001good evening I'd like to call the Board of Education meeting for Wednesday June 17th 2020 to order can we have a roll call please Mrs Larson yes Mrs Evans here Mrs wowski here Mr alexandrovich here Mr Lewis here Mr gamble here Mr sprad here and I am also here thank you and sorry uh the meeting has been properly posted please rise and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance flag United States for item three I'm looking for a motion to approve the agenda do I hear that motion so Move Motion by Mrs witowski is there a second second by Mrs lson any discussion car none all those in favor say I I I oppos motion Carri for item four we have Community comment sorry about this we're not used to being in this room okay
002we have Community comment this is an opportunity for community members to voice opinions and concerns to the board please limit your individual comment to three minutes we ask that you speak into the microphone in the front state your name and address for the record and have a signed comment card available which is at the front table and place it in the basket next to the microphone the community comment period is traditionally 15 minutes for all comment we have a request that the board extend our comment period this evening to 30 minutes do I hear any objection from the board in doing so hearing none uh are there any community members who would like to speak and U if there are if you you can line up to the side if you want to make make
003the time go faster but uh but you don't have to get too close yeah I did thank you thank you I apologize for not having more copies but kianka a will be emailing all of you a PDF of the full documents I am Isabella Barnard and my address is 10500 West rosson good evening Dr Mueller and members of the Franklin Public Schools Board of Education I am a 2019 graduate of Franklin High School we are here today representing over 450 graduates students parents and members of the FPS community that have currently signed our petition calling for Action before you is said petition and to highlight the four main points one include social justice and diversity as one of the core District's core values two release a detailed plan for recruiting hiring and retaining educators of
004color as well as establish a leadership position dedicated to equity and social change three review the existing social studies and Humanities curriculum to ensure that it contains accurate historical and contextual teaching on social and racial Injustice recognition of privilege and diverse cultural perspectives four establish a racially diverse team of students and staff dedicated to collaborating to complete the after mentioned steps the racial injustices we have witnessed these past few weeks have led us to reflect on our education and while we are grateful for our FPS experience in great teaching Who provided us a foundation for college we also realized that it did not prepare us for the vital and difficult conversations around racial and social injustice in this country it didn't prepare us to understand the centuries of history that has led to the realities
005of systemic and institutionalized racism today we say we want to educate all of our students for life after school but we barely scratch the surface when it comes to talking about race or other countries or cultural backgrounds we received over 130 personal testimonies from students who witnessed racially derogatory Behavior with no action from teachers or administrators even after formally bringing it to their attention stories from students who felt they didn't learn enough about important historical events and around racial in inequity or black history students who struggled to count more than one teacher of color during their entire K12 education students who have felt unsafe and unwelcome because of their identity we learn whitewashed versions of History Literature and art that don't reflect real life and promote ignorance and indifference why do we have two classes
006world and European history when they teach the exact same thing now we are even eliminating the little historical content that has been taught the Middle School covers history only two days a week instead of five we are asking you to provide us with the tools to be successful in today's world to be truly aware socially conscious and globally minded leaders that not just colleges or employers demand but that our community needs thank you thank you hi my name is Katherine Harris I live at 8121 South 43rd Street in Franklin and I graduated from FHS in 2018 I also have two siblings who are both students of Franklin Public Schools one of which has been a student there since kindergarten I'd like to discuss the district's history curriculum after I sit down another Alum will will
007share testimony from current and past students regarding the history classes that they've had I think the overwhelming conclusion that you will draw from these stories is that our current history curriculum is incomplete Franklin High School's history curriculum lacks necessary content about the history of African Asian and Native Americans as well as systemic racism at many colleges a course on race is a requirement for graduation but not every student from Franklin attends College public universities recognize the need for this content so the question is why are we leaving our students behind those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it as we have all famously heard unfortunately Franklin Public Schools is not committed to history education our Middle School's history classes are disappearing my younger brother had Social Studies classes only twice a
008week last year in the eth grade down from four parents students and community members Al like feel that this is a shame now when we first shared our petition on Facebook there were those who told us that this kind of education should happen inside the home and that politics should stay out of our schools I think this Viewpoint ignores some harsh truths first racial minorities in Franklin get harassed constantly we have a problem tonight you'll hear stories from a few people of color in this town and you also have received a PDF of over 130 testimonies that we've received after you have read them and listened I implore you to evaluate how well education in the home is working in Franklin to combat racism we believe it is the school system's responsibility to provide a
009quality unbiased curriculum to combat ignorance and it is also the school's responsibility to reprimand racism when it occurs within its hallways second the conversation about more complete history classes is not a political one teaching the history of our country's minority groups does not demand that students choose between red or blue it is about presenting long overshares of our country and Community without hiding or tiptoeing around them we ask the board to approach this issue with Clarity we have the power to make our social studies programs better reflect the reality of our world and better serve our students and the community thank you thank you hello School School Board I am Gran heminger a Franklin High School alumni of the class of 2019 and in high school I often studied history because I cared about it
010I was passionate about it I thought it was important um and in those four years I feel like I've I've developed a pretty good understanding of of what's happened in this country and and how we've gotten where we are Etc uh but unfortunately much of the most important information I learned in that I learned about our country never came directly from my teachers in the classroom in fact much of it came from external research or more importantly just conversations with those Prof with those teachers you know before and after class or before and after school in areas that they're clearly knowledgeable and passionate about but but are bound to a curriculum and a system that doesn't allow that to show whether they are Guided by standards and skills that are brought to them to by
011the district or whether they have to teach to a test that's written by an external third party like the College Board I feel like students in Franklin are often being robbed of information regarding some of the most important people and events in our history uh understanding that I have a testimony uh from a current FHS student who asked that their message be read stating when it comes to teaching black history at Franklin Public Schools we are taught the bare minimum that slavery is bad and segregation is bad we are not taught the societal consequences of these actions that have affected life for blacks and America from that point up until the present we are not taught about the many black Heroes and heroins throughout history the only important black people we learn about are Martin
012Luther King Jr and Harriet tutman this is common knowledge I feel like every year we're taught about the same Wars and events I don't need to learn the same things about the Vietnam War years in a row additionally I have not had even a single black teacher throughout my time at Franklin I've maybe had one or two black volunteer speakers throughout my time here I feel as though Franklin lacks education on black history and culture as well as exposure to people who've experienced systemat systematic racism firsthand as a student at Franklin I understand that this could be the root of some of the closed-mindedness and different forms of racism that plagues our students he refers to a plague and and in talking to to staff both you know current and and past and obviously it's
013not a group I can perfectly speak on behalf of all of them but from what I've gathered sounds like this is what they want they have they have knowledge and passion in these regards and they want a more diverse staff and it sounds like they want to be able to provide a more accurate holistic picture of our nation's history and I think that right now we have an unprecedented amount of know momentum and and public awareness and support and I think we can use a forum like this to leverage that into real change thank you thank you my name is irva Ahad I live at 8001 southw Drive in Franklin I graduated from FHS in 2018 the lack of diversity and depth in our curriculum extends past history into English and the Arts my first
014experience with racial education at our our high school was the discussion of tequilla Mockingbird during my freshman year but teilla Mockingbird only offers one voice that of a white woman our lists of American canonical literature are over 75% made up of old white male authors the perspectives of the perspectives of black people and people of color and literature shouldn't be something that modern students just stumble upon but something that is introduced and discussed in the classroom we should not only read literature by Hawthorne or Dickens but also something written by chinua a or chimamanda nooi adichi and cover cultures and perspectives from all over the world English classes at FHS are geared towards preparing students for the ECT and other standardized tests the only course that portrays different narratives Multicultural literature is not required and
015the reading list of this class which supposedly contains Multicultural stories are mostly written from the perspective of white people diversity in English and the Arts must be introduced at a young age and continued through High School these subjects are about so much more than testing they are meant to expand the way we think the ideas we are exposed to and help us grow in deep meaningful ways thank you thank you hi my name is Trinity Hansen I live at 3842 West Forest Hill in Franklin I am a graduate of the class of 2018 I attend in Franklin from kindergarten all the way up through my senior year and I have a few testimonies here for you a member of the class of 2018 wrote while Franklin offered a source every once in a while with
016the inclusion of black characters or authors these were not mandatory texts they were a minority in a pool of white authors and stories and if offered it was optional these texts need to be mandatory not an option students need to read books that challenge what they're comfortable with and what they know given the fact that we are a school that is predominantly white we do not need to read 20 books about white people in white Stories We Live it every single day we need Multicultural literature as a mandatory course not an option member of the class of 2019 wrote there were three specific instances that I remember talking about racism the first time was when we read To Kill a Mockingbird freshman year and that conversation had little to do with race and more about
017the characters in the book the underlying theme of race when it came to the book was brushed under the radar because no one wanted to talk about it since talking about race would have made us uncomfortable we were given a pass we shouldn't have been allowed to skip important conversations like these it shouldn't seem like a chore to incorporate anti-racism into a school year a Franklin High School teacher said when we were being forced to switch to skills-based reading a member of the school board told us to stop teaching content because students can just Google stuff we teachers desperately want to teach content ENT a member of the class of 2020 wrote We introduce kids to the idea of fire safety of bullying of drug addiction of all of that from very young ages so
018why is teaching them about brutal racism that our nature our nation experienced and still experiences not a priority it is a problem that every one of them will either add to or detract from so I'd say that introducing them to the concepts of racial equality of the struggles and problems in today's society of black history in America and the impact of their culture on our nation that's all something that they should know and be able to understand throughout in order to take action and all of this is necessary because this is America we should be the land of the free and we can be if everyone does their part to ensure Racial equality is achieved thank you thank you hi I'm Brianna I'm at 2522 Windfield Drive johonson M Pleasant Wisconson um and I'm an
019Alum of 2018 class according to the Wisconsin Board of governance in 2019 teachers at Franklin Public Schools were 97.9% white and 0% black now look at these numbers and think about what a teacher is and must be for their students a Content expert a disciplinarian a mentor a philosopher a therapist a friend in the words of a 2015 graduate what do you think 12 years of white teachers sets Up For Students particularly students of color to only have white Role Models as teachers and coaches what do you think that does for students of color that they don't see role models who look like themselves it's about representation end quote I know I was 6 years old when I was drawing pictures of myself with blonde hair and blue eyes and stretching my eyes in the
020mirror because I hated that I didn't look like my friends and that's nothing our lack of diversity hurts the well-being and Equity of black communities and other minority students leaving them vulnerable to even the most innocent of microaggressions or ignorances or even dangerous self-fulfilling prophecies it also hurts white students by letting them uh their internal biases fester and deprive them of witnessing any strong knowledgeable leadership coming from Minority Educators even outside of teachers studies show that young children start choosing Friends by race at around 3 years old but by talking to a 5 to seven year-old about interracial friendships that can undo and improve racial attitudes within a week among our student population we've taken diversity what diversity we did have and set it on a path of decline by phasing out the chapter 220
021program that intentionally sought to address Decades of systemic segregation and redlining sure some may argue flaws with that chapter 220 and we know that any solution is not easy there are Financial stressors to consider and inevitably deeper rooted complexities to attracting new teachers and students of color that require nuanced and far from Simple Solutions let's persevere anyway let's address minority teacher burnout let's reexamine our recruiting and retention strategy I and let's do something more or different to make Franklin a leader thank you thank you my name is Tyler Kelly I live at 7394 heatheridge court and I'm a member of the class of 2020 this isn't the first time we've been in front of a group of adults asking for a change within our FHS education in my four years of high school I witnessed
022the School silence a group of young women learning how to challenge the systematic problems that they faced I've sat in a conference room with administrators telling me that my classmates fear for their lives isn't worth walking out for alongside our neighbors I've seen the school deny my interested classmates an opportunity to hear one of the most instrumental change makers in our generation despite knowing that we will receive push back we will not give up on fighting the racism and ignorance rampant in our schools until it is addressed which is why we are asking that you please put us on the agenda next time so you can respond to us while giving us the platform to speak may be helpful we'd love to hear your feedback and see how you can get the real solutions that
023we have coming up with as policy within our schools today we had the opportunity to share a few student stories of over the 130 that we collected in our petition luckily our petition has some simp simple actionable steps to address the issues that we've been discussing today adding social justice and diversity to our school's mission statement would make it the beginning of our school district's commitment to being anti-racist hiring teachers of color will make sure every student gets to be taught by a teacher who looks like them it will expand the perspectives of students that are that students are exposed to broadening their Horizons and preparing them for the diversity they will meet in their Futures this same expansion of perspectives is necessary Within our curriculum appreciating arts accom and accomplishments of every group will
024expose their our community to the systematic racism that we see today lastly we propose establishing a diverse team of students and staff making sure that Franklin continues to be a safe place for all students to learn regardless of the news cycle Franklin Public Schools knows what it looks like to be labeled as racist and has tried to get rid of this label moving to a point of neutrality keeping stories quiet that may keep our school Community out of negative news headlines but it is not helping our students or Community let's be on the right side of history and proactively ensure that every student feels safe in our schools and receives an education that will make them aware and empathetic citizens we will now hear from a few Brave speakers giving their personal testimonies today as
025you listen keep in mind that these are a few of 130 people who have shared their personal stories which we have provided the board with in their packets today which they will also be receiving via email please respect these personal stories thank you all right uh my name is Diego I am from 3857 uh West St Drive Franklin Wisconsin so first things first I want to uh address this to everybody in this room I did talk to Dr Mueller this year uh before the pandemic about um Rachel uh um Justice in the school and I did I really appreciated that and I really do it was a great experience and it was a great uh time to address it um and she was ah head of the curve um with that being said I still
026need to um address certain issues that happened with me and my family so um I am a Hispanic American as well as a Native American one of the Handful in the actual like a registered Native American F registered tribe in Northern Wisconsin um so first things first is that uh I've Been Told uh by my uh peers when I was a freshman in 2016 uh while I was wearing a Mexico uh national soccer team shirt uh to build the wall uh to go back to your country and I was like I was very perplexed by that and um like I'm like here was born here and everything on top of that my uh brother uh who is uh currently a sophomore back in fifth grade was uh heard one of um one of the members
027at his Elementary School um and refer to Native Americans as engines which is the derogatory term and it's considered like the n-word to Native Americans so that's that really hurt him and it hurt my mom and she tried to bring it up but she was kind of shut down um with that being said there was also two incidents that made the news and we didn't really do much to address it except for emails to parents um the colored and white bubbler incident all we got was an email from parents um and that made n uh not local news so it was pretty pretty intense but we didn't do nothing about that on top of that we also had an incident where rine horic basketball player which I was at the game uh with made monkey
028noises at and uh it was just an email to parents and nothing happened from it so I hope that this incident and my experience kind of opened your eyes a little bit um to my experiences and again thank you Dr Mueller for actually talking to me um during the school year thank you guys thank you hello my name is sa Fatima and I live on 6926 West F Drive in Franklin Wisconsin and I graduated from Franklin High School in 2018 Alec czoli who also graduated in 2018 wrote The Following story AJ wanted to be here today but was unable so I will be reading in his place hello my name is alaki I graduated in 2018 for many that may not know me I am adopted into a loving aan family while being an African-American
029male while growing up and going through the Franklin School District I have been called many things nice friendly smart people said that I have good character that I am respectful and always have a positive attitude that being said there are other things that I have been called a slave a cotton picker the nword people would pass them off as a joke or say I was only kidding around looking back the worst of them all is the whitest black kid I have ever met or you act so white now old high school me laughed it off and moved on with my day but after high school after things that I have seen with the treatment of certain minorities after personal experience with social injustice and discrimination I have gone through in the real world I can't
030look past it anymore I can't look past the fact that when those words were being said to me they were putting me down they may not have realized it but they were taking away from all of the positive words that were said about me that just that just because I was acting as what society says is white was the reason that I am being called respectful smart and having good character and because I was black I was supposed to be acting a certain way thank you thank you good evening my name is Liz charz I live at 3909 West hea Drive um I just have to quickly say I'm surprised you guys aren't wearing masks there's only one person wearing masks given that all the summer um and R C the summer camp programs were
031cancel just curious why you guys aren't doing that but anyway I'm a mother of uh 8-year-old and um six-year-old who attend Pleasant View Elementary School and I'm here tonight to strongly encourage you to integrate uh racial and intersectionality of lgbtq plus um and economic education into our curriculum I'm not a Franklin Franklin Alum I graduated from high school in 95 but I was a woman's Studies major and I don't want everyone in this all the young students to have to wait until they're in college and have to unlearn everything that they learned in school it's really kind of sad that I'm standing here today as a middle-aged woman hearing some of the same issues I heard and advocated for when I was a kid and raising young children who are at the elementary school level
032when I asked them about what they're learning about regard of gender or racial um lenses through history it seems like it's really in a time capsule isolated far away and not something we have to deal with today and I know you all are public servants and you're here to do the right thing I hope we don't hide a lot of the important information that is at stud fingertips that you can easily do and one last plug to I know policy is policy but I really hope that the school board uses this opportunity to include all humans in their anti-discrimination policy that's a starting point to trickle down in all your curriculum in education and also as a parent of two young children I think teachers need to have ongoing I'm not talking once a year
033but as part of the regular Cadence to have um diversity and in inclusion training is part of their professional development I work at a a large corporation and it's just something that we have to do they haven't done in their whole history everyone's getting on board I think now is the time for Franklin Public Schools to get with the program thank you thank you hello my name is Jenny Lee I live at 7520 South Road Franklin Wisconsin um I have a three-year-old he's in the early childhood learning program at Franklin School District um I am a product of the Wisconsin school system I was born and raised in Lacrosse and I went through that system and graduated from Central High School in 1998 now what happens when a school system does not teach everything about
034what it is racism against every racis so for the minority it means that some of us just do not know how to stand up for ourselves and when I was a kid like other kids would would just talk gibberish around me and it was their interpretation of what a Chinese language is guess what I'm Korean I'm not Chinese so it didn't in my 20s microaggressions would happen to me people would walk up to me in grocery stores and say neow and I'd be like what I'm Korean and it didn't take me until my late 30s until I understand how to stand up for myself how to raise my voice and say no that's not right and even in my late 30s I still had a white friend come up to me at my own Korean
035Lunar New Year party and say Happy New Year in Chinese to me that was true in ignorance and I talked to my friend about it but the thing is like in my 20s like I didn't even know how to even approach the topic of racism or even to talk to friends on you know how to work out those situations and I had to figure it out on my own because my parents didn't want to talk about race like they would just say you got to let it go we got to we got to be perfect as minorities we got to be perfect as Asian you got to get straight A you got to become a valid dictorian you got to get into IB League school which I did and I'm asking you to listen to
036these High School alumni of this district and understand that teaching something about racism about Native Americans African-Americans asian-americans lgbtq and help them work through those issues of like if something happens to them to teach them how to stand up for themselves and how to teach White students to be allies to their friends to their minority friends and that is why I'm speaking today so I'm asking you to consider what these students or alumni have said in their petition because it is so important because it took me so long to figure out how to raise my voice and I am doing that now thank you thank you my name is Katie Smith my address is 11800 West Forest Home Avenue in Franklin and I am an Alum from Franklin High School of 2015 um what's fortunate
037about that is uh I'm ashamed to say I ever attended Franklin public schools throughout my time at Franklin I was bullied and belittled for several reasons but the reason that stung the most was because I'm different and it's not something I can change the easiest way to explain this is to be blunt my mother was a poor alcoholic who didn't make time for me when I was growing up my father was an irresponsible drugie my mother is white and my father is a black native I'm not expressing this to show stereotypes but rather to make the unapparent obvious it is important to note this because of how I grieved while attending your school district the majority of my family is black and those are the people I grew up around you can't begin to imagine
038what I felt like going to a predominantly white school I hung out with the small but strong black community within this District because they understood and accepted me the most but outside of those people I felt conflicted as a black and Native person with white pilage I still felt like I was being treated unfairly for example while I was attending the school district my older brother was shot 16 times in Cold Blood but he died a brave black man the days following his murder several students had seen him make the news and they spit jokes back and forth about another black man dying when I confronted them in your staff was made aware about the situation the person that got in trouble was me I don't think you would believe me when I say I
039have encountered more situations at the school district that are worse than that and you cannot even fathom the stories of the visibly black and brown students past and present experience the situation today is a little too familiar for me when I was in Middle School at Forest Park I stood in this exact spot well actually the older building um standing in front of the school board proclaiming very similar thoughts and ideas what's funny is I have come full circle I was pretty nervous back then but fast forward over a decade later and I am outraged I outraged that racism is prevalent in this school district and there is no consequence for it I'm outraged for the black and brown youth that go to Franklin Public Schools and have a negative connotation for themselves being different
040if there's anything you take away from the speech I have given today let it be the examples of things I would like to change I would like to suggest a more diverse staff for diverse student body including black and brown counselors so that black and brown students feel welcomed after witnessing police brutality my black native father endured I bottled my emotions because I didn't feel talk didn't feel comfortable talking to somebody who wouldn't understand and to stop using prison labor for bigger printing jobs that the school district has because it's cheaper this is modern-day slavery still allowed under the Constitutional clause and detrimental to harmful stereotypes kids learn and lastly to invest in diversity and inclusion in classrooms with more accurate US History taught including social and racial injustices which leads to an extensive mandatory
041black and brown um history taught by black and Native teachers because I never wanted to learn the lies and fake histories of my ancestors Tau taught by somebody who doesn't walk the same path path as me thank you thank [Applause] you hello my name is Brian mck 8453 West Cold Spring wrot and I will not say what year I graduated uh but I stand before you uh today I was invited by Trinity uh after speaking at the the protest last week so not only do I have uh friends and those that I consider family uh in the Franklin area but I have a connection here because uh of some of my colleagues I am a a local pastor of a multiethnic church and my history with racism and social injustice goes back to kindergarten when
042one of my kindergarten teachers decided that she would like to kick the African-American kids in the class when I didn't understand this and went home and asked my mom why is my teacher kicking me oh my mom was livid and she went to the school to uh address this situation only to find out that it was the African-American kids only that this teacher was was kicking uh fast forward now to high school from being a a great student as a matter of fact all throughout my years in high school I was on the honor rooll but still being called the nword being threatened of being lynched in the suburbs uh to many other things that were very traumatic to my well-being I understand that it is important important for students to understand not only the
043history of America but also understand how they can stand up for what is just and what is right being a multiethnic church pastor it allows me the opportunity with a diverse congregation to have these conversations to be able to talk about the various cultural nuances and particular things that I can adjust to and our community needs to adjust to in order for our country to be one where everyone understands that they are treated as human beings and that they live in an equitable Society in addition to that I am a crosscultural competence professional and I also not only in religious but in non-religious spaces help schools help organizations help businesses to form organizations that are Equitable so I stand here not only with personal experience but also have putting in the work to let you
044all know that it is vitally important for there to be education in your school system that addresses racial inequities and also social justice thank you so much thank you good afternoon I'm Shannon Smith I live at 6646 West Charles Court and uh I just have a few things I want to share with you I think uh hi Dr Mueller I think uh representation is important and so today I took time out of my schedule to represent and I thought it important that I brought my two sons here Richard is a high school graduate from last year and Mason is headed into the eighth grade and I want to tell you some of my experiences real quick I think we have one of the greatest school districts we certainly have all the resources and man this
045is the best building for a school I've ever seen in my life but what shames me is that my son graduated high school thinking this was the worst place he ever could have went to school he was super excited when he got to the high school he joined the football team he was super excited about that until some of the team members attempted to Haze him he went on and and I I don't intend to embarrass him I don't think I meant to tell these stories when I brought him here but you have to speak the truth if you want real change he went on a field trip to harvest for Humanity and he came home Angry and he said some of the students told him this is just like picking cotton ain't it and
046on another occasion he comes home and he's got this look on his face that I'd never seen before it looks like he's going to kill someone and he says someone on a school bus called him the N word happened to be someone that lived right on the you know down the corner on on the corner of my street went and talked to his parents and so the stories that you're hearing today are not not just timely because this is the moment this stuff is real we're asking for your help we're asking for you to pay attention and listen and the only thought I had while I was waiting in line listening to the alumni and all these young people I really want to cry I really want to cry for the stories that they had
047to share with you and I understand that this format doesn't allow a back and forth we weren't on the agenda you guys just get to listen and I understand that a lot has been said today but I want to tell you having a $66 million building doesn't mean squat if your students leave here thinking this was a terrible place to come and I know you have a lot of good people in these buildings and I know there's a lot of good people here and I know that you're trying to do the right things but the message you're getting today from everyone so we haven't done enough and so far we're failing and I've seen many of my black friends pulled their kids out of the district that was saddening I too have contemplated whether my
048younger son should go to the high school that's very saddening I'm here because not only am I one of your harshest critics online but I also take time to email your superintendent when I see someone in the in the district or one of the teachers doing good or getting praise I make sure that she sees that too not only am I here to complain I guess is what I would call it but I'm also here to remind you that I'm here to help I will take the call I will show up at the meeting I will clear my schedule and strap up my boots but right now I just feel this inner pain that I had for my kids that I have for what's going on socially around the world but standing in that line
049I just wanted to cry listening to these folks and so I just want to take a second I'm talking real slow because I really wanted to sink in you do have a problem the posted notes for the whites and colors people being called the nword but think about this for a second I'm not sure you got three students in the high school that can tell you what happened in Selma can all of our high school students tell us who Rosa Parks is can everyone in our high school tell us about the I had a dream speech if they can't we have certainly failed on educating black history I was disappointed a few years ago when we were the only School District that did not shut down for Dr King's holiday I think we rectified that
050it's progress much more needs to be done just think about that how many of our students can tell us about the I had a dream speech thank you thank [Applause] you my name is Ashley I'm at 7830 South 66 stud in Franklin I just wanted to read an email that I sent to Mrs K as well as you just wanted to inform you of an incident that happened with my son Cameron and it rubb me the wrong way and it also upset Cameron he has come home on multiple occasions and told me about some racist remarks his friends have said to him on the bus and at school the latest incident I didn't appreciate it all a boy asked Cameron what material was his sweatshirt made of if you all knew my son you would
051understand his response he said duh it's cotton so the kid asked him did he pick it itself how disgusting insensitive rude and unaware of how such remarks can make a person feel regardless of color he's still a person and a kid with feelings that were disrupted I would like for you to speak to Cameron about the incident and get to the bottom of it if I need to be present just let me know I could be the parent to have Cameron say some racist remarks back or tell them that kid deserves a punch in the face I'm not that parent I I trust the school officials will handle it if not it will only get worse and that was in March and Mrs is June so it did get worse as far as the ins
052insensitivity of the constant remarks I believe the school district as a whole should make some kind of effort to bring African-American history as well as other ethnic history into the school curriculum it will teach the kids that these disgusting things that they're saying to their friends are not cool like it hurts them they might not say it to the kids to their friends but they go home and tell their parents and then their parents feel a certain way for their kid I have six kids Al together all of them are black four are boy Jaylen he's Franklin High School he's a junior many stories of things that go on in high school daughter just left the middle school and she's in the high school like some said it's embarrassing and it's not like oh my
053kid goes to Franklin my kid goes to no coming from Milwaukee Public School to hear it looks nice it's just the outside but once you get on the inside it's different I'm not saying that everyone is bad and I'm not saying everyone is good but don't know if you heard of her her name is Jane Elliot she said on a blackeyed brown ey experiment on the opah show in 1992 the only thing necessary for the perpet perpetuation of evil is for the good people to do nothing I think it's a lot of good people and they're doing nothing you sleep the history under the rug and you just continue to go whether it's or you don't have room for that type of History it needs to happen because people don't know back Martin Luther King
054rolls apart Harry a t just scratch of the surface there's more that happen beneath them like it's a lot of stuff that need to be said to Kill a Mocking Bird what about other history something I was saddened tears in my eyes listening to Katie's story about how she was treated my daughter is the same way and her name is Katie she gets picked on all the time because she's not like everyone else She's mixed black and white is she confused she might be but she doesn't fit anywhere it's terrible for kids to come up that way and they don't have allies to go to whether it's at school or it's at home as a parent you're limited to what you can do you can go to the school and talk to whoever or what's
055going to be done Miss K said she'll figure out what she can do this email was sent to you guys March 20th 2020 I just thought you should know thank you [Applause] um hello so I am a student at FHS my name is sh pady and I live at 4188 W dve so I'm graduating and FHS has problems like as a student there it started from kindergarten I remember one night I asked my mom why I was getting certain comments and I was just told I had to ignore it because that's what's been happening since I was you know I have to ignore it because if I you know if I really push at it then other students it makes them uncomfortable you know I have to say oh that's a funny joke when they
056insult my culture and I have to laugh along with it because if I don't if I don't then I'm seen as the one who's wrong and so what's grown in FHS you don't see straight up discrimination like straight up latent racism directed at kids but it's ignorance it's just ignorance they don't know about other cultures the idea of being American means you have to whitewash yourself and that's something that that's never changed that's something that's never improved because it's the culture that's spread in Franklin it's the culture that's spread in the school because no one's available to talk about what's really happening you have to just stand there and watches if kids laugh at you you have to laugh with them you don't have a choice at that point because you can't make them uncomfortable
057if you're the minority and that's what's been pushed I think what Franklin has to do is start from a young age they have to introduce the idea that America is supposed to be the land of diversity and freedom and they have to be introduced to the idea of the other cultures of what other people have faced because of their skin color and because of what they've been forced to experience in a country that's honestly been built on discrimination on the removal of indigenous lands on segregation on the G Cog on black Cates you have to address all that from a young age it's not an uncomfortable topic it's part of our history if we can address George Washington and his Brilliance we can address his slaving slave owning side we can address what came before
058the Civil War what came after the Civil War what came before Martin Luther King we have to address what happened in America that's made us come to this point in history it's important to build that from the young age because there is no use in trying to change it now you have to introduce it to a new generation of kids you have to try and make change from the core of our system because it's something that's been built into America so please please thank you thank you hello um my name is Nadia s and I at Western whether we as students want to admit it or not a lot of what we learn in school is what we take into the rest of our lives learning about diversity and inclusivity can't just be pushed off
059into clubs or electives because otherwise only a small group of people will be exposed to it it needs to be implemented into our essential classes that everyone takes it's too important to be ignored and it's imperative for everyone to learn about it from this I want students to take that information and apply it into their lives to change their ignorant and closed-minded beliefs because ignorance becomes an issue when nothing is done to change it thank you thank you hello my name is Veronica EST I am NAIA just folks mom I have five beautiful children that attend Franklin High School or I attend Franklin schools for High School to in the elementary um I'm going to be a little bit verbose because as my kids know everything I say is a lesson or a lection so
060um a legacy is defined as the story of our life the things we did places we went goals we accomplished our failures and transgressions Left Behind to be remembered by and learned from it is the sum of them all not one piece individually so I asked who are we without our stories do we exist are we of value you did we make an impact in this world that we all share together will anything we did make a difference in our children about a year and a half ago my husband and the father of my beautiful children um came to uh well not this school the old school uh the Middle School to speak to my daughter's eighth grade class on immigration and citizenship they were learning about that and we were all elated to see
061that um he was being inter interviewed by students on the process and reasons for why his family uh chose to immigrate to this country uh while waiting for his next student and in the process um a member of the school board and this is what I'd like you guys to reflect on a member of the school board approached him and asked him um why it is that some immigrants feel that uh they have to say either uh bivan in his case he's from Bolivia I come from Mexican ancestors but was born and raised here from uh Bolivian Aman or Mexican ameran or indianamerican because that person's ancestors immigrated here as well but never felt the need to she this person stated it with a little bit of disdain so of course we're going to take
062it as we don't belong we don't feel welcome here and it's a story that is repeated a lot of times in our schools and what I find it's not the students that are to blame it is us the adults we need to create an environment where everybody is welcome and open to share their stories because it is in those stories and in those minute connections that we learn about each other that we can break bread together that we can respect one another if we don't talk about diversity if we don't include everybody where are we as a school where are we as a community we cannot keep talking about not bullying not doing this and scolding our children for this and that and not include racism and diversity in that conversation it is important and
063it begins with us and that's what I would like for you guys to take it's not somewhere far off it starts here with you guys and the curriculum that we teach in our schools and our children take home to their families thank you thank you my name is Jacob melanowski I live at 5684 Oakwood Street in Greendale I graduated from Greendale in 2016 was not planning on speaking here tonight uh but I wanted to touch on two very important things the first of which is engagement uh I'm so proud of all of the young people uh and other folks who spoke tonight and engage with the board this is a very scary thing for you all to do so I want to congratulate all of you for doing so and flip that engagement on its
064head on March 2nd I emailed every single member of this board uh as a candidate for public office to engage with one of resped Mike recogize Mike and I did not age we sat coffee in Greendale and talked about it for an hour that sort of Engagement goes on right across the street in Greendale that sort of Engagement is important uh and so I encourage you to engage with the young folks here who are trying to see a change in the schools that they care about the second thing I would like to do is preempt a concern I expect to hear here because I've heard it from board members before and that's that the state controls the curriculum you're allowed to teach or the State Testing is the reason you're not allowed to teach certain
065history subjects while that might be the case I would encourage you to engage with those state representatives who can make that change unfortunately uh state Senator David Craig and state representative Ken gronsky are not here tonight I don't expect them to engage with you on this issue but I will I am here my email address and personal phone number are on that card they're also on my website and if you go to March 2nd in your inbox you can respond to the email I sent you I would like to engage with you on this policy if you feel gated by the state of Wisconsin the state of Wisconsin should change for the people in this District that's what I'm doing and I'm running to represent I'm here to amplify the voices of students and parents
066and teachers and administrators alikee so I would encourage you not only to engage with them but to engage with the state of Wisconsin and don't use State Testing State funding as an excuse to do nothing and so I'd like to Echo that to the folks here tonight and for the record if you hear an excuse about State funding know that there could have been a conversation about it and there was not thank you thank you to those who are engaging and I encourage you to continue to do so thank you [Applause] hello my name is Susan Fernandez I live at 7712 Brierwood Drive in Franklin um I'm not unfamiliar to some of you I have been at school board meetings in the past I was not planning on speaking in fact my daughter probably hoped
067that I wasn't going to speak um and I really wasn't so I promise not to ramble and I promise um um not to go off on a tangent but I will the reason I that prompted me to get up um although he was a tough act to follow um was because of that lack of Engagement and maybe not in necessarily just engagement but action um the last time I believe one of the last times um I was here and spoke was about uh safety in our schools um and that was two years ago I believe probably then at that point that time um I had emailed and shared a lot of information three years prior I still a Franklin resident I have had three uh kids adults go through this school system I will say
068successfully um and it was hard for me to listen to Katie who my kids went to school with from kindergarten I knew her story and it wasn't until I was a 40-year-old adult I'm older than that now that I acknowledged what unconscious bias and white privilege is and to hear her story told and realize that I as an adult at that time with my kids going to school with her could not assist in any way shape or form was tough but as an adult who volunteered a ton of time in elementary schools middle schools high schools multiple clubs multiple programs nothing happens I have lost my filter I don't need the filter that I used to have when you had to play the political games with your kids in school and who's who and all
069that I don't have a filter anymore I honestly don't care I am embarrassed that I stand up and speak to no avail there is very little action I have had phone calls heated phone calls that result in nothing the amount that we sweep under the carpet whether it's the Post-it notes with black or black and white bubblers whether it's what happens at at basketball games it freaking happens acknowledge it provide the students what they want what they ask for I sat in that room in that ECC building where students came before you and asked for programs for AIDS to be a part of the change we are not doing enough you I'm sorry you are not doing enough and honestly people don't come to Schoolboard meetings because when you do come to Schoolboard meetings to
070try and engage nothing happens if this is not put on the agenda shame on you all [Applause] good afternoon everyone I'm Jaylen Smith 7830 South 66 Street that is my mother back there in the blue she came up here and spoke earlier and um being a young black man in a majority white school is not easy it's difficult to go to school where for me it's it's it's awkward I can say it's awkward to go into school and see a few black people here and there oh yo what's up man what's up man and I have to and it's it's I have to communicate with whites all the time my teachers my my counselors It's it's not easy it's awkward and then for the racist remarks people ask me hey yo do I get the
071N word pass trying to shake like no it's I think light needs to be shined on this and unfortunately I didn't come and write anything but I was motivated one here today to come up here and speak and at least give my heart and my tips like things like this to be a black man in the school I feel like more black people should be able to be in this school to come out here and speak to give their opinions to share their heart with you and how their school is me I want to attend the HBCU but I don't even have knowledge on that from the school I have to go and Google that everything that I want to know about my culture I have to go to Google I have to go to
072my mom or my grandmother I think more history on each and every culture needs to be shared every culture not just whites not just blacks even without this racism going on Black Culture needs to be shared every other culture needs to be shared everything needs to be shared because at the end of the day we are all humans to do the same thing survive repopulate and just keep going on with life and for some students in the school to not understand that that is B Ling to me it's it's it's like I can't even say it how do you not understand and you can just go in your life thinking that you're Superior One race is superior we are all equal if I wrote more I wish I could have more to say but that's
073all I have to say thank [Applause] you hello my name is Angelina I graduated in 2010 and what prompted me to come up today was really all of these young people telling their stories and the fact that this has been a complete failure of doing absolutely nothing since I was in school 10 years ago um I was tasked to plan our 10-year reunion and I got like so many comments from people saying they don't want to associate with each other and they don't want to talk to people cuz everyone a bunch of people are racist and they're posting things on social media and it just is really sad that this is still going on like after all this time and I read the story about posted notes over the bubblers in 2018 and it was
074it was really just sad that there was no disciplinary action that we were really aware of of what happened to those kids I feel like it was just swept under the rug and no one really talked about it and it was embarrassing to like be from Franklin knowing that that was still going on um and so I guess I'm just wondering like what actions are taken for when students are racist towards one another is it just a simple like slap on the wrist and they go on with their day or I feel like there should be something more severe when people act this way because it's just absolutely unacceptable should be expulsion there should be zero tolerance for this I feel like it needs to be taught early on there's so many things I feel
075like I want to say but I I think the main thing is we need racial education in our schools we did not learn anything anything in 2010 we're still not learning anything in 2020 I think now is the time to be on the right side of history and go the direction that we're going which is we're in a country a diverse country filled with people of different cultures and when you go out and explore the rest of the world and see these different Cults and live in them you start to understand that it's really important so I hope you guys will do something and I hope all the stories you heard today will make change actually happen so thank you thank you [Applause] I know I already spoke but I'm here to share a story
076from Julia Dan who is a 2021 graduate of FHS she wrote hi my name is Julia Dan and I'm going to be a junior at FHS before I went to Franklin Public Schools in fourth grade I truly didn't believe that racism existed in a place like School a place where I'm supposed to feel safe it didn't get too bad until I entered high school high school's already hard enough but one thing I don't need is to be judged so so blatantly just because of my skin color it all started in history class I will never forget that history class we were working on a group project when one of the boys sitting at a nearby table tried to guess my ethnicity so what are you are you half black half white he asked me I
077was shocked but at first I thought he was just curious I'm Puerto Rican I responded proudly this wasn't the end of him later that night he continuously harassed me in a group chat with my other friends he called me racial slurs and other hurtful names I was unsettled that night and my parents took notice right away I showed them the text messages and they told me what he was doing was not okay we addressed it to the school I thought that they would made it better instead they made it quite worse the next day he was still in that history class in fact he seemed to act as if the whole situation was a joke he threatened me and my brother this was also brought to the high school's attention long story short I was
078told he would be punished and he would be moved out of my classes this didn't make me feel better I still looked at him and his friends in the hall I still felt out of place at school the next year he was my grade's Powderpuff coach I immediately scheduled a meeting with my athletic director he told me that the boy simply just made a mistake and that he learned his lesson and that I should move on that year I wasn't able to do Powderpuff he was they chose the bully over the victim this has been the story of my life at FHS I find myself counting down the days until I finally get to leave I will leave behind a school where I hear the n-word being said in the hall I will leave behind
079a school where a teacher referred to me as quote the little Mexican girl I will leave behind a school where I never felt safe these are Julia's words and this story happened this past school year and I know a year ago I stood before you um pleading you to reinstate the empowered women club and while that was swept under the rug due to policy Provisions or whatever Mr Volo said about that we should have a group like that that is a place where people can talk about these types of issues outside of class those types of forums are important for students and I got the basic argument oh that was ended there was a um powered men club that wanted to begin boys will be boys and maybe some of you are thinking oh these
080are just some rotten apples saying bad things kids will be kids but no kids need to be held accountable this District needs to be held accountable thank you thank you is there any other community comment any other comment hearing none um I'll close the community comment and um I would like to allow Dr Miller to um respond on behalf of the district District uh we did receive um the um call to action on Monday and that gave an opportunity for a response so that's okay hopefully you can hear me okay thank you so I want to thank you sincerely for your feedback today heard every single word you said and you did a very very good job of conveying your thoughts and feelings and requests so thank you for that and thank you for sharing
081your passion for improving our schools and more importantly thank you for sharing your passion for improving The Human Condition I'm proud to been a part of this district for the last 30 years and during that time I've witnessed Franklin become a community rich in diversity racially ethnically viability bisexuality across gend gender religion class and their intersections in our schools we currently have students who speak over 40 different languages as a school district we're privileged to be able to provide learning experiences in an environment that's greatly enhanced by this diversity I'm also proud to share that Franklin Public Schools has five core values that support the work we do on behalf of students these core values are Equity personal growth Innovation stewardship and well-being the five values were developed in 2018 by a representative group of
08244 stakeholders including the Board of Education staff students and community members who focused on three key questions who are we where are we and where are we going and there's some individuals in this room today who were part of that group each value is tied to a definition that supports our district coherence plan we believe that these core values must ground the educ educational experience of students in order for them to achieve their highest levels of personal Excellence during the first seven months of this past school year we have focused our attention on our core value of equity Equity goes across all other core values it's ongoing never ending and at the core of who we are as a district we Define equity as ensuring access to Opportunities and resources for all individuals more specifically
083it means everyone is included all means all everyone's treated respectfully students and staff have access to what they need to succeed we meet students and staff where they are at and achievement gaps are not acceptable this work is so important to us that we have partnered with integrated comprehensive systems for Equity or ICS to develop a multi-year plan IC is a framework work and process to assist school districts from moving from one that understands equality to one that works to create Equity through dismantling centuries of inequitable practices we have learned that the system needs to change to ensure that no one student or family feels marginalized whether that individual or family feels or is marginalized by race ethnicity gender language sexuality socioeconomic status or ability there are four cornerstones of this work which include focusing
084on Equity aligning staff and students transforming teaching and learning and leveraging funding and policy if You' like more information about the four cornerstones of our Equity work just Google city.org we set out to do this very important work by first ensuring that the adults in our system understand the difference between expecting equality and working to dismantle educational inequities throughout the 2019 and 20 school year every employee of Franklin Public Schools including Food Service bus drivers custodians office Personnel support staff administrators and teachers and this board of education participated in ongoing professional development to learn about the history of marginalization Shifting our thinking from deficit base to asset base and identity development our work was cut short due to covid-19 but when we return in fall all employees will pick up where we left off learning
085about the research related to equity and seeing the results of our own Equity audit we will also be establishing our equity non-negotiables for Franklin Public Schools next fall these Equity non-negotiables will be used to set policy and operationalize equity in our classrooms and schools they will drive how the curriculum is written and how we approach meeting the needs of each and every student we know that institutions that dismantle inequities across identities increase the success of all students academically emotionally and behaviorally all of this is just the beginning our multi-year plan to focus on our core value of equity includes deepening our learning and making changes to the system in order to ensure a culture culture of respect that allows us to give every student what they need we know that doing this work requires that
086we all have a better understanding of our own beliefs and the beliefs of others as a superintendent I was able to meet with the students from the high school and the Multicultural Club on two occasions this past school year to learn more about the student perspective during those two meetings I learned that our students want to talk about inequities they don't want our teachers to avoid this topic I sincerely respect that feedback and believe that our Equity professional development is what will help our staff feel confident in their ability to have these conversations with students I had a third meeting scheduled for the lgbtq in March but unfortunately that didn't happen due to the pandemic I personally look forward to continuing to meet with students to learn more about how we can improve our equity
087work together in closing I believe we are all called to action to ensure that Equity exists in our schools but we must choose to act in a way that will have a lasting impact it will never work to tell another person to feel differently what matters is how the system operates to ensure that in our schools all means all thank you thank you again for making your voice heard and advocating for all students I look forward to hearing more and continuing to leave for Equity thank you again for coming thank you Dr Miller and thank you all for your testimonies and your comment um we all listened administrators listen um and we'll go from here thank you our next agenda item is consent agenda um would any board member like to remove an item from
088the consent agenda hearing none I'm looking for a motion to approve the consent agenda motion by Mr gamble is there a second second by Mr sprag all those in favor of approving the consent agenda say I I oos motion [Music] carries uh School Board announcements does any board member have a board announcement I just want to let the board know that um I don't know if anyone is busy tomorrow at 1:00 but there's a uh the National School Board Association has announced that there's a free webinar available for school board members on um questions school board members might want to ask about returning to school topics include Financial considerations summer needs and addressing the digital divide and this is a national perspective on it um if you're interested um I'll just send out an email
089tonight so that you can register tonight but it's free and it's a national perspective so it's an hour long in case you're interested um Schoolboard calendar item 7 we have a regular Board of Education meeting Wednesday July 8th 2020 uh at the education and Community Center at 6:00 p.m. regular Board of Education meeting August 19th 2020 at 5:30 p.m. at the education and Community Center followed by our annual meeting of the electors August 19th 2020 at the education and Community Center at 6:00 p.m. um Dr Miller are we planning on possibly moving the annual meeting here or do you think our meetings might still be in the ECC or we're still considering that yeah we're still consider it okay thank you and then um item eight our district administrator update Dr Miller okay hopefully it's
090not buzzing too much so just a few things I was going to share tonight with everyone um summer school started isn't that exciting today was the first day of summer school for our high school students um we of course are doing virtual summer school um we have uh 86 students registered uh for math English biology and or chemistry so that was the latest number that I received from Dr reuer um we will begin Elementary virtual summer school on July 6th all the summer school ends July 24th after the elementary we have 249 students signed up and 179 Middle School St students signed up uh we're offering uh 27 different enrichment classes uh courses K8 oh let's just turn that off all right here we go I had to get the microphone didn't work hopefully all
091right so we're our laptop we had 27 enrichment courses K8 um multiple uh sections of math and reading um and exploratory classes like about about the ocean and the world and the country so um just summer school's on its way um the other major thing that's underwe do you have a question yes what is what is you said 80 something 249 and 179 were the numbers what is the normal is that normal or is that less or more compared to previous years good question um I think if we we think back to um credit recovery that's what the high school is um we're standing kind of close to where we've been in the past um we had students it's optional um to sign up for we highly recommend our counselors and High School administration worked
092with um students this second semester as well as from first semester who were credit deficient um to sign up but given that it's in a virtual environment there was some mixed review on signing up but our numbers are higher than we expected which is a good sign that students are engaging so they want to be on track for grad uation the um two what did I say 249 at elementary is quite a bit lower than what we would have if we had uh in person summer school with kids same way with Middle School yes we we usually cap out at the elementary at over 500 because of space confinements um we had we had a good response rate of over a thousand parents responding to our summer school survey and based on that we ran
093um the sections we did and we got what we got from the sample we're still very very proud that that many of families and students want to engage in a virtual environment which is something unique for summer school as well as school this past spring um the other thing we're spending a lot of time doing of course is talking about um how to return to school and fall it is our intent to bring the children back unless for some reason we'd be prohibited from doing that because of a large spread of Co but right now we are we are planning on um returning to school in Fall um and that was communicated with families and staff last week um next Wednesday we intend to uh send a survey to our families to gather some information
094about their experience uh in the virtual environment and to ask some questions about um how they feel about the social distancing um possibilities that we're thinking about um getting some feedback from them around that and their level of comfort with uh that um I just found out um that the DPI has issued to all the schools in the state of Wisconsin enough masks for every child in the state to wear a mask to school and um they have also issued uh thermometers certainly not enough thermometers that we would have one for every teacher to be taking every child's temperature but um there were I believe 19 thermometers that were were allocated for our school district for our use I would presume in their health rooms is that infared thet you know I didn't it said
095thermal so yeah so um that was new news um and then on Monday we'll hear from um the Department of Public Instruction regarding their guidelines for returning to school I'm hearing it's about an 80 page document uh has a large checklist they're using the word guidelines but really they're more um like considerations for school districts um so we're looking forward to seeing those on Monday and um pairing those with um what we have in our mind in terms of our plan and then also working with um our nurses and Courtney Dave over at the Franklin Health Department on our plan so a lot of work going going on about with with the back to school planning and then just finally um tonight um you'll hear and see uh the first draft of our 2020 21
096budget um as a result of the impact of the virus on our economy uh the budget is based on a zero increase per student um uh in the State uh Revenue limit so um you will see that shortly and because we've responsibly um have balanced our budget over time you're going to hear that we're planning to continue to provide all of our quality educational programs for our students next year so Mr mser will convey in his overview this evening how this budget will allow us to do that so there's just a few highlights from you this evening thank you any questions thank you Dr noan okay uh we'll move on to uh item nine reports presentation and other Schoolboard business 9A the cesa one contract for 2020 21 Dr Miller the contract that we engage
097with cisa in annually um the the larger costs you'll see are related to our seats in alternative uh in the alternative setting for some of our students as well as uh Personnel needs so without getting into the specifics of that um this contract's pretty similar to previous contracts if Miss Cody has anything to add um she would uh be able to answer any questions you might have about what we are Contracting with cisa for is this oh it's on yes I was the one to have to say as a sign um I really don't know I have to back at our previous years do you know Jen I can I can look I don't have that on at my fingertips if you look however at the items um there aren't really any new items in
098there that we haven't been contracting for before so correct and the the seats at the alternative schools have not increased those contracts those green ments have continued to be consistent as well uh I'm looking for a motion to approve the cesa1 contract for 2020 21 do I hear that motion motion by Mrs Larson is there a second second by Mr gamble any discussion it's not hard to look that Blaster up just by Googling even right now if you wanted to meeting if one of the administrators wanted to went down $5,000 yeah it went down 5,000 okay so that depends on what services we're taking this year compared to last year because I know cesa1 did raise fees um by a small percentage on some of the items um but like project success and turning point
099which are main costs there um those are for dis students with disabilities correct from what I um of them are project success alternative program for students with disabilities in 9 through 12 and Turning Point Elementary program for students with emotional and behavioral related disabilities grades K through 8 and where are those Programs located I'm sorry Linda where are the programs located project of success and um we they're at we have a couple of different having problems um the three of you move closer who the culprit yeah microphone yeah it's yeah no kidding um so we do have a Consortium with um we're working with self Milwaukee and Oak Creek and so one is South Milwaukee one is um there's another site out in um again as part of our cisa the cisa network I'm trying
100to see what else is on here that me um those are really the only offsite listed here so they move around they loation discuss all those in favor say I I oppose motion car it 9 Thea agreement for 20202 Dr Miller so we've been a part of this organization for some time now and really become far more active actually as members and um this is an organization of board members and superintendents who work to um advocate for Education through influencing legislation so um I'm currently serving on the executive board for um s swsa and I believe we benefit from our membership greatly looking for a motion to approve thews for 20202 we hear that motion sove by item the approval of the 202 Board of Education meeting dat um you find a list of thees
101in your packet um just to let you know the in January thec convention is for january2 and 22 will no I think that the dates pair pretty well with the dates that we've had this year for meetings okay I'll look for a motion to approve the 202 202 Board of Education meeting dat hear that motion I want to ask Mr um drer just mentioned I we didn't get to the budg yet next the prect of or I'm okay with the way it is I think we'll have we'll have the information we have at that point and we'll be able to present the first draft of the budget okay we could always add a date we could add a date yes but and I understand but we would know that prior to June so we could
102I mean we may know that in May or whatever and then add a date in June thinks we need might that I think we can see how things are going all time there may be information there may not be information and then we'll go on the best that we can do at that point and then maybe it's later in the year that we need to look at it more closely all I it okay um I think you already got some background terms to why and us having this additional request is from a student our math last year that's why's inate any so the only state statute is the've offices and that contct yes and it's one student have three typically have have one two three applications you have one student to apply to the budget
103document is in board docs for you um tonight I'll go over um the highlights and introduce the budget it's the first draft of the budget we'll have the second draft in August at the annual meeting and then the final draft is in October after the state let us know what we have for Aid and know our student count you'll have three weeks to read through the budget and send any questions we have and culmination of everything you've heard at the board meetings about the programs we're going to offer the Staffing report all of that is contained in the budget um couple of things uh enrollment is important because it's part of the revenue limit and we estimated that we would 10 students this year another change is the change in benefits where we bid out
104our health dental and vision insurance and we had a decline of 5.6% in the health and dental and 5.9 in the vision perance saving some money there on page seven we have a new section never thought of putting a section on covid-19 related budget information before but it seemed appropriate this year uh I kind of go over the effects of the pandemic both on 20192 and 2021 so in 1920 we had lost revenue of about $40,000 main parking fees and Athletics field trips we also learned that school software is made to take these it's not made to get these back so it's it's a very difficult process to go through but we have to go through it because people didn't get what they paid for and needed to refund those so it's of and I'm
105hoping they do some work on their software in case we run into this again under School Finance and State Aid We're in the second year or starting the second year of the the vium for the state and the state had put in there that we would get $179 more per student in the revenue limit as well as an increase in special education funding to 30% and at this point the state has had at least to this the economy turns around and get again some of that could beated but they have lost quite a bit of Revenue and they guaranteed that we would get all of our money for 1920 not necessarily so for 2021 so there really isn't any information on whether they would possibly make an adjustment in 2021 or whether they would adjust
106in the next bium and we really have to redo the entire budget anyway so we looked at three scenarios for the budget the existing scenario law $179 increase a zero increase and a $50 student L the budget is built on the Zero increase although there num there it would be if we lost 50 we got 179 I think uh another thing is additional revenue from the federal government in the cares act we're estimated to receive about $282,000 the process they used goes through Title One although the funds are not Title One funds can be used more broadly than that so we're working on that process now to find out how how that will work exactly uh additional expenses included in the budget we have about $300,000 worth of additional expenses due to covid-19 for next
107year but we aren't done with our planning yet for bringing students back to school and I'm positive there will be additional cost in Staffing materials to do that we just don't have exact plans yet we we revise the budget to reflect that and that will be in the October version of the budget I have fund balance listed um because we worked hard over a long period of time to build that and one of the points in our fund balance policy is that uh it's made for unanticipated expenditures and unrealized revenues and it seems like covid-19 is the biggest not getting the revenue a lot of money situation that we face so um we would we would be able to use fund balance with a unon that for a year or so and so that we
108can keep going and keep giving the students the education that know that they need while kind of writing it out we get to the other side Jim yeah you mention you're saying the expense savings back on page 7 47800 plus you're saying there's 282,000 will be getting from the federal government that's $750,000 um even if we lose the you know the worst case scenario minus $50 per 216,000 we're still doing okay then say even if we have an additional $300,000 in expenses we're still okay that's $500,000 so we're still plus 250 we're we're still okay 300 could turn into 600 by the time we're done and we don't know how much the state will take away from this because we they spend most of their extra money on on schools but we're preparing for what
109we think might happen um and if it didn't work out we could lean on our fund balance but you're right we're in an excellent position to take care of just right yeah exactly uh on page nine we have an expense graph that shows oddly enough that we spend most of our money on staff for Education not surprising to anyone 75.3% and 18% on purchase Services other supplies and so forth is 6.7% on the revenue side uh there's a graph the uh the green color is the local tax revenue Federal a and the red is the local non tax revenue the green and the blue pretty much entirely make up the revenue limit and it's dictated by the size of that part of the gra if that gets larger the tax L goes down if it
110get smaller the tax get larger to make up for the difference now looking at tax implications we're looking at a 1% increase in the tax levy for next year and that includ fully funding uh our education for children uh it would include funds to De about 1 million doll in longterm debt we're also looking at refinancing we have an opportunity coming up in November anding rates are still favorable we could save probably over $500,000 so we're looking at doing that as well Pro rate my head but I get it isn't going down as much as you would think but it only take thinkal at least at that could uh so the estimated property tax implication for every $100,000 of assessed value would go up $157 is what we're estimating at this point and of course
111these are estimates um nothing's been determin in the state we don't know the number of students and of course the UE the pmic St makes it even more iy on the next page we've got a tax rate graph it shows over the last five years we've averaged 1.22% increase in in the taxes and then we have the budget adoption document and this is the one that the board votes on and adopts that would be in July uh you'll notice that fund 60 and 72 have been removed um the governmental Accounting Standards indicated that the administra had kind of a hand in working with Student Activities scholarships they couldn't be in those funds and they wanted to move so we' moved them to F 21 special Revenue fund for donations um which biggest change there is
112that all of the checks and paperwork have toled by Services Department issued by oper Department we have to comply with this and this is really the way to do it we were given a year r period to extend next year because of theic we implenting at the end of this year so we have completely done so I will uh I will let you this as enough ANW we would find out very soon if they were following the Open Enrollment regular process but they have the opportunity based on what they're losing is to leave anytime during the summer so we would might SCH starts but really with everything that's going on and the ability we're building to go virtual or be here hoping that there isn't a lot of that that goes on what would the
113scenario be if there was no tax increase how that have L part of part of the tax levy is paying off some of our longterm debt early and getting rid it so any of the interest associated with that over the next years P off continue to p I've been picked off of our public network I don't know if we're going pay the bill or again this year since fun 46 is is now operating we're able to be project out of it we have scheduled the project at Pleasant View make the office more secure and have all visitors go through the office move it to the front of the building we were going to make another depit from fun 10 into Fun 46 that would cover that as well provide some extra money project for the
114future so we're looking to move $2 million from fun 10 to fun 46 uh for that purpose and we would make that expenditure need to make it by the end of July so Jim is that primarily the results of the Curr well we're taking it out of fund down essentially to do that but if if we have more than that left at the beginning the end of this year then it would be so is that refle in the budget you just presented to us I that is that um part of the budget you just presented to us that I do have the million it's not part of the expenses of the budget 2019 have to do this Mr Mr G hi hi I I'm try and I to BAS on 1 ourl tonight so tonight
115Cody and I are going to share what that look like quickly able to work with our school ad Department leers ad ass Elementary Time 4 hours toidentify course of action for the next two weeks um then remainder of the school year essential Learning Place and how we going to that being a one to1 school district of grades 5 able EnV for our students and we were able TOS started students Eng able to then carefully CRA make we lach students envir throughout the process we identify essential learning synchronous Prov that kind of was in the nutshell how cascaded from the high school level down level 4K level challeng this our firsty teers work conect Global around whatp c yeah so working alongside um teaching and learning um our student services staff had quite a quite a
116big job um to meet the academic needs of students but then also to continue um to provide services in all of those additional areas like social emotional learning um and different therapies and things like that so when you first of all um when it came to Student Services provided through IEPs we did continue to um provide those services to the fullest extent possible within that virtual environment so again as Dr reuer mentioned we really had to focus on what was essential for our students when it came to the day-to-day learning as well as um helping them continue to work work towards their IEP goals um so we um came together and really took a look at that um we met quite often and really from from the get-go um teachers made every effort they could
117to um continue to meet with students on a regular basis another piece that was really critical to This was um the communication and collaboration with families so we talked a lot about um um looking at the goals and looking at what students needed and then communicating that upfront with families and then making sure that they were on board and they were clear with how we were going to be providing those Services because it it does look different um in a virtual setting um and then that ongoing communication throughout and then really um thinking about what would be next steps for students you know planning forward so um we were I think pretty successful I was really proud of the work that student services um cross categorical teachers did as well as our therapist um so
118we had the learning side and then also a big piece of special ed is compliance so um again we worked regularly with the um building level staff as well as District just to make sure that people were very clear on um what those next steps were when it came to to um continuing with um services with conducting meetings um IEP meetings continuing with evaluations so there were a lot of pieces that we had to work through locally as as additional guidance came from the state level as well as um the federal level um so that was uh special ed and again we were looking at working with families at Early Childhood all the way up through you know 21 um so it was interesting to talk with te because they were very excited about the
119Partnerships that they um developed with families because just like Dr ruer was talking about 4K you know we we have children again who are receiving services in early childhood and so it was really a matter of working with the families to help them um work with their own children and what to look for and um so there were um again those relationships are really critical um and helping parents work with their children also when it came to providing services for our students identified um as English language Learners again um those teachers continue to work collaboratively with classroom teachers um we worked hard to connect with families provide additional interpreters as needed um and just to again continue with the language development and then support them with their academics and finally when it came to students
120who were receiving intervention ions in academic areas students who were receiving the the um tier three interventions which would be the highest level um those students did continue to receive daily um intervention with the interventionist and again those interventionists worked alongside um the teaching and learning um the math and literacy Specialists as well to identify effective ways to deliver those and then we also had students who do receive Social social emotional support um and interventions so those did continue as well with our school psychologists um and counselors um so we really learned a lot and clarified what was really important and what was effective as we were delivering all of these um supports for students I think as what learn from a support standpoint at scho Department dep the same work was done at the
121K level by our ly and coaches and really we have PL on exper issue put responsive TOS of our staff and our community days that happen on Wednesday wasn't day off it new instruction and be responsive whether it be students design instruction um through I or intervention or teachers reaching out and kids once Che them Che a piece that we got really positive feedback right away from families em as well another thing that we really thought about was um how what we learn during this time from a standpoint of collaboration there was a great sense of Ury right education sh we learned that our collaboration more effective came together that we want to replicate so one of the areas that was interesting with the Encore areas how you do um so we we made the
122decision early on at the ele level that capacity and that parents were doing at home to suspend social St and science curriculum and focus on of Reading Writing and Ma the still pushed up content around that so we know that as support sure um so we um we we deployed our support staff um just really based on student need so we worked with um again at the building level checked in with the all of the principes who worked with their teachers um and they looked back at some of the the information that they had on students and um developed a bit a a system to gather in input from teachers on how students were progressing and then based on that input um we really developed a a a um schedule for our support staff then
123to be able to connect um with students who needed that extra support so um we um set them up with the technology gave them a bit of training um we had some of our teachers modeled some um specific strategies that were necessary to support students effectively through the virtual environment so um they again were really an important part of helping our students move forward so we know that based on our our participation rates look at the number of students that track Google our Google platform analytics how many perent students inning moding Rec videos their teachers responding to provided like as as percentages at that7 in this Environ we did learn a lot through this whether it is in the face set they have like a different board platform for every report tonight that would cumbersome
124and child that so we're working out a plan around how we Implement that forward as well learned a lot about Miss social aspect of school and that we have shut down ofand we have a plan in place that would allow for more virtual live teaching so that there's that interaction not only with the teacher and the student but the students students important and we would also looked about how we can build a strong comprehensive how do weer so it's noty how do arts as well as sence from what we learned we understood from our teacher capacity and home capacity we have a virtual plan that is much more robust that would be again worst scenario our next steps as school district Dr to this update we will be deoy a survey next week that geted
125from parents on their reflection around virtual environment theyve experience we be able to look at that data that help some of the things that weid out how we that work better and then we're also looking to see back one area we're still we pursuing and understanding how we do this is how we can kids together virtually over summer schent groups you know we have many clubs and activities at high school groups of kids that we can run focus group student experience their midle school kids and elementary kids run focus group SAR toess and then we are develop surve our what their needs are if we were to ever back to so we learned a lot can be always better and the last 51 days what happened with the in school clinics did they just the
126cing clinics they still happen I oh I'm sorry I'm having such a difficult time hearing here I apologize you you were asking about the clinic is that correct yes um they did continue to provide services for families um throughout they just um they offered they did offer some virtual sessions as well as meetings you know in their local office if they could I'm also curious about what the high school day look like because um could students sign any time or did they have to show up at the class you know El this period and had to be online at that time how did the high school day look like I'm really curious about you know we always hear about high school starts way too early in the morning did we have an impact if kids
127son could do it whenever they wanted to did they do better what happened with I think it's hard to gauge if kids did better because the variables of starting high school at 9:00 B starting virtually um teachers had office hour at the high school level so the day didn't look like5 just like it didn't the exact like that at the middle Elementary level there was probably upwards from our understanding we ran full on courses all classes high level so it wasn't maybe like I have to be on at 725 for my first one block class there was pushed out content and then there were office hours for kids connect with teachers um back we didn't have a consistent platform at the schoolat and so the day didn't look like I'm sitting at my computer and
128oh the bell rang in my head and now I go to the next class it was here's my work for the day in toity and the independence level of the student with emphasis from their te you have to navigate how you this and similarly at the elementary level we had feedback from some parents who said I know that the learning is updated at 8:00 in the morning but I'm on conference calls my wife is on conference we're not going to get to it until Theon had toesy toage and but then those those B posts of teachers setting up time to meet with kids that was cons all the teaching was recorded essentially yes the majority of teaching was recorded videos and then there were pieces of one-onone or small teachers remediate or what started to
129transpire across the system Pockets at the middle school anded elementary orass meeting check in and hey let's look into everyone's life what's going on you know just the things we we take for granted the conversation that help engage kids same thing happened in offic used office staying hold everybody all of a sudden you were in your house and never seeing anybody for months of have I'll last of story about how she had to connect with a student at 5 6 o' at night that was the only time that work with student because the parents were still at work and she hads St and was taking care of them their and so that's that's a testament to our teaching staff be flexible beond or 3:00 SCH day okay to engage with help them and English element
130one story but think about the impact it was on all of us in our environment families at home but then you think about cations I guess I would hope that was one thing we learned is that flexibility is valuable when you talk about IEPs you always having a parent have to show up at school between s and three to meet for n they have jobs they have to get there yeah and that kind of flexibility I think should take that yeah yeah we talked about that too that very we will schedule our IEPs in a different way now given the virtual options we hope it will be um more accommodating for families I just and I wanted to say that we had were worried about good to see everybody again in person uh I think
131I'm gonna start with the mic and some feedback I'll turn off um the full report is in really did a nice job of segueing to this report back in the fall I had the opportunity to board and talk through goals the going right in terms of our related to our plan focus our work for the year and at that time iort to share with you our strategies for the year going since then we enough from our principl a couple of times in January as they shared their bu specific plans and talked about how they were taking all of those District level strategies Mak from end of January terms what what you know it's interesting despite work the last couple of months the things we were focused onay know first couple of pages up about page
132we affirm our Comm to our work community and just to remind you of goals that we set for the and some of the strategies that terms that um especially if we focus on the areas of Equitable and effective class construction collaboration use of practices uring our student staff and commun members highly engage and then identifying and addressing those opportunities to really throughout the year they're unex things come up make and so those things continue through through the last couple of months we didn't W from that in our school years with to operation that out eveno builds shut down of course along that Prof learning devel gr right developes team learning February we had professional development day and our staff engag workies including all our staff engag that February and then theut we had make some
133adjustments the way apprach profal development so professional development of theity shru sh sta staff our bu principles really took the opportunity to reflect on of grow synthesize some of the work and really learning grow stud but if it doesn't to change in practice then that's not right and so we need time points theend of a great opportunity for us to think about what do this how is my prti as based our lar staff Contin to engage as well during the shutdown our support staff aular basis engagement that gave us the opportunity for all of our staff to think what lessons we learn over the last couple of mons down engaging envir provid AUM for our staff right we talk about our capacity organiz to confront challenges to involve to adap to grow to on each
134other uh to kind of confront things that we would never I think wellou provided an unexpected valuable additionally as we kind of move through the report it's going to talk a little bit about our operations staff certainly I I reference our work around but beyond that our operations teams our departmental leaders Contin to focus on ways that we can collect better information about our impact and understanding how we focus on improv so in report a of surveys that developed over the this deplo in various departmental areas to some information about the impact of our work from an operation wal the system we're surve really transformed the way col terity surve weing here we transition that into the 4S amount of survey ever collected fromes response rates to our surveys internally externally that systemation we got
135from surve to balance itm we can that right inant imp and everything from Food Service programming Athletics and activities but we do need some more understand theine of that information we have surve to get Aid andm so in the term it gives us feed improv longm we'll build that into our improv process ands depoc you move to p TOS around the work right the goals we set's all the things we did learn about and look off us right and unfortunately the pmic p in that plan for us right if you take a look at our our main goals for the year many of them are going to stay in progress right and the reason for that is we just simply don't have the data we need or we had to we won't have another Administration
136survey until right from from a student learning standpoint engag you heard about Rob assment process we have information internal our were able to prior to theut results while we'll have Su OB virtually from home Bo to accomodate our students not in school have that information as well exam exam those all so federal government St governments stat add internal decisioned our teach staff students really focus on the transition theal Environ and additionally it's really hard to have a sec standarded exam when a ofion of that is additionally our go out now un consequence of that is it helps legislative efforts around oration dat that gives us some the last thing I would share is end ofs we are entering year three of a threeyear coherence plan and so as we build our annual scorecard for next
137year we expect it to look fa similar to right instru but at the end of the day we need be looking in the future and a refresh of that uh that'll actually start in the fall with a refresh of the education those of you that haveed on that in theast built an initial plan around employment and then when that years ran out re that annual basis uh as we're going to look to uh where we going next what's the next years of our community engagement around education so we're going to reild that plan and then that plan along our Equity plan safety plan right we all feed refresh that's to start and then we'll work forward through the spring to refresh the next not starting from scratch by any means right we have values Vision
138we have priority we have a lot of good work started around that antip last I share one areas that we're starting to look at is the way the plan is built now our goals are right to the point where we're looking at a specific point time data point as the SLE measure of whether or not making one of the things we' talked about is moving to a Das or array of metrics within our priority areas that will help us keep better track of the overall from AAR perspec we coup we might also might might we're looking at talking about instead of a singular data and we'll talk more about that as we process so I'll just end by for us hard our work terms I did attend the swsa virtual meeting yester morning um they
139did um talk about I guess there's like three areas was Return to return to school um voiced by many districts and superintendents and one was the budget they do expect that the states will have some adjustments to their budget although with the election it's probably not going to be until after that point and then it might not be an adjustment of this year but the following year also the other main concern is the spread of the virus I we all talk about we're going to go back but we don't know happening with that we have to pay really close attention to that and I know that dudy is working with our health department it's good to hear that we are in touch with that kind of data and then the other key area is the
140directives that may come from State agencies we don't know what they might be having us do and then you did mention the guidelines are coming out so um some other legislative issues that kind of came up among the discussion was some districts are questioning the delay of start date um I don't think that we're doing that but that is a concern out there probably it probably depends on the spread of the virus so there was concerned about that and also hours of instruction uh mentioned that that that also could be impacted some also talked about um having teachers come back and different um concerns about licensing teachers there there's a shortage so there's a lot of stuff on the radar and that's what I really group thissa because you get a lot of different perspectives
141and districts of our size and not our size and it's just a a good group to be part of and that's kind of what um we [Music] discussed able to get each other little and um and then she said her staff was really enthusiastic about attempting new things during virtual learning andoy and creative and their biggest reflection um was that they got to know their students better and um meeting one onone um really helped them with their social tional needs um and that was the biggest takeway and regarding um actually that's the end of that and then I met with um my um curul assessment with Dr and Dr and um they um we talked about the reports that um that Dr tonight and um as the board recalls back in November of 2019 we
142approved new courses for science cul curriculum and programming and courses for World Language and music and during that time uh with our during this time with our virtual en environment was able to build some products for that course development and they're ahead of their work and they have uh the entire element and science progaming built out half the middle school science is done the school Chang depil the team will continue to work throughout the summer either in person or virtual they have on all the course Dev we approve and then we heard about summer a little summer school um we had many of the same instructors at the high school for the rille summer school which is highly recommended for the credit recovery and then for the K8 a survey regarding moving forward was with
143virtual summer school sent out and they the district received um 12,50 responses and it was 5050 on WE and moving forward inaming the and eliminatory allev that children engaged 45es and then we will programing of course and follow the scho guidelin I want to thank um m and it a annual academic standard adoption will be July 8 2020 2 budget draft number one approval for July 8 2020 and then the 2020 2 back to school planning update for July 2020 thank you all very much than you