August 13, 2025 FPS School Board Meeting

001everyone. Um to the Wednesday, August 13, 2025 uh meeting of the Franklin Board of Education. Um can we have a roll call, please? >> Yes. Mrs. Yank here. >> Mrs. Wakowski here. >> Mrs. Larson here. >> Mr. Sprag >> here. >> Mrs. Seperski here. >> Dr. Khan here. >> And I'm here. >> Thank you. Uh, and the meeting has been properly posted. Could we have a pledge of allegiance, please? >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. Thank you. Um uh all right we so we will move on to community comment immediately. Um all participants under this agenda item must be residents um of the Franklin Public School

002District or parents guardians of Franklin Public School District. Students must state for the record full name and address. Must limit their statements to three minutes with a maximum of 15 minutes for any and all comment. There appear to be a lot of commenters tonight. Um, would the board agree to extend it to half an hour? >> That's fine. >> Sure. Sure. >> All right. We will have the uh we will have a half an hour comment period. Please um please be as brief as you can. Um we will try and get through everyone. Um uh if the community comment is related to an agenda item, the board may respond to that comment either at the end of the community comment session or during the discussion of that agenda item. The board may not discuss a

003comment or question that does not relate to an agenda item per board policy administrative rules 8300. Um and um uh Alderman Craig um wishes to [clears throat] speak um about uh about something other than um Franklin forward. So I'm going to have him come up first. >> Thank you. Jason Craig, 11710 West Shields Drive. Uh hello Franklin Public School Board. My name is Jason Craig and I uh want to by thanking you all for your service towards the education of our children for the city of Franklin and the open enrollment families as well. Uh serving previously on the Whitmill School Board, I understand the responsibility that comes with the role. I currently serve as an alderman in the city and share the accountability that comes to our constituents. Uh that there is a position that

004your role that I have not had any visibility towards and that is the recreation department. Recently, I've had a constituent reach out to me regarding the rec department and the pricing they receive. Full disclosure, I have taken advantage of the programming that the rec department has provided, uh, dance, swimming, soccer, and swim lessons to name a few. But going back to the reason for addressing the board, my resident lives within the Whitel School District and uh, and is still a Franklin resident. They were informed that resident pricing is only for residents of the Franklin Public School District only and would have to pay out of uh residency pricing. Uh I hope and pray that the statement was an error and I am uh and would like to and uh was made an error. I am

005and continue to be an advocate for stronger relationships between the city and the school district that serves the families in Franklin. With that said, I hope that Franklin Rec Department continues to be Franklin Rec Department and not Franklin Asterisk's Franklin Public School resident w uh and by proxy eliminating residents from the Oak Creek Franklin School District and the Whitmill School District as well. Uh, I thank you all for the consideration and I would humbly ask for followup regarding the pricing for residents within Whitmill and or both Creek Franklin that they receive the same benefits as Franklin Public School District residents as well. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. All right, we will move on uh to uh Billy Pck now. >> [clears throat] >> Please just state your name and address for the record.

006>> Billy, is this okay? I'm not sure that that's on. >> Doesn't sound very loud. >> All right, >> we're definitely on. [laughter] >> Sorry. Shall we move? Billy Prop, now 8229 South 47th Street. Um, I am here about the Franklin Forward referendum. I voted yes for the referendum and fully support the changes that were originally proposed, including the addition of tennis courts. However, on June 19th, new drawings were released showing the complete removal of 8 acres of protected forest and wetlands, an area that is under a conservation easement signed in perpetuity by the district 10 years ago. I'm not on board with this change. I'm worried about water issues that may occur due to the removal of the forest and wetlands in a location that already has issues with flooding. I'm also worried about

007the traffic issues that may occur on 47th Street once High View Drive becomes a through street. I would prefer that the original plans stand with only the tennis courts and that High View Drive become an emergency accessonly street. My questions are turned me on. The request to the planning commission to allow a special exception to the conservation easement came just weeks before the work in the forested area was to begin. Why was it left left to the last minute? How will you move forward if the planning commission votes no as was recommended by the parks and environmental commission? Two, if the neighbors concerns about water issues and traffic are realized, will the district provide any remedies or take action? Can we get that in writing? Number three, it seems like needing a layown area for

008construction equipment and materials is the driving force behind the change in plans. Is it typical to require 8 acres of layown area for a construction project of this size? >> Thank you. Thank you, Brenda Peterson, 8255 South 47th Street. Um, I echo what Billy just said. I did vote yes for the referendum. I'm sad now that I did and wish that I would have been far more informed. I very supportive of the schools even though I've had no children attend um this district. I'd like to read from the conservation easement um and in furtherance of foregoing affirmative rights to the guarantee. The guarantor makes the following [cough] which [clears throat] shall run with and bind in the property protected property in perpetuity namely that on or over or across the protected property. The grtor without

009prior consent to the grantee shall not construct or place buildings or any structure construct or make any improvements unless with with notwithstanding covenant one above the improvements in is specifically and previously approved by the common council city of Franklin upon the advice of such persons entities and agencies. Let's skip over some um evacuate, dredge, grade, mine, drill, or exchange topography of the land. Conduct any fillings, dumpings, or depositing of any materials whatsoever. Plant any vegetation not native to the protected property, operate snowmobiles, motorcycles, or all train vehicles to have and to hold this conservation easement onto the grantee forever. I believe I heard Mr. Comey say regarding other districts having referendums that in perpetuity meaning forever. Said that tonight, meaning forever, that land really should be protected. It was signed over 10 years ago. It's

010disappointing when we were told last week Monday that a traffic study was not done and opening up that road. If you're responsible for children at your school, you should also take responsibility for the children and the families in our neighborhoods and a traffic study should absolutely be done to ensure that we make the right choices for the neighborhoods that are right around the school. I purposely bought near a school. My last two homes were near schools because they're good neighborhoods to to live in. You're spending $125 million on a school that will soon be landmarked. Future planning, um, population study, long-term planning. I had a very hard time finding any of that on the website. Lots of videos, but really documentation to say after you spend 125 million on all these updates, what's going to

011happen then? How long is this going to last? I heard Dr. Brennan say last week Monday that this won't even meet demand. So, I did vote yes this time, but in the future, I don't know that I will automatically ever vote yes for a referend referendum again. Please make better choices for our neighborhood, our community. Um, >> thank you, >> Mark Zed Zedz. Sorry. >> [clears throat] >> I hope that was close. >> Very close. Jets. >> Not close at all. [laughter] >> Mark Jets 8203 South 47th. Um Ash, my neighbors have already said I'm pretty much all in agreement that uh there's potential for water problems. We're concerned about the excess traffic. Um, I think we're we're looking for, you know, we're not looking for no tennis courts. Uh, we really just want what

012was originally proposed uh before we voted on this back last fall. Um, [clears throat] I know there's a lot of tennis players and such and I have a friend here who has daughter in tennis. Like I said, we're not looking to not have tennis courts, but just give us what we had voted for uh prior to the election. you know, there's task going to prove that, but we never foresaw an additional soccer court, um, additional parking. I actually live one house off that road there. Um, that extra traffic, uh, there's a bus stop there. I know when the, uh, the roundabout was built in that time that, uh, uh, during construction, 47th was a major thorough affair through there and people were going 50 miles an hour. So, um, that's a big concern. you know,

013that excess traffic there. So, I'm sure my neighbors have more to add. That's all I got for now. >> Thank you. >> Uh Addie Mock. >> Oh. Um and um do all the tennis players want to come up at the same time? >> [cough and clears throat] >> Please tell us your names. >> Um, Addy Knock 7358. Um, adding tennis courts to our high school isn't just about giving a small group of athletics a place to play. It's about creating opportunities for all students to be active, engaged, and connected to their school. Tennis is one of the few sports people can play for a lifetime. It's low impact, so it's accessible for students who may not participate in high school packs. Yet, it builds strength, agility, and cardiovascular learn. It also develops important life skills,

014discipline, focus, patience, and sportsmanship that bene benefits students in the classroom. Right now, students who want to play tennis often have to travel off campus as our team does at the Greenale Village Club, which limits participation and discourages new players from joining our team. Having our own courts on campus means more students can join practice safely after school and feel pride in representing their school on their own home courts. [clears throat] Tennis also can open the door for hosting home matches and tournaments which can draw visitors from other schools, boost school spirits, and even bring revenue to our community through visiting through visiting teams and their families. They can also be used for PE classes after school clubs, summer camps, and community recreation. Meaning the benefits extend far beyond just the tennis courts. Thank you.

015>> Thank you. >> First setting 8173 South Chicago Circle. We also understand that the land, trees, and neighborhoods are important, and we don't want to ignore those concerns. But at the same time, these course will be used every day by students for many years, giving a lot of ads to the active community that represents our school. And right now, our team has to travel off, [cough] [clears throat] which actually creates more traffic neighborhoods and makes it harder for students who don't have rides to participate at all. And we've already built successful tennis program without having courts at our school and having our own courts at our school would give us a safe consistent place to practice and compete. And we also want to respect the neighbors, but this is a long-term investment in students and

016schools for generations to come. Thank you. >> Hi, my name is Ethan. I'm at 416 West Minnesota Avenue. I'm student high school and I've been on the vars team for three years now. And in my last three years here, I've never been able to outside of my own school and have tennis courts ready for me to play on. I always had to rely on my parents to drive into practices before I have my license. I always wish that we had uh campuses courts on the campus and now we have the opportunity to creating new courts will have a benefit for the current members of the tennis team and the Franklin youth who are interested in playing. We need 10 courts to allow JB and to practice at the same time. Right now, the Park and

017Recreation Center of Franklin has youth lessons taking place at Ken Window Park in Franklin. There only two courts there, which has a maximum number of kids, which fills up quickly. If we had new courts for Franklin Public High School, we can have more kids interested in joining tennis and in the future potentially joining the team. The kids in the area deserve better. Tennis courts will provide a valuable resource for the youth and adult population of Franklin and a new source of revenue for Franklin High School. >> Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> And this year the boys top in the state and the last few years the boys and girls team championship. Both of our tennis programs are some of the finest in the state court. give us a consistent place to

018practice moving also and 14 to help us stay competitive that years to come. Every other team in our conference has tennis in the end support both our programs and helping kids. >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> All right. Uh, Denise uh, Groiger. [laughter] >> I don't know if they heard you. >> Denise uh, sorry, Denise Growner. >> Good evening. Scoot that mic a little closer. >> Can you hear me? Is that better? >> Mhm. >> Yeah. just taking off my >> Don't like over that way. >> Okay. Um, so I have a couple things. Do you have a no practical alternative analysis agreement signed by the DNR? It's very important. That is something that needs to be done. So if that hasn't been done, it needs to be done before you take out 8.8 acres

019of trees. and said, "Did you planned when you created this referendum, where was the construction equipment going to go?" Cuz right now, you're going to take down 8.8 acres of trees for construction equipment. So, in your plan, where was where was this construction equipment going to be before that before you did this? I really feel like we were not fully informed. I ask you again to refer to the city's comprehensive master plan that protects our wetlands. These are wetlands. There's agreements in force that were signed. So, I'm I don't understand how we can break every single agreement that was made to protect this land that is behind the high school. 47th Street is a subdivision. It is now going to be if you put that road off of it comes in and there's going to

020be a parking lot. The kids from the high school are going to drive on it. This everybody's going to go to this parking lot for this tennis courts that everyone's going to use. It's now going to be like 51st Street. It's a subdivision. I can tell you that my son plays in high school. My son goes to Franklin High School. I supported the referendum. I supported the tennis courts that were in the original referendum. So, I'm not fighting the tennis courts. I'm fighting the fact that you're taking down another 8.8 acres of trees that were not part of the plan. So, I'm just telling you that it's going to be an issue with parking and we live in a subdivision. I every game that I go through for my son for basketball at any high

021school, you there's not an entrance through a subdivision to get to the high school. We are now creating a subdivision drive-thru to get to the high school. I don't support that what whatsoever. That was not part of the referendum. >> Thank you, Heather Carroll, please. Heather Carol, 4525 West Woodward Drive, Franklin. Um, I think our tennis players summed up our concerns pretty well. Um, I guess if it's not obvious, I'd like to just point out that all of these tennis players are old enough that by the time these tennis courts come to be, they won't get to enjoy them. So, these tennis players are really advocating for future tennis players and for the future of the community, not for their personal gain. This is not them wanting tennis courts today, but they can play on.

022[clears throat] They recognize and we recognize as parents. I'm the parent of two tennis players and we recognize the tennis courts will make the community better in many ways and future tennis players better even though personally none of our children or these players will be able to benefit. We hope that the tennis courts stay at a minimum of 10. As Rohan nicely pointed out, 12 or 14 would be great, but but we really can't go less than 10. And that's the message we really want to to relay is we need 10 tennis courts to have a competitive tennis program. >> Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, >> Kimmonson. [applause] [clears throat] I'm glad you have a microphone. I have a very soft voice. I'm K Stevenson. I live at 8283 South 47th Street

023and I have worked with students for 38 years and I understand how important scores are. That is not our complaint. My complaint is the legal document that the school board has had for 10 years and have you had legal counsel advise you to break this this contract that you made with the city um to break that easement which would destroy the 8 acres of woodland and the wetlands. My other concern is that we were told August 4th at the hearing um by the school officials when they were asked had the DNR been contacted and they said yes. Well, I have filed a complaint with the DNR regarding the wetland that will be disturbed if you go ahead with this um breaking the easement. and they said they have never been contacted which is very upsetting.

024Um also I I want to know how in good conscious in as educators I believe we should have tennis courts for the kids but I don't believe that the environment should be at all costs destroying disturbing the environment is as detrimental to the kids as beneficial is tenants to the kids. So, please consider that. Are you open to any alternative solutions? I have been to like five meetings so far. We've told our story over and over again. Mr. Cromy was instructed to come back to the school board with new ideas and see if any of the concerns would be met. We were told by the mayor to please go to these meetings. Let your let your voices be heard. We have come over and over told the same story over and over. I don't know

025if you have heard what we're saying. So, please consider not breaking the easement. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I have Nicole and Ethan Schlax. Do you want to come together to speak? I mean, we're running out of time and we have we have several people that like to speak. >> Um, can you hear me? >> Um, my name is Nicole Schlacks. Address is 8213 South 47th Street. Um, we recently received plans dated June 2025, um, provided by a Franklin planning department member that clearly shows the school's intention to remove the majority of the forest and wetlands um, currently protected under a conservation agreement. The plans are detailed. However, at the same time, neighbors, including myself, were presented with a much simpler mockup that only showed a small portion of the northwestern forest being cleared

026with no indication of the full extent of forest removal. Um, it's important to note that neighbors, including myself, have been supportive of the tennis courts. I believe the real conflict is not the courts themselves, but the unnecessary addition of a practice field. The practice field would cause the loss of farm more forest and wetlands than necessary, negatively impacting property values, privacy, the health of the surrounding ecosystem, and as we have recently seen, create a greater flood risk. Our shared goal as a community, whether it be tennis player or neighbor, should be to build the courts while preserving as much of the natural environment as possible and renewing a conservation agreement to protect the remaining forests and wetlands and maintain a substantial wooded buffer between our properties on 47th Street and Forest Hill Avenue and the

027tennis courts. Um, finally, the proposed access road through this area in High View should be designated as emergency ac access only. converting it into a regular through street would raise safety concerns for children and families given the proximity to residential areas. Um, and that's thank you for your time. >> Yeah. Again, I would like to touch on what my wife and many of my neighbors have been saying. This is not an attack on the tennis team. This is not an attempt to prevent any tennis courts from being built. I think many of us uh understand the benefit of having those courts in there. My wife and I both play tennis in high school. We play tennis currently to this day. Um it would be nice to have those there. I think we would benefit from

028that more than a lot of the current students will obviously because it won't be done in time. Um again, but that being said, I think the issue is more so how or I guess the plan is to where those tennis courts are going to be. Um and even really more so with this practice court, I think with the uh practice soccer field that's there. Um again I addressed at the uh the meeting last week uh on August 4th about documentation as to reasonable alternatives uh for the plan that was put in place or I should say the changed plan for the referendum and what alternatives were looked at and why those alternatives were not feasible. Um I was told that uh essentially we weren't sure if there was any documentation as to what those alternatives

029were and if there were they would been on the FAQ of the Franklin for website and there they were not there. There is nothing that talks about any reasonable alternatives. Um, I would urge the board to look at uh drafting a new plan and something that would incorporate tennis courts as originally shown in the uh original rendering of the referendum. Um, and reconsider uh using the space as a construction site and reconsider whether or not this uh potential JB practice soccer field is needed in that space. >> Thank you. All right, we have two more left. So please uh please keep it brief. Jennifer Mezer. >> Jennifer Mezer, 7977 South 47 Street. Um I just want to reiterate what a lot of my neighbors have already said in that this is not a us versus

030them situation. This is how can we do what's best for our community and our [clears throat] school. Um, we all voted mostly of yes to the referendum for the original referendum. So, we want the kids to have the tennis courts. I actually applaud that the school district is doing things for some of the lesser known groups, whether tennis, autos, you know, my kids were not sporty kids. They weren't using the football field, but they definitely use those tech classrooms. So, I think the long-term plan is amazing. Our biggest concern is why are we taking out 8 and a half acres that were not originally proposed to be taken out? What are the DNR ramifications? What are the drainage ramifications? I live down at the bottom of that hill towards Drexel. We get a lot more

031water than we did before those other practice fields were built a few years ago. So, what is going to be the long-term environmental impact of taking out those root systems of those trees that are soaking up a lot of that water when we get torrential downfall? Um, again, the other concern would be the traffic safety. Even now, 47th Street is oftentimes a raceway up and down. It's very dangerous when you get up on Forest Hill. There's that little back walkway from the um Saber Center. lot of parents picking up their kids there and they are flying up and down that road. So, it's already dangerous and then if we open that up, I think um safety issues are a bigger concern. So, again, encouraging that street to just be emergency access as it was originally

032intended makes the most sense. >> Thank you, >> Tim. Lethan, please. >> I promise I have one page and I write big. Um, so I'm Tim Laughlin, uh, 4304 West Minnesota Court. I'm the parent of two children who attend, uh, Franklin High School. My son, who, uh, is here tonight, uh, is on the Franklin varsity tennis team, as well as teaches, co-ees, uh, the park and wreck tennis lessons through the summer. Um, but there had been a couple mentions of, hey, could we get by with less than 10 courts? Um, and from a parents perspective, I just wanted to share a couple things that have have been a little bit of a struggle. Um, we have 32 boys, 40 plus girls. Full practice is a big deal. That's been brought up. Physical education classes, being

033able to get on the court, it's great. Um, there's been talk of, you know, being able to host invitationals, invitationals and tournaments. And as we become a stronger program, we have more players, we're more competitive, uh, we're more dominant on the court. And to be honest with you, the matches take longer. Our kids aren't being blown out 60 61 and you know a match is done in 20 minutes. Rohan who's back there had a couple matches that went dang close to an hour and a half. And what that does is it means our our meets go longer and longer. Our conference tournament that we had to do on eight courts at a school in Rine County ended up being 11 and 1/2 hours. Um 8:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. The kids missed an entire school

034day and then missed an evening opportunity to make up their work. So by having 10 courts to be able to do that on, we start to kind of get it back to a reasonable time frame and still execute the sport and have the fun. Um, so the last couple weeks of school, our kids miss three days, three full days of school just because of trying to get those time frames. And there really isn't a place, especially with our team growing and growing, to have that opportunity. Um, and then the other piece is, you know, the village club has been great uh to be able to use for the the practices for the boys and girls and given that we don't have a site, but as soon as practice is over, those gates close. So, our

035kids want to go and they want to they want to practice. They want to sharpen their skills after and they end up either at the Greenale Community Center which is lighted but then uh ends up being closed for whatever reason or not closed but full and our kids end up behind Greenale High School in the dark or Whitel High School in the dark trying to play and get ready for their next match. Um and I kind of see that as a bit of a safety issue. My wife and I have been kind of nervous knowing that our kids are out there playing tennis and and who knows where. Um, so we're looking forward to the kids in the future being able to have those courts, have a home field to be able to practice after

036practice, sharpen their skills, and have that opportunity, too. So, that's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. [applause] All right. Thank you everyone. Um, that's that's all the people I had signed up. Um, I do appreciate um everybody's decorum. I know this has been um a difficult difficult subject over the last month. Um, and um, I appreciate the um, the opportunity to have conversations um, with people and um, we all live in the same community and I appreciate that um, I appreciate that everybody uh, was well behaved because we've had uh, issues in the past with other um, items and um, I just it's appreciated. Um, thank you for the community. Um, all right. Um, we'll go forward. I'm looking for a motion to approve the agenda. >> So moved. >> Second.

037All right. Motion was made by Mrs. Wakowski, seconded by Dr. Khan. All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. I'm looking for a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion was made by Mrs. Yank, seconded by Mrs. Larson. All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. Uh, schoolboard calendar, school board retreat, Wednesday, August 20th, uh, at the ECC at 5:30. Board policy committee meeting Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025 at the ECC at 9:30 and also Tuesday, September 9th, 2025 at the ECC at 1:00 p.m. A regular board of education meeting both September 10th and September 24th, 2025 at the ECC at 6. and a board policy committee meeting Tuesday, September 30th, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. Um, and the homecoming parade at FHS is Wednesday, October 1st

038at 5:30 p.m. Uh, district administrator update, Dr. Bennon, please. >> All right. Thank you and good evening. Thank you for being here and for the comment to engage. We do have an agenda item, a couple in on the board meeting where we'll address some of the updates that have been made since our neighbor meetings. So, thank you for sticking around. Uh so this past week uh this exciting aspect that Mr. Cromy talked about in our annual meeting as we welcome back our new teachers. Uh this event takes place at Forest Park. It's always great to see the energy and the smiling faces. Uh this year when we took our new staff picture it was two rows. I remember my first year being four years ago, three and a half years ago and it was four

039rows. So, I asked Laura to pull the approximate numbers and this year we're approximately right now we never calculate till we're fully back in school at 26 new staff. Uh last year we were at 44 new staff and two years ago we were at 66 new staff. Uh so the numbers speak I think for the great work that's taking place in the district and our staff uh to meet our student needs. Our transition days currently are taking place at the high school. So that's for our ninth graders to get acclimated to the high school ahead of time. kind of release some of those nerves, learn a little bit more about uh what a typical day looks like and what opportunities there are before and after school. Also, uh sixth grade transition days at Forest Park

040will take place next week, the 19th and 20th. It's always exciting to see the students coming back into the building and around. Uh we'll start to see buses doing practice routes soon and really gearing up for the new year. Uh this week we also trained our crosscategorical educational assistants, our student service teams and some administrators in our nonviolence deescalation training. Uh so that took place today and it'll take place again tomorrow. Uh we've really started to incorporate more EAS in that training from the feedback we've gotten about learning how to work with students when they're maybe not in their best moment or escalated. This Saturday, the Franklin Education Foundation's hosting a staff and family gathering at the Franksville Craft Beer Garden from 5:00 to 7:00, so it's open to anybody. Um, it's an event for

041all staff and families. They will have food trucks. They're also in live music. There's a playground for kids. It's very familyfriendly. Uh, one of our staff members families actually runs this beer garden. So, they're also donating 10% of the proceeds back to the education foundation. Um this is an exciting event for the education foundation as they're also announcing the excellent educator awards that are given out each year. Uh so this will be event that that is first announced at. So hopefully we'll see many of you there. Um band camp kicked off last week at the high school. We start out I've heard learned about the the pancake breakfast uh that umps group and parents help and the students are up there uh working on their program for this coming school year. They've been uh state

042awarded many times and and uh so we're excited for the performance this year. And last week we also had our third annual leadership summit. It's a two-day event with over 100 teachers from our district that take on leadership roles to help lead our lead our school improvement teams. A lot of what we saw in the annual meeting or you'll see in your Franklin Focal that'll hit your mailbox in the next two days uh is the exciting things taking place in our schools and that comes with a lot of the teacher leaders that help lead our action steps, set those action steps, uh and make sure that we're getting to the student level of them understanding where their learning's at and where they're going next. So, though we don't have students back every day, we are

043fully busy within the district uh and lots of opportunities to engage with our staff, students, and our community. Thank you. Uh schoolboard uh liaison reports. Um don't know that we have any. Um everybody I I got a um I got an email from principal at Pleasant View. I suspect that um my leazison on school. I suspect that everybody will be getting those shortly about uh setting up meetings throughout the year. Um so we'll go forward with school and community engagement reports. Um please. Oh, well, a number of us were at uh National Night Out last week, which is always a fun time to engage with the community, meet lots of people, um talk about [clears throat] talk about our Franklin Public Schools, and just kind of a fun fun community night. Um and I was

044just going to comment just being around the district dropping a kid off at band camp. Um there's there's students all over. You might not see them, but and you know, they're not in school yet, but it is fun to see the you know, the football team is out, the cross country kids are out running early in the morning. um the school is kind of coming to life again and it's just a really fun fun time. So, let's we'll celebrate that. >> Anyone else? All right, we'll move on. Uh reports, presentations, and other board business. Uh Ed for employment update. Dr. Mo, uh Mr. Vololo and Mr. Thompson, please. So, in um the situation report that was posted, you see some links at your spot tonight. I added the one pager. So, that's something that we

045use internally that I know you're used to looking at in the past. So, it's not new, but it's updated with the new data that you saw. I just wanted you to know to follow along. The one pager that shows the college and career readiness numbers, those are also indicated in the plan. Just a reminder that to count on the college side or count on the career side, you have to have two of the things on the list. So the the percentage is not an average of the percentages. The percentage is how many kids hit two of that. Just so you remember. I know it's been a year. It's been a year since we've been here. Um this will be a first read. So tonight to ask questions, we will be bringing this back next time

046for a vote. Um, I know in the past we've always brought it to the board, but this is a slight change that was recommended to us that we do a first read with an actual vote for approval. I'll turn it over to Mr. Vololo and Mr. Thompson, who I just have to add. Um, I've worked in multiple districts, do a tremendous job knowing um, the ACP work, college and career readiness, pathways, workbased learning, all the things on this list um, better than some other places I've been. We're very lucky. So I'll let them speak to that. Thank you. >> I would just say that largely I appreciate the board and the community support enabling us to do the things we're doing at the high school. So when you look at those college and career readiness

047indicators, career readiness, you know, we associate more with education for employment, right? However, that starts with students attending school, right? which is one of the indicators that starts with students taking courses when they're freshman, when they're in middle school, you know, getting exposure to things when they're even upper elementary in terms of different ways of doing things. So the curriculum you support enables us to do this academic career planning isn't a 912 thing that is a you know 4K12 thing in terms of our students becoming who they are. So as we think about this just understand that one of the aspects of the plan we always have is reflecting on active recur planning and what that looks like. So growing you know whether it's advisory at the high school um or you know like different

048you know structures and plans at middle school and other places. How do students know who they are and what they want to be right knowing those will change? Exploring things like what are the in industry credentials that students can earn when they're in high school and really trying to help every student find themselves and find experiences and more is always better from both sides of this. And then I think you know we've talked about it for several years but the idea of life readiness is not just this right that is being a critical thinker that is the aspects for profile of a graduate. So largely I think the plan should look very familiar to you. However right understand that the um relentlessness I suppose we have for it is trying to help students understand these

049things. Every one of our students in advisory, including my adisees who are seniors this year, right, has since they were freshman, taken these college career readiness indicators to build their resume, right? So they get a document that has all these on there and they talk about how they met it and they've done that since they were a freshman. So when they were getting ready for letters recommendation at the end of junior year and asking teachers or principles um for a letter before summer, which is the best way to do it um so I have all summer to write it, right? They were saying, "Here's my break sheet. here's my resume and they were pulling from that. So students, you know, increasingly need to understand these things because we know these things matter and they and

050they do. So I don't have anything specific to add besides thank you uh for supporting it and thank you to our community for supporting these uh opportunities for our students um and understand that when we look at you know growth and achievement and readiness, we want all of our students to have these experiences. So how do we get students who haven't traditionally had them to have them? Students from service groups to have them. students disabilities would be an example of that. Um, so Andy's been a key partner in this and I really appreciate his efforts to help us um, do these things but also do them well. We're not trying to just check a box and say 100% did it. We're trying to do it deep. We're trying to do it to fidelity in a

051way that we know works for kids. >> Yeah, I guess to add off of what um, Mr. Volo said um you know at the high school I think speaking to what Annalise said having a low turnover of staff has helped build a team that all of us are advisers and we're kind of seeing that work kind of come that you know students are and staff are becoming more aware of the opportunities. I mean there's a robust high school with lots of opportunities to find out. So if you're around for a few years as a staff member you start to see a lot of these things. You learn about what your colleagues are kind of doing. And I think it kind of speaks to moving forward with kind of looking at some of the quantit or

052qualitative data. So that's kind of some of the goals is to kind of get some more on the ground like some of those you know anecdotal stories and those are what I get to hear on a regular basis from the kids is you know young people maybe aren't working all the time but they're making choices that are much more informed about things they want to do. Um I think this summer we had about 15 CNAs who had just turned 16 um complete the program and some of them um we had a hiring event last Monday. I think some of them are going to see job offers and potentially work two full years and maybe get up to 900 to a,000 hours to really master something before they graduate. So, um I think that that's a

053testament to all the work that everyone's kind of done with ACP of our young um students kind of making more informed and be ready to kind of make better choices about um opportunities in the future. So, >> thank you. Um or we'll get to questions in a second. Um uh um I know some people have them. I'd just like to thank Mr. Vololo and Mr. Thompson for their hard work um in education for employment area. Um it's clearly work that they're passionate about from helping to get the Saber Business Alliance off the ground to establishing mentorship programs to spearheading the profile of a graduate work. Um Mike and Andy um show the kind of servant leadership we are so proud of at Franklin Public School. So, thank you very much. Um Mr. Vololo continues to

054work closely with Mr. Thompson who pers tireless in advocating for students and placing them in the in the correct opportunity in the real world and that's what this is all about. So um I appreciate your efforts so much. Um Angie, >> no I'm just saying an appreciation thing. I remember when the state [clears throat] statute saying we had to have ed to employment things and you know it could have just been a check off box that we had to do but here in Franklin we take it seriously and our you guys are hustling hard to make sure every kid has great opportunity. So thank you. And I think I want to [clears throat] second Mike and Angie's comments that Franklin able to offer all the internships and apprenticeships including the CNA uh is a great

055asset to our graduates and preparing them very well to enter workforce immediately in fact with good paying jobs after high school. So thank you for tremendous job. Good job. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Is any Mary please? um just under the community partner um column if you will. Um it just is that's the businesses that we >> correct. Yeah. [clears throat] >> Um and I mean obviously from 2016 at 29 to 2025 202 are most of them in the Franklin business park or how far out do you >> you know I I we've had kids drive 30 40 minutes for an opportunity um some of them. So they're kind of all over. I mean the business park's going to major place. I would say over half to 2/3 are going to be in

056the in the Franklin immediate area. Some are going to go into Oak Creek, some are going to kind of be um just around where there's opportunities that they kind of find. >> So kids are the ones who are locating these partners. >> Um so I mean some of them come through my work. I mean I sit on a chamber of commerce. So South Suburban Chamber of Commerce um is Franklin Oak Creek, Greenfield, Greenaleish um areas. So I think that's kind of been a big key. um Franklin Business Park um as well has kind of been a big player. I mean this year I think we had was five students just for the city of Franklin intern. So it just kind of you know takes time and building those relationships and then you know a kid

057has a great opportunity and then they tell their friends and then that's kind of how things kind of grow. >> Great. This impressive. >> All right. Anybody else? All right. Thank you so much. All right. Uh Franklin forward update. Uh Dr. Bennon, Mr. Hacker at all. [laughter] >> All right. Thank you. Yes, we have Mr. Hacker with us tonight from Cadence Consulting. We also have representation Mitch from CD Smith and Devin Paige and Jeff with P, our architectural firm. So, we'll present and then they're also here to uh add any other comments and answer any questions along the way. [clears throat] So, thank you for the opportunity to speak a little bit tonight. This is our fifth update uh for the board um in regards to our Franklin Forward work since the passing of the

058referendum in November. Tonight really serves as an update to the board on the interactions with the city um and uh other interactions we've had working through our next pieces which are the site plan approval, the conservation of easement mitigation, and the conditional use permit. Uh all on the agenda for the August 21st uh planning commission meeting next week. So, the overview tonight, we're going to go through the site plans, adjustments to site plans from community feedback, update on the next city meetings that are taking place as far as planning commission and common council, uh, and the next steps. So, a little bit of a background. Um, you never know when people join the journey or understand all the work that's been done at the board table on the district level throughout this. So, just the

059last two updates to the board. We are in front of you on May 7th and June 18th. That's a quick agenda from those evenings. uh but continuing to go over how the design was coming through and the work was happening. If we think way back to the updates in January, it was just getting the core team together, establishing our times to meet, establishing the people in front of us that are going to be a part of the meetings, uh part of that development, um and our other partnerships. we get to the March meeting, we were able to share a lot of the feedback from the stakeholders uh within the community, from the board, uh from our students, from our staff as we start to develop and think about what the design looks like. I think

060what's unique about going to a referendum or building for schools versus if I ran a bank and I was building a bank is that if I'm doing the bank, I know my funding and I'm going in and we're drawing up architectural plans and we're going all in right away. Um, and when you're working with a school, you're working with taxpayer dollars and support. Um, so until that referendum's passed and we know what we have to work with beforehand, we're identifying what our needs are. Um, and we did that through a variety of avenues through a master facility study. We'll get into that more in some slides. Through enrollment studies, through community surveys, uh, through envisioning what does learning look like 40 years from now, not planning for today, but for how learning is developing because

061it already looks different than how I learned. So this development process takes time, but once the referendum's passed, now we can start to get together and start to move those pieces. So we know the needs we have, now we're looking at the site and now we're really developing the actualizations of this, the architectural plans that go into it. Looking at the site, bringing on point of beginning to look at the civil engineering aspects and all of that work. So that's developed highly since the referendum that's typical to how it's working on a school system. So, [snorts] the evolution of the pre-planning um November 8th, 2023, that's not a typo. This started almost two years ago when we brought forth the master actually started before that, right? We brought forward the master facility study uh August

062September of 2023. Then we went through a variety of monthly meetings talking about what the visioning looks like at all of our schools across the district um and covering that also with the facility needs that we learned through the study. November, we looked at the high school visioning. The board came back together in December and we had some really vivid conversations about what we learned from the over $96 million of maintenance across our district. Uh what we learned about envisioning spaces that needed to continue to grow. Uh we'll get deeper into that, but for instance, well, we'll get deeper into it. I won't forecast on that one. Um but we talked a lot about the learning that had happened over the last year at that December retreat. Um we had discourse at that time and

063throughout about we do own acreage about 200 acres um off Ryan Road. Do we move the high school? Is there going to be more opportunity if we go there versus the current site? Uh it was reached an agreement that the current site is the right place. They're doing our MD Rawers enrollment study which is available on the website. So reach out. We can get you connected with that if you couldn't find it. Um we know that the enrollment is continuing to increase in Franklin. That's a gift we have. Uh we know that with the work we can do at Franklin High School, we will continue to be able to meet that capacity for the 10 years that's projected out and even beyond that. So at that time, that's the right site. The Saber Centers only

064just over a decade new. Um so moving the full facility and leaving a a Saber Center, leaving a football field, there just wasn't opportunity that really made sense to shift that. So that's when the conversation then started to shift to this current site. The survey then came out between April and June administering the survey. June being the results of the survey to the board. Uh survey looked at a larger referendum ask of potential 180 million million 88 185 million. Uh there was images of the four phases that were included in that just including in this one as we're focused on more the high school this evening with those being the items coming up with city requirements. Uh this was the image at that time. So, we've heard a lot about the tennis courts and the

065woods not being talked about. All that comes through the development. Um, there's no skirting of things or trying to slide things through, which I've heard through a variety of meetings. I can tell you that that's not how our team operates. We have core values we stick strong to. So does this board. This image doesn't draw a large woods that's in that space. I understand there's a variety of images out there. That is part of the development process where it goes. We'll get a little deeper into that. Uh but this survey showed specifically in this portion for the high school that there would be 54% um support for that aspect of a referendum if the board decided to go that route. Uh in June the board came to resolution last year 2024. We held a variety

066of pre-referendum engagements informing the community, informing um the city, um having listening sessions, doing tours at the high school, being available to do those items that led to a successful referendum in November. I build a lot of this background just because I don't know when people join the journey. And I think it's it's important to know that it has been a journey. It hasn't been a one moment thing. It hasn't taken place overnight or been hidden. It's been very transparent and visible to the community. We've gone back as far as looking at what what was Franklin because we know Franklin has developed fast and over time it continues to grow. Like I said, we're one of the fortunate districts in the state where we have a growing enrollment because the city has ability to continue

067to grow. We see houses going up, we see subdivisions going up. This is the aerial view in 1963, the same year that the high school uh was built, the initial high school. We'll talk about how that's grown over time. Just like our community has grown, all around that site is farmland. As we look at it, that none of the homes of people sitting in this room or others are are yet in the site. The schools being developed on that site. Um, you see a lot of vegetation uh in the spaces and like I said, a lot of undeveloped property so far in that area. We advance a few years about 19 years, right? Uh we're looking at that space. The coloring gets weird with Google Maps. I can't explain that part to you. Um, but

068we've evolved the development of the high school at this point. So, this is 18 years has passed since the prior aerial. Um, you're going to notice and this time we've had four additions take place to the high school. So, 63 it was built, 68, 70,74 we were adding additions to the high school. So, it is growing with the community growing. Um, you see the construction of the original fire department. Obviously, that's changed in time also with the community. We don't yet see the houses growing around this space. Um, we see a lot of the vegetation that's within it. We advance another 19 years, 2000. We're looking at how it's developing, right? We're seeing that first first kind of corner of homes uh that's going in around the house. We're seeing I'm sorry, around the school

069uh a lot of the vegetation areas within that area. Um at this point the high school had gone through two more additions in '95 and 98. The excitement is this is we're seeing our community grow. We're seeing our district grow, right? We're seeing opportunities for students at this time. Also is when you see the stubbed out road at High View Road, High View coming in. So that road is stubbed out in 2000 already with the forward thinking of how this property is going to continue develop because we're seeing the projection and the trajectory of how the city of Franklin is developing. So, a lot of foresight on leaders and board members prior to um any of us sitting at this table right now. We flash we jump forward to 2025. We've had one additional referendum

070passed in that time for another addition. So, if you're counting now, I believe we're up to six additions meeting the needs of the community, exceeding it. I would say we're high performing. Um and also renovation, some renovation to the space at this time. This is when we saw the Saber Center come and our ability to continue to grow our fine arts programming within the district. Um, and looking at that, we're seeing a lot of the farmland and woodland that existed through those first three areas uh no longer exists through those neighborhoods. Um, and some areas that have been developed and the school property also a lot of the areas being developed around that school area and this time also that reconstruction of the fire department or firehouse has taken place. Um, I think that important

071points to point out here too. Um, that 1963 image when just the first part of the high school was built, uh, the gym was built. If you have been in that gym today or in 1963, it's the same. Uh, the floors changed, but it's the same. So, you've seen six additions and renovations to the high school, but nothing to the athletic facilities. So when we talk about what this referendum passed, we have one gym in the school, the same one gym that served 1963 graduates, um that has not grown. We have one weight room. It's converted classrooms. A lot of people saw this if you were following along. Two years ago, we went through what those look like. The weight equipment doesn't fit in the rooms. We make it work. Uh the weight the weight

072the um sorry wrestling room directly adjacent to the weight room, converted classroom. Um and the pool is original to the building also. uh if we forget the stats from that I think Andy Daniels a thousand gallons of water it was losing a week so athletic facil more than that athletic facilities had not been touched in this time we'd grown the fine arts and so this referend referendum brings us the opportunity to grow that uh a a um division one high school typically has at least a four station gym again we have that one station so we're right sizing programming that doesn't even touch yet on the career and technical education Um, through this time when we talked about additions, what I missed in a a prior area is that our autos program, which is very

073undersized, even now was at that time got moved to an even smaller room um at the high school to make room for some other areas. So, the CTE, career technical education spaces haven't been touched through much of this at all, unless they've been downsized to a different room to shift um in an area that's not very visible in the school. So, a little bit of of background to what got us to that referendum point and talking about the needs and talking about this being the site that we're going to stay on. So, once that referendum passes, we get our team established. January hits, we bring on bring on point of beginning. They couldn't be with us tonight. They've been with us and at many city meetings over the last number of months. We do a

074site plan. So what you're looking at now is a very colorful site plan, but you're seeing that the green is the woodland on the property. So this is current image um topography work from the civil engineers. You're seeing that purplish color representing the wetland. You're seeing I don't know if you call that a peach color. We'll go with uh the flood plane. So when we've met with a variety of community members throughout and looked at what's the next space on the property that's developable, the option that has been looked at is that southeast corner. Um people have wondered about what about Drexalin 51st. So we see in Drexel 51st, not only do we have woodland, we have a flood plane uh and wetland going through there to try to make any type of practice field

075out of that space that's cutting directly through it. Um the rest of the you see a lot near the fire station in that upper left corner. Again, you're looking at wetland and woodland the um in that area and also not a space that's uh big enough to fit the needs that we have. This map just shows a it's the same map. It's a deeper topography. We use the more colorful one because it's easier to see from from where you're at, but it's showing the same imagery. Why does that matter when you do a site plan? what matters because we're we're now know we can go forward with the work we need to do. We know the needs that we have. That's what we asked in the referendum. We haven't veered from those from that ask.

076We won't that's legally bound by that referendum question. So when we look at the uh fieldhouse space that's going to come onto the property. So that bottom left corner uh isn't just a fieldhouse. It's the natiatorum. It's the beginning of the innovation hall that goes into our CTE space that's being rightsized. It's taking over a green field that we have, the field that's directly north adjacent to the building now between there and the high school football field. We also did a deep study on who uses that field. What if somebody walks by every day at 5:00 p.m.? Are they going to see people on it? Absolutely. What if somebody walks by every night at 11:00 p.m. and they say nobody's ever on it? Well, they're probably not on it at 11:00 p.m. However, our study

077of it shows that it's a very utilized field. That it's not a field we can go without having. we wouldn't have lacrosse practice. Uh we have you can see the variety of activities that take place out there. Uh we also have an unsafe discus shotput area currently by the football field that we need to move to an upper practice field. Uh that doesn't affect the area here, but it just affects that we have minimal practice space, minimal space to continue to expand within uh the areas we have. Sometimes it gets misnome too that this is just for athletics. Physical education is a state requirement. We don't have an option to educate our students in physical education or health education. Uh that's a must and our space needs to meet that. Right now some of those

078classes are taking place in hallways uh each class period uh taking places in classrooms uh converted old band rooms. So the space that's being looked at in the physical education aspect is used during the day. So I just want to clarify that because I've heard differently that we're going to have the space sitting quietly. This space will not be sitting quietly. It's also being welldeveloped for community use. There's a walking track internally that community can now walk in the school but is going to have even better access uh to just an indoor walking track through our our cold months of winter um and wait room access. So defining that we've looked at the site, we've looked at the need um and developed quickly into that. This picture I like to utilize. This is from about

079February. This is a lot of the people key players in the room today and many that aren't here. This is physically the boxes of the big pieces of the work that we need to do that are now approved by referendum and moving them around to see is there a way to avoid that practice field. Is there a way to utilize a site plan differently? Uh through months of doing this like the site plan that we've come up with is best meeting the needs of what we've identified uh for our students and staff proactively. Uh we knew that removing trees can create emotion. None of us love the idea of removing trees. Um and so we did proactively communicate with the neighbors. We worked with the city to get the list of neighbors that are within

080500 ft of the school district that they would also be doing their mailings to. Uh we used that same mailing list, offered two meetings that were ahead of city meetings. So I had a common council on the 20th of May and planning commission on the 22nd uh where we were going to be in front of them continuing to update on the progress of the work. Uh looking at the site development, we looked at you know about how many houses are adjacent to this property. It's about 16 which we can see on the map here. Uh but like I said, we still included mailings to 500 ft. >> You didn't you did not >> excuse me. >> We have the list that was from the city. So, we we've talked about that at the meeting last

081week that um if you didn't receive the mailing your property or you may have gone on a no mail list that sticks with your address. You have to check with the post office on that. I can't answer for it. Um so, the proposed site plan that was you utilized and talked about at those neighbor meetings uh is the one that you see in front of you here. So, a few items that uh we can look at here and there are changes that have come along ways come along the way. Um, so a few of those when we look at this may be hard to read, but original plan is what we're really looking at here. So there are more than 10 courts. They are directly adjacent touching that not touching but directly up to that

082lot line with the buffer. The parking lot was right to the corner of the lot line and the high view road connection. High view road connections obviously there. Uh there were additional set of courts to go south of the ones that you see that are existing if a current phase came or a further phase. and then also the green space um that's within that. So that became the baseline and what we talked about I guess what I would call the baseline uh that we shared out and talked with neighbors about in the month of May when we had about I don't know eight or 11 uh people that we interacted with that came out. Following that we made some adjustments to the property um to that area. So that was included in a second neighbor

083mailing and included with uh other communications we've done in that time. So we explored a hammerhead at the top of High View Road that came from some feedback. We've had a variety of stakeholders, right? We have a variety of neighbors tonight, but we have a lot of stakeholders that reach out on other aspects too in working with police and fire. So the hammerhead at the top of High View Road came from recommendation or uh for us to explore that from the city. So we've added that in since we've shifted tennis courts um further away from the property. Um, this image probably shows a little better if you can't see the writing, but you'll see the difference in this image from prior. So, really hearing from the neighbors, shift it away from property line as much

084as you can. Conserve as many trees as you can if we're not going against the easement at all to mitigate. Uh, so you see the tennis courts have shifted west on the property. The parking lot is completely shifted west away from being adjacent to any lot lines. Uh, the water retention is up in that space. Uh the field remains uh we also have parking that's been a part of all of these uh that's the number one on the map uh the lower number one I guess I should say that's about 70 spots. I know that's created some question about the amount of flow and traffic during the school day. Nothing has changed in our school procedures for drop off and pickup for families uh for buses for student drivers. They will all continue to enter

085on 51st like they always have. Uh that has not changed. that is not planned to change in the next 3 years or past fall of 28 when this is complete. Those 70 spots for the addition, they'll be staff parking spots. From feedback, we will ensure they're assigned to staff um and that we know who's going back there. It's not students. Another piece of feedback that came after the some different interactions with community and neighbors has been to the right of that lower one, there will be a gate put in that's like the back side of the Saber Center uh to cut off or eliminate the ability, minimize the ability for cars to try to drive around the building and make their way around. We'd heard that there was worry about like high school kids are

086smart and they'll find a way around it. when we can work to block that along with the communication that we'll continue to uh to have uh site plan development. This this is looking at the difference between what was that I guess I called it a baseline when I was presenting now and now this first iteration that came out of different interactions with the city, the fire department, the police department. Um and also through some of the neighbor interactions and other communication we've gotten through our uh reach out with the FAQ on the website or direct contact. Uh so we've made some different adjustments. I think one that I forgot to mention earlier with the high view connection is that fire and police have both said that that is absolutely needed as a life safety aspect

087to have a building this size. Even without the additions going on, you need access to the east side of that building. Unfortunately, we're in a day and age where um not only can kids just get injured in sports and you need quicker access for ambulance, but you also need to be training as we do every year for active shooters. you need access for safety vehicles and other access to uh the building. So, that's another reason for the high view connection that was obviously um put in in the was that '9s I think we saw in our aerial image already. Some of the other adjustments that came off of this is uh that landscape looking at uh more density within that. There wasn't a specific landscape plan in the first one we reduced from 16 courts

088to 13 courts um tennis courts that is. We looked at the east west detention pond. Uh so kind of shifting that pond. You've noticed that's even shifted from the prior image. Looking at some of that landscape along the east side, I'm sorry, the uh south side that you didn't see as much earlier. Um and we added a retaining wall adjacent to the residential homes from some of that feedback. Uh we also had looked at and had already included like lower light poles for the tennis courts. It's more, but it reduces the light pollution so it's not reaching out as far. um and worked with lighting experts to ensure that that's what we have in there. So, not only those tennis courts moved away from the lot line, those lights have been adjusted. Uh we also

089looked at after this activity times for that space. Um, and so we had said they'll lights lights off for all the areas we can. Parking lots, I think by city ordinance have to have some, but uh, lights off at 10:00 p.m. Wouldn't start those back up to 7:00 a.m. If the city has different ordinances and other tennis court areas that are lit, we can we can talk about what that looks like, but we've made the commitment of they're off from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. In that time of of July, there was a environmental parks commission meeting. Um, and there was a planning commission meeting. Planning commission tabled this for the meeting that's coming up next week, the 21st. Uh, and then there was a recommendation, as we've talked about tonight, to hold another neighbor

090meeting. So, we did do that. We immediately got out the information on the first meetings, the adjustments made in that one pager, um, and held a meeting last Monday, which you heard referenced this evening. Again, ahead of the planning commission that was last Thursday and the one that's coming up next week. All that was on for last Thursday was our conditional use. Uh and that was tabled so that all three of the items are showing up on that planning commission next Thursday. Um and then however that plays out for the September 2nd common council. So this is the update the most recent update that was submitted to planning commission by their twoe timeline last Friday. So the team hustled to hear the neighbors on Monday to make adjustments. We understand that no one adjustment is

091going to make everybody happy. I do feel from what I heard tonight that some of these adjustments are meeting some of the items that were requested. Uh maybe not all of them, but you are being heard and we are adjusting while also still taking into account. There are many that are for the plan that's here and also most importantly taking into what our students, what our staff needs are um in the future of learning in Franklin Public Schools. So, I talked a bit about the traffic in the road. Um, the school day, that traffic not looking any different. We talked about life safety. Those are some items I heard this evening. Uh, and we heard through those series of three meetings through this adjustment in the plan uh that you're seeing in front of you.

092Like I said, this has been submitted to planning commission for review next week for next week's meeting. We have looked at and are are looking to preserve 1.4 acres. Uh, as you see that in the prior two columns, that was zero. So, the 8 acres you've talked about this evening, preserving 1.4 of that, we're going to do our best to preserve that to what's existing. Um, I think everybody knows as you're moving ground like roots can get damaged, but we will do our best around that and we'll fill in and create dense uh buffer there. We've also looked at when we talk about that um space, there's a 30-foot buffer that had been built in all along. So, we looked at as a district, how can we is there ability to double that? Uh so

093we did look at the the field that's there. It's a practice field. We often refer to it as soccer, but there will be, as you saw in that study, there'll be lacrosse and other activities that practice there. Uh we reduce that to the minimum soccer size. So soccer WIA standards has a v a variety of sizes that you can have much like a outfield fence in baseball. Um we had a medium-sized one by no means the largest. We have reduced to the smallest um possible space to meet that. But still, if we had to hold a JV match up there, we could. It is the smallest space. We also took that practice space, we shifted it north, closer to the tennis courts. So, you'll see in that in this chart, uh, what was like a

09455 ft difference in there, um, is down to about 44. Uh, there's only so much shifting we can do. There's different grade. Uh, so that will grade down a bit from the tennis courts. And so, that's something we had to take into consideration. Um, so trying to minimize that that woodland disturbance, preserving those acres, doubling that distance of the 30 feet we had, but then using 30 ft within the school property. Also, uh, we reduced the courts to 10, uh, and removed that those future courts that you used to see to the east of what's pinkish red. Uh, you see those aren't there. So, we've reduced the option which was there to to increase by two in the future. Um, I think that overall outlines the biggest changes that were made uh off of that,

095but I would also that that's kind of the end of the updates to where things are at. And I would ask our team here if there's anything you have to add that I've missed um or from what you heard tonight that we should address. No, I think Mike the only uh things maybe highlight with that as noted the L shape green shape around the perimeter those are the existing trees the existing uh that Lshape I don't know if that's better or not that L shape that you're seeing there in that darker green color is the existing vegetation existing wooded area that's there so we're targeting with that is to double the uh buffer zone if you will that was 30 ft before but not just the distance but with the existing mature vegetation that's through

096there as much as possible and then uh you know with that uh work very closely to ensure that uh we're protecting those just as we would all along. So, we'll be working closely with an arborist on the team. The general contractors will have somebody on to help flag those trees, identify which ones are to stay, and make sure we're working to do everything we can to to preserve those as they start that construction work. And then, um, Dr. Benham did note the added gate to separate the traffic movement that would occur kind of in the lower right corner of the image you see on the screen. So it would be essentially uh as you kind of wrap around the saver center uh to cut through. So if if that were the case, that's where that

097location is that that uh was referenced earlier. >> Great. Um does anybody does anybody have questions, uh comments? >> There's one thing I would add and I don't mean >> No, go ahead >> to interrupt that. I just thought of this as you were talking about trees. When we were together with the neighbors, many of which are in the room this evening last Monday, they talked about how the trees were already being marked, the ones that are going to be taken down. We were able to further clarify with point of beginning that that's the tree study that was brought out. They mark the trees because they document them all by size, type, a whole lot of detail about it as uh we need to do with the city. And so that's what those markings are.

098Those markings are not the markings of trees that are going down. So, I just wanted to clarify that as we looked into that after last week's meeting. >> Great. All right. We'll start with Mary and we'll go around. >> Um I took a lot of notes from all the speakers. So, um as far as uh potential as we saw the all the flooding, are there is going to be a retention pond. Is that I presume going to suffice to address the tennis courts which are taking away the vegetation and things like that? >> It is. Yeah. that's being designed to meet all the requirements reviewed [clears throat] by the city engineers as a part of this. So city engineers had their first pass of detailed reviews. We got those comments through. We're working through those

099with them. So yeah, everything uh there related to storm water grading um anything required is meeting the DNR standards and certainly is being coordinated with the city folks as well. And I know point of beginning was here on Monday last week and was able to talk a little bit about how the water is moved away from just not just that pond space. Like I said, they couldn't be here with us tonight. I don't want to call out anybody else at the table. If they can speak specificity to it. Uh but there has been a detailed study to what that looks like and we've talked about if we see issues afterwards, we'll talk about it. I I I personally like the moment at the one of the May meetings when a neighbor behind the practice fields

100talked about different water that he thought was settling in his yard in POB talked directly with them went over to the yard to look at that. So I mean we're making all the effort doing all the things that are required and beyond and just we will continue conversations if something doesn't work out the way that the best planning has aligned it to work out. I just wanted to add that um you know the the team uh we're all licensed either engineers or architects um and we have to fulfill our duty um to the codes that are put forth um it's black and white uh whether it's DNR whether it's the state uh whether it's the local municipality we have to play by all of those rules um otherwise a project never gets started uh it

101never gets built and it never gets opened um so we are we are going forward and meeting all of those uh expectations and requirements and um here in this instance, you know, we're we're going beyond um based on comments and everything that we've heard. So, um hopefully that can assure you um from a a code standpoint, right? Water mitigation has to happen on your own property. Um if we have a thousand-year uh storm event, u that's way beyond anything that's in any code or anything that any can prepare for. So, thanks, >> Mary. Did you have further questions? Um, so I know the traffic issue and so there's that teacher parking lot, but then there's the one right next to the courts. How many spots is that one? The one is 70, right? >> Yeah.

102Um, they're both around 70. I think 75 max on the tennis one if I'm remembering right. >> So that tennis one though will not be used during the day for student parking or teacher parking. just that teacher parking lot >> the skinny the long >> the spots that we're talking about the 70 Mary are in case that's not clear they're right behind the tan box which is the saber center >> and that's not okay >> that's just staff adding 70 staff spots uh yep >> okay >> and we lose a few spots next to the football field uh where that practice space is so some of it's replacement of a few spots and some addition >> go ahead please >> can you tell about this conservancy the easement, the history and how you work around

103that. >> I can speak to that a little bit. Um yeah, so the city of Franklin uh requires a conservation easement whenever you touch um certain amount of natural resources. Um any natural resource that gets touched in the city has to be mitigated in some way and that includes um woodlands, wetlands, um flood planes, things in that nature. um due to how much was affected during the saber center construction, the conservation easement was put in place uh based on the mitigation that was done at that time to build that [clears throat] addition. Um so in order to build any more um that uh conservation easement has to be uh mitigated again. So um everything that is being proposed to be taken out does have to be mitigated again. um that would also get put into

104a new easement. >> How are we mitigating it? Right. >> Um so the propo the proposed strategy for the um woodlands there's uh that section uh on 51 or yeah 51st and Drexel um that kind of triangle area in the flood plane. Um so that is proposed to be filled with trees. Um and then also on uh different district property uh filling in um some of those already existing woodlands with more more trees in that location. >> So there's no loss of the I mean the same wooded spaces exist. >> Uh yes to the standards that are set forth for the from the city. I think there's a slight reduction in the requirement for how many need to be uh planted. [clears throat] >> Yeah. And there's there's a a full submitt that goes in

105that that was part of the tree study that was was referenced earlier. Um that submitt in order to go through the city's defined mitigation process. There's a compensation plan which means or how much we're going to replace of what's being taken out. That defines quantities and qualities of trees. Um all of that has been documented and and meets the requirements. We've been coordinating that with directly with the city just to be sure we understand that. The city recently went through a new um UDO which is a new ordinance. So they transitioned. So this project was kind of hovering between the old one and the new one. So we spent a lot of time with them trying to make sure we were tracking with what their expectations were for that. So a lot of dialogue around

106um how best to approach this with the sensitivity of this conversation along with meeting the objectives and the goals the city defined. >> Just one more. [clears throat] So I guess I'm why do they include this forever clause in these in these um easements when >> yeah I I can't speak so not the individual to speak to why that is there >> yeah the uh >> because it's obviously you can replace and trade off they allow that but yet >> I would have to defer that to to the city or for other conversations but yeah I'm not we were um we're following directly the processes put in place by the city for moments like this when these things come up. No different than any private development that may have a similar impact or a residential

107development at some point that wants to add a bunch more houses but has to mitigate. We're following all the same exact processes they would as well. >> Thank you. So generally a conser sorry Matsu generally a conservation easement would have um would say in perpetuity but it but it's it's but that the from what I heard tonight it is it is what it is until until you go to mitigate again >> if not into perpetuity you have to put a deadline on or a timeline on it right so you're not going to sign an agreement for 10 years or 20 years you're going to put it into perpetuity with the understanding that if you needed you would have to go through a process to get approvals for that and have to meet the requirements all

108of which we're obviously trying to communicate the best we can. We're doing every everything we can to be sure we're following. >> Sorry, I just wanted to follow up on that. >> Um [clears throat] Linda, did you have more? >> No, that's fine. >> I have a I have question. >> Go ahead. Because if we are replacing the trees from this area to another areas on the district itself, can we do anything else to address the concerns of the residents who are [laughter] immediately to the close proximity of the school district high school itself because if you replace the trees from here and replace in some other areas of the city that I think doesn't cons address the concerns of the residents itself who are next to the high school itself. So is there anything

109else which can be done to ensure that specifically with the recent events and global warming I think uh the residents are getting concerned about possible you know flooding and all that stuff. So is there anything else which we can do in planning so that right now we foresee to help uh address the concerns? >> Yeah, and I think that comes down to the storm water plan um what was submitted to the city. It's a the 300 plus page document um kind of outlining everywhere where the water will go. Um so as Devon mentioned uh that has to happen on site uh the water collection. So, uh, from a storm water concern that's being addressed through grading, um, the detention basin, um, other measures that POB could talk to a little in more detail than I

110could. Um, but yeah, from just a just tree standpoint, uh, we are trying to keep as much as possible, um, while still maintaining the the functionality of the last bit of sight that's left on the high school. And is it possible that if the if any of the area is used just for storage of the equipment that that area be replanted? For example, if if any of the areas of the wetland is used for the construction for storage of the building material etc etc but after the construction is done that area is replanted with trees to kind of increase the amount of retention in the soil. Um, I'll I'll kick the restoration over to Mitch on the end with CD Smith, but I'll first address the, you know, is there is there more that we

111can do, I think, in this latest iteration, and you're seeing the increased buffer that that green uh the dark green band that's running around uh the image for everybody here at home. North is to the left, 41st is up. Um, that's east of the site. Um, I I would I would imagine, right, I'm not a neighbor, but I would imagine that they would rather have the trees that are already existing. um be maintained versus anything new being put in because then again, right, there's the black and white of okay, well, [snorts] we need to provide X size in caliber, the the diameter, and also in height of the tree. And I'm sure the neighbors would much rather have their mature trees that are already harboring uh you know uh different um creatures and and whatnot

112and and our comfort of home uh for them. So, uh, Mitch, what about, uh, restoring, uh, lay down sight and stuff like that back to nature? >> Yeah. So, basically what we're going to end up doing is getting the site up there to subgrade, which is the grade before you start building up your top foot. We're going to put gravel there so that it's for parking equipment, um, and any overflow of, uh, materials for the job site. we have to put gravel down there because if it's dirt, it's going to at some point between the freeze thaw and all the rain become a mud pit. So really what we would do is when we're done utilizing that space, we'll strip all of the gravel up and then we're going to restore the site um to

113grade and then we'll restore and that's with uh putting seed where it needs to go to get the site to look like what the the final landscape drawing will be. >> Yeah. Yeah, and I will mention that this plan um is really only showing the tree planting along the neighbor's property. There will be more landscaping, you know, in the um the parking lot area. The city of Franklin has some pretty strict requirements on landscaping. So, um that's not the only area there will be trees. It's just >> the vast majority of the layown land is the parking lot and tennis courts like so those will become other amenities. but because they're going to become other amenities um in working with CD Smith that became the option for the layown because it will already be reconstructed

114then in fall or spring of 2028 for that summer. >> It offered the ability because we were already going to develop it. [cough] We looked at other [clears throat] spots that we would set up on site and there's not really another spot to do it. If this spot wasn't being touched, we'd have to find that. But otherwise, it was looking at trying to we've looked at trying to be adjacent to the football field, taking away some of the parking spots. It would have major deterren to the uh to the drop off setup with buses, with parent drop off and things like that. So, this also creates a safety aspect. um having the workforce that's coming in with CD Smith able to check in and and access the property that way and be separate than our

115typical morning routine of the buses, the parents, the student drivers that are coming in and off uh 51st and looping around the front of the school. Yeah, I mean obviously safety is our top priority and with the flow of the bus traffic with how we would have to bring any equipment and especially large pre-cast panels, steel beams, columns, trusses, and large materials like masonry block into the site. We wouldn't be able to get it in and out um on that side of the school. And to be as least disruptive as possible, we want to bring it into the back of the site, have every single person check in with our trailers and utilizing that backspace. Every contractor and subcontractor employee will have to walk by our trailers to check in um so that they're not

116crossing paths with students and staff in the front of the school. >> But all those deliveries will come in off of 51st Street from Ryan Road. Correct. >> Correct. And then they will loop around the back of the school, check in, offload, and then they will come back out. >> No materials will no materials will come through on 47th Street. >> Correct. >> And working with the city, they were they gave us the direction, right, that we're going to come in on Ryan Road to 51st and that this is going to be the the entrance. So, we've worked with the city to develop that. >> And again, if this were a quick project or a one-year project even, it'd be maybe another conversation. This is three school years that we have to be really mindful

117of our the movement of construction and all of our students and activities on site. So this was uh a [clears throat] discussion at the outset of the project just to be sure we had an understanding of site logistics and and how best to kind of balance all these pieces. >> Max, did you have further questions? >> Do you? >> Yeah, please. >> Um, [clears throat] okay. So I I guess I am struck by the coordination with our team and I just want to say thanks to everybody on the team for going back to the table again and again and again to meet the needs based on you know at the very beginning when we were doing our survey of the entire community and readjusting our plans based on what the whole community said and then

118our listening sessions as you kind of went through with our our history we have really worked um for two things to find what's best for our students but also what's best for our community and really been listening to that and I just really appreciate the team's flexibility ility and creativity and finding, you know, new and different ways to do all these things. Um, trying to meet the needs of everyone. I mean, we have an entire city that we are are trying to meet the needs of. Um, and so just, you know, thank you for for that and that flexibility and creativity. I think it's really helpful. I do have a class and I a question. I think somebody mentioned it in the community comment about, you know, what happens if if the city um does

119not approve these plans. And to me, I know we'll come back. We'll figure something else out. I I don't have any doubt in that. We've done it with many other things. But I guess my question is what is and maybe it's an impossible question to ask, but what is the cost of delaying? Like we I believe we were supposed to already be on site as of about August 1st so that some of this would be established before our students came back. It feels like we're a little bit delayed now. How much of the how like what is the cost if we continue to delay? And does that like does that increased cost then mean that we don't get some of the things that are planned in this project? Does that are there any safety implications

120in terms of interdigitation with the school year? >> I'll get a start and then feel free certainly to jump in. You know um this is a complex project. There is no doubt. Um I think everything is by design sequenced right. everything from um the design process, the construction documents, the bidding, uh city reviews and approvals, the engagement with the city engineers, um all the way through to making sure we're safely managing a project of this size with with an active site. And so, uh even though it feels like a lot [cough] happening very quickly, this this is what this team was built to do. This is the level of knowing the complexity. Um so, it's not a surprise to the team. um it's been mapped out in advance and again it was one of the

121reasons we started meeting with the city months ago on a monthly basis to be sure we were again building towards what we knew was going to be a tight window for approvals and starting construction and so um there is no doubt that if um if not approved it would mean likely we would need to come back still for a approval uh but we would need to re-engage with the district team to figure out what does that mean specifically is it nothing can happen there is it uh a partial of what you see here. Um it likely means that the program you see on screen is not all there. I think what you're seeing here represents a paired the most paired back version of getting the program in uh as was targeted leading into the referendum.

122Okay? And so stepping back would likely mean needing to uh start to pull program off of what you see here. Okay? meaning no practice field or no tennis courts or right no access drive, you know, and and we've talked about the reasoning behind all of those things. And so all of that takes time to redesign and resubmit to the city and get back in sequence for plan commission approval. So that pushes out out multiple months for for that just as a reality. It's not a scare tactic or a wait. It's just a reality in in that in that process. Uh, and I say yes, the CSmith team is queued up uh to uh we have uh the first bid package complete. We have um you know those vendors lined up ready to to start movement

123as soon as we give them the green light to do so. Uh but permits have to wait for approvals, right? So all of that's stacked up just so that as soon as we get the green light, we can submit and everything sets in motion. So it does, you know, so if it's a one-mon delay, you can assume everything pushes out. But in the end, the reality is it it doesn't do a ton of good turning over large sections of this building mid school year. So all of this is set up for multiple phases to be turned over in the summers so that we can start school years and start the next pieces. So uh less just saying if we're one month late now, we're one month late at the end. But reality is it means

124like we're not starting school in those spaces as as we currently have targeted. So it has a compounding impact other other ways. Um always means of working through that right and and this is again a complex project but that it would have downstream impacts for sure. Well, and I like I just want to say like I have all the confidence in the world that we will come to some agreement, but that's kind of what I [clears throat] was getting at is if this is not approved, we really do start impacting student experience and um cost to taxpayers and you know planning like you said three years down the line we you know it will not end. >> The uh the cost to taxpayers will not change. We cannot go over the referendum >> the cost

125for the dollars. >> Yeah. the experience, >> right? And and the idea that you know if all of us that's what I'm asking I guess maybe correct me but could it be that yeah we still have the same amount of money to spend but now because we have been delayed we have to take something out of and I mean that's what we're seeing we're we are already taken out of what we thought we were going to get in order to make these adjustments. Are we going to continue taking out either of this or would other areas of the project have to have things removed? Would we end up with a smaller pool? would we end up with different um CTE space? You know, any of those kind of things, the walking area in the school,

126like any of those things, could would those have to get pulled out in order to meet our budget? >> Yeah, I'm confident there will be a full redesign effort to some extent. It would just really depend on what pieces get pulled out and and how do we get the timelines back in sync? >> Mike, can I have a moment, >> please? Sorry. >> I just want to cl uh for my clarification. So the additional pra the practice field to the south of the tennis courts is replacing field space that is lost. That is not new. >> Nope. If you're familiar north of the uh pool today, there's an area between that and the stadium that is striped that's used for practice field. This is uh in square footage almost identical in size to that. >>

127So it would be maintaining um services that we currently have. And then I just want to clarify that the expanded dark green area is not replanted trees but conservation of mature trees. Is that true? >> It is. >> I um you know I fe I feel for the neighbors. If I were you, I would probably be doing the same thing as you because I have long-term emotional relationships with trees. But um I I feel that we also have to take into account the good of all of the students in the community. And I feel that that that this you've hired away at your plans numerous times. You've gone back to the drawing board. And for me as a board member have hearing the the complaints and then hearing um having heard for months, I I

128think that this is a reasonable compromise. >> Not that you needed to hear that from me, but I just wanted to say it. >> All right. Um, I'll just say that I I did um I jumped in at the very beginning of this project like all the board members here. Um and one of the things um one of the things that we talked about early on was um the first thing we talked about was do can the high school function here for the long term at least until all of us are not here anymore um for the next 20 or 30 years. Um, and the answer was yes. And so we decided, but the answer was also like you see at Nicicolay High School or other high schools that are on similar size sites. It's

129going to be a tight fit and we're going to have to imagine what we can put in and it's going to change a lot. Um, it's going there's going to be a lot of iterations and and we and we have to and we have to work to get things in, but a but this project is costing $125 million um for the high school site. Um, a new high school is roughly $260 million from what I understand. Um, and that was the other option. Um, and we didn't consider it for very long because this be because we believe in the stewardship of the community's money um, our money. Um, so I appreciate um I appreciate the work that has been done to get to this spot um from everybody and um I um I I appreciate

130I I appreciate the work everybody's done and I appreciate the conversation, but um this this to me seems like this to me seems like a good compromise as well. Um does anybody else have further comment or question? Mary, please. I [clears throat] hate to proceverate on on this, but um when they closed Drexel by my house, we had people who initially thought they could cut through our subdivision and they were going fast and I called the police and they said, "We've already had one other call." And they immediately got on it. So, my understanding though is that this is not going to increase student traffic. It's going to just increase teachers accessing that parking lot and then people attending the tennis matches or practices. It's not going to be an increase in reckless student driving.

131Is that accurate? >> I'll answer the same the same number of students the same number of staff that would be here today if school was today will be the same number tomorrow. So, we're not increasing that. But again, we'll have 70 of our staff members instead of pulling in off 51st, >> we'll be pulling in off 47th. >> Yeah. Students can't use that parking lot. >> Correct. And [clears throat] they can't get access from the back to come around to the front thinking they might get into the property faster. >> All right. Does anybody else have questions, comments? >> All right. Thank you everyone. >> Thank you, Dean. >> Appreciate it. All right. We'll move on to uh item C. Uh tuition waiver um tuition waiver number one. Uh Dr. Bennon or Dr. Mo, I

132don't know who's >> Sure. Uh we have two tuition waivers in front of us tonight. We went over tuition waiver uh protocol last month. So I guess I would just take any questions you have. Otherwise, they follow our typical procedure. You if you approve them, then they are in for a 9-week waiver. Um and they can apply for a second waiver by DPI rules. So, they could be up to 18 months. Both of these families know that they need to be [clears throat] residents and proof of residency within Franklin school district boundaries uh by those time frames or they're charged tuition for their time and they cannot attend or they can continue to pay tuition for the rest of the year. I guess >> I move that we pro approve the tuition waiver as presented.

133>> I second. >> All right. Um are we is that a motion to approve them both or >> cushion waivers as presented? Yes. One and two. >> All right. Motion was made by Dr. Beer, seconded by Dr. Khan. Uh, any further discussion? All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. >> Uh, treasures report is available in the board docs library. Um, does anybody have any comment or question on the treasures report? All right. Future agenda items. Summer school report, uh, Ed for employment update, uh, action item, title one programs, student code of conduct, discipline matrix, bullying report, CRC presentations, seclusion and restraint report, health and nursing report, district safety plan and goals review, uh, threat of violence drill review, district administrator goal setting. One adjustment to that title one program and we were

134working with uh [clears throat] Mr. Zimman today that does not have to go to the board. So we are going to remove that. I didn't want to remove it today and make it a surprise this evening. It's not something that's typically come to the board. It's not going to change any of our practices or following uh DPI regulations for that. >> Which is title one programs. >> Quick question. Health and nursing. Will our district nurses be presenting at that or will just be Mr. Eman? The goal is usually to have the nurses here and if we find out they can't make that day, we can adjust. I'm hearing you want them here, right? >> I like it. >> Yeah, usually they are. >> I thought last year it seemed like there was just something >>

135someone had an emergency who moved it last year if I remember correct. >> Yeah. >> All right. Um, anybody else? I'm looking for a motion to adjourn the meeting. >> So moved. Second. >> Motion was made by Mrs. Seperski, seconded by Mrs. Wikowski. All in favor? I opposed. We are adjourned at 9:17. Thank you everyone. Thank you.