001Good evening. Welcome to the Franklin Public Schools Board of Education meeting for May 27th. Um, can I have a roll call, please? >> Certainly. Mr. Spray >> here, >> Mrs. Ehart >> here, >> Mrs. Larson >> here, >> Mrs. Yang >> here, >> Mrs. >> here, >> I'm here, and Dr. Khan is excused. >> Thank you. The meeting has been properly posted. Can we stand for the pledge, please? allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Moving on to community comment. Um, we do have community comment tonight, so I'll read the Oh, I'm sorry. I skipped agenda approval. Forgive me. Just need a I need a motion to approve the agenda. >> So
002moved. >> Second. >> Motion was made by Mrs. Yank, seconded by Mr. Bragg. All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Okay. Then we'll move on to community comment. Just going to read the policy. Participants under this agenda item must be residents of the Franklin Public School District or parents or guardians of Franklin Public School District students. must state for the record their full name and address and must limit their statements to three minutes with a maximum of 15 minutes for any and all comment. If the community comment is related to an agenda item, the board may respond to that comment either at the end of community comment or during the discussion of that agenda item. The board may not discuss a comment or question that does not relate to an agenda item
003for board policy 8300. Dr. Aronda He's gonna have um her read for him his his eyesight. So, she's going to read his statement. >> Good evening, dear members of the Franklin Police, I'm sorry, public school district board. I come to you today not only as a father but also as a licensed mental health professional deeply concerned about the ethical failure misuse of administrative discretion and psychological harm experienced by my son Ali Aranda under the supervision of Franklin Public Schools. This matter originated when a caf a caffeine coffee pouch product was treated under the district's lookalike policy and I put that in quotes policy as though it involved nicotine nicotine related mis mis misconducted misconduct from the very beginning. Ali consistently maintained the product was nicotine-free. Despite this, Franklin High School administration proceeded using disciplinary creating
004disciplinary language associated with possession and distribution of nicotine related substances created creating seriously reputational and emotional consequences for a student who repeatedly denied any ne nicotine involvement. What followed was not simply a in insulated incident disciplinary decision but a systematic failure of leadership and ethical judgment at m multiple administrative levels. the associate principal, the principal of Franklin High School, and the assistant pro superintendent overseeing the appeal pre process and ultimately the superintendent who failed to adequately protect the rights, dignity, due process, and psychological safety of a student entrusted to their care. Rather than critically evaluating whether the original respon was response was proportionate, fair and ethically sound, district leaders repeatedly chose to defend and reinforce a fall process a false process rooted in vague policy interrupt interpretation and excessive administrative discretion. Significantly throughout this process,
005disciplinary language requires required revision. Reference references to distribution of drug alcohol were later removed. The district acknowledged the need for policy clarification. Athletic consequences were modified after appeal and expungement of the record was ultimately offered. There are these are no indicica indicators of proper execution and ethically sound disciplinary process. They will they are evident that substantial concerns existed regarding judgment proportional proportionality policy and application and administrative decisions made making decision making from the outlet. Yet even after these corrections and concessions, district leadership continued to deny that harm occurred. As a license educators in the state of Wisconsin, as licensed educators in the state of Wisconsin, administrators are not merely policy enforcers. They are ethical stewards entrusted with authority over children and obligated to exercise fairness, sound judgment, professionalism, and care. Educational leadership carries a responsibility
006to protect students from avoidable harm, including psychological harm caused by institutional overreach, repentant, repentant, reputational labeling, and misuse of disciplinary authority. In this case, harm occurred. >> And we are at past our three minutes. Are we >> close to the end? >> Can I just summarize it really quick? Basically, he's, you know, talking about the damage that has been done to his son, the uh misjudgment, the unprofessionalism in the way this matter was handled, that no regard for his concern, and yet he was the only one, you know, racially he was profiled against the other certain that he supposedly gave the alleged drugs to and was the other student was not no action was taken against that student for and if that was the case that it was legal drug illegal drugs. >> Thank you.
007Thank you for coming to speak. >> Moving to consent agenda. I'm looking for an approval of the consent agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion was made by Dr. Beer, seconded by Mr. Sprag. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carries. >> Schoolboard calendar. We have the Franklin Education Foundation golf outing on Friday, June 12th at Oakwood. We have the regular board of education meeting on Wednesday, June 17th here at the ECC at 6. We have high school graduation on June 20th at American Family Field at 4:00 and another board of education meeting Wednesday, July 22nd here at the ECC at 6 o'clock. Um, district administrator update, Dr. Bennon. >> All right, good evening. So, a couple updates about exciting things across the district in May. We've talked about many in
008the last meeting, couple since then. Um, in midMay, our FHS automotive tech students, Jonah and Zach, we're crowned the 2026 technicians of tomorrow champions. I think this is the second year in a row that our autos department has been recognized in this way. And it takes place after a a number of written tests, car diagnosis, and a repair problems. And then only eight students or I'm not sure if it's eight. I think it's a few more than eight, but they come back and do eight hands-on stations um at the program downtown Milwaukee. So, it's really great that we had two students recognized and shout out to Alex Bonar who's our instructor in that area. Some of those students uh from his course were even at the business breakfast last week and able to do some
009demos for us on small engines. Uh so, I learned quite a bit amongst others of us at the table probably. So, they've been awarded scholarships, uh, tons of tools, gift certificates, and lots of other goodies for their accomplishments. So, congrats to the program and to our students. Also, last week, Representative Bob Wiki visited the high school to recognize our ProStart restaurant management team of Kaye, Malikica, Raina, and Adriana. So, they had a they were a top 10 finisher. Um, competed nationally in the ProStart Invitational. Uh they were presented with an award along with Sarah Heiden Better, their uh instructor. Um and that was on behalf of the Wisconsin State Assembly and their restaurant, which they talked a bit about was called the Chicken Atlas. So it was really fun to hear about the whole marketing
010and everything they need to do for this program. Protart's definitely not an easy thing to be achieving at a state level, especially not at a national. Congrats to the softball team. Uh varsity, they recently became the conference champions. That's the first time in school history. So, that's very exciting for our athletics programs. Uh, last Tuesday, as we know, many of us were at it, we had the Saber Business Alliance breakfast at Ascension. Uh, this is just a wonderful way to again thank all of our business partners that give workplace experience to our high school students. Um, it continues to grow every year. Um, and it was a great opportunity to share the expansions at the high school that are coming and ability to continue to partner in those ways, too. So, thank you to all
011of our business partners. We also celebrated our 2026 retirees at our recognition dinner last Thursday. Uh so that is 14 staff members retiring with 397 years of experience. Uh which is pretty outstanding. Anywhere from 13 years to I think the most years is 34 years with uh Coach Brown. So a great honoring night. Um and some great videos and fun reflection moments and memories across the district. And if you didn't um get a music concert yet or you're looking for another one, our final one at the Saber Center is tomorrow evening at 7 PM for the high school and middle school jazz bands. Thank you. Excellent. Thank you. Um school board liaison reports. Anybody have any liazison meetings to report? School community engagement. Saw you a lot. Yes, we we were at a lot of
012things. Um, we also had senior honors night last week, Wednesday, which was really fun to celebrate all of our graduating seniors and all their accomplishments. So, great great busy week. Okay, reports, presentations, and other schoolboard business. Uh, we have our 2627 preliminary budget. First read, Mr. Crony. >> Thank you. You're good. I think we're going on. >> This is high-tech. Oh, yeah. We got to switch this, right? >> Okay, we nailed it, we think. >> Um, okay. In any case, um, we saw our first iteration of our very preliminary budget back in January. Um since that time um we have done a full evaluation of um potential salary updates which we'll talk about in a moment. We have health rounded out to 10.2%. Um we've taken a closer look at our open enrollment seats and
013then how many applications we have where those applications are great being grade level wise. Um we've taken a look at our um resident enrollment since then because that changes weekly for sure. Um, so we've taken a look at several variables. Um, and ultimately at this point we've taken our budget from a $1,ion50,000 deficit to right now $33,000. Um, still uh in the red, so still underneath, but we've made some serious headway. Um, our major component in that is really the uh review of open enrollment and where we're going to place students or how many students we believe we're going to get. Um right now we're looking at um a potential open enrollment increase of 114 FTEES. So an FTE is a full-time equivalent. So a 4K student um according to the state of Wisconsin is
014worth 6 FTE. Um so 114 FTE does not mean exactly 114 students because 4K is counted at a different rate um than that. But um taking a look at where they're going to be all placed, we're going to be totally fine. And again, our open enrollment fill seats that already exist, right? Lights are on, teachers in front of the classroom, building's already heated. So, um, we're just filling those potential seats. Um, probably the biggest changes that have occurred in general are related to salary. Um, so I'll go to health very quickly. Health, we had already budgeted at 10%. We ended up at 10.2 to make it all work for next year. So, that was relatively even um, from January to what will actually be put in place for 2627. from a salary standpoint across the
015board. Um our professional educators are using the matrix. So that's updated with um new data that was presented at better place to work. We've slotted all of our professional educators in by years of service. Um we will get some updates on masters most likely. That survey went out last week. Um we were notified of a couple people that received theirs at the January deadline or December deadline and and provided that information. So we've already made those adjustments. Um and then we've made median adjustments for people. Um ultimately that left us below the CPI amount of 2.63% for some of our educators. Right? So just like last year um we added dollars to make sure the minimum CPI was 2 point or the minimum increase for a professional educator was 2.63. We do have some obviously
016going above that because they've gotten one of those bumps. Um ultimately right now what's budgeted is 3.56% for professional educators. So that will make all three of those moves work and then the minimum of 2.63. Um regular education EAS um are right now budgeted at 3.57. So that's providing a 2.8% increase across the board. So a little bit higher than CPI um as that group has not had that. Um but as well as moving the minimum wage up and creating the same gap between an existing employee and the minimum wage. So if minimum wage is here and their salary is here, if we bump up minimum wage, we've closed the gap. We want to make sure that gap remains the same between an existing employee and new minimum salary. So to do that adds an
017extra 18 cents. So it's not a drastic change in minimum salary, but it's 2.8% plus 18 cents, which in aggregate when you look at all together is 3.57%. All of our other groups except administrators we have at 2.8%. Um the reason why we did not do the same with special education is as we did that two years ago with the 2425 school year. We bumped up that beginning wage. We made sure everybody remained whole, meaning that gap was the same from the new starting wage to where they are. Um so that occurred at that particular time. Um and then administrators are at 2.63%. So meaning district office administrators through our school principles and uh system principles. Um those would be the biggest things that you would have seen change. So again, open enrollment, the number
018of students coming in, um, and then a couple of adjustments in salary, but then appropriating that all the way out through every employee of the district, um, to make sure they're all fitting in those categories with those particular amounts. Um, and then just to address uh Mary's question that came through, right now we're projecting a 20% increase in vouchers. We've been pretty steady in that 18 to 22% range over the last five years. So um, again, I've mentioned this word before, right? We are laundering money for the state of Wisconsin to pay um for voucher schools. So, we're collecting it from public taxpayers and we're passing it on. It is a pass through cost to us. It means nothing from an expense. It means nothing from a revenue, but it is a property tax component.
019Um and so, we break that out. Um you will see that in your packet or if you go to the packet somewhere around like page 32, I think is the property tax breakout, you'll see the voucher payments and you can look at the history year-over-year and um see how that works. But like make no mistake, we are simply passing money through for the state of Wisconsin from public taxpayers to vouchers. Um those would be the biggest things that we have. Again, we're at uh $33,000. Um how we're going to make that up or what the plan is right now. We're doing a full evaluation of everybody's uh sorry, everybody's benefits. So we do that two times yearly. So um we're finishing that up and that's to make sure if benefits change during the course of
020the year. someone gets married, they bring on a spouse, they have a child, they move to a family plan or they cease to take our insurance at some point and drop that for whatever reason. Like we want to make sure we're going apples for apples. Um so we do um I call it an audit, but it's not an audit. We literally go by everybody. Like we don't pick 25% and choose to make sure we have right. We go line item by line item on everybody. Um so we'll finish that up. So when we see our August iteration, we'll have all of that taken care of. So we'll have those updated amounts. Um, second, all of our new employees get budgeted family health family insurance. And we've talked about this every year at this particular point,
021right? We see somewhere between 60 to 75% of people take that family insurance. We just don't know which are the 60 to 75. Um, but again, we can back that out and say we know 25 to 40% are taking either single or the alternative benefit. Um, and so we'll certainly have some room there. Um, and 303,000 after we work through all of that, if we do have any, we're going to take a look at departments. 303,000 is not a huge hit on our fund 10 budget of roughly 70 million. Our fund 27 budget of roughly 10 million to 11 million like 300,000 is not a huge deal on that. So um when we take a look at again the benefits we'll be able to curve out most of that if not all of that at
022that particular time. You have heard probably two weeks ago there is a massive budget push at the state right. We're going to have um special education funding coming in. We're going to have property tax relief through um equalization aid um brought in and a myriad of other things, right? Um we know that that was kind of killed off at the last hour at the state legislature. Um as uh Dr. Bennon mentioned, Representative Whiti was in last week, he pretty much told us it was dead in the water. Um I if you read the journal this morning, I would say there's probably a spark that hit when 80% of the people in the Marquette law poll said they supported that bill. 80% of Wisconsin supported that bill. So, in my mind, potentially there's a spark that
023that gets kicked up again. But, we're not budgeting for any of that. We're not expecting any of that. If it comes, we'll figure out what to do with it when it comes. But, um, from our standpoint, like, we're not even preparing for it. And, and truthfully, we haven't been preparing for it all along until about two weeks ago when we were at least kicking around what do the numbers look like and what could we potentially do with them? and then you know holding our breath and then letting it go and going oh that's over. Um so that's where we are today. Um again the purpose of a preliminary budget is twofold. One to make you aware of where we are today. Um so that you have some indication that we're paying attention to it and
024preparing for the next year. That's number one. Number two, in order to technically pay people and pay bills on 71, we have to have a preliminary budget approved. Um, if we don't, right, we're holding people's paycheck. That like I don't know if I'm going to stand up there and do that, but in technicality, that's what a preliminary budget allows us to do is pay people until a formal budget is approved and pay our bills until a formal budget is approved. So, I'll take any questions that people might have. >> Angie, um, can you remind me on the salary matrix, do we track and match to a median? Is just remind me. It's >> so we use a median. um our data set um does shift from year to year because it's districts, but I will
025tell you I was on a call with Sussex Hamilton this morning um and they're going to be really interested in adding their data. Um and so hopefully they'll talk to their cohorts about potentially doing that. And again, the more data we have, right, the more we can really meet that um uh the component that is asking us to compare what is what are salaries and provide that regional comparison for us. So, um, we have a lot, but we could always use more. >> Then as a followup, um, you mentioned people bumping up to different levels based on their years of service. I know we had some questions here a couple weeks ago that ultimately root cause analysis were due to just erroneous recordkeeping, due to years of service tracking. How are you making sure that
026doesn't happen in the future? Are people more mindful of it since it's >> People are certainly more mindful uh mindful of it. We've had two inquiries um since. And so part of it is let's take a look at the letter that was provided because those are in relation to retirement, >> right? >> Let's take a look at the letter that was provided and then um I I would say if we're off by several years, like we're probably not digging into several years and saying we'll try to make up like three or four years. But if we're off by a portion of a year, like we should dig back into it if at the request of an individual and say, "Hey, let's take a look at why a full year wasn't provided or whatever have you
027to see if we can find anything that helps us fit. That includes us going back to like what does master agreement look like back at the time when either that year was partially provided or not or um like taking a look at all sorts of things to make sure we have the right amount. um rectifying if we can't verify exactly why it was a different number than what what we say. Um and if we can prove it, then we stick by the number that was provided and say, "No, this is this is why and this is how we got to that number." >> I appreciate how that was. >> And then I'm just wondering, we have a good problem in that we have we're hopefully not going to have a lot of brand new hires.
028We have um so the wiggle room you sometimes count on in that new hires like a third of them aren't going to take family insurance. you're not going to have as much. Hey, >> uh we won't have as much which is a good thing um and a bad thing. But still a family insurance down to alternative benefit like every one of those that hits which we probably are anywhere from 5 to 10% of our employees we're looking at 20,000. So even if we have like three of those that's $60,000 of that 300 3,000. >> Um and so we don't it's not like we need a ton of people to hit that but we need a few kind of in each category to make that work. >> Thanks Mike. I'm a little confused with enrollment. Um,
029it's it's going down again. Um, but open enrollment is going up by So, does that mean our resident enrollment is going down by 200 students, right? >> Our resident enrollment right now is projected to go down quite a bit. Um, we know we did the MD Rafer study, right? Um, so Countrydale continues to go up, which was a massive pinch point in terms of that study. Um, we have not asked MD Raers to go in. So, I'll do my best interpretation of how they would take a look at their data. So, they broke our district out into like 67 or 70 components if you remember that map. And those are all divided by neighborhoods, right? And then they provide essentially a home a home turnover rate inside of each of those particular areas and say
030we expect them to turn over in five years or whatever and some of them are 25, right? My assumption is we're not seeing the the home turnover rate and I don't see as many homes for sale in Franklin as there has been in the past and so that turnover rate has slowed which means people are living in their homes longer so they're cycling through school and they don't have kids coming through anymore and they're not selling to a family with kids. So at some point that will switch. It's just at this point is being delayed further than what their expectation was. But we will cycle through that at some point. Again I don't I don't want to put out a predicted measure. I would pay them to do that for us because that's what they
031do. Um, but just in looking at homes for sale and things like that and kind of watching that, we're just not turning that over as fast. But the home growth is still happening in the southwest corner. Like Countrydale is still chock tight. Um, we still are evaluating whether we need staff in some locations. Right now, we are holding staff to cover um because we know we have two pinch points. Um, so we have staff already budgeted there. So, if we hit that number, which we most likely will with residents, and we haven't placed open enrollment students in those particular pinch points either, but we're holding staff because we're most likely going to hit that because they are in the Countrydale border or uh area. And so, most likely over the next three months, we're going
032to get residents in those particular classes. U but from a standpoint of budgeting standpoint, like that would be a reduction in staff if we absolutely didn't meet those marks because we're holding that. Again, that's part of that conservative planning to make sure that we're prepared for it if it does hit. Um so that we're not scrambling to say that 3003,000 just went to 400,000 because we have to hire another staff member. >> I have a few more questions if it's okay. Um on page 21 um under HR there's a um human resources is expected to go up with purchase services. Um where is that how will that be offset at some point? Sorry, it's um and there is there is a note that says purchase services and non- capital supplies is seeing an increase addition
033of an on-site health clinic. So that has to do with the health clinic in some way shape or form. >> So that's moving from our sixmonth in 2526 because we we had anticipated opening January 1. been budgeted for six months. We've been lip opening February 9th, but 26 27 we are on for the full year. So it's budgeted under human resources because of how DPI codes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> It's not technically human res like Laura is not managing it. We manage the clinic under a bucket >> the way it's coded starts with a 26 which is human resources. >> So it hits that particular component but all related to the health clinic. >> Fair enough. Thank you. Um that's the questions I have. >> Um one one more thing um on to piggyback
034on what Mr. Cromy said before um about possibly um thinking what would we do with extra money that we that we had. Um, I appreciate in the past that um that this board and this administration has used money that we get through ESSER funds and through uh we're getting more money from the state or whatever that is. We've used a lot of that for um we've used that money for one-time purchases and not as um as a way to say, "Hey, let's let's do something." I assume that we're going to I assume that we're going to keep on that track. I hope that we're going to keep on that track. Does that make any sense? >> Yeah. So, I would say two things. One, it first of all, it depends on how much money. Like
035if the state comes in and gives every district like a million dollars, like that makes us look totally different than today, right? So, that would be a big chunk of money. Um, would we look to do some of that with salaries? I'd say probably look to do something, but we're always cognizant that salary is not a purchase for tomorrow. it is a purchase for the next 30 years. Um and so we want to be cognizant if we put all of that in there, we have to be prepared for the next 30 years to start with that as the new baseline, right? So, um again, depending on the amount, we would certainly look there. We would also look at um we know we have a large math curriculum purchase coming in the next three years, right?
036And that's going to be a large dollar amount. And while we've put some money away for teaching and learning to cover a portion of that, I would probably look to say, "Hey, let's start gearing up a few more dollars to that." Um, I know in technology we have some server pieces coming out in the next five years as well in the technology plan. Can we put some money away again to smooth that out? So, by the time we get there, the road is flat because we've already stocked away enough to cover the large bump versus that large bump showing up in three years. And now we got to figure out how do we cover the hill? I'd rather just keep the road flat. That makes life easier when we can predict that or have funds
037available to predict that. Um, when we think about things like the football field, right, that shows up every 12 years that's coming in at some sort of money. Our baseball field is now five years old, four years old, right? So, we know in 8 to 10 years like that's coming up again. So, we have to be cognizant of those because those are large dollar purchases and Andy does a great job of managing our CIP. But when you're talking about roofs and boilers and air handlers and then you throw out a million dollar field, like that chews up a big chunk of change. So, we'd probably look to make sure that we have money to do those projects long term. And the things that come up because even though Andy budgets $1.3 million every year in
038CIP, we spend more than that because things just happen. They come up when you have this many buildings and all these spaces, stuff just happens, right? A plow hits a curb. Now we're doing curb or a myriad of things can happen that now we just have to fix that and wasn't planned to fix it is there now. >> I appreciate that we plan for the long term and the short term and then we have and that I hope that I hope that we want to continue that. >> I just wanted to say that so that whole >> people so that people didn't hear that differently than you. >> Thank you. >> Other questions? >> Go ahead. I know I've asked this before but I'll ask it again. So, I know that our our enrollment out
039um is kind of stable. Number says between 140 and 150. Do we track who, what, when, why those folks are continuing? >> So, we don't track the why. >> Uh we track the where, but we don't track the why. Uh and some history on that is most students that open a roll out have never stepped foot in your buildings. They move into your district and they're already attending somewhere else. They already stay there. Um many of our students who open enroll in our kids who lived in the district were residents here, their parents move and they apply through open enrollment and they stay here. Um so we're no different than anybody else. We just have a really good ratio of in to out. Um which is really good for us, right? I mean that that
040helps fund a lot of the things we do. Um but there's no magic sauce into how we would keep these kids because again most of them have never gone here. they're staying in the educational experience that they know and parents are happy with. And um one of the things we have talked about like we brought this back with wraparound care, right? If we can provide a great educational experience here as young kids, our chances of keeping that child and then siblings grows tremendously. And so, um when we talked about the wraparound care that Matt's running out of recreation, that was like one of the big components is okay, we hear this is a need. putting in four time or full day 4K doesn't necessarily solve that problem. It could be a component moving down the
041road or the next iteration of it. But we know that parents want kind of a one-stop shop and if we can provide that, let's do that because they'll more likely than not stay here if we do it really well. And that open enrollment is the same right there. If kids are succeeding wherever they are and parents move, they want to stay wherever they're succeeding. Um and in every school district can be really great for for most kids and some kids need to go to a new place which is why they choose us over others but again most just have never stepped foot here. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you. >> Um the treasures report is available in Boroc's library as always. Our future agenda items we will have the annual academic standards adoptions with
042Mrs. pound. 2627 student family handbook from Dr. Mo. The approval of teacher contracts will be an action item. The 2627 preliminary budget will come back for action. We'll have the end of the year report on the coherence report or coherence plan. End of the year report with Dr. Mo and a Saber Center update from Mr. Stewart. I am looking for a motion to enter into close session pursuant to Wisconsin State Statute 19.851C, 851C district administrator evaluation. >> So moved. Second >> made by Mrs. Yank. Seconded by Mrs. Larson. All in favor? >> I >> we have a vote roll call. Sorry. >> Mrs. >> I >> Mr. I >> I vote I Mrs. Zart. >> Hi. >> Mrs. Y. >> I. >> Mrs. Larson. >> I Okay. Motion carries. We are in closed session at
0436:34. In open session at 7:58. I'm looking for a motion to approve action taken during open session. During close session. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion made by Dr. Beer, seconded by Mrs. Yank. Can I have a roll call, please? >> Yes. Mr. Sprag. >> I vote I. Mrs. Yank. >> I. >> Mrs. Larson. >> I. >> Mrs. Ehart. >> I. >> Mrs. Seperski. I >> motion carries 6. >> Thank you. And then I just need a motion to adjourn the meeting. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Made by Mrs. Larson, seconded by Mrs. Echart. All in favor? >> Anyone opposed? >> No. We are journed at 758.