SDB - Regular Board Meeting - 5/6/2025 (6:00 p.m.)

001Good evening. I'm calling to order the regular board meeting for Tuesday, May 6. Mrs. Sch, may we please have a roll call? Yes. Joanne Rue, here. Megan Miller, present. Brian Nichols, here. Tom Hank Henkins is absent this evening. Amy Levy here, Juan Romero here, and Tia Johnson present. All members are here except Tom Henkins. Thank you. Thank you. I will entertain a motion for approval of the agenda. So moved. Second. Motion by Brian Nichols, seconded by Amy Levy. Any discussion hearing? And seeing none, all in favor? I I I I Any any oppose? Motion carries unanimously. Tonight we have the privilege of having the assistant principal from Robinson Elementary here to introduce students with the Girls on the Run Club, Miss Papy. Okay, a little information about girls on the run. Um, not only is

002it an opportunity for our girls to have more physical activity, but it's about um imagining possibilities, building confidence um and connection with others. They are part of a South Central Wisconsin group that is uh at the 20-year mark. Uh looks like 20,000 girls have been served by Girls on the Run since 2005. And nationwide 2.25 million lives have been transformed by Girls on the Run. So, I'd like to introduce our coaches and our girls as we share the Pledge of Allegiance. So, you all want to come up and say your name and what grade you're in? I am Miss Kayla. I'm the school counselor at Robinson. I am Zyra. I am in grade third. I'm Maya and I'm grade third. I'm Alice and um I'm in grade five. Jessica Cole, first grade teacher. Michaela Turner,

003first grade El Di teacher. All right, are we ready? Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. Go ahead. I pledge algiance 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. Okay, let's take a picture, please. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you. And uh mark your calendars. May 15th at 3:15 at Robinson, we will be having a fundraiser for Girls on the Run. It will be an ice cream social. Oh, thank you. And Miss Mrs. Pampky, if you send that information to U. Michelle Schae, the board secretary, we can get that on um the next agenda calendar. Thank you. Tonight we have our first regular board meeting with the new board of education. While this

004board of education will have many challenging decisions to make and tasks to undertake, our collective vision of preparing and inspiring each student to succeed in life and contribute to an everchanging world will guide our efforts throughout the next year. We continue to pursue the district's mission of committed to excellence and strengthen and enriched by diversity. We prepare each student to compete, contribute, and thrive as an admirable person in a rapidly changing world by engaging students in a wide variety of high quality, relevant programs in partnership with families, schools, and the Stateline community. Our individual qualities, experiences, and skills will be valuable in creating favorable changes to and strengthening current practices having positive results for our students. I am greatly pleased to introduce this year's board of education. Board member Levy's keen attention to detail, thoroughess,

005and understanding of systems will benefit the business operation and finance committee during our current dismal financial situation. These strong skills will help the district make well-informed fiscal decisions. Board member Levy is committed to achieving academic excellence for all of our students. Board member Rue has the most recent teaching experience in the school district of Bo. Her experience of working in our district systems, her breadth of knowledge of early childhood literacy combined with her strong work ethic will benefit the teaching learning equity and pupil services committee. Board member Rue is committed to achieving academic excellence for all of our students. Board member Miller's ex expertise as a reading specialist, her passion for student centered education, and her long-standing dedication to the students and citizens of Bo will be a strong asset for the teaching, learning, equity,

006and pupil services committee. Board member Miller is committed to achieving academic excellence for all of our students. Board clerk Romero's inquisitiveness and sincere commitment to research and factf finding will help the business operations and finance committee to make well-rounded decisions. His open-mindedness and focus on purpose will be useful for the sensible decisions on the policy committee. Board member Romero is committed to achieving academic excellence for all of our students. Board treasurer Henkins experience as a former local business owner brings an understanding of the importance of customer service and the expertise in having to prioritize needs above wants to the business operations and finance committee. His ability to work well with people from a diverse and wide range of backgrounds will aid in balanced decisions for the policy committee. Board member Henkins is committed to achieving

007academic excellence for all of our students. Board Vice President Nichols expertise and experience in management and operations will help provide a board a broad financial perspective to the business operations and finance committee. He truly cares that each student has educational success so in the future they will be empowered and prepared to take advantage of every possible opportunity. His compassion for humanity will benefit the policy committee. His ability to address immediate and urgent situations while remaining focused on our priority of providing highquality education will help the board and community navigate our current financial difficulties. Board member Nichols is committed to achieving academic excellence for all of our students. We should all encourage board and cabinet members to work collaboratively and professionally to find solutions addressing concerns of academic achievement, behaviors, financial stability, and staffing deficiencies. We

008are in a time of uncertainty and instability. It is critical we all focus on our collective purpose of providing a high quality education for all of our students. This effort is not just the responsibility of the board of education or the cabinet members. This is the responsibility of this community to elevate the position of education and academics to the highest level possible. Highquality education benefits everyone in the community. It is the foundation of our community's future. The board district has a new un inductee to the blo memorial hall of fame. Congratulations Deb Prrowse. Several staff Oh, yeah. Several staff members were inducted to the quarter Century Club. Congratulations to Deb Edmunds, Lori Gustoson, Teresa Henderson, Sarah Honig, Paula Hunt, Jennifer Murphy, Amy Reebot, Renee Rousu, Mercedes Verantes, and Jessica Jessica Wid. and Cindy Wilson. And

009forgive me if I mispronounced any of your names. Um, we give you our greatest appreciation for your years of service to our [Applause] students. National Teacher Appreciation Week began yesterday. Let's all show our professional educators how profoundly grateful we are for their dedication to our students and for the positive impact their work has on the greater Blo community today and decades to come. This concludes my report. Thank you. Next we have up announcements upcoming events. Board Clerk Romero. Good evening. These are the announcements for Tuesday, May 6th. Join us for some fun at Converse Elementary School's carnival. The carnival will be held on Thursday, May 8th from 4 to 5:30 p.m. We will celebrate outstanding students in grades 9 through 11 on Wednesday, May 14th from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. at the High School Academic

010All-Star Awards Night. Don't miss the sweet sounds of first and second grade children singing. The spring sing concert takes place at Converse Elementary Friday, May 16th from 1 to 2:00 p.m. Join us on Wednesday, May 21st from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. as we recognize seniors with high honors and scholarship recipients at the BMHS senior academic scholarship night. Our future board meeting dates include the ad hoc budget finance committee meeting tomorrow night, Wednesday, May 7th, at 5:00 p. The policy committee meeting is also meeting or is also tomorrow night beginning at 5:30 p.m. The board is having a workshop on Saturday, May 17th at 8:30 a.m. On Tuesday, May 20th, the teaching, learning, and equity committee will meet at 5:00 p.m. followed by the regular board meeting at 6 p.m. This concludes the announcements for today.

011Thank you, Mr. Romero. Next up, we have the recognition of the BEA membership. This week is teacher appreciate teacher staff appreciation week. On behalf of the board of education, Dr. Garrison will be recognizing the entire teaching staff for their dedication to our students and families. He will also be thanking the BEA leadership for their partnership in working with administration and the board with referendum support and much more. Dr. Garrison. So, I'd like to take this time to first say a huge thank you to all of our teachers and staff for everything that you do in the school district of Boy. I know that that that's that thank you has probably been shared multiple times, but words can't express what teachers do and staff do. It's just virtually impossible at times. And when I was thinking

012about like what could I actually say to a teacher during this time and the words that just kept coming back to my heart was simply thank you and the effortless work not effortless the work that you do on a daily basis for our students and staff is felt in our community. It is felt in our community. I know at times um we may not always feel that way but it is felt in our community. We can't do this without you. I always say that, you know, teachers and staff make schools happen, right? Teachers and staff make schools happen. We can't have a school without teachers, right? Um the work that comes with just having teachers, again, we just can't do this without you. to all of the staff members that we have in the district.

013A huge thank you from not only myself but from the cabinet, from the board of education to your teacher colleagues. Everyone is saying thank you of course this week. Now naturally I believe that we should not just thank our teachers during this week, right? It's easy for us for us to say oh this is teacher appreciation week so we should do it this week. that should be felt throughout the entire year. And if that's not something that we have done, shame on us. We can do better, right? We can do better. And making sure that you all feel the appreciation from us, not just during this week, but all through the year. And so I did want to, of course, um also give a shout out to our BA. Naturally, they have worked very closely

014with me over the past two and a half years now. Um, we have had countless meetings. We've had we've had a lot of conversations. We meet often. Um, I don't counsel unless they counsel. I'm just joking. There's a space in which I can just say thank you for just working alongside of me in a lot of the difficult times that we've had. And um, you know, just having a thought partner in this space is very important to me. The work is not done in silos. It is not at this level. A lot of decisions that of course that I've had to make here as a superintendent has come in conversations with you all as well. And you know, the conversations that we have um both um in our regular meetings and of course also just

015on a one-on-one basis. I want to say thank you for that because you do help me see different things that I need to see. I know some stuff too, right? and then you share that stuff back with me and we just kind of keep serving violin back and forth until we land in a place in which we believe is the best space for our district. And so I did want to take this time of course to thank all of our teachers and staff for everything that they do and also just give a small shout out to our BEA leadership team for working very closely with me over these past again two and a half years. So James, Melissa, everyone who's come to our meetings, thank you. Okay, thank you so very much. So, could you

016please stand? Leadership team, please. Please stand. Woo. They represent a body of people, right? And again, um I thank them for their representation. And so, every once in a while, it's just appropriate to do that. And so again, along with the teacher teachers and staff recognition week, I want to say thank you for that partnership. Thank you, Dr. Garrison. Next on the agenda is public comment. Mrs. Schop, do we have any public comment tonight? Yes, we do. We have both people in the room and we have email. Okay. Speakers will be announced and invited to the podium by the board secretary. Each person will be allowed up to three minutes to speak. Should the individual require translation assistance, a translator may be of the individual's choosing or one provided by the district. Public comments requiring

017translation will be given six minutes. An individual's three minutes may be yielded to another individual. However, each person must complete a public comment card. An individual may speak on behalf of a group. However, no more than two people may yield their time to any one speaker. Individuals wishing to comment are expected to comply with the following norms in order to maintain a respectful and orderly meeting and to prevent discussion of confidential matters in a public forum. Comments should be directed to members of the board of education and not district employees, students, or other members of the public in attendance at the meeting. Signage, banners, or other materials which impedes any person's view of the proceedings shall be relocated. Speech that is belligerent, disorderly, disruptive, repetitive, or which exceeds the allowable time permitted for each speaker

018is prohibited. Concerns or questions that entail the disclosure or identifying the disclosure of identifying information regarding specific students are prohibited. Response from the board, if any, will be limited to clarifying inaccurate information, seeking additional information from the speaker, or acknowledging that the speaker has been understood. The board will not debate with an individual and the board may not take action on an item raised during public comment that is not on the meeting notice or agenda. The chair will interrupt and rule an individual who violates any of these norms out of order. If ruled out of order by the chair, the individual's opportunity to address the board will end immediately and the microphone will be turned off. Thank you for your participation and your courtesy. Mrs. Schul, the first person I have is Stephanie and I

019have Kristen yielding her time. on. There you go. Good evening, Dr. Garrison and school board members. Um, my name is Stephanie Ray Patchet. I teach seventh grade ELA at Aldrich and I am in year 40 of my teaching. I've heard from several board members and was also told that a certain Facebook site mentioned that they all hope that the teachers who spoke out against the flag policy a few weeks ago were as concerned about student academics as they were about flags. Well, I'm here to tell you that we are teachers can be concerned about more than one issue regarding our students. In fact, most of your heads would probably spin if I told you all the issues that I and many other teachers go home thinking about every day when it comes to our students.

020Please don't insult the educators of our district by saying we are concerned about student academics because we wanted to speak out against taking away flags of inclusion in our buildings and classrooms. A student's sense of belonging, inclusion, and feeling heard and respected is just as important as academics and in many cases can hinder their academic success. If they don't feel inclusion or belonging at school, they aren't going to learn. Now, on to those academic concerns. There are many teachers who are concerned about student academics and accountability and know that it's urgent that we address these issues as we can see the detrimental effects that it's having on our students as the years go by. We also know that we can't continue to use the COVID pandemic as an excuse as to why our students are

021so far behind. The board needs to look at accountability for students and the policy of student promotion, last revised in 2019, before we can even begin to talk about improving academics. When I stood here a few weeks ago, I told you that I have amazing students. And I do have amazing students. But some of my amazing students need a little bit more help. I have a student sitting in my class right now who missed 120 days of school last year and 90 days of school so far this year. and he'll be moving on to 8th grade next year even though he has missed almost two full years of school. I also have some amazing students who sit in my room and for what reason I can't tell you but turn in absolutely zero work and

022yet I'm told that I need to give these students a 50% grade and that they too will be moving on to the next grade next year. If we're truly worried about improving student academics, then we need to think about what we're going to do to start helping bridge that everinccreasing gap in our schools for these students. We need more small groupoup interventions at an early age. We need more small groupoup interventions in the middle school. We need intense focus on math, reading, grammar, and spelling skills in the classroom and required attendance in summer school in core classes. If these students are not meeting the grade level standards, none of these changes will ever happen overnight or quickly. But if we don't start doing something, our students will continue to fall further and further behind. And

023this will be an issue that continues to be brought up year after year as it has been here for the past several. Teachers definitely are worried about student academics and we want to see all of our students succeed and we're looking for the help and guidance from our board to help us achieve this goal. Please look closely at these policies and do whatever is necessary to make those changes that need to be met to ensure all of our students success. Thank you. Thank you. Next, I have James with Melissa yielding her time. Good evening, Dr. Garrison and members of the board. My name is James Hoy and this is Melissa Robeck and we are the co-presidents of the boy Education Association. We're here tonight to address two topics. First, I would like to address the

024referendum. The BEA strongly encourages the board to direct Dr. Garrison to begin planning for a spring 2026 referendum. We believe the earlier the planning and information can be made available, the better the opportunity it will have to pass. Students and staff are going to feel the pain next year because the referendum failed this spring. And of course, we know that the next one has to pass or will be even more catastrophic to this district. We need to continue to tell the community what has already been cut and what specifically will have to be cut if the next referendum fails again. We cannot let this happen for the sake of our students. It was difficult to see this past referendum fail because we were so close. However, we cannot let that failure stop us. We need

025to work together and carry the positive momentum that we have gained forward. We need to take feedback from the community and roll that into a new referendum for next spring. The second issue we'd like to address tonight is teacher compensation. It's fitting that this is teacher appreciation week. Schools across the district have provided tokens of appreciation for their teachers. Just tonight, we saw this board recognize teachers in this district. This school board, old members and new members, has made countless statements supporting teachers and staff in the district. The best way to show this is with a livable wage. The BEA understands the financial situation that we are in. Three failed referendums. However, many of you said and even campaigned on the idea that you support our teachers. You said you want to have high quality

026teachers in this district. You said you want to retain the teachers that we have. You said that you want to attract teachers to fill our many vacancies. Unfortunately, you won't be able to do any of those things if this administration and board decide not to give at least a standard cost of living raise to staff. You won't be able to do any of these things if you decide to pass on insurance increases to staff. Doing both increasing costs and not giving a staff raise is a double hit. It will cost about 1.4 million to give the standard cost of living raise to all staff for next year. It will cost an additional 250,000 to cover the proposed insurance increases. All in, we're talking about $1.65 million. Obviously, we're in bad shape. There's four possible solutions

027that we see to this. Number one, find somewhere else in the budget to cut $1.65 million. Obviously, that's not going to be an easy task, especially after many years of continued cuts. Option two, pass a deficit budget or take on short-term borrowing. That's probably not a popular option, but it would get the job done. Option three, and this would be our recommendation, use part of that OPED money that the district has left over to cover the cost for this year. The OPED money is money that was set aside to cover benefits for employees. This sounds like the perfect fit. Now, we understand there are some future financial considerations to using that money. However, just this past year, the administration and board felt comfortable pulling $2 million out of that account to possibly fill a budget,

028a hole in the budget this year if needed. That may or may not even have happened yet. Some of that money or all of it may still be available. We don't know yet. Pulling out an additional 1.65 with an account over 3 million left in it that was originally set up for employee benefits seems to make sense. Option number four, and probably the worst option, do nothing. Don't give your employees a modest cost of living increase. Don't cover the proposed increases to insurance. Do nothing and we will continue to watch excellent teachers leave this district. do nothing and we will continue to have dozens of unfilled positions every fall. In order to attain retain and attract teachers, we need to show teachers appreciation for what they do. While we do appreciate the emails, statements, and

029things buildings do during this week, staff don't necessarily feel appreciated when we don't even get cost of living raises to continue and continue to have more insurance costs to balance the budget. Staff have not received a true cost of living increase in quite a few years. After this last referendum failed, staff will now be expected to take on even more of a load next year due to many positions, including uh assistant principles and support staff being eliminated. We can't keep expecting teachers and staff to take on more and more each year without at least keeping their compensation whole. The easy thing to do is just to say that we have a deficit budget and we can't afford to do it. While finding a solution to offer to while finding a solution to offer these increases

030is difficult, it is not impossible. Even with the current financial situation of the district, it is possible to give these raises. I've outlined three possible ways you could show teachers and staff in this district that you do support them. Please consider all of them and find a way to finally give our staff the modest cost of cost of living increase that they deserve. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Hoey, Mrs. Schul. Next, we have Adam Members of the board, Dr. Garrison. I'm Dr. Adam Eisman. I'm a physical therapist with this district. I've been here with the district since 2018. Coming here to touch base with you guys in regards to Excuse me. I'm sorry. Is your microphone on? Yes. Or or maybe you're just really tall. Yes. Thanks. I'll try that. Is that better? Wonderful. Uh

031I've been with the district since 2018. Um, with that, I wanted to touch base about the personnel reduction, specifically the PT position that is looking at being eliminated within the district. I've emailed all of you today in regards to that. The information within that email was confirmed by Michelle Sullivan at the Department of Instruction, but what I didn't touch base on is the actual implications with the district on there up and beyond what's in there. There's currently 66 students under PT supervision. And with that, that's approximately 13 with evaluations and consultation for the district. So if we reduce to one PT, that leaves a total of 29 students on active case load that would not be able to be seen. So, how do you tell 29 families that their students are no longer going to

032receive services that their student can even physically get around the school to access the school? So, that's that's a that's a pretty sizable number. Now, the other component of that is the district then becomes liable because of IEPs. So, we now are legally liable to provide services to those kids in an outpatient setting because they have to have access to those services under obligation. Now, on average for the district, we that would be four billable units per child per week. That's 116 billable units. Now, after calling every hospital system in the area, the cheapest in the area is actually Bo the Boyd Health System at $70.80. 80s per unit. That comes out to a financial expenditure of $8,212 a week or almost $328,000 for a school year by eliminating one position. So by reduction of

033one person's salary and benefits, it actually puts a financial deficit upon the district of almost well $328,000. And that's something that I don't think that's necessarily been considered when looking at this. We're trying to reduce the expenditure, not increase the expenditure for the district, let alone looking at the implications of the increased stress load on the students and their families. The other component of that is lure. So, as a PT, you are under very strict regulations under your scope of practice and legislative code. And with that, whoever the remaining PT would be here would only Looks like I'm out of time. Or is that Can I have time to Yes. Yes, you may, Miss P. Okay. So that puts the remaining therapist, if they are asked to see more than 45 students under their position,

034that puts them at risk of not only losing their license, but being brought up on criminal charges for signing off that they've agreed to practice within their scope of practice. So if they're practicing outside their scope, they can be brought up on criminal charges with that. So I hope you can look at considering that this is not only an implication for the position for remaining positions within the district or remaining therapists within the district but the loss of the students and the financial implication that that could put on the district going forward. Do you guys have any questions for me? Not at this time, but we do have your email. So, if board members wish to respond to you individually, they may. All right. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Adam. Next, I have

035Sherry. Hello, I'm Sher Hulcom, interventionist at Converse. We know some facts about our district. I deal with data all day long. Being an interventionist, here's our data. Mental health of students, all-time alarming state. Early intervention for behavior saves money and bigger issues in the long run. Many of our elementary buildings have a similar number of students than the middle schools. The great majority of students and staff leaving our district, at least in my experience, do so because of behavioral issues in our district. I have several friends that make less money working in different districts with less behavior problems. We already have to use a service to fill our special ed department. They cannot continue to be pulled during their group times where they're delivering instructional minutes to deal with behaviors for students that have to

036be mainstreamed into our classes due to state law. We have a lot of students without disabilities that require behavioral services. After budget cuts last year, our classroom teachers have taken on extra intervention roles. We cut math coaches in half. So they are doing math interventions, they are doing literacy interventions. With the passing of act 20, they have additional literacy interventions to do in the classroom. All while trying to teach from their door so that students that elope run away, they can catch them. This is not sustainable. So who's going to support our teachers with these extra demands if we cut vice principles and student services staff? Who do I call? I love my job. But every single cut must be seen solely through the lens of our district retaining staff and thus students to pay

037that staff. We need to retain these positions. Not um sorry I'm trying to edit because I didn't my friend couldn't make it to yield her time. Um, I went around the dis after hearing about our the proposed cuts of our vice principles and student service staff. I went around to taking pictures since I'm all over the building. I took pictures of a table that our vice principal lugs around to problem areas so that that's where he works from. I took a picture of my inbox with a message from my principal with our staff newsletter at 5:30 a.m. and a message from our vice principal, an email at 7:30 p.m. I don't know how one person is going to do two people's jobs when they don't already fit in a day. And again, who do these

038people call? Who do who do the classroom teachers call that have increased class sizes, increased intervention time of small groups? 60% of our students need an intervention time. They're below grade level. I think we are just the the thought of not seeing the forest for the trees. We're cutting the trees down when our forest is not sustainable. I love my job. I want to have a job. And I think cutting these services is going to cause our district to lose more and more students. We know why they're bleeding. We need to put an end to it. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Hulcom. That's all I have in the room. Now I have emails. Okay. Um some of the emails were in spam and weren't read at the April 15th meeting, so some of them might

039seem out of time sequence. Okay. Um, the first one is from Sheila. I'm asking that you do not display any pride flags or any other political agenda to our youth. The United States flag is a long-standing tradition that incorporates all citizens. Many of you may not understand the dire consequences of the queer ideology movement against our children and how it began and what its end goal is. It believes that children lack innocence and goes against every Christian and traditional family values. In fact, it is it's not inclusive. It is exclusive as it erases traditional beliefs in order to replace them. It confuses children as to their gender and introduces them to sexuality at too young an age. It erases parental rights, giving the state, such as yourselves, more rights as to how your beliefs are

040groomed into other people's children or grandchildren. I can only gather that you are visiting this issue because your federal funding may be at stake and you are not motivated by our children's best interest. I urge you to return back to the basics of education and refrain from pushing queer ideology onto public school children. It is clear that our kids are suffering mentally and intellectually as reading, writing, and math skills plummet to all-time lows. Educators and administration hijacking them as as they chase government monies. Parents Parents expect that their children will receive at a minimum the same high level of education that they have received. Sincerely, Sheila. The next one is from Joan. Hello everyone, it's Joan checking in. I hope this message message finds you well. I want to take a moment to encourage each

041of you to embrace teamwork and foster a spirit of confidence as we move forward together. With our new board member, new board members officially on board, it's time we shift our focus to what truly matters to our community, not just what board member Johnson thinks is valuable. Here are a few things I'd love to see from our board moving forward. Togetherness. While it's clear that some may have concerns about our current superintendent, let's not forget that he's delivering results. We have the data to back it up. Let's stand un united in support of him. Clear communication. Board members, I urge you to share your thoughts openly during close sessions. Let's re but let's remember the bigger picture when we vote. Teachers, students, and our entire city are relying on us to drive positive changes. Three,

042engage with me. I genuinely want to hear from you. Please share your thoughts on our plans to strengthen our unity. Your insights are invaluable. Let's work together to make a meaningful impact. Looking forward to your replies. God bless Joan. The next one is from Skylie. Today is April 29th. After this afternoon, the assistant principal at Hackett Elementary stood in front of her staff in tears as she announced her position had been officially cut. Not only is she leaving her position, but the district and the city of Boe. That's the reality we're living in. We're losing people who serve our children every day. And yet tonight, the boy school board has chosen to focus not on staffing crisis, not on student outcomes, but on flags. This feels like 1925, not 2025. Bit's strengths has always come

043from its diversity. But the passage of this flag policy is a clear act of disenfranchisement, targeting voices and identities that already fight to be heard. Who does this policy benefit? Or rather, was the policy passed because of who it will hurt? I wanted to believe that new board members would act in the best interest of all students. But when every single board member sat in a packed room and heard hours of public comment opposing this policy yet passed it anyway, it's hard not to wonder who are you really working for? The people who elected you or a certain social media presence. Tia, Joan, Joanne, Brian, Tom, you were chosen to serve our students. Start acting like it. Gravely Skyl. Next, I have one, excuse me, from Britney. Thank you for the opportunity to comment this

044evening and welcome to the new school board members. As a former local elected official, I recognize the commitment, stress, and effort that going into serving at any that goes into serving at any level. Thank you for running and serving. My name is Dr. Britney, a resident, a bloit resident, wife of a teacher, mom of two kiddos, one at Todd Elementary. I'm a former Purple Knights coach with the football program, former chair of the YES committee for the referendum in 2024, and a current school district volunteer. Tomorrow, I'll be dressing up as Miss Frile and reading to over eight classes about Earth Day and taking care of the planet, our only home. The children in our district are not only amazing, but they are also the future of our community. supporting and investing in them is

045the most important and powerful investment we could make. Unfortunately, our district and families are facing some devastating challenges. A WPR article this morning headlined, "Highest numbers I've seen. Wisconsin students experiencing homelessness is on the rise." And this article featured the school district of Boe. The current count of homeless students is 629 or 13.5% of our district's entire student body. They are finding little kids and their families sleeping in their cars, sleeping in tents. Those are working families, children in our district. They are our neighbors, family members, and children who are facing crisis. At a district level, we are facing cuts after the third failed operational referendum. Despite narrowing the gap, they continue a excuse me, they continue to face a relentless, well-funded, anti-public school campaign supported by a toxic FB page that never stops. and

046our school district is facing another devastating funding loss. Now, our district and schoolboard leadership will be tasked with making cuts after years of cuts and a shrinking budget and staff. We are a district with 16.6% of our children having an an identified disability and almost 73% economically disadvantaged and 13.5% homeless. And instead of support, we are facing impossible cuts to program, staff, and resources. All of this should be the absolute focus and priority of each of the school board members. So you can imagine the absolute shock to learn that one of the most one of the first policies pushed through after the election focused on flags flags specifically a policy against inclusion and flying the pride flag. A flag that demonstrates support inclusion and support of the LGBTQ plus community and students. Instead of addressing

047growing homelessness or operational funding gaps, individuals are attempting to advance policy changes that are not only not helpful, but they are divisive and harmful. The members who advance this shameful policy have demonstrated that in time of crisis, these students are hurting and cuts are pending. They want to focus on flag policy. Putting this on the agenda and detracting from what should be the priority issues at hand, leadership has given legitimacy and space for division and uppercutting support for our students. That being said, these rungs can be turned around. My ask is that this motion be abandoned and that all members of this school board focus on the numerous Thank you, Mrs. Scha. I'm sorry. We're at three minutes unless she had time yielded. Okay. Nope. Um, the next one I have is from Tristan. Yesterday

048at a meeting, I was devastated to learn that the assistant principal positions are the first positions that are going to be cut. While everyone understands that the refer referendum did not didn't pass and cuts need to be made aware, it is beyond foolish to consider cutting the assistant principles who along the with the building principal are the main support system for the staff and students. I think my time is best spent communicating to the board what my classroom is going to lose next year without Converse's assistant principal, Mr. Klette. First, Mr. Klette brings a calm a calming and enthusiastic atmosphere to the building. He has built an amazing rapport with the students. They trust and respect him and know he is there to help and support them. Not only has he earned students trust, he

049has this amazing ability to get children to laugh no matter how grumpy they are. On more than one occasion, I've seen students turn their entire day around due to one interaction with Mr. Klet in the halls. More to the point when behavior problems arise, Mr. Klet is one of the first people on the scene doing everything he can to assist in deescalating the behavior. Like I've already mentioned, students trust Mr. Mr. Clatt and he's able to quickly and effectively talk them through their emotions. He listens to their response and explains in age appropriate words what the next steps will be. Next, Mr. Clatt makes it a point to come visit my classroom as much as he can. During the time he is in my classroom, he participates in lessons, joins group discussions, and works directly

050with the students on that day's assignment. He's helped out my classroom with math, spelling, and social emotional behavioral time, etc. Students are excited to see him in class, and when he praises them, they light up with pride. Finally, I go over to the office whenever I need help or advice. As a pretty new teacher, I acknowledge I don't have all the answers, and I'm proud to say that I go to Mr. Klette for advice on how to make my teaching more effective. He takes the time to sit down with me, answer my questions because he cares about me, the school, and most importantly, the students. It is a poor decision to cut assistant principles. Three of the key priorities of the referendum, as stated on the STB website, are academic success, behavioral support, and staff

051retention. As I hope to have communicated tonight, keeping Mr. Clatt and the other assistant principles is integral to upholding these priorities. By taking away the people who are directly responsible for supporting students and teachers, you are saying that academic success, behavioral support, and staff retention is not a priority. You cannot get rid of the assistant principles and expect academics behavior and staff retention to improve. The next one I have is from Nathan. I was going to begin this letter by talking extensively about how I'm a teacher and parent in the district, but that doesn't and shouldn't matter. Even if I was neither of those things, everything I say would still be true and would not change a word of this email. Research suggests that teachers and schools choosing to display the pride flag and having

052a club for LGBTQ students leads to improved mental health and reduced bullying for LGBTQ students. I have added links to said research at the end of this email. While our district for now still has gender and sexuality alliance GSA clubs are high our high school teachers to be expected to tell their GSA students that the board says they can no longer display pride flags. I personally feel that the members of the board pushing this ridiculous proposal should be the ones to tell them. If the goal of the board and the district is to improve the lives and minds of children removing these flags does exactly the opposite. So why now? Why am I choosing to highlight the pride flag when this proposal bans all flags? Because I'm an adult who can see what really is

053going on here. Yes, this proposal bans all flags, but come on. This isn't about a Packers flag or a flag of another country. This is about flags that show support for marginalized families and students in our schools and in our community. That means all of them because don't tell me this board wouldn't be bending over backwards to ban a Black Lives Matter flag as well. Though I will say that supporters for this proposal weirdly keep bringing up how if we allow the pride flag, we also have to allow the Confederate flag. Wonder why that one is out front out in the front of so many minds in this community. To this day, I have yet to hear a single student say that an LGBTQ flag or any other flag for that matter disrupts their learning.

054This is the epitome of a non-issue being made of an issue by people who don't even step foot in our schools. Why are no students standing up and vocally supporting this proposal? Trust me when I say we have very passionate students who have no problem speaking up for what they believe in. Guess what we have? Guess what has now become a disruption to learning. No, not flags in the classroom. It's the school board. The same board that was elected to serve the students in our community has already disrupted more than one day of learning with this nonsense. How many more do you plan on disrupting? This has already begun to affect kids in the district who are wondering what this board even stand even stands for. Is it for educating and protecting children? Or is

055it for manufactured non-issues they happen to see on the news and implement here? I guarantee you that teachers are not pushing an agenda by showing a small gesture of support and acceptance for a small minority of students. They just want to be left alone to teach kids. You know who else wants to be left alone? LGBTQ students. Some who might not even be out of the closet yet. Who now see that in our community their very existence isn't even supported by the people tasked with helping them grow into adulthood. Shame on everyone involved with the decision to turn even decision to even turn this into an issue. I hope that tonight and in the coming weeks you have time to reflect on what really matters. Coming together as a community to show support and acceptance

056for all students, not just the ones who make you feel comfortable because that is not how caring and nurturing should look. Sincerely, Nathan. The next one I have is from Chad. Good evening board. my 23 years. This is my first public comment to the board. I sent an email to all of you this past week about the new flag policy you are bringing to the full board. I want to enter this into the public record. I teach an AP world course where we discuss multiple histories from multiple perspectives. In my room to celebrate a history outside the United States, there are flags from around the globe, something vital for our students to know and be aware of and how they fit into the world. If the students asked why I took them down, I would

057simply say, "The board doesn't believe our flags besides our be shown." Would they not perceive that there is no value in understanding or knowing that things outside of the US outside the United States? This is a slippery slope. What's next? We can't display images of historical figures in classrooms because some may disagree with who they are. What if someone told you that they disagree with the po policies of either Martin Luther King or President Trump? Are you going to ban those images as well? What if someone disagrees with an author of a textbook we use in a class? Will that be banned? I understand this is an extreme example, but it starts as a snowball and will eventually become an avalanche. I hope you can consider all of the ramifications to this policy to unmute

058and what other problems may arise. Thank you for your time and as I've always said and will always say, you folks have a very tough job. Kindest regards, Chad. And this last one is from James. Hello, my name is James and I'm a social studies teacher at BMHS. I'm writing to you tonight with my concerns regarding the proposed flag policy. I'm going to set aside the fact that this proposed policy is meant to target specific flags without actually mentioning those flags. I'm sure you'll hear and have heard plenty of comments from people in person tonight about that. I would like to address the proposed policy as written. It's an extremely limited policy and I encourage the board to pull the proposed policy off the consent agenda and to send it back to the policy committee.

059The policy as written would ban three flags that I currently have in my classroom. I have a city of bloit flag, Chicago Cubs flag, and a vote flag. According to the proposed policy, each classroom, district-owned school building, and administ or administrative building shall fly or display only the United States of America flag. Some might say that no one would complain about any of those flags except maybe Brewers fans and that the policy is not about those flags, but that's not how it works. You can't have a policy in place that is that restrictive, but say some flags are okay while others are not. According to the proposed policy, only the United States flag is allowed. As co-chair of the social studies department, I can tell you that almost every classroom in our department would currently

060violate this proposed policy. We teach history and geography and both of those subjects involve using flags from around the world. Many of the classrooms have flags from multiple countries. Are those no longer allowed? Another concern regarding this proposed policy is what constitutes a flag. What's the difference between a flag and a poster, a flag and a banner? How will we know what conforming instructional materials look like? If the board feels the need to create a policy regarding flags, which I don't think you need to do, I encourage you to ref the review the draft of a flag policy put out by a former SDB superintendent, Tom Johnson. This draft is an excellent example of a comprehensive, well-written policy. And that ends the emails that I have. Thank you, Mrs. Schul. Next on the agenda is

061the superintendence report. Dr. Garrison. Yes. So, first of all, let me say I would like to take this opportunity to thank to thank our students. Um, you know, I truly appreciate um you all. I truly appreciate you all showing up tonight, too. I mean, I know y'all are here. I'm talking about y'all three right here doing, you know, work. And sometimes I forget to just thank you all for being here and and being a part of your class. And and I know it's part of your civics class or your American government class. um whatever class that you're doing this for, I want to say thank you for showing up and hearing this this public engagement. So, thank you. Um our students continue to amaze me whether they are winning orchestra and or band competitions over

062the weekend or they are showing off their skills in CTE competition at the state level. They are they are why I believe we show up each day. our amazing students. Um, having having been here for the past um, you know, two and a half years, I've seen you all in many different spaces, whether it be in the classroom or in the public space. And you again never cease to amaze me in how you show up. You show up showing that Purple Knight pride. You show up showing everyone that we are not just a statistic or a number. And so, I want to say thank you to the students here in our school district. I appreciate the progress that our students are making. Um, you have consistently shown that there's no mountain too high. Um, that

063we can't overcome. This is a very important space in the district that we're in right now. You all continuing to showing up, doing your very best, and I want to say thank you for that. You know, being a superintendent is not easy. And I know at times we forget, you know, that what we here why we are here at times and sometimes why we're here to serve. But I truly believe that our students show up again every single day showing why we should be here. And so again, I want to say thank you. Listen, I know we also have a few more weeks of school left. And to our students again, please remember that within these few more weeks of school left that you still got time to turn in those assignments, finish those reports.

064Um, you know, not only that, pat yourself on the back for getting those reports done. All right, I see you back there. You know, and again, thank you so much for again taking the time to finish out what we need to finish out for this year. You know, graduation to our seniors is in less than a month. I know it's hard to believe. Almost a month. Yeah. On the seventh, right? The seventh. Yeah. And so you are are right there. And so to the seniors, um please finish strong. Um to the staff, um I too believe that you are what makes schools go. Your connection to our community is second to none. You have the voice to change lives and I want to thank you for pouring into our youth daily. Your knowledge and your

065ability to bring learning forward in an engaging way is special. You know, people who dedicate their lives to working with young people are special. Um, to me, you take that same learning and you turn it back on ourselves. So, you as students have to understand that we're learning with you. And I believe that our teachers take that learning and they use it as energy, right? And they they bring that back again and again and again is because you keep again keep showing up. I also want to say that, you know, we are definitely in a challenging space right now. I know that we at the state level, I should say we at a state, but at the state level, there's monies that we haven't tapped into yet. And I would ask that everyone who has

066an advocate voice to reach out to your state senators or your state electors to please remind them to release some of these funds that are that are held up and it's time for us to really come together and ask for that support at the state level. There's a lot of funding that is not tapped into that will benefit our school district. Again, teachers, I know that this has been a very trying time here in our school district over the past, you know, three years. And I know that every year it gets harder and harder because of the constraints that we're working within. I do believe that there's going to be some change at the state level this year where some funding will come back to us and with that same conversation begins other conversations that

067were around what we could do differently when that state funding comes back to us. These are spaces that we are having to navigate right now. And again, with with with advocacy that I believe we all have a part in, I do believe that the state will release some of those funds back to the schools in a in a great way. I want to also take this time to thank the new board members um who are now on the board for their not to say first official meeting, technically your second official, actually three or four now since we started. first regular first regular meeting, right? Um but there's been other meetings, right? And so thank you for joining the board and then of course rejoining the board. Uh Miss Miller and to the rest of the

068board, um thank you for continuing to serve at this level. You know, sometimes when I'm sitting here, I I I think about a lot of the great things that are happening in our district, but again, it takes people to do that. And so to everyone in the school district, I want to say thank you for working with me to get this very hard task done. Um it's going to take a lot of work and we will continue to do that um with strong efficacy for student achievement. When I first came here, I stated, you know, these three things is what I was going to be about and I still believe this is what I am about. um service at the highest level, continuous improvement, and academic success for all. And so those are the things

069that I believe that I've worked from and it keeps me centered. And so again, with your support, we will again make it through these um very trying times. Thank you. And that's my superintendent's report. Thank you, Dr. Garrison. Our next agenda item is the spring 2026 referendum. The purpose of this is to gain approval from the board of education to move forward with preparing for an April 2026 referendum. The recommended action is move approval of moving forward with preparing for an April 2026 referendum. I would entertain a motion for approval. So moved. Second. Motion by Megan Miller, seconded by Amy Levy. Any discussion, Miss Miller? Thank you. Um, no, I just wanted to um thank uh thank you and Dr. Garrison for including this on the agenda. I think that while we have heard a

070lot of public comment on a lot of issues, I didn't want to lose the fact that we did hear aloud and clearly also from other community members about the importance and we heard again tonight about the importance of going to referendum um planning this as quickly as possible because we're going to continue to hear about all of the things that we can afford to lose that we're scrambling to to not lose and we'll inevitably have to lose things that we really can't afford to lose. So, not to be redundant, but um I just really applaud that this is on the agenda so early and I think it's a really great gesture of trust and um you know collaboration with the community and I'm excited to support it. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Miller. I mean,

071sorry, Mrs. Ley. Thank you. Yeah, I just want to say thank you to the students, the staff, and especially the community members who have expressed an interest of we worked really hard for the last referendum and give us the nod so that we can continue to work on the next one because they don't have to do that. And the fact that they're willing to come together and dedicate their time and their energy to knock doors um to do all the work that's needed to get this next referendum passed, I think is really special. And so I just want to acknowledge that. I really appreciate that. Uh, Mrs. Rue. Yes. Uh, is it okay to let the public know about um, Clolobicar's group and that they're looking for more members and so anyone that's interested? It's

072the Yes. group. Is that what for kids? All right. So, Boladers for Kids, they're on Facebook and they meet every week and they're looking for new members. So, um, we'd love to see you there. And there's an event coming up on May 27th. Oh, there's an event May 27th. Oh, yeah. Is that the um spaghetti dinner at the high school? Yeah. So, Yep. Make sure you're uh getting online and figuring out how to join. Thank you, Mr. Romero. Thank you. I just want to mention that I'm really happy to see that this is on the agenda to be able to start talking about it now versus the crunch time that the last time. Um it's going to allow everybody to think think more clearly and get a better action plan together. I'm I'm really happy

073to see it right now. Thank you. Oh. Oh, certainly. All right. So the the email address is uh bloiters number for [email protected] and on May 27th at 5:30 5:30 to 7 they were hoping for child care. I don't know if they were able to come up with that. Yep. Okay. And so they have pizza and uh brainstorming. So um that's what's on the agenda. Oh, the cafeteria of the high school. Thank you, Mrs. Ruse. So, that is May 27th, 5:37 p.m. at Blit Memorial High School cafeteria, a spaghetti dinner. Go there and do great things. Pizza, I think it was generously donated in collaboration with Anamaras. So, if you're going to eat out this week, just keep that in mind. Thank you. Any other discussion on the um uh preparing for an April 2026 referendum?

074We have a motion and a second for approval of moving forward with a prep pre with preparing for an April 2026 referendum. All in favor? I I I I. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Board President Johnson. Yes. I'm sorry this is out of order because we just voted, but I did I just got so excited. I did intend to ask um are we could we had a future agenda then talk about community engagement opportunities to start crafting that community feedback to roll in. Thank you. Sorry about that. Um Miss Miller, would you um mind sending an email to me to um keep me focused and on my toes? Thank you. Our next agenda item is appointment of board member to the ad hoc budget finance committee. The purpose of this a member of the board

075of education should be appointed to fill the position vacated by Greg Schneider on the ad hoc budget finance committee. It should also be determined how to handle Juan Romero and Joanne Rue's ad hoc committee appointment from last January now that they are sitting board members. Tom Henkins is a current member of the ad hoc committee who replaced Brian Anderson in January 2025. On January 9th, 2025, the board moved to add Juan Romero to the ad hoc budget finance committee. That motion was then amended to include an invitation to all non-board member candidates who are not board members. Three of the candidates, Bill Johnson, Juan Romero, and Joan Rue, joined the ad hoc budget finance committee in January 2025. Dr. Garrison. So yes, the um ad hoc committee um naturally has a position um that the

076board again used to u not the board used to of course with the vacated space as you just read. So I believe um we we would need to either you know vote to put someone else on or someone could of of course you know volunteer to be on that on that committee. Um I just want to make sure that we stay in order as it pertains to the requirements of the ad hoc space. Thank you. Mrs. Rue, I have a question. Uh, so since there's three of us that are presently part of it, is it okay for three of us to be part of it? So, I would say, well, I hate to say yes and no cuz then it's oxymor. Um, it does present right now as the policy reads, um, you know, an

077appoint a person can be appointed. the board members can always come and and and listen, but then you all have been participating as well. And so that's a space where I would, you know, need some more board guidance to be honest with you. Um, again, I don't want to ever tell a board member that they can't come to a meeting, but also I understand the importance of participating in that space as well. So we last time we had a member do the the heavy participating and others came to listen and again with you all now being on the board it just creates that that new space for us to kind of navigate. Thank you Mrs. Levy. Thank you. Just a couple things that we may want to consider. Um there may be a general posting

078that's pinned on the page that says a quorum of the board could be present but no board business will be discussed. Um also another thing to consider if any of the members that regularly attend serve on a committee together because that way the quorum is two and not four. Um so maybe if we had some adjusted language to cover that as well. Thank you Mr. Romero. Um, yeah, I I think uh I've been appointed to a committee that meets on the Wednesdays anyways, so I was going to mention it. It might behoove me to drop from the ad hoc to be able to attend to the committee. Um, it that probably make things a little bit easier as well regarding the the uh the quorum issue, possible possible quorum issue, but that's just my opinion

079I'm okay with. Okay. So then if if you are stepping down that leaves um Joanne Rue and Tom Henkins who I believe we would not have any uh conflict with committee standing and um uh Joanne, do you have a preference of if it's you or Mr. Henkins that would serve as the board representative? No, I'm good either way. Okay. Um I I'm good either way as well. Um I'm um Can I go ahead? Sure. So, I think it'll be important just to note that, you know, Mr. Henkins has also been coming to the some of the meetings. I know you kind of mentioned that a little bit. Um to be honest with you, Mrs. Rue um or Mr. Henkins could of course serve in that capacity. um you both have chairs that you that you

080chair and I think both of your chairs are on Tuesday. So again, it's wide open. Um so I would just ask that the board kind of make a decision on which who will serve in that position and again the other can always come. So um that's just kind of where I'm at right now just based off of the policy. Okay. U Mr. Nichols um Mr. Henkins is also on the policy committee that meets on Wednesdays. So, thank you. You're welcome. I'm trying to I'm trying to keep those balls juggling or the chest pieces, I'm sorry. Miss R, Miss Rue, um would you mind accepting the position of board representative to the ANDHA committee? Gladly. Thank you. I appreciate that. Um if there are no objections to that and um the Oh um Greg Schneider, do

081you know has have has anybody been in contact with Mr. Schneider to see if he is interested in continuing to serve on the ad hoc committee? I have and I do believe he is um still interested in serving on the ad committee. Um so he did come to the the last meeting as well. Okay. Um, I will entertain a motion to approve Joe Anne Rue as the board uh representative to the ad hoc committee and the addition of Mr. Schneider to the ad hoc committee uh list of members. So moved. Second. Motion by Amy Levy, seconded by Brian Nichols. Any discussion? Hearing and seeing none. All in favor? I I I I I. Any oppose? Motion carries unanimously. Our next agenda item is the consent agenda. Typically, there is no separate discussion of the items

082unless 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 uh board members that would like to have an item removed from the consent agenda? Mrs. Levy. Um, may I please have item C is in cat and F is in Frank removed. Mrs. Levy would like item C and item F removed. Mrs. Miller, thank you. I was just going to ask for F as well, so I'm good. Okay. Thank you. I will entertain a motion for approval of agenda consent agenda items with the exception of C and F. So move. Second. Motion by Amy Levy, seconded by Joanne Rue. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor? I I I I I Any

083oppose? Motion carries unanimously. Mrs. Levy, item C. I just need to abstain because I didn't attend that meeting. Thank you. Can we get a motion for approval of item C? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Motion by Brian Nichols, seconded by Megan Miller. Um, any discussion hearing? None. All in Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you, Mr. Romero. Um, I wasn't at that meeting also. I'd like to abstain. Okay. Thank you. Any other discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? I I I Any oppose? Any abstensions? I'm abstaining. Abstain. Motion carries with two abstensions. The next item, Mrs. Levy, item F. Thank you. Um, could someone explain the motivation for changing the amount um of donations from $1,000 to $100? Um, and then if the administration could weigh in on if there would be any negative impact

084such as delays, etc., that would be helpful. And then I have one other question after that. Thank you, Mr. Nichols. Yes. U the the whole idea is to recognize people who are contributing to the district regardless. you know, $1,000. Uh, I understand the reason it was $1,000, but I think in today's world, I think we should also recognize the folks who are contributing a hundred or more because that's more reasonable for most of the people in this community. And secondly, it doesn't need to be a you don't have 20 people come in, but it's just a list of those who contributed for the month and and and shown at the board meeting on the agenda. Thank you. Um, do you have any more questions? Yeah. From the administration, are there any any pauses for that?

085Anything that we're not thinking about? So, you know, naturally when I think about donations in general, you know, we've always had the thousand mark. Naturally, when we say now we want to move it to a $100, we would have to of course put something in place to to track that and to make sure that all of our buildings are now, you know, up to speed around what that actually would look like. Um, it does give us just a little bit of pause cuz we have to put that into place. Um, that is not in place right now. I do see that as a little bit challenging probably more at the high school and the middle school levels. But then I was told even yet um over the over over a few conversations that even at

086the elementary space that sometimes you know there's substantial donations um in that in that area. And so putting something in place to be able to track that um will be something that I would have to you know you know figure out because right now again at the $1,000 mark we you know of course we have a system in place for that. But again putting it in place for the $100 mark will take more people being very conscientious around the donations and the donation amount and then of course tracking that. Now, we do a pretty good job and make sure we put thanks out there to to all of our donations. Um, most of most importantly, we want to make sure that we, you know, not not how you say that. Most important, we don't we

087want to make sure that we thank everybody who gives us anything naturally. Um, but I know we mentioned $100, but you know, sometimes people give 50, you know, sometimes people give, you know, 75. And those are still substantial amounts. And so, you know, that's a space, too. I don't want people to feel like, you know, we're we're not putting thanks out there. So, again, when we do get the donations, we are always super thankful um at the school level. I guess this being on a report, is this really just for the board to know or are we just I mean, that's my only other question. Like, is it just a board space that we really wanted to make sure everyone is recognized or a whole community? The other pause that I have is sometimes people

088don't want to be they don't want their names known on certain donations too that we've come across that sometimes as well. And so, you know, making sure that people know that this will be public is a space that we have to kind of navigate. Thank you, Mr. Romero. No, I just Is it okay if I finish up or if you want to round out? Either way. No, either way is fine. I thought you only had two questions. Go ahead. Yeah, I didn't get to the second one yet. So, just for clar So, a new an amended system needs to be put in place. Would it be helpful if this started at the beginning of next school year? That would give you kind of some room to make sure that um anything that fell under this

089revised policy wouldn't be lost. Um and then I guess my my other question is um in an effort to make sure that our policies are coherent and that they complement each other um has any thought been given to the existing policy um with respect to fundraising um and the new policy that I believe the policy committee will review tomorrow for booster clubs. And the reason I bring that up is that there's a current fundraiser going on now for one of our sports and it's not selling a good or service. It's just asking for pure donations. Um and parents and guardians have been told that the goal is $10,000. Uh um so there will be several donations there. And so just another thing to keep in mind so if we do implement this things are not

090falling through the cracks. And then are inind donations included? Is it a value of $100? Um and is there any interest to specify that in the policy? Thank you. Uh Mr. Romero. Sorry. Um, I was looking at this also and again I was also wondering where where I was coming from and I you know I started thinking about it. This is actually not a bad start to help uh with the transparency issues that this the district has been having. This can also serve to the public to show hey we're we are appreciative of all anything that any kind of help from the public and also to show and I'm I'm 100% thousand% confident Dr. the garrison will find a way to track it properly and that doing so doing that I think it shows a

091really good effort of of transparency um regarding that uh an anonymous an anonymous option I would like to see in there as well is to donate regardless this way we know yeah we did receive a donation however the donor would like to remain anonymous which I I like to donate myself like that when I donate so um I'd like to see that in there as well I don't know if it needs to be written in the policy, but if if it needs to be, then I would like to see it there. Um, also, I was going to ask about when to start this as well. So, we would, you know, again, I don't want to rush anything and have it done to where it's done improperly. I want everything to be planned out right and

092properly. So whether the beginning of this school year would be too soon to get something going regarding the tracking. Um I don't I myself I have a few ideas. However, you know, Dr. Garrison, it's on your your your schedule. Um so I guess we can work together with that. But those are just some things I'd like to consider. Thank you, Mr. Romero. Mrs. Miller, Miss Miller. Thank you. So, great minds. Um, in the spirit of full transparency here, um, I did I'm just I sent an email ahead of time just because I didn't want to take a lot of time at the meeting, but just I got wonderful responsiveness from our board leadership. So, I really appreciate that. So, just I had asked, you know, given that we don't have currently a reporting system set

093up to accommodate getting this information, could we consider um making this policy effective maybe um at the beginning of next school year? So, like same page. Um, in the meantime, could we ask for an end of school? Okay, I'm gonna skip that because we already kind of addressed that. Um, is there a way to just check with people who donate beforehand to ensure they want their name shared? So, I'm wondering too if that could just we just maybe need to give our administration time to like figure out what is the easiest like way to give, you know, given what we currently have as a resource and what is the time opportunity cost of setting that up. So, maybe maybe the beginning of the school year is too ambitious. I don't know until we ask. So,

094I just wanted to put that out there. And then also just um and I think board member Johnson did a really nice job addressing this too just already and and Dr. Garrison as well like making sure like why is a hundred necess $100 necessarily the right number? I mean there could be an anonymous donation of $20 that's a huge burden to somebody and we don't you know we don't know what we don't know. So I think if I really do I want to just I appreciate so much the spirit of why this came up. I fully fully am on board with and thank you for putting the thought into it. Um, I just want to make sure that we can pass this with enough flexibility to allow the administration, to the point that Mr. Romero

095just made, um, to execute this in a way that is, um, does not have a large, uh, cost of of time, right, or or error associated with it. So, I'm I'm going to actually defer to Dr. Garrison um to see like what he believes would be the best if we do pass this this evening with the delayed start time um and possibly with with any changes that might need to happen for language about like what is considered a donation whether it's in kind etc. So thank you so much. Thank you Brian Nichols. Okay good discussion. Um, yes. And, uh, whoever brought up anonymous, I think it was board member Romero. I think that's think that's definitely a good idea. Um, I don't see any problem with starting at the new year. I think that was

096that's a great idea, too, to uh, give the administration time to track it. I believe all the donations we get come in are posted on the accounts receivable register. Correct. So, so there's the place to start. I'm I'm assuming that's that's your department. But uh anyway, that would be the place to start. So, uh yeah, I think we could we could give this some more work in in the policy committee and and uh have a discussion there and and move forward with it targeting September whatever the new I don't even know what the date of school is. September the do we do we know whatever the first day of school is? December 3rd, 4th. Yeah. After Labor Day. Okay. Mrs. Thank you. Um, so if you'll indulge me for a moment. Um, it this may

097prevent this policy needing to go back to the policy committee. So, let me just read through what I am recommending as proposed changes and see if we can just polish this off. Now, um, if you have the policy open and you're looking at that third paragraph, um, if we keep the amount as 100 as, um, listed, that second line, if the gift amount is valued at $100 or more, parenthesis including inind donations. Um, I think that would address one concern. And then if we jump down to the next line, um, well, I'll just continue reading. super the superintendent shall include the formal acceptance of the gift or bequest um on the board agenda uh excluding donors that wish to remain anonymous and then not necessarily that it needs to be in policy but in admin

098rags I think it would be helpful um for groups or organizations that are just doing true solicitation of funds so they're not selling candy bars they're not providing a service because that would be considered a donation. If they can just be reminded to make sure that the person who's donating wants this to go purely to this specific thing because if that's not clear according to this policy, those funds then get turned over to the board for the board to decide where those funds go. Again, I don't think that needs to be in the policy, but if that could be in an admin rag, so folks know that's a good practice so the money goes where the donor intends it to go. And then if we could just agree to include in the motion language um

099to be implemented at the start of the 2526 school year. Um so one, does anyone need me to repeat anything? And two, is anyone opposed to those edits so we could kind of keep this at the regular board without bumping it back to policy? Mrs. show. Do you need Mrs. Levy to repeat that? So, excuse me. I got the part where you're adding the valued at and the parenthesy including inkind donations. I lost the second part. I understood the part about the four groups or organizations and recognizing where the donation is being specific to whatever that yeah that doesn't need to be in the policy but just if administration could handle that as a admin w so that can remain out of policy. The only other edit was um that third line in the third

100paragraph. Um acceptance of the gift or bequest on the board agenda excluding donors that wish to remain anonymous. and then whoever is making the motion language if we can include um to be implemented at the start of the 2526 school year. Okay, thank you. Sure, Miss Miller. Thank you so much. Um first, uh so two-part question. Um one, um Dr. Garrison, can you confirm or or can we I don't know if we need to check with Miss Elwood or anybody else from the administration about um like is that R six to unmute. Is that is is does that is does starting it at the beginning of the school year give us enough time given all of the other prior I mean this is good stuff. I'm not you know totally on board but I just

101want to make sure we have a lot of things right to prioritize. Is that a realistic timeline or would you like to say do we do we need to say like something about like press star six to unmute? Do we need do we need some language that would allow for some wiggle room I guess is what I'm I'm asking from Dr. Garrison, like do you have a thought about that before we pass the policy? Like for example, um effective like if we passed an effective date as of like December 31st, 2026, couldn't and we were already in September 3rd, we could just bring it back, amend the effective date, and just have it ready to go is what I'm wondering. For example, so you're asking for a date other than the start of the 256.

102I just don't know. Like I don't know what their workload is like or how long that might take or I don't know that they necessarily know how long that might take because this is a new idea and I'm want to support it. And to Mr. Romero's point, I would love for it to to work really well. Press star six to unmute. Okay, Dr. Garrison, I'll let you answer that. Sure. Um, there seems to be some techn I want to make sure that Dr. Garrison, do you need Miss Miller to restate the question? No. Um, I'm fine. Thank you for that short um check on technology there. So, to be honest with you, I don't know what I don't know yet. To be we haven't went down to this number yet. And so, again, there's a

103lot of moving parts to this. I know Miss Lee just brought up something that's very important. We do a lot of fundraisers and donations and that type of thing and that that could be again problematic to track because again we do this you know throughout the school year and I don't want to say that you know we're going to be 100% in you know in anything that we do but I want to make sure we are thousand% in everything that we do and so um my goal is to you know once this if this moves forward is to make sure that we are able to track it um appropriately. So I again I don't know what I don't know especially when it comes to the number of donations that we have that may exceed $100.

104And so the fundraiser piece does give me a little pause but I think Mrs. Levy's wording um does help us there a little bit. Um which I wasn't necessarily thinking about cuz I was putting that separately. But I guess it does make sense to make sure that's in the policy. Um, so if a September start time is is feasible and we can, you know, have everything in place, I think that would work for us. If it doesn't, I'll just come back to the board, let you all know that we're not prepared to, you know, move that that $100 conversation forward. And hopefully at that point, the board can give me a little more time or make some adjustments to that. Um, because I want to make sure that all of the schools know that this

105is a new thing. And that means we got to train, you know, administrative assistants, you know, just just just it'll just be a different thing. So, if you will allow us to have a September one, I'm sorry, September start frame. And if it isn't in place, then I'll come back to the board and let you all know. Fair. Um, okay. I'm I'm certainly comfortable with that, Mrs. Ms. Miller. No, thank you so much. And just u because we took a break and then um board member Nichols and I kind of had a side conversation. I just want to convey to the worldwide web and the audience like what that side conversation was. My other question was just um the language about like which board meeting will it come up will these donations be be shared

106upon was was open to me and I just wanted to like for the sake of making sure we're on the same page. we this is we're asking our administration to do something new for a really good reason to hopefully encourage things that will be supportive of our district and it's all good stuff. I just want to make sure we're all clear that no one's going to come and say like hey Dr. Garrison um like I just donated whatever last week and why wasn't on next week's board agenda. So I think like if we if we don't need language to specify if we're all in agreement that like at whatever the earliest reasonable time is then I'm good just like leaving it as written. If anybody in including Dr. or something has any concern that we

107do need to add some language that just says at like the earliest reasonable possible time, you know, whatever. Um, I don't really think it's that big of a deal, but I just it's a new thing. So, I'm just trying to be thoughtful about it. So, that was what Mr. uh Nichols and I just talked about kind of offline here just a moment ago. Thanks. Certainly. Dr. Garrison, would you like to address that question? Sure. So, I would hope that we could, you know, bring this up once a month. You know, um, again, tracking anything is pretty tough. So, um, especially when it comes to funding and so just like we do our monthly financials, I believe we can probably bring this up once a month. Mrs. Lwood, um, team, do y'all have any thoughts to

108that at all? Okay. So, maybe we can just do it once a month during the monthly financials. Do we need to amend language or are we all okay with just that as an understanding? I would say it works best for me as an understanding, but that's up to you all. Mr. Romero. Yeah, that the understanding part's not necessarily a deal breaker for me. However, I do want you to maybe think about if if it's left as a gray area, like an understanding. It could possibly be, you know, put aside for other things that might be pressing or whatnot. And if in my opinion, I like to make it a point to to show appreciation regardless of what's going on because life happens, right? So, I would probably recommend just picking one of the one of

109the meetings, you know, consistently. Maybe put in the policy on the first meeting of the month or second or you know, whichever we decide, but just to have it so it's a steady as steady on this meeting, it'll be mentioned um because when the community does feel that there's they're appreciated, they're going to offer more support which in turn just turns out at the at the end of the day to benefit our kids and our students. So that helps achievement that helps the with the needs that we need helps you know bring things provide things force like safety that we're going to need also. So I think it's a good idea that way but it's just an opinion whatever we decided we decide. Thank you Mr. Romero Mrs. Levy. Thank you. Um so I'm going

110to use this as a plug for admin rags. Um and in the spirit of tr some of you who have been on the board long enough have heard this before. In spirit of transparency, we are supposed to have admin rags and we have a total of one and it deals with ID badges. Um, so I think this is a great place. Admin rags for those of you that are not familiar are housed similarly to how policy are housed. So you have this policy that it sounds like we have consensus on and then for most policies if not all you should have an admin rag that tells you kind of how to do the thing the board has now instructed us to do. So things like make sure donors specify where they want the funds to

111go. If not that money becomes the purview of the board and will be distributed accordingly. things like um as often as possible or as in a reasonable time frame individuals who meet the criteria will be um acknowledged in this way that doesn't need to be in the policy but I would love to h see us have moving forward a more robust admin um Rex so that's my two cents thank you at this time I will entertain a motion for consent agenda Item F, policy 840, public gifts to schools for first reading. I move approval of policy 840 as amended with a implementation date of the 2025 2026 school year. Second. We have a motion of approval of 840 as a policy 840 as amended with implementation date beginning the 2526 school year by Amy Levy,

112seconded by Joanne Rue. Any discussion, Mrs. Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. Okay. Uh, hearing none. All in favor? I I I I I Any oppose? Motion carries unanimously. Our next item on the agenda is the business office FTE edition. The purpose of this is to discuss adding an additional position to support the daily transactions in the business office. The background information is budgetary reductions for the 2425 school year have caused an increase in the day-to-day operations of business office staff. The additional position will ensure that the accounting team has the necessary resources to support financial operations of the school district. Dr. Garrison, thank you. Um, um, board president Johnson. So, as you know, we are we've been having to do some conriction at the district office. Um, and most recently, our executive director of um,

113business services um, has resigned from that position. So, there's another vacancy there. Um, we are, to be honest with you, we're we're doing the best we can to keep things, you know, moving forward in our district, but with a team of about three or four people, three people really. And so, um, we are in we're in in this space for, you know, very specific reasons, but, um, at this current time, we definitely need the support to move some things forward in our district, especially in this office. I did ask Mrs. Elwood um to come to the mic to you know give a deeper deeper high or higher level overview um of the accounting assistant position and hopefully um she can explain that. Not hopefully I know she can explain that. Uh thank you Dr. Garrison

114and school board members. Um the position that what I'm asking for is really a kind of a a hybrid of some of the positions that have been um removed from the budget um this past school year. This past school year, we lost three people out of our business office that were doing part parts of payroll, parts of accounts payable, accounts receivable, and accounting. And we have done our very best to um streamline processes and um use our current staff and imp um uh utilize the clerical at the buildings for some of the processes. But at this point, we've we're realizing that the four of us that are left out of eight, um we just can't do everything. Um there's just some things that need to get done for regulation reasons, account um audit reasons, um

115reports to the state, all those types of things. We need to have all these details and we are just not able to do it with the four people we have left. Thank you, Mrs. um Elwood. Um I also want to just bring um attention that with these reductions that we've had to kind of navigate um I want to put a special shout out to the team saying thank you for that. But also want to just note that with the with this position I we believe again it can kind of work across different opportunities. Um is that something you want to touch on at all? Yes. So the when I meant said hybrid of the different positions. So um we had one position that was doing parts of payroll and parts of some would say HR

116type functions and helping to assist to make sure that the people that needed to get paid got paid on time and were the correct positions. So part of that um that role and accounts payable, accounts receivable um and the accountant that um had left. Thank you. That was the general discussion that I was looking to have and of course we this is not for action this meeting. Um but I did want to make sure I brought it to the board for discussion. Thank you Dr. Garrison. Mrs. Levy, thank you. Um you answered my second question, but I I will state it anyway just to make sure my position is clear. Um, I understand as a board member that any item on the agenda could receive action, but in the spirit of transparency, um, and I'm

117glad you reiterated that that the type label in the agenda item is truly discussion information. Um, if we could be very careful with that and not have that label if we are looking for action because I think it misleads the public. If I'm going through this as a lay person, I say, "Oh, they're just going to talk about it, so I don't need to participate necessarily because no decision will be made." Okay, put a pin in that. Um, with the four people remaining, does that is that just the cuts from last year or does that include um the resignation of the executive director? That includes the resignation of the executive director. Okay. Um, and just want to confirm the goal is to fill that position, correct? So, the goal is to fill the executive director

118um position. Um, naturally, when that position is filled, we'll have to work through a possible reorganization of the of the business office. Um, it again, we're trying to we're trying to do what's best interest for getting our bills paid right now, and we just need to make sure that that is happening. I don't want to fall back on any of our reporting from the state, IRS reports, things that we do for the audit, and we've been we've been doing a very good job at that. I want to keep that up. Right. So, I here's my question. Um, would we and I get need is fluid. Would we still need the full-time FTE once the executive director position is filled? And the reason I asked that because where my thinking is going and this is solely

119because of our budgetary constraints. I'm not trying to overburden anyone in the district. Um, would it be reasonable to have a part-time person or a temporary person in to fill the gap until that executive director position is filled? Because I'm hopeful that that would pull some of the stress and some of the work off of the four staff members that remain. Or am I not thinking correctly about capacity? And even if the executive director position was filled tomorrow, it's still too much of a burden for the now five people, five person team. So right now, Mrs. Elwood is has stepped up and has assisted us in the in the absence of our executive director position. And so she's carrying dual roles right now. Um and so that's kind of what we've been having to operate

120um due to the um resignation um of the previous executive director. And so we are again operating in a way in which we I believe is functional but for the short term again for the long term we will need to fill the executive director position. Um and then we will have to go from there as it pertains to how the department looks. Right now, I can't answer that no better than the way I'm answering to be honest with you because we haven't had the opportunity to go through the interview process. Okay. So, si since I can't get an answer, this isn't something that I can't support bringing on a full-term person if hiring an executive director, which is the goal, could alleviate the concern. Um, so I wish I had more information. Thank you, Mrs.

121Levy. And I would like to remind everyone that um this is um on the agenda tonight for discussion information. This is not posted as an action item. We are just discussing it tonight and giving feedback to um the administration. Any other discussion on this item? Thank you, Mrs. Elwood. Our next item is the extra duties compensation. The purpose of this is to discuss recent additional duties taken on by district employees due to staff vacancies. Dr. Garrison. So, similar to um some of the reductions that we've had to make, we've also had to ask many people to, you know, step up step in the gap and support um the district um throughout. And so, you know, this also is a a space that I want to be honest with you and say has been very challenging

122across the district, whether it be in the teaching in the classroom or whether it be in an administrative spaces. we've had to of course take on more roles and responsibilities um due to the many vacancies. Now we do have a policy that's in place that speaks to you know how we can look at this um as it pertains to extra duties for compensation. Um the policy itself um hasn't been revised since I want to say January of 2020. Um so we have been working from this in a lot of situations. Um, I know with most recently, of course, with failed referendums, this this this conversation is hard, yet we still have to have it because people are taking on additional roles across the district and we have to of course um think about how we

123need to compensate them differently in this space. Now, that doesn't mean that this compensation is forever. um depends on how long it takes for us to fill a vacancy and or um as often as this is brought to the to the board for for um consideration. And so I wanted to make sure that people are very aware that we do have this policy and that we have been trying to work um through it. I know there's been some people who believe that, you know, they haven't been compensated for doing extra work or they are delayed from doing extra work, but we've been trying to spread these conversations out as much as we can um due to the different budgetary um constraints. And there's no way um and is it is not my intentions to not

124compensate people for doing extra work um that they may take on throughout the year. Um, but again, this is a space that we have to kind of navigate throughout the school year and bring it up when it's appropriate. Um, unfortunately, like I just mentioned, but you know, our referendum's not being passed. It's always that lingering space that we have to deal with. And so, um, that's the most I can say at this time. I just wanted to make sure the board knew that this is a policy that we have to work from. And and if these things are of course brought to you, it's because again people have been um definitely just filling in doing extra work throughout the year and I have to look at these requests accordingly. Thank you. Are there any questions

125or discussion? Mrs. Levy? Um I just wanted clarification. Um thank you for attaching the policy. Um, is your embedded request in that that the policy committee review this policy or are you comfortable with it as it is currently written? So, I'll be honest with you, not having funds and it says 5 to 15%, one could argue, you know, how is the five how is the five to consider versus the 15 considered, right? And I know that's a space that was done, you know, prior to, you know, my administration coming on onto the table, but that does create some thoughts, you know, if it says 5 to 15%. Um, for me, uh, I would prefer it just to be a certain percentage point or a certain percentage to consider. Um, however, I don't know the background

126information as it pertains to the range. So that's my statement from that. So, it's my understanding and Miss Alandereas, please correct me if I'm understanding this wrong, but I believe we've had conversations and you have provided clarity around how that 5 to 15% is determined. So, it seems like the administration does have a grasp on how that 5 to 15% is allocated. And if I'm remembering correctly, it's because if if there's a vacancy, some employees may be impacted differently than others. So if I'm doing more work because of that vacancy, then I would get a larger percentage. Um, so one, if the administration could just provide clarity, is there a system in place to determine where an employee lands on that 5 to 15% range? And then again, is this something you want reviewed by

127the policy committee and then ultimately the full board? So, Miss Almadur, I mean, you can share. Go ahead, please. Okay. So, um there are positions that it's very evident how workload is split up when a person is um when the position is vacant. And so if you have a case load that is for example in pupil services where three program managers are helping in the absence of another then we do a five5 split. Um depending on the circumstances uh how much volume that person is taking on um they may either be getting the 15% only 10% or five or any value in between. So, just to be clear, they're like you guys know how to do that and it's consistent. Uh, to the best of my knowledge, yes. Okay. Awesome. And then my second question

128is, is the administration asking that this policy be reviewed by the policy committee and then ultimately the full board? I'm not asking that they be reviewed by the policy committee. However, if it goes back to policy, I would want to just see us a flat percentage so that everyone knows what it is and it's not I know we we're figuring things out and I I believe we're doing it the correct way, but someone could always argue that they feel differently about it, which that has happened before in conversations. Okay, maybe this is just me and this is a moment where like black and white would be helpful. Do you want us to review and potentially revise the policy or are you okay with the policy as it is written? I'm okay. I would want you

129to review the policy. That's what I would want. Sorry. Okay. Awesome. And then um for the people that this a policy impacts there. I know this is for act or for discussion information. Um, do you plan that the board needs to provide some assistance or is this something you just want to make us aware that people are making addition are being compensated extra for extra work? I'm just at this point I'm kind of confused at this agenda item. I wanted to make sure that the public knew that we have many staff members that are taking on additional work during this time. And so I wanted to be transparent in my conversations as it pertains to when these conversations are coming up is because we have people that are doing extra work across the district. And

130I believe we haven't had this open disc conversation around this specific policy in this space. And I just want to make sure that people knew that when people see different compensations on anything that we do that these this extra pay is because people are taking on extra duties. Thank you so much. No problem, Mr. Nichols. Um, duly noted I've made comments on the policy, the review and revi revi review and revise. So, you're welcome, Mrs. Mill. Miss Miller, thank you. Um, since, uh, board member Levy brought it up earlier. My question was, um, to address any transparency concerns there might be with staff because this this has, Miss Al, right, it's come up a number of times and you've always done a wonderful job explaining. I just wonder if it would maybe be worthwhile documenting

131like in the form of like an admin rag for example to say like this is the decision-making criteria that either a if the policy stays the same or the sameish if it's reviewed um this is why like Joanne gets you know 15% Megan gets five or whatever when it comes up so that there's total clarity because you know as a as a union member you know pay equity and equitable decision-m matters right to staff. My second question um was uh actually no that really kind of addresses it because um I guess like to Dr. Garrison's point if if it becomes a flat rate anyway. I still think it would be good just to preserve institutional knowledge and to you know create sustainable stability and and you know good practice like this seems like a good

132practice that you've got developed like let's document it. So that's just my 85 cents or whatever. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you uh Mr. Romero. I just wanted to ask if the current model, have you guys had issues with people questioning whether they deserved more than what they were being offered versus, you know, anything like that, you know, as as opposed to like a flat rate. Cuz I do know I understand where this is coming from where some might have to take huge loads versus some other it impacts, you know, differently. So, which I understand that and a flat rate I'm I look at it from my point of view for my own personal rate. If I'm taking on a huge chunk of extra work and I'm getting paid the same flat rate as someone

133that was minimally impacted, it's you I could see I could see the inequity in that. So, I mean, I just wanted to make sure if if this current model was working as far as, you know, any issues with that. The only issue I would foresee with a flat rate is that often times when there is a vacancy, there are multiple individuals who piece apart the responsibilities because it's just not feasible for one full-time employee to absorb all of the duties of another full-time employee that is no longer there. I do believe that may have been. I wasn't here when this policy was created, but I would dare um uh assume that that was the basis behind the five to 15% is to ensure that as that work for that vacancy is divvied out that individuals

134are getting a portion of that vacancies uh work to match the additional pay. Mrs. Levy, thank you so much. And I'll be brief. Um, so I'm just scanning through the policy and it says the superintendent or designate may make recommendations to the board of education relative to compensation for current employees. Um, and and it continues after that. board vice president Nichols uh and also policy chair Nichols if you wouldn't mind making a note in case I forget um I would love to at least have a discussion for a mechanisms for employees because the superintendent or or whoever um Dr. Garrison at this point uh establishes as the design needee to make those recommendations. I might be doing more work um and the superintendent or designate may not be aware of that. So how is that

135factored in? Like are employees able to submit a a proposal for additional compensation and kind of lay out I've been doing this this and this? like how are we ensuring that folks that are doing extra work are not being missed with that extra compensation? So, their supervisor um has those conversations when there's a need for these other individuals to step in. Usually, it's voluntary. Sometimes it's assigned and then based on the workload that they take on, that information comes back to us um and submitted to Dr. Garrison for his review. So, we're not just here at KEK assuming that Mrs. Levy only deserves 5%. Um, it comes from the direct supervisor who's working closely with their team and it makes its way up the channel. Uh, depending it'll be to the executive director that oversees

136that unit. Um, and eventually makes its way to HR. So, it's not necessarily done in a silo. So if an employee is has taken on additional duties and for whatever reason has not received additional compensation, the way that they start that process is to have a conversation with their supervisor. Correct. And I if we are reviewing the policy, I just want to make sure that safeguards are in place. So if if there is any disagreement between the employee and the supervisor that there is a mechanism to resolve that. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you. It is 8:00. I will entertain a motion to extend the meeting 30 minutes. So moved. Second. Motion by Brian Nichols, seconded by Megan Miller. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? I I I I. Any oppose? Nay. Motion carries 5

137to one. Any other questions on the um what are we on the HR extra duties compensation? Um I have a couple questions. Right now we are in the midst of making reductions as we have been the past couple years now. Um and the fluidity of what positions get cut. Um, sometimes it's a little bit vague. And the policy states, "No recommendation for additional compensation will be made for permanent additional duties assigned as a result of the dissolution of a position or for a vacant position that will not be posted and filled due to budgetary restraints. Um my concern here is that um many employees are taking on lots of extra responsibilities just because um we've not been um backfilling positions and we've been cutting positions. How are you determining what's what's going to happen with

138the workload of those vacant or eliminated positions? And is that going to be considered an and you know extra work going forward? Are we going to continue seeing lots of these when positions are emptied or vacant? And um what's what's your what's your plan of action? You know, we want to serve, you know, everybody who's serving us the best way we know how. And so in this compensation conversation, sometimes it comes back to when we can do it. And so, like I said, unfortunately, we've had to struggle through, you know, these, you know, failed referendums or referendums that were not successful. Um and so what I've tried to do is kind of pace it out throughout the year. There's parts of the school year where there's, you know, low um how can I say low

139low accounts payable um where we don't have as many bills per se. And sometimes I try to look at that. I've also tried to, you know, be mindful around how often we are, you know, leaning on as many people as we possibly can. But I think it's just hard to manage to be honest with you. when we have $30 million worth of cuts, it is very hard to manage this because people are taking on more and more responsibilities. And so, we're doing the best we can to to manage when we bring it to the board. Um, but when we do bring it to the board, it is because people have been taking on, you know, a lot of different roles in our school district and that's in K12 and of course district office as well.

140Thank you. Any other uh questions or discussion for this item? And this is an item for discussion and [Applause] information. The next item is the HR committee report employment recommendations exhibit A. Are there any open session questions regarding exhibit A? Mrs. Levy, thank you. Um, so I understand that this is not something that this current um makeup of the board has agreed upon. However, I think it's valuable to share that what we have done in previous boards is anytime we're going to make a major decision, we hear it first and we have time to process and ask questions and then the next time it comes before the board, we make a decision. Um, and and I'm not telling anyone that that's what you need to do. I just think that's a good practice. Um so

141just wanted to say openly um I am not able to move forward with a decision because I think it's really important that we post this as we have that the community has a a chance to digest this and provide any feedback. Um board members have an opportunity to ask questions especially with the information we received this evening about legalities and potential loss of funding to the district if certain positions are cut. Um, so this is not something that I would support this evening and and I just want to be clear that does not need to impact anyone else's decision- makingaking. Thank you, Mrs. Levy. Any other uh open session questions or discussion on exhibit A? Are there any close session discussions or questions for on exhibit A? Miss Miller. Uh, yeah. Could we make Could

142I move to go into close? Do you want me to read the language or did you want to say something before we do? Oh, I I um I've got it here somewhere. Oh, no, no, I don't mind. I just didn't want to step out of whatever your expectation was. Where did my Where did my agenda go? It's okay. Well, if you've got in front of you, go up, please. Go ahead. It's great. I would like to move that um I would like to move to convene the board of education into close session pursuant to section 19.85 parent one parent C of the Wisconsin state statutes relative to considering specific personnel recommendations. Second. Thank you. We have a motion to go into close session by Megan Miller, seconded by Amy Levy. Any discussion hearing? None. Mrs.

143Shopee, may we please have a roll call? Yes. Juan Romero, I. Amy Levy, I. Brian Nichols, I. Megan Miller, I. Joanne Rue, I. And Tia Johnson, I. Motion carried unanimously. Thank you. The board of education may reconvene in public session to take actions on any items discussed in close session. Thank you. Everyone else has left the call. You disconnected your phone from the meeting. Okay, I fixed it. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Yeah. Everybody is here and we are reconvening in open session at 9:20 and we are discussing agenda item A or I'm sorry agenda item exhibit A the HR committee report employment recommendations exhibit A uh Dr. Garrison, exhibit A is u I know it's it's a hard place for the entire school district. I know that there's a space in which um you know

144a lot of these positions that you know people may see um there is a lot of conversations that have been um conducted in these spaces. One of the things that I, you know, pride myself in doing is making sure that, you know, there's clear communication across the board. And there is no best communication when you're, you know, having to cut $6.2 million. You do the best you can in that space, right? And you hope that, you know, we can continue to provide the services that we that we believe we need to to to do the job. Um a lot of the positions that you all see here, some positions um some positions have been offered to um people and there's a space in which you know um they have the opportunity to um decide they

145want to take those positions. Although so again if you see a name there's positions that people could have been offered and they still have the time to transfer into those positions. Um I know that there's been some conversations as it pertains to the um economic layoffs as pertains to the um administration positions and um I know that that has given um many people pause in our community and I know that that's a space in which we've had to work from you know since I've arrived. We've been you know reducing the administrative staff again since I've arrived. Um this is the third year in the elementary um spaces as you see here. Again, these are hard decisions that we are coming across. Um I know that there's a space that the board believes that we um

146I believe I believe the board knows that we are working towards, you know, balancing the budget. We're working towards that. And again, that's that's a lot of different um a lot of different players that play into that conversation. And overall, it is my responsibility to to bring what I believe will best position us to continue some of the services that we have in the district. But again, there's no perfect way in this space because of the three years of reductions that we've had to encounter. And so I know this exhibit A has is is a lot on this exhibit A. I can tell you that it's a lot. Probably one of the bigger exhibit A's that we've had. Um, but one of the things that I wanted to do was to make sure that the

147community knew that we were of course moving towards what we would have to do in absence of a not pass referendum and that is where we are as a school community. We are in that space and like I said these are very hard conversations but hard doesn't even give it just it doesn't even justify what what it what it really is for us which is you know our students and families deserve all of these positions if you ask me you know but we are in a space now where we have to make decisions um based off of our budgetary constraints and that's what exhibit A have shown again I want to reiterate to the public that um the vacant and attrition positions that you see on the exhibit um we believe again those some of

148those positions weren't filled all year and so those are the natural cuts there. Um some people are being offered different positions to transfer into different positions and then of course there's those are fun 10 cuts after that. Um but the economic layoff spaces um is because again we just can't necessarily we can't afford um this budget as it stands without making some very drastic changes to our school district. And so that's exhibit A. Um of course we have a lot of resignations and retirements and again you know these positions that you see here are going to be ongoing throughout the rest of this year. I think we all know that um the year is not over with and there's going to be more resignations and possibly retirements in that space. I will also like to

149note that when we're thinking about, you know, enrollment, you know, this list as you see it here could could be a space where we have to relook at this because right now we're basing our needs based off of, you know, stand above 5,000. Everyone has heard me say that before. Um, but of course we need to make sure that our enrollment looks strong going into the next year or this list could even, you know, get deeper as it pertains to where we would have to make the natural changes to our budget. There's also a space in this exhibit A that's not accounted for, which is the bianial budget. The bienial budget is not out yet and I think there's a space in which we we there's some hope, you know, I think that's the best

150way to say it. that there's some hope. The hope that we have is that of course the state legislature will give us more funds and a lot of the indicators point to that that that could happen but you know naturally we want to see that happen before we can actually say it's what's going to happen. Um again there's been a lot of talks around different you know aid coming back to us but until we actually see that happen it's kind of hard to determine excuse me if that's going to happen. Again, there's a lot of positive conversations happening that our budget will look a little different. The bannual budget will look a little different. And so once once that does happen, some of the economic layoffs, we could offer people the opportunity see opportunities to

151come back because this is not for performance or anything like that. It's just simply based off of our ability not to be able to unfortunately not to be able to afford these positions based off of our funding um gap that we have here in the school district. And so again, I wanted to make sure I kind of covered those three big ideas. Number one, that this is of course tough conversations that we're having that we've been having, you know, throughout this referendum conversation. Number two, that some of these positions people have been offered different positions in our district and they still have time to make a decision. And number three, our bienial budget um has not been produced yet. And if it's favorable to us, then we will possibly have the opportunity to look at

152these economic layoffs and bring, you know, different conversations back um to the to the board for consideration. And so those three big ideas is something that we are consistently looking at. And again, I should have said the fourth, which is where we we really still need to look at our enrollment and seeing what that is. and that could also alter some of the conversations that we'll need to have in the future. Thank you, Dr. Garrison. Are there any board member questions or comments? Miss Miller, thank you so much. Um, first, thank you so much for that um explanation, Dr. Garrison. This is definitely um this is where the rubber hits the road, right? Like as an outcome of the election and it's not a fun conversation for everybody to have. So, just one clarifying question

153and then a clarifying comment. So my question is if we do if our situation changes due to like in the positive like let's say the bianial budget is like optimal in terms of can you just fill us in on your decision- making in terms of are we prioritizing people whose positions were cut based on economic layoff or is there a larger scope of decision-making criteria that goes into that kind of that calculation about like what comes back first like how are we prioritizing things based on like enrollment or services if could you speak to that just that process a little bit? Sure. You know right now the economic layoffs are are the most impacted spaces that we have and again this is not based off of performance and so I would want to look at

154the possibilities of what that actually looks like to possibly bring some people back to the conversation. Naturally, you know, we've heard, you know, many different things about, you know, administrative cuts and and their importance and or the lack thereof um in our community. And so, in this space, I would want to, you know, look at the possibilities of, you know, bringing back, you know, some of those AP positions if, you know, that is um something that we can do at that time. Um but you know people you know I'm not expecting no one to you know to wait on the hopes of a bianial budget as well right and so I don't know what that actually looks like until it actually happens. So, if it does happen, I would like to prioritize bringing back some

155of those um elementary AP positions and the rest of the positions that you see here um minus the um physical therapist position um are transfers and pretty much just vacant positions that we haven't had all year. Thank you for clarifying. And I guess just a thought for um perhaps like a future agenda item or or board meeting topic. So T-chart, right? So on one side is the boards, the one side is the admin. So it's the admin's responsibility to make decisions and bring recommendations like you have this evening regarding personnel, services, facilities, etc. It's the board's role to make decisions about our budget. And so I guess my question to my colleagues that doesn't have to be answered in this moment, but I'm just wondering if going forward because it sounds like we might be

156having well we will definitely be having more of these discussions. I feel like we could be better calibrated if we had a larger board level discussion with Dr. Garrison's input about the extent to which we are or are not willing to make different budget priorities and different budget decisions based on new information as we receive it about the things that he just described like enrollment numbers changes to the banial budget etc. So that's just a comment question just for my colleagues on the board. Thank you. Thank you Miss Miller. I did suggest to Dr. Garrison that we use the May 17th date for that purpose. Perfect. Thank you so much. Mrs. Levy, thank you. Um, I move approval of exhibit A minus the economic layoffs. Um, and so that ends my motion. But just in

157the spirit of transparency, um, I am a fan of we have the information presented to us. We have the opportunity to ask questions and get feedback, not necessarily to change the decision, but to or or the proposal, but to understand it better, and then as a board, we make the decision. Um, so that's where I'm landing. So, um, that's the the motion that I want to offer. Second. So there is a motion to approve exhibit A with the exception of the economic layoff. Is that correct, Mrs. Levy? Yes. And when the time comes, if we could have a roll call vote, that would be helpful. Thank you. Okay. A motion by Mrs. Levy, seconded by Ms. Miller. Was that correct? Okay. Any discussion, Mrs. Levy? Yep. Just one brief thing. Um, thank you, Dr. Garrison,

158for the the additional context that you could provide. Since we heard about the PT position and being in compliance versus out of compliance and information that your administrative staff has heard from DPI, if you could just give a brief summary of where we are um with the proposal to to do a reduction there, that would be helpful. I'll have Mrs. um Mrs. Bever's um share that information, please. Thank you. Uh I will do my best. Um given the information the concerns that we heard this evening if you could just share where we are with respect to compliance and lensure um with the recommendation to reduce the one FTE PT that would be helpful. Thank you. Yep. So um the district has been actively transitioning from a pullout model to a more inclusive integrated service model

159which is a best practices approach endorsed by DPI um which supports students needs. We are um looking at the case load guidelines that was referenced earlier while the administrative code references a 45 student guideline. It's not a strict maximum and the statute allows for flexibility depending on the service model, the supervision structure and the scope of the work especially when working under a workload model rather than a case load only approach which is more typical to a clinical setting than an educational setting. And so we um have consulted with DPI on multiple occasions. Um let them know that we would continue to have one physical therapist and two physical therapist assistants for a total of 51 students, which is a very manageable case load. Um districtwide, we would um be well within statute and we

160do not have any concerns about the recommendations we're making. And just one additional point, um, under the model that you just described and in consultation with DPI, the district would not be, um, declining any billing opportunities. Is that accurate? We would be well within compliance. Yes, we would not be denying any billing opportunities. Thank you so much. Yes. Any other questions or discussion? Mrs. Schop, when you're ready, I believe there's a request for a roll call. I'm sorry before you do, Mr. Romero. So just just so I can just for clarification, you're we are we're voting to approve just the attritions. So it's everything except anything that's labeled economic layoffs. So my motion was to approve exhibit A minus the economic layoffs. Does that make sense? Yep. There are six at the top and one

161kind of in the middle. Any other questions, Miss Miller? Just a point of clarification. Um, so there's a motion on the table and it doesn't preclude a board member after this motion is taken from making another motion about exhibit A if they so choose. just because we have new board members. I just wanted to clarify if like Yeah. So, thank you. Thank you. And um Mrs. Schop, I unless there are any more questions or discussion, which doesn't look like Thank you, Joanne Rue. No, Megan Miller. I Brian Nichols. I Amy Levy. I Juan Romero. Nay. And Tia Johnson. Nay. The motion failed. Three to three. Thank you. The next item for discussion is exhibit C. No, we're not discussing exhibit C. Okay. Um, Miss Miller, um, I just Are we done with exhibit A, then?

162Unless somebody else has a different uh motion they'd like to make before we move on to the next. Oh, that that is the last item. Sorry. So, it's either a motion for exhibit A or a motion to adjourn. Move to adjourn. Wait, sorry. Can we do a motion to approve the um resignations and retirements then? All right, that's that was included in the last motion. It was everything minus the economic layoffs. If you only want to do the bottom portion, correct? Just those. Yes. So, just the resignations and retirements. So, you just want to say move to approve exhibit A um recommendations and retirements. Move. I can't even turn. Okay. Move to approve exhibit A only resignations and retirements. I know it's really scary. Second. It's okay. There is a motion to approve exhibit A

163only the resignations and retirements by Joanne Rue and a second by Brian Nichols. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor? I I I. Any oppose? Motion carries unanimously. And before we before I accept an adjournment, um motion for adjournment, just a point of uh personal privilege. This weekend is Mother's Day. I know we have several mothers in the room and I want to wish you all a very wonderful happy Mother's Day. Embrace your children, love them, love your mothers, and be kind to one another. Thank you. Move to adjourn. Second. Motion by Amy Levy, seconded by Brian Nichols. All in favor? I I I. Any oppose? I. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you everyone. Have a wonderful week.