001All right, I got 6:30. We'll go ahead and get started. Call the meeting to order. Ask for roll call, please. >> Here >> join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right, we have minutes from the regular, excuse me, minutes from the regular meeting January 12 and special meeting January 15. I move for approval of the regular meeting minutes of January 12th and the special meeting minutes of January 15th as written. >> Second. >> All right. Motion a second to approve the minutes from regular meeting January 12 and special meeting January 15. All in favor say I. >> I. All those not. Same
002sign. All right. Thank you for those that are in attendance this evening. Those that may be listening and watching our YouTube channel as well. Uh appreciate your attendance. Uh nobody signed up for public comment. We'll move on to agenda. And if there are no corrections, I look for a motion for adoption. So move. >> Second. >> Motion adoption for sorry motion and a second for the adoption of the agenda. All in favor say I. >> I. Not. Same sign. >> All right. Moving right along. We have reports by the administration. Starting to go with 8.1 school of the month presentation. Jefferson Elementary. >> Nobody was signed up for public comment, right? >> Good evening. Thank you for letting us be here tonight to share a little bit of Jefferson Elementary with you. So, I'm going
003to start off tonight with our mission and vision. And I'm not going to read those necessarily for you, but again, those are the grounding pieces for us. We we revisit our mission and our vision multiple times throughout the school year. Just want to emphasize the piece of our mission is about that growth of all students. So again, we're here to make sure that all students are growing and achieving. A piece from that vision that I wanted to connect with you about is the idea at the beginning where we have a safe and nurturing safe and nurturing learning environment and we want students to grow academically, socially and emotionally. So again, we're here for all students and really trying to promote their growth in all areas. We have collective commitments as all the other other buildings
004do too. Uh and these are what our staff have committed to to help all of our students grow and achieve. And I just want to point out the first two of these. Uh the first one being where our staff are working on being positive contributing members of our school community. And then that collaborative piece. Uh we're a very collaborative building. uh you'll hear a little bit more about that as we go through the presentation. And then that second bullet point too, talking again about having a safe and nurturing uh work learning environment because we want to create that sense of belonging for all. So again, those are some of our real uh foundational grounding pieces at Jefferson Elementary. We also have three school themes uh at Jefferson and they're in the bold there and I'll
005reference them a little bit as we go through too tonight. But uh we talk about frequently at Jefferson our students having strong minds and really what that means is promoting that growth mindset or the idea that we can do hard things, we can do difficult things. Uh that you know failure is a way of learning, mistakes are a way of learning. So we focus on having our strong minds with our students, our students having strong bodies which really gets back to being responsible or that responsibility in your actions and then Jefferson students having those big hearts again. Then that is caring about themselves and for themselves but then also caring for others. So, as we start each school year, we spend a lot of time in the classrooms and throughout the school emphasizing what it
006means to be a a strong-minded Jaguar or a strongbodied jaguar or a big-hearted Jaguar. And as we came back in January, we had an emphasis here uh the first six weeks in January and into February revisiting each of those, making sure we're spending time in the classrooms and throughout the building. Uh talking about what that is, uh putting that into practice and recognizing students for those for their behaviors towards those themes. Let's get into our school success plan. Excuse me. So our first goal is based upon language arts or ELA and we began the year with looking at where we were in the spring. So spring of last year we ended with 68% of our students on or above grade level in reading upon the I Ready assessment. We've had a a history of a
007nice growth, continued growth each year on the end of a at the end of the year on our I Ready assessments in ELA. We wanted to expand upon that. So, where we've been seeing growth, we wanted to move that to a desired state by this May of having at least 72% of our students on or above grade level uh by the end of the year. So, we're looking for that 4% increase in that uh attainment goal. Where are we right now? We finished our mid-year assessments and where we ended up in in January with the I Ready reading is we're at 63% of our students honor above grade level. So what that is compared to other midyears or compared to last year's midyear, that's a 5% increase. So that's telling me that right now we
008are on track to meet or exceed that ELA goal uh of getting to 72% or higher by the end of the year on grade level. So what are we doing to have that success or to promote that growth? We have really two uh or three key actions related to our school success plan. One of those was the foundational uh going back to the foundations of literacy workshop. So we spent time with our staff in the early part of the school year really diving back into what does a workshop model look like? What are the key components of a literacy workshop model? What are the key expectations with that? So what that really means is within ELA instruction, you have a large block of time. We have 80 minutes uh for that. There's a a chunk
009of time at the beginning that is whole group instruction. So everybody is there getting new information from the classroom teacher and then after that it moves more into um differentiated instruction. Some students uh are leaving the classroom to work with specialists or working with specialists in the classroom after that. There are small groups of instruction from the classroom teacher and then students also are working in partners or or individually on different tasks. But again, we wanted to just take some time and regground everybody on those workshop principles. Then what we took out of that was our collaborative teams each engaged what I'm terming as action research uh on a specific literacy component within the workshop time. And that went through again our collaborative teams. Those teams deciding what they felt was a a piece that
010they wanted to learn or do more in to kind of take their workshop or their students literacy progress to the next step. And that that was very specific to individual teams. So at our like our kindergarten and first grade levels, each of them wanted to look and dive a little bit more into writing and taking writing to the next level within that workshop, having students respond to writing more elaborately or more deeply. At second grade, our second grade team really wanted to develop further into responding to reading through what we'd call notebooking process. So, where students are individually reading, but then they're responding to what they're reading individually through that notebooking and then corresponding with the teacher about that. As we got into our like our fourth grade level, they really spent time focusing on
011uh the small group instruction, making sure that they had the materials they needed and understanding how they wanted to set up their groupings for that small group instruction. They've since felt like that they're doing well in that area and they've started to move in some of that responding to reading as well. And then our fifth grade team, they spent time really looking at that whole workshop piece to making to make sure that the tier one instruction connected to small groupoup instruction connected to independent meaningful work is all very tight and connected and also based upon the standards. So again, I think that's a testament to our collaboration at Jefferson and also some of that that ownership within our teams where each team was able to kind of identify what they felt was the next step
012in their learning and then we revisit that regularly regularly um at our collaborative team meetings. A next action step, one that we haven't gotten to yet, but the next one on our list is getting colleague or getting staff members uh into visit each other during that literacy workshop time to be able to give feedback, you know, glows and grows, positives and next steps based upon what they're seeing within literacy workshop because it's it's great to know what you're doing. It's wonderful to be able to see what others are doing. Our second goal focuses on math. And what we had for a math goal is uh our is going to be more of a growth goal where our our language arts goal focused more on an attainment getting kids to an on-grade level percentage on I
013Ready. In math, we're focused on a growth piece. So, our current state was in the spring we had 57% of our students in math met their end of the year typical I Ready growth goal. As we looked around and we looked at our our other um elementary schools in Beaverdam, we saw that there there was a difference in that growth at Jefferson in math compared to other schools. So what we have for our desired state is we want 70% of our students at the end of this year to meet their I already typical growth goal of math. That puts us in line more with what we see from our our counterparts here in Beaver Dam progress. Well, as we looked at our math at midyear, we saw that 55% at midyear made it at least
014so far 60% of the way towards that goal. So I would say consider that that we have 55% of our kids that are on track to meet that goal and that is a 1% increase from our growth from where we were uh last winter. So math is an area where we've seen in ELA we've seen that continued steps that we're taking in progress with with growth with proficiency. Math both our um proficiency data and our growth data has been a little bit flat uh comparatively. So that's why we wanted to focus on that growth piece for math compared to ELA. And our trend for this winter data is again incremental change, but we're not seeing the big change in the math data yet. So what are some of the actions that we're working on in
015math this year? One of the key actions was more frequent and more regular goal setting and tracking with our students. uh specifically in math. That happens in ELA as well, but more of it focused at on math. We also then want to make sure we're using some of our curricular resources according to the best practice possible. And one of the resources we have in math is the personalized instruction. So that's a little bit of the online learning uh that's particular to each individual student based upon what their diagnostic tells them. So again, I Ready will tell us if we use it a certain way that we're going to have uh a certain percentage of our students that should hit those those growth targets. So we want to be make sure we're having the fidelity of
016that that in place. And then related to it, we want to make sure especially in math connected to that growth uh connected to that goal setting that we are doing more frequent, more formal uh and classroom recognitions for our students based upon their achievement, their effort, their growth. So, a step, one of our school success plan action steps still to develop more is we've started some of that formal recognition with our students. We need to um develop that further and we've talked through that as a guiding coalition at at our school too with what are our next steps with that this late winter and spring. So, thinking about math and maybe why uh or what's next for us outside of these action steps to change our math data, you know, the second half of the
017school year. You know, we did spend time working with our staff and having them reflect with us upon their mid-year data and looking for trends for students or groups of students that weren't, excuse me, growing as much as we would like. Uh, out of that came also conversations of what staff thought that they could use or they could need to help move some of their data. One of those pieces is, you know, some of our staff having more time or some of our students or classrooms having more time with our math specialists to focus on certain areas. Uh, Selena and I providing more direct specific feedback in that math workshop and that math instructional piece too with, hey, here's what we're seeing. Here are some next steps. And then another piece connected to the math
018instruction is just a an increased focus within the instruction routines on voca mathematical vocabulary and mathematical visuals. So um visuals that can be in place for students to then recall the concepts or the processes more easily. uh and then focusing again on that vocabulary because math has you know a lot of unique vocabulary and if you don't get the nuances of some of that vocabulary then it's going to cause more confusion in how to solve some of those mathematical pieces. All right. So now I get to talk to you about our third goal which really supports those first two goals. So, we chose to have our third goal be based off from absenteeism and more specifically chronic absenteeism. So, you can see at the end of the school year last year, 11.6% of our students
019were chronically absent. That meant that they were under 90% for their attendance rate, which equates to about approximately 2 days a month or more they were missing of school. and it's really hard to work on those first two academic goals if we don't have them in our buildings. So, we set forth with somewhat of a lofty goal, but I think very doable by the end of this school year, we want that to be well under 10%. So, we want less than 9% of our students to be chronically absent at the end of this school year. I'm happy to tell you that right now we are on track to reach that. It is not a great time of year for attendance in any building. However, currently 12% of our students are chronically absent. And in looking
020at last year's data at this exact same time, 14.4% were chronically absent. So, we are currently 2.4% less than we were last year at this time. Again, not making excuses, but lots of illnesses, lots of things going around. So, I'm really excited about where we're at with that data right now and looking forward to see where we end up at the end of the school year. So, how are we doing this? So, I know that Joanne and Isaac got to participate in one of our morning meetings with fourth grade. That's a big part of every single day. It's part of responsive classroom where students come in in the morning and they feel welcome. They feel like they are part of a community within their classroom and within their school. So they have greetings, they have
021a question of the day. Often they're sitting around in a circle. They are greeting each other by name every single day and they feel that connection to their classroom and to their teacher. Another part is the growth mindset lessons. So our school counselor comes in weekly this year as opposed to every other week and she's talking about growth mindset. She's talking about um socio or uh um lessons, things like that. But not only that, our teachers are doing it as well. So students are getting a double dip in that growth mindset. We also talk about it every month at our school assembly. So it's a big part of how we're working things into every day and every week and every month at school. We also have monthly attendance challenges this year. So I can tell
022you the traveling trophy is very coveted. Um, so each month there's a different challenge, whether it be a grade level challenge, whether it be a classroom challenge, whether it be just a we're looking for anyone who doesn't have unexcused absences because we know kids are going to get sick. We know you're going to have appointments, but we want you here as much as possible. So, I can tell you the the traveling trophy um may or may not be a recycled third place baseball trophy. Um, but the kids are still very very excited when it when it shows up in their classroom each month. Um, along with usually some sort of sweet treat that goes with it. So, that's been new this year and the kids are really enjoying that. We also added um, uh, fun
023Fridays because we noticed looking at our attendance data, Fridays kids don't want to come to school. So, the last six weeks we've been doing every Friday there's a fun dress up day and each classroom or each grade level gets to choose what that might be. and those rotate through. So, just trying to give them that extra fun incentive to show up on Fridays. With our school counselor, we do something called calendar club. And that's something where our kindergarten, first, and second grade students who are considered chronically absent, they check in every single morning in the hallway with one of our teacher assistants. They get to pick out a sticker, they get a high five, they get that extra connection with another adult in the building. and they love being able to walk down the hallway
024and do a high five and do that check-in. And then our three through five students do that with their classroom teacher because they're not as excited to do the stickers, to do all the things, but it gives them that good morning, that connection. I'm so glad you're here when they start their day. So, our next step for chronic absenteeism and attendance in general is just trying to figure out those students that it's not working for. What's the next step? How do we better support those students who we've done the calendar club, we've done group counseling sessions? We've dug into why they're not there and they're still not showing up. We've worked with parents. We've had attendance meetings. So, more recently, we've kind of reached out to the county and we're looking at some other supports
025through the county to see how we can help families get their kids to school. All right, now the fun stuff. So, just a few things that have been happening so far at Jefferson this school year. Things uh for student involvement. We've had math and literacy nights. We actually the literacy night is coming up in March. Um it sounds like Mrs. Grenon, we're going to have a camping theme. So, it'll be involved all week at school. There'll be different things so that kids who aren't able to come after school for the literacy night still get to participate in some of the events during the day. So that will be really really cool. Um, as far as leadership, this is uh a year that we had Girls on the Run. We had a lot of students involved.
026That was something new for us. Our coaches were teachers and staff members from Jefferson and the kids got to run their 5K at the end of it and it was amazing. Um, we also have studentled assemblies. So every month a different grade level leads our assembly. So it gets them really involved and we find that the students in the audience listen even better to their peers than they do to the adults and they get that message through their peers. We have recognition every week, Jake of the week. You'll see a picture in just a moment of what that looks like. Um but we as administrators get to make phone calls every Friday to at least one student from every classroom. It's really cool too that any adult in the building can nominate. So, it's not
027just a classroom teacher. It can be one of our teacher assistants. It can be the fied teacher. It can be the art teacher. It can be we've had someone in the lunchroom, one of our lunch ladies have nominated. So, it's a really, really good chance for students to know that they are being watched everywhere, but also in a good way. Um, family involvement. Our PTO is amazing. Um, they work so hard. This year we had a school spirit wear. Um, so you could get your Jefferson Jaguar gear and everyone really really liked that. Um, we've also done trunk or treat multiple years. Holiday store, they went above and beyond with our hallway decorating this year. Um, if you happen to be there around Halloween, you saw a skeleton dressed up and it may or may
028not have been Mr. Peters. Um, but it was it's really really entertaining. The kids love seeing that and that helps with our attendance, too. They're excited to be there. They're excited to see what the next hallway looks like. So, here's just a few pictures. Like I said, student recognitions. The top left, you can see when students are spotted, they get one of these tickets showing strong minds, strong bodies, or big hearts. And we often have them turn them in for random drawings for prizes. Um, some of our board members got to participate in in the prize giving when they were visiting as well. and they get really excited about the really small things, but that's that recognition is all that matters. Um the big picture there you see is our weekly Jefferson Jaguar Award. Um
029those are that's just a small sampling of students who won that. Top right you see our girls on the run. Uh it was a very chilly day the day they ran their race, but they showed up with smiles. And then bottom right you can see an example from our trunk or treat. We had a really cool twister trunk setup. And then just a couple more. Top left you can see um that's an example of a morning meeting. That one in particular is from fifth grade. Also just to the right of that we have a really cool setup in that picture. You've got fifth graders helping kindergarteners at the beginning of the school year. We find that that lunchroom routine, recess routine. Sometimes having the older kids teach the younger kids is even better than us
030going through it with them. And the fifth graders love to help. and the kindergarteners look up to those big kids. And then the last two pictures there are examples of our student led assemblies. So you can see one of the most recent ones. We had kindergarteners up there singing the cutest song. Um but they were really talking about being special and having that growth mindset. And again, the rest of the audience was absolutely silent and listening as well as they could be. So, it's really, really cool to get to see our students shine in front of their peers. And with that, are there any questions? Um, I don't really have any questions, but I just want to uh recognize a couple things as uh while we were there. Um, I had a wonderful visit, so
031I appreciate y'all having us. um you know in talking with the with the staff um as far as the collective commitments are concerned I could see that um um being instilled or or I I saw that throughout the classroom and and through uh talking with them. So um I I think we're making a lot of progress there. Um you know is the student achievement and the recognition I think goes a long way. I was happy to be a part of that and like you say they're, you know, that makes a big difference for those kids and I could see that um in talking to them and and presenting with their with their prize. Um I appreciate the work you guys are doing with absenteeism. Um you know that you continue to you know see what's
032working and and um address it. So I appreciate that. And then uh it's just good to see all your student and family involvement uh the things you're doing for for your community school. So appreciate that. I I have a question about the absenteeism. When you have that the same kids, I'm taking it that uh are gone. What do the parents say when you contact them? So when we reach out to parents, there's um standard letters that go out. So they get something in the mail when they hit 5 days. They get something in the mail when they hit 10 days. But when they hit those 10 days, then we ask them to come in for an in-person meeting. So sometimes they show up for those in-person meetings and sometimes they don't. We when they don't,
033we continue to reach out. We continue to try to find a way to connect with them. It might end up being a phone call. It might end up being, you know, I know you pick your child up after school, so I'm going to meet you where you're at and have a conversation. Um it it's everything from you know we've got families who work different shifts. We've got families who struggle with transportation especially in the cold if their kids can't walk to school. So there's there's a lot of different reasons for it. Um but I've found this year a lot of the conversations have been very positive. It has been a lot of illnesses. It's been things like that. the parents really are trying their best to get their kids to school, >> you know, it
034and and that that's great. I think that's that's what needs to be done. But if you could get it through to the parents that if the child is actually sick, please call and tell us so we're aware of this and and that kind of stuff because because otherwise you you're out there like everybody else kind of in in the dark what's happening. >> Yeah. Thank you for your work. >> Um, I just wanted to share a couple things. Really enjoyed our visit. It was a great trip through the school. I specifically a couple of things. Enjoyed the morning meeting where each kid was greeted by name and got to share a thought and then choose one of their friends to share that with. I was really impressed with how slick that went and how the
035teacher kept it on track and didn't let it get um get crazy. Also, in the slide presentations we saw, that was third grade, right? where they were talking about um the the country that they'd researched and how the emphasis was taking your research but then putting it in your own words, doing your writing and and sharing it. And it really sounded like I happened to know one of the third graders that presented entirely sounded like her voice giving that presentation. So, it was awesome. And then not just the the presentation, but then the reflection the kids were encouraged to give. Um there was a I call it a cheat sheet, but it wasn't a cheat sheet. is a guide on how you can give I think you called it a grow and glow where you
036give them something they really liked about their presentation and how much that means when you're giving a presentation that someone gives you some reinforcement. So really impressed with those things and also with the time that we got to spend um walking around those classrooms and seeing individual learning and talking to the kids on what was going on in their brain while they were working on their own was very cool. Thanks for the time. >> Yeah, I'll add that to that too. in in talking with the kids that I left that out, too. But that's, you know, you could tell they're engaged. Uh they're excited to learn, and so I definitely agree with you 100% on that. >> Thanks for that feedback. Any other questions for Jefferson? >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you very
037much. Appreciate it. Summer school 2026. All right. I am going to do my best to represent u Mrs. Darkangelo's work on summer school this year. Uh, elementary and middle summer school will be June 15th through July 30th. Those classes will run Monday through Thursday with no classes on Fridays. No classes the week of July 6th. High school will run June 15th through July 30th, Monday through Friday for credit recovery. They also have some enrichment classes up there like strength and conditioning that they'll be offering. elementary location being proposed tonight is Jefferson Elementary and the middle and high school will be at the high school similar to years past. So, we've had both um all of our secondary summer schools been at the high school for I believe at the last two or three years and
038that's gone pretty well having them all in one centralized location. Instructional delivery will be in person at Jefferson for the elementary students. They will have opportunities for academic uh in reading and math as well as some enrichment opportunities. Students will be able to rotate through one to four periods depending on what their parents sign them up for. So they're not required to be there for the entire time, but they could choose one period, two, three, or four. There are two lunch and recess periods. And part of act 20, anyone with a personalized reading plan will be recommended for summer school. So we will work with those parents and those families to advocate for their participation. As as you know, summer school is not mandatory, but we are going to try to encourage that participation as
039much as possible. Middle school will be in person at the high school and they have academic sections as well as enrichment sections and students will rotate through three periods that are 60 minutes each. Some of the enrichment courses that are being proposed are games, crafts, and dance. High school is mostly credit recovery, but like I said, there's some other opportunities for students there as well. This slide is probably um very exciting for most of you because they have some new courses that they're proposing this year. Last year, they started to do uh the free swimming lessons with the YMCA, but they were offered in the morning, which is the same time as our summer school courses. This year, they're flipping it, so it's in the afternoon. So, our students have the opportunity to take up
040to four summer school classes here with us and then also go to the YMCA in the afternoon for those swimming opportunities. There'll be a sixth grade camp that would be offered at the middle school. Last year, I believe it was a one-day camp that students that were leaving fifth grade and entering sixth grade came in and they got the opportunity to get better acclimated with the middle school building, their lockers, schedules, meet some teachers, and feel better about that experience because sometimes those transitions can be kind of scary. Voter safety was offered last year for the first year. Mackenzie Cho offered that class in the summer. Um there's age requirements on that and McKenzie will run that and we'll be able to count them towards our summer school hours. And then Melissa Heming did robotics
041last year and that's offered grades four through eight. Here's some enrollment data for uh elementary, middle, and high the last four years there. So we're projecting similar numbers. As you can see, there's usually some fluctuation, but nothing too significant. Those are actual enrollments, not students. So, keep that in mind when you're looking at those numbers. And then this is what the staffing projection looks like for this summer. We rotate our secretarial staff for secondary. So, sometimes people will come up from the middle school, they just kind of pick a calendar and and make things work. So the secretarial staff from the high school and the middle school will look at a calendar and pick the days that work for them. And same with our administrators, they will do that as well. And then the elementary
042school, we usually hire one person to be the administrator for the elementary that's on site all the time. And then our elementary principles rotate as backup for them. So, it's really nice for them to be able to see their students in the summer and have those interactions and to be able to um keep those connections strong throughout the summer and encourage those students, especially those that are there for more enrichment type courses or academic type courses, lunch and transportation. So, there's no there's no cost for summer school. Uh our lunch program will be free through Taher again and transportation will be um will be provided the same as it has been in the past. So there's been some shuttles and some direct transportation as well. So uh Caitlyn Dwire and Amy Darkangelo will be working
043with Ryan Cashman on setting that up. Next steps. So, if the plans tonight are approved, if you say yes to what all the work that's been done so far, this is the timeline moving forward. So, you can take a peek up there. I won't read it to you, but lots of lots more planning to do, lots of hiring, lots of communication, signups, form collection, all the fun things. Any questions? Do you know uh for the middle school for the academic courses are those going to be offered um on a laptop like at individual pace or is that more of a teachers class? >> They're they're usually mostly in person. >> Um sometimes there's opportunities for some virtual learning environments but >> but are they working in a classroom at their own pace on a device
044or are they working in a classroom with a do you know >> Mr. Krauss? >> There's a teacher assigned to that class and It's not typically high school. >> Okay. >> So, probably similar to the school year, there's going to be opportunities for them to have lessons online, maybe some extension for them to take home. Um, but most of the most of it will be in person with an actual classroom teacher doing most of the instruction. >> Good. Thanks. >> Is that also for the high school? >> High school's a little bit different. Most of it's credit recovery. So oftentimes that will be assigned through a course like Apex um which then we have facilitators and monitors of people working independently on online platforms. There's also opportunities though for the in-person uh learning that you're
045referencing. It just kind of depends on which course it is. So, >> okay. >> More of a blended environment there. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Mhm. >> So, am I am I seeing that you're 650 kids last year signed up for summer school? >> 650 course enrollments. >> Oh, that's what you're saying. I got you. Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. >> So, one student might have four. >> Correct. Gotcha. Yeah. There's going to be students that are going to have one, some that'll have four. >> Gotcha. That's cool, though. I I I think the new courses are uh really neat, too. So, that's >> Yeah. Very cool. >> Anyone else? Otherwise, look for a motion. >> I'll move to approve the summer school plans as presented. >> Second. >> All right. Motion and second then to approve
046the uh summer school plan as presented. All in favor say I. >> I. All those not same sign. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. That moves us on to reports by board of education. And as usual, we'll start out with the board of education student repres. I see uh you're going solo tonight. >> Yeah, Carter didn't want to join me today. >> Cold for no. So to begin, I'd like to recognize Landon Grow, a senior wrestler who celebrated a 100 career pins. Um, he is actually the first in our school history to achieve this. So I thought that was pretty cool. I also want to congratulate another senior, Elijah Barnes, who received two honorable mentions through the scholarship who scholastic art competition for ceramic pieces created in
047his AP art class. Both of these seniors show dedication towards their passions both academically and athletic wise. And on the topic of athletics, BDHS girls wrestlers went to the Badger Conference tournament on Friday where both Sy Lumens and Kylin Reynolds placed third in their weight bracket. Both Bo wrestlers also had their conference tournament on Saturday where Landon Grow finished in second place. Congratulations to them and the other wrestlers who competed this last weekend and have been working hard all season. The boys swim team had a meet over the weekend as well in DeForest where they broke the 200 medley relay record with a time of 15150. This previous record having been set in 2014 with a time of 152.12. This is an incredible accomplishment for the boys as the entire team did an amazing job
048representing Dam. Our powerlifting team traveled to the WHSPA tournament in Nina on Saturday. From this two students have qualified for state. Cody McFersonson and Alexander Aila. The rest of the team also had some great results with Massie Macy Westfall in first, Verilyn Shen Taylor weird name last name sorry in second, Alexander Va in second, and Cody McFersonen, Jonah Brown, and Evan Bernett all earning f first. We can we commend their dedication and are excited to see how they continue to perform. Um, last Monday the middle and high school choirs celebrated a hundred years of BDH BDHS choir at their coral fest. They celebrated with music from every decade starting in the 1920s to today. These talented students showcased the strong and thriving music program that we have at the high school. Also at the high
049school, they held their annual parade of bands on January the 20th. At this event, the bands from all BDUSD schools, elementary through high school, performed together and separately. This event was an incredible showcase of talents from all the students in the district who continue to dedicate themselves to their instruments. And this week, we have a new and exciting lunch option coming on Wednesday, the 11th, where Chef uh Chef John is coming in and preparing Japanese cheeseburgers and boba for students. Most of us don't know what Japanese cheeseburgers mean, but we know what boba means. So, um, this brings change to the current lunch options and is an opportunity for students to try something new that they wouldn't have otherwise. Lastly, today the 9th, is gearing up for high school night for current eighth grade students
050at the high school. For the past two weeks, they've been touring around the school, and today they and their parents have the chance to go and ask questions to staff and current students. We hope this eases it eases anxiety and prepares students for what's to come later this year. Overall, it has definitely been a busy month for our schools. I encourage students to continue the second semester strong just as they did the first. As I see most are already starting their countdowns for the last day of school. >> I think you hit it on the head when you say our student body is busy. When you think about like all the extracurricular activities, right, from athletics to academic, you know, the music uh department, um there's a ton of opportunities for our students and uh
051based on your report that you give every month. I mean, taking full advantage and keeping our students as busy as possible, obviously. So, thank you very much for that report. >> Yeah, thank you. >> Nice job. >> Any other questions? >> Nice job. Thanks. >> All right. Thank you. uh moves us on to operations committee. >> The operations committee met uh on January 26 for our last um most recent meeting and we met with uh Mr. F from the CP who is the CPA from Baker Tilly presented the district's fiscal year 2025 audit report and I know that Ryan's going to be discussing that in a little bit. Um and we'll have to take some action on that. And um Ryan also shared um the referend referendum projects monthly update for January. Um asking for
052feedback from our committee and talked about uh construction progress on the middle school and renovations at Washington and the work on district-wide security, ADA accessibility, recreation, and site improvements. And um we will be discussing um some of that as well I guess with Ryan and um and then we also Mr. Kashman and Mr. Marshall discussed uh facilities and safety. uh this excuse me uh presented a list of proposed projects for the summer of 2026 during our um operations committee meeting and um the projects have been identified as the district's five-year facility plan as well as districtwide safety, security, ADA accessibility, recreation, and site improvements as part of the referendum findings. And um so the summer 2026 projects will also be discussed uh in during uh the rest of our operations committee report here. Um and
053our next committee meeting is scheduled for April 27th of 2026. >> All right, Ryan, you want to go through a little summary of the audit report? >> Yeah. So at the January operations committee, uh Mr. Dr. Paul Fron, CPA uh principal with Baker Tilly, presented the 2425 audit report. Uh the audit received an unmodified opinion, which is the highest level of assurance that can be received from an audit. It was also reported that all accounting principles had been applied consistently throughout the year, including the new Gazsby 101 principle that were new this past year. Um and that the district is in a healthy financial condition. Uh the federal and state single audit also had no compliance issued issues and was issued an unmodified opinion as well. Um and this audit would apply to any district
054that receives over $750,000 in federal funding which Beaverdam would qualify for. >> Any questions for Ryan or Marge? uh based on the summary audit report. >> I think the only thing that we have to do was to actually um adopt the um the the audit report as had been presented. Um so I I move that we adopt the um audit report as had been presented. >> Second. >> All right, we have a first and second then uh to adopt the audit report as presented. Um all in favor say I. >> I. >> All those not same side. >> Okay. And then on the summer projects for 2026. >> Yes. So at the operations committee in January, the facilities and business department uh propo proposed a comprehensive set of facility improvement projects for this summer um
055that align with the district's 5-year facility plan as well as the priorities from the 2024 uh referendum. Uh these projects f focus on safety and security, ADA accessibility, recreation and site improvements, and ongoing facility maintenance. Uh these proposed projects will span both the 2526 fiscal year and the 2627 fiscal year as they'll fall from June to August. Um they'll use fund 49, fund 10, and fund $80. um with the majority of those projects being supported through fund 49 which is the referendum approved dollars. Um major investments and approximate costs include ADA accessibility, security and site improvements at Prairie View and Lincoln along with recreation and site enhancements at Washington Elementary. Uh, additional projects are planned at the Beaverdam High School, Jefferson Elementary, the ESC, and districtwide locations, and these address roofing, pathways, playgrounds, cameras, doors,
056concrete, painting, landscaping, and other infrastructure needs. Uh the total budget uh for these projects is $4,553,438 with $38,000 coming from fund 10 and $4,245,438 coming from fund 49. >> I make a motion that we approve the summer projects as presented. >> Second. All right. Motion a second then to approve the summer projects as presented. Uh roll call vote please. >> Durson. >> Yes. >> John Cross. >> Yes. >> Mason. >> Yes. >> Pancer. >> Yes. >> J. >> Yes. >> Schultz. >> Yes. >> Isaac. >> Yes. >> Um any additional information on referendum project update from Joanne or John before we move on? >> We just met couple weeks ago. two Wednesdays ago. Um things are moving along a little slowed down with the cold weather we had that they quit pouring concrete and stuff,
057but uh they were getting back at it and uh sounds like they're still wrapping up on some uh RFPs for some of the stuff we need for the middle school and really sounds like probably come April time frame things are really going to start ramping up when weather straightens out. So, which is good to see. But seems like everything's been on time and on target so far. So, >> yeah, I just want to add that as they go ahead with the bidding process, I'm really impressed to hear the reports from um Mr. Dphano and from you, Ryan, on how they're um the use of local labor is one of the factors they're looking at when they're bidding these projects out. So, it's our opportunity to make sure that as much as we can stays local
058within our our budgetary restrictions, and I'm really impressed with the job that you guys are doing with that. Also, uh the some of the projects that are part of the referendum, too, are really exciting. and I think will benefit the neighborhoods and communities that they're all going into. So, it'll be fun for everybody to watch those come together this summer. >> It's not like just painting like we usually painting and roofs, drive parking lots. So, it'll be great to watch those projects come together as well. >> Ryan, do you have anything to add on uh the referendum projects at all? >> Yes. So, at the middle school, uh the back fill is completed at the foundation walls. Uh the foundation work is targeting uh completion in March and then things will start moving up. Uh
059we're currently installing culverts and storm sewer components. Um the site utilities and underground plumbing is also being installed. Uh bids and contracts continue to come in um and are being awarded weekly with the majority of these bids coming in at or below estimated costs. And we currently have three to four community members working on the site. Right. Um right now at Washington uh current progress includes underground plumbing and utilities locating for the area of the new art and music rooms and in preparation for the summer work. Uh concrete cutting and removal has been completed and controls and programming for the HVAC system has also been completed. Um they are currently installing lighting in the ceiling grid right now. As far as district projects are concerned, uh final landscaping will take place in the spring. The
060RFPs for the Lincoln and Washington playgrounds are due this Friday, February 13th. And the Lincoln and Prairie View draft site plans are being developed. Uh we have a meeting on Wednesday morning that we hope to get um not finalized but close to it at that point. Um the biggest piece that has or biggest update is probably in the financing. Uh this is uh one of the busiest times of the referendum in terms of the financing. Um as we're issuing our second FA our phase 2 bond issuance in March. So on March 9th, we'll receive bids for the next borrowing. Uh that borrowing will be $71 million. Um in the past we discussed a couple different numbers um doing two verse three phase but uh having the second borrowing be uh 71 million allows the third
061borrowing to be under 10 million which allows banks to bid on it as well when it's under 10 million. So that creates more competitiveness theoretically could could create a better interest rate at that time. So next year we'll do our third borrowing. it'll be less than $10 million. This one will be 71. Uh the current estimated interest rates as of last week were 4.17%. Uh as we went through the referendum process prior to the vote, we were anticipating 5.43%. Um and then at last November of 2025, we're anticipating 4.66%. So this has continued to drop, save us a lot of money and interest in the long run. Um, excuse me. Uh, the most updated projected mill rate impact for the referendum is 99 cents. So, this is well under the $120 that was communicated prior
062to the vote as well. So, in March, we'll have the bidding. The board will have the opportunity to approve that those bids for the borrowing and we'll receive the funding for those for that second borrowing on April 1st. Ryan, where do you um look for the the borrowing? I mean, do you send out requests from the local banks or different >> So, we work with Baird and so they they've developed like a a payment plan, so to speak, like you receive on your mortgage. They push that out there and then interested parties will bid on it. And then most the biggest factor is obviously interest rate, but there's some insurance pieces that fall into it. But that bear kind of handles that. And then um Mike Clark and I will go through those bids that
063morning. We'll present them to you that evening and then the board will hopefully approve one of those bids. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? Sorry. >> I was just finishing up. That's it for operations committee unless somebody has something else to ask. >> Thank you. Thanks, Ry. >> That moves us on to teaching and learning. >> Uh teaching and learning also met on January 26th. All of the board committee members were present. Miss Hemling, the secondary teaching and learning coordinator, reported on efforts to strengthen academic and organizational skill development. She pres pro provided the background information on the advancement via individual determination or advid program currently used at the middle and high school and the decision to phase it out. Beginning next school year, both the middle and high school will implement gold generating
064ownership, leadership, and drive as a student support structure. It will be embedded within advisory at the middle school and be offered as a study hall option at the high school with counselors using student data to recommend uh uh to recommend participation in the program. The gold sections will strengthen student connection to staff and peers and reinforce academic and employability skills. Administration and gold coordinators will monitor student performance and engagement as well as provide updates to the board. Um Mr. Krauss, the middle school principal, reviewed key areas for middle school strategic adjustments for the 2026 2027 school year. Master schedule optimization will allow a transition to a more focused schedule to provide dedicated intervention and extension, reduce transition, and support improvement efforts. The special education delivery model for next year will offer elementary alignment, ownership and
065continuity, and clear communication. A clear and accessible pathway for math acceleration to provide students with more access to high rigor and advancement will also be provided. And additionally, a more strategic and deliberate consideration of technology integration will be utilized to make sure uh use focuses on enhancement not replacement and a relationship first philosophy to ensure that screens are not a barrier between students and teachers. He reviewed a summary of the adjustment benefits which include academic growth academic acceleration, school climate, staff efficacy, and community trust. Um, Miss Jasma, who is here to tell us about uh 4K, provided that update on our four-year-old kindergarten program programming, reviewed the current school and community sites that offer 4K programming and the benefits of an additional allday 4K section. Uh, she presented a proposal to add an all-day 4K
066section at Prairie View Elementary beginning with the 2026 2027 school year. uh space availability and staffing are reviewed along with the enrollment process. So she is here to talk about what we recommend for 4K. >> Yes, good evening. Um as Lisa had mentioned, I met with the TNL committee on January 26 to review our current 4K programming and to seek support for programming adjustments for the 2627 school year. Um we currently have four community sites that we partner with. So they are BDUSD 4K but they are our community sites. So those are those child care centers. All of those um sites currently were able to offer half-day programming there. So this year they all have um well all but one has a morning class but they have half-day sections. And then we have our half-day
067programming at Prairie View Elementary School which currently looks like two AM sections and one PM section. And then we have our one full day program at Jefferson. Um we have found that since we have opened this full day program at Jefferson, it is highly desirable. Um in fact for this current school year, we had 12 families that um indicated that they wanted that Jefferson full day program as their first choice. Um but we were not able to accommodate that because that section was already full. Um there are various benefits to full day 4K which I had brought to you guys a few years ago when we were looking at opening that um section at Jefferson. So really it provides an opportunity for p predictable environment um routines those structures and routines for our students. Um
068it offers additional time to learn through play. um it helps those students be able to be in a languagerich environment around um typically developmenting peers. Um so those are just a few of those benefits of the full day programming. Um so we are seeking board approval to add an additional full day 4K section at Prairie View Elementary School. So what that would look like again like I had said we currently have two AM sections, one PM. So, what we would do is continue to offer an AM section, a PM section, but that other that third section that's currently just a morning program, we would like to turn that into a full day program. Um, Prairie View does have the space. This would require an additional 0.5 FTE which um can be supported. Any additional questions
069from the board? If not, I move the board approve an additional section of full day programming to our indistrict four-year-old kindergarten services. >> Second. >> Excuse me. We have a motion and a second then to approve the additional section of full day programming for in district 4K services. Uh roll call vote, please. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thanks, Ashley. >> All right. The, uh, so, um, last month in January, um, our board members had an opportunity to attend the state education state education convention, uh, down in Milwaukee. And so typically the following month we open it up for the board members to share out um any sessions they went to um things they might have learned um with the rest of the board. So with that I'll open it
070up to the board. I guess I can start. I uh was our delegate representative this year. So the dele the delegate assembly is getting streamlined more and more. And when I remember when I first got on it be lucky it sometimes would take four or five hours. Um, I got her down to three now. Um, basically trying to eliminate a lot of the word smithing and stuff and uh, so the majority of the resolutions passed, a couple didn't. Uh, probably the most controversial one was the decoupling um where it was the that was related to the voucher program. Um there was a resolution for decoupling and then another one uh that could have went before the assembly depending on how the first one passed and it didn't pass. Um so if we would decoupled um
071it would send a signal to the state that it should be more funded by the state. All the funding should come from the state where it would come from us here indirectly. it still comes from the state and the consensus on the floor that would have probably been really more um could cost more and hurt our funding even further. So, um that was left alone. So, that probably was the most um controversial and probably the most talked about resolution that we dealt with. So, I we got out of there pretty decent time. It was about 4:30. A lot of good comments. Um a lot of good ideas. It's always interesting to hear everyone else's opinion on things. So, um I think we accomplished a lot of good things that afternoon. All right. Thank you for
072doing that. You're welcome. >> I attended a few good sessions. Um the first one was on communications, not necessarily the how you communicate um through what venues like a newsletter or um but how you tell your story of your district and um how you make that personal and so that people um become engaged. And the second two that I um probably got the most out of uh was facilities ones. One of them talked about um designing and how uh design is actually the third the the other educator in the room because um it is so important to the way students learn is their environment. And the other one was about the exciting topics of debt defeasence and referendum borrowing. It was a thriller. But every time I hear the presentation, I understand it a little
073better. So that's good. >> Just enough to be dangerous. >> Yes. >> Keep Ryan in line now. >> I know everything. >> Anybody else? >> I I would just uh comment. Um, first of all, we Maria and I had an opportunity that I like to go on the field trip that they have that they offer. And Maria and I went again this year and we went to um I believe it was called the Holly School. I can't remember exactly the name of the school. It's in a 100-year-old building that looks fantastic. And it is a bilingual school. They start with uh 3K running through the um eighth grade and um it was just a just amazing. They danced for us with uh the uh do a Spanish dance and then uh we went to their
074science lab and we went to a couple other labs and it was it was very worthwhile seeing that. And um so that was one of the neat things. And we had a couple very good speakers this year I thought for the convention. And um the uh which they also they always offer for the whole group. And then there are you know the the breakaway sessions. And so on Wednesday and Thursday we had the speakers and Friday got to be very very cold and un we weren't quite sure what the weather was going to be like to get back. So we did not attend anything on Friday morning. So that was just the way it went. But it was a great time again. >> Anybody else? I think one of the sessions that I went to
075that um seemed imp most impactful to me was a session on how the Stevens Point Area School District was engaging underserved members of their community um by hosting small groupoup sessions with those members to understand the things that were impactful to them and their students and how to best support them in the educational setting. All right. Anybody else? One thing I did, I just want to add one more thing because I I went to the the feast since one with uh Joanne and then I actually sat in on a on a uh workshop on like superintendent and board evaluations. And it's amazing how far ahead we are in this area and with some of the financial stuff that we're doing that I gleaned out of these workshops and a lot of the districts that are
076in the room with us. So I think that's a strong testament of how good our administration and our board is and how we look into the future and do and do planning. So I think you know we're definitely heading in the right direction. I gotta agree with you, John, because a lot of the ones I went to, we're already doing a lot of these things these schools are just starting to do. So, we're a little bit ahead of the game. >> All right. All right. Well, thank you everybody for reporting out. Appreciate everybody's ability to attend um as we continue to obviously look for uh areas for continuous improvement in our district. So, thank you. Um before we get on to board engagement recognitions, just a reminder, board workshop next Monday, uh 6 pm. Please
077mark that on your calendars. Um and then we'll move on to board engagement and recognitions. So an opportunity for the board to share out uh any engagement opportunities or recognitions they'd like to uh share. I'll open up to the board. >> I feel like I did the music tour. Uh, I went to the string fling, which is my first time there, and the parade of bands, of course, it's my son's in band. Um, it's always fun to hear, you know, they start from fifth grade to get to the like honor bands, how much it changes. And I went to the Coral Fest as well. Um, same thing. Got to listen to the hundred years of the different music. Um, and then I took in a boys hockey game, their last home game. I left when
078they were losing six to zero, but you know, it's fun to watch hockey. Uh, and then I went to the girls basketball game, too, last week, so I was busy. >> Anybody else? >> Uh, I saw a went to a wrestling meet. We had um the girls had a a dual meet uh to start. Um, so that was cool. Um, and then the the boys wrestling. I think they wrestling the forest, I believe. I could be wrong on that, but anyhow, it's it's exciting. I mean, I'm a huge fan of wrestling. I think it's a just a wonderful sport um to build confidence and um accountability and um so so that was a a good little uh wrestling meet. Um I had a chance to stop by the middle school for lunch. Appreciate Mr. Krauss
079for having me. Um, I I serve lunch to to all the to all the grades. Um, and then, you know, while they're eating, I walk around and talk to them. At that point, they had we had just finished up I Ready testing. So, just mixing it up with them, asking how I ready testing went, um, and encouraging them to, you know, to to do their best. And, um, so there was some good conversations that that I had with the student body there. I got a chance to have lunch there that day, too. I knew it was coming. >> Yep. I stopped by the subline. They uh >> likes to eat. >> I tell you what, that subline, >> they have a choice between ham or turkey sub or you can mix them, you know, uh
080a little bit of both like a club. Um fresh break fresh baked bread. Uh all the veggies you could I mean enough veggies to make Subway blush. I'll tell you that. I put them all on there. That was a great sub. So, big shout out to Taher for the for the job that they do there. Um, then we saw Jefferson. Um, thanks to the kids in the kitchen. They made puff pastries. Uh, what's like a buttery croissant um egg in there, fluffy egg sausage. It was really good. So, uh, they did a wonderful job. And then obviously tonight, big shout out to, uh, Chef John for the I want to give this one a whirl. Suk sucer. Did I get that right there, Mr. Dustphano? >> This guy sounds great. >> All right. Thank you.
081So, big shout out to him. That was good, too. >> I think I see a food show starting over. >> I visiting school cafeteria. So, great, you know. >> So, I've got just a couple of quick ones. Um, again, thanks to Jefferson School for the tour. I cover the food, but I enjoy the conversation as well. So, it's always nice to hang out and visit with all the staff before we uh start touring classrooms. And then I wanted to um give a shout out to Mr. Cashman because um we had our um committee meeting and we had the auditor here and that was like almost as happy as an accountant ever looks. So he had good things to say about the work being done by you and your team. So I just wanted to make
082sure I recognize you for just uh all the work that goes into those audits. >> And that's about it. >> And the transparency too. Yeah, I really like that part, too. >> Anybody else? >> I just have about 10 minutes worth. I'm just kidding. So, Dara, you knocked it out of the park. So, you you took care of uh most things. Thank you so much. Um just um putting it out there that uh spring play is going to be um on the stage at the end of the month. Title is Greek mythology Olympia Ganza. It's a comedy and the shows are February 26th through the 28th at 7:30 and then the matinea is the day after that which is March 1st because February is unfortunately a short month. Um and then right around the corner
083uh we will be hosting solo ensemble again and that will be Saturday March 7th. So if you have Saturday March 7th free and are interested in doing a little extra work and helping out around solo ensemble uh let me know. Thank you. >> I move the board recess into close session pursuant to Wisconsin statute 19.85 PN 1 PNC C to discuss and take action if appropriate regarding employment promotion compensation or performance evaluation date of any public employee over which a governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility. specifically to discuss and take action if appropriate regarding the resignation of a professional staff member. >> Second. >> All right. Motion a second to go into close session. Roll call vote, please. >> Yes. >> All right. We will move into close session and be back momentarily for
084finish of business. Thank you. We are back in open session. Uh move on to uh 12.1 resations, retirements. >> Okay, we have a couple retirements for your consideration tonight. First one is Suzanne Ernesy for retirement uh at the end of this school year. Special education teacher at Prairie View. We have Barb Leler Hardle, PAL's coordinator for the district, retirement effective at the end of the school year. Carol Kennedy, special education teacher assistant at the high school, retirement effective at the end of the school year. And then two resignations. Francois Mousinera, Spanish teacher at the high school, resignation effective at the end of the school year. Mary Hughes, school nurse, Prairie View Elementary. Resignation effective February 9th, 2026. >> I move the board approve the resignations and retirements as presented. >> Second. >> A motion in
085a second then to approve the resignations and retirements as presented. I ask for a roll call vote, please. >> Chad Freeway, >> yes. >> Heather Schulz, >> yes. >> Isaac, >> yes. >> Marson, >> yes. >> John, >> yes. >> Mason, >> yes. Yes. >> All right. Leaves of absence. >> There are several leaves of absence for your consideration tonight. >> I move the board approve the leaves of absence as presented. >> Second. >> A motion a second then to approve the leaves of absence as presented. All in favor say I. >> I. All those not same sign. >> And appointments. >> All right. We have five appointments for your consideration tonight. The first one is Kathy Hollesapple, special education teacher at Washington to cover a long-term sub position from January 5th to March 16th.
086Steve Kinsey, special education teacher at the high school, he is up here for a extended long-term sub position. He's been in the role already, but February 1st through the end of the school year. Glenn Milville, a physical education teacher at Prairie View Elementary School from February 18th to March 16th. Camille Quaid, physical education teacher at Lincoln Elementary School, a long-term subposition from January 20th till TBD. Spencer Skiington, math teacher at the middle school and a long-term subposition from March 3rd through the end of the school year. >> I move the board approve the appointments as presented. >> Second. >> All right, we motion second then to approve the appointments as presented. I ask for a roll call vote again, please. >> Heather, >> yes. Yes. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> And moves on to
087other business. Payment of claims. >> I move for payment and claims in the amount of $4,572,458. >> Second. >> And a motion and a second then for payment of claims. Roll call. Vote again, please. >> Yes. >> And a motion for adjournment. >> Second. >> All right. Motion a second for adjournment. All in favor say I. >> I. Not. Same sign. We