I've been sitting opposite them asking those hard questions and as long as we can understand that it's not that I'm not standing with we're having a conversation to make this all better making the best choice possible and I believe that's my greatest strength thank you sure so I'm going back to the critical race theory gender inclusiveness and the curriculum it's on
077National spotlight what do you think of it when you say the water tone how does that pertain to us or not pertain to us what are your thoughts on it how does it pertain to us or where's my stance on it either one whatever you'd like to say about it it's hard because every student has the right to learn I personally don't think teachers should be teaching critical race Theory that's something that what I'm going to do with my family and same with when you talk about gender inclusiveness every student has the right to feel included I worked in the largest online school in the nation last year I'll tell you a story that happened there I had a student that transgender parents didn't support it and they had a whole separate world that's at
078school we do this and that there's a fine line you know there's got to be Community Support parental support teacher understanding you can be inclusive and understanding and not imposing your personal thoughts and beliefs on them so there is a place for things at home at school kids have the right to be educated they have the right to feel safe they have the right to take risks we need to be able to revive that without putting anybody down or putting anybody um in a bad situation and there's always different Vantage points and we have to be really careful okay so why now there was an election through this month what what made you come up with the open seat versus the election my husband's been pushing me to do this for 15 years as a
079teacher putting in the time and energy and all the other millions of things we have going on is their time I've been kicking this idea around for the past six and thought do I really have the time my kids are at the Primitive life I'm missing my kids ball game tonight my daughter got you the picture got hit in the face how is she doing it my son started for the second time ever this how is he doing but then I go back to wait a second it was my kids I said Mom you can make an impact you can watch our views you can get the updates you can watch it on YouTube go do it okay you're right so you can ask my questions the first one is a year from now if
080you've been selected how do you look back and judge success as other candidates just said as you all know the superintendent role is probably the biggest um and finding someone that's pretty phenomenal is going to be a big Mark of success working in the schools as long as I have just driving a barge so to look for Success you know it's like you're going to see little things along the way that make an impact it's not a speedball and so when I started training teachers Nationwide 15 years ago in math it was manageable change well when you think about success what little things the little successes those baby steps amount to Big steps so have we made progress on our strategic plan as I went and reflected that I've heard a lot about the Strategic
081plan you know but I wanted to dig into it I got to tell you that it's really hard to find the nuts and bolts when you're not a member of the board or a member of the district I've read strategic plans in the districts I've worked in and it's page upon page and how are we digging how are we doing um your monitoring progress and so while it might not be a super big aha this but some of those little steps in that strategic plan it's a one-year goal it's a three-year goal it's a five-year goal so did we meet the one-year goal are you asking my personal or as a district for me personal did I help meet those one-year goals did I help meet those steps for the five-year goals did I work
082together with board net members to make those tough decisions that I helped clarify things that would be success for me all right and is there one burning issue that you think we need to rest and that's why I'm here ready to walk the fire with you um burning issue number one I think is the um superintendent burning number two I'm reluctant to say because I don't know what kind of fire and questions you're going to bring but how do you spend us or fun money where does that go you know those are things that you asked me that question right now Oh no just kidding just because you all have as board members have a lot more background in that than what me as a parent has been informed of at this point I know
083and and some of you you do maybe don't remember right after that initial presentation I did put my thoughts and feelings out there to the board here's what I think about Esther funds and here's my thoughts on where that should go that's huge when you get that big of a gift I'm going to call it a gift uh wow here we have some money how can we make an impact yeah that's pretty amazing other board members questions any other questions thank you all right so we read upon the process we've heard them speak we've asked some questions as read the responses you have it in front of you instead of these ballots and the process is for you to write down your selection and Consignments elected we'll see you early standards and your choices are
084Thomas next time yes and just to clarify it does require a majority in favor so it's not the morale we have five volts okay majority of the forge is in favor of Diana Johnson therefore do I hear a motion someone who appoints Diana Johnson to the vacancies.org so by Craig sector second by Lori mobile please yes Tina Johnson yes David Trader yes David Smith yes Doug Miller yes Craig Morgan yes thank you to all who applied and gave your time to see if you can speak with the board I hope you will actually have some encouragement and we'll continue to pursue the process and Diana we will be in contact with you to take care of her office and take the next steps all right this brings us to our last item under strategic discussion
085which is our safe schools update uh this uh I guess week two weeks ago whenever we had that Services we talked about the safe schools update and the fact that we were going to have this VA very very very brief report uh that there is not much in your report other than good news and as we move forward perhaps we don't need to continue to have this particular item on every agenda so the ad Services can be discussed that but thought we should at least come out this evening uh to put that before you so the safe schools updates uh is good news we continue to maintain really great low numbers uh in our schools one two uh this past week three cases um over the course of those weeks and we continue to maintain
086higher attendance for both staff and for students so we feel very good about that Trend and we are very faithful that we will continue to see that Trend um moving forward that is my safe schools update unless there are any questions about that sure I am positive I I was told by David Trader I had 30 seconds so I did not want I did not want to exceed my time you might have said hen I think I extended I expanded it but you took 60. comments or questions so reflecting on feedback from the community I think it would behoove us to tell people in advance when we might see a number of other conditions have been in place drop off sooner we can cast that better uh and we had conversation about services that we
087certainly anticipate um summer school and the beginning of the next school year uh looking very much like we would anticipate the beginning of any school year uh in the beginning of any summer school programming uh and we can continue to have additional discussion about that as well uh at the upcoming and services meeting Tony the discussion at ed services was also is there a better way to do our quote-unquote safe schools policy it's more robust less code specific um and how much resources could staff look towards that let's say during the summer we've been given examples whether it be from uh you know board members or community members pointing out I'm not saying that ours is so it needs to be improved can't exist as it is or can't just be set aside but I
088didn't know where we get the direction and the uh priority to to make sure that we have something that the school staff as well as the board is comfortable with going forward if we're not happy with the current one or if we just set it aside entirely and then bring it back should we need one didn't know what you thought about putting the resources towards that but that was a discussion at ESC done my day suggests that the board actually look at perhaps do as soon as summer school we removed the current policy and reverse to our existing communicable diseases policy and instead the question isn't how do we change this what I call the safe schools stuff instead the question is do we need to make any changes to our Communicator or existing communicable
089disease policy yes that's your new starting point right starting point isn't what we've been doing the starting point is what's our base policy that we've always had is that we need to make any adjustments to that does that fall under policy then good thank you that's just my suggestion I will support that any other comments or questions on that topic okay then our next item up is the superintendent support all right uh very uh briefly as well however we are very excited to begin our process uh for again selecting a distinguished alumni recipe I encourage you should you know someone who is deserving of this honor uh to go into the district website where you're able to nominate someone you can see here our nominees of the cast we do still have a robust pool
090of candidates that we are always looking for new uh entries into the handmade pool and again making sure that that recognition is bestowed on someone who is truly deserving we have had extraordinary distinguished alumni in the past and we fully expect to be able to recognize another just extraordinary alumni at our June board meeting which is we typically do that so that process has been concluded in May so if those nominations in there exactly um Children's Day Fair first of all I have to give a huge shout out to Jamie uh Rose now who has done an extraordinary job of bringing back children safe there we have missed Children's Day fair for the past two years and this year uh it was fantastically well attended if you haven't been to this event uh please put
091it on your calendar for next April uh it is an absolutely wonderful event where we bring in all sorts of Community Resources and supports for children uh we invite all of our community members to attend as well as children and surrounding communities it is a wonderful day full of wonderful activities and it also is a child find activity for us an opportunity for us to know the children who are in our community Maybe are not familiar to us and encourage them to consider the educational opportunities here in the district and also to ensure that if they have needs that we need to be meeting that we are doing that as well so wonderful event and truly Jamie I don't know how many hours she put in to coordinated that along with many other wonderful people
092who are at the event this weekend and coordinating those details a huge thank you to making that happen ing this is an example of some of the Fantastic recent Outreach that's happening in campus Dr Vitale is doing an amazing job of doing uh really extraordinary Outreach efforts to students in Portugal that we are anticipating coming through our program as well as now working with students in Japan and most recently the students in Ukraine uh all of those students are coming in through our career Pathways program with the opportunity to earn a diploma from their country of residence and paying tuition towards the wusd to help support those efforts uh is a fantastic win-win situation all the way around at Dr Vitale has really uh reached out and created some amazing Partnerships that we are so
093happy to have and so happy to bring um the Fantastic level of Education that we have available here at the campus to those students and Families might have happened the whole secondary for them here in the states as well we had all sorts of celebrations uh in the month of April April is a big celebration month in uh education and one of those was National volunteer week uh so if you know a volunteer uh it's not too late to go back and say thank you uh here on the wusd we have the very finest volunteers around so we used uh that time to celebrate some of the great work that is happening there uh in our classrooms and to support our students are learning uh we are very very very happy uh to report that
094testing is over uh we have been working very hard in our schools to administer our spring testing window uh and we are happy with the work that has been happening in our classrooms to support that really important work which was discussed tonight we know standardized tests certainly tell far from the whole story but they are an important data point and they certainly factor into our state report card uh and we appreciate all the efforts of our students our teachers our administrators in executing those uh very important tests uh congratulations it's looking kind of into the lights here um congratulations to the skills USA chapter display team who received first place at State uh as we know our skills USA team every single year uh has extraordinary finishes at stage and also extraordinary finishes at the
095national level uh we are very proud of the work that they have done and as we already acknowledged again a numb uh winner uh for our best community of music and as I also already mentioned we have the spotlight tour featuring Mark Wood coming up get your tickets it's May 14th featuring the Trans-Siberian Orchestra uh Mark Wood I mean really really really extraordinary if you haven't been to one of these performances in the past it is so cool it is so cool and my reluctant Orchestra student is very excited to be working with Mark Wood um we had National associate principal week we had paraprofessional appreciation day and school library and appreciation day again April's a big month reach out to these people say thank you thank you thank you we have some of the
096finest around and get ready to celebrate because May is going to be teacher appreciation week that is next week let's make sure we make it a really really special uh today our week for our staff and that is my report all right thank you comments or questions on that report all right order of canisters the board of canisters met on April 11th we reviewed all the detailed outputs from the voting districts however them up to make sure that our colleagues match their towers and you see the report attached and we will have a resolution recognizing that result in these comments or questions on that report please thank you for those that did it fiscal management got a meeting April 20th uh all board all committee members are presents and animals it's along with myself Bill
097cerdick our supervisor recordings and grounds and Shiro price or supervisor of nutrition services the payment report we discussed payments above ten thousand dollars specifically addressed a payment of 98 000 for the purchase of 400 Chromebooks from Vanguard computers I acknowledge that this purchase really should have gone to the board for approval and whether that has been the precedent for ongoing student device replacement this would really recommended still bringing for the purchase for board approval to align report policy so that's why you see that um action item tonight and resolution and then in addition to that I'm working with Stacy to determine how to better kind of align the checklisting with some additional information funds and things like that that can be a little easier to read a divorce report um we're still on track we've
098budgeted a 3.5 million dollar allocation towards fund balance still should be around that number and um really that's just helping to defer future deficits as we we're 23-24 school year it was asked whether we've seen evidence of inflation we have specifically in um utilities and paper items but really um you know really as we're service based industry uh the new contracts we're going to be able to see evidence of information um we talked about the gym floor replacement we we accepted uh we went out to competitive bid to replace the gym for gym floor RMS uh we've got some pictures uh in the board packet for tonight uh really past its useful life uh the vendor that that usually performs the yearly service on it is like they are uncomfortable touching that anymore um and
099so it became somewhat of a safety concern for for Bill and I so we went out to bid um and you just we determined at the meeting itself that given the feedback on the three different proposals that bill and I would take the feedback and fiscal come back with our um suggestion on who to approve for that and yes we can talk about that resolution comes up brought forward a second Greenhouse at the high school uh this is uh the agriculture Department it's going to be a combination of funds that have been donated as well as District funds um it appears the majority will be donated funds the district fund portion will not be above 20 000. my question to the committee was really what if the entire project was over 20 but not um
100you know majority donated funds do we still want that to go forward uh the community determine periodic updates provided through the superintendent report will be the best way to kind of give us ongoing um and I'm going to report on how that is shaping up so um with that we will be doing majority of that work over the summer and possibly getting Matt ready for kids to work on come the fall when they return I simply read the description for the community uh the greater Watertown Community Health Foundation Grant and uh background will be used to fund summer school curriculum and that's in the resolution tonight and then finally we spent some time with Sheila talking about the currency the food service programs and then specifically the current financials um over the next year or
101so we actually have to draw down fund balance and Food Service uh per per state um a request and so the committee provided feedback on the current Food Service program and kind of guidelines to think about as the funds are expended so let's move in is May 18th tell me some questions there are several resolutions coming out of that and you can also ask comments or questions at that time thank you human resources yes so yeah the first meeting we reviewed the consent agenda which is in the resolution in your on the board's agenda this evening that's a review of the staff appointments the resignations and terminations we also have had our initial list of summer school projects to be issued for this summer this Summer's summer school there's a resolution for those contracts also
102at tonight's board agenda the committee had a discussion about a compassion and believe idea wherein we would be looking at expanding our lead policies to include uh situations where an employee has a catastrophic illness or injury of a family measure so that is a work in progress and I will be bringing draft ideas to the next to next month's HR committee to further discuss and explore that idea and see where we go from from there next month we did go into closed session to discuss two individual situations one of our retirement and another one is seven legal dances we made no decisions while we were in closed session we resumed Open Session and we adjured our meeting our next meeting was on April 21st Thursday we had two agenda items for that meeting the first
103was a review of the finalist presentation for the superintendent search firm we had two vendors come in and do presentations hya Associates and McPherson and Jacobson Central presented and had some discussion with the end committee members and other state board members the committee recommended a resolution to retain hya Associates for the superintendent search and that is also a resolution of tonight's board agenda and we went into full session for uh first discussion of the 2022-23 Staffing plan no decisions were made in that closed session we we could be to open session and we reviewed the teacher staff contracts which are also on a resolution for your consideration this evening we concluded the April 21st meeting and our next meeting will be that says Thursday but early it will be Monday May 16th at 5 30
104pm all right thank you comments or questions in that report hopefully first second though in the reports second Educational Services yeah I can I can take this uh we met April 12th um and discussed briefly the safety plan updates uh there was a presentation on a K-12 math program research and review process whereby uh Team would convene in the 2022-2023 school year to research mathematics instruction and curriculum and with the idea of adopting or proposing an adoption for the 2023-2024 school year process very similar to the recent Riverside Middle School English language arts process that was recently approved by the board we were joined by representatives from vendy advertising they share deliverables on a prospective eCampus ad campaign uh what came out of that was an effort to gain a better sense of the market
105conditions uh specifically student enrollments in the market size as well as the competitive landscape before the board would decide to move forward with the potential ad campaign so that's the next step and then Aaron Meyer and Jenny borst shared a teaching and learning update one item was the math research study there were other aspects to that as well that they can expound upon should they choose to do so no otherwise that's that's the report and we meet again on May 10th comments are questions from the board uh just return I volunteered to be the board member on the uh the math research study but looking at a resume of a new board member with 21 years of math experience I will withdraw my name she says she raises don't put it in the resume if
106it's not true [Laughter] books or anything else this brings us to a consent agenda resolution 9098 the consent agenda includes board meeting minutes and committee summaries Personnel Staffing that's resignations retirements and hiring decisions as well as the approval of bills the first reading and second reading of policies please note there are no first reading policies this evening but there are a number of second reading policies is there a second by Tina comments or questions on the resolution hearing none roll call vote please yes my chickens yes yes Tina Johnson yes David Trader yes David Smith abstain Doug will yes yes and the motion carries this then takes us to our action items first up resolution 9099 for summer school staff do I hear a motion on resolution 9099 is there a second second yeah thank
107you let's move that seconded comments or questions on the resolution hearing non-roll call vote please yes Tina Johnson yes David Schrader yes David Smith yes Doug will yes yes and the motion carries next is resolution 9100 which is the report from Board of canvassers and certificate of determination of persons elected do I hear a motion on 9100 so I'll move person moved by David seconded by Doug okay comments or questions on the motion hearing none roll call those duties yes yes Tina Johnson yes David Trader yes David yes Douglas yes yes and the motion carries next is resolution 9101 special education policies and procedures do I hear a motion so move d by Doug is there a second second by Mike this is an annual Affair of bringing our special education policies procedures in line
108with any changes at occurrency level comments or questions on the motion hearing non-roll call vote please yes yes Johnson yes David Schrader yes David Smith yes yes yes and the motion carries next is resolution 9102 which is our lease with Madison College to have space for the Discovery Academy do I hear a motion on 9102 so moved by Craig seconded by Doug comments or questions on the motion any substantial changes to at least on the committee at all any other comments or questions yes yes okay I've been a real problems yes yes Lori Allen yes Tina Johnson yes David Trader yes David Smith yes yes yes and the motion carries next is resolution 9103 greater Watertown Community Health Foundation summer school curriculum Grant do I hear a motion by Tina is there a second second
109invite David comments or questions or for so many of our programs in the past they have supported about the cell African enforce during summer school uh we did not experience the same level of success this past summer as we did the previous summer therefore we've made some modifications to the curriculum in accordingly that we think we will experience a better success with uh and we are very grateful against foundations financial support for those here any other comments or questions on that it's not local Philippines yes my kittens yes Maureen yes Tina Johnson yes David sugar yes David Smith yes Douglas yes yes and the motion carries resolution 2022 2023 certified staff contracts do I hear a motion move by Tina seconded by Lori comments or questions on the motion hearing none all those please yes
110yes Tina Johnson yes David chairman yes David Smith yes Dr will yes upstate all right next is Revolution 9105 which is the approval of the Germany trip it was described to us earlier in the meeting is there a motion on 9105 by Mike comments or questions on the motion hearing none all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed ocean carries next is residential 9106 or purchase of Chromebooks do I hear emotion on this I move the table my second there's a motion to the table that's not subject to discussion that will although an athletes no my kittens no Laurie Holland yes do you know Jackson David Trader no David Smith no no Craig Warren yes motion to table fails do I hear a motion in resolution 9106 so I'll move second by Doug
111seconded by Dave discussion on the motions please correct so as was discussed in the uh fiscal report that is my understanding that this was a you know violation of the 3300 series of the policy that indicates that purchases of over twenty thousand dollars should come before the board of for approval um I I think that this Vote or approval that is being sought retroactively um you know it's a violation of the spirit of the uh the policy uh procedurally I'm not sure that I can legally vote or an action that has already happened um and I think that if an up or down vote were to take place on this resolution I would have to vote no because I knew that a vote in support of this resolution is a vote in support of the
112violation of the 3300 policy series um my question would be what happens if this resolution fails then what um is this an effort to coerce a board into support of a resolution that really shouldn't should or should not happen if I question the legality there um I am assuming that there is a reason for the 3300 series of policies um one of one of the things that I I see is as a board member if a referendum comes before us at some point where we have to um discuss this with the community and they have to look somebody Square in the eye I have to actually be very Frank that I did everything I possibly could to be fiscally responsible I feel like the discussion needs to happen in front of the board as the
113policy indicates if the referendum were to fail I have to explain to those another set of stakeholders look them in the eye and explain why cuts are going to be necessary so I I feel that this should be tabled so that a deeper conversation or deeper discussion can be had and I want to leave it at that foreign a few thoughts that I have first five minutes in the right work for how this went down the level of expenditure by itself should be fun and that's the way there's a process for working through any actions need to be taken as a result of that second thought is this would appear to call attention to its laws in our process as a district that need to be addressed I believe I heard that spoken to a
114little bit earlier and I looked forward to hearing about what changes will be made to prevent this kind of thing from happening again and certainly I would say that if the board disagrees with this expenditure then vote it down now these things are expected of sitting on a ship somewhere yeah sure there are options so if we do not wish to proceed with this specific purchase for the reason of the purchase and by all means the board should consider that force of action however if you've purchases the right thing to do in terms of what is the extent on then what we need to ask for is or is the accountability for how this came about this way and what's going to change in the future um doesn't matter I appreciate Tony how's your second
115grade that there's two there's two distinct things here is the purchase not the purchase that should be made that's what the motion before us today is for is should this purchase be approved by the board as a religion purchase then there is the separate to me procedural that this shouldn't have happened if it came up at fiscal and like I said it needs to go to the board to at least get the purchase approved yes there is the question how did this happen and what are we going to do to make sure it doesn't happen again it needs to take place but those are two separate I guess I'm I'm not necessarily questioning the need for Chromebooks um there is a valid discussion to be had there but again foreign it just doesn't seem like
116this comes through um in a good faith effort I struggle with that because um at the end of the day I think there isn't no I guess my question would be was there some sort of an emergency here I mean are we in possession of these Chromebooks yes so we already have them yes reviews for me that that's a desire of the board um to hear the need for the Chromebooks I I can yeah I can I can speak if I understood uh I believe it was Craig's question about uh the need and so forth these are Chromebooks that are on a replacement cycle uh they're actually replacing 2015 and 2016 models that are currently in circulation across several of our schools and they're at what it's what uh it's called end of life and
117that just means that uh the Chrome operating system updates no longer take place um create security patch um problems security problems for systems that aren't updated uh as well as performance and feature improvements that no longer take place so the functionality of the systems after six or seven years drops off considerably and so and and students of course with our quarantines and our you know more digital learning taking place they take their systems home after several years they do um you know they do wear out somewhat and so um this order of 400 Chromebooks would replace 400 systems as I mentioned before they're Acer c740s if you want to know I have a spreadsheet I can share and I've shared with um Mr Williamson but it's a process that we follow every year and um
118we certainly apologize for um for the oversight there was no malice here no intent to deceive or um misuse funds they're going to our kids and our families and I know that our feedback for example in our Sr surveys and and so forth uh continue to indicate a need for uh improved technology or updated technology and you know it's a hard thing to stay on top of because we know that um this obsolescence can come by fairly quickly um in terms of updates and so forth so there's nothing else I can say unless you have questions um you know we'll have we will certainly be bringing more Chromebook requests to you and we will follow the policy and again we apologize for the oversight you know you're trying to speak I was disgusting yes there
119was one comment asked her funds is this where this is being applied or is this being no this was part of budget yeah yeah it's not not us with funds it's in the budget yeah was the reason we went with the ones price other than the other yeah my understanding is um Vanguard was able to actually guarantee delivery great part um the Vanguard technology HP has had better success as far as holding up over time thanks Tyler uh and then over the Dells and then the screen quality on the hp's uh easier on the kids eyes that are falling there too so I really think the multiple quotes was to make sure that vanguardo wasn't out of line more than anything else so like fifteen hundred dollars that's not uh not given the quality there
120we do have we do there are concerns about um you know Supply pipeline issues and one silver lining of this could be you know in in recent weeks or upcoming weeks I should say the cost of systems with chip shortages is a real isn't bona fide reality so um we're just grateful we have the systems um and again you know we'll certainly uh remain reticent to policy moving forward um and thought we were in this case but obviously um you know things fell through so any other comments or questions on the motion okay yeah I noticing the discussion that's here tonight I my intention was to move closer to a better understanding of this and um I will support the resolution as going going forward but because I it's because I feel our kids need
121the Chromebooks not regard not how the policy was necessarily handled okay any other comments or questions on the motion 9106. during non-roll mobile please yes my kittens yes Lori Collins yes Tina Johnson yes Dave Trader yes David Smith yes that will yes Craig Morgan yes yes and the motion carries next is resolution 9107. RMS M4 installation do you like very much so move by David is there a second second like job comments or questions on the resolution did have two quotes on this congratulence so I noticed that the there is no um you know dollar amount that is included in the resolution itself is that a discussion that we should be allowing for our fiscal committee to potentially make a decision um for like a not to exceed amount or is it something that Bob
122there's just off a checkbook for it uh it's a good question I believe these text was to allow for the possibility of looking at several additional optional aspects of things well in this yeah I'll just I'll speak to it in this case basement flooring came out you can look at the um three quotes from the fiscal meeting uh last Wednesday they're they're there uh we would follow the basement flooring not there's a couple basements we go with basement flooring at the 115 number compared to basement brothers and 142 and Schmidt 180. um really the discussion that a pernet fiscal was we needed to determine whether we needed to actually fix the floor or whether it would be floating and basement flooring suggested the floating and that's what we are going with here because the timing
123of the installation being in August it's going to be the most a lot of humidity in that gym the wood is going to already be expanded and So based on flooring knowing that there's no air in there for the moment is going to put in the appropriate joints uh put in the appropriate beads around each of the flooring boards in order to allow for expansion and shifting to turn and won't get that buckling so really it's a timing of it in connecting the basement flooring they certainly could fix it but that's not their suggestion here and so at uh 27 000 difference or so felt comfortable going ahead of his basement Brothers on this and it's the same company that installed the floor at the high school as well and we've had it's beautiful for
124it and had success there so that's that's where this came that's what it came down to after once I agree it's me at least makes sense to have a not tricks either yeah we know there's a possibility that you it may be option A or option b and let's put the higher of the two yeah so we have it not to exceed that makes sense no I I would say let's go if you want to amend the uh the motion say let's go with the I'm just pulling it up now uh the basement Brothers quote at a cost not to exceed so we're going with basements which was which only gave us one option without the correct yeah but you're thinking you want the add-on or you don't because that was the confusion is you
125thought you may want to mix the add-on from one and get okay that's foreign whatever has happened in at the committee level in terms of going into a contract with someone allowing for perhaps some detailing of that contract later on so I do not exceed it is certainly appropriate but it would not be at all unusual to see a resolution without a final dollar amount because frequently we are still working on uh some of those details usually in hooks that that will come down uh over the month but I do not succeed again and this makes a ton of sense but just as uh it would not be unusual to see a resolution come before you without a specific dollar amount but with an agreement going into bids or uh agreements with a particular company
126can we make a motion to mend this resolution well David would you accept the not to exceeded 113 120th friendly men I will and uh would you accept that as a second okay any other comments or questions on this I should I just add from a funding piece with it happening in August um the intention was certainly a fund so we have fund 46 which is additional dollars cyber Capital Improvement plans uh there's about 1.6 in there this would be a great expenditure to take out of that given it's a 40 to 50 60 year purchase a nice way to use funds have been set aside however we are still piecing together the budget for next year and if it can fit within normal operations we'll certainly do that so we have multiple fundings ways
127to do this nice question will this change since do we know how old that floor is it's original the original so I know we have a lot of recreational to come into the middle school is that going to are we going to be changing any of that I know it's really nice but I just I just want you know some of them may need a heads up if that's going to affect oh yeah does that make sure yes we're communicating yeah with especially you know I know there's baseball and there's no doubt things I think that's on there I just said no we're going to have to it's going to be early August probably that first week but I mean what about in the future like is there going to be because this is going
128to be a new floor are we going to want to restrict some of that limited use of it I'm not saying we should or shouldn't I'm just wondering I don't know I'm not dancing and I know there's things going on which is great but yeah I mean it's meant to take on the wear and tear I mean when we're looking at a floor it's 50 plus years old now um I'll certainly talk with basement floor and determine I'm not saying that do it yeah yeah you know they get used for a bunch of different things the shoes that they wear and the purpose of it is appropriate for a floor there's no point in damaging a new asset by letting them run in there with you know skateboards skateboards or those boogie boards or cleats
129or things what have you yeah I don't know what it all gets used for but it's a valid question is basement flooring and basement Builders the same or they set up so you're not the same okay okay [Laughter] all right any other comments or questions on the motion go publicly boots yes Mike Higgins yes Lori Helen yes Tina Jackson yes David Schrader yes David Smith yes Doug will yes yes and the motion carries and our last resolution 9108 there's the selection of a superintendent search firm who's described the HR committee is recommending the hya do I hear emotional so moved by Mike is there a second by Tina I would just say that assuming the board has been in favor of this that we will then contact them right away and I will go back
130to you on as specific of the dates and dates as we can get you they did of course in their proposal detail out what they thought the process would look like step by step but it was all subject to the start date then marketable contact them move forward and we were back has put them to you and to the community at large that's what this process will look like it's only a quick question um thanks for all those who participated in the HR meetings Margaret Tony and those who let it uh high level marketer Tony the two or three things that set this entity apart uh from the other ones that were uh reviewed just just high level stuff so this is one of the most active firms doing these kinds of searches in this
131area of Wisconsin and so they have both familiarity with the area and familiarity with candidates and yet they also have a national reach and highlighted there were the foreign States I believe the those present there was a your ironic right there's a comfortability looking that they seem to get what you're about and that's I think the number one thing that can be like they each way got what we're about okay so good and so therefore we felt more confidence and then going out and finding candidates thank you any other comments or questions on the motion hearing memorable please yes yes David Trader yes David Smith yes Doug will yes yes and the motion carries this brings us to the second opportunity in the agenda for public comments a new one present in the room or
132online again raise your hand and I see one online so we will go ahead and start there face and finish a moment hello you're on thank you okay Lucy Finch to West Main Street uh Watertown Wisconsin um I would highly recommend you keep the safety protocols into place not just for covid but as well as for influenza and other contagious ill illnesses even coals can be contagious if you're within a distance of a person especially if they cough keep with the healthy habits of good hygienes routines hand sanitizing areas especially before eating and after visiting the bathroom don't get rid of giving children and staff the option of wearing a face mask you fully get rid you if you fully get rid of face masking you will see more children getting sick my daughter has
133had the best two years of edu of her education by only missing one day of school in the past two years of this pandemic or whatever you want to call it with coven and influenza get yourself a mitigation guidelines where you have metrics as in numbers if there's covet and even influenza with a case-by-case transmission in a classroom have mass required within the classroom multiple case-to-case transmission and a grade level or across the grades levels then temporary masking required within the school if there's a seven day average of positive cases with either of those two if a school has a certain number or higher school-wide temporary masking like I have mentioned many times mass are not bad but helpful in so many ways though it's the person who makes them to be a bad thing
134covet is not going away it's just temporary at low just like the same for influenza and other things then though covet is more contagious and can be deadlier than influenza and I'm sure and I sure do know do not want to see any children or even adults dying or having lifetime complications from this with having mitigation guidelines into safety protocols you will have less teachers thinking of quitting their jobs I don't want to see teachers pulling being pulled left or right to different classrooms or other areas when they are prepped for their own classroom not someone else's just so that way a class or grade level doesn't have to go virtual I have already heard of many teachers on the verge of quitting because of being pulled in many in many different ways so I
135ask you to keep wsd safety protocols and for goodness sake put in some mitigation guidelines for colvan and even influenza since both are similar but have seen and for those who know covet can be more dangerous it's just a safety protocol that if you get rid of this you're going to see things back in 2020. thank you thank you and not see anyone else online I do not see anyone in the room here so I will entertain a motion a second Tina all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed