001e GL crying and talking okay at six o'clock uh call this to order start with a pledge of alleg you join me I to the the United States of America stand thank you Lynn would you please call the role Dan bolner here Craig Wartman here Mike Higgins here Lorie Holland here cig y here Diana Johnson here Sam oil here David Trader here okay uh Dr Burke we have a preview of the agenda are there any changes edits notes comments not okay very good uh we now have uh a 15 minute slotted or slated for uh public comment uh as we've been doing for the last few months we're going to limit it to three minutes a person which is really only going to be about five people um if there are that many who would
002like to speak uh also there was another public comment at the end um so um hopefully there is a piece of paper that you could have picked up on the way in or on Melissa's desk right now uh you're still required to give us your name at the podium before you speak but you don't have to spend your time writing your name down at that time you can fill out that piece of paper and leave it in the basket uh upon your department arer and uh only words of encouragement are keep it positive so who would like to speak first okay hello Ste pres my name is Elizabeth foxell 809 KC Drive um many of you know me as the multilingual teacher at sh I've been here also representing the PTO but tonight I get
003to represent the Education Foundation of Watertown I'm so excited that so many people here because you guys can hear more about us uh just a few updates on the Education Foundation we've been around for 25 years um so this year we are celebrating by asking many people for donations $25 for 25 years and you can do that through our brand new website with the help of Maria Garcia charity Chandler we have a gorgeous website that not only details what we are what we do who we stand for but also it gives you a super easy way to donate um some cool things about us this year we upped our grant total to $50,000 90 no$ 50,9 um to over 65 Grant requests from teachers in both parochial and public schools in our district all the
004way down from the preschools all the way up to the high schools um traditionally the past several years it's been $40,000 but because of generous donors and supporters we were able to go a little bit past 50,000 straight in to the Watertown district and of course like I said some of the private schools as well and I want to personally invite all of you to The Jig jog which is our biggest fundraiser of the Year taking place on March 15th um if you are not a jogger we are always looking for volunteers to help uh along the routes point to where people are going keep them safe and you can also sign up for that I believe on our Facebook page um Dan volner is our liaison and we're very grateful for that we look
005forward to seeing you hopefully at one of our upcoming meetings we've missed you these past couple ones but we're grateful for you to be there and um I think that's just about it so just a reminder oh one more thing we will also have a fundraiser through the Piggly Wiggly Roundup which we're super grateful for starting on Super Bowl Sunday going through to the 14th so if you make a point to shop at Piggly giggly during that week some of that money will come back to us the Education Foundation every year teachers are able to request for Grants um we had a total of 78 requests which is why we bumped up to $50,000 this year Any teacher in the district from um flexible seating we've done books we've helped to support uh the therapy
006dog at um Douglas we've done a MAG of play materials and you can find all of that on our website but please remember us please help um come enjoy The Jig jog by jogging or volunteering and if you have any questions about it I'll be hanging around so thank you guys again for all that you do and to double support our students I invite everyone once again to The Jig jog or to sign up for our newsletter on our website the Education Foundation of Watertown thanks you guys oh thank you although I know the organization I will take it off okay anyone else like to speak at public comment very good anyone online hi my name is John Markle 1101 North Fourth Street Watertown I am um I attended the school system through my life
007so did my son's mother so did my son and so do three of our grandchildren currently and we have uh issues that we'd like to just uh address I guess I didn't come here to tell anybody thing but just uh bring up a couple of things um I think it's a little ironic that uh you got a seat to fill the night this close to the spring primary I don't really understand how that happened or how that seat is going to get filled with candidates that weren't uh running for the primary but we think it's a me a matter of concern I realize that Tina Johnson has resigned and that's the reason for the vacancy of the seat but in the succession of it and the fact that you guys are going to vote on
008something here tonight I did come speak I would like to um address the fact that uh C was settled at the end of last year we did this ironically like a month before the federal election I think it's more than coincidence that changes in the divisions that happened between liberals and conservatives and the value of that that means on this Board needs to be brought to concern uh for a balance um I'd like to see a bigger focus on academics in the schools not theologies idealisms indoctrinations we need to teach these kids that whatever they do in this world they uh should think for themselves and not like us what we're doing maybe it's working maybe it's not but they need to be better tomorrow because their kids are the ones that they really need
009to look out for and I think that in terms of academics that all needs to be kept in mind um my grandson attends the Riverside junior high or the middle school I guess it's called now and uh you know we were wondering you did anybody ask any of the kids what they think about any of this and so we did and uh he said his friends really don't care they think it's more an adult problem they just don't care if there's a bathroom they'll use it if not whatever they have their own way they're not hung up on this they're not on social media like everybody else and everything they're not a bunch of adults bickering that can't figure out how to find their own resolution so if there's anything being taught to Children which
010is what we're supposed to be doing collectively it's that we're teaching them two things first of all if you don't have enough money you just borrow more later and second thing is adults haven't supposed to be able to figure this all out already and passing on lessons to our kids sir you wrap it up please we're failing yeah I came here to support Jacob Wagner for the open seat that you guys have tonight from the view of the conservatives in town thank you you any others please okay outstanding uh we will now move into the election uh for the vacant board officer position that's not for the vacant board position that is uh the individual who resigned two months ago did it 3 days before the last meeting therefore we weren't able to uh replace
011her as a clerk um so uh we are now uh in a position where we still need a clerk for the board albeit only for probably another month and a half so even if you're leaving you could be a clerk [Laughter] um anyway anything else on that good great um like to entertain any motions or nominations for the position of clerk from now until the April meeting at which point we'll get another reorganization I nominate Lori Holland do you accept that nomination do have a second on that nomination there any other nominations for the position of clerk thanks Lor you're welcome uh all in favor voice acclamation please I awesome thank you Lori add it to your resume two months there you go appreciate it uh then you'll have a bunch of stuff to sign
012when that okay uh next up is our Watertown High School student board representative Addison Shader welcome back hi so over the well since last time I was here last month we've had a couple new things happen um I'm in the wrong one one second we've had our HOSA which is Future healthc Care professions um had their competition and their Regional results just came in this past weekend um HOSA is selling Valentine's cookies along with a fundraiser at Jersey mics 4 to9 tonight um where all of the proceeds will go to HOSA and S s in the students to State um students just selected their courses for next year um dur our home room student Juniors specifically have been preparing for the ACT January 10th through 12th the E ecology Club at the high school took
013a trip up to manaa and Eagle River where they learned about wildlife and did outdoor recreation um Deca students traveled to the forest where Ella Mach placed first and is a state qualifier there was a forensic tournament hosted by whs on the 18th wrestling had their final home duel last Friday which was also their senior night along with they hosted their home opener on January 9th and boys baseball and other spring Sports have started to prepare for their Seasons thank you thank you okay also in the vein of recognition and Communications and announcements uh Dr Burke has some donations that he'd like to share with the board and the public yeah a number of donations announcements not not shared the donations just the announcements of the donations true yeah I misspoke yeah the first donation
014is from an anonymous donor um it's $1,000 towards our welding classroom uh so thank you Anonymous donor we appreciate that uh the Watertown and beaverdam alks Lodge uh donated [Music] $3,070 um to uh our Douglas School therapy dog program Ryan's autoare uh had a donation to to skills USA for $200 River City Truck Repair donation to skills USA for $250 grinwald Ford a donation towards skills USA for $250 wallworth law offices uh donation towards skills USA for $1,000 uh baso or baso gas products $500 donation towards skills USA pns manufacturing of exonia donation towards skillsusa for $1,000 Farm and Fleet uh donation of $320 towards skillsusa Moss Brothers Construction $1,000 donation towards skills USA clawen quality chocolates a donation of $1,000 towards skills USA RoR heating and air conditioning $500 donation towards skills USA inner
015pack of Wisconsin Incorporated $1,000 towards Wiscon or towards skills USA won equipment Co $100 donation towards skills USA Nicholson manufacturing $1,000 donation towards skills USA and that's it um we do have two other uh donations but those are major donations that require both approval uh and they will be at the end of our meeting as um a a uh vote for the board a resolution for the board thank you okay uh say Round of Applause for all those donors and for skill we appreciate the community support uh hopefully the next uh I'm going to say one to two minutes is the most you're going to have to hear me talk tonight but uh this is uh going to be part of uh what a lot of people are here for and not something that we
016do that often so uh we're very happy that we have seven qualified skilled candidates that have uh expressed interest in the recently opened seat and uh I'll briefly address that per state statute um given that that resignation happened after I believe the second or third Tuesday in or November y um by state law that position doesn't get filled until the subsequent election it gets filled until the election of the following year normally had that resignation occurred let's say in October or in August this appointment would only be until the next election which would be April 1st because it happened after the fall uh election in November that appointment by definition state law has to go for roughly 15 months and we have roughly 60 days to fill it this is not a district policy this
017is a state law so that's why we are where we are and I appreciate the seven of you uh coming here and expressing interest so with that I'll go through um both for your benefit the board's benefit this was in board docs as but as well as for the public uh each candidate will be given the opportunity to to address the board explaining their interest and qualifications uh we've asked them to keep it to three minutes each we won't put you on a hard timer but uh it'll be one of your grades that would be giving you is just how quick how concise you can be uh the board will have the opportunity to ask questions uh I'll ask the board that uh let's say Mike you want to start off with a question and
018there's maybe two or three questions of the first candidate that if that's it that the next questions for the next candidate start with a different board member so I don't want mik going first with every single board member I want to make sure that we can get through all of our questions uh there is no limit to how long we can interview a candidate um in which case it it could last much I expect it to last longer than the 3 minutes each at the podium but it really depends on how many of our questions are similar and how well you answer them to our liking so just be aware of that um at the conclusion of all the candidate remarks and the board questions the board members will vote by signed written ballot for
019their preferred candidate Lynn has those already filled out we'll be uh circulating them through the room uh through the the eight of us uh checking boxes and collecting um plurality does not win the vote so if it's a 224 vote the winner is not declared with four there are eight of us uh the winner has to get five of those eight we will keep on voting until there is a clear majority five of eight or until there is a 44 tie no one is ever fully out of consideration until that 44 tie and I'm not even part temporarily out of consideration the board will vote again at least five times to try to break that deadlock on that 44 tie if it cannot be broken after the 55 the president me can declare a deadlock
020and then we will switch to a nomination process any of you still interested whether you were part of the 44 tii or not will are still possibly uh um viable to be nominated a nomination has to occur by one board member and seconded by another board member member and each board member only gets one or the other either a first or a second which means that there can only be four of you uh given there's eight of us in two votes for each one of you and at that point your names will be placed in a hat and I will trust Lynn to take the name out of the hat and that's how we will break the tie or a basket or a basket no hats um so um yeah um the only other thing
021is the voting or the uh order in which we're going to have you speak um is going to just draw them out of the basket randomly and that's the order you're going to go so before we start any of that I will ask the board for questions but I'll also give the benefit to the uh seven of you if you have any questions on that because obviously it directly impacts you as well so everybody clear on that methodology okay great need motion to accept that a question no no I have no question about poliy okay I did one I have a I did have a point a personal privilege one set one minute here um I just want to thank the U board members for being present here and um it was brought to my
022attention that there were some character uh attacks on social media and I think that's Unbecoming of water T so uh I think it's uh it's really a challenge when to just to get board members to step up and and want to serve in this kind of a position um I realize that we have good people in front of us here and that um you know we don't always have to geve but Watertown is a community of good people so um I've learned anything while serving on this board uh that personal uh personal uh character attacks don't make people want to advocate for your position it just makes you a jerk so um I I I respect every single candidate that is here thank you for stepping up um and I I definitely am eager to
023hear what you'd have to say so I don't know where where any of the personal attacks were coming from um but I would ask that whoever is responsible for that to stop you are not helping our community deserves better thank you thank you thanks Craig okay the party started resolution to approve the process okay can I have a voice acclamation on that moot second motion voice that was a Fred and Mike Fred and Mike first and second go with a voice acclamation on that uh this method all in favor opposed awesome we can start first person Mr Koopa good evening I'm kukan and I'm applying for the interim board position because I bring unique skills that would benefit the board and our community the upcoming referendum this April is crucial to ensuring that our schools
024remain strong and continue to prepare our students for successful Futures at this time it is vital to educate Watertown constituents about why this referendum is necessary and the consequences if it doesn't pass especially for those with children that are not in our school system and for residents concerned about the tax increase following the last assessments as a Watertown farmers market manager I'm deeply entrenched in our community and spend much of the time engaging with Watertown residents ranging from our senior citizens to parents of young schoolage children and business owners though the through the creation of the Watertown Farmers Market tote and its Goose emblem I have learned and witnessed firsthand the our community is extremely enthusiastic and supportive of all things Watertown water tonians are proud of our city and as board members we need
025to help them understand that the strength of our school system also means the strength of our community our city grows when our children grow I believe my experience in education partic particularly communicating and with educating adult adults uniquely positions me to help the board effectively share this message with the public people are more likely to engage and support initiatives that they understand and how those initiatives affect their lives personally I am confident that my skills and my community connections can support the board in its efforts to build trust Foster understanding and gain support that it's needed to pass this referendum thank you um questions um fire away if you got them but get recognized from me yeah good uh thank you for hearing about our kids appreciate that um do you believe there are more
026than two genders can I ask a question of you with that question I just want to yes or no well I'm not sure what that has to do with our referendum or our education take so that would be my question how does that a how does that pertain to educating our children and question two if you had to choose a form of government would you choose capitalism or socialism that has nothing to do with educating our children so I would again ask what does this our our position the board's number one job is to educate our children and we can only do that if we have the funds in which to educate them so I'm sure you'd understand Dan that my focus as to participate on this board is to make sure that we have
027the means to continue a great education that's only going to happen if we can fund our education system I'd love to have those discussions with you over coffee but they're not a Schoolboard positioned question I have one more question are you in favor of a merit-based system or diversity equity and inclusion again Dan I will refer my other question or my other statement this these aren't the questions for our school board to be deciding on how we educate our children with right now this referendum should be our number one policy and drive because without that money I believe you said at the meeting last Monday we'd lose 60 to 80 positions which would have a huge impact on our community we're talking about housing we're talking about economic resources being lost this is what we
028need to focus on those those issues are are are great issues to discuss I'd love to sit down with coffee and and discuss them with you but not during a board time thank you [Music] missy it'll be a role playing situation and it's this and it'll be the same for all of you you're in a situation so this is total role play where you're opinion differs from many others on the board what would you do to help the other board members see your point of view where theirs may be different I'd first have to understand their point of view so I'd want to know where they're coming from where the ideas came from um it's and when I would teach my kids like te Killa Mockingbird you you you got to be able to stand
029in someone else's shoes I'd have to be able to stand in their shoes to understand where they're coming from so that I could try and show them my perspective if I can understand where they're coming from it helps me adjust my thought process but ultimately when people have deep-seated beliefs or Roots you're not going to change opinion you have to find consensus in those opinions and that's what this is about is finding consensus and finding the center of of the opinion so that we can as we've seen you can you can get more done if if you can find the center of of the issue right uh you you mentioned a lot about um you know the referendum and you feel that strongly that that's a pretty big thing that we have to focus right
030now yeah aside from that my question was what what are some of the other biggest threats or weaknesses that we have as a district we need to focus on as an opportunity it's it's hard for me to separate that um as a former 30-year High School teacher and having been in education most of my life if we don't have the funds to support our to be able to hire and retain teachers to be able to keep class sizes small to be able to keep all of the incredible program in we have there's going to be a myriad of problems so that's why I feel it's so passionate that this board stays focused right now on the referendum and un and helping our constituents understand why it's so important because everything will fall apart without it
031then we will have a lot of problems making sure that our children are educated and it's not the board's problem this isn't this wasn't something that you did this is something that's happened since 1990s when when funding was was lowered for for the school systems I mean we and that's something that are that that our constituents need to understand why this exists it's not a a a misappropriation of funds it's that we don't have the funds and we need and we were never allowed to have the funds because they haven't raised as much do you do you recognize any other threats weaknesses within the district the division okay you you mentioned before we started with with the social media and what's happening and and social media allows people to Chum the waters to create dissidence
032and they do it for two reasons and it's and it's easy when it's blinded particularly if when people do it anonymously I've never accepted an anonymous letter I've never accepted an an statement because you're you're not if you if you feel it say it but for years now people have been chumming the waters and getting everybody whipped up without facts and so I would say right now it's there is a an issue with social media and and the messaging that is being put out there uh yeah so um kind of returning to as as a jumping off point from what Dan talked about earlier I do think that questions of uh gender identity critical race Theory or critical theory in general are really important in a school because you are dealing with policy and you're
033dealing with things like that so if you were in Sun Prairie six to eight months ago when Sun Prairie was dealing with a situation where a child was assaulted in the bathroom because of a uh let's call it more Progressive policy how would you have dealt with that situation well as I said in my email to you Dan and and the rest of the board that was copied on it that was a very inappropriately handled situation that was an administrative issue but I will also say this that that was not an issue because of trans that was an issue of lack of empathy morality and understanding each other we could talk statistics if you'd like regarding those but I will say as an I have said in the letter to the newspaper just because someone
034is trans does not make them a sex offender and just because a woman shows up in a locker room doesn't mean she's me raped I mean would you rape a woman if she walked into a locker room certainly not okay so then let's follow that argument that argument that because a woman shows up in a male's locker room she'll be raped is is Superfluous we're not we're not showing we're we're telling men that they can't control themselves and so that's when you talk about Sun Prairie as an isolated incident it was an horrible incident and it was handled horribly but that was a person it's not the 3,000 plus other students that we need to make sure have classrooms and books and teachers okay so just as a follow-up question I want to make it
035clear you don't think that leaving that door open metaphorically is an issue you think that it's fine there are some outlier cases but it's not a big deal it doesn't encourage I'm gonna go back to what I said with Dan I'd love to have that discussion on personal beliefs on personal time but I am interviewing for a board position and my my stance is that this board's number one goal this this season until April which is very close is to make sure that Water Town understands the importance of this referendum to ensure these schools stay open and to ensure our economy stays growing and it is growing I don't want to I'd rather you not ask two questions that's fine if that's okay I otherwise we can be asking the same person money many questions
036all night but um but at a minimum I want to make sure Fred Mike and Lori have nothing I'm more of a listener than a speaker so I appreciate let listen I understand and I take notes but if it's okay to not just fine okay we can move on okay great thank you um thank you okay next cidate right here in my hand already our next candidate April witty hello everyone as you know my name's April witty I have a little bit of a different kind of um situation I'm a different kind of candidate compared to maybe the other candidates um because I'm part of the def and heart of hearing Community I feel like I can offer a whole new perspective to this board and I feel like my perspective would be a perspective
037that the board has never been offered before I've grown to be a part of the deaf and Heart of commun Heart of hearing community over time uh especially with the Watertown de andhe heart of hearing Community we need water toown to have um more inclusiveness and acceptance because in the past if you remember the schools used to teach ASL American Sign Language uh maybe some of remember maybe some of you don't staccia Studio I'm not sure but join the meeting maybe some of the teachers remember too now these kids have turned into adults the ones that were taught that I feel like I would be able to connect with many of our deaf and heart of hearing children here in the Watertown community I feel like I'd be able to help offer that perspective to
038help those children why can't we try to develop a program that focuses on that again as we used to have in the past I think that would be something we could bring to this District I think think it would be highly successful I understand the importance of the referendum coming up I feel like that would be positive if it passed maybe people will find a reason to vote for that or maybe some people may may appeal the referendum there will be both sides to it excuse me let me just gather my thoughts here we need to find each little group who has not realized what we can offer I think if we're able to collect those different unique experiences we could do that we have a strong school here it's always been strong so why
039not make it even better than it has been we have all the tools we need to be able to pass that referendum the more families that we have connections in contact with the better my only hope is that I can bring more families who maybe don't have access to communication to have that and I'd be happy to answer any questions that the board may have for me okay I'll start with uh Lori Fred and Mike if you guys were didn't asked last time I don't think okay um take notes very good that's fine okay back to the top or oh Fred go ahead thank you for coming t a lot ofage to be here appreciate thank you Great Dan goad Diana standard question your review point on a given topic is different than a bunch
040of our sitting around the table what steps or what would you do to help us understand your point of view where it may be different than ours it's simple I would just take time to explain my viewpoint uh my personal experiences that led me to that Viewpoint because the problem is it's hard for people to know exactly where someone's coming from and how we are who we are and what leads us to our beliefs so I would try my best to be able to explain why I have that perspective thank you oh I did forget to say [Music] something I have six children four who have graduated from Watertown two who are still attending Watertown School District so I've had a little experience I would say within this District going through all those children yeah
041April I'm gonna ask the same questions as I asked Missy do you believe there are more than two genders guess I don't know how to answer that how does that apply I guess to you know money and class sizes and access and accessibility question two if you had to choose a former government would you choose capitalism or socialism I guess I've only ever experienced capitalism so I don't know yeah last question April are you in favor of a merit-based system or diversity equity and inclusion with all respect would you even ask the somebody who's deaf a deaf girl that question I guess I just did yeah thank you I feel like that's I guess an awkward question for me to answer to have to answer yeah thank you okay thanks D craer Sam last one
042h i I have a hard hearing family M too so it um what do you feel are the biggest strengths of our district I love the middle school that we have here the greenhouse that they've develop it's fantastic I think that's a great strength uh my kids cherished that in the middle [Music] school I think our music program is also fantastic a strength all the kids are able to access the music program so all six of my children have and they've cherished that here so that's definitely a strength no and I don't know if I can really limit it to just a few things we have so [Music] many U April I do have a question uh you mentioned what your hope was or what you thought you could do as far as connecting differing
043groups in this community and bringing them into the fold uh what specific skill sets would you employ that you think would be an attribute to this board or to this District in order to achieve that I work a lot with Amvets and I think 11 years now I've been involved with that um also um the City vets um Council as well I've been a part of that I know we have a lot of work to be able to connect and set things up and and fundraisers as well I've had experience with that so uh I think if you know we fundraise Together We Come Together uh we bring different groups together to be able to do that we'd have success I think different people can connect I mean we have different ways to connect in
044communication too so we need to have variety of different thoughts and perspectives and different groups together to be successful it requires a village okay thank you um I think we got everybody around the table so thank you for your time thank you for coming in next candidate is dirty Chandler um you may know me from recent Facebook post in an unsuccessful campaign for Schoolboard last year um that said my passion for it hasn't waned I was born and raised in this community I'm a product of the Watertown Catholic and Watertown High School System and I'm a small business owner owning Chandler House Bakery for me co-curriculars were an incredible part of my educational experience in Watertown being very highly involved and engaged and as I think about some of the things that were just mentioned
045here some of the main strengths of our district a lot of these things fall in those categories and as a small business we've supported the football baseball program dance program the skills USA young men were just in our backyard working on finishing a shed for us in that building project I take a look at the music boosters and enjoy going to the theater events and the music events that are put on here we raised money as a as a business to pay off the student lunch debt in the district and raised money to allow students to pay off their fees to participate at graduation because it's an important right of passage in their lives and we feel strongly about it and recently we're also awarded a $1,000 backpack Grant to support the goling nest because
046we know if students don't have the food that they need they won't have the attention that they need in order to succeed in the classroom as it relates to qualifications I do have an advanced degree in education and policy I've served more than 12 years as leader in booster club and Education Foundation boards across the two communities in which I've lived and have more than 20 years of communications experience as many folks here have already mentioned we know that we have a lot that we're staring down these next few years between looking at a strategic plan and what some of the recommendations are excuse me for that and what that will mean for our community the referendum is a given but at the end of the day we have thousands of students that are counting
047on us to talk about more than the one subject that we've been very focused on these past few months so for me the three things that I hope to bring communication collaboration skills and care for the students in our community and I welcome any questions okay um thank you charity um we'll start back at the top Craig go ahead just a couple of questions here uh actually just one really um I'm I'm going off of the uh recent strategic plan that we put together as District um the mission andv vision statement specific specifically and the mission the mission statement States we serve our students by providing educational opportunities to promote academic excellence and a lifelong love of learning vision statement States we Inspire Learners with a student centered education strengthened by Community involvement what if
048anything would you change well that's a great question what I might change might be different than everybody else in this room and at the end of the day I was part of those strategic planning sessions that happened over the course of the summer and I feel proud that as a community we came together to create those statements so at the end of the day as a board member as a School District representative it's my goal to ensure that we are doing everything we can to align to that mission and vision yeah know what coming you know it's coming your Viewpoint different than ours and I'm sorry I'm I'm you guys all know it's coming so do I need to repeat it verbatim um how do you get us so we're seeing something similar to you
049no I appreciate the question and I do think active listening as previously mentioned is a big part of it for me I am a self-proclaimed data nerd and for me I think that data Will trump opinions in many cases if you have relevant data to back it up so for me I would look at it to say do we have data points to support my position or are there more data points or stronger data points that will support someone else's position because for me everyone in this room if we ask them a question may have a different opinion but what's on paper what's what either come through in surveys what's come through in enrollment numbers what the projections have been done by relevant experts those are going to speak loudly so for me I would
050I would lean toward data and then conversation and active listening just because good answer I liked your answer but to go off of that answer if the data is telling you one thing and your constituents are asking for another how would you handle that where would you sit no and that's a and that's a great Point as well because I think everybody that's on this board has probably come across something in your tenure that you haven't agreed with you know and from a data perspective we have to look at what's in the best needs of the district we have to look at existing policy we have to look at who are those policy makers that we going to are they standardized and what other schools are looking to are we looking to the subject matter
051experts and continue to come back to my role is to listen to everyone you know and so it's it's a nuanced conversation we can say I'll listen to the constituents if you know 51 people tell me this and 49 people tell me that what I like to say 51% yes at the same time I can't blanket statement that across the board because there are Financial considerations potentially to take into account there are HR conversations to take into account that might be some of the things that we're looking at so I think for me for me it's a yes and it's listen to the data listen to the constituents and then listen to my colleagues because you all have more experience serving on this board than I do so what does that bring to the table
052Sam Char I'm gonna ask you the same three questions but first I want the recipe for those cupcakes those chocolate one we can talk after no no no quit pro quo here friends do you believe there Tiffy join the meeting my personal belief in what the NIH states which is a government agency are different they State there are two Sexes but there are multiple gender variants for socialist well I had Mr suski in nth grade and he told me those are economic systems rather than forms of government but I think by Nature Public public schools are a socialistic idea garbage collecting collection across the community is a socialistic idea I think to go All in One Direction all in another I'm a small business owner I love capitalism you want to come in and buy
053some cupcakes friend I'll take it but I think that for me for me it's it's not just as easy as saying one or the other and then lastly are you in favor of a merit-based system or diversity equity and inclusion well I think it's no secret in this room what I do for my primary role is in diversity Equity inclusion I guess my question would be are you talking about recruitment are you talking about promotion are you talking about staff or student because I think that that all of those can Factor into that conversation when you're talking about Meritt and de and I absolutely thanks for the questions uh yeah and my question is basically going to be a followup on the question I asked previously to Missy um to be clear between maintaining a
054partition between male and female spaces in schools or allowing for the biological Sexes to cross over on the basis of their perceived gender ident which one would you support and again I feel that it's not this end I would I would look to see what the existing policy was if I had a challenge that policy then I would go to the school board meeting and share with them as many folks in our community have as they have a strong position on it I think that there are other more Creative Solutions that some districts have looked at which are the the non-gendered restroom facilities how are we how are we keeping our students safe on both sides whether you stand for this side or this side is the underlying question and so how are we looking
055at overall student safety and making the best most responsible decisions from a policy perspective to keep our students safe is front of mine and I know that's one of the things that you know is a talking point for the referendum is the importance student safety um I do have one uh charity you said uh if I if I heard it right or if I wrote it down right a focus on communication and collaboration I think that was in part of your your introduction to yourself um but I'll ask what's the one attribute or skill that you think that is your strength that you will be the biggest asset to this uh border to this District not a focus your skill I think it's I think it's unification as much as possible never never will all
056sides agree but I think finding a way toward Common Ground finding a way to have respectful conversations and respectful discuss us around different folks viewpoints is key I seek I seek with the bakery to have a place where everybody feels welcome and when you walk in I don't care who you vote for I just care that you like good Bakery you know and and and I think that's the Baseline of what these conversations are here it's like we get we can all we're all entitled to our own opinion and everybody in this room is and everybody has a right to express it but are we being respectful of one another in the conversation would what I would hope to bring anyone else you listeners oh Fred's got something last question I'm disappointed you didn't say
057cupcakes I was thinking the same freaking cupcakes to the board nice TR I'm sure somewhere there's an Ethics policy around nice try depends on the Cupcake okay anything else awesome well done thank you charity thank you next Kaitlyn cger hello can you hear me okay okay um good evening to watertown's finest and all the board members here um it's my pleasure to be standing before you tonight um it's great to see that my community cares about what's happening with the school board thank you for allowing me this time to introduce myself um and for your careful consideration in appoint to meet to ninth seat on on the board the opportunity to serve Watertown the place that I called home from the time I was born until I was 25 and then from age 33 until
058now would sincerely be my pleasure um in two 2013 I moved to t uh Tucson Arizona where I lived in the desert continued to pursue my passion and H my skill set in the beauty industry and as a small business owner I love the desert and all my friends who are like my family family all my wonderful clients however my family was in Wisconsin so in 2021 I packed my bags and I headed back to the frozen tundra it's my delight to be around my family again I strive to be the best ant I can be for my six nephews and nieces they're Priceless and they grow up fast whenever our schedules align I like to have them over for sleepovers it's a good way to connect with them and Aid them in connecting with
059one another we can pick our friends but our family was chosen for us one day they'll need to lean on each other I hope their relationships and love for each other developed in their childhood would help them endure the ups and downs of life as they lift each other up and walk forward children are our future this is not a cliche it's the truth as the newest Schoolboard member here at WD I will advocate for the students by representing the parents the students here in the beautiful community of Watertown deserve a school board whose Drive is to serve them with integrity and transparency the families of wusd are the consumers of the product we call education out of curiosity as I prepared for today's board meeting I attempted to locate two numbers the first was
060the exact dollar amount allocated to each student rolled in the district the second was the yearly salary for the superintendent I was surprised to be unable to locate either of these numbers on the district website that's just a small example of a lack of transparency the taxpayers or as I like to call them the parents hard-earned money allows the district to be able to operate and they deserve transparency according to google WD receives over $113,000 per year for each student would anyone here walk into a store and give the cashier $113,000 and say I don't really care what you do with the money that's going to help shape and mold my child here you go that would be insane I'm not sure anyone in this room would do that as your ninth board member I
061will take a values neutral approach when making decisions keeping the parents concerned for their children my number one priority yes I carry my own worldview shape by my experiences in life as we all do however My Views should not and will not Trump the concerns of the parents they and their children are the consumers and they deserve Fair representation personally I was expelled by this board in 2005 at 16 years old it was after that my life choices went from not so good to very bad I caused much damage to myself and those around me however I eventually allowed these experiences to make me better I let go of anger and bitterness and began to see the world through a different lens now at age 36 these experiences allow me to bring a unique Viewpoint
062to the board driven by empathy understanding and integrity I understand that when a child is not doing well it's not because they don't want to currently I am a student myself I value education and want to see each student in Watertown do well and to know that as long as they have breath in their lungs they have the Power of Choice inside of them to pursue excellence and to live their best life by appointing me today you will give me the opportunity to serve these students with excellence and be an example to those who are facing expulsion or have been expelled that their life is not over it has merely just begun thank you again raise a hand um same question you're in a situation where your Viewpoint or your opinion is different than the
063Viewpoint of the fellow board members help us to see your point sure um well we have two ears in one mouth so it starts by listening and taking into consideration the viewpoints of the other s um it's a board so it's a collective coming together um so I think that's very important to listen and then when it comes to sharing your my viewpoint to um remain objective not to let your emotions get involved but to say what is the goal how can we achieve that how do we get there um and by taking other people viewpoints into consideration that's also how I grow as a person um and so I think also when trying to explain your um perspective to use real life examples of maybe okay I've seen that this is what happened this
064is how I do it different this time this is why I think we should take this approach um and then remaining open to the other people on the board what they think and believe thank you D perhaps you were listening to the questions I asked so Caitlyn do you believe there are more than two genders no if you had to choose former government capitalism or socialism capitalism are you in FA favor of a merit based system for diversity equity and inclusion um mer based I think it should be uh based on each person not what they look like or anything like that it should be um who they are and what they stand for yeah thank you yeah and I've got the same question I had last time too so I'll get that one out
065of the way as well uh so if you're in a position and it's specifically about the gendered bathrooms uh the schools currently have a gender neutral restroom uh if a student or anyone wishes to use it so in the case where you have gendered restrooms would you allow would you personally support allowing the Sexes to crossover the biological Sexes to crossover between the bathrooms or would you not support that I would not support that re um what do you feel is the biggest opportunity we have here in WaterOne as a community well as a school district as a school district the biggest opportunity is our youth I would say um I think there's a lot of trades in this town um and so I think um not just pushing children into college but also pushing
066them towards you know what are they interested in and if that's a technical skill to really hone in on that and prepare them for their future to be successful ful outside of high school I think as someone who went into cosmetology After High School yeah and I'll ask my same question sure which is uh you've mentioned transparency you mentioned uh you're you'd start off by listening yeah but if I asked you what's your one attribute or skill that you uniquely possess that you can bring that would strengthen us as a board or as a community what is that one skill or attribute I'm a connector that's one thing that was a strength and that made me a great um cosmetologist was connecting with my clients from various different backgrounds um different socioeconomic statuses um I
067love to connect with people I like to hear people out um to feel where they're coming from and so um I don't like to Discount anybody's opinion I like to um value what they have to say and take that into consideration um so i' would say connecting okay yeah thank you anyone else thank you for your time thank you next up is David Moran hi everyone my name is Dave morstead thanks very much for for having me here uh the information that I would share with you you already have in written form and what I uh presented to you so I'm not going to rehash all of that um I'll hit a couple of highlights and just say that uh like many people here I have a fairly long history in the district uh my
068wife and I moved here in the 70s um we've we raised three kids from kindergarten through high school graduation in the district and um I now have two grandkids in the district and so uh I will say what probably all seven of the candidates have said I feel like I have strong roots here and I feel very uh close and I feel very strongly about the work of the district when you hear us all say that you should believe it because it's true uh we share that so I while I could say that's what's really uh driving my interest in the position I think that the truer answer is probably more skill set related uh I spent a career at Bethesda Lutheran communities it was called several different things over the 39 years that that
069I worked there uh but I was in a number of roles I started out in the classroom uh moved on to some leadership roles um did some curriculum development ran an Institute at the end and uh left there like I said after 39 years in 2015 uh I picked up a lot uh in the leadership positions that I had uh and that continued into retirement uh in 2015 about a month after after I left Bethesda I received an appointment to the governor's committee for people with disabilities I was originally appointed by uh governor Scott Walker and I have continued that appointment under current governor Tony iers um the fact that I was I have been able to effectively work uh under two decidedly different Governors uh and work effectively with both of their staffs I
070think has taught me a great deal and I think is one of the strengths that I would bring to the board um the the fact is um one of the things I've learned in that experience also in some of the board work that I've done I'm also on the board for ccls here in town creative Community Living Services um and and some of the other board work that I've I've done is that um it's not easy always to achieve collaboration and consensus but it is uh the thing that we are all called to do and I think that if there is a strength that I could bring to the board it would be just that um I think you can imagine that working with the staffs of those two Governors uh you run into things
071you don't agree with and you are called to find some kind of solution uh and there is collaboration there is consensus building and so on I found the same thing in some of the um some of the Consulting work that I've done over the years uh I've had the opportunity to do that in uh local uh educational efforts uh I've done it in churches uh and I've had some uh International opportunities as well I've outlined some of those in my uh written work but uh I had the opportunity to do some teaching and Consulting work in uh lvia in former Soviet Union and I will tell you that uh not a big surprise but not everyone over there agrees with everybody else uh in 2015 I had an opportunity to do some teaching in Istanbul
072um again uh this is not finding one side here and one side there and finding some collaboration this is about finding 12 people and finding some collaboration and it's that kind of stuff that I would look to u to bring to the board uh I will try and anticipate a couple of questions um number one to achieve um the collaboration and consensus building one of the things you have to leave behind is the notion that there is a binary solution to problems if there is a myth in every problem situation it is that it's either this or it's that and I'm setting Mr bolner up to be wildly disappointed with my answer to his three questions uh but the fact is it just simply doesn't exist um there has to be some give and take
073and so whatever decision you make tonight I hope it is informed by this fact whatever gender decisions are made whatever the outcome of the April election whatever the outcome of the referendum when a lot of you are back here in May the work you will find has not gone away you you are going to be called to do some really tough decision making and you're going to need people who show up as adults and can think like adults and solve problems like adults I'm not saying that hasn't happened but I think there's enough evidence in the community that people are starting to wonder I think it is a time for people to step up and solve problems and to do it intelligently what do you want to know that does thank you and does it
074finish yours well I can't anticipate the answer I'm happy to give them okay I'm gonna ask them again good just to be fair to everybody else um are there more than two genders you know there's XX and there's XY and that's two how that is expressed is a completely different question and uh would you choose capitalism or socialism well the academic consensus is that the pure form of either one is doomed um and so I don't accept either one but I have a heavy leaning toward capitalism but I should add that that's big talk coming from somebody who gets Social Security and Medicare but we're all guilty to a certain point um would you favor Merit base over Dei yeah that's an easy one I have a strong bias toward Merit base as long as
075there's equal access to the system okay um I'm G to follow up my question uh and it's not a it is a binary but it's not a binary that actually has multiple different solutions the question is if you have a gendered restroom a girl's restroom should biological males be allowed to access that girl's restroom or locker room I would say no unless there is a compelling personal reason and an approved plan in place so you would you would support that happening under certain circumstances under certain controlled circumstances yes you got M oh sorry Craig um I I kind of like this question about the uh the Strategic plan as far as our mission of vision statements do you need me to read them over again or were you familiar what's your specific question yeah okay
076we serve our um we serve our students by providing educational opportunities to promote academic excellence and a lifelong love of learning vision is also we Inspire Learners with student centered education strengthened by Community involvement what if anything would you change regarding that um I don't see a whole lot of change but what I found in strategic plans is the need very often and I I it's not just school system stuff this is every business there's nothing easier than saying everybody like the Strategic plan great let's post it and then you never look at it again what I would like to see is a deeper dive into saying things like well there's that Community piece what does that really mean and are we really doing that and how do we really do that um and you
077know how we are influencing the lives of these students like taking each piece of that and saying how are we actually join the meeting there's nothing wrong with a vision statement I like it I think it's great um and I think that by and large I have I have very good feelings about the school district I think it does tremendous things um the three kids that that I have who came through this District um well two of the three became teachers which I think I mean if you want if you want evidence that your your teachers and your staff are doing something right you should do that I have a daughter and I have to be careful because I'm sure she's tuning in but if you had asked her when she was a kindergarten student
078what she wanted to be when she grows up she would tell you I'm going to be a kindergarten teacher and and 12 years worth of teachers had their opportunity to change her mind if they weren't good none of them managed to change her mind and today she's teaching that in this District so um I think you just need to take a deeper dive and say are we really doing that awesome thank you Dave thank you there's a br I'm Jacob Wagner I would like to first off thank the board for their time this evening and for the time that they've put in to being on the board as long as they've been on the board um my wife and I have both gone to Watertown uh School District from kindergarten all the way on up
079and we currently have five kids in the district uh all the way from fifth grade up to 10th grade and I guess I just thought that it was time that this opening was available to try for it to make sure that everything for the kids is available that it was when I went that everyone is able to stay to learn that that it's based on education and learning and that we're not drifting off into different sections and getting away from education um I think that Watertown is a great Community I think it starts at the education system and goes up from there um I think there's a lot of possibility in this town I think that we do have a good school district we have amazing teachers um any is any issues of help that
080our kids have needed uh the teachers have been there and they've been absolutely wonderful to deal with um and to help um I think that my what I can bring to the board is as a business owner and owning real estate in town and Warehouse properties and things like that is I can help bring my knowledge from running those businesses to help with any issues that we have on the board back to the top we make it through five questions each time if you just hit mine you that was it obviously you've already answered it your strength is your business acument I think I just heard you say so I've already written that one down I'm done fire it away go ahead same question do you need me to repeat it no I'm good just
081want to make sure we're fair to everybody I guess what I would say is that if I feel some way about something that it's come from a life experience that I've seen it and if I feel that way I would share with the board where that experience was and what led me to that belief and hopefully that they would if they didn't have experience in that they would see where the point that I'm coming from that I had the real world experience in it and that hopefully that they would see my side of it I'll just go next uh and I'll simplify it do you believe that biological males should be allowed in girls restrooms absolutely not thank you Jacob yes Jacob was a former student of mine weren't you Jacob long time ago long
082time ago that pains me to have to say that it was a long time ago but yes Jacob do you believe there's more than two genders no okay would you choose capitalism or socialism capitalism and are you in favor of a merit-based system or diversity equity and inclusion Merit based system thank you um what do you feel is the biggest opportunity we have here Watertown District biggest opportunity I would say is that we have excellent teachers to help us get in the direction that we need to and I think that the size of the district helps um from the point that if you want to do something that if there's one or two with with a lot of people in one building that even if only 2% want to do something that might be still
083a nice siiz group that we can focus on something that they want to do whether that's shop classes or things along those lines okay Mike right thank you thank you James seem good good evening um my name is Steve good um I have four children that have gone through Watertown School District One my last one going through the school district now um I've graduated three um they have survived our teachers I'm just kidding uh they have made it through um and as a matter of fact the three oldest that are currently out of school two of them are uh studying to be teachers with the third in in Whitewater looking to go into education as well um as many know um my wife is an administrator at the high school um she started off as
084a special education teacher there sorry Sarah uh I meant that she's in administration and not special ed um however uh she has been in education for over 20 years I have gotten to see uh through her eyes how education is um and seen it through several different school districts um for myself I've been a football coach I've been a wrestling coach um in multiple districts including water toones um and have gotten to scene a educational system through that lens as well um oftentimes coaches are asked to uh Mentor our athletes to make sure that they're getting a good education that they're student athletes the key word being student first and then the athlete um throughout the years uh what I feel that I bring is that uh uh I work in a field that you
085have to be able to compromise uh the field I work in I work with individuals with intellectual disabilities I've been doing that for over 28 years um I have moved up the ladder in that field and it's not necessarily because of diversity um it is because of my skill set and what I bring um I naturally a leader um I've been asked to serve on different boards boards and when I got asked to serve on the board I did it reluctantly um because I I didn't want to get into some of the drama that was on the boards uh after I joined the board uh at one board our Waterton aquatic teams board um I came in as the vice president and our president quickly stepped down and I was thrust into the president role
086um of which I didn't want the president role at first and five years later I was still doing it um at which point I I worked on communication because not everybody agrees right we're not all going to agree and if we do it would be a very boring Place uh in my opinion I feel that with our with our differences of opinion our differences on where we grew up the differences that we are naturally with um that can strengthen a a group more than tear a group apart as long as you're willing to ask questions and find out where people stand um as uh all other seven candidates have answered certain questions I'm going to answer them in my opening here uh I grew up my dad was a Greek Orthodox priest um some of
087you may remember my dad when he was walking around town he was guy in all black everybody looked at him funny and it was like he's crazy because he's walking um everywhere um but he when I grew up in my house we had two Sexes there was a male and female um my dad also had an open mind about that however and said that people you know he's like when they turn 18 they can make up their mind and he would tell me till I'm 18 I'm a boy if I want to be a boy and that's what I'm going to stay um until I'm 18 and then I can decide our children uh I feel do need to be fostered at where they're at and met where they're at um we can't always predict
088where our kids are going obviously how do I know that just go back a couple months ago and think about Abundant Life you had a child who is was considered transgender and not only took their own life but the life of somebody else not sure people were meeting her where she was at that's just kind of where it is um for the capitalism or socialism uh I have always been for capitalism I think people should make as much money as they can when they can how they can legally um and I also think for the uh last question of a merit based system I would be all for a merit based system as long as there are some metrics put in place that it's equal for everybody um one of the things that we talked
089about in the uh listening session last week was when you talk about test scores so test scores come back school districts compare those test scores and the test scores aren't necessarily representative of what is in your school because some of your students are learning disabled Etc and those scores bring you down because they're not doing very well however we we'll tell that they're they're there and people wonder what what we're going to do and how we're going to make things better um so those numbers aren't always comparative so if you're going to go to a merit based system it has to be something that you can compare and and make sure that across the board all teachers fall under the same metrics uh I will end with uh over the years I I have three
090daughters um so I know how people get uh upset about what gender and what locker room yet I have yet to hear anybody say you know we always hit the the the hot button what if a male's in a female we never talk about a female being in a males at all we don't bring that up and I don't know if it's because we don't think it's GNA happen we don't think it happens or we just choose to hit the hot button because we want hit the hot button at the end of the day uh people use the bathrooms that they should be using at the end of the day right now that in our country they say there's two Sexes male and female so I think that kind of ends the argument after that
091on top of that the board has already spoken you've already passed the policy so I don't think we need to keep hammering in that way at the end of the day we need to do what's right by our teachers and by our students and you got to keep moving forward and not get bogged down with arguing in meetings about what everybody's personal belief is let's find a way to communicate with each other move things forward and do the very best we can for our kids and our teachers any other questions I guess I kept guessing sorry about that um I I'll ask the Mission Vision question again uh we a mission being we serve our students by by uh providing educational opportunities to promote academic excellence and a lifelong love of learning Vision being we
092Inspire Learners with student centered education strengthened by Community involvement would you change anything about that I think it's pretty inclusive with what you're putting right there I think what we want to do is have our community help build our school system and help teach our kids right at the end of the day I go to work I trust that teachers are teaching our kids what they're supposed to be in school and then after school I ask my kids what did you learn today now if you have a teenager they go oh no you know but then you dig in and they actually tell you what they've learned in that day I think part of the community is taking a chance to be a champion for our schools period I'll ask my question um you kind
093of touched on it but if you go a little bit more dep yeah absolutely your view you know what it is right yeah I I you know what I have found and what has worked for me is asking questions um not just passing judgment but asking a question I want to know why you come from that from that stance uh for myself I am a person uh you can ask my wife I am probably the most neutral person you'll meet because I want to know both sides I I research both sides I am not somebody who makes a snap decision um I'm going to ask you questions I'm going to find out where you stand and then I'm going to try to find somewhere in the middle that we can meet is it always going
094to happen that way no um but because of the field I work in I consistently work on finding a win-win situation okay Steve um I'll just ask the question to make sure you either can state it again or restate it but uh your greatest your best skill or attribute that you'd bring to this board to this District um if you were appointed or elected to be on this board other than my dry humor you mean okay uh I I think what I bring to the pr to it is yeah it's not cupcakes but it's close right uh I think uh what I bring to that is that my willingness to uh work with everybody and and see everybody's side and point and then work towards a solution uh key word is work I don't want
095to stall I want to keep things moving um you know I I'm aware that it's taken some time to just settle on the the verbage that was in the policy that was just passed let's figure it out get a response and then get it out join the meeting wait long months to get something that could have been done in two or three meetings and then get it out ask what's your favorite uh I I am question ien I happen to like a double leg tick down that cannot be your decided cupak I did want to clarify though I did want to clarify because I appreciate you speaking to it preemptively but I didn't really hear an answer to my question which is should biological males be allowed in girls locker rooms and bathrooms I I
096think to be very perfectly clear probably not I don't think there is a reason for it I think just like I think there shouldn't be biological girls in a boys locker room I think if you're going to save for one you need to save for all and it's not just a a boy issue it is a boy or girl issue I think the other part of it is is if we're going to tackle it um and you're going to tackle that particular issue make sure it's an issue before you tackle it don't create an issue well you did answer my questions but I don't think it's fair to Missy that you had six people in front of you so I'm gonna give you another question then since you're a coach and a wrestling coach um
097obviously the girls are wrestling girls right now and the boys are wrestling boys but it could be that a team shows up without another girl to wrestle would you have that girl wrestle a boy my daughter has wrestle boys and she's done very well okay for her and I've had girls on my wrestling team up until the last two years girls did Russell boys it was not always uh equal I admit that boys are physically stronger it's just the physics right men are stronger than women that's just and it's body size not necessarily I'm saying all the other stuff just physics they're bigger and stronger but they have had to rustle them and my girls are usually tougher than most of my boys sometimes so I had a girl on my ninth grade football team
098and um she never went out after that year because it was tackle football and she was getting beat up and what what about football and what about you know contact sports like I had uh where I've coached at girls have not played I join the meeting we just played a team this year that had one of their girls starting at I think a quarterback um on the varsity so it has happened um I think that um one of the athletes that I that I my daughter looks up to and other girls up to is Mata row she used to be a wrestler at Johnson Creek all four years at Johnson Creek she wrestled boys the entire time um you know she jokes around now that if she would have had the Russell girls she probably
099would have been a state champion over and over of those four years but she would step up to the plate and wrestled him because she loved the sport so okay all good thank you Steve so I hope I don't have to oh first of all thank you all uh all did a great job appreciate you coming in appreciate you stepping up um sharing us a little bit about yourselves um it was more than what we read in your uh resumés and your your cover letters so uh thank you uh we're now at the point where we are going to vote uh again as I stated it's not a plurality it's a majority so we need to get at least five of eight and if it does uh we won't be taking any of your names
100off of the ballot that Lyn will be handing out until it's a 44 and then we will try to whittle it down from those two candidates of 44 unless we can't do that so stick around and we'll write and turn in and count as fast as we can you need the pens grab some more P thank fold of the turn them in you okay with that I matter okay I'll just collect fold yeah collected folded and next time Lyn's going to hand out more than one a bun and I'll pass them down okay oh okay so be careful there's rounds on the top this upper right hand cor says the round yeah Mike Fred there's a round numbers in the top so I'm gonna hand you more than one just don't use them all at
101once that's all round two C Craig Diana and uh Sam I just handed you the next round and I'll hand you the subsequent one on the top right is the round we're voting in so make sure you keep yeah we're keeping track of that of every round so I'm gonna hand you three more here for round three so it saves Lynn the time so that saves yeah no no totally I that's IDE ready four yes permeating through the wall okay with no majority vote these are the candidates and their tallies charity Chandler two Steve good zero Caitlyn creger three Missy kuchan one David Morad one Jacob Wagner one April witty zero you want to do those again one more time yep with no majority vote here's the the candidates and their number of tallies Cherry
102Chandler two Steve good zero Caitlyn creger three Missy kuchan one Dave Morad one Jacob Wagner one April witty zero we'll have to do round two top your page for round two my name on really save myself a lot of time here AG like she right there's no paper we already killed the tree exactly after round two no candidate has a majority vote the candidates and their tallies in order are charity Chandler 3 Steve good zero Caitlyn creger four Missy kuchan zero David Morad one Jacob Wagner zero April witty zero we need round three fure round three with no candidate in the majority the Tellies are as follows charity Chandler four votes Steve good zero votes Caitlyn creger four votes Missy kukan zero votes David Morad zero votes Jacob Wagner zero votes April witty zero votes
103we have a 44 tie we'll do it again now only Pi only picking of those two candidates only picking of the two candidates charity Chandler or Caitlyn creger right after round four no candidate with a majority we are still in a 44 tie between charity Chandler and Caitlyn K and again then oh that's just ass after round five no candidate has a major majority vote We Stand tied between charity Chandler and Caitlyn kriger four votes each okay this is uh time number three three we're going again on round six backing now right after round six with no candidates having the majority vote We Stand tied between ch Chandler and Caitlyn creger four votes each two more times break it check the sign y I don't have extra one yeah after round seven no candidate with
104majority vote We Stand tied charity Chandler four votes Caitlyn creger four votes okay we're now on round eight at the top of your page I'm sorry if I had a heater in mine I'd give after round eight no candidate with majority vote who stand tied charity Chandler four votes Caitlyn ker four votes okay I'm going to declare a deadlock on this vote um and I'll again read from what I'd read before to make sure that everybody in the room is aware of how we're going to do this as well as to get your affirmation that you'd still like to be considered uh each board will be able to each board member will be able to either nominate or second day nomination but not both nominees must receive at least a first and a second nomination
105nominations must be made from any remaining previously qualified candidate who wishes to still be considered not just finalists so um I guess I'll ask each of you uh Jacob interested yes Missy Steve Dave yes charity Caitlyn yes and April yes yes okay um I will now open the floor to a nominations uh once again you only get a first or a second not both do I hear any nominations Lori nominate kaiter Caitlyn creger do I have a second I second second second uh you got we have to get those on a piece of paper somewhere I'm working on it okay Sam uh yeah I'd like to nominate Jacob Wagner Jacob I he first I second second awesome other nominations I'll keep it interesting so since we had a 4 four tie I nominate charity charity
106second second second M Steve I haven't nominated anybody or SP I will second that did someone second I did oh okay okay sorry I missed it audit the Hat it doesn't have a it afterwards too yeah you want to pick I don't want to pick my boss where where the where did the uh where did Addison go where's the student rep ready charity Taylor again before hold on business okay the other three candidates left in the Hat were Caitlyn creger Jacob Wagner good okay um again uh not just my sincerest thanks but I'm going to speak on behalf of the full board which I don't normally do I usually defer that to Jared but uh I'm just overwhelmed with your interest in joining this R tag crew as well as getting beat up on a
107regular basis on Facebook so uh it it takes a lot of personal um fortitude and willingness to serve the community and uh I hope to see you at another time in another session at another event uh also out in those seats so uh or at uh my favorite hangout which you might be able to find me at um either way again thank you all as far as Charity congratulations um we do not seat you immediately tonight uh as there are board matters that uh going to uh that we have to attend to uh Lynn will walk you through the process of joining the board Oaths and other uh activities plus uh board orientation which you'll get from a multitude of people in this building so uh welcome and uh thank you all in the public
108for coming and your uh sincere interest interest in the operations of the district um we appreciate it like to I'd also like to um I'd also like to add this uh first of all um I see many faces that I've seen many many times I also see some new faces today that I haven't seen uh and it really warms my heart to see all of you here uh who care about our students there's plenty of ways to lead in this District not just our board uh and if you ever want a chance to have that uh or any kind of discussion with me please call I'd love to talk with you ask you about your thoughts and opinions many of you have taken me up on that offer before U that offer is always open
109you're always welcome in my office um or anywhere else you'd like to meet and I could talk about ways that you can help lead this organization from wherever seat you sit I appreciate you thank you a motion public comment Clos to public comment we need a motion uh we need a motion resolution uhill the bacon seat by which number am I on here okay on okay um I will now accept a motion to uh that's right enact the uh um results of the voting and nomination process and put charity in that seat so Fred and Mike that's a first and a second from Fred and Mike yes uh roll call vote please Dan bolner yes Craig Wartman Mike Higgins yes Lorie H yes Fred y yes Diana Johnson Sam o and David Shader yes and
110the motion carries uh do we yeah we're gonna we're going to take a short recess uh about five minutes or as necessary I know that somebody yelled at me for not following parliamentary procedure last time was that you Diana did I not it was my daughter actually technically I heard FR Mike they FR mik yeah that's not true president caner voice acclamation way whatever I think people had just gotten up and okay I will call it back into session unless I need a first and second by our parliamentarian over there uh uh the one thing that uh I did want to address and just mention because it came up it was a question in the recess and Jared I believe you've answered this once before uh given that charity is on the April ballot you
111have the scenario of what happens for the board May make up if she is elected to an at large or to that if she is elected to fill Lorie's seat my seat or Craig's seat who are also up y yeah so um I if a uh seated candidate who's been appointed um wins in an election um they can choose to either stand in the appointed seat and give up the elected seat or they can choose the elected seat and give up the appointed seat uh either way that if a candidate were to do that um we would have another appointment that we would have to make either for the newly elected seat or for the one seat that we had had appointed previously and in either of those situations they would only last because it
112happens before the last Tuesday in November that appointment in let's call it may would last till the following April until they're back lined up with the 333 rotation that's correct so if it's Tina's seat the one that charity was just appointed in that would be the natural conclusion of that no wouldn't because I did two more years left on it so either way we're going to be doing at least four in the ballot if charity were to win the general election this April that's correct the following April would have to have at least four on it to get us line back up again that's what it goes okay uh then moving on uh report superintendent report so uh as you can see up there uh we've got some uh children eating breakfast it's the breakfast
113crew uh helpers uh as well as the SA patrollers uh helping some other students uh just thought it was a nice little picture to start he not I got to turn this pH there we go um next up uh we've got a celebration um just highlighting our Deca program Deca is a high school organization that prepares students for careers in marketing Finance hospitality and management um they have competitive events every year uh they touch on like real world kind of decision- making and Leadership um I want to just do a shout out uh to elch she took first place overall State qualifier uh Megan Dy and Alex excuse me Alexa mua uh both received uh medals uh for being finalist sarin Johnson received a medal for achieving a high score on the test portion of
114the competition I just want to um congratulate not only them but our our Deca program in general uh they they do a really good job each year um another opportunity to go to a burke briefing comes up on March 3rd uh we just had one uh there were 15 community members in attendance on I think one of if not the coldest night of the year so far uh so that was amazing I thought for sure we were going to have very few people and we ended up with 15 and um it was taped uh and it will be on uh the public uh Watertown TV Chason Channel um coming up I don't have an EXA date yet so um I know that they're working on uh that film um we have other opportunities uh we
115had several Fifth and eighth graders that participated in the math meet uh earlier this month at w Whitewater it was sponsored by Southern Lakes Advanced Learners Network um students competing in uh many different events uh and of course enjoyed Pizza Ranch in Waterton on um trivia night coming up this weekend February 1st on Saturday night um we have a near record setting number of tables that have been sold 110 I believe so far uh and um we're still looking for people who want to attend so if you don't have a team together yet uh get one together and have fun on Saturday night uh another opportunity uh RMS held its annual parent information night for incoming sixth graders what I enjoy about it is out of the 185 expected students 120 were there uh represented
116uh during the parent information meeting night that's really actually pretty high uh so our Reach Out efforts are doing really well um and to to understand that that many students showed up was was outstanding um our MS counselors also uh presented Middle School course uh registration to the fifth grade students um at their schools between January 13 and 22nd um the high school held its freshman preview night uh to the area eighth graders on January 16th uh it was an awesome night I got to be there as a parent um wonderful course registration was talked about uh they went over a bunch of stuff about clubs uh had students go on a self-guided tour um and uh the the incoming freshmen uh were super excited I just watching them have conversations with their um incoming
117teachers meeting uh new faces uh from private school students and and uh you know um mingling with them uh I think it was just a really good night on course registration for 2025 incoming freshman is due uh January 27th that's today right yep uh and um I know that our counselors were out and about today at the middle school and helping register those who maybe didn't put their course Selections in yet um no school uh February 10th because it's my birthday nah it's actually staff development day but it is birthday on February 10th uh referendum focus group dates of February 5th uh and February 6th uh we have uh different dates and times uh uh for those uh focus group dates if you have not responded yet to our Deputy clerk Lyn linin about when
118you're of able to attend as a board member please do so uh Community uh excuse me committee board meetings are up there uh February 3rd is a special board meeting uh that's where uh you get to get some more professional development on the um uh super intendent evaluation model uh as well as being able to uh review um the basically ending of the last 18 months and the setting of the goals that are coming up uh and then uh Educational Services is on the 11th uh 12th is policy um and there's no meeting for planning coming up that we have scheduled yet February 17th Human Resources fiscal management and so on any questions okay well done we're now to reports uh we're going to go in the order of B through F here but I
119am going to interject briefly with the board chair meeting uh just so I set the stage for these other reports the uh I think most of us were in attendance uh well yeah all but one I think and we discussed uh how we're going to participate with each other at committees uh who's taking the minutes um how are the action ads going to be tracked um how to keep time and keep it on time and then oral summary at the board meeting uh so with that I'm going to lead into the Ed Services report and I'm going to Simply say that the minutes are accurate as written and then I will go on a little bit more and say that uh there's uh several action items those are all accurate um the one that is
120probably the most uh I don't want to say interesting but at least involves the most parties is that uh Jared had brought to us the fact that our policies didn't nor did we on a recurring basis uh review the curriculum um as intentionally as we should have been uh that was a policy that niola has and that got uh put on the back burner uh at policy uh as it wasn't right for Lynn and Jared to work on it as we're trying to adopt that book but ed services has the bandwidth for that activity and has agreed to take up that effort um in that department now you will see resolutions on tonight's docket for course book approval uh those did not go through the process that we will be using in the future but
121we have to start somewhere and we have to run middle school so um although it may not be perfect um that's the this uh that resolution is out there and then the new policy uh after ed services takes a hack at it and then brings it uh both um well probably works on it predominantly and then double checks it against anything policy may want to weigh in on it um will'll be able to start developing a backlog of courses that should be reviewed prior to the next school year or 18 months out so give the administration and staff plenty of time to take a look at courses um because we all know that those course books are typically out there between December and January uh so you can't be asking for changes in February for
122the following September you have to be asking changes in February for something that's roughly 16 months away um but that's all going to be work that will be done in some periods uh starting with ed services that's cig then why are we voting on it uh we have to have a book I mean if okay we could okay we haven't voted on it in the past good point we could we could not vote and it would just be what it is fair not I mean valid question Jared wanted resolution on it and I'm not trying to make it seem like Jared and I were disagreement I don't have Administration what you want to defer to the administration that's fine yeah we can just table the resolution and then the book would still exist as is
123personally I would prefer that okay uh I guess you could make a motion to take it off the table when that resolution comes up um I heard that that's different in overseas you table it and take it off okay uh otherwise I would try to be more succinct with that saying the minutes are accurate as written but I wasn't able to do it this time so uh any questions on those minutes okay great next up is I believe fiscal was it yes fiscal uh I I reviewed the minutes uh they've been dispersed they're accurate uh the only thing you're going to see coming up is the resolution uh for the updated cost to purchase the the transit van uh did come out a little bit higher because they had to removed two seats um and
124that's first state law so any questions okay next uh human resources of Mike and Margaret I'll let you co- answer that one if you want Mike was filling in as temporary chair um while until we appoint a new chair position for that which I'll be doing between now and oh probably the next week or two so Mike go ahead ready to roll uh minutes are are accurate and Margaret's working hard any questions that's my type of that's my type of minutes Mike okay and by the way other chairs by no means do you have to follow anything that succinct we're just practicing here we're just seeing what seems to work so go ahead planning good luck yeah me off I gave you an out um the reason planning is different it's the the minutes are
125as accurate as recorded except as you'll notice in the minutes it does state that I had meetings in two separate instances where I would give an update to the board and so that's where this then comes the update to the board so I cannot keep it to five or 10 seconds sorry um so the first meeting uh occurred with Tim kacher regarding the superintendent evaluation process that D's process and and with Tim in our meeting if you recall from planning we typically will take the common themes that have been discussed over time and we kind of ratify those before Jared makes his goals but due to the fact that we've struggled to find dates that work within the process um that would have pushed us back to goal setting in April at the earliest and
126that's too late too long so the committee did state that if there was no major hiccup in terms of um the board leadership sharing those common themes if you go ahead and have those goals ready for us sooner as opposed to later and so he said yep that would not be a problem so we went with that route he also um suggested coming in and walking us through that on February 3rd as a board development piece so not only will we go through the goals but he will begin our board development in the dates process starting at us all at that starting point so we can kind of move through it together so I made the executive decision at that point yeah that makes sense rather than go through and finalize a process from the
127past 18 months looking in the rearview mirror and then trying to start something new in April or May or whatever it is that we'll all get on board starting in February so then we'll kind of be on a better timeline with someone from the outside helping us go through the process the way it should be so the minutes were accurate as per the meeting but the way the meeting will go then on February 3rd is not accurate in the minutes um because we're going to spend just five minutes or so on those common themes and then we're going to move into the process of goal setting and that's where we should be anyway so yes we have to leave the minutes as they were because that was what happened there but understand that there is
128a change and there will be information forthcoming where you'll get that more detailed the second meeting um occurred with Drew Howick just this last week regarding the board evaluation survey um one thing that we discussed in planning is that the board evaluation survey is more than just us checking on how we're doing um according to our Neola processes it has an effect on the superintendent evaluation it has an effect on the district assessment of goals and so where we are is it very much an infancy stage of it how do we move to those next steps where we're supposed to be writing goals for ourselves and objectives and checking in with those we're not there yet so rather than me say hey I think we should this or I think we should that consulted Drew
129where do you think we should go where do you think our next steps would be will you help us guide in that process um because we did come to um an agreement on our Collective commitments we did come to agreement that we want to be a higher functioning board so what steps are we going to take to get there um so Drew has volunteered to come in and help us with that process in the next steps but again we struggle to find common dates and common times to meet so therefore um Drew will be coming in at our next planning meeting in March that's just the natural place to have it work and and those that want to come and be a part of that we typically have seven or eight of us at the
130planning meetings anyway so it just made sense start there so we will look at the next steps there is um what are our next steps with the common commit M ments do those become part of our survey do we have a conversation of um some of the things I heard at convention other there's a school perception survey he's going to help give us guidance where do we take those next steps so we're not doing it blindly because our ultimate goal how do we come how do we become a better and more high functioning board and how do I work together to move the needle in terms of student achievement because those are ultimately our goals and he's going to help us with that any questions on those two those were just the things that kind
131of deviated off but it still kind of came back I actually appreciate your detailed explanation so thank you okay that I could talk that long thanks we'll find a middle gr about the minutes it's is the student engagement is that on for tonight to devot on the agenda no it's not I just didn't know if we needed it because it says that it which oh at first we didn't know if we would have it completed right they did get it completed but then we looked at you know how late the meeting was on February just sorry due to time yeah due to time on the front end no thank you because that changes the minutes to further answer that the other 20 minutes of everybody's best time of their life was going to be getting
132the audit tonight and so I preemptively took that off the agenda uh and then the other one was after Consulting with Jared and Jason that the uh student engagement survey wasn't time critical and if there was going to be a lengthy discussion on that I thought that we could push that off one month as well so that is where I I overruled the uh agenda because it wasn't time critical to do that so then do we need to adjust the minutes because it says that it would be on that's uh you probably don't need to adjust the minutes as far as that was the decision that it's just it was overruled um by time and product yeah thank you for good question I just wanted to make sure I get are they do is that
133going to include the online dates tool so he will we'll all have our stuff there we'll all get initial looks he's going to walk us through that and then from that point we have access to that 247 so yes good and that meeting is in close session okay anything else for planning there was a subcommittee meeting as well those Mee those minutes are accurate as St okay hey there you go uh policy I do have permission to go a little bit long I'd let you you don't need permission um yeah a lot of people were in attendance the meeting was held on Monday the 13th the meeting minutes are accurate as indicated um we we did discuss about filling the board vacancy policy for clarification and it worked we have somebody nominated or appointed to
134the board um the uh we did have discussion about two particular policies that uh we were seeking some input from the board as a whole uh specifically uh how policy uh 5855 student attendance at school events uh that states that free high school students will be accompanied by a parent or adult chaperon throughout the duration of the event basically and that is a change from our standing practice of allowing you know students to attend those particular events without a chapon however uh it does stem uh into it does evolve into a lot of discipline issues and um it's kind of out of control at the middle school level particularly so uh that is a a policy uh uh change more or less and was that 58 that's 5855 um perhaps something to think about for
135the moment yes go ahead the administrative guidelines and how we're going to enforce that yeah um I don't know if we'll have to go as far as guidelines but there definitely will be procedures in place on uh informing parents and and other things we do realize that this is a departure from our current practice um many other school districts are doing what we're proposing which is to make sure that there's a parent or Guardian uh in place uh for anybody under high school age um and we are seeing a lot uptic and a lot of behavior stuff um either uh at the event or surrounding the event communication is going to be key in that the parent comes and drops their kid off and then we say turn them away you know at the entrance
136and their parents aren't there you know we could have an issue with that too and they're irate parents so keep in mind also that this is when the Neo policy book is complete I'm thinking like football next year right right yeah it's it would start with next year's Sports so we would have a long Runway to tell people this is the change in the intent right and I just want to clarify because in the policy it says adult chaperon yet in our conversation we just use the word Guardian so we are talking adult chaperon right so if I show up with my basketball team of 10 that's legit I am the Sha room I am overseeing and I'm responsible for those 10 right okay and the second uh policy that um we were seeking the
137policy committee was seeking some board uh Insight on was uh policy 70 75301 and it's the first version of that that's the cell phone allowance um which would uh basically provide some sort of a stien uh or reimbursement for cell phone usage of key staff members who are required to be able to be receiving phone calls you know in uh kind of out outside of regular business hours type of situation uh that may result in a slight increase of an expense um to the district for the usage um uh I guess uh some of the questions I had you know again related to some sort of administrative guideline to that when it comes to what's what that looks like for admin and what uh costs uh the business administration would Al allow and like what
138kind of criteria uh that would be defined in that kind of a plan what kind of a plan right if there's enough do we have a large enough staff that would be part of this that we could work out some kind of deal with carrier to get discounts or anything like that maybe we're kind of on the edge of what that might be um just we through that in previous districts um and it would really come down to working with Margaret uh on who are the qualifying ones uh and then also working through our business office to say what is the qualifying expense right and then after that seeing is there a place that would give us a deal based on our information are we looking to provide them a secondary cell phone that they
139would use only for district purposes or are we looking to offset a cost that they would use their own phone for the policy entertains both I recall both versions not I no double obviously like it does entertain administrators choosing one or the other not just administrators there's other people who would be non administrators who need to have a cellone to um any sort of public records or anything for employees where we may want to go towards giving them a secondary phone rather than making their personal materials available I would be happy to entertain it either way um here's the thing if we're providing a stipend um it provides us uh through that stien contractually an easier um ask for uh their cell phone company to to do that because we are in a contract with
140their provider well I mean not their provider but them through their provider right um so that's why we're doing this we're making sure and ensuring that we have access to any content uh and if they're doing it on their personal cell phone and we're not um part of that it gets a lot more difficult we would have to go through legal channels you know get a police department involved and all that they're doing it on the person yeah we'll we'll we'll address that at policy or HR I want to clarify that both of these particular policies are on first read for tonight and um unless somebody has a uh a major concern that those should be coming back referred back to policy see at the moment U you have another opportunity to bring that up
141uh otherwise uh if there's we'll just plan on moving forward with HS um the meeting adjourned at well was there any other questions or concern I have one yes um can you give me a 30 second or less synopsis on 44 744 0.02 that smart monitoring equipment what is it where do we have it where do we use it those are great questions I think that uh the district has has the opportunity to possibly utilize those types of Technologies in the future so it's futuristic it's not yeah okay that's perfect it puts steps into place for the future I just I wasn't certain that we had that to start with look that was like three seconds sure okay any other you done crit got it I am Don we are Jed at 7448 and um
142our next Mee February 12 and regular start time at the regular start time perfect we are now on to the consent agenda 9363 which covers the minutes committee summar Staffing approval of Bills first read of several policies second read of several policies do I hear a motion Mike and Fred any discussion on items 7 a through F he Lyn roll call please Dan bolner yes Craig Wartman yes Mike Higgins yes Lorie Holland yes Fred yant yes Diana Johnson yes Sam AO yes David Sher yes okay action items resolution 9364 be resolve that the Declaration of the following candidates for the Board of Education be certified and placed on the ballot in the following order for the spring election to be held on April 1st uh this is when the drawing occurred January 8 2025 Educational
143Service setting 15 drawing place for ballots the order will be number one Tammy D forier D two Carl E schy three David Shader four charity Chandler five Craig and wman six Steve good the drawing was conducted by Cheryl hollitz executive assistance to the director of curriculum instruction uh Angel vandersteeg executive assistant of the director of innovation and witness was Lyn linin do I have a motion second Craig Sam Voice acclamation vote all in favor I I any opposed okay resolution 9365 be resolved that water Unified School District Board of Education proposes no limitation on regular education seats for 2025 2026 school year for grades 4K through 12 be it further resolved that the Watertown Unified School District Board of Education approved zero special education open enrollment seats for the 25 2026 school year a wait
144list for special education students will be kept on file do I have a motion Dan second uh discussion or Sarah perhaps give some backstory Craig which one you want to go first Craig or Sarah don't go for it he asked you I was just I was just going to ask for the rationale behind um the uh the zero education special education open enrollment seats I I feel that's a departure from um past administration specifically on on that one but no last year was Zero as well zero I mean prior to prior to Y uh the year previous to that was Zero there was something in an 18 to 21 year old transition program um truth is we are at capacity when you do a factor scale of where our students are when you have a
145student that requires um specialized services and and supports um there it's not just one student right it could be a 1.75 or a 2.75 or a 3.75 student Factor um and right now our system is full um our teachers do a phenomenal job of meeting the needs of our students every day um when you see case loads um as 15 students that could actually mean 30 students or more um and so right now um we are at that place we did all the calculations um as you have to to justify being able to say zero and like most school districts in the state of Wisconsin um we have closed that to open enroll students at this time yeah no I I appreciate that I just there I I'd like to think that it was about
146two two or three years ago when when there was a different discussion that was had and um uh I appreciate the clarification and it makes sense so I appreciate the question it's great do remember our special life population has growing yeah absolutely and and if anything more help is needed okay um any additional discussion on that K Lyn roll call vote please Dan bolner yes Craig Wartman yes Mike Higgins yes Lorie Holland yes Fred y yes Diana Johnson yes Sam moo yes David Shader yes and the motion carries next one resolution 9366 U be it resolved to the Watertown Unified School District Board of educ ation approved the 2025 2026 RMS course book as presented to the Educational Service committee on January 14th of 2025 do I have a motion I move to table until
147such a date um probably gonna need a motion first and then you can move to table is that yeah yeah y I'll give you that opportunity and I just I just just waiting for you Craig I got my Robert's Rules right here just just to make sure but yeah no no no yeah so I got one from Mike got a second from Fred okay discussion now you can move to table move to table okay as such a date when yeah and and once again I wouldn't know this CR except for that's why I keep this is that you can postpone to a later time we can table or we can postpone indefinitely and I would go so far as to say postpone indefinitely until it comes up again after we enact the policy so the
148motion would be more likely to postpone indefinitely because we want it floating out there on the table okay do you need a second for that uh I do I will basically cabling it kills it postponing means it comes back maybe yeah I just don't want yeah you're technically not allowed to table things you don't intend to bring back can we still have discussion on why we're taing no uh no no it is open for discussion yeah no the motion it's open for discussion but there is a motion to table so we have to no there's a motion out to postpone I thought just a second Craig was postpone and definitely was first by Craig second by Sam and it is open for discussion postpone and postpone and discussion yeah yes post but tabling is not
149sorry in definitely postpone is yes right postpone I I will clarify my motion is to postpone and Def great so still learning way you looked at him like oh real quick just clarification I did not motion on second that's what it says up there just making sure oh you did oh I'm sorry in the okay who second was okay sorry about sorry okay so your question on the so my question is what would be the rationale to postponing it indefinitely as opposed to taking that boat now a good question um I feel like uh when when there's a course book in place and the rationale that was given at the last meeting was that uh by putting a board approval on the course book the board is putting an approval on not only the the
150courses that are being offered but some of the course material that's being offered as well and at this point I'm not comfortable with that particular U uh approval knowing that there are some courses that haven't been reviewed like human growth and development for quite some time I feel is grossly out of uh compliance with State uh right requirements and I feel like there needs to be a review process in place I would feel much more comfortable approving a course book after I after I know that there's a process in place and uh some of those courses are are uh reviewed so at this point in time I don't feel comfortable saying you don't feel the board should bless this sort of putting the approval on even though those courses and things are still going to
151move forward whether or not we approve you just don't I'm just trying to understand that because because it it's a new ask of the administration they didn't they didn't ask for that in the past they just want along with the I understand it I just so I didn't feel like putting the cour cart before the horse was appropriate at this point but we we are still moving forward with everything it's just we don't have now we don't have to vote now or some of us don't have to vote now correct or or blindly agree to something that I can vote Yes and I would be doing it on faith that everything is accurate which puts then me know potentially compromise position but I just want to make sure that I'm still clear that we're still
152moving 100% everything is still moving on the course book's still going to be the course book as it has been in the past and our goal is to have that process up running and moving uh throughout this year before the for before the 2627 so we will be voting on it at this time there was course adjust yes if there are course adjustments uh between ed Service policy in this full board we will figure out a way and that is actually in the um in the ed Service action items a method by which uh certain curriculum and we're calling it coursebook but what came up in ed services is that coursebook is typically a title and a brief description what we're probably really talking about is curriculum which is if a if a parent wanted
153to really dig into what's going to be taught they're not going to get it from the snippet in the coursebook they're going to get it from the onepage curriculum review that says this is what are the topics and the depth at which they're going to be covered the goal is Diana is to be able for any of the nine of us to be able to review either of the two course books and the curriculum uh accompanying white sheets and say I'd like this one to be reviewed then we have to come up with a mechanism to do that within roughly nine months so if we give the board one to two months in January or February you only now have that Runway till next December to make sure that there's any adjustments before you have
154to then ratify it approximately a year from today um so we're still between what niola has what other sources of methods by which it can be accomplished by Boards in Wisconsin and by what we're trying to actually accomplish and where Jared's more familiar with coming from his other uh districts it's going to be somewhere in between there uh and we don't know what that looks like yet but we know know we need it yeah thank you um and so yes table indefinitely Or excuse me postpone indefinitely just means really till this time next year from my perspective right postone that's and it's still GNA go be in use it just means that the board's not going to vote on it that's correct but if we don't postpone it and we vote it down it means
155you can't put in FL that's correct well no if you voted down then there is no course book that's what I mean right vot down there's no course book okay that's the distinction I needed because if we voted down it just meant the board didn't approve but you would still need a coursebook you still use it anyway what I what I'm hearing is is Craig would like to postpone it which then puts the action back on the administration um basically you're deferring your ability to um we're postponing the approval of the course book we're not postponing the course book correct all right yes that I'm good we need make sure we have that clarification yeah yeah essentially in action from the board gives the action to the administration yep right and I didn't I needed
156to have that distinction between that and us just not approving it because you needed to that would have created a void for you yes I need to know that all right the the the the position that we' have been in from past practice um was that um the board was never given the consideration of the course booklet in the past it was always done under the perview of the administration my view of that is that um that that probably wasn't following the spirit of the state law which gives you full authority over the curriculum um including which courses are being taught or not taught in any given semester right that has been deferred to the administration for a very long time without question my question is do you want to continue to Opera in that
157way and if the ansers Neil a policy will dictate or excuse me our new policy will answer that question right that's that's not the question tonight no question is we're not in a position to vot what brought this forward that's what brought this forward okay so we had a first and a second on the uh postpone indefinitely that was by uh Sam by Craig and Sam we've had the discussion um in which case uh any additional discussion on that okay uh I will now take a roll call vote and it only requires a majority in order to postpone it indefinitely uh Lyn please call the rooll Dan wolner yes Craig Hortman yes Mike Higgins yes Lorie Holland yes Fred y yes Diana Johnson yes Sam oal yes David trer yes and the most the motion
158is postponed indefinitely so 9336 is now back into administrative hands until we can get our policies and our processes in place Jenny published the book okay uh next uh resolution uh 9367 is acceptance of a donation be it resolved that the Watertown Unified School District accept the generous donation of $10,000 for the whhs tech ed Department submitted by an anonymous donor second Mike any discussion okay um I don't want to say voice on I just forgot my word for that voice acclamation there you go thank you voice uh voice acclamation please all in favor I opposed and the motion carries resolution 9368 be it resolved that the unified Watertown Unified School District accept the generous donation of $5,000 for skill CA from fiser Barton incorpor ated in Watertown Fred second Mike any discussion uh vote
159by voice acclamation all in favor say I I I opposed motion carries lastly um from uh fiscal uh resolution 9369 be it resolved that the Watertown Unified School District Board of Education approved the purchase of the Ford Transit passenger van previously approved for purchase on September 23rd 24 in the amount of $545 47 with an updated cost not to exceed 6,841 15 which will include the uplift up upfit modification to ensure proper vehicle titling as reviewed by fiscal management committee do I have a first motion Sam second Craig any discussion yeah 6,000 to remove a couple of seats they have to do a little more than that that that was dis they got to take it out plug the holes make it so you can never put the seats back in again and and that's
160why it's that's why it's and we couldn't buy one already no they don't sell that way anymore they don't sell it's crazy basically in order for them to title it that way that's what this is all about probably to Ure it not require CDL all that stuff because only for school districts are Vans with 12 or more seats considered bus it's wild we right after thege had those same question good question I'm welding them back in afterwards D yeah okay uh any additional discussion okay uh roll call vote please Lyn Dan bolner yes Craig Wartman yes Mike Higgins yes Lorie Holland yes FR yes Diana Johnson yes Sam oal yes David Trader yes and the motion carries we are now to the part of the agenda for a second public comment section um giving the
161podium approximately 15 minutes or I'll say 10 until 9:00 uh is there anyone who wants to take the mic same rules apply as before anybody online okay I will now take a motion to adjourn the meeting as opposed to getting up and walking out I got a motion from Fred second by Sam all in favor we're adjourn