001Mrs. Shop, are you ready? >> Yes, I am. >> Wonderful. It is 601. I am calling to order the Tuesday, November 4th regular board meeting. Mrs. Sch, can we get a roll call, please? >> Yes. >> Joanne Rule, >> here. >> Megan Miller, >> present. >> Carol Fox, >> here. Brian Nichols >> here. >> Tom Henkins. >> I am here. >> Amy Levy >> here. >> And Tia Johnson >> here. >> All members are present. >> Thank you. I am asking for an approval of the agenda with changing the order of the items 9B and 9C. And this is to uh get our legal team out of here earlier rather than later. >> So moved. >> Could you repeat that change, please? 9B and 9 C. >> I'm sorry. To remove it or just swap
002it? >> Switch the order. Okay. Unless I'm missing something that So, that's just the approval of the minutes. Did you want to move that up before B? >> Um I don't know which one you're looking at. Um 9B is consideration related to prep preparation for the interim superintendent interview process. Yep. 9C is legal advice regarding updates in the DNR soil contamination suit. >> Right. And that's why I'm saying if you want to get legal out sooner, shouldn't we put them where B is so they're not waiting around till we do B? >> Yeah. So I'm I'm asking to switch those two items. >> You were saying D B and I heard D. Mystery solved. Thank you. >> So So B as in boy and C as in cat. >> Second >> motion by Brian Nichols,
003seconded by Amy Levy. All in favor? >> I I >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. >> Tonight we have the pleasure of having principal Emily Pel here to introduce Blo Memorial ROC students to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. Miss Pel. >> Okay. Good evening. Yes. Tonight we have with us Sergeant Ronald Barto and his um color guard from the Blo Memorial High School, JR O TC. Whenever you are ready, students, >> 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. Thank you, Sergeant Barto, and all of these wonderful students and Mrs. Pel. Next, we have the board president report. Good evening and thank you for joining us tonight, both
004in person and virtually. November 3rd through November 7th marks National School Psychology Week, a time to celebrate the vital contributions school psychologists make to the well-being and academic success of all students. These dedicated professionals promote mental health, support learning, and strengthen collaboration among educators, families, and students. We may be biased, but we truly believe we have the best school psychologists right here in the school district of Boe. Please join join us this week in recognizing and celebrating their incredible work and impact across our schools. We're thrilled to share some wonderful news. Each year, Mi Mr. Bean Netti's fifth grade class at Converse Elementary leads a community service project collecting new socks for Blo Cares. And socks are one of the most needed donation items. This year, our amazing students collected 1,021 pairs of socks, setting
005a new record for donations. These were delivered to Bloit Cares by Sarah Hawthorne today and our students were very excited to present their box of socks to her. What an inspiring example of compassion, teamwork and community spirit. Our students and family truly make Bloy proud. We have an upcoming workshop opportunity regarding declining enrollment. CIS CISA 1 and WBO are hosting a workshop on December 3rd focused on declining enrollment. The session will bring together district leaders to collaborate on strategies around programming, staffing, and financial planning. If you are interested in attending, please contact finance director Elwood or me for more details. Thank you to everyone who participated in our recent listening surveys regarding our district needs and financial situation. The board of education and district administration are carefully reviewing feedback along with financial analysis as we
006consider whether to propose a future referendum. On October 27th, the board approved the 2526 budget and certified district's property tax levy at a maximum at the maximum allowed under state revenue limits. This action routine and within the state cap does not require a public vote. It ensures stability in day-to-day operations and supports the needs of our sta students and staff. A referendum, by contrast, would ask voters for permission to exceed state limits for ongoing operations or to borrow for facilities. We recognize the challenges ahead, and we are committed to learning from the past while focusing on progress. Together, we're listening, planning, and working toward one shared goal, consistent student growth, and strong support for teachers in every classroom every day. If the board directs administration to develop a referendum proposal, updates will be shared publicly,
007noticed board meetings, and on our website, sdb.k12.wi. us/board. Please stay engaged with us as we continue this important planning and decision makingaking process. Finally, we invite everyone to join us at Blitmore Memorial High School on Thursday, November 13th at 100 p.m. in the bargain arena for the official celebration of the Johnny Watts basketball court naming. This event honors the rich history of the school district of boy and its ongoing positive impact on student lives. We are excited to celebrate the legacy of Johnny Watts, a boy memorial basketball legend whose story continues to inspire generations. Born in 1913, Johnny Watts was a trailblazer for black athletes in Wisconsin. In the early 1930s, he starred on an otherwise all-white basketball team and led Blo to three consecutive WIAA state titles. A historic achievement with his junior year
008championship being particularly memorable. Watts's encourage Watts's courage, talent, and leadership broke barriers during a time of segregation and adversity. His contributions to high school athletics in Wisconsin and to the sport of basketball nationwide paved the way for countless others. We honor Johnny Watts for his pioneering spirit and lasting legacy. May his remarkable achievements and example never be forgotten. We hope to see you join us in this celebration on Thursday, November 13 at 13th at the Barkin. Thank you again for your continued engagement and support. That concludes my president's report. Next, we have upcoming events and announcements. Board clerk Henkins. Uh thank you, board president. Uh board announcements for November 4th, 2025. Report cards are scheduled to go home on November 8th and B BMHS parent teacher conferences will be held on November 13th from 5
009to 7. On November 13th, BMHS is hosting the Johnny Watts court naming ceremony. It'll be held in the Barkin Arena at 1 p.m. Please show up. I mean, this is going to be a huge thing for the whole community. Uh, number three, the BMHS fall play Rosoms Rossoms Universal Robots will take place at 7:00 p.m. November 13th through the 15th and will show on November 16th at 2 p.m. On November 18th, the BMHS fall choir concert will be headed at the high school at 7 p.m. uh upcoming board meetings which you guys are all interested in. The policy and HR committee will meet on Monday, November 17th at 4. The teaching, learning, and equity committee will meet on Tuesday, November 18th at 5. The next regular board meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 18th
010at 6 p.m. Keep up with SDB by visiting our website www. sdbk12.wis. us or you can download the SDB app from your phone app store. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mr. Henkins. Next, we have Blint Memorial High School principal Emily Pels to help us with the recognitions of BHS Skills US program. [snorts] Yeah. Okay, there we go. Good evening. Um so yesterday at Bo Memorial High School was kind of a big deal. Um even though um students were home for the day because the district was engaging in professional learning. Um we at White Memorial High School hosted 167 students from 12 different school districts um with um a a a variety of different advisors and industry partners and observers and volunteers bringing a total of 220 people to the school all together um
011for the Skills USA competition. And so tonight I would like to um first of all invite Mr. Joe Kugi up to the podium next to me um and recognize him for all of the work that he did to ensure that this event um was a very successful one. So Mr. Klug is a welding our welding teacher at Blit Memorial High School and he is also our skills USA advisor. Um this is an area that he has a lot of expertise in because um he was um an adviser in a previous career as well. Um which really helped us get involved um with skills USA at uh the state level um starting was it last year was our first official competition. >> Yes. Um and so we did very well there. Um and as a result
012of that uh the district who hosted previously um they were passing on the torch and uh when the state was looking for the next school district to kind of take this on. Mr. Klug did not hesitate at all with um just jumping in and offering up Blit Memorial High School. Um and the feedback that we got was very positive from several of the school districts. just extremely impressed with our facilities and the opportunities that um the students have at BL Memorial High School and none of that would have been possible without Mr. Klug's leadership. So um tonight I would like to recognize Mr. Klug for his leadership um and thank you for your passion um for career and technical education um and your love for learning and your passion for getting students involved and giving
013them as many opportunities as possible. Thank you. [applause] >> [applause] [applause] >> Thank you, Mrs. Pel, and thank you, Mr. Kugi. I I know that what you've done in the short time that you've been with the district has been really remarkable. You've inspired a lot of students and instilled a lot of hope and career guidance, and that is so important to us. So, we really really appreciate that and um hope that we can continue supporting you in everything you do there. Likewise for you, Mrs. Pals. Next, we have public comment. M uh Miss Schop or Miss Douly, is there any public comment tonight? No, I have none um to be read and Miss Douly said there was none in the room. >> Okay. Thank you. Next, we have reports to the board. Our first one
014is the business operations and finance committee meeting. Chairperson Henkins. >> Oh, yes. Thank you. Um, I think the last the big part, Gosh, I'm not used to doing this and I know I've been absent the last couple months when this this happens. Uh, we're going through the real property for sale and Mr. Marquette did a nice presentation how that goes. Um, Dr. Garrison, could you help me out? What? >> So, we talked about the sale of real property. We also talked about um the cash flow borrowing. >> Yes. Yes. And then our last conversation was centered around our um uh monthly financials. >> Yes. Yes. Thank you. The cash flow borrowing is a a yearly >> cycle we go through and and RFPs put out for from several banks locally uh if we have to
015do short-term borrowing on what we the rates we get back. And so I think that was is kind of procedural, right? and the uh budget is is is what it is. So, thank you so much. That's my report. >> Thank you, Mr. Henkins and Dr. Garrison. Next, we have policy and HR committee chairperson Nichols. >> Thank you, board president Johnson. Uh yes, we had our meeting yesterday afternoon and uh we uh we moved the HR committee exhibit A to the for to the full board for approval tonight and then the other time was spent uh we had discussions on two items. Neiola policy uh looking at that as a possibility down the road and then a district deliverable timeline policy to hopefully streamline our uh operations and and make uh make our timelines more concrete
016in all the areas of the district. So stay tuned for more about those two things. That's that's my report for tonight. >> Thank you, Mr. Nichols. Our first board action and discussion item is interim superintendent hiring and interview process. Uh Mrs. Almondz will be assisting me in this. The purpose of this is to inform the board and community of the status and process for the selection of the interim superintendent based on consultation with legal counsel and HR. Mrs. Almond, would you like to walk us through the applicant pre-screening and recommendation um item? >> So, good evening everyone. uh we posted this position and have been compliant with the duration that it needs to remain open. We've actually exceeded it by 11 uh for a total of 11 days. Um we currently have a um a
017generous pool that we are um evaluating based on a number of matrix and I will be as deep into this as you would like me to be board President Johnson but we did create some uh criteria from uh an HR perspective to help us to assess the qualifications and what would be um what would meet the expectations that the board has set forth for the interim superintendent. And so I'll go over some of these metrics um to kind of understand a little bit. Uh fit is a big thing for our district. And so, um, there is definitely a desire for the individual to either be knowledgeable, um, of our district or, um, in some way understanding of the situation that we're in. Uh, the other qualification preferably is that the individual have prior superintendent experience
018so that they can essentially hit the ground running in that interim role. it is a lot more difficult to not only learn the district and the situation that we're in um while also trying to learn a particular position. However, um we need to weigh the pros and cons of someone that already knows a district versus someone that has the superintendent experience. So um that criteria will be discerned by the board as we determine the pros and cons of each of the candidates. Uh this evening I am prepared to bring forward to the board uh who the candidates are uh what the pre-screening uh conclusions are from HR allow you to review the candidates so that we can move forward with the selected candidates for an interview that will likely take place uh either at the
019end of this week or sometime next week to be determined. Um after that happens, we will have the interviews in open session so that the public can uh listen in and gauge the what uh each of the candidates brings and the board will have the exclusive um ability to vote on who the interim superintendent will be if one is chosen from that pool. >> Thank you. Are there any board questions for Mrs. Salanderas on the applicant pre-screening process that are open session questions. >> Thank you. The next Oh, go ahead. Not a question, but I I do have a comment. Um, one thing that made my ears perk up when you were speaking is that someone who is a good fit. Um, I am hesitant to use fit because that means someone needs to augment
020themselves to fit into what we have going on here. And I am much more um interested in finding someone who is a good addition to our district. I want whoever our candidate for the interim and ultimately the permanent position to be to be able to show up fully as themselves with all of their talents and amazing skills and not try to fit that person into what we have going on here. So, I just wanted to be cognizant of that >> and I appreciate that. And just to clarify, when I utilize the word fit, I'm thinking more uh along the lines of someone who understands our demographics, our financial status and what they can bring to us and how that aligns with each other. So, it's definitely not a fit the box. It's just having an
021understanding of our district and an ability to um like you said, add to what we offer here. Thanks for that clarification. >> Thank you. The next item under this is the interview committee selection. The recommendation is to have a representative from cabinet, two representatives from building principles and a representative from the BEA to be on the interview committee. Their role will be to provide feedback to the board from the perspectives in their respective roles and professional opinions of the candidates. The principal team had was selected amongst the principles and they have chosen MC um Merrill principal Regina Mallister and Aldridge principal Joe Rydox. and the BEA has selected a representative, Melissa Roarbeck. There had been discussion about possibly having feedback forms for the public to submit. However, after speaking to our legal team, I recommend
022we do not go this route. Um, while we do want input from our public, this would mean all of those responses from the public would be subject to open records requests. Should there be any false statements or any response that could potentially have a negative impact on a candidate's future employment opportunities may put us in a vulnerable position um legally. Furthermore, to my knowledge in our district, we have never sought input from the public when hiring an interim superintendent for the position of a permanent superintendent. search firms, listening sessions, meet and greets, as well as community committees have been used in the hiring process. These are all recommendations I hope the board considers when it is time to hire for that permanent position. Mrs. Almond, was there anything that you would add to that? >>
023No, I think that summarizes it very well. Thank you. >> Thank you. The next I >> have a question. Go ahead. Okay. Thank you so much. Um, so a couple of things. One, I am in support of having the community provide feedback. Um, I appreciate the information that you laid out, but has consideration been given to us giving a disclaimer like the views, opinions, comments are not necessarily supported or promoted by the district. Um, because I think that's an important part of feedback and I would love to have our community involved in the interim. So, I just wanted to put that out there. And then the second thing um the interviews that will be conducted by the committee will those be recorded and available for the board to view. >> The board will be there.
024The board the board is part of the committee. >> Okay. You didn't specifically list I thought the pre-screening is that we were going to get feedback from them. They were going to give us their feedback. >> So the hi we are the hiring manager. So we are on the committee. I what I would like to have are those other groups represented in the hiring committee not as voting members but just as um giving their opinions of the candidates. >> Perfect. So quick question will they be present for deliberation or will there be separation with feedback is shared non-board members will be excused and then deliberations will occur? >> Yes. Yes. After the interviews we will go into close session. We will receive their feedback verbally. They will be excused. The board will deliberate and um
025make either make a decision or decide to keep looking. >> Thank you so much, >> Mr. Henkins. >> Yes. on the same notion. So as we go through this exercise, a very important exercise, uh we do an interview and then we deliberate or do we take a group and then deliberate? I mean how do you how do you see this happening? I mean, I'm not quite certain I understand the question. >> Eight people. Let's say we do them on a Tuesday night or whatever night it is >> and then we interview as a group and then we deliberate and then we go into close session or is it one one one one? >> All all of the deliberation will take place in close session. >> But the interview process will that go we just interview?
026Yes, we we we interview >> and then >> x number of candidates. >> Correct. >> We go into close session with the full committee, get the feedback from those different groups, excuse them, the board will deliberate and make a decision. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Just really briefly, uh what is the number in the pool? >> We have seven currently. >> Okay. Thank you so much. Any other questions? Okay. Next. The interview and hiring timeline. The interview schedule will depend on the hiring committee's availability. We will do our best to accommodate everyone's schedule while also making every effort not to delay the process. Also affecting the interview timeline is whether the board decides to have interview I mean to have the candidates submit a written response as sometimes is done for interim
027superintendent positions. If we do request a written essay that this will add for a few extra days to allow candidates time to um produce this. I will ask the board secretary to do a doodle poll of some dates and times. If any board members are not familiar with using doodle or need assistance, please contact Michelle Schop, Donna Douly, or myself and we are all um happy to help in that. Mrs. Almonderas, is there anything that I have overlooked for this part? >> No, ma'am. >> Okay. Any questions on the timeline? Um the next the contingent offer of hire pre-employment requirements Mrs. Almondz. So this is where the timeline becomes a little bit more skewed uh depending on the applicant their availability to be able to go through all of the pre-employment requirements such as background
028checks, drug screening, etc. um depending on how many places they've lived, we may have to wait on multiple municipalities to provide us with background information. Um and the same thing with their ability to schedule for the physical and the drug screening around their schedule. So, we could be looking as quickly as one week from the uh contingent offer of hire to potentially two weeks, worst case scenario, three weeks. Any questions on this part? Next, the negotiate negotiation/contract. We have been working with legal to develop a template of an interim superintendent contract. This will be modified according to the negotiated terms between the selected candidate and the board. Mrs. Almonderas, was there anything you wanted to add there? >> No, ma'am. Any questions on that? And the final one, the press release announcement. Once the candidate
029has been approved and vetted through the background check, um there will be communication to staff, families, and the community informing them of the board's decision. After that, we will work with the interim superintendent and the cabinet to support a smooth transition. Mrs. Almondz >> and I want to reassure everyone um watching that um we have had Dr. Garrison working very diligently with cabinet to ensure that we uh have a transition plan in place and that all of our projects and important work um is continued upon his departures and so that things do not slip through the cracks. So very thankful for that. >> Thank you. Are there any questions or comments before we move on? Hearing none, our next item is the SDB staffing survey update. Mrs. Almondz, we have um Dr. Gotautle who got
030who is here tonight to present on the results from our 2025 staff climate survey. Um, we have had uh some success in creating a baseline as well as having a point of comparison with other districts so that we can see where we're at as far as employee satisfaction working at our district with the tools they're getting, their leadership, etc. And our collaboration with uh school perceptions has continued over the past couple so years. And um to speak to the data that has been provided um we have Dr. God here tonight and he will help us through the slide presentation. >> All right. Hi everybody. Uh thank you for having me. I'd like to share my screen if that's okay and walk through the uh slideshow that we have prepared. Uh, okay. Window. Oh no. I
031need to do this in a Chrome tab apparently, not in a window because I do not have the right settings apparently. I may have to drop out of this meeting and rejoin real briefly. I'm so sorry. This is very annoying and has not happened to me yet. This is too annoying. >> Uh, you don't need to leave. We will be um presenting on our end if that's okay with you. >> Oh, great. Please. >> Thank you. Will I be able to see what you are presenting? I hope so. Okay, great. In that case, if you don't mind a little Next slide, please. [clears throat] This won't be uh this won't be any kind of problem. Thank you. We should start with the overall report obviously. Yes. Great. Excellent. What we do in these reports is
032we give slide two please. What we do in these reports, we give a little background about ourselves for the company. We talk about the respondents who actually took the survey. We go through the results both at an index level which I'll talk about in a little bit and then on an item byite item basis and then we can take uh some questions at the end. So slide three for some background on us. We've been around for quite a while uh over 20 years now. Have done over three million staff, parent and student and community surveys for school improvement and have done this work with over a thousand school districts uh all across the country but especially in Wisconsin. Uh slide four. For this particular survey, uh we had a survey deadline of October 6th. 301
033staff members responded. That's a 41% response rate. So that is the sample that we are looking at uh through this survey. Next slide please. You can see the breakdown of where staff are working in the district. Blo Memorial obviously being an enormous uh school has the single most uh employees. Next slide please. that is of respondents. The majority of respondents are classroom teachers. This is obviously the case in every district because well educational specialists are 16%, paraprofessionals are make up 11% of the sample. Support staff 9%, substitute staff 1%, admin 3%, choose not to answer 12%. the respondents general tenure in terms of working for the district. The majority of respondents have worked for the district for more than 10 years uh with the smallest single block uh working or being relatively new to the
034district. So, our index analyses, each one of our items feeds uh an index item, and I'll show you those in a second. But the scale that we use, and you'll see this again on our individual items, is a one to five liyker scale from strongly disagree being one to strongly agree at five. You'll notice that there's no threepoint neutral question. We sort of our items ask people to make a decision about whether they generally agree or generally disagree with things. there's a don't know doesn't apply option and that is just not included in our sort of average calculations. So it is possible to get a a a statistical average of three for any given item but no individual respondent can choose something that is numerically three. Next slide please. So our indices are academics engagement
035support student experience and staff experience. Those are are 23 questions feed into those. The big overarching story that you're going to see throughout uh this presentation is that on a year-over-year basis, Blo has made significant improvements in terms of staff engagement overall with some uh areas of softening that we'll talk about as well. Academics 7.6% 6% change over last year from 2.91 to 3.13. The comparison score is 3.53. Student engagement is up 2.9%. Support is down 4.0%. And that seems like a lot, but I'm going to show you a little bit later that it is like one area in particular that is responsible for most of that index has change. Student experiences up from 3.58 to 3.65 65 and staff experience is up slightly from 3.47 to 3.55. These aren't enormous leaps in growth but
036taken all together they show that staff feels better about their uh experience in blo than they did last year. Next slide. Item analysis same scale. We can just move straight down uh to the next slide. This is each individual item on our survey with the same columns in place. Current score, previous score, percent change, and comparison. The district seeks input from a broad group of staff members. Our school's student discipline practices and policies are effective. Information important to my work is shared with me in a timely and effective manner. Our staff handle student discipline in a consistent manner. These are ordered by percent change. We never see school districts in which these four items are the four most improved. Basically, every district in the state in the country really is struggling with student discipline in
037particular. So to see growth, particularly large growth on those uh areas is a really significant uh improvement. Similarly, with a district seeking input from a broad group of staff members, that's also extremely encouraging, especially for we know that the these factors in particular strongly linked to staff retention. So, those are big wins. Next slide, please. Comfortable sharing input and concerns with my supervisors. Most days I look forward to going to work. I feel supported by my supervisor when I make a decision. Our staff does a good job of educating our students. the amount of work I am asked to do is reasonable and manageable. Starting to see some declines at the bottom there. It's important to note that when you see to to keep those declines in perspective, especially our staff does a good job
038of educating our students. The when you're seeing an average of four, last year was 4.06, this year is 3.98. It means that the average responded is hitting agree with that uh statement. Our staff does a good job of educating our students. So slightly off but still good is my point. Uh okay, next slide. The school board is doing what it takes to make our district successful. This is again ordered in terms of percent change, but now we're in a different survey section. And so the ordering starts over is what's happening here. Schoolboard is doing what it takes to make our district successful. The district is heading in the right direction. District administration is doing what it takes to make our district successful. I have opportunities for training and professional development to improve my work. These
039are big gains. Like you can see that in terms of the comparison number, it's still lower than the comparison average, but these are big jumps over the previous year. This is a parenthetical that is kind of neither here nor there. But it's always interesting to me that we ask both these questions about the school board is doing what it takes to make our district successful and the district administration is doing what it takes to make our district successful. And no community anywhere rates those the same. Like there's always a difference between uh those two. I don't know what the local politics are in terms of who gets credit for things going well, but things are going well and things are going better this year than they uh were last year according to staff members. Next
040slide, please. All students in our school are respected for their values and beliefs. I am recognized when I do a good job. I feel safe at work. I have training and support to work with students from different backgrounds. In the last year, I received useful feedback to improve my work. A quick note on this slide, I feel safe at work is a lagging indicator. Uh, which just means it takes a long a little bit longer to catch up to some other things. You saw in the earlier section that feeling much better about student discipline than they did last year. That's going to be reflected in next year's survey in I feel safe at work. I predict it takes a little bit for those two things to have I feel safe at work is downstream from
041uh discipline student discipline issues in general. Next slide please. The social and emotional this is the support section. Bear in mind that this was like the index or like a lot of these questions feed the index that was down in the initial one. You'll see that the social and emotional needs of all students are being met, up by 9.2%. All students in our school are given equal opportunities to learn and experience success, up 4.3%. District's pay practices are fair. People feel better about that this year than last year. Staff input is valued, also up. Next slide, please. Our parents and community support the school district. Up. Our school dis our school supports students from diverse backgrounds. Up. I have healthy working relationships with my co-workers. It's flat, but also 4.27 means it's between agree and
042strongly agree for the average respondent. Our school has a process to ensure every student has a connection with at least one adult in school. Slightly down. Next slide, please. Our school supports students who fall into the following categories. All of these are up with the exception of all genders which is slightly off but again 4.10 means the average respondent is hitting agree. Next slide please. I have the materials and supplies I need to do my job well slightly down. I have access to the technology support that I need off by 7.8% 8% and then the one that I think is responsible for most of the the overall support index. I have the technology I need to do my job well is way down this year uh from last year and I'm sure I'm not that's
043not news to anybody in this room that was news to me as outside of this data. So overall satisfaction the last question that we ask is a net promoter score. How likely are you to recommend the district as a place of employment? We like to look at the eights, nines, and tens. Those are your uh active promoters, people who will start conversations about and try to recruit their friends to come work in the district because it's such a great place to work. The important thing to note is that this number is up, the average number is up 7.6% over last year. people feel much more positively on average uh than they did last year and that is the uh overall report I think unless I'm summary analysis I don't think that there is one oh
044yes my god what do you mean at remembering what's in my own report five items of the highest score so just the highest by average healthy working relationships with co-workers school support students with diverse backgrounds our staff does a good job educating our students I feel safe at work. I feel supported by my supervisor and administrator when I make a decision. Next slide. The lowest scores. Schoolboard is doing what it takes to make our district successful, even though that's also most improved. District administration is doing what it takes to make our district successful, even though that hugely improved. The district is heading in the right direction, also hugely improved. Our parents and community support, the school district, that's also up. And the district's pay practices are fair, also up. So, like this is just the
045average. I'm just reminding people that like again, okay, so I just said all this schoolboard is doing what it takes to make our school successful. Big jump. District heading in the right direction. Big jump. District seeks input from a broad group of staff members is up a good deal. Our school student discipline practices and policies are effective and information important to my work is shared with me in a timely and effective manner. Our staff does a good job of educating our students is slightly down. In the last year, I received useful feedback slightly down. Amount of work I'm asked to do is reasonable and manageable is down a little bit. And then the two technology questions are way down. Those are and that really is the end of the uh overall report. >> Thank you,
046Dr. Gotautle. Are there any questions from board members? Mr. Henkins. >> Yes, Dr. got you accentuated the positives which is very good at the end there. >> Yeah. >> Um the negatives I saw you just glanced over the two tech things at the end. Um in your opinion and we're comparing ourselves to ourselves from last year to this year and going up. >> Uh I'd like to know you you obviously do this for a lot of districts. You told us that. >> Um where do we compare and where are we deficient? I don't want to hear the positives. I want to hear the negatives, please. >> Okay. I mean, the if you look at the average score and the comparison scores on an item by item level, Bloid is generally below the comparison average uh
047across the board on just about everything. If you're talking about comparing yourselves to yourselves, then the direction of change within the district is headed in the right [clears throat] direction. In terms of comparing yourselves to other districts, there's work to be done on in pretty much every every area. the the places where Blo is at or slightly above or slightly below the comparison average that is our comparisons are other districts similar to Bo in terms of enrollment uh percentage of students receiving free and reduced lunch uh and that kind of thing in in the places where Blo is at or slightly above or slightly below the district or other districts, they are really important ones. A practices are fair, student discipline, I feel safe at work. Those are the most meaningful indicators in terms of
048uh staff retention. And so if there's a place to be particularly uh particularly even with ones with with other districts across the state, those are the important ones. I realize I'm still doing uh the thing where I'm trying to be like there are some positives here. Uh and yet but yeah, if you want if you want something that is I mean I don't see the the technology numbers dropping as they are here in other districts. And it makes me think that there must be some policy thing that went into effect that uh it was a deliberate uh decision that staff are not happy with. But that's not that's unrelated it seems to me to general trends or the general performance of the district in the eyes of staff. >> Well, thank you. But I think
049you're still being a politician. Where the school district of where can we in your opinion use our you know I I thank God we we are progressing and getting better in some areas. I want to I want to know where we can do our best job to influence and get our numbers up for next year when we do this, please. >> Okay. Well, there's a there's a few different ways to answer that question. And I'm not trying to be a politician when I say that. Uh it depends on what you what is most important to the district in terms of uh in terms of its staff. If we're talking about uh impacts on staff retention, then the then the place that you are making the most progress now are places where you I would recommend
050continuing to make efforts that is seeking improvement or input from staff members uh disciplinary stuff making sure that communication with staff members is trans is timely and transparent. and all that stuff th important for getting for making staff members make the decision to re-up with the district on a year-over-year basis. And that does produce student outcomes or makes uh student learning outcomes easier to achieve in the long term. If you were focused more on student outcomes in the short term, then I mean it's honestly similar. you would want to keep the the focus on student discipline practices being effective on staff feeling safe at work. Those are just general indicators of the orderliness of the learning environment in general. Uh yeah, those those are the ones those are the most immediately impactful ones that uh
051that I that I would recommend focusing on. Everything else is sort of downstream feeling supported in general by uh one's administration uh receiving useful feedback to help improve my work. If those other things are happening, then those numbers will rise too. Is that is that more what you were asking for? >> Uh I I I thank you. Um I guess I wanted to be you to be more critical of our district. so we can get better, but we'll leave it is where it is. Thank you. [laughter] >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Henkins. >> Well, I mean critical, but in a positive way. I mean, we need to learn from these surveys. Thank you. >> There are some um some wins here that I I think I thank all of the cabinet members and building
052administration for making those wins and for fellow board members for for their efforts. and there are still areas we have u room to grow and we're just going to keep focusing on that. Miss Miller, >> thank you so much and thank you board president Johnson. I was also just going to you know, thanks to everybody who's um you know working to create uh the positives and the growth in our district. Absolutely. Um I just wanted to take um kind of like an opposite approach to um my colleague Mr. Henkins. Um, totally. But I think in with respect to maybe one of the things he's trying to get at here, um, so I'm a teacher in my day job and one thing that I know is that it's important to, um, to to take an assets
053based approach to things. Um, do well, you know, identify what we're doing well and like what is making us do this well and like how do we like build on what we're doing well? I'm just going to keep saying that, I guess. Sorry. um just to kind of capitalize on that and then hopefully um improve these other areas as well. So I guess just from your own excuse me from your own professional background and experience of the things that you've highlighted that are going in a positive direction which would which would you advise us as a board um I guess just to to prioritize in terms of um you know this is what we as maybe the most impactful to sort of continue to lean into and which of those things do you think could
054potentially bring up the areas that are of the highest needs? I'm just curious what your insights are on that and like kind of the trends um for what you see districts do uh that continue to improve. >> Yes. Uh I mean I I think that my answer to that is going to be very similar to uh the the last answer that I gave which is like the places that I think that Bloit is making the most improvement especially on in the classroom. Staff see that they are being that their opinions are mattering more than they have in the past. Staff see that schools student discipline practices and policies are effective. They understand that information important to their work is being shared with them in a timely and effective manner. These are still each of these
055measures is still slightly below the comparison average but significantly better than it was last year. All the all of those four things that I uh articulated are the kind of are the parts of a staff experience that makes staff feel like they are part of a team that is dedicated to the same kind of mission and pulling in the same direction and that they're not just on their own. So that's the positive and I would just say like I can see in the data that uh the administrative team has put a lot of emphasis on those issues. It's not like the areas where you see big gains are the areas of emphasis uh over the previous year. The thing that the interesting indicator and I'm not sure what recommendation to make about this is I
056I did highlight it as as something of a positive It's uh it's the item about teachers. Uh healthy relationships with co-workers. That's great. Our staff does a good job of educating our students is the one that I'm looking for. That one is a little bit lower than comparison average even though it's still generally good. But that's one to keep an eye on is what I would say. It's not a it's not one that is easy to directly impact obviously, but the better staff feel about how their colleagues are doing, the more it sort of uh reinforces that sense that we're all on the same team and working for the same mission. There's a little discrepancy in the way in the direction that feeling valued by the administration, feeling like they've got support from colleagues and
057administration when it comes to discipline and also believing that teachers in the rooms next to them are doing the same kind of good job that they are. That's those things all tend to go together. And I would like to see next year that our staff does a good job of educating our students back on the other side of 4.0 and trending upward rather than downward. It's a little bit it's interesting is the way that I would say to see like that one falling off a little while those other indicators are moving in the other direction. >> No, that's like super helpful. No, and I realize that um I was a bit redundant in my question. I guess I'm I'm just trying to take a different lens on it and I think um actually really appreciate
058the your last comment in particular. It's it's great to hear and I just again want to commend our administration. Um you know it's it's fantastic to see those trends um particularly with you know student safety culture kind of pieces. Um I just think like you know obviously this is going to be taken back by the administration and they're going to act on that. And I think as a board, one thing that I'm taking away that we can maybe help do at our level is just to to continue to celebrate, you know, on a classroom by classroom basis, like these are the wins that we're seeing academically. Um, and I think board member Johnson mentioned this in her comments earlier, you know, like, you know, we we all do what we can to interact like in
059those buildings. I think, you know, taking more opportunities to to uplift um, hey, this is these are some great things that I'm seeing, you know, whether as a parent or visiting schools, etc. Um, just to help reinforce that message. So, thank you so much for taking the time to to speak to that. >> My pleasure. >> Um, yes. So, you talked of the um I have the support I need to help educate our students and work as a team and you attributed that to the technology score. Um, which I think part of that is because um part of trying to balance a budget last year um we went from uh MacBooks to Chromebooks which is a huge change. >> I'm wondering [clears throat] if where in this I'm guessing it would be in that part
060in support. um we are struggling to fill vacancies and um we are short uh substitute teachers as well and so we've had teachers have to take on more students um you know whether it's just for a couple of days or in some cases uh since the beginning of the school year would would those struggles be reflected in that score as well or if not where would that fall you're talking about like the the general if I'm understanding you correctly the staff indexes page that I pulled up where there's academics engagement support student experience staff experience >> support is the index I category which is down 4% over last year >> my hypothesis was that a lot of that is is because of the this significant drop in the technology rating but you're right that it's
061not only that I would the the the amount of work I am asked to do is reasonable and manageable is down 3.3% over last year. That's usually the item where we see the kinds of issues that you're describing with trouble getting substitutes with teachers basically having to give up some of their planning time, their prep time in order to cover additional classes or feeling uh stretched by administrative demands of one kind or another. that's that's the item in which uh you would see that appear as as well. It's just like the amount of work I'm asked to do is reasonable and manageable. Uh otherwise, yeah, and so yeah, that's down >> as well. >> All right. Thank you. >> No problem, >> Mrs. Fox. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Are there any other questions for
062either Mr. Gotautle or uh Mrs. Alandereas, >> thank you so much. We appreciate both of your um time and effort in putting this presentation together. Mrs. Almond, >> thank you to everyone for your time. >> Thank you. Thank you for having me. Our next item is the staffing plan discussion. The purpose of this is to discuss the district staffing matrix. And this is Dr. Garrison and Mrs. Almondas with others assisting the cabinet members. Dr. Garrison, Mrs. Almonderas. >> Yes. So, uh, a few weeks ago, we we discussed some of the staffing um, thoughts that we had here in the district. We of course have responded to a lot of the questions that the board um has asked for. Um, we have shared that information. We thought it'd be um, important to bring this conversation back
063as discussed. Um, another document was um, worked on um, and that's why we're here today for any other additional questions. Um and we can kind of go from there. >> Mrs. Almonderas. >> Uh so I want to thank Miss Fox for the opportunity to um bring our minds together and present the information uh in a different way for the board to review and analyze where our staffing is in our enrollment. So, that was a great opportunity to collaborate. Thank you. >> Do board members have questions about the um staffing plan that is um attached current as of October 23rd, 2025. >> Go ahead, Mrs. Fox. Um, one of the things that we outlined in the staffing plan is some of the vacancies that are not filled um with um either regular uh boy school district
064staff or contracted staff and I'm wondering what is being done to ensure that these vacancies especially some of these classrooms are filled with um someone who's there on a daily basis. >> Absolutely. So there is ongoing work in trying to identify means of recruitment that will allow us to bring quality staff to our district. We, you know, not to harp on the fact that this is a nationwide um deficit of uh teachers. It goes with the number of students that enroll to become a teacher and the number of teachers who retire year after year. Uh so uh we are uh working not only on the staffing but I I do want to point out that we're continuously hiring and so there is also the aspect of retention that I think needs to also be emphasized.
065Um you know we can hire I'm looking at Converse right now. we can hire, you know, second grade teacher, bring them in, and then we have a fifth grade teacher that leaves. And so the board is always going to see similar numbers because of that revolving door. So I think that internally one of the things that I've derived for um the purpose of my department is how we can collaboratively work at the building level and with other cabinet members to ensure that the experience for teachers is increased to a uh more desirable um experience. uh we do need to increase our um visibility in the buildings for not just what we're doing in the building whatever uh task we're doing but also to make ourselves present and accessible and I think most importantly is going
066back to having a uh perhaps a monthly if not more frequent orientation for all staff teacher and otherwise uh because we do go to great lengths at the beginning of the school year to familiarize staff that has been hired over the summer with all things school district of Boid and we have been falling very flat on creating a similar uh experience for those that we recruit throughout the school year. Um so I think it's about orientation. I think it's about um how we allow them to acclimate, what resources we provide them and working more on retaining them so that the recruitment piece is not as challenging. >> I understand that. But I'm I'm talking about in particularly some buildings um Converse and Todd come to mind right away. They have two um classroom vacancies. Um
067and I know they're permanent subs, but they only have one permanent sub. And I once wondering if other subs are being utilized from other buildings to fill some of those. I'm what I'm hearing is that they're playing um roundroin catch 22, who can catch them today kinds of things. And I I think we need to be u better at putting a permanent sub or somebody in that position to to keep those kids educated. Our kids need somebody who greets them every day. Um especially in the elementary like I said um uh both Todd and Converse have two classroom vacancies. >> Yes, ma'am. and we are working with the building administration to address how those gaps can be covered. Unfortunately, substitute is another area uh where staffing is uh sparce to say the least. And so
068yes, we are trying whatever means necessary to recruit to find individuals that are qualified and put them in our classroom. Uh we will be upping a lot of with the filling of the staffing coordinator position. will also be increasing our access at the higher ed level so that we can start bringing uh staff in fresh from uh their graduating class. I know that TLE has been working uh Michelle Elliott has been working with our existing contacts to bring student teachers into our buildings and trying to create the best experience possible for them so that we can in turn uh retain them. So there is work being done. Unfortunately, the numbers don't accurately reflect all the work that is being done to bring teachers to the school district of Boyd. >> I and I do appreciate
069that we do need to bring them here. My concern is what's going on in those classrooms today, tomorrow, until we can get somebody in there, what are we doing to cover those classrooms? Um because like I said, there's 13 permanent subs in the district. Um my question is what are all those subs doing and if they're not being used for these vacancies, why not? So we do have permanent building subs that are assigned to each of the buildings as you're aware. Um unfortunately, aside from the vacancies that exist, we also have day-to-day absences. We have individuals that are slated to go on any type of leave of absence, FMLA or otherwise. And so, unfortunately, every building is utilizing their permanent building sub to its fullest capacity. So if I was to take one from say
070BMHS to bring over to Converse, then that is going to be a gap in the instruction at the high school, which is a little harder to cover because you may only have that one teacher covering that subject matter that cannot have those students split. And so, um, we have looked at how we can repurpose the individuals that are assigned to each building, but it would be plugging one hole by unplugging another. >> Well, yes, but you know that missing a sub missing a person for a day or two um is not exactly the same as missing a person every single day. Um, and you know, I know that the teachers at both these schools are filling out blue sheets and they're having to have, you know, extremely large classes and doing things like that. And
071it's like, so in another school, they they're missing their permanent sub and they have to fill out blue sheets for a couple of days. At least they're not doing it every single day, which is if you have these two per vacancies in these buildings, that's that's a daily ongoing struggle. >> Understood. >> Miss Miller. >> Okay. Thank you so much. Um I just um I think Miss Fox and I are um similarly on on on a similar page. So, I just um two clarifying questions. You mentioned um about uh the retention efforts. I know the board did kind of like an informal survey before. Have we considered um speaking with both like the BEA and just like, you know, maybe just at each building and just getting some direct feedback from our educators about retention
072issues. uh you know is is this like you know if you could give us that's my first of two questions just a sense of like to what extent is this happening or are you planning for this to happen? >> Absolutely. [snorts] So too late. But we do conduct exit surveys and that's not when we want to find out how we could have kept them. But uh we also have uh BEA um co-presidents. They uh have an open line of communication whenever there are uh concerns either with one or multiple individuals within the membership. uh they have direct access to HR so that we can as promptly as possible make sure that we address the things that are of um higher uh importance that are brought to their attention at the building levels. I meet with
073the principles on a regular basis. If not meet, we communicate at least every day or every other day. Um, and again trying to address things uh as they come up and trying to take things off of teachers plates as best as we can. Um, so there is collaboration in trying to address things before they become a reason for somebody to consider leaving the district. Um, one of the things that was part of and not part of this conversation, but part of the department goals is to have check-ins throughout the year, stay interviews uh, with staff so that we can start feeling those hot spots before again they become so unbearable that an individual likes to leave rather than have the opportunity to make that better for them. >> That's very helpful. And I mean, I
074think um yeah, just as as much as we can do, like whether it's a focus group, um you know, some kind of cadence of really getting in front of teachers and and listening to people's day-to-day experiences. I absolutely appreciate the collaboration, communication. I'm sure principles are doing a fabulous job advocating for their staff as well. I think um just like speaking as somebody who's like like a teacher, I mean, I think anytime we can get in front of administration and just talk about like, hey, this is like my dayto-day. Um I think that could also really help inform some moves that we make. Uh my second question um is regarding recruitment. You had mentioned um you know like sometimes you know numbers don't necessarily reflect the work that's going into things. Uh from a board
075perspective as we're making strategic decisions about resource allocation etc. Um, speaking as one of seven, one thing I would really love to see is just I don't know if there's some kind of a report that can maybe already exist or that we could be generated um through what we're doing with we can and other um posting mechanisms to see what I guess like what our response rate is maybe by like category whether it's like special education as its own category paras um general ed teachers etc. I would love to see a report for what our response rate is and what our turnaround time has been um when we have people who apply to positions. I think that that's something from a board standpoint just to have a highle view of like what that process looks
076like could be very helpful and it'll help us make those and know what board goals is on the agenda tonight. Um help us understand how best to prioritize um our vision for how we best move forward with both recruitment and retention. um is that possible to produce a report about what our response rate is maybe disagregated by type of position and what the turnaround time and response rate has been with those applicants. >> So we can does have a series of reports that you can pull directly from the software that would satisfy the number of applicants per position type etc. And we would have to um then look at the response time um create the metric for each of those positions for uh from uh recommendation to start date. >> Yeah, I think it would
077be helpful. I mean I I don't want to you know I'm not going to be part of a rumor mill. I I have heard things from people though about you know so and so didn't get some kind of communication and things like that. I think um it would just be very helpful for us to just kind of get that that hard look at like what are the numbers, what are those response times, etc. Um a I think just maybe it'll help improve culture. B it'll help us um sorry the echo is really distracting. Um it'll help improve culture and also I think it'll help us as a board just make strategic decisions about like how to resource things, how do we move forward with recruitment um just to be more effective. So thank you very
078much. Thank you, >> Joanne Rue. >> Yes, thank you. Um, okay. So, the hot spots you were speaking of, I think, um, you know, in wanting to retain teachers, I'm hearing, um, from people that are taking on basically a half a extra class that that is something that makes them reconsider whether they're coming back next year. So, I think these are probably our like spots where we really need to um think creatively out of the box kind of stuff to take care of that because right now teachers are teaching classes where it's 1.5 classes instead of one class and it's not sustainable. Um my question is so I'm this is my first time hearing about a staffing coordinator. I love this idea. Are we going to um have like um workshops or some sort of
079brainstorming sessions where we come up with ideas of how to recruit more people? Um like we're really low on substitutes. There's got to be some ways to attract them. Um we used to have a huge substitute pool. I know um discipline numbers in the past caused a lot of them to walk away. They weren't feeling supported in the classroom. If we can, you know, speak to our our improved numbers. Yes, they are not where we want them yet, but improved numbers, maybe we could woo some of them back. Maybe we can come up with some incentives for substitutes to have them want to choose Blo um because it is a competitive market out there for our substitute teachers. I know. So, I don't know if those were questions or thoughts, but just throwing it out
080there. I welcome both and um and yes, I mean I'm always open to a workshop. The staffing coordinator is an FTE um that has unfortunately gone unfilled for the same um vacancy issues. Um we do have a good pool right now that we're reviewing. So I do believe very strongly that with that position being filled within HR that will be a a series of hours obviously that can be dedicated exclusively to this objective rather than being one of multiple duties and responsibilities uh amongst my 2.25 uh staff and I. So I'm definitely looking forward to that what that position can do to the uh vacancy numbers. Thank you. I hope their number one priority is making sure we have these classroom positions filled because that is I think that's our our top priority right now.
081>> And for President Johnson, I'm having some internet issues so I'm not able to raise my hand, but when I do have a question you >> go ahead. Thank you. Um and I'm just going to ask very directly. Are there um qualified education professionals that are applying for these vacancies and not being responded to? So the way that the hiring happens in our district, the hiring manager is the one that makes the initial contact communication um and selection for interviewing. um HR only contacts the candidates who are selected to go through that whole pre-employment contingent offer of hire and ensuring that everything all the all policies and procedures were followed in that recruitment process. So thank you for that context. But again my question are is are there qualified education education professionals that are applying
082for these vacancies and not being responded to because that is a concern that I've heard more than once and again that goes to the hiring manager. So if the hiring manager is not communicating back with the individuals that they have interacted with then I would have to check with them. I you know I don't know. >> Okay. If if you could check on that, that would be awesome because it is my understanding that there are licensed qualified education professionals that are applying for some of these vacancies and not being responded to. And even if it's a no thank you or whatever the reason is, I just don't think I not that I don't think we are not in a position where we can ignore qualified education professionals when they are applying for vacancies. That doesn't
083mean that we automatically hire them, but for us to not respond to them, I just I I cannot think of a reason why that would be appropriate. >> Duly noted. I will look into it. >> Thank you so much, >> Mrs. Fox. >> Uh yeah, we we talk about hotspots. The you know, Converse and Todd for those positions are hotspots and and again um you know, if we don't help those teachers, they will leave. And you know, then those teachers are going to be sick and then you're going to need a sub for those teachers. and the the more we can support our teachers and put people in places um to help the the the the likely are that they're going to stay and that other people might want to come here. Um the other
084big issue that is of a concern is the crosscat um area. [clears throat] The special ed is is a really difficult spot. I I understand that. Um, but I I really look again, um, uh, Todd in particular, um, I think they only have two Crosscat teachers and and, um, you know, they're slated for four. Um, and it's like I I would think each elementary needs at least three and somehow we need to maybe look at how we are staffing that and configuring that. Um and again, you know, we need to get something so that there's enough staff and enough um support staff to to meet this the needs of the IEPs that we've written. And we we do need to make sure that that's happening. I'm also concerned that there are some positions that I'm
085I'm wondering about that are not full-time and seem to be full-time positions. the art, music, and PE teachers at Merrill are not full-time positions. And um we need to know what's going on with that. I'm wondering about the district um the district music teachers, band and orchestra. What are their schedules? And are those really full-time positions? Because we're missing a music teacher at um Robinson and we're missing a 0.5 music teacher at the high school. Um so it they are shared between all six elementary schools the uh the shared um band uh music teachers and I don't um I don't have their actual schedule but I can definitely secure that for the board. Well unless things change. They used to just be for uh fifth grade maybe fourth grade one of them. um and just
086once a week and and so I I think that definitely needs to be looked into especially when we're missing some music positions. Um and the the Merill is definitely you know art music and PE that's a halftime position. So what's being done with that? >> Okay, [snorts] >> Mr. Nichols. So just a couple one quick question is as of today how many teacher paras and subs openings do we have unfilled? >> I don't have that number okay >> on me right now. I apologize. >> Okay. Could you forward it to the board when you have Thank you. >> If it hasn't changed a whole lot. It's probably about 49. I mean, we filled a couple of positions just the other day. It was about 50, I think, that were unfilled, completely unfilled with with not
087contracted people. So, it's got to be around 4950. >> Miss Miller, >> thank you so much. And I mean this is a conversation maybe for another time to consider, but since this is such a multi-layered issue and I really appreciate where um well where all of my colleagues are coming from particularly like some comments that um Joan and Carol made um and I'm hearing you on the Saladus about like you know there's limited staffing capacity in your department. I mean could this be like an ad hoc type consideration where we bring some folks together? I'd really again like to uplift the voices of our our classroom teachers. Um the what you're describing now even in this conversation is extremely nuanced, right, regarding substitute teachers and types of subs and things like that. So I just
088wanted to to put that out there as a a consideration to um to the board and maybe something to think about going forward. >> Any other questions? >> Mr. Henkins. >> Yes. if you could educate me on when and again I'm just coming from left field contracted services when because I've heard that we do hire from contracted services and how that kicks in and how that plays into this >> um for teachers and you know staffing purposes. >> So uh contracted services are when we have exhausted the ability to recruit for a certain position. Um it started off with hard to fill. So science, math, um and of course everything nowadays is a hard to fill and so we have expanded even as far as paras. Um we we utilize them only when we don't
089have a candidate pool to fill a position rather than leaving that position vacant. Um, we have reviewed the values of their compensation for their staff versus what it cost us. And contrary to popular belief, although the hourly rate may seem higher or whatnot, the district in a lot of cases ends up saving money, uh, because of HSA, pension, etc. that goes into each of our FTEEs. Um, our goal is with contracted staff is that that be a temporary band-aid. The benefit is that after a year with no penalty if we have a good candidate, we are able to retain them if we mutually agree to do so. The other advantage is that it's a little bit of a test drive and so if um they're not meeting our needs, we can um change them out.
090It's a little harder when you obviously when you have your own staff. So there are if we want to look at that as advantages that come with contracted staff. Again, this needs to be looked at more as a band-aid and not necessarily the direction that the district needs to look at going in the future. Um because I think that there's a disconnect that happens if a lot of your staff is contracted versus directly hired. And I and I appreciate that and I I understand where you're coming from with contracted services, but when do when do you as the HR director decide you're going to go to that rather than knowing you can't fill that void? I mean, is that just your instinct to say we're not going to get? >> No, there's nothing >> there
091is nothing um really about those decisions that are done in a silo in HR. It's through ongoing communication with the building administrators or hiring manager if it's a department need which we don't have currently but it usually happens at the hiring manager or building administrator level um where they express their desire to proceed with seeking um some candidates that they can bring in. We review, we look at the applicant pool if any and if that's verifiable then they proceed with the interview process for any candidates that are brought forth. >> And when you do go to that pool uh and let's say we we're not getting candidates or they're not is their pool usually do they have people in their pool that you know what I mean? Is >> not always. We have positions that
092have been open on weekend for a number of days. Zero. >> They don't have them either. Okay. Thank you, >> Mrs. Fox. >> Uh just one last comment. Your your band-aid comment. Uh it's like, you know, we know all of this is band-aids. We get that. Um my my feeling is that we need to make sure the band-aids are going to the most [laughter] where where we're bleeding the most. Okay. To me, the classrooms are the priorities. We we need to get some pe people in those classrooms on a daily basis. They need to be there teaching our kids. That's the highest priority. If you as a administrative group, you decide you can't use permanent subs, then you need to look someplace else. And that's not going to be a happy band-aid either if you
093know there's steam coaches that you could move into a classroom. >> I mean that's not a happy band-aid either. we are utilizing our coaches in the classroom >> and [clears throat] you know you don't want to but we need you know um and it creates other problems but the band-aid needs to go on where we're bleeding the hardest and from what I can see we're bleeding the hardest when we don't have first grade teachers and second grade teachers and third grade teachers and th those positions aren't filled. >> Thank you. Any other questions or comments for Mrs. Alanderez? Thank you, Mrs. Almondz. Something Next we have our school district goals update. The purpose of this is to share with the board and community an update on the school district of boy goals 2526. The governance
094committee has been uh met with the uh COLAC administration and I've talked to the uh building administration. We've had input from different groups on the proposed district goals. The when approved by the board will serve as the strategic compass that guides success criteria across the entire district. The proposed district goals represents the work of the district governance committee to this is a cons consult consultative process between the district and building leadership groups leading to the proposal of the district goals for the board to review and approve. It is recommended that the board review the proposed goals at the November 4th, 2025 meeting and move to adoption of the final district goals document at the November 18th, 2025 meeting. After board approval of the district goals, departments and school teams will develop action plans to operationalize
095these goals. These action plans will be shared with the board at a future meeting. Similar to last year, we have a we have goals for student achievement in ELA and math and ACT and preACT for student attendance for student conduct, behavior and safety, and for staff retention, compensation, and well-being. And I'm going to ask the board consultant, Dr. Hehheart to uh walk us through these goals and let me know when you need me to advance the PowerPoint >> goal. Well, I can keep talking anyway. Well, she's one of the things. Uh thank you. It's good to be with everyone. uh uh appreciate the opportunity to talk about our our work with the governance committee and working with uh board President Johnson to develop a proposal of four boards for the four goals to be considered.
096You you'll notice in all four of these goals that there is a student achievement focus. So really all the four goals have a student achievement focus because again that's perhaps the most important mission that we have in the school district or one of them is teaching and learning. Each of them have that within the components. Uh similar to last year, there is a ELA and math goal and an ACT preACT goal for the high school in grades 10 and 11. That's similar. Um we we put in an attendance goal because looking at the data there too and we know if kids aren't present for school, if we have a problem with attendance, that will impact learning in a negative way. So the district had started uh some very robust measures last year to uh accentuate
097student attendance. So wanting to continue to have attention and focus on that and and looking very importantly at chronic attendance. That's the one that really will tend to drive things up. So uh wanting uh focus and attention that way. Student conduct, behavior, and safety. It was good to hear some uh positive gains on on on the survey that was presented tonight. Again, we looked at the information from the Hadley group again and this is a front and center concern that you notice probably in that um document and and listening session, too. So, we just want to really adopt the work that's been going on in the ad hoc committee for student conduct and uh behavior and really just make that the third goal. And the final one that we've been talking about again here tonight
098then is uh staff retention, compensation, and well-being. So that is the four goals. And uh we'll figure out a way maybe to get the PowerPoint that just kind of said what I already said too. One thing I I would add to this, the whole uh retention and recruitment of staff is is is certainly a challenging one. I know that W Whitewater, for example, has a program now where they have pair of professionals that are in the district in all of our districts, but in the Boid school district that are are moving ahead to get their degree. So, they're already in the classroom. uh they're getting their coursework and I can just say some of them I know because they have that authentic experience in in the district and in the classrooms um they're getting uh
099really great preparation combined authentically then with their coursework. So hopefully that will yield us uh uh more more teachers to kind of fill those particular gaps. Yes sir. Um, [snorts] knowing that New Rock is affiliated with Whitewater, do they by extension are they can they be part of this program too? >> They are. They are. >> They are. Thank you. My apologies that I am not techsavvy to be able to share and uh this PowerPoint presentation. Are there any questions that u board members have? Miss uh Miss Levy. Um not a question but a You're good. Everybody's fine. Um not a question but a comment not exclusively directed to you but to all of us. Um, board President Johnson, you mentioned when you opened this section that the district goals reflect the work of the
100governance committee, and I I'm not opposed to any of the goals. Let me just pause and and reiterate that. But my concern is that the governance committee does not include the full board. Um, and I think there's a difference when the full board is convened and we come up with goals kind of from scratch together than when the governance committee comes up with great goals and then presents them to the rest of the board for input. I just think it's just it's just two different processes and I prefer um to have the full board start together on goals. So, I just wanted to put that on the table and hopefully that that is something that we can do moving forward. Thank you, Miss Levy. Mrs. Levy, any other comments? Miss Miller? [snorts] >> Thank you.
101Um, uh, building off of Miss Levy's point, um, in addition to the board convening as a whole group to workshop through some goals, um, hopefully goals that are data driven in collaboration and partnership with our administration. Um, I really think that and I I feel like a bit of a broken record. Um, we have to give some consideration to our strategic plan. The the strategic plan that the community uh worked very hard to develop. Um, we had a very wide range of stakeholders put a lot of work into that expired uh in June. We are coming up on uh referendum question time at some point. I think that one thing we've heard repeatedly from from people who have been both yes and no voters is that they appreciate um having voice and um feeling a
102sense of ownership over the vision and direction of the district. And I think it would be a good opportunity for us to begin those conversations since we are going to be reaching out into the community uh to get feedback and uh work in partnership uh you know in order to continue to advance uh you know the progress of our district. So I think that it's, you know, great to do the goals. We obviously have to have some direction on the in between. I agree with um the comments that it's it's great that these are rooted in student achievement. All that is wonderful. I think we need to take it to kind of the next level and I think we need to do it uh collaboratively. >> Thank you. Any other questions or comments? >> Thank
103you Dr. Ehart for assisting me with this presentation. Next on the agenda is the >> um Excuse me. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Don't you want a motion? >> Um if if board members are ready to move tonight, I will entertain a motion. If board members want time to uh reflect, we can um wait until the 18th. >> Well, yeah. Um I think you know these are presentation. Thank you, Dr. Gears. pretty basic goals um that you know reflecting what the community has definitely said they wanted and what we've been working towards. So, and I think if we want to start moving on these uh the longer we wait the um the less time we have to move on on on moving forward with the goals. So, I would make a motion that we uh
104accept the proposed 2526 school district of bullet goals as recommended. >> I'll second. >> We have a motion by Carol Lee Carol Fox to accept the 2526 district goals as presented, seconded by Brian Nichols. Any discussion? Thank you. Um have discussions also taken place for how we are going to monitor and report out on the progress um of these goals throughout the year or will is that going to be forthcoming. The answer is yes. So once the board approved the goals then the slide that said action plans then the more detail uh plan in in the smart goal format will detail all of those things and then that will come back to the board and then within those goals there's a monitoring system so that it's ongoing correct >> perfect so just for clarification um
105like like we are looking at the goals but there are action plans behind those goals I'm assuming that was developed by administration and within those action plans. There's like a report out and feedback loop that involves the board. >> Yes. >> Perfect. Thank you so much, >> Mr. Henkins. >> Oh, yes. I I answered my own question reading this and I thought it might come up that um that we're we're going to uh action, but it is under action. Just to clarify, it is under board action. So, we're legal doing this and and it is under discussion. So, I just want to clarify to the general public and myself. Thank you. >> Thank Okay. Thanks, Mr. Henkins. Miss Miller. >> Thanks. Um, since, you know, I'm happy to take a vote on this this evening.
106Um but I think it would be really good um if we could bring back some kind of discussion on the 18th about maybe what is our actual plan going forward to develop a datadriven strategic plan that has the type of benchmarks and monitoring fleshed out that I think um I don't want to speak for another board member but it feels to me like maybe it was what Miss Levy was alluding to. Um like again I I don't have like any I have some nitpicky stuff but on the whole like this is fine. I agree that, you know, there's pretty an obvious north star here of of what do we need to do to do the best for our kids, right? Like that's not, you know, very contentious. I what I do think though is best
107for our kids is to provide as a board like in our own lane like the stability of leadership that they deserve. um in and having like the difference between a goal and a strategic plan is that you know we're we're making a vision for like what are we doing now to impact a vision that we have for where we want our kids to be the next 3 years, 5 years, 10 years. It's something that involves community input, etc. So, um again, I understand there's a motion on the table. Um I I think it it would behoove us to bring an item that is like this back to the next meeting since you did offer that so that we could have a broader full board discussion about what our vision is going forward to have a
108strategic plan because I really think that while these goals are are good for now um kind of to the point that Miss Fox was making earlier about staffing like here we are with the band-aid again like let's do the thing that our kids deserve for us to do. Thank you. Any other discussion hearing? None. All in favor? >> I >> Any oppose. Motion carries unanimously. Next on the agenda is the consent agenda. Typically, there is no separate discussion of the items unless a board member so requests in which event the item or items will be removed from the general order of business and considered in their normal sequence on the agenda. Are there any board any items board members would like to have removed? >> Item D is in dog, please. Any other items? I
109would entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda minus item D. >> So move. >> Second. >> Motion by Amy Levy, seconded by Brian Nichols. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor? >> I. >> Any oppose? Motion carries unanimously. Item D, approval of meeting minutes October 21st. Mrs. Levy, >> I just need to abstain because I didn't attend that meeting. >> Thank you. Is there a motion to approve the minutes for October 21st? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Brian Nichols, seconded by Carol Fox. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor? I >> I >> Any oppose? Any abstensions? >> I abstain. >> Thank you. Motion carries with one abstension. Next up is the human resources employee rec recommendations. Are there any open session questions for exhibit A, >> Mr. Henkins? No. >>
110Oh, I'm sorry. >> Oh, [laughter] right. Thank you. >> Um, are are there any close session questions for exhibit A? >> Hearing none. Is there an approval of exhibit A? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Brian Nichols, seconded by Amy Levy. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Any oppose? Motion carries unanimously. >> Our next item is executive session and we did switch the order of these. So we will beginning with legal advice regarding updates in the DNR soil contamination suit followed by consideration related to preparation of interim superintendent interview process. A motion may be made and a vote taken to convene the board of education into close session pursuant to section 19.85 85 parent one parent C of the Wisconsin state statutes relative to employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data
111of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility and pursuant to section 19.85 PAR 1 PANG G confering with legal counsel regarding next steps in the soil contamination suit. Is there a motion? So move >> second >> motion by Amy Levy, seconded by Brian Nichols. Any discussion? Mrs. Schul, when you're ready, a roll call, please. >> Yes. Joanne Rue, >> I. >> Carol Fox, >> I >> Megan Miller. I >> Brian Nichols. >> I >> Tom Henkins. >> I >> Amy Levy. >> I >> And Tia Johnson. >> Hi. Motion carried unanimously. >> Thank you, Mrs. Sch. The board of education may reconvene to public session in order to take any action if necessary on items discussed in close session. Thank you. Compassion is overwhelming. [laughter] >> We are reconvening
112in open session at 9:38. We are taking action on the legal advice regarding updates in the DNR soil contamination suit. Is there a motion? >> Yes. >> I move Sorry, >> I'm sorry. >> I move to approve uh the proposed settlement from the litigation against Bray Architects, Inc. Corporate Contractors, Inc., PSI, also known as Professional Service Industries, Inc. in the amount of $15,000. >> Second. >> A motion by Brian Nichols, seconded by Amy Levy. Any questions? All in favor? I >> I >> Any oppose? Motion carries unanimously. >> Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> So move. >> Second. >> Motion by Amy Levy, seconded by Brian Nichols. Any discussion? >> Joanne? >> No. >> Oh, okay. [laughter] All All in favor? >> I I >> Any oppose? Motion carries unanimously. Have a good night
113everyone. >> Thank you. Have a good night.