GBAPSD Board of Education Regular Meeting: March 23, 2026

001[upbeat music] (James) Thank you. Okay, so we had a five o'clock meeting this afternoon, so we're just gonna reconvene into open session. So welcome everybody to the March 23rd regular board meeting. We'll do the Pledge of Allegiance. - I Pledge Allegiance. to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. (James) Thank you. Lynn, will you read the mission statement please? (Lynn) We educate all students to be college, career and community ready, inspired to succeed in our diverse world. (James) Thank you. I'll read the land acknowledgement quickly. We, the members of the Green Bay Area Public School District recognize and honor the original inhabitants of Northeast Wisconsin. Our district lives, works and learns upon the ancestral homelands

002of the Menominee and Ho-Chunk nations and the current homeland of Oneida Nation. We acknowledge the 12 diverse and vibrant Wisconsin First Nations who have persevered here since before recorded time and continue to be integral parts of our community. We uphold our responsibility to repair relationships, initiate partnerships and stand with all First Nation communities. And with that, we'll go to an open forum and start with the Intra City Student Council Report. Please introduce yourself before you start. (Chanel) Chanel Leopold, Green Bay Preble. (Elsa) Elsa Wens, Green Bay East. (Elsa) For good news, East started our third trimester and before we ended our second trimester, National Honor Society had their final study-a-thon. Rhapsody Review was this past weekend, very successful. And before that, they went on tour to our elementary and middle schools and track season has

003started. And then for JDAL, they had their UWGB field trips, which they will do three times this school year to create better ties with UWGB. (Chanel) And then over at Preble this past week, we had an NHS and an choir had a bake sale. We had our night of jazz for our jazz bands. There's a track meet at UW Oshkosh. We had a choir concert and we finished cabaret this weekend, which was very successful. For Southwest, they hosted Packerland Powerhouse Choir Competition about I think two weeks ago now. They had a UW Stevens Point track meet. Their musical has been practicing for Little Woman and they are working on prom planning. (Elsa) For West, their musical went well. IB Club and National Honor Society are preparing for their kitty carnival. (Chanel) And then that's all

004for us. (James) Thank you. So we're gonna go to public forum and I'm gonna do things a little different tonight just to see if we can go through this efficiently. I'm gonna call up three people at a time. So be one person speaking, the next person will be ready. And then we'll have a third person kind of queued up. And then I'll just say the next name so that you'll know how to line up. So we'll start with Kelly Strickland and second we'll have Chris Marucci and then third Sandy Juneau. When you approach the mic, please give us your name and your address and then you'll have five minutes each. So we'll start with Kelly Strickland. Once, twice, Kelly, anyone? All right, so Steve, I'm sorry, Chris Mariucci, sorry. Sandy Juneau and then Giselle Paguero-Almonte,

005okay. (Chris) Hi there, my name is Chris Mariucci. I'm a resident of Green Bay at 801 South Roosevelt Street on the east side. I'm also the president of the performing arts parents group at East High School. I'm here today to discuss the cost cutting options released a number of weeks ago. Excuse me, mainly the fact that the Fine Arts Institute at East as well as the feeder programs at Washington and Webster are on the chopping block. My oldest is a sophomore at East High School enrolled in the visual arts strand of the Fine Arts Institute. You'll meet her in a little while. My youngest is in eighth grade at Washington Middle School and has been accepted into the theater strand for the 26-27 school year, and truly looks forward to honing her craft at the

006Institute. They both live and breathe the arts and everything they do. Both my children have been heavily involved in musicals since elementary school at Webster. The idea of the Institute could be cut is devastating. My oldest has gained confidence both inside the classroom and outside in the real world. She's been building her portfolio and her skills as she works her way through the program. This is a program that works much like a college major program to focus learning for the students involved in the arts. This program gives many extracurricular opportunities, including access to local professionals, experiences with the public, private lessons, and a real path to college. These students must build their portfolio, take specialized classes in their specific strand, and build their skills for their future all while taking their normal class load. Excuse

007me. It has been stated that the Institute, as well as other programs, are going through an audit to determine return on investment. I am curious how the board plans to show ROI on a school program such as this. This is focused education. Do you ask for ROI on the math or science departments? How do you show return on investment on self-esteem, confidence, or college acceptance? Is there going to be an ROI study? If there's going to be an ROI study in the Fine Arts Institute, then where is the ROI study on the football program? The baseball, tennis, golf. I was there for the initial discussion on the possibility of closing the Edison pool and a possible cost-cutting measure until the discussion turned to installing a new gymnasium in the existing space to the cost of

008over a million dollars. Doesn't seem like a budget reduction, even if there was money earmarked from a previous referendum. I fully understand these are difficult decisions and cuts do need to be made. One of my largest concerns is the fact that the arts has been targeted without discussion on many other money-intensive programs. If there are to be cuts, shouldn't there be a discussion of fair cuts across the board? There was a discussion on implementing a new science program and the costs involved while we discussed dismantling a program beloved the students involved. Starting by alumni donation, community funding, this program has stood the test of time through COVID and given amazing opportunities to over 750 students. East High School's graduation rate in 2025 was just over 84%. The Fine Arts Institute has seen a much higher

009graduation rate with over 94% graduating the program and 100% graduating high school. Studies have shown that arts education increases grades in both science and math. Nationwide, as of February 2025, Wisconsin ranked 48th in arts funding per capita at a measly 18 cents per. Our neighbor to the west, Minnesota, has that figure at $10.07 per capita. They are the number one in the nation. Students from multiple schools have expressed interest in the Fine Arts Institute and it can be seen as a student draw to a public school, something highly needed in this time of private school, vouchers, removing students from our public student body. I stand by public school. The money involved in the initial funding for the institute was an amazing investment in our students' future as well as in the arts and we need

010to be able to see that through. We also need to reach out to our state legislators as well to discuss this public school funding crisis across the state and I call on everyone else in this room to please do the same. There is a proposed budget surplus of over 2.5 billion with a B. Yet state Senate and Congress cannot agree with the governor on how to give some aid to the public schools and their budget deficits across the state. Green Bay Public Schools have not received the cost of living increase in 17 years. If we had, we would have seen millions more available in revenue this school year alone. The districts have not received the 42% reimbursement to special education funding that was promised in the state budget. To date, it's still set at 35%.

011This equates to over a $3 million shortfall in this school year's budget. Action is needed to ensure that we fund our public school system. I've written letters to our state representatives from our district as well as to the Assembly Education Committee and I have heard back from quite a few of them, especially the Democrats. And I hate to put it that way, but it is the truth. I have a personal email from Ahmad Rivera stating that Green Bay stands together and how he stands with our public school budget. So I encourage everyone in this room to do the same. Write letters, speak with your representatives and please make sure to get out and vote in local and state elections coming up both April and November. This is where we truly can make impactful changes in

012our public school budgets and truly make our voices heard. Pablo Picasso said, "Every child is an artist. "The problem is how to remain one once we grow up. "Please help us save our Fine Arts Institute." Thank you for your time. (James) Thank you. Okay, before you start speaking, I just wanna let you know, just so that we can stay on time, if you would just give me a 30 seconds so that we can just indicate as your time comes to the end. Okay. (Sandy) Sandy Juneau, 616 Dauphin Street, Green Bay. First of all, I'd like to thank the board for allowing me the opportunity to speak and share my thoughts. I'll be speaking specifically on John Dewey Academy of the Learning. I know there's been some talk about some changes happening there. And I do

013have a student that's currently attending JDAL. He absolutely loves it. He doesn't like missing school at all, even for a dentist appointment. So when you got a teenager that feels that way, you know something's rights going on in that school. He is on the spectrum, but so are some other kids with different kinds of learning disabilities at that school. They don't learn in a traditional mode as a lot of other children. And those that are on the spectrum and those that are economically disadvantaged, having special needs for learning, I mean, that's pretty much approximately 75% of that student population. They aren't gonna fit in your traditional high school. You'll be lost, many of them. And you'll be lucky if they make it to graduation. What do I like about JDAL, their campus? Has a relaxing

014atmosphere that's designed to reduce chaos. It has appropriate lighting, varying textures, and a general feeling of home. So kids are very comfortable there. The acoustics there are very good. They reduce noise and sound application that can cause distraction and kids not paying attention. So it's very comfortable. It's not crowded so that students feel that others are in their personal space because that's a big thing with people that are on the spectrum specifically. They have different ways of feeling and experiencing the world. So JDAL is a school where students realize that they are enough. They're not less than high achieving students and those falling out of the, failing out of the system. They feel comfortable there. So I would like to ask the board members to take time to visit JDAL and likewise attend an event

015night to observe how effectively taxpayer dollars are being spent and the impact it's having on that student population that might otherwise be underserved. So I ask that you please look at other ways to reduce the budget without compromising education for these students who have special needs or economically disadvantaged. Thank you. (James) Thank you. Before the next person speaks, just because this is agenda tonight, I do wanna clarify that the board is not taking on closing JDAL as a program. The conversation and the budget item would be a consolidation of physical locations. So just as a clarification. - Okay, valid. I appreciate it. Okay, so before Miselle starts, let's Sylas Hill. If you could be ready to speak and then third, Samantha Vanden Heuvel. (Yana) Hello, good evening. My name is Yana Paguero Almonte. (Risa) My

016name is Risa Paguero Almonte. (Yana) We're very honored to speak here tonight because it's a unique situation for us because my sisters and I actually have the privilege of being the first Fine Arts Institute students. With our talents, we were presented at numerous private parties and shared our music, skills, and experience as low-income immigrants to help raise funds for the Institute. Along with other talented students, we became the beginnings of a life-changing program. (Risa) We are saddened to learn that a program that was so monumental and played such a pivotal role in our lives as young artists and the lives of so many others is being put into question as to whether it deserves to exist. (Yana) Despite not graduating from the program due to, at the time, personal religious reasons, we were witnesses to

017the joy, excitement, drive, determination, and discipline the Institute brought to our fellow classmates. (Risa) Fast forward 10 years, and we are now successful musicians who write their own original music for albums and counting, both in English and in Spanish, and have performed at numerous prestigious stages internationally, including a jazz tour in Slovakia in partnership with Dr. Adam Gaines, the Jazz Director at UWGB, frequent collaborations with Kelly Strickland, I thought she was gonna be here, at the Widener Center, and holding numerous fundraisers in venues such as the Payne Arts Center, the Fox PAC, among many other accomplishments. This was, in many ways, largely due to the care and dedication and instruction of the teachers at the Green Bay Fine Arts Institute. (Yana) To take that away from potential future generations of artists would be a critical

018misstep for the community. What the fine arts needs is better representation, not a complete dismantling of a crucial program for our kids. We stand here in support, and we stand here as proof that the arts saves lives. We hope that we find creative solutions to keep this fine arts institute alive. Thank you. (James) Silas? Saying that correctly? (Samantha) Hi, I'm Samantha Vanden Heuvel. I live at 1490 Hastings Street. I'm the mother of two children who have the privilege of taking advantage of this program. My daughter is a sophomore at East High School, and has been in the program since her full attendance thus far. She has grown and flourished in her talents thanks to participation in the school's theater, choir, and dance programs, and that is just to name a few that exist. My son

019is a third grader at Webster Elementary in the same district. At 40 years old, I can still remember that I attended a school not unlike many high schools that was absolutely fixated on sports when it came to any variety of extracurriculars and student involvement in our neighborhood. This is where any kind of funding or concern went when attendance and staffing entered the conversation. If you weren't part of athletics, you were an outcast. You were unrecognized. Your social circle was impacted. The reality is that a majority of students that come through the sets of our average public school doors will not one, participate in athletics, two, qualify for athletics, or three, afford to participate. An even smaller percentage will actually secure an impactful scholarship or more so, form a lucrative professional career from this involvement. East

020High School has offered a program that changed precedent for the other students, offering opportunities for the kind of dreams that exist outside of athletics. That being again, the majority of our children. Our daughter said it best, "The arts are human. In our lives, they're young lives. They're learning the way around the world and this experience is growing human development and all its potential." My husband isn't speaking today, but as the father of our children, he shared with me an equally powerful statement. This coming from a man who was usually involved in athletics during his high school years. He stayed with these extracurriculars at times, lacking the desire and motivation to continue to be involved. Feeling more or less like this was his only option as a young man as a high school student in the

021public system. As an adult, both he and I were exposed to what our daughter and her classmates have accomplished since she's been part of this and it led to a significant regret, his words, that he did not get to do more to explore opportunities in these arts. It makes one wonder how many people grew up like this, wondering what generations are capable of but never had the chance to pursue in our city. Similarly, our nine-year-old son, our daughter's brother, is about as typical as you'd imagine when you think of an active young child, but no amount of time on media or otherwise compares to the look in his eyes when he sees his sister performing with her class. I think that if our friends and family can see the worth with this in our shared

022experiences, we don't understand how the people who control where the funding goes can't see the bigger picture. We are Titletown, USA, home of the Green Bay Packers, but this is also home to a larger community of passionate and underrepresented people that we love and cheer for and they are our children. Thank you. (James) Okay, so next, I'll have Jessica Hebert, and then after Jessica, Bill Tubbs, and then Silas Bartel. (Jessica) Good evening, my name is Jessica Hebert. I live at 530 Brook Ridge Street. Hello and thank you all for being here tonight. We, the members and supporters of the East High School Fine Arts Institute are here today in hopes of encouraging you to support the continued funding of our beloved program. As you know, the Fine Arts Institute has been a cherished program of

023the Green Bay East since it was established in September of 2011 with the music strand as the sole focus. In 2012, we added the Fine Arts Coordinator position. In 2013, we added the visual art strand, which was followed the next year with a literary art strand. A few years later in 2017, we added the theater art strand and most recently in 2022, we added the dance strand. While the program has had its ups and downs over the years, our program has continued to grow and flourish, not only within the walls of Green Bay East High School, but also out in the Green Bay community. In 15 years, the Fine Arts Institute has served 729 students with this year having 74 students participating in the program and 23 incoming students for the 26-27 school year. In

024a recent parent survey administered by the Fine Arts Institute staff, 96.2% of parents said that the Fine Arts Institute was a factor in their decision to enroll their students at East High School. 53.8% said that if the Institute did not exist, they would enroll their student in a different district. Just this year, each and every strand within the program has had great success with allowing students to explore their areas at deeper levels by connecting with community members who have experience within their specific fields. The following achievements and opportunities will culminate in our annual Festival of the Arts, which we are excited to be hosting at the Green Bay Botanical Gardens in April. The Theatre Strand has had two amazing experiences this school year. The first was an on-campus presentation by Broadway director, Devin Bryan, from

025the Acting Academy in New York City. The second was the eye-opening off-Broadway production of Hamilton, where students were not only able to watch the groundbreaking performance, but also meet backstage with the wonderful cast and crew members that made the show possible. The Literary Arts Strand also made leaps and bounds this year by connecting with two different published authors in the Green Bay community, one of which led a presentation on self-publishing. This set the stage for the other author, Wendy Wimmer, to not only speak on traditional publishing with our students, but also moved towards setting up future ELA class visits to present on every aspect of the writing experience. We're hopeful that this community connection will lead to our students at East High School participating in the Untitled Town events in the future. The Music Strand

026provided students with master classes from 12 different master teachers this year. Music students performed at the Christkindl Market on Broadway, and both vocal and instrumental jazz groups were able to attend jazz festivals all over the state. The Visual Arts Strand was able to have two field trips, one to the Hamilton Woodtite Museum and one to the Kohler Art Preserve, while also participating in the UWGB Student Residency. Finally, our dance strand was able to visit UW-Milwaukee to learn more about the fantastic dance opportunities provided at the university level. While our programs allow for the fine arts students to participate in the exciting educational opportunities, the program also has a broader impact on the school as a whole. For instance, just having the opportunity to participate in the program has encouraged many students to attend Green Bay

027East High School, who would not have otherwise come here. These students and their amazing achievements only increase the academic success seen by East High School. Thank you. (William) Good evening board and fellow citizens. My name is William Tubbs. I reside at 2523 Betty Court in Alaway. My oldest is a sophomore in the fine arts. My next kid is looking to be in the fine arts next year when he starts at East, and we'll see what my sixth grader does, but he may very well join that as well. To continue on with what Jessica said, while this is a success in itself, we also pride ourselves in the fact that we are able to provide, with the funding provided to this program, low-income students opportunities to participate in not only the experiences stated previously to the

028Institute students, but also opportunities to all East High students who benefit from the classes we are able to provide with the funding. For instance, our art department can provide supplies to their art students after their annual budget is depleted, and the funding allows for low-income students to participate in courses that they would otherwise have to pay for out of their own pockets, and likely not be able to afford. While other schools have lab fees for each and every art class, we're able to provide these classes free of charge. In the Institute staff administered survey referenced earlier, half of all the parents stated that they would not be able to enroll their children in the Institute if a tuition estimated at 500 a year were required. On that same point, if we were to lose Institute

029funding, many classes would not be able to be provided for our students such as fabric and textiles, theater production, intro to acting, acting, all of our dance classes at Washington Middle and East High School, design and mixed media, comparative arts, and Washington Middle School's world drumming class. Not only are these classes fun and engaging, they also provide students with an insight towards what their futures could hold if they choose to pursue future careers involving the fine arts. This could lead students who previously could not see themselves being able to pursue such futures due to financial disadvantages. From a study done by the National Endowment for the Arts, it was found that "teenagers and young adults of low socio-economic status who have a history of in-depth arts involvement show better academic outcomes than low socio-economic status

030youth who have less arts involvement. They earn better grades and demonstrate higher rates of college enrollment and attainment." Results have shown this achievement, even at the middle school level at Washington. They have some of the highest marks that they conclude is largely due to the integrated arts approach as well as with the piano violin program at Webster. Within this fine arts program, we incorporate the arts starting at the elementary level at Webster that integrates the arts in many ways, including their piano and violin lessons for second to fifth graders. This allows students to grow in their passions throughout their education so that by the time they reach East High, they have a firm understanding of the program and all the great opportunities it can provide them. While the data above shows many of the advantages

031of the program, we would also like to provide you with personal stories from students and parents who have benefited from this program. In the survey discussed previously, we gave parents an opportunity to answer the following prompts. One, describe how your student has benefited from their involvement in the Institute and two, share further information about the Institute and your student that you would like the community to know. In total, we have received 44 responses. The next person will go over a few of them. Thank you for your time, Board. (James) Before you start speaking, next will be Lorelei Mariucci and Johanna Galt. Johanna Galt. All right, go ahead. Thank you. (Silas) Okay. My name is Silas Bartel. I'm a sophomore at East High School and I'm currently enrolled in the Fine Arts Institute in the theater

032strand. As stated before, I have a few testimonies from parents who are parents of children who are future or current or any person of the Fine Arts Institute. My daughter, Amelia, is a product of this pathway. At age nine, music became her world. By sixth grade, she begged us to choose Washington Middle School specifically to prepare for the Institute at East High. I'll be honest, when I first told friends we were choosing Washington and East, they were shocked. They cited reputation, but we saw something else, a specialized environment where a student's passion for the arts is used at a level for their academic success. Amelia didn't just thrive, she soared. Even during the isolation of COVID, the Institute kept her anchored with visual lessons and socially distanced rehearsals. Over four years, she's held lead roles,

033won awards, and trained under professionals like Ezra Williams, but the Institute gave her more than just a stage. It gave her the discipline to maintain a 3.8 GPA, tackle multiple AP and dual credit courses, and serve in the National Honor Society and Student Council. Because she was engaged in the arts, she was engaged in her education. Amelia is now a sophomore at UW-Madison, majoring in international studies with certificates in theater and dance. Her best friend, Jenny Duarte Castillo, whom she met through the Institute, is also at Madison. Jenny's journey took her all the way to the Jimmy Awards in New York City, representing the entire city of Green Bay on a national stage. These are the success stories we are at risk of losing. Another testimony says, "My student is in the literary arts strand

034and has really grown their ability to write interesting works on topics they enjoy. Their grammar, creativity, and confidence has grown each year. I also see a better understanding of concepts. Right now, they have hit upon writing topics that they are actually considering trying to publish sometime in the future. This wouldn't have happened without the Fine Arts Program helping to fine-tune writing. Seeing success has inspired both his brothers to also join in different strands next year." Another testimony says, "With the early introduction to the Fine Arts at Webster as early as second grade, both of my kids have wanted to play more instruments and have learned more in school as it gives the other aspects to reference when encountering a problem. It teaches them more than music, rhythm, and dance. These kids in the program can

035give them a reason to want to be there." Another testimony says, "With the early introduction to the Fine Arts at Webster as early as second grade, both of my kids have wanted to play more instruments and have learned more in school as it gives other aspects to reference when encountering a problem. It teaches them more than music, rhythm, and dance. The kids in the program can give them a reason to want to be there." Another testimony says, "My daughter is in eighth grade and has been accepted into the theater strand. We choiced into Webster and kindergarten because the Arts Institute program threw three schools. She has been involved with theater since then. She is excited to have the opportunities to interact with local professionals and hone her craft. She does not want to start something

036and just not be able to finish it." The last testimony says, "My oldest has blossomed in her visual arts. The one-on-one time with instructors at the weekly after-school class is amazing. The opportunities to see so many museums, galleries, and other field trips have been amazing. She is also involved in vocal jazz, show choir, and the musical. This school's focus on the arts is the reason we got the kids into Webster and followed through Washington. My youngest starts the theater strand next year and is so excited to actually have a focus and a major on high school. There's truly nothing like the Institute. Thank you. (Lorelei) Hello, my name is Lorelei Mariucci. I am Chris Mariucci's daughter. I live at 801 South Roosevelt Street, Green Bay, and I am currently a sophomore at Green Bay East

037High School attending the Fine Arts program. I am a student that has choice in to Webster Elementary and attended Washington and East all for their Fine Arts programs. I will also be continuing to advocate for parents of the Fine Arts Institute reading their testimonies. My first testimony states that graduating from the Fine, graduating from the East Fine Arts Institute opened doors to auditions at the Chicago Unified College auditions. Having this experience on your acting resume shows college programs you are serious about the work. My graduate was accepted to eight pre-professional acting programs including nationally arranged conservatory programs. Another states, "My daughter was involved in show choir, musical, dance showcase, and played trumpet for all four years at East High School. She felt alive in the practicing and performing in these areas. She absolutely loved being

038on stage, dancing, singing, developing her own dances, as well as performing in the marching band. It brought out her confidence. She became a leader by her junior and senior year within the Arts Institute. I know her most valued memories are from being involved in the Fine Arts Institute." Another testimony states that, "As my daughter explained, she's smart, but music in the Fine Arts Institute are what make her human and will bring comfort and beauty to her life. She's struggling with health issues these past two school years, and Fine Arts participation has given her mental reason to get out of bed and go to school each day, rather than just switch to some online program." My 10th parent testimony states, "She's so busy after school doing part-time work, homework, and other life needs. If she wasn't

039able to play music at school, it would be hard for her to spend time on all of her instruments. Playing music has been her primary way to process through mental health concerns since she was able to. She continues to be functioning, continues to be a functioning honor student." Another states that, "All students at Webster learn instruments and have 60 minutes of lessons free charge. Most students would not get this otherwise. Many students who do not have excelled academically are discovering talents in the arts. Without this program, they would not have discovered that. My 12th parent testimony states that, "We choose to put our son in Webster to progress through the arts. Our family started in the arts. We graduated with bachelor's degree in theatrical design and tech. Musical performance production skills made an impact on

040our future career advancement." Another states that, "She is involved in GT and advanced classes since elementary school. We keep her in Washington to keep the feeder program for the arts institute. Even though they failed in her academics, no advanced classes were offered in sixth and seventh. They were offered a... No advanced classes were offered at Washington in her sixth and seventh grade, even though they were in elementary school. Now this year she starts her day at East for ELA and math, then walks to Washington to finish her classes. We would probably have sent her to another school if it weren't for arts opportunities that we were promised at East. Now they look to take away the institute as well. Another slap in the face. Multiple other parent testimonies say the following thing, that our students

041thrive through the Fine Arts Institute. They not only develop their fine arts skills, but they've also found their people. We are grateful for your time and consideration and we implore you to consider all the information provided to you tonight and hope that you will vote to keep this program funded for the benefits of our students and the community. Thank you. (Johanna) Hi, my name is Johanna and I live at 1426 South Jackson Street in Allouez. And I am an alumni of the Fine Arts Program. I'm a sophomore at UW-Milwaukee and I'm majoring in art education, which I was inspired to do partially because of the Fine Arts Program. The program is just an amazing opportunity for any art student or any student interested in art like whatsoever. You can just go and do that and

042they just, it's just really cool. And there are a lot of like different teachers that show you different things that you can do with art. I learned a lot of new things in the art program and things that stuck with me to this day that I learned in the Fine Arts Program and also things that I wouldn't really do anymore, but are just really cool to know about that I didn't know about before. The program is also a community. So students have like a built-in community that they can go to that have interests with other students that they have interests that they share. So it's a built-in community. It also looks fantastic on a college application and it honestly has nothing but benefits for students. And basically if you care about the students of East

043High or the arts whatsoever, the Fine Arts Program deserves to be to exist and to be fully funded. Thank you for your time. Also, I think I may have signed up to talk twice. So if there's a jay goal in there, that is also me. So disregard that. (James) Thank you. Appreciate it. So before I call the next three people up, if you are a minor, you do not have to give your address when you come up to the mic. All right. Grace Kennedy will be next, then Sasha Peterson, then Jeff DeGrave. (Grace) Hello. My name is Grace Kennedy and I go to Green Bay East High School where I am currently enrolled in the Fine Arts Program. I am here with a short essay on why the Fine Arts are vital to our schools.

044Oh war, power, you blind and blur, the torn heart cries out in pain, but music and singing shall be my refuge and music and singing shall be my light. Earth Song, Frank Ticeli. Earth Song speaks of someone living in a world torn apart by war and suffering, but who still holds hope because of music, using it as a safe place for them to shelter through the hurt that the world has caused them. This song is a testament to the importance of fine art and how vital it is to have things such as music, theater, literature, dance and visual art in our world. Because when the world seems dark and bleak, that is when beauty and creativity are needed the most. The fine arts have been a huge part of my life. I came to Green

045Bay East High School for the Fine Arts Institute where I joined the visual arts strand, but soon realized that my true love was performing on stage. At East, I have been consumed by the arts, whether it's going to vocal jazz rehearsals and then heading to the auditorium for show choir or attending musical rehearsals that go until nine o'clock at night and then coming back the next day. Music and performing have become everything to me. I honestly spend more time in the choir room and auditorium than I do with my own family and the same goes for so many other people I know who have become some of my closest friends and honestly like a family to me. This happened only because of my truly wonderful, amazing choir teacher, Miss Tippins. She was always kind and

046friendly and made me feel so much more at home at East during the first month I was there. She was the one who gave me my first big role on stage in our production of The Little Mermaid and her kindness, encouragement, and patient instruction helped me to realize how much I loved performing for others, singing and dancing on the stage and seeing the crowd smiling faces in the house. This is what I live for now. I don't know what my life would be like without music, without theater, without all the friends that I've made throughout my arts career at East. Of course, I'm not the only one who has been positively impacted by the Institute. Several other people at East, teachers, students, and parents alike, have experienced the many joys that fine art has to

047give and the following are statements that I got from a few of them. My youngest is going into the theater arts strand next year and she's really taking it hard that she might only get one year at the arts institute as she put it. We're going to make sure that that won't happen. Chris Mariucci, East High Performing Arts Parent Network. I have seen the Fine Arts Institute be a wonderful opportunity for many East High students and alum. I believe that in saving the Fine Arts Institute you are choosing creativity and a heart over silencing and stagnation. The hallways of East High School beat to the vibrancy and community that the Fine Arts have created and I'll be sad for the day when there is no heartbeat or expression to brighten these halls when the Institute

048is gone. Katie Struts, East High Librarian. The Fine Arts Institute has helped me improve so much as a trumpet player and musician in general and I know I'm not the only one. I'd like the Fine Arts Institute to stay around so many more can take lessons in pursuing music. Janelle Tubbs, sophomore at East High. The Fine Arts have always been an integral part of a thriving community and East High School is no different. The imagination, creativity and drive that these students have is amazing and makes East a better, more welcoming place to work and learn. The Fine Arts Institute is a fantastic program that encourages students to think of the arts not only as an extracurricular activity but as a real pathway. The Fine Arts are vital. Lindsay Tippins, choir and musical director at East

049High School. So after hearing these stories I just have a few questions to ask of you. I wonder if you decide to cut the Fine Arts Institute from the district does this mean that the Michelangelo's and the Frida Kahlo's of this world are worthless to our schools? Does this mean that the Victor Hugo's and J.R.R. Tolkien's have contributed nothing to society? Does this mean that the Ludwig van Beethoven's and the Mozart's, the Shakespeare's and Anna Pavlov's, all of these wonderful artists and composers and dancers and writers who were told that what they loved was merely a frivolous pursuit worth nothing but who still managed to be remembered as some of the most influential people of their times and in history? Does this mean that they are now to be considered obsolete? If you decide to

050get rid of the funding for the Fine Arts Institute at East and the whole pathway from Webster onward this is what you will be saying to all of those young artists, dancers, singers and writers. While I do understand that decisions and cuts must be made, I do not understand why the arts must always be considered to go, one of the first things to go. Fine arts are the cornerstone of societies and cultures across the world. So please tell me this. Why are they always the primary item on the list for cuts such as these? Why must they always be taken away from us when they are so integral to our lives? Please consider these words before you make your final decision. Consider the consequences of your actions before doing anything. Before you decide whether to

051cut the Fine Arts Institute from our district. Before choosing whether you should steal something that is so precious to so many people away from them just because we need to save money. Humbly, I and so many others beg of you to spare our beloved institute from this fate that would rob us of what makes it unique compared to so many others in this district, state and country. Thank you. (Sasha) Hello, I'm Sasha Peterson. I live in Allouez. Oh, thank you. I live, oh wait, I'm so sorry. I live at 708 East Allouez Avenue. My favorite teacher at Green Bay East High School happens to be two the two teachers that run the visual arts strand. And their integral piece of my experience at the school, they have inspired me to go to the college that

052I want to go to. And they inspired me to go pursue art as a career even though the world seems not to really respect that at the moment. Why it's important for me to speak out for the Fine Arts Institute is because all of the young like minds and eyes that I used to be like one of them. I was a Webster Elementary student who sorry, would watch the Rhapsody performances and be completely inspired by their dedication and work that they put into a performance that is going to be displayed for other people to see. And it just, I didn't know that even existed. I became very obsessed with dance and music because of the tours that they did at Webster. And I begged my parents to go to East High School even though it

053wasn't really something they wanted me to do. The Fine Arts Institute was a big negotiation, I guess factor of my mom actually accepting me to be able to go to East High School. And my dad also helped me with that. The reason why I'm here is also to speak on my sister's behalf. She is a junior at East High School this year and next year she will be going to the Fine Arts Institute. And I really want her to be able to succeed in that program as I have a lot of the memories I have made in my school. My school pathway have been made through art and through connections that I only could create through a creative outlet such as this program has like offered. I really appreciate you guys letting us speak on

054this matter. Thank you. (James) Yeah before you start, after Jeff we have Charlie Barner and then Angela Aiella. Okay Jeff. (Jeff) Good evening I'm Jeff DeGrave, 1055 South Northview Road, Green Bay, Wisconsin. First I'd like to reflect on we lost a great number of our Green Bay schools. Jacqueline Fisher, she passed away she had been 40 years as a night maintenance manager and she was incredible. She was a person that truly cared not only about the staff but the students and just wanted to say her name. A bunch of eloquent speakers here that's incredible you can see the program is working just by the way they talk. Their program costs money. I am against cutting any of our stuff I've been advocating for this for six months that all students need to be treated fair,

055all students. My son he comes home sad, angry, frustrated, disappointed on a nightly basis. The other night he came home saddened because he found out that his e-sports room is going to be transformed into an art room. This is a room where they go, they spend it with their friends. It's used by many clubs. They want to take away that. There's no cost benefit to doing this none except for the cost what it would cost to change all the wiring that room into the structure. We do this all the time. There has to be floor planning that we're looking ahead and saying we're not changing rooms every year at Preble High School. It's crazy. When I went to school there was 2,600 kids. When they were short a room which was the school's about a

056third of the size, they brought in six portable reload rooms where we went. We were blowing in with snow. We were hotter than blazes in summer. We had no heat in winter but we made it work. So why do we want to take something away from these kids? That doesn't cost us anything to have. These programs get no support financially but we want to take that room away from them to spend more money on remodeling it. It's disappointing to me that we are up here talking about saving money and fundings when we have to provide not internet for our students for their esports but we have to provide it for a multi-million dollar company so they can have free internet to do construction work on our sites. That's crazy in my books. The other thing

057is the stickers, the flags, the windows, X number of dollars was just spent at Preble to put a sticker on the stairway. That's money not well spent. A sticker does not change what these kids go through, what they can learn by supporting their programs and not a sticker on a window or a stairwell or anything for that matter. Those don't change the education. There's no educational benefit to it. Also, my son feels just like these people who he's been advocating to keep the programs and maybe spend a little money on the programs that they have to make them better. As it does for all these, it builds community, it builds friendship. Esports, other activities, they're growing so fast but yet we're always, always unwilling to cut football, baseball, soccer. If you're a golf team, you

058have six players on the team. How many children are in fine arts? Esports is the second fastest growing thing in the nation. It's time that we start to treat all kids equal and if that means cutting some of the sports, it's time to do that. Thank you. (Charlie) I think I was next. Yes. I'm way louder. Hi, my name is Charlie Bronner of 316 Little Road, Allouez, Wisconsin. I'm a parent at Green Bay East High School. Both of my daughters have been involved in the performing arts at East and my youngest Lucy has been accepted into the dance strand of the Fine Arts Institute for next year. I've also served on the East High Performing Arts Parents Board for the past four years. In 2023, an external analysis of the school district was conducted by

059Burns Van Fleet Educational Consulting. On page 27 of the results published in August of 2023, line one of their recommendations under instruction was "strengthen the arts pathway by putting more emphasis at Webster and East and make Washington truly an arts magnet." Did we listen to that recommendation? Two and a half years later, we're in this room because the district has hired outside consultants to conduct an ROI study or program review of the Fine Arts Institute. If they once again recommend strengthening the arts pathway, will we listen? I understand the district is facing serious financial pressure and that difficult decisions lie ahead. I'm here to ask for transparency and clarity because we can't participate in this process in good faith if we don't know what's being measured or what success looks like. My first request is

060simple. Please document in writing and in public the specific metrics being used in the ROI study for the Fine Arts Institute. What outcomes are you measuring? How are you defining cost? To whom are you comparing our FAI students? And most importantly, what results do you need to see to recommend keeping the Institute going? Right now it feels like we're being asked to trust a process that we can't see. And that brings me to my concern. Our current FAI coordinator is retiring at the end of this school year and we found out at a board meeting earlier this month that her role is not being filled. This morning, a representative of the district was describing extra costs involved with the Fine Arts Institute on WBAY and they were referred to as "disproportionately more expensive than other

061school programming." When decisions and statements like this are made publicly before the district has presented the metrics, the methodology, or the findings to the board and the community, it sends a message, intended or not, that the conclusion may already be decided. If this is truly an evidence-based review, then the evidence and the expectations need to be public before conclusions are broadcast to the community. The Fine Arts Institute is not an elective schedule. It's a pathway and a commitment that brings students to east, keeps them connected to school, and creates opportunities that most families cannot replace privately. For many students, it's the reason that they show up, a place where they belong, and a place where they grow. Tonight, I'm asking you to do two things. First, require the district to publish the ROI framework and

062success criteria for the Fine Arts Institute, clearly and publicly. Second, ensure that any decisions about the future of the Institute are made only after that information is presented, reviewed, and discussed transparently with the community. Thank you for your service and thank you for your time. Is Angela here? Okay, next will be Jude Allum, followed by Joseph Ekberg and then Aaron Brooks. (Jude) Hi, my name is Jude Allum. I am a freshman at East High School and I am a part of the Fine Arts program. So I want to open up the Fine Arts program with a bit of a personal story. Earlier this year, when doing the musical, I was backstage. It was one of the, first off, one of the most best experiences I had in my life. Just, I felt like I found

063the thing I wanted to do for my life because I was kind of just not sure before. I didn't know what I wanted to do. But more importantly, one of those shows we did was for many elementary and middle schoolers that were coming up behind us. And afterwards, we got to like say hi to all of them. It was a very exciting experience for a lot of them because they got to see our really, really awesome show. And I heard many of them say something around, "I want to do that." They, in that moment, like I had when watching other people perform, said, "I want to do that." And that is, that's the experience of the theater. And what would be, I'd say, a tragedy is if they come up, they say, "I want to

064do that." They work towards that until they get to be freshman and they're told, "Sorry, that doesn't exist anymore." What you saw happen was something that we cut a while ago. Those kids will not be able to benefit from what we've benefited from. And you might also notice that whether it's, you might think it's just the people in it right now that care. We've had people already that have spoke that are in college now. They have already graduated from this. If this gets cut, they wouldn't be affected. But they are affected because they know that the people coming up behind them and people who are in it now will be affected by it. So they care even though they're long gone, as I will when I am gone from the Institute. Because those kids that

065saw our show will be where I am. And the Fine Arts Institute is what has allowed all of us to do this. And if it were to be canceled, that would be a shame. Thank you for your time. (Joseph) Hello, my name is Joseph Ekberg, 716 South Roosevelt Street in Green Bay. Good evening school board members, President Lyerly, Superintendent Bayer, Board, friends over there in the district. Good to see you. Thank you for allowing public comments on this evening's meeting as we are grateful for the opportunity to take five minutes and stand in support of district programs supporting the performing arts and with specific support for the Fine Arts Institute at East High. Before you stand, a stagehand and a parent of East High student. For over 20 years, and I have been a member

066of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Motion Picture Technicians, and Allied Crafts, local 470, representing Northeastern Wisconsin, we are the union behind entertainment. We are the team of professionals that live in the city near you that you visit to see entertainment and we build those shows. Around here that might be the Meyer Theater, the Weidner Center, Kinsey, how about the Nutcracker, right? Or maybe the Resch Center, the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center. Maybe you like to visit the Leech Amphitheater in Oshkosh or the Door Community Auditorium in Fish Creek, or maybe you saw Into the Woods at Webster or The Play that Goes Wrong at East High. Maybe you took in time to see the NFL Draft. All of these venues are supported by stagehands. All of the entertainment that you spend your hard-earned

067dollars enjoying is brought to you by the scary-looking folks wearing black and carry funny-looking tools. And now, since I hopefully have you thinking about that last concert or musical or play in one of our area venues, let's take a trip back in time. And if this were a real theater, the lights would dim, we'd hear the heart music, all that stuff. But remember, six years ago, what were we doing? Six years ago was the first Monday of COVID and we were all sent home. We were all sent saying, "You can't go to work and what are you going to do?" And if you had the means and you were a lot like some of us, what got you through it is entertainment. Whether it's the books, the movies, the programming, all of that content, all

068of that stuff to watch, things to read. We couldn't go anywhere. We stayed home on the couch in those comfy clothes and consumed entertainment. Theater kids made all that stuff. Green Bay Schools has been incredibly generous in support of the auditory across the district. And I must commend the efforts to improve the performing arts technology within district facilities. We hear horror stories of crumbling infrastructure and unsafe conditions. And as a parent of students in the district, current and past, and as a taxpayer, special thanks go to the director of technology's talented team to make the best and most prudent use of resources provided by you, the board, Cale, others that make it all happen. And a shout out to Nick and Zach and the others for doing the work. Full disclosure, my employer stands with

069the district as a proud partner in carrying out the district's mission. My sixth grade teachers allowed a talent show on the stage at what is now your Da Vinci School a long, long time ago. I figured out how to make the lights change from red to blue and back again quickly. The custodian thought I was nuts. That young stage hand now runs a division which generates 35 million dollars in revenue, employs 65 people representing a family of over 200 and supports this very organization in this very room. I employ a senior in high school from Wrightstown through the youth apprenticeship program through the Wisconsin development of workforce development. I'd love to hire somebody from our district. I'm a theater kid. Wisconsin compared to its neighbors, and this has already been said by somebody else who

070by the way all of the other comments have been fantastic, but somebody else said our neighbors to the west, Minnesota spends a whole bunch of money on the arts. My figures from 2005 put it at seven dollars and eighty five cents per capita. Wisconsin, twenty cents. The national average was a dollar ninety and that's down twenty three cents and two hundred twenty five. Why is this important to the district? Hard choices must be made. Support of the arts is declining and options in our community exist outside of the schools, but those options also face challenges getting enough support. Theater saves lives. It's given many students a home where they can be them accepted for who they are and where they are going. It gives them a safe space to be themselves while learning how to

071play roles, be part of a team, work toward a common goal, and participate as part of a community. Thank you for supporting partnerships with local businesses in support of the arts. Camera Corner, my employer, is proud to support Green Bay East Performance Technology Club. In addition to learning skills to support productions and operation of district spaces, the club is open to any high school age student in the district. Recently the group had the opportunity, we talked about it a few minutes ago, to visit with the cast of the crew of Hamilton when they were visiting the Fox City's PAC. The husband and wife team of Kelly and Jason Desjardins, fellow Astor Park neighbors, and members of local IA470 are crew swing and audio head tech respectively, also theater kids. Fine arts. Support the farts as

072the kids say. Matters. These theater kids of today become the entertainment technology professionals, stage actors, script writers, scenic painters, digital animators, sound designers, actors, directors, set dressers, camera operators, and voice talent that we come to rely on tomorrow when our work is done for the day and we look forward to enjoying entertainment. When faced with the return on investment conversation, please consider the extent of the return down the road with the investment of today and please consider the benefits of arts education and support the Fine Arts program in place. Thank you for allowing public comments on the work you are asked to do on behalf of our children. Before we begin, next will be Bridget Clarkson, then Lola Daffner, then Daniel Haddon. (Erin) Thank you all. I'm Erin Brooks. I live at 3537 Briar Court

073in Green Bay. I'm here to talk about the impact that the Fine Arts Pathway has had for my family. I have five daughters ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade and I choice all of them into Webster Elementary. It's in large part because of the Fine Arts Pathway. One of my daughters is very high achieving. She is a kid who would probably get high math scores and high ELA scores at any school, but there are things that she has developed at Webster that she would not have gotten at other schools. I've seen her develop grit and confidence and stage presence through the school musical as well as show choir performances in the community. These qualities are harder to measure than standardized test scores, but they're also strong predictors of success inside and outside of school. Another

074one of my daughters is autistic and in fact I learned about Webster because she was placed into the early childhood program there at three years old. This is a kid who did not have any words at all until she was four, who developed three word sentences at five, and who could start to tell me at least one thing about her school day when she was six or seven. She too has found Webster to be a place where she can belong and grow and thrive. I see that as deeply intertwined with the Fine Arts program. She has fine arts teachers who could choose to see her as difficult and instead choose to see the light inside her and they have helped that light shine in ways that I did not know were possible. For example, she's

075now eight and she's old enough to participate in the school musical for the first time like more than 80 other students at Webster did this year. She was beyond excited. She was cast as a forest animal in the ensemble and for weeks she woke up every morning at 5 a.m. singing some very complex lyrics to Into the Woods and stomping out choreography in her bedroom. She is currently experiencing the kind of success despite the daily challenges that we have that does not happen by accident. The kind that happens when dedicated teachers have not only the will and the skills but also the support to help students thrive. The Fine Arts are not just an extra music class and an extra art class. They look like Fine Arts integrated across the curriculum cultivating student engagement and

076belonging that wouldn't be there otherwise. In addition to being a mom, I'm also an educational research scientist. I've worked in schools and studied schools for all of my adult life. What I know from the research and from my own experience is that student engagement is the foundation of academic growth. The portrait of a graduate starts with kids being excited to come to school and I see that every day at Webster Elementary. I would guess that when you do get the numbers and you look at the statistics you'll find data points that mirror my experience. At Webster you'll find that a lot of families choose the school because of the Fine Arts pathway. That chronic absenteeism rates are low and student engagement rates are high. The test scores are relatively high especially given what's typical for

077schools where a majority of students qualify for free and reduced lunch. And you'll find that an exceptionally high proportion of students with special needs and students from low-income households access Fine Arts experiences that they otherwise couldn't. The board has an important role to play here. Across the country we see that Fine Arts are the first to go when districts face a budget crisis. As somebody who has a March Madness bracket and probably likes sports and has played sports for longer than most of the people who showed up to the meeting today, I implore you to take a stand and recognize the impact that the Fine Arts pathway has on kids as soon as three or four years old at Webster Elementary. Please fund it and protect it. Thank you. (Bridget) Hello I'm Bridget Clarkson. I'm

078a junior at Green Bay East High School and I've been enrolled in the Fine Arts all three years. I've been a performer for years. I started my first production with Evergreen Theatre. I was young and nobody in my friend group thought theater was cool or knew what it was. But my first show was Charlotte's Web. I was cast as the baby spider Joy. I had a custom-made dress, a headpiece. I even had a wig. I thought I was so cool, a named role, and a custom costume. I was on top of the world. By my next few shows I've been slowly climbing my way to getting more named roles. I was ecstatic. I found a new community of people who I had this shared interest with. I remember I was an eighth grader at Aldo

079Leopold. We didn't have a Fine Arts department really, so I relied on Evergreen. I had one friend in this program who was a sophomore at East High School. He made me feel safe in a community where I had just re-entered. Without the support of him and the presence of the Fine Arts Institute, I would have left the Green Bay District entirely. I had seen productions put on by a Ashwaubenon's district, and they were so, so good. Would I have made as many friends there? Probably not. Would getting roles be way more competitive? A thousand percent, yeah. But I felt safe in choosing East because of the Fine Arts Institute. Teachers made me feel supported and heard. I didn't feel like I was risking friendships auditioning for the same roles as my best friends. I became

080a leader in musicals my sophomore year, and one teacher in particular helped me, helped guide me in finding my new passion. Mr. Esman Williams Jr. was our choreographer for my freshman and sophomore musicals. Did he scare me at first? Yeah. Like insane. He was confident and strong-willed in our opinion, in his opinions, just like we all should be. I didn't realize until the end of my sophomore year that it was entirely tough love. He wanted all of us to come together, put on this amazing show. At this time, I was also enrolled in the intro dance course at East. I didn't really know anything because dance has never been my thing, unless you count my kindergarten ballet and tap classes at the YMCA. But Mr. E created a caring, safe environment. He wanted all of

081us to truly be ourselves. Over the course of my sophomore year, he encouraged me to join the next dance class up. My third trimester, I was in the performance dance two class. I was surrounded by these gorgeous dancers. To be honest, I didn't feel like I was good enough to be there. Uritzi did ballet at a studio. Phoebe was a gymnast. Beatrice and Sophie took dance classes back home in Italy. They were utterly gorgeous, all of them, but I didn't feel like I deserved to be in the same class as them. Mr. E encouraged me to work on my self-esteem and built me up with every single rehearsal we had. I'd earned an opening solo in our jazz piece, and I had earned a spot in a college-level dance piece choreographed by Mr. E's colleague

082and career professional Mia Redding. I was in this piece with two students from Italy, and I really felt like I belonged finally. I had a newfound community where I felt genuinely valued and like people wanted me to be there. Mr. E encouraged me to sign up as a teacher's assistant this year for one of his dance classes. I worked alongside students with all different levels of dance experience. Just today, Mr. E asked me to enroll in an independent study so that I can continue my dance studies. This is because he believes in me and my abilities. Mr. E has continuously been one of my biggest supporters, and without the help of him and the entire Fine Arts department, I don't think I would have been nearly as successful in my academics or my confidence. The

083Fine Arts funds an immense amount of materials for classes. The majority of art classes materials are funded by the Institute when their budget runs out. We have classes that are tailored to students focusing in the Fine Arts, classes you cannot get anywhere else in the district. Yes, other schools have dance-focused extracurriculars or theater opportunities, but only East and Washington have an expansive dance program in theater or acting classes. With the removal of the Fine Arts Institute, we run the risk of losing these blossoming young artists. The Fine Arts faculty don't just teach me how to dance or act or be an artist. They taught me how to show up and how to maturely take critiques, as well as how to believe in my own work. My success in the academic classes is a direct result

084of the discipline I learned in the studio. We have something at East and Washington that no other school in the district offers. Why would we trade our students unique opportunities for a standardized experience? If we keep the arts alive, every student has a reason to walk into these doors every single morning. Thank you. Good evening, I'm Lola Daffner and this is Michaela Powers. We'll only be taking like five minutes together, hopefully. I am Lola Daffner. I attend East, but I live in the Preble District. At East, I am part of a dozen extracurriculars like NHS and Environmental Science Club. I am the treasurer of our student council and also a member of Intra-City Student Council. Though I love all those clubs, that is not why I go to East and that is not why I

085stay. My older sister went to West for the IB program and we live in the Preble District, so my brother settled there. I go to East because of the Fine Arts Institute. I'm enrolled in the music strand and I take French horn lessons, as well as I play and sing in jazz ensembles. I play trumpet in those and I also play trumpet for our show choirs combo and I act in the musical and play. As you guys said earlier, it's a goal of the school board to make sure that students are polished and career ready. Specialty programs like AVID, IB, and the Fine Arts Institute do just that. Myself and others, what we've learned from the time at the Institute will carry on for life even if direct careers in art aren't pursued. Obviously, skills

086like creativity, performance, and improvisation are a given and I hope that after tonight you find that grit, teamwork, and advocacy are too. Opportunities provided by the theater, literary music, visual art, and dance strand are outlets that are powered by and fuel passionate individuals who invest their time and love into the art they create. Examples of this are the Fine Arts Institute, the theater kids going to Hamilton. We have tons of murals around our school painted by the visual arts students and for many of this, this is the only power they have and the only safe outlet. Please do not pull the plug on the programs that light up our schools. (Mikayla) Hello, like Lola said, I'm Mikayla Powers and I am a member of the visual strand of the Fine Arts Institute and I've been

087in it for all four years of my high school career. I've been a part of also many like performing arts opportunities like our school show choir, rap city, musical, dance, the play, and many other stuff. As a person of color, I found little to no representation within the arts and if it weren't for my mom wishing for me to join show choir and middle school to one day join rap city, I wouldn't have gotten to see the other girls who looked like me on the east stage. The diversity at east really leads through all the areas even with those with little to no black representation and it made me believe that a girl like me who may not be rich and who's a person of color could be in theater or art. I found a

088personality and a voice in the performing arts and within the visual arts and without it at east I would have never saw that opportunity. I would have been very quiet and lonely and not have been as successful as I am today for like getting A's in all my AP classes and having a 3.9 GPA unweighted and will be and it's just a very good way that rounding all of my skills within all areas improved my confidence and it was very very helpful to me. I spent so many hours in the art and choir room giving all of my energy and time to my art studies and finding myself and without this community and without this community I would have never been pushed by my art coaches and peers to be as successful as I am

089today and all of my academics and artistic abilities and it's very important that we have this for more people of color in the future and especially with such a like big community of people of color at east we really need this. Thank you. So Daniel Hatton. You're next. Before you start after Daniel, Judith, Dukerj and then Mark Seidel. (Daniel) Hi, I'm Daniel Hatton, 1422 Grignon Street here in beautiful Green Bay, Wisconsin. So short and sweet. I am part of a family with two children at east that are in the arts institute. My son got accepted for next year. My daughter's been in it since she's been there. We as a family, my wife and I, were very important to have public education. That we do backyard chickens and all that fun stuff like that and

090people are like, "Oh are you going to homeschool your kids?" No, we need them to go to the public school. We need them to get that. We want them to have that public education. We want them to be out there in the world. We actually lived up in Door County and they weren't getting their needs met in the public school system there and we learned about Leonardo da Vinci. We uprooted our entire family and moved to Green Bay so they could both get into that school system and that was awesome for them. They did well. Then, okay, that ends at eighth grade. Where are they going to go? Found out about the arts program at east. My daughter went there and has been doing amazing and it's worked out really well. So we've been very

091happy with how that program is. Understanding how the kids are so involved in it and that dedicated and how they're doing well. My son's on the honor roll now where I wouldn't expect that because of how I was when I was. Anyways, so with this and then just what we're saying here about Yatsy with the theater on that all these different parts to it where it comes in and makes this to be such an important part of our community where that's not just from the individual arts element. It's what we're doing with society with it. So with that, it's been very wonderful for my family to have that opportunity. We want them to continue to have that. I do thank you very much. (James) Is Judith here? Mark. (Mark) Good evening. My name is Mark

092Seidel. I reside at 3903 St. Croix Circle, east in Allouez I'm a parent in the district and a proud Webster Elementary School parent. I'm here tonight to ask you to protect and to strengthen the Fine Arts Institute pathway. I know that you're facing real budget pressures and the root of those pressures is not in mismanagement or bad priorities by the district or this board. It's by the failure of the state legislature to adequately fund public schools in our state. That burden is being pushed to local districts who are forced to choose between programs that are working and balance budgets that are difficult to balance. But here's what's also true. In the middle of that broken system, the Fine Arts pathway that this district created so many years ago is working and we cannot afford to

093cut it. As we've already heard tonight, the overall graduation rate at east is 87 percent and among those students in the Fine Arts pathway, it's 94 percent. That's seven percentage points. Those are real students who are finishing school who might not have otherwise and that directly serves this district's mission. I come to this as a parent and also as a social worker and in my profession, we speak a lot about protective factors. Those things in a young person's life that buffer against adversity and keep them on track. For students at Webster, at East, at Washington, the Fine Arts is that protective factor. Cutting it doesn't just eliminate a program, it removes a lifeline. And that's not just my opinion. A previous independent analysis that was also referenced earlier commissioned by the district recommending, recommended strengthening

094the pathway, not eliminating it. It was identified strategic asset and that recommendation deserves to be honored and not just disregarded. My daughter is a fifth grader at Webster who loves the arts. She loves going to school every day because art is not treated as a reward or a break. It's integrated into how she learns every single day. We specifically chose Webster because of these programs and we plan to school of choice to Washington and to East to keep her on this pathway. Our family has built our educational plan around the promise of what the institute offers. I know that budgets require hard choices and strategic leadership means that protecting what is working while you are fighting for the funding that should have been there all along. The state legislature has failed our schools. You didn't

095create the crisis, but how you respond to it will define what the district stands for. I'm asking you tonight to not just only protect the Fine Arts Institute pathway, but to strengthen it. A strong and visible arts pathway is the kind of program that is going to draw students and families into the district who might otherwise look elsewhere as we just heard. And that's not just good for the kids, it's good for our district. And to everybody in the room tonight, I would echo Chris's words from earlier. Contact your state legislators, call them, email them, show up at their offices, tell them what you saw here tonight and what you heard, and demand that they fund our schools. 72 districts in the state next month are going to the referendum to keep their doors open,

096to protect their programs as we are trying to do tonight. That is a five-alarm fire and it's time that the legislature started acting like it. Thank you. (James) So next, Tina Wilk Eaton, and then following Tina, Lori, Kathy, and then Brent Bergstrom. (Tina) Good evening. My name is Tina Wilk Eaton and I have been a teacher for 29 years and in Green Bay for 19 years. I am here tonight not just as a teacher but as someone who is living through exactly why the income protection plan matters. Nearly a year ago I was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer and in a moment everything changed. Your focus shifts from lesson plans and students to treatment, getting hair back again, and survival and also getting through every day. During a time like that, the last thing

097that anyone should be worrying about is how they will pay their mortgage, how they will afford groceries, how to cover medical bills and we have many, or to keep up with the rising cost of utilities. But without the income protection plan, that becomes a real fear. Teachers give our hearts to this career and in kindergarten, which is my very, very happy place, I help shape the very beginning of a child's love of school, their confidence, and the sense of belonging. And I show up for them every day. I'm asking you tonight to show up for us. IPP is not just a benefit. It is a security. It is a dignity. And it is the difference between stability and a crisis during the hardest moments of a person's life. Thank you. (Lori) My name is Lori

098Caffee. I live at N4606 County Road F in Bonduel. I am currently a 23 year veteran of the Green Bay Area Public Schools and a teacher at Edison. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight. I'm here to ask you to preserve our current income protection plan benefits, not in theory, but because I'm living proof of how crucial it is. In 2018, after six long and uncertain years of testing, I was finally diagnosed with a rare and serious condition. Multisystic peritoneal mesophylloma. It's a mouthful. Less than 300 people had ever been diagnosed with it. That diagnosis changed everything overnight. What followed were three major surgeries, including one that lasted 14 hours. These were not optional procedures. They were necessary for my survival. During that time, I was not able to work full time.

099My focus had to be on staying alive, recovering, and being present for my family. Without IPP, the financial consequences would have been devastating. Medical decisions are hard enough without the added burden burden of wondering how you will pay your bills or support your family. In my case, I even had to travel to Washington, D.C. to receive specialized surgical care. That meant additional expenses, travel, lodging, and weeks away from home. The IPP gave my family stability in the middle of chaos. It allowed us to focus on what mattered most, my health and my recovery. I understand that programs like this come with real costs, and I respect the responsibility you carry in managing budgets and making difficult decisions. But I ask you to consider what this benefit truly represents. For people like me, it's not just

100a line item, it's a lifeline. At some point, any one of us could face a serious illness or unexpected hardship. The income protection plan ensures that when that moment comes, we are not forced to choose between our health and our financial security. Please keep this program in place. It makes a profound difference, and in some cases, it makes all the difference. Thank you. (Brent) Good evening, Brent Bergstrom, 1096 Reed Street. As I said, my name is Brent Bergstrom. My pronouns are he, him, and I am a proud educator in and product of the Green Bay Area Public Schools. I'm also a first-generation college graduate with a master's degree in curriculum and instruction. I'm fortunate and honored to serve over 1,300 members of our staff as the Green Bay Education Association president. I've had the misfortune

101of watching the state legislature chip away at public school funding through my entire journey in the public education system. Private schools can exist, but they should not be funded by the 85 percent of American families who are served by public schools. I understand the root cause of our budget deficit and our legislature's failure in funding our future while siphoning money to grow and expand the private and voucher school machine. But I am here to urge you to stand your ground and keep the income protection plan at the already decreased last year 70 percent coverage. You and I both have heard the stories. You've heard them in your emails. You've heard them from people tonight. We have countless staff members who have benefited from this plan. I've heard stories of members being able to feed their

102families, keep their homes, and recover from life-threatening illnesses. Because of IPP, they have been able to navigate their way through some of the most challenging times that some of us can only imagine. They made it through, and they are back serving our students. There's a reason our retention rate is the highest in the state. There is a reason saving our staff's benefits and taking care of our own is how we make it through these financially challenging times and come out the other side stronger than ever, and we're going to. Please keep the income protection plan and send the message to our staff that we're here to support them. Thank you. (James) Thank you. So next, Jay Galt followed by Katie Green. Oh, that's right. You've already spoken. Okay. Carrie Green, then Ned Dorff, then Steph

103Kuzmin. Is Katie here? I'm sorry, Carrie. Yes, apologize. It's a Carrie. Carrie Green, I. (Carrie) Good evening. I'm Carrie Green, and I live at 202 East Mission Road, Green Bay, Wisconsin. Well, I'm a proud parent of three Webster, Washington grads. All of them were in show choir at East. They were in band. They were in choir. They were in the musicals. They were in drama. They were on dance team, and they were in soccer. In fact, I have a daughter who's a fourth grade teacher at Baird and a son who is the varsity girl soccer coach at East. So when you're an East parent, you're an advocate. You're automatically an advocate, and we advocate for our students, our school, our staff, and our programs. And I come to this with the background of being a

104retired choral director. So I look at it as a professional as well as a parent whose children were very fortunate to be part of the arts program at East. So in 2005, my son was a freshman. And I realized there were some needs. There was not enough percussion equipment in the band program, and there weren't pianos in the rehearsal spaces for the choir room. So I went to Terry Fondo, and I said, here's the deal. I want to start a parent's organization so we can help you with these needs and fulfill these needs. And he said, we would love that. And so Katie Maloney, a former board member, and I worked with Kurt Julian, who is a retired assistant principal, and we developed a mission statement. We developed bylaws. We developed a program for fundraising

105that followed all discipline and district needs. And so we started that, and that was going great guns. And then along came Ed Dorff, and he was our new principal. And a couple of years later, I said to him, you know, I have some concerns about our programs, and I'd like to talk to you. And so we had a very serious conversation about the music programs at East. And I said, here's what breaks my heart. We have students that walk the hallways every day, they're every bit as talented as kids in other high schools in this district. And yet, they do not have a level playing field. They do not have the opportunities that other students have, and they cannot grow in their excellence if they do not have the same opportunities. And Ed was pretty

106ticked off about that. And so that led to, a little while later, Ed gaining some steam and getting some people collected, and the Fine Arts Institute was on the agenda for East High School. And I was very fortunate to be part of those early meetings and those early discussions about the Fine Arts Institute. And what I want to tell you is that the reason that started was because students needed opportunities. Students needed equity. And Ed saw that. And Ed said, I want this program to be so excellent that no one will ever think of cutting this. And I want to quote Samantha from the board members forum the other night. She said, we cannot cut our way to excellence, and we can't. I know that none of you want to cut this. I know that.

107I also know that we could have, we could easily have corporate leadership in our community come together and adopt a program and sponsor these programs. We could easily have corporate leadership speak to their friends in Madison and say, fix this destructive funding system. And also, I want to close with, I read a quote that 60% of adults in America consume their arts exposure, in other words, attendance at the public schools. So we are not only educating our students, we're educating our community. I don't know how you measure that, but it's out there. So what I would like to say is save the arts. Save the arts, save our community, save our kids. And I want to also say the comments from these students have been remarkable and breathtaking. And I'm so proud of them. Thank

108you. (Ned) Hi, excuse me. Hi, I'm Ned Dorff, 1321 Emily Street. And first I want to acknowledge, I've been, had the pleasure of working at several sites, school sites in this district as a teacher. And I really want to acknowledge the kids and families from all over the district who have come here tonight. I also want to acknowledge my colleagues, my former students from Aldo, who showed up here tonight and their families. It just is very touching to me to see how much concern and care and bravery there is on the part of these people in our community. I also, since Carrie brought it up, want to acknowledge how much it means to me to hear from people speaking about their experience at the Fine Arts Academy. It touches me deeply, seeing as my father

109was principal presiding over the process of getting started and to see his legacy carry on like this is very meaningful. And I'll make sure that he watches the full YouTube video of this meeting so he can, maybe I can watch him cry. A lot of folks have touched on this already, but I'm going to go a little further back. We're really at a hard point in what's a 45 year story or even longer. Going back to the cuts in public education that started with trickle down Reaganomics that continued in the 90s with funding voucher schools and for-profit schools out of public dollars that continued into No Child Left Behind the attacks on our schools that continued. Frankly, Race to the Top wasn't great. I'll be bipartisan about this. Going into Act 10 and in the

1102010s and the loss of revenue we saw from that, public schools are a frequent target in the culture war, frequent lightning rod. We're at the point where we are constantly asking for referenda because of budget shortfalls. All right, and we're at the point where there's a lot of really wealthy people from the early 80s looking up at us from the afterlife laughing because we're fighting over whether to fund sports or fund arts when really we need to fund all of it. I don't, the idea of cutting one to serve the other is the wrong path to go down to. I know that you all on the board and folks from the area have been talking about creative solutions to our budget problems. My two cents at this point in the game, we have a lot

111of wonderful teachers who work right here at DOB. Man, we could use them at school sites. We could use them at school sites to help plug some holes. I promise you we will do a great job. We have more wonderful educated staff right there at the ground level with us. Our district better than any other surrounding district, better than most districts that I can think of in Wisconsin or anywhere. Our district has so many pathways to graduation, so many wonderful unique experiences for children. Two of the ones that I know we're focusing on tonight and it hasn't been brought up really yet but are the International Baccalaureate, the IB, and the Fine Arts program. My family has strong ties to East, my family has strong ties to West. I care deeply about both of these

112programs. But I'm proud to work for a district that has committed to these pathways and not just those two but so many of them. I worked for alternative programs for a lot of years in this district as well. I'm proud that our district commits to specialty programs as well, specialty schools like the one I work for at Aldo Leopold. Parents want choices in their children's education. They don't want, as one of my former students mentioned here tonight, they don't want a standardized experience. They want what works for their child. My concern is that pulling supports from our most artistic or our most academically focused students are college-bound students in some cases, in many of these cases, at all income levels. My concern is that we are shifting toward that standardization, that lack of uniqueness. That

113is not what families want. I'm not just a teacher in this district. I have three children of my own who attend public schools here in Green Bay. That is not what I want. And I've seen things happen. We're accelerated learners, get just lumped into a grade level higher at a standard class in high school. I do not want that for my children, right? I don't want that. If a student needs something different and they're just given, well here we're going to lump you all together. And to look at cutting specialty programs, that is a step down that path. So sometimes we assume that these kids who would go to the Fine Arts Academy or go to the IB School at West, they're going to be just fine. They're smart, they're motivated, they're going to be

114just fine. Okay, it's not our job to give these kids a just fine standardized experience. It is our job to give them an excellent experience from 4k through high school. I love this district. Most of you know me personally. You know that I'm Green Bay through and through. You know that I live here, I work here, I raise my family here, I volunteer here, I volunteer on a board here, I volunteer on a board in the City of Green Bay. I am committed to this city. I never want to leave this city. I never want to pull my family out of this city. But if we are looking at cutting the programs that would serve my children best, then I will need to swallow my pride, I will need to swallow my love for this

115city, I will need to swallow my love for this district, and I will need to do what is best for my family. So I'm beseeching each and every one of you. Save these programs, retain families like mine, give these students an excellent education experience because that's what they deserve. Thank you. (Steph) All right. First of all, I want to give a round of applause to all of our youth that have shown up to talk to you about this subject. I am moved. As a former alumni, I came here tonight thinking I was going to be strong about what I had to say, but I've been moved. If nothing else happens, guys, just know that we heard you. As a community, we will back you no matter what they want to do in the capital or

116anywhere. We will back you because you guys are here because you love art, and so do we. So we're going to continue to support them no matter what. What I want to do here is I think that we're past formalities. I think we can bring religion to it. And who would have thought that this person was going to do it, but we are really close to Easter, ladies and gentlemen. And I want to bring an olive branch. I've been someone who's been very critical about this district. I'm someone who's come and has been oppositional at times, hard-headed even because of the topics that we talk about, as you all know, we are all passionate about no matter what side of the aisle we're on. And so this thing that we're here to talk about today

117is more than just money. It is about stories and history that we have, and God, do we have it here in Green Bay, and we don't even know. And so I came to talk about what happens when we don't have a fine arts institute. I actually was of the generation that graduated the year before it started, 2011. I know about music, not much about reading sheets because I wasn't raised like that, right? But Mr. Baumgar, wherever you are, East High School, thank you for reminding me that we all have a voice and that even though I was the shortest, I had the largest voice, maybe even the loudest at times. I'm sorry, district. I've yelled a lot, I know. And so it's because I had something to say and I always wanted to find a

118way. And guess what? It was East High School's music that allowed me to find a way to communicate at first, and it was through song. And so I had to sing songs that I didn't know in German, ladies and gentlemen, what was possible, everything. This Latina who had to learn English could learn German to sing. Oh my God, the unity. So then in a moment where we're so divided, this should not be a topic. We have so much power in this room that really the Capitol should be, like they should be stuttering right now because of the movement that we can do here tonight. We need to be telling them right now that they need to help us fund this because we are not fighting about what side we're on. We all want the same

119thing. And so I want to give you the olive branch sorry. It is possible that I want to ask you forgiveness if I was ever unkind, but we need to work together. It does not matter what side of the aisle I come here and I tell you that I am evidence of what happens when we don't believe. I was not able to get into the fine arts institute. So what happened? I was somebody who got to go to a stage in Mexico City. I got to be on a TV show at a national level. Univisción, ladies and gentlemen, the number one Spanish speaking language channel. I got to make it to those arenas where Ricky Martin was my judge. Ladies and gentlemen, yes, he was. He said to me, of all you, you in the

120middle, you have the most light. This girl from Green Bay Public Schools was the one that moved that guy who just sang at the Super Bowl. So you can imagine how I felt when I was sitting on the couch like, holy moly, that guy chose me from Green Bay from East High School without an East Fine Arts. Now imagine what can happen should we continue to fund them. We have Pegasus, ladies and gentlemen, if you've not checked them out, you have to. You have to because we have a level of Beyonce Taylor Swift. Girl, you should be working with them. Holy moly. And it's from Green Bay, Wisconsin. We're so proud of the Green Bay Packers. Oh my god, I'm the proudest. But I have so much talent here that I can point out to

121you in this room. And we need to be supporting them. Do not let what happened to me happen again. And the only way for that to happen is to continue to fund this kind of movement. I will always be the daughter of Green Bay that never was. I got to go on this TV show. I got to sing. She chose me, Laura Pausini, who sing with Andrea Bocelli, with Michael Buble. Should I continue? And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to tell you something. Dreams are possible. And I became small because I didn't win at that TV show. I came back home and I wanted to hide because I realized how could I, this girl that looks like this from Green Bay, ever make it on a big stage? I'm not from

122a big city. Even though I was born in Chicago, I'm here to tell you Green Bay is my heart. And so I've been trying to find reasons why I continue to come back after I had experiences like that. And it's because of the Fine Arts Institute, ladies and gentlemen. So we need to continue to fund it. It is the only way that people like me that come from humble homes of single mothers and missing dads, that is the only thing that can help us believe that we can do it. And we have immigration stories for days in this community. And when we talk about a deficit, I'll tell you, we can fund it with the talent here. That is how good they are. We could fund it with the talent. They'll be coming to us

123saying, "Yo, can you, let me throw some money at you." And so I truly believe that we need to continue to fund it and we need to work together. So I come within Olive Branch in Easter. We are about to make it. Let's work together and let's work together and send a message to the please or state. You guys can do something like this if you wanted to. Let's fund it and let's talk about politics later. It is important that we save this because if we don't, we are erasing history. So what I want to do is do a shout out real quick before I go to Mr. Boudwin at Preble High School, ninth grade. I am always going to remember when you said that the real changes happen small, in a small scale. And

124so right now things are happening fast at the large scale. So, but we can make a change here tonight. And so I remember your class and I'm here putting my little grain of sand. And I'm saying that even though we're small, we're mighty. And some of us have done amazing, beautiful things. And we have talent right here for days that we need to support and the ones that you guys haven't seen. So please, I come here as someone that did not make it and that it took me forever to be able to say that. I put my ego down and I say it. Let's make sure that the next one makes it. Because we got one. I know Door County has got somebody in American Idol. You know, hey, good luck guys. You got this.

125I might have needed that, but we got it here in Green Bay, Wisconsin, ladies and gentlemen. And I think we can do it. And so I'm going to end with this. Yesterday I went to Brillion. I was sitting until like 9pm at a jazz concert. What would me be doing? Right? At the jazz concert. So late at night and Brillion. Well, I went to see my nephew play jazz as a Latina, you know, I like reggaeton. We like the Spanish music. He played jazz and was he played jazz. He was going like this. And I realized in a world that's so divided right now, we can use music to be able to show a message that we can be united. And so let's use this and all the voices that came out here and let's

126make sure that they know down there that we're united. They're not going to separate us. Fund it. You can do it tonight and we can do this together. Elections are coming up. Let's make sure we vote for those that are going to help us and will not take away these kind of programs. Because if they do, they erase our history, our opportunity. Let's fight this. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you. (James) Thank you very much. That's all the sheets I have. Do you have any? Just make sure. Yeah, so we'll go out real quick and then. Yeah, so Jackson, come on up. (Jackson) I'm Jackson DeGrave. I live at 1055 South North Bureau, Green Bay, Wisconsin. I'm a member of the e-sports program and trap team at Preble High School. There are many people here tonight

127talking about possibly losing something they all deeply care about. And right now, it's a very realistic possibility I lose something that I care about. I'd like to take a moment to talk about a space in Preble High School called Room 153A and a proposal to repurpose it into an art classroom. Room 153A is located within the Tech Ed area and is currently being used every day by students. It's not an empty or unused space. It's an activity hub for multiple programs. It is also used for engineering classes because it has the only sink in the area for experiments. It's also where several student organizations meet, including Asian Club, which has 25 members, K-pop Club, which has around 25 members, gaming club, which has around 25 members, and e-sports, which has around 30 members. Altogether, these

128programs serve over 100 students. Many of us use this space daily after school for meetings, competitions, and fundraisers. It's where we host e-sport matches, prepare food for school events, and build connections with other students. For many of us, this room is more than just a place. It's a place where we feel like we belong. We understand there's a need to take more space for the art program, and we support that. But removing Room 153A would take a space that is already heavily used and important to a large group of people away from us. Our school has made strong investments in many programs, especially in athletics. We are simply asking that student activities like e-sports and clubs are given the same level of consideration when decisions like this are made. This room helps me get through

129my day because I'm excited to see my friends in a more comforting room than every other boring classroom because the setting and the people make me feel at home. This is the group of people and friends and the room. They are the reason I still have not transferred school districts. If you're looking for rooms, why not the hive or the small gym or other unused rooms that aren't or aren't these costly one-year bandages putting art rooms in places like this? I mean, how much will it cost to rewire everything, reroute internet, take down everything in the classroom? In times of budget deficits, this is money that we truly need to spend. I want a Lamborghini as my first car, but my budget says I can't. I can get a 2000 Chevy Cavalier. Simple math taught

130me that. All of these big sports have facilities where they are meant to go, but if you get rid of 153A, we have nowhere to go. The teachers that work in that room have built the environment of that room from the fancy lighting and everything that makes that room feel like that room. They did all that from their own pockets for their love of teaching, for their love of the students, for the love of what they do. The district has not funded that room with esports, gaming club, k-pop and Asian clubs. We've not gotten anything. I'm thankful that we did get a new Nintendo Switch console, but that's about it. We are asking simply, if you aren't going to give us anything, please don't take anything away from us. We respectfully ask that you consider

131alternatives or alternative solutions that allow both the arts program and the programs that are currently using 153A to continue to grow. Thank you for your time. (James) Thank you. I appreciate all the speakers this evening. It was a long couple of hours actually, but it was a meaningful couple of hours as well. I appreciate everyone's comment. At this point, I just want to check in with the board. Everyone okay? Continue with the agenda, or do you need five minutes? We're good. We'll continue with the agenda then. We'll move to the consent agenda. Lynn, will you please read the motion for the consent agenda? (Lynn) I recommend, I recommend, I move that the consent agenda as presented be approved. -Second. (Alex) Second. (James) Any discussion? Thank you. (Kinsey) Online voting is now open. Lynn, do you

132want to do a voice vote? (Lynn) Yes, I will vote aye. I'm logging in right now. (Kinsey) Andrew, do you want to do a voice vote? (Andrew) I'll vote aye. (Kinsey) All votes have been entered and the motion is carried with all board members voting in favor. (James) Thank you. We'll move to 6A. New superintendent contract is on the agenda. I move that we table the superintendent contracts until the next, until we can establish a special meeting. It's still in negotiation. (Laura) Second. (James) Any discussion? Kinsey? Can we just, okay. All in favor? -Aye. -Aye. (James) Thank you. Okay. 6B land exchange agreement between Village of Bellevue and Green Bay. (Lynn) I move that the proposed land exchange agreement with the village of Bellevue as presented be approved. (Alex) Second. (James) Any discussion? Kinsey? (Kinsey)

133Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered and the motion is carried with all board members voting in favor. (James) Moving to 6C, the extension of the development agreement with the city of Green Bay. (Lynn) I move that the agreement with the city of Green Bay for the planning option for Tank Elementary School property and Elmore Elementary School property be extended as presented be approved. (Alex) Second. (James) Any discussion? Kinsey? (Kinsey) Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered and the motion is carried with all board members voting in favor. (James) Moving to 6D, the recommendation to convert the Edison Middle School pool to an auxiliary gym. (Lynn) I move that the Edison Middle School pool be converted to an auxiliary gymnasium as presented be approved. (Alex) Second. (James) Any discussion?

134Kinsey? (Kinsey) Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered and the motion is carried with all board members voting in favor. (James) Thank you. Moving over to education 6E, the middle school instructional material. (Lynn) I move that the instructional material purchase for middle school science as presented be approved. (Jeanette) Second. (James) Jeanette with a second. Any discussion? Alex? (Alex) So I just wanted to follow up with some of the things that I spoke about last time, two weeks ago at our meeting. In addition to follow up from one of our staff members who had contacted us and initially provided information on this curriculum and also provided some additional information. And I just wanted to start by reiterating a couple things that she said. And you know, I'll start by just kind of reading

135a couple portions of what she said, because I don't think I can say it better than what she can. And I'll try to be quick about it. So first of all, that she wanted to take a moment to clarify and reiterate some of her concerns regarding the allocation of only 15 textbooks per classroom. You know, she said in an effort to better understand recommended implementation practices, she searched for guidance on SEPUP, indicating that 15 books per class is the preferred model. However, she was not able to find any such recommendation. And this is my words here, perhaps most importantly, is what she states next, which is I also reached out to colleagues at West De Pere Middle School who currently use SEPUP to learn about their approach and they shared their approach. And they shared

136that each teacher is provided with a full classroom set of textbooks, along with additional copies for support staff, approximately 40 per classroom, in addition to the access to the online portal student Chromebooks. This clearly suggests that a higher ratio of materials is considered more effective for supporting student learning. In practice, the text is used daily in the science classroom and includes essential lab instructions, readings, reflection questions and more. And students must engage with regularly. Given this, I respectfully encourage board members to review the actual physical textbook closely prior to voting. Spend time reading it, share the book with a neighbor and reflect on your level of comfort. Consider whether sharing a single textbook between students on a daily basis truly supports meaningful engagement and collaboration. Remember that the 421 model also has a 1 in

137it. It may also be helpful to reflect on whether similar sharing models are used in other content areas. I think that's important information to consider. I don't know how I can vote any differently and not take all of these things into account with the way I plan to vote. You know, why do I know that we should have a full set? Some of the same reasons I said before, in addition to some of these reasons that were reiterated to us. You know, I spent most of my entire teaching career with middle schoolers, which is what this curriculum is for. In fact, in five of our schools that serve grades sixth through eight, I've worked at. So I know how today's middle schoolers learn. We're also hearing from a teacher who was one of the few

138who piloted this curriculum who's been teaching science for over 30 years. And we have also been informed that according to this teacher that at West De Pere a very high functioning, respected district using this curriculum. Also has a full set. I wonder why. And lastly, you know, I'm not aware of too many, if any other content areas where we are willing or choose to teach this way with half of the primary guiding resources. So I'm left with questions such as what are we trying to prove and so many others. If high functioning students, teachers, schools use a full set. In our own science teacher of over 30 years says use a full set, one who piloted this already. I think that's clearly all we need to know. (James) Jeanette (Jeanette) I read that email and

139I appreciated her contributions, but I also met with Angie Lacombe and Lindsay Van de Van. I did borrow one of those books and look through it. No, I didn't share it with one of my neighbors. I shared it with my husband and he said it looks like a textbook and what do you want me to tell you? So he wasn't very helpful. But but my meeting with Angie and Lindsay was extremely helpful. We talked about why they would use a half set versus a full set that if there was reading that the kids had to do, they would be provided either with the Chromebook or they could get a copy of the chapter piece that they were going to read. And a lot of the book is geared towards interaction between students. So when students

140have to cooperate with each other, that also leads to another level of teaching. I'm not a teacher. I'm a parent. And sometimes kids cannot be so nice with each other, but in school they need to learn to cooperate with each other and this is one way of doing it. This is science. I know a lot about science. I'm a retired physical therapist. I had a lot of science and now I know that there's a big difference between a college student and a middle school student. But there's a lot of cooperation that has to go on with that, especially when you're in a gross anatomy lab. You share books all the time and and have a lot of discussions so that you learn together. So I support this even though it is different from what I

141am used to. But after looking at the books and talking to Angie and Lindsay and this is one teacher out of 10, 8. I didn't write that down. I don't remember how many teachers. And I know we were sent something and unfortunately I'm not finding it on my emails right now and I don't want to take the time to look for it. So Angie could probably fill us in on that. Many of the teachers were supportive of this system. So I'll let her speak to that. But I would, I feel that I can support this system. (Angie) Yeah, on that note, there were eight teachers in the trial and as I shared with you, there was hesitation because of what you spoke to. It's different than how we've traditionally set up a science classroom. And

142so there was some hesitation and maybe some desire to have professional learning opportunities around what strategies would we use to facilitate that collaboration. But there was the one only one teacher who was concerned to the point that we're discussing here tonight. (James) Lynn. (Lynn) Well, responding to first what Jeanette said, I don't know much about science, but it was a teacher. And of course, as an English teacher, I would be appalled to think that my students didn't all have a copy of the book. However, I do understand from our last meeting and I would like one of you to perhaps clarify this. There is a reason why this program is created this way. It's not to save money on books or to be mean to kids or something like that. There's a reason. Could one

143of you just briefly explain again what the philosophy is behind that? And also, you told us that all the teachers who piloted it except one thought that it worked just fine. And also, is there any possible work around in case there have to be more books or something like that? (Angie) Yes, so the first portion, I think as Alex said, districts do choose. West De Pere was not one of the districts that SEPUP had referred us to as far as using a half class set. So there are districts across the nation that do choose to have a full class set. However, when we engaged in conversations with SEPUP, one of the first things they said to us was that our recommendation is a half class set and most districts in the nation do use a

144half class set. As I mentioned last time, Appleton and Sheboygan also use half class sets because there's not a necessity as you described with an English textbook or even a high school physical science textbook where there would be substantial reading and an individual student would either need to work in the book on a daily basis individually or would need to write in it or have that piece. This is set up so that students are working in the science So daily they might be in the book having it off to the side or maybe they have their computer up and they're doing a lab and so they're doing the science and I might be the reader for the day who's going to say, "Okay, step one is for us to do this." And then my group

145is going to gather those things and do the steps. So it's more of a lab manual versus a textbook when you think of physical science. We would never recommend a physical science textbook to be half class sets when students have to read substantially and or take them home to be able to complete their work. The other piece would be you asked about the work around and so we were able to engage with SEPUP again after our last meeting and increase the number of student books to 18 for the class set. And then we also have the five available in the library in addition to the online platform. And then as Jeanette had shared, Lindsay spoke to us about how she was already going to be making PDFs of the readings. They're short readings, maybe a

146page to two pages. But she was already working on that because one of the things we're trying to do is have students have opportunities for reading strategies. And so sometimes they wouldn't be able to write in this textbook. So if they were doing a reading and a teacher wanted to apply, let's say an avid reading strategy of highlighting and taking notes, we would want to have an actual copy for the students to do that. In addition, the one piece that we did not mention last time was that the entire kit comes with printable worksheets that teachers would be able to order from our print center that have like the lab spaces. So it could have a chart for students that they could either add to their science notebook or the teacher could opt to print

147that so that they would be able to record their thinking and have that additional information. So those are some of the workarounds to support a situation where maybe we do need to have a few more copies in the classroom on that day. (James) Others Andrew. (Andrew) What why is why is it so why is it so important to do it this way? I West De Pere isn't doing it this way. I couldn't even find a reference on SEPUP's own website to doing this as a as a half class set. What why is this? Is it money? Well, why is it? Why is this so important that we for the for the first time do a textbook adoption this way? (David) Yeah, the intent of sharing this package, which is also one of the first times

148we've done a widespread kit based program, which already makes it quite different from other curriculum materials we've adopted is not with the intention. Excuse me, not with the intention to cut any corners or make it more complicated to engage in the work of curriculum. We talk about implementing with integrity and integrity is a direct connection to how materials are intended to be used. And as Angie pointed out, the use of a small set of student text to be used collaboratively along with the kits are the ideal configuration for the program to carry out. (James) Chanel. (Chanel) I can speak a bit about having collaborative aspects and in the science I completed chemistry last year and on my other science classes when we did labs we did partner work. So in my opinion, having this system

149set up in our middle schools is preparing them for what they'll be doing in high school. And I believe that in college if you do labs, you'll be working with a team. So this is installing those skills that they will need in the future in them young. (James) Thank you others. Alex, (Alex) I'd like to make an amendment to the motion. (James) Go ahead. (Alex) I'd like to amend it and the current motion is that I would like to change it so that the instruction material purchase and then this is where the amendment comes in. Where changes to including a full class set of texts for each student for middle school science as presented be approved. (Andrew) I'll second. (James) Discussion. Samantha. (Samantha) Am I safe in assuming then that that would require just looking

150at the funds associated with that that would just double the textbooks cost or what is that equate to money wise. (David) I don't think we can answer that at this time. (James) Alex. (Alex) And for reference, I was going to bring this up earlier, but you know, whether it's three out of the 17 times that this one teacher. Made copies for it's clear that it's intended purpose is to be sending things to the print center a certain amount of times for resources and you know that's something that I know very well. From teaching Spanish and having to do a similar thing over many years that that's definitely something that district has a keen eye on and there are there are significant costs and you know as part of that also considering that it's going to

151be for. You know every science teacher at this grade level, so there would be obviously that whatever relatively small amount of increase but. You also probably wouldn't need to print as much stuff too so something to throw out there. (James) Jeanette. (Jeanette) I looked through these books there's not that much reading and as Angie said if kids are going to use pencil paper. And they want to do highlighting and notes they can't do it in the book because that book is not their book it's not an individual book it's a book that's being shared in the classroom and so notes can be taken on a piece of paper they have to do that right it's not that much reading. And. I know that money is not the driver here, but let's face it we're talking

152about. Cutting programs and cutting things that are costing $20,000 $10,000 a million dollars. Every little bit counts and I'm not saying I'm going to vote for this because I want to save money I'm going to vote for this because this is how the program is set up. And it's set up in a way that we're not used to this isn't Spanish, this isn't English language learning, this is this is. Science and. Science is taught differently and I think this is a progressive program and I spent a lot of time with these two women talking about this program and it was very eye opening. And this being a kit it's worth every dollar because they're going to do I think it was mentioned at our last meeting about the owl pellets because I made a joke

153about loving the look for owl pellets but everything is there and. The benefit of this program is that the book is just extra to give kids information that they can look at their Chromebook and get information about how they can get information. I don't know I haven't used a Chromebook but I'm guessing because I can do it on my iPad I can make notes and things when I'm reading they can't do it in the book so what would be the purpose of having those extra 15 or 18 books. (James) Andrew. (Andrew) Why isn't this all over their website why isn't this a standard option that can easily be found for sale if this is a routine I'm not saying I'm not saying we're the first people to ever do it, but I'm saying I can't

154even find where you would go to look for a half set. (Angie) I'm SEPUP is a business that is you know there's the they want to earn funding as well right and so I think that they would happily sell us as many textbooks as we want if a district would want to have one. Their recommendation to us was that this is what you need you need a half class that because this is our model the trainers that came to provide the training to the teachers they taught in districts two of the three taught in districts that had half class sets and so the training was based around the use of a half class that as well so. I don't know that they advertise it on their website they do talk about the model that they

155use which is the four to one. But I guess that that would I don't know why they don't but what I know is that I can honestly say that one of the first things they said to us was that this is how we utilize this and that a half class that is the model that that most districts use (Andrew) what was the four to one. (Angie) That was the model that we had talked about last last time where there's four students in a group sometimes and so they might be doing the hands on science around a group of four sometimes there might be two students where if there's a reading then they're doing a shared reading or sometimes there is the one which is what the teacher was referring to in that four to one

156model where sometimes you have some independent things like during the lab you're independently needing to record some things. There's different aspects of it but the idea is that sometimes we do things in four sometimes we do things in twos sometimes we do it individually. (James) Lynn (Lynn) Based on the advice of our staff and the reasoning that Jeanette has provided and especially the president of our intra-city student council I do not support this amendment. (James) Just what if what if you're wrong so what's the remedy if you're wrong is it just we come back next year and you say yeah I need 10 more textbooks per class set the remedy if if you go down this path the half class said isn't getting it done you just come back right because I know that there's

157a there's a cycle for curriculum adoption but you're not adopting a new curriculum right you just you just purchasing additional materials correct (Angie) correct that would be not a adopt yeah we wouldn't necessarily need to write a longer process and implementation for us would be a three to five year plan and so we would be monitoring how things are going I think our first step the first remedy would be to spend time in professional learning and continuing to support the methodology but then certainly we would continue to listen and and see how things are going in classrooms and that could be one of the remedies as well to purchase additional copies as needed. (James) Thank you. Thank you. Alex. (Alex) So a couple things I'm trying to avoid the opportunity to be wrong. You know,

158I don't think it's worth the chance. I don't think you know that that's necessary. And I also keep in mind that if we have to come back next year, we're looking at a 24 to 30 million dollar budget shortfall. So we're really going to be talking about pinching pennies. So it's going to be harder to make the justification if you will to add on. And why waste a year of learning if we end up finding out that 25% or more of our schools throw it a random number are really struggling and it's not working when it's, you know, really your foundational your sixth grade science for remember correctly sixth grade, like, that's an important thing to be able to do.. That's where kids really learn how to how to start to be learners. They're out

159of middle. They're out of elementary school now. And I want to reiterate or I guess I want to make clear one thing. This isn't just a general thought process. I am basing my thoughts my decisions on our school district and our schools and our kids specifically. Because I've been in our schools because I'm thinking about this teacher in our schools, I'm thinking about how this could impact and work for our kids. We are not West De Pere that they don't but that that's a reference point. We are not these other school districts. I'm making this decision or this thought and this recommended motion because of what I think and some of which I highlighted in the past meeting. Things that we need to consider for our kids in the success of our students. (James) So,

160this would be the last time around and we'll call it. (Andrew) So I just want to be clear here the so the reps showed us the program. And what they presented to us as their recommendation was these kits, but with a half set of with a half set, which they don't have on their website and that's fine. I mean, the website doesn't necessarily be on and all but that's what they came to us with it. (Angie) Correct. (James) I recognize that when we went through and kind of updated policies around curriculum adoption. I was a strong advocate for minority opinions, right and making sure that they were heard. But I appreciate Mr. Mineau's position and the fact that he has deep experience in the district. It wasn't just one person. It was eight staff members.

161I'm faced with a minority opinion that's is vocal. Right. Everything but if your recommendation is a half set and that recommendation is founded in a professional recommendation by the publisher of a half set. I'm a no for the amendment. All right. Anyone else. So we're voting on the amendment to change the motion. Kinsey. (Kinsey) Mineau (Alex) Aye (Kinsey) Knill (Jeanette) No (Kinsey) Meister (Samantha) No. (Kinsey) Gerlasch (Lynn) No. (Kinsey) Lyerly (James) No. (Kinsey) Becker. (Andrew) Aye (Kinsey) McCoy. (Laura) No. (James) Okay. We have a sending motion that we need to vote on any other discussion on that. Kinsey (Kinsey) Online voting is now open. All votes been entered in the motion is carried the results of the individual board member votes are as follows. Becker. Yes. McCoy. Yes. Lyerly. Yes. Gerlasch Yes. Mineau. No. Knill.

162Yes. Meister. Yes. (James) Thank you everybody. Let's move to 6 F health insurance plan modifications. (Lynn) I move that the recommended plan design change to the medical plan as presented be approved. (James) Just make sure that you. (Jeanette) Second (James) that way people listening in can hear you. Okay discussion. Andrew. (Andrew) Yes. Can you please tell me what the average the average out of pocket difference will be for the average single and the average family plan. (James) So. You know I sent you some screenshots. The only thing I take it issue with is the definition of average. You know there were scenario tests right so you know there there's utilization at different levels. And I kind of sent you a couple of things and three provided some scenarios that they ran through the thing so

163I don't I just don't think you can get an average. You can get there in a scenario you can (Andrew) get an average because we know what percentage of people have this what percentage of people have have that I don't know how common or uncommon the scenarios I'll listen first. (James) Mike. (Mike) Yes. Andrew I want to try to answer your question do you mind asking it one more time please. (Andrew) I just wanted to know the average the mean out of pocket difference actuarially expected for for a family and for a single. They have to know how much worse off they're going to be. I would love a lot more than that but I will settle for an average as being kind of a best we can sort of do. (Mike) Okay thank you

164for clarifying the estimated average increase on the copay plan for single. With the proposed recommendations would be four hundred and sixty one dollars and eleven cents annually. For families on the copay plan it would be one thousand two hundred and thirty eight dollars and twenty eight cents annually. So in both of those cases if a family was attempting to make a budget they would divide by the number of paychecks they get per year if they were trying to use an average. (Andrew) Okay and that's helpful and that's and then in addition there's some premium increase that's (James) that's inclusive. (Andrew) That's premium increase plus expected out of pocket. (Mike) Yes that includes the averages related to deductible premium max out of pocket expectations. Would you like the answers for the high deductible plan as well.

165The average for the high deductible plan would result in a savings on average. The average savings for a single plan would be three hundred eighty three dollars and seventeen cents annually. And families on the high deductible plan would be four hundred fifty eight dollars and sixty seven cents annually. Both of those numbers were would be projected average savings based on the proposals this year. (Andrew) So we've made the but we've made the high deductible health plan more generous. (Mike) Yes (Andrew) we were didn't we reduce some of the contribution of the HRA wasn't that a big piece of that. (Mike) The HRA proposed reductions are on the co-pay plan. There's the yes there's an opportunity for a dis-sponsored HSA on the high deductible and a decrease in the maximum out of pocket affiliated with the

166high deductible. (james) I'm sorry Jeanette (Jeanette) So could you just give me an idea of what the percentage increase is on that co-pay plan. If you can do it quick if you've got it you know if it's what what is the you said it was like four hundred and something per year increase. So what's the percentage increase for a family for that plan. Is it an 11 percent increase is it a 5 percent increase. Like what were they paying last year. (Mike) I hesitate to try to do that math in real time in front of you. We know that the premium increase is a 2.2 3 percent recommendation for the premium side of things. (Jeanette) So I know well myself my premium rate went up 11 percent. It's not a lot because I get Medicare

167and Medicare isn't a big number so 11 percent of one hundred and sixty dollars a month isn't a lot. But this sure doesn't sound like this insurance plan is a huge increase. I know the deductibles the high deductible. That's a big increase but not for the actual out of pocket. It's an increase in in what they could potentially pay. I get that as being an increase. (Mike) I think because it's complicated with regards to a 2.2 3 percent proposed increase on the co-pay plan a reduction in the HRA contribution. The recommended changes on the rollover piece. The recommendation to change from a 12 percent employee portion to a 50 percent. That's where I hesitate to try to give you the math in real time that way because I don't want to misspeak. I know last

168last at the work session since speaking of misspeaking I believe you asked me a question about the cost for specialty clinic visits. I said forty dollars. That was incorrect. That was for that forty dollars is for the general visits. The specialty is a sixty dollar. That's not a change. That's just a more accurate statement. I apologize for that error to everyone. (James) Samantha. (Samantha) Just to be clear this particular portion of it is just talking about the plan changes. Correct. All of the other items are separate out. (James) Correct. (Samantha) OK. If in that case then this is can you provide just some clarification then on the additional spousal surcharge. I know there was a lot of discussion about the timing of that implementation and making sure that it aligns better with private sector open

169enrollment periods. (Mike) Yes. Thank you for asking that question. We did receive input from a variety of members. I know this is an area of concern and we absolutely reflected on what that would mean for families who were trying to make a decision around this. And we did not list a specific implementation date around that charge in the memo. But to clarify for the public and for the board we would allow up till January 1st of twenty twenty seven to try to allow for any of those cycle changes with a spousal plan sign up period that that could be changed. We confirmed that our understanding of some employers may not consider your spouse's enrollment as a qualifying event. So we wanted to make sure we allowed as much flexibility as possible for families in that

170circumstance. (James) Andrew. (Andrew) I have a couple a couple of things and then I might I might have an amendment. This is maybe a bit more philosophical because the dollars are not very high. But the the going up to going up to fifteen percent. That's pretty close to the last thing pretty close to the last thing left from before Act 10. All the all the work rules gone. All the all the costs up. There's just something that doesn't sit right with me about even though the money isn't severe. It's the last the the twelve percent is maybe the last symbol left of a profession that spent generations negotiating better benefits in exchange for less pay than there are. Corporate corporate world counterparts were getting and it really it's really difficult to see that that go

171away because now there's there's nothing. I don't think it's oh I don't think it's a horrible call that's going to break people's banks. I'm more worried. I'm much more worried about the spousal what the spousal is going to do to some families than the three percent. But I it it's concerning to me that the I also think the five percent wellness exam penalty is pretty stiff too. But I don't know. I just don't I I don't know if I can support something that takes away the last thing that was left. It's philosophical but that's that's kind of where I'm at. (James) Others. (Andrew) Okay. If there's no one else I move to amend I move to make an amendment which is to reduce the four hundred dollar per month spousal surcharge to as listed to

172two hundred. (James) I'll second any discussion. Yes. Lynn. (Lynn) Just like to ask the staff a question is that something that we can just say we're going to do. (James) Yeah. I recognize Mike can you confirm I think that the model number that was used at that special surcharge was based on the same benefit provided by the city. Is that correct. (Mike) That is correct. (James) Laura. (Laura) How can we vote on this without knowing what this is going to cost like in total. (James) Fair. Fair point. And we have we can't table these discussions decisions because we have to start the configuration for enrollment. You know immediately as to get ready for open enrollment. Yeah Andrew. (Andrew) So how do we know how much we're saving on the four hundred dollars per month. We

173don't exactly know that either. (James) Yeah. You're correct. I think we have some we have some numbers as far as the number of individuals who have spouses on the plans. I don't think it's hard math. Let's go to Jeanette and then we'll come back to Laura. (Jeanette) I'm just wondering what the reasoning was to go with four hundred dollars. Was it just simply because that's what the city does or did you do some hard math in comparing how much it's going to cost. (Mike) That was accepted as the recommended. That's when you impose this. This is a dollar a month that is used. It's been used in our community. City of Green Bay's plan is our understanding. And so that was that was what was looked at. And then in the modeling it was estimated

174about the number of families that would make a decision around that and then how that would impact the number of claims that people chose to come off the plan that way. And so, you know, essentially I would I would presume to your point Laura we can't give exact estimates but we could estimate that be half half of that amount but that could be wrong because maybe two hundred dollars is an amount that would cause a lot lower projection of people who decide not to use the secondary. So we'd have to go back and try to remodel that out to better understand. (James) Laura. (Laura) So I'm going to put Angie on the spot here. In your budget projections as they are current. The numbers that have been given to us and the proposal that has

175been given to us has that already been incorporated into your budget projections. (Angie) So once we started right once we started figuring out like what we were going to propose to the board now I have included that so the one is at one point two one point two million dollar savings. Because of the okay with the I.D.P. So one point seven million is what I have now projected in the budget towards that eight million dollar deficit so that has reduced that so anything that we change or increase right that is just going to if you know with the assumption of a full two point six three percent and then the steps. (Laura) I know these decisions are hard but everybody's insurance is going up right now throughout our whole community. And I feel like we're

176on shaky ground and we start randomly cutting in half things that have been budgeted and you know a fair amount of time and effort has been put into what this will look like to kind of even the next couple of years. Even out the pain so to speak across the various different groups that buy into our insurance policy are our group rate so I don't know it's it's I don't feel good about making this decision. Abruptly like this. (James) So Jeanette. (Jeanette) I'd like to know how many families have a spouse who already has insurance through their employer that's also taking this as a secondary insurance because this is not for families that the spouse doesn't have insurance correct this is for families that it's a secondary insurance for the spouse. How many families do

177you have any idea. (Mike) 151. original. Pardon me 165 to start the year and it's down to 151 in the evaluation of claims with regards to the claim dollar amount so it's between 150 165 has been the number. (Jeanette) And how many families do we have working in the that a rough number it doesn't have to be exact. (Mike) Families working or families on the. (James) We have we have the numbers of how many families we have on family level insurance right. (Mike) Yes, that would be the proportion that you'd want. (Jeanette) So how many families do we have on family level insurance. (Mike) Bare with me a moment as I go through my papers here. Okay. I apologize. I don't want to make you wait too long here. So (Jeanette) it's not that important.

178I I, I think. My point is I don't think and I don't want to belittle the people that this is going to affect but I don't think it's going to be a big portion of the people that work for us for the teachers and the other employees that are benefiting from this. (Mike) We have 527 of employees who have selected the family plan with approximately 2,000 members associated with those family plans. Does that make sense? (James) Vicki. (Vicki) My notes show that we are estimating a savings if we go with the 400 of about $325,000 a year. (James) Others? Okay so we have an amendment on the table that we need to vote on so Kinsey walk us through that. The amendment correct. (Kinsey) McCoy? (Laura) No. (Kinsey) Becker? (Andrew) Aye. (Kinsey) Lyerly (James) No.

179(Kinsey) Gerlach?(Lynn) No. (Kinsey) Meister? (Samantha) No. (Kinsey) Knill? (Jeanette) No. (Kinsey) Mineau? (Alex) Abstain. (James) Do you want to just reiterate to those in the audience why? (Alex) Sure I can just reiterate that there are particular agenda items due to relation in the district that I cannot other appropriately weigh in on or vote for on some of these action items tonight so I will be abstaining accordingly. (James) Thank you. Okay so now we're back to the base motion any further discussion on that? Kinsey? (Kinsey) Online voting is now open. [Silence] All votes been entered and the motion is carried. The results of the individual board member votes are as follows. Meister, Yes. Knill. Yes. Mineau. Abstain. Gerlach. Yes. Lyerly. Yes. McCoy. Yes. Becker. No. (James) Okay going on to 6G health insurance plan rates for

180active employees. (James) I move that the 2026-27 health insurance rates for the $1,500 deductible health plan with a health reimbursement account and the minimum essential plan for active employees as presented be approved. Can we get a second? -Second. (James) Say it on the mic. (Jeanette) Second. (James) Thank you. Discussion? Kinsey? (Kinsey) Online voting is now open. [Silence] All votes have been entered and the motion is carried. The results of the individual board member votes are as follows. Becker. Yes. McCoy. Yes. Lyerly? Yes. Gerlach. Yes. Mineau. Abstain. Knill. Yes. Meister. Yes. (James) Thank you everybody. Let's go to 6H health insurance plan for retirees. (Lynn) I move that the 2026-27 health insurance rates for the $1,500 deductible health plan with a health reimbursement account, the minimum essential plan, the $500 retiree plan and the prescription plan

181for retirees as presented be approved. (Samantha) Second. (James) Discussion? Kinsey? (Kinsey) Online voting is now open. [Silence] All votes have been entered and the motion is carried. The results of the individual board member votes are as follows. Becker. Yes. McCoy. Yes. Lyerly. Yes. Gerlach. Yes. Mineau. Abstain. Knill. Yes. Meister. Yes. (James) Thank you. 6I dental insurance rates for active employees. (Lynn) I move that the 2026-27 dental insurance rates for active employees as presented be approved. (Jeanette) Second. (James) Discussion? Kinsey? (Kinsey) Online voting is now open. [Silence] All votes have been entered and the motion is carried. The results of the individual board member votes are as follows. Meister. Yes. Knill. Yes. Mineau. Abstain. Gerlach. Yes. Lyerly. Yes. McCoy. Yes. Becker. Yes. (James) Thank you. 6J? (Kinsey) Oh, sorry. Hold on one second. I just... (James)

182Want us to vote again? (Kinsey) No. Okay. Okay. (James) 6J, dental insurance rates for retirees. (Lynn) I move that the 2026-27 dental insurance rates for retirees as presented be approved. (Jeanette) Second. (James) Discussion? Kinsey? (Kinsey) Online voting is now open. [Silence] All votes have been entered and the motion is carried. The results of the individual board member votes are as follows. Becker. Yes. McCoy. Yes. Lyerly. Yes. Gerlach. Yes. Mineau. Abstain. Knill. Yes. Meister. Yes. (James) Thank you. 6K? Voluntary Vision Insurance for active employees. (Lynn) I move that the 2026-27 vision insurance rates for active employees as presented be approved. (Jeanette) Second. (James) Discussion? Kinsey? (Kinsey) Online voting is now open. [Silence] All votes have been entered and the motion is carried. The results of the individual board member votes are as follows. Meister. Yes. Knill.

183Yes. Mineau. Abstain. Gerlach. Yes. Lyerly. Yes. McCoy. Yes. Becker. Yes. (James) 6L Voluntary Vision Insurance for retirees. (Lynn) I move that the 2026-27 vision insurance rates for retirees as presented be approved. (Lynette) Second. (James) Discussion? Kinsey? (Kinsey) Online voting is now open. [Silence] All votes have been entered and the motion is carried. The results of the individual board member votes are as follows. Becker. Yes. McCoy. Yes. Lyerly. Yes. Gerlach. Yes. Mineau. Abstain. Knill. Yes. Meister. Yes. (James) Okay. 6M, the potential transition from the district's IPP program to a voluntary short-term disability. (Lynn) I move that the district transition from the internal income protection plan to a voluntary short-term disability plan for the 26-27 school year as presented be approved. (Jeanette) Second. (James) Discussion? Andrew? (Andrew) Yeah. This is a terrible thing to do to staff.

184This is a terrible thing, a terrible position to put them in. To not have, you know, we're already losing money out of pocket with the, although I am glad that it gets better if they do the high deductible plan. We still have premiums going up. We're still, seriously, I won't vote for it, but we're still talking about the possibility of not giving steps in CPI. And there is some protection for all when all are involved in the pool of everyone just having, um, everyone having IPP and not having it be voluntary. And, um, I think that that umbrella, that fact that everyone's paying for a short-term disability is just very important. And what we, I don't, the gains that we get, the gains that we get by taking this away are, are going to be

185really awful situations. They're going to be people who, you know, there's going to be people who will lose their home because they made the mistake of not getting this protection and then they have a, then they have an illness, uh, or even, um, this is what, this is also what, this what covers your, is this what covers, um, uh, leave on pregnancy too? Okay. So, yeah, so that's, I, I mean, if it was only, you know, that, that alone is enough for me to say, forget it to make your pregnancy leave something that you have to buy. So that's, um, you know what, I'll just, I'll just stop there. Cause if you vote, if you vote to transition this, you are voting to make pregnancy leave something that you have to buy in advance. So,

186there we go. Let's do it. (James) Jeanette. (Jeanette) I don't like that this would be taken away. I agree with Andrew, very important, but I also know that we're having to make some really tough decisions. And I've said a lot of times and a couple people tonight said it, it's not our fault. We're not being funded properly. I don't like having to take this away yet. I do know that in the world outside of the Green Bay school districts, I believe, and Mike, you can correct me if I'm wrong. There's only one other district that offers it and it's not even as robust as ours. And if you're out there in the regular world, um, I never had short-term disability at any of my workplaces in all the years I've worked, that I didn't have

187to pay for. Um, that it was always out of my pocket. And, um, that's not, that isn't why I'm going to support to, um, I'm going to vote for this. I'm going to vote for this because we need to cut somewhere. And I really don't like that, but we have to make some, some hard decisions here. And, um, I would have liked to have kept it at 85% or whatever it was last year, but, um, we need to make some hard choices. And this is a really hard choice, but, um, I think it needs to be done. (James) Samantha. (Samantha) So, um, oddly enough, this was actually the reduction in the percentage was on the very first meeting I sat at, which was like 10 seconds after I was sworn in. So I was mildly

188certain of what was going on. Um, seeing as that was not even 10 months ago. Um, I think the change to this benefit has been swift and I am worried that by removing this, our staff doesn't even know what they're losing in a lot of cases. They don't need it until they need it. Um, I can't support cost savings on the potential misfortune of our staff in this case. And these are folks who are working in our district who as a teacher are taking lower paying jobs in general and to be guaranteed 70% of their lower paying job in the event of a very, very unfortunate health situation, I think is something that we should continue to offer. Um, and as many of the folks who've reached out, these are people that come back to

189continue to serve within our district. It's not like they use the benefit and then skip. Um, they get well, they heal, they take care of themselves, their families, and they come back to continue to serve us. So I cannot support getting rid of it at this time. (James) Lynn. (Lynn) Um, the income protection plan is something that was new to me. You know, I never, I was never familiar with anything like this before. Um, and Jeanette said that only one other school district provides this. I don't know. Is that in the state of Wisconsin or is that in Northeast Wisconsin? And then a second thing I'd like to ask also is what about other employers in our area in Northeast Wisconsin or in the Green Bay area, the greater Green Bay area, do they provide

190this? Is this a common thing that I just don't know about? (Mike) We were not able to find, um, another district that offered this at this point. Um, there are districts that offer the voluntary proposal in a similar fashion that we have brought forward. Um, I think there was one district, um, that offered a district, um, sponsored short-term disability plan that was still, um, uh, managed by an insurance company rather than a, um, but we, we can't find another example of somebody who runs it the way that our district does. That doesn't, that's not an indictment on our district. It just, we, we were not able to find another, another one like that. (Lynn) And what about non-school district employers? Do you know anything about whether they offer such a thing? Is this just a

191common thing? I am not familiar with, uh, employers that, that there are employers that would offer company sponsored short-term disability, again, managed through, um, a contract with an insurance company, however. (James) So Mike, you're right in the private sector is the standard practice to have some sort of group sponsored short-term disability that then you can buy up if you want to do something additional. But, um, I cannot remember the last time we talked through this. Um, did we cost compare against a group sponsored, um, short-term disability? I know it's obviously not going to be the, the savings that we see on the books now, but, um, you know, recognizing the pain point of not knowing if you should opt into voluntary benefits and all of the statistics show that voluntary benefits are very lowly, low

192utilization, right? And enrollment. So did we, I can't remember if last year or the year before we actually had a cost compare with a group plan. (Mike) I would have to check the details to refresh my memory exactly. Um, my, my working memory of it, which I'll need to vet is that the board decided not to go that route because the savings between the current IPP and what was, what would be garnered by implementing such a thing was not deemed significant enough to make the, make the change at that time. (James) Okay. (Mike) I'll double check that though. I don't know that we have time to double check it. If we need to take action on it this evening. Um, I don't know if you should, do you have something to contribute that would not

193be in conflict. Okay. (Alex) So this isn't a reference to our entire budget situation as a whole. When it comes to some of these, you know, reduction measures, you know, like we talked about last meeting, I would just add that there are timelines when it comes to potential funding knowledge that I think we need to take into account. And those two things would be one, um, a potential change and finding out, um, special education funding from the state. And I believe it's June then obviously the referendum. So I'll just leave it at that. Yeah. (james) Thank you. Um, Andrew. (Andrew) Um, yeah, I think we could, you know, if, if the sky falls next year, we could, we could do this and we changed it. We changed it one year ago. And I don't think

194we need to be pulling the rug out from people here and that there will be there will be catastrophic stories over this that we'll be listening to instead of potential catastrophic stories. Someone's going to lose their house over this. Okay. (James) Others. Okay. Kinsey (Kinsey) online voting is now open. Okay. All votes have been entered and the motion did not carry the results of the individual board member votes are as follows. Becker. No McCoy. No, Lyerly. No, Gerlach. No, Mineau. abstained. Knill. No, Meister. No. (James) Alright. Let's move the six and implementation of new voluntary insurance options. (Lynn) I move that the district implement the new voluntary insurance options for the 2627 school year as presented be approved. (Samantha) Second (James) discussion. Kinsey (Kinsey) online voting is now open. James, are you able to vote?

195(James) If you'd send it to me. (Kinsey) I think I did. Do you want a voice vote? (James) Yes. Then Aye (Kinsey) all votes have been entered in the motion has carried the results of the individual board member votes are as follows. Meister. Yes. Knill. Yes. Mineau abstained. Gerlach. Yes. Lyerly. Yes. McCoy. Yes. Becker. Yes. (James) Just going to log back in one second. Okay. Let's go to six. 0, the E rate edge switching recommendations. (Lynn) I move that the purchase of E rate edge switching as presented be approved. (Alex) Second (James) Discussion. Kinsey. (Kinsey) online voting is now open. All votes have been entered in the motion is carried with all board members voting in favor. (James) Okay. I make a motion to group items six P through six R. (Alex) Second. (James) Discussion.

196Okay. Kinsey. Oh, sorry. All in favor. Okay. (Andrew) I'll move the combined P Q. The combined policy revisions of P Q and R. (James) Second. Discussion. Kinsey. (Kinsey) McCoy. Aye (Kinsey) Becker. (Andrew) Aye. (Kinsey) Lyerly. (James) Aye. (Kinsey) Gerlach. (Lynn) Aye. (Kinsey) Meister. (Samantha) Aye. (Kinsey) Knill. (Jeanette) Aye. (Kinsey) Mineau. (Alex) Aye. (Kinsey) Motion carries. (James) Okay. So at this point before we get into the discussion portion, let's take a five-minute recess and bathroom break. Mike, do you have numbers just based on the changes that we voted on for the changes to major medical premiums minus the IPP? (Inaudible) Yeah. Thank you. (inaudible) (James) You can. -Oh, okay. (inaudible) [break] (James) Okay, let's get back to the agenda. So we're gonna start with section 7A, which is the superintendent update, Superintendent Bayer. [BLANK_AUDIO] (Vicki) I

197don't know why everybody's leaving. [LAUGH] (James) Take it personally, Vicki. (Vicki) I wanted to start off by acknowledging Jeff DeGrave had mentioned Jackie as well. Just wanna take a moment to recognize Jackie, she passed away two weeks ago. Worked with us for 40 years and she is a legend in the district and beloved. Her son Joe still works for us. Daughter-in-law Peggy retired recently and niece Jennifer worked for us as well recently retired. So just wanted to acknowledge her. Thank you for that. On to Jackson Elementary, was invited to come to Mrs. C's class a couple of weeks ago, this was actually in February. They did a living history museum of influential black Americans. You guys, if you get a chance next year, they were so good. The students were really good, very much into

198their character, very knowledgeable. It was a great event, so shout out to Mrs. C over at Jackson. [BLANK_AUDIO] Technology department, Amy could probably talk hours about how amazing her team is. I know she can, but they recently presented at a conference. She gets her team out there, you would be so proud of how they represent Green Bay Area Public School District. We are leaders, not only across the state, but national recognition for the work that is happening under Amy's leadership in technology. So thank you, Amy, for your leadership. Yeah, it's good stuff. All right, the kids aren't in this picture, but I was asked to come and judge cake, and believe it or not, they didn't let me try any of it. I know. [LAUGH] (James) That's just art at that point. (Vicki) It's just

199art, exactly. This was for FFA Amazing Kids. It's a great program over at Lombardi. I know the board knows that. So thank you to Lombardi FFA staff for making sure I was included. The kids did a great job. [BLANK_AUDIO] Now I know Alex went to this. Okay, then I'm hoping that the board members that attended could weigh in, please. But Webster had their Into the Woods presentation. It was so good. [BLANK_AUDIO] (Alex) Yeah, I mean, my daughters love to play sports and do all the crazy boy stuff, but they love to dance and sing and do all sorts of other stuff too. And they love musicals and everything. And I enjoy all of that as well. And it was really cool for the first time in my life to see kids of that age perform

200live. And we saw the first show, which is always the roughest one. And just thoroughly impressed to see what the elementary age kids can do. And again, that's our Fine Arts Institute. And it was awesome. [BLANK_AUDIO] (Lynn) Samantha and I both went to the last show. And it was not the first time I saw kids that age perform like that. Because I've gone to everything Webster does because they do such a wonderful job. And the kids that get to work on the set, that's wonderful too. And they do a wonderful job. And I do not know of anyone who is planning to close the Fine Arts Institute. [BLANK_AUDIO] (Samantha) That was my second show of the day. I had attended the wonderfully rescheduled because of impending snowmageddon West High performance of Mean Girls at 9

201AM that morning. And then went straight to the Webster show at two. So very happy that those were the last two experiences before being trapped in the house for like three days. It was incredible. The kids, it was fantastic. They did a fantastic job. [BLANK_AUDIO] (Vicki) Thank you. [BLANK_AUDIO] Okay, trip over to Doty Elementary last week. And I just wanna point out that the five year olds made fun of me nonstop for not being able to figure out their word games. I am not as smart as five year olds. Great time over at Doty, you are. [LAUGH] (James) No fair. (Vicki) Yeah, spent some time in the library in the kindergarten classroom. And it's just such a wonderful environment. And they're progressing nicely with the addition. And they're very excited about soon welcoming the Langlade

202students. [BLANK_AUDIO] Red Smith, I went to Danz Elementary just for a pop in visit. And Red Smith Band and Show Choir were there to perform. And we heard a little bit tonight about students being exposed to the fine arts at the elementary level and getting excited about the opportunities at middle and high school. I saw firsthand and again the students were absolutely amazing. [BLANK_AUDIO] We're gonna skip this one for now, please. And I'll conclude with a shout out to our amazing facilities and operations team who spent a heck of a lot of time over the last weekend. Making sure that it would be safe for our students to return to school on Wednesday. They worked very hard, put in a lot of time. And their commitment to this district was really evident. Appreciation to the

203weather team. They get up early in the morning to like Josh DePauw gets up, I think, two o'clock and goes out and checks the roads for us and lets us know by four o'clock am whether we need to meet and talk about the day. That team does a fantastic job. So thank you to that crew. And a reminder to the public that next week is spring break so students will not be in session. That's it. (James) Was a record breaking snow, wasn't it? The Green Bay? (Vicki) Second largest. (James) Second place. But it's like, okay. [LAUGH] Biggest in like 133 years or something like that. Okay. (inaudible) (James) Okay. All right, if that's done, we'll go to the legislative update. Jeanette? (Jeanette) So I'm gonna keep it short. (James) You have to. You have to.

204On. (Jeanette) Okay, I'm gonna keep it short because of time. You can all read it. But I do want to just so that it's on the record and for those who may still be listening. On Tuesday, March 17th, the Senate held their final days in chamber. That means that the Senate won't be working for the rest of the year. And the assembly isn't working since last month. And that doesn't solve our problems with the budget. And I know it seems fruitless to continue for me to ask you to contact your assembly rep or your state senator as two of our speakers this evening also brought up. But they, many of them are up for election in November. And this, the pressure that is given to them may cause them to come back into session to

205decide for funding for the public schools. The Democratic Assembly members have made a proposal on March 17th to increase general school aid by 445.9 million and raise the special education reimbursement to 60%. The total cost of this bill is estimated to be 1.3 billion. That's only half of what's there for the surplus. So there would be plenty for the tax relief that the Republican leaders continue to say that they need. So nothing, I looked at WASB just right before this meeting. There is no legislative update and NPR had no update on it either. So as of today, there's no movement. Continue to reach out, call, email, stop them in the grocery store if you see them there, whatever. But tell them they need to go back to work and do their job and fund the

206schools. Thank you. (James) Thank you, Jeanette. We'll move down to the referendum poll results. You're going to take that. (Vicki) We have a guest tonight joining us virtually, Peter Leatherman, who helped us with the poll results. The board might recall Peter presented to us last time we came to referendum. (James) Hi, Peter. (Peter) Good evening. Everybody hear me OK? (James) We can. Yes, thank you. (Peter) Excellent. I will share my screen with the PowerPoint. Everybody, is it up on your end? (James) It is, but it's not in presentation mode. There it is. (Peter) All right, I've got a turn. I had the YouTube meeting on my TV here and now I see my face on the TV. That's not going to be productive. (James) That's disconcerting. (Peter) That's very disconcerting. Well, it's a pleasure to

207be virtually with you tonight. And I think after hearing the last hour, hour and a half, I work with school districts all over the country. Not in a unique position, sadly, but I do have some good news from you for the public support of the Green Bay Area public schools. Just to review with you what we did, we spoke with 400 randomly selected residents across the school district. 400 samples projectable to plus or minus 5 percent in 95 out of 100 cases. The margin of error is determined by the size of the sample, not the percent of the population. So a 400 sample in Green Bay Area schools, a 400 sample in Brown County or 400 sample across the state of Wisconsin is always going to be plus or minus 5 percent. Average interview time

208was 10 minutes. The nonresponse rate was 6 percent. And how we're moving right now with public opinion, the time frame matters a lot. This was done between February 5th and 18th. So this survey was completed before the Iraq conflict, before gas prices, stock market, everything. So surveys are a snapshot in time. So there's probably some changes and I'll point out one of the changes that we'll probably be seeing in polls coming off, coming out of the field in the coming weeks. Putting up some demographics. Demographics are done for two reasons. We want to validate the sample against updated census information, make sure it's representative. But then also we can look at differences between groups. How do parents feel? How do homeowners versus renters feel? So the first set of bars ask the residents, how long

209have they lived in the school district? 30 percent have been in the district for 10 years or less. Well, 25 percent have been in the district for over 30 years. Typical residents been in the district for about 15 years. You have 11 percent of households that have a preschooler or an infant in them. 26 percent have a child attending the Green Bay Area Public Schools. And then 71 percent are empty nesters. An empty nester does not imply an age. It's just lack of presence of a child. So if there's a 27 year old in the sample without a child, they're classified in this in the demographics as an empty nester. Renters, just short of 40 percent of residents, 35 percent indicated that they owned a home valued under 300,000. 24 percent said they owned a

210home valued over 300,000. Forty one percent are college graduates. That includes post grads. Twenty nine percent are high school graduates or less. And 30 percent have some college experience. The first thing that I think for the snapshot in time, it back in February will potentially change is the financial situation of the household. This question does not ask about what their income is. It asks them to think about their income and their expenses. And are they how how is that matching up? What we've been seeing in the first quarter of 2026 is across the upper Midwest. This has been dropping. We're down to about 35 percent. You were on the higher side of that back in February from what we were seeing in the first quarter. It continues to move down. In spite of everything we've

211heard up until now, keeping in mind, the high that we had was back in the first quarter of 2023 when we had over 60 percent of people indicating they were financially stressed. So it's still an issue. Primarily, you know, if we think back pre pandemic when the economy was good, we still had 26 percent financially stressed. You never have, but, you know, two percent financially stressed. The key on this question and how it impacts funding request is the higher that number is, it creates more people that would support something they can't afford to. It's not a no, I'm against what the district's doing. It's I simply cannot afford what the district's asking for. And it has impacted referendum all across the upper Midwest in 23, 24 and 25. The geographic location, 69 percent lived in

212the city of Green Bay, 14 percent in Bellevue, 12 percent Allouez, and 5 percent in the rest of the district. 18 to 34 year olds were 25 percent. Over 65 year olds were 23 percent. Typical resident comes in at about 47 years old. Women outnumbered men by four percent in the sample. One switch from the survey from a few years ago in the demographics is not not surprisingly this ebbs and flows with who's ever in the White House. It tipped more Democrat than Republican, 42 to 35, with 20 percent indicating their independence and then the ethnicity. Two thirds indicated they were white, 14 percent Hispanic, Latino, 9 percent African-American, 4 percent Asian Pacific Islander and 3 percent each Native American and multiracial. Any questions on demographics or methodology before we get into the survey? (James)

213We're good. Thank you. (Peter) We're good. All right. We have I do not do put comparisons into presentations unless they're post 2020. It's not fair to compare to where a district was in 2019. It's an apples to oranges comparison. So we do have the comparison going to 2024 and there's a lot of stability. And actually, it's a bit surprising considering you've had a funding request. Typically, districts burn political capital when they go through a funding request and we see drops on some of these atmospherics. But we're not seeing it here. The quality of education, it was 79 percent. It's 80 percent. A little bit higher than the norm right now. Education has taken a hit post pandemic. There's just more concern about the quality and the norm has dropped into the mid 70s. So you

214actually went up a few points. It's not statistically significant, but 80 percent is a key threshold on this question. What do they like most about the Green Bay Area public schools? This question and the next one are open ended and they can tell us anything and we collapse them down into categories. So what leads the list? 26 percent teachers want to combine a couple of categories, though. Variety of programs in the broad curriculum. Twenty nine percent. And then the good academics, the excellent academics and high achievement. 20 percent. Your community actually sets up a priority. I look at this as who's teaching what they're teaching and the quality of the teaching. Some districts, huge emphasis on teachers, others, academic quality, others programs. Yours flushes out that it's the programing first followed by the teachers and

215then the quality of that teaching. All with it between 30 and 20 percent in that range. What's the most serious issue facing the district? It's no surprise considering the discussion and it's everywhere. Doesn't matter if I'm in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania. I was in Illinois last week. It's lack of funding. You're actually what we're finding right now is between 20 and 25 percent. You are actually approaching 30 percent of folks just as an open ended before the surveys really even started pointing to the lack of funding. The other issue that is facing school districts is high taxes. You're a little bit lower on that as a top of the mind response at 12 percent. But we're going to look at taxes a little more in depth than a few slides. Poor spending and declining quality. Those

216are typically right around 10 percent. And then I want to point down to the bottom. The nothings are differentiated from the unsurers. The unsurers, they're not sure. The 18 percent that say nothing and this will be a surprise to all of you sitting at the table. There are no problems in the Green Bay Area School District. You are governing utopia right now. And these folks are positive throughout. We call them boosters. They support funding requests. They rate the district highly on financial management. That's about twice the level of boosters that we currently are seeing in 2026. How does the district do on meeting the learning needs of all students? Most, only some, are very few. Comparatively well. This question has gone down. We're down into the low 40s for the all students. And all students

217is a stringent standard. So the 48 percent is a strong result. We follow up with the 50 percent that say most, only some, are very few. And ask what type of students learning needs are not being met. And it's the typical array that we see. It's the average, the struggling, the special education students and underachievers. Now regardless of their perception on the quality of education, we know that 80 percent rate it favorably. When they think of the quality of education compared to four years ago, do they think it's getting better, worse, or is it about the same? 35 percent say it's better. 11 percent say it's worse. And a majority say it's about the same. So if we're looking at momentum post-pandemic, there is by over a three to one ratio, a sense that things

218are moving in the right direction in the school district. Some specific perceptions. And these are the perceptions I mentioned at the front that when you have a funding request, even if it passes or fails, it doesn't matter. These results drop and you're going to see remarkable stability on these. Does the district spend taxpayers money effectively and efficiently? 72 percent agree with that statement. That's 10 points higher than the norm. Does, do the residents get a good value for the investment in public schools? This is an interesting result because when you talk about a value proposition, two things go into it. How much are you paying and what do you think about the quality of education? What we know and you're going to see is property tax hostility is up. So one of the inputs into

219the value proposition has changed, but still this remains stable. Over 80 percent say that they get a good value for their investment. Have you spent past referendum funds responsibly as you're in the middle of the construction? Absolutely. Unchanged. 71 percent. Do you do a good job of involving the community? Unchanged. 77 percent. Are they satisfied with decision making better than three to one ratio of 72 to 23? And then the bottom question is the first one that's going to give me an indicator as I'm typing up the results of what's going to come. Because the question is the schools are a good investment and I would support a property tax increase to protect that investment. The key on this is the no. That's the core opposition because as the questions posed, we're not asking, we

220didn't say levy, we didn't say bond, we didn't say five dollars a month, we didn't say 50 dollars a year. There's, that is your core opposition and you can see it did go up. What we found last year, I worked on over 50 referendum and levy questions, the core opposition last year was 31 percent. It is a manageable number. Over 85 percent of those clients pass their funding request. It's manageable. It's when that gets into the high 30s that you have the automatic no, that it becomes difficult to have a conversation about potential funding. Job performance ratings, this is remarkably stable since 2024. The board 6830, the norm on boards right now is 6035. Superintendent and administration 70 to 27. It's better than the ratio right now is a two to one ratio. Just that's

221outstanding and then teachers very well regarded 86 percent favorable. Overall assessment than a financial management, it was 60 percent. It's now 59 percent. The norm right now in 2026 is 52 percent favorable and it's a very tight range on that norm. So the district has financial credibility in the eyes of the public. This This is the issue. You're not a property tax hostile district because you do not go above 50 percent in the high category for the total. You're at 49 percent. But you can see I put it in the upper right side. It actually increased 14 percent since 2024. The perception of school taxes, that's at 47 percent. That's a nine percent increase. What we're seeing right now in 2026, the norm is 60 percent high. The highest I have is a client over

222here that is at 77 percent high. Those are very difficult environments because any funding proposal is met with, no, I'm not even going to consider it. My taxes are already too high. So this combined that with the 30 percent that we saw the core, no, it's telling me that there's a willingness to have a discussion. It's not going to be a reflexive, no, the public's willing to listen. It also tells me that if they're mad about taxes because their perception of school taxes is being high is lower than their perception of total taxes, that if they're mad about property taxes, it's not focused at the school district. And that's what we see everywhere. They're mad at their city and they're mad at their county. That's the good news. But really, school districts are the only

223show that has to go to the public to get an increase in property taxes to fund their operations. Is the district adequately funded? What we find now is general confusion. Forty five percent say yes, 45 percent say no, and 10 percent say I have no idea. You actually have a flat majority, though, saying no, the district's not adequately funded. Only 38 percent say yes, you are. If they heard the district was going to go for a property tax increase for operations, are they for all against all and are they persuadable? This is notable. This is the first survey I've done that we have less than 40 percent persuadable. When I started doing this 32 years ago, this slide would typically be 10 to 15 percent against all, 10 to 15 percent for all and 70

224to 75 percent are persuadable. Because as the questions posed, I haven't told them anything. We haven't told them what the funding would be used for. You have 60 percent of people that have made up their minds with no information. What we typically see is half the people have made up their minds now. It just narrows the persuadable folks and the margins become thinner. You start out down two points, which is very manageable. You have 31 percent against all with 29 percent for all. The key is obviously going to be the persuadables. If we do our let's make a deal question, what's a reasonable property tax increase for operations? The nothing, it's under 35 percent, 33. We have 27 percent at 10. We have 24 percent at 20. And we have 11 percent at 30 or

225more. It comes in if we take out the nothings, because they're not going to support anything. So those that are willing to support a property tax increase, where do they fall? Roughly around 150 bucks a year at the outset. Now, is that number set in stone? It is not. It's meant to be a guardrail. To understand the further you go from that, it's so important on what the funds are going to be used for, which is why we go through a list and we ask, would you support a property tax increase for these purposes? You have extraordinarily high support for everything. The lowest amounts of support is 64 percent. There are many districts that don't have 64 percent at the top of this chart. So what leads it? Retain and attract staff, 84 percent. Enhance

226safety and security, 80 percent. Maintain programs, 79 percent. Facilities needs, 74. Enhance technology, financial stability, improve CTE, all 71, and then transportation at 64. So this tells me that there's going to be support at higher levels of property tax increase. So we posed the question, and the question was framed as a tax increase, so we can get the true gauge of the appetite of the public. Now, I understand with the mill rate, it's possible that this funding could be provided tax neutral. So this is, we tested the 35 million dollar operating levy. They were told that a 300,000 dollar home would see a 30 dollar a month, per month tax increase. Do they support or oppose? And you can see the power of what's being asked for. 61 percent support, 38 percent oppose. And if

227we go back, I am going to flip back. We start out with 31 percent against all. We go through that list, and we only pick up seven percent that are opposed, based on the uses and the property tax increase. Now, what's their reason for their decision? At this point, it's what we see in early surveys. It's the soft reason. Education's important. That's wonderful, but nobody gets up to vote on election day because education's important. They get up to vote because of need. And need will be a natural discussion point if you choose to go for funding. And it's important to lay out the logical consequences. If we look at the reasons for opposition, it's financial based. Not surprising. The financial insecurity and the property tax climate. 13 percent say the cost is too high. 10

228percent say the taxes, their taxes are too high. No children, poor spending, and 2 percent say not needed. So on the need proposition already, the needed versus not needed is winning at a four to one ratio. Now, it is always important on an operating levy, on any funding request, there has to be something at stake. It's the logical consequences. Because if there are no logical consequences, there's no reason to, people won't want to raise their taxes. And so we tested four items and we asked if the additional funding is not passed, the district would face budget cuts. For each of the following budget cuts, please tell me if the cut makes you much more likely to support additional funding, somewhat more likely, or does it make no difference to you? Now, keep in mind, we

229started with 61 percent support. Staff reductions, 70 percent impact. Eliminate programs, 66 percent. Increasing class sizes, 66 percent. And school consolidations, that's at that base of 61 percent. So it does increase. And especially when I combine the soft support and the persuadables, and look at those that say much more likely, the elimination of programs, because it goes back to their number one thing they like most about the district, is a driving force for establishing need for potential operating levy in the district. And then finally, we looked at communications, where are folks getting their information? 26 percent say the newsletter, 16 percent the local newspaper, 13 percent the website. One in eight rely on the grapevine, nine percent each email and social media, local TV, e-newsletter, teachers and staff, and local radio. How do they prefer

230to receive information? This one I always tell clients, look at this as print versus electronic. Mail newsletter, local newspaper, 47 percent want to hold something in their hands. 14 percent email, 13 percent website, nine percent social media, seven percent e-newsletter, 43 percent want to push a button on a screen. So it's an equal divide. And there is very specific demographics, especially amongst parents. Parents are heavily reliant on email post-pandemic. They lived and died knowing each and figuring out what was happening the next day for their kid, and they really haven't changed on their preference. But you still do have a lot of younger folks without kids that actually, if you're going to engage with them, print is the most effective. And then you can see the true impact of the grapevine. As we go through

231and ask, do you get a lot of information, some information, not too much or none at all from these sources. The newsletter has a reach of 57 percent with 30 percent impact. The press gazette, 54 percent with 25 percent impact. The website and district children, more limited audience, typically parents. But then informal discussions with friends and neighbors, 54 percent, over half the community relies on that, with 16 percent saying a lot. District employees, local TV news, and social media. I will always say this about social media. It's like voting and recycling. You don't want to tell somebody on the phone that you don't vote, you don't recycle, and you rely on social media for news. So the true impact of social media is much wider than this indicates. These are the people that are just

232willing to be honest about it. So I'll sum up since we're getting late. I'll stop the share and come back. I think overall, what can we say? The atmospherics in the district, those key factors of financial stewardship involving the community decision making not only look good for the current norms, they are remarkably stable from what we saw back in 2024. There is broad awareness in the school district. A flat majority thinks the district's not adequately funded at this point in time. The two concerns out there that every district has had to navigate post pandemic is the financial situation of the household where folks are going to make an economic decision and then the growing property tax hostility. But I think if you look, and especially if it is the operating levy would have no tax

233impact, that would have an extraordinarily high chance of success, especially when you couple it and look at the potential budget cuts the district's facing and how disagreeable those are to the public. So I'd be happy to answer any questions. (James) Laura. (Laura) Mr. Leatherman, is there anything in this survey that would give any indication of the impact of having a referendum in the November election where we're expecting kind of nationwide to have a huge turnout? Do you model for that in any way or maybe you didn't. I'd just like to know if you have any thoughts on that. (Peter) Yeah, it's too early to do any sort of likelihood of vote at this point in time because obviously, I mean, 2026 is a whirlwind with public opinion from where we started in January to what

234the major issue is to where we are now at February, whatever, 23rd, 4th, 5th. The challenge in an even year is communication. The challenge in an odd year is turnout. If you look at, if you accept now the model that folks are looking at, which I don't, because we're eight months from the election, things will change. It seems right now, absolutely, I agree with this, Democrats are highly motivated. You have more Democrats than Republicans. And so right now, that, but two years ago, you had a few more Republicans than Democrats. You're one of those districts. Districts that have a high amount of Republicans, it will be very difficult this year. For school districts, the key is to get out early, to cut through the clutter and communicate. Because what's going to happen by, if you

235wait to, I would make the decision, I'm telling clients, make the decision as early as possible. People are going to pay attention in April and May, and summer comes, everybody checks out, and then they're going to come back and they're going to be inundated with political ads everywhere. And it will be difficult. You can't start communicating early enough this year and getting out the message and the logical consequences as early as possible. And then that way, the turnout is baked in. You don't have to worry about turnout going from 35 to 25%. And then then that becomes an issue because the key is in an even year election, a voter that walks in the voting booth and did not know that there was a funding request is a no vote. (James) All right. Other discussion

236or questions? Alex. (Alex) I just want to say you did an amazing job acquiring and presenting and explaining that data. And I really, really appreciate the work you did. (Peeter) Thank you very much. (James) Concur. Others? Great. Okay. Thank you very much for the presentation of data. Superintendent Bayer, do you want him to stay on while you sum? (Vicki) No. Peter. can go home. (James) I think he is home. (Peter) I am home. Yeah, I rushed back. I had a school board meeting at 5:30 over here. So. (James) Alright, thank you very much, sir. (Peter) Thank you all. Have a great night. (James) You too. (Vicki) Lori, Cale, Angie, if you could join us. We're going to continue this discussion just with a review of our recommendation for the board. Lori, Cale and Angie moving

237forward, looking into 2627 along with the new superintendent will be the leads for the referendum. Okay. They're very knowledgeable. They're the ones that helped us be so successful in the past. And as you just heard, the work that they've been doing along with the board of education and the district in its entirety has put us in a really good position. And that's truly a tribute to all of you in the room right now, because you've worked really hard to develop a relationship with our community and they trust you. So district administration with the 2017 referendum ending at the end of next school year, 2627, district leadership proposes that we consider an operational referendum in November, 2026, based on the poll results, the leadership team is recommending the following. And you can find this in the

238memo at the bottom. That the district consider a shorter term non-recurring referendum of four years. That the board of education and administration continue to demonstrate understanding of the community's sensitivity to rising property taxes by bringing forth an operational referendum that either maintains or lowers the tax rate. And third, that the board of education and administration continue to make cuts in order to reduce the overall referendum ask. At the bottom of the memo, we provide a recommended draft timeline. So we did the initial poll in February, you just received the results. In late May, early June, we recommend a second poll. And then July, having the board vote on referendum questions or question. Then we would hit the community with presentations and explanation of what our ask is going to be. If we follow the same

239model in the past that Lori helped us create, it would be all of us participating in those presentations as many as we can. July through October, and then the election in November. Angie, Cale, Lori, would you add anything? (Lori) Peter didn't mention it, but when we had spoken with him earlier about the poll results, I think the important thing to take away from the survey is that we consolidated six schools, and we still got those survey results, which means we did a good job of doing consolidations, right? We were as a collective, we were thoughtful, we did it compassionately. We put kids and families first in that process, and I think that really shows through that survey results. So I just wanted to mention that because that had been part of our conversation, in addition

240to the losing political capital when you have a referendum, but didn't get mentioned tonight. So I just wanted to make sure we hit upon that. Two, we've in the past, we've asked for you to, while the vote on the referendum isn't required until August, we've asked you to, in the past, considered voting on it in July. We'd ask you to do that again. That allows us the month of August to really get all of our materials finalized and make sure that we are hitting families with that information early. Again, with the recognition that you know, it's usually starting mid-October when our mailboxes really start to fill up with that November campaign material. So we want to make sure that we don't get lost in sort of the noise of the campaign season. I'll tell you.

241(Angie) And then as we work towards, like we have talked about before, so we're sitting in March, right? We have a few months to wrap up this current year. We'll kind of know where we stand, you know, what kind of deficit we're facing, and then what we decide to do for next year is going to affect that ask in the next four years. So we are planning a board retreat just to talk about what our future looks like after that four-year period of time for an operational referendum, what the ask will be, but that's where, you know, we need to know, you know, where we're headed for next year so then we know where we're going for those next four years. So it's really kind of that, you know, five-year vision, and then what do

242we do after that? So those discussions will be had as well as we work towards June 30th and see how this year pans out and then what the board decides to do with raises and things like that because that will affect next year along with what our ask is because if by July we want that, you know, we're going to want to know that probably sometime in May, I would anticipate the earlier the better so we can plan. (James) Questions? So I have one. It feels like the plan that is established in this timeline and what he said on line was like skewed a month, right? He was like get out in June and the earlier the better and when if we don't take a vote on things until July and we really focus on

243August, do we risk getting lost in the white noise? (Lori) So I'll address that by saying that we've actually started this process already, right? (James) That was sure. (Lori) I mean so I think unlike, so I think, I think when he gives that advice, he's looking at the district that suddenly says, "Oh hey, we're going to do a referendum," right? Where we've really been laying the groundwork, we've been very transparent with our community, they know there's a November referendum coming up, right? I think that they're getting a sense of how badly things could be if we don't pass the referendum by the turnout we had tonight at the meeting, right? That is a real concern when we're looking at between 24 to 34 million dollars. That means that's going to cut into students. There's just

244no other way to slice that. And so I think the, again, the board's done a really great job of being on top of this, engaging with our community early. We already had our, had some community meetings around the budget, so I don't think anybody's feeling blindsided by this. I think the survey polls show that as well. So that's really how I interpret that is I think Peter doesn't really understand all the things we've already kind of laid the groundwork on. So I still feel confident that if you didn't come, if you want to do a vote in June, great. But July for me is really kind of the like final limit. And I think we also wanted to give that opportunity for another poll because I do think while all of us saw those poll

245results and felt really good about what we saw there, I do think we're very worried about, you know, gas increasing a dollar a gallon in a week time, right? And what that means to that group of people who already said they were feeling financially strapped and not knowing where that's going to go, right? Is that going to be something that turns around rather quickly? And we get back to where we were, you know, two months from now, back in two months from now, we're back to where we were, or is this a long term situation with continuing higher prices? So I think we wanted to do another just gut check to make sure we understood where the community was at that time. (James) All right, thank you. Alex. (Alex) Yeah, so that was going to

246be my question is what would the, what would be our intentions for what the poll would look like if for that second poll, would it be larger? Would it be broader? Would it be different in any way? And you know, so that way and kind of understand what to expect as far as how it would inform us. (Lori) I think the poll itself, you know, we let Peter sort of determine what those parameters are on the ask. But I think that would really be looking at what is, what is the question we want to put for people and that final referendum question, right? I think that's where you're really going to say, you know, like we had to pick a number, right? So we just picked a number. So 35 million isn't necessarily the number

247you're planning on taking forward in, you know, in November. So the idea is that they're going to have a more finalized number to then so that, because I think our hope would be is that we would like to see what we bring forward past in November and not have to come back again in April if it fails just because of the additional expense that's involved in a referendum campaign. (Alex) And would that poll potentially have like kind of a menu, kind of like he started to kind of break down some of the data about how people felt about some scenarios once we kind of figure out what reality we're working in and looking at. Is that the intention with the polls to have kind of a couple different scenarios, engage people's feedback or just kind

248of more general like what we got here? (Lori) We certainly could have a discussion around if you wanted to be more specific about the things we were looking at cutting. I think we gave some pretty general areas. If there were some specific things you really wanted to to lay out, we could certainly talk about that at that time. (James) Jeanette. (Jeanette) So you had mentioned that the poll shows that people were okay with the school consolidation, but actually those schools haven't closed yet. They close this year. Do you think that people are going to, that those poll numbers will change slightly because now, oh it really happened. These schools are actually closed. Our kids are having to go to a different school. Do you think that's going to skew it either better or for worse?

249(Lori) So what I would say is that I feel like what it said was that you did not break trust with this community through making those school consolidations. I think first you had the poll from the 2024 referendum which told you 72% of the community supported you in making those school consolidations because they recognize the declining enrollment. We had schools for a long time that were sitting at low enrollment numbers. So what I feel like is what they are saying in this poll is that the process you took to close those schools is one in which you have not broken trust through that process, right? So they don't feel like you said one thing and did another. And I feel like as we continue to have different opportunities to engage with parents who are in

250that current process, I'm seeing people who truly are excited about what the future looks like. And so again, I feel like that was very thoughtful and compassionate leadership around how we were going to close schools and that we made sure that families when we took away their homeschool, we were trying to put them in a better, sit their child in a better situation, right? And I think that as we continue to communicate about how the referendum projects are going, as we've seen some fabulous leadership by our principals and doing reach out to the schools which are going to be inviting in and really trying to make those connections, I think all of those things just continue to put us in a position where I'm hoping people, well, again, we'll have our farewell tours in May,

251right, to say goodbye to our schools a little bit earlier than we typically would just because of our tight construction timeframe. But I do think that, you know, I think we always have to leave room for some grieving of the things we lose, but I think there's also some excitement of what's to come. (James) Do you have Andrew? (Andrew) I think there's a good chance that we'll be able to have, you know, a referendum that might be able to cover most of this, most of this looming crisis, even if the state does nothing and the state will probably not politically be able to do nothing for years and years and years yet with this kind of surplus that they're sitting on. I'm optimistic that we'll be able to do a referendum that will not have

252to hurt class sizes, will not have to hurt programs, and will not have to have our staff's financial quality of life regress. And so this all is very optimistic to me. I look forward to seeing where that, where those numbers would lie for what is likely to not, you know, be able to have a no tax increase referendum. And there should be a lot of room for that with what's dropping off. I think as far as cuts just to make a point, I don't support those. I do think there's some reasonable room to look at maybe some positions we don't need or some, you know, some of the certainly very painless things that are on the next discussion item. But we're in a different position if referendum fails, but I really think that this will,

253the sky will not have to fall here. (James) Other questions? Okay, I thought they also had a question. (inaudible) (james) sure. Okay. Okay. Thank you very much. I think we're done. (inaudible) (James) You can go home and play. All right. So this is the last discussion item on this evening. And it's again, it's listed and agenda as a discussion. And it is basically a conversation about where the board landed from a consensus building perspective on some of the recommended cuts. Now, I want to create a preamble for this conversation that, you know, remember that these recommendations did not originate just from the administration team. It was through several budget retreats and also through community engagement. So it's kind of across board and, you know, it is potentially not comprehensive of all of the different things

254that are out there. But it was through a data gathering process that this list came to be. So unlike the items that we actually took votes on, this will be a continuing conversation through the next month or so where we want to enter into the May timeframe with a good understanding of how we're going to address whatever the remaining deficit is. So our actions tonight through taking the votes on the benefits program is about a $1 million change in the deficit position. Now, I think if that's off of $8 million, right, if I remember correctly, Angie, you came and kind of said we found about $3 million. That's what we're looking at. Is that a correct statement or? Go ahead. (Vicki) It wasn't finding. It was actually through cuts. (James) Sorry. Okay. Inappropriate language. Yeah.

255So we need to talk about backfilling positions and things like that and cutting budgets, departmental budgets. Okay. So tonight, recognizing that it's late, what I would like to be able to do as far as direction to the team is to identify any action, any of these items that we should tell them to stop investigating or stop doing analysis. Most of everything came off as conditionally acceptable as we progressed. There's one that was one or two that were reluctantly acceptable. And so we had one that was not acceptable at all. So from my position, line item number six, stop recording live streaming board meetings. I think there should be no further investigation there. Number 12, increase school fees. That is an annualized conversation and it focuses on those individuals and those families in our district that

256are under the most stress financially in making sure that we have means for covering those fees or allowing them to opt out of those fees. But do we want any additional analysis, i.e., coming up with a TBD, changing a TBD into a number here? Any position from anybody on the board that we should tell them don't spend any time here? (Andrew) I mean, it's always discussed annually. (James) Correct. When is that discussion actually going to be? Next month? Okay, then we can leave that on and just take it and handle that then. (Andrew) It all depends on how much and is it still waivable for how much of it is waivable for free and reduced makes all the difference. It's 10 bucks and we haven't done it in years and it's, you know, waivable then

257good acceptance, not significant money. (James) Okay, then let me just go back to the top and just run the list down and people tell me if we need to take it different approach. Freezing steps. There's acceptable, reluctant, one not acceptable. In my mind, this is something that last year we kind of changed the window and just decided not to commit to steps in the May-June timeframe and we did it later in the fall. Hearing what we heard tonight, I would have the district look at what it looks like to postpone steps into the fall, potentially even after a referendum date, so that we would have, be very well informed on whether last year we then retroactively applied steps back to the beginning of the year. Any concerns or questions? Andrew, your light's still on. Are

258you? Oh, no. Okay, annual benefit recommendations we cover tonight. Freeze admin tuition reimbursement, low budget item. So I'm just going to go through them. Stop me if we need to have a discussion, right? Then we've already reduced number of school days. Any discussion there? (Alex) Yeah, I would say, I mean, if you look at how people vote it, I feel like we could get rid of that one. So pretty negligible savings and I mean, I think we've messed and are about to be messing with enough of the schedule as it is that, I mean, I think it kind of speaks for itself there. (James) We're good. (Andrew) Yeah, if it was 10 times that much to reduce some school days, then I think we talked, but it's really nothing. (James) Okay, same. So stop posting

259in the newspaper. There were two of you that were, said that that was not acceptable. Is there a reasoning why that's not acceptable? It's the savings is so small to erase tradition from when this, from when public meeting notice started, I guess. (Alex) And if you just look at like that, the survey for the referendum, you know, it's still 50, even young people, they want to see stuff for print now, believe it or not, sometimes. And I just want to, for basically no savings, I want to maintain people as much access and involvement and engagement in our board as possible. So yeah. (James) All right. (Lynn) Then I just think that we have to remember that we're not going to be able to save $5 million all in one fell swoop. It's going to have

260to be incremental. And I think that, you know, we might have to take a $10,000 step. So I would still be in favor of ending this. (James) Laura. (Laura) I would agree with Lynn on this. And in the future, if our financial situation gets better, we can come back and revisit it. (James) Yeah. Thank you. The two building consolidations. Now, again, they don't address this coming year's budget. So really what we would be saying is to the district is continue to look at optionality. Is that fair? (Andrew) I guess I'll save the speech if we're not going to do it for next year, but I will, I will chain myself to JDAL before it is almost, I am almost as fierce about this as I would have been about closing West. It's a baby step

261below that that will kill the program if you do it. And if you don't think so, you haven't talked to enough JDAL families and kids, but we're not doing it this year. So, okay. Okay. (James) Then we've already taken action on, oh, sorry. Jeanette. (Jeanette) I also think we need more information about what does that mean? Consolidate, whether it's Minoka, JDAL or whatever it is. We just, before we can totally throw it out or agree to it. (James) Yeah. There's a tab on the spreadsheet on the last one, just that includes some notes. And some of you put, Hey, well, what is the alternative, right? Where would it go? And we need some more information about that. That's fine. And I would like to know information about what would be a location because I recognize

262and I agree with Andrew, if you tried to pair one of these schools with a comprehensive high school, but that's different than if we had another opportunity in the school of innovation campus or something like that. Yes, Lynn. (Lynn) So I just wanted to make sure I understand because you just said pair one of these schools with a comprehensive high school. (James) Move the student body over to another location. Because I think, you know, we have talked about consolidation with West being a comprehensive high school, but I don't know that that's the only option on the table. (Lynn) Okay. Because, I mean, you seem to be saying that if you do put it in a comprehensive high school, that can't work. That can't be enough. I think that I, I'm not going to say that

263it's not an option. I said, my opinion would be much more closer to Andrews if you took one of these populations and, and, and put them in, embedded them into a comprehensive high school because of their unique needs. Right. So, so it wouldn't, that's, that's all I was saying. (Andrew) Yeah. If there's that, that's what I meant. If there's, if there's a small available building or we decide maybe we don't want to sell one of the elementaries and to, you know, or something like that, or we could get, you know, those are different. I just don't want to, it's mostly about putting a comprehensive high school. (James) Understand. So we took action on the closed Edison pool this evening. And then there was, I think everything else really should be on the table. And just

264let the district continue working on the analysis. Is everyone good with that? Okay. And then we can take up another, like a deeper conversation at the next work session on this. Okay. Alex. (Alex) Yeah. And obviously we had some discussion and, you know, the other question would be, and this goes for other board members too, because I might not be the only one, but, you know, about how we can offer other ideas and thoughts where, you know, to put things on this list. Cause like Lynn said, we're going to have to cover four or $5 million hole and this list doesn't even begin to get close to that. I don't think, especially with, you know, potential disagreement and taking certain things off the list. So whether that's next meeting or otherwise, you know, there's other

265things that we can consider yet. (James) Yeah. So, so I agree. And when we look at this, so there are two things really that aren't on this list and kind of we have to make decisions. If we, once we get through this list, there is CPI and there's staffing, right? That are kind of those, where do you, what's left to be impacted there? And I think that one of the, maybe after the work session next time, we could start thinking through some direction to the district through like, put a freezing on higher, a freeze on hiring until we have additional answers and how we're going to progress through just to make sure that, you know, we are doing our diligence and making sure that the expenses don't accumulate. Yes. (Cale) In regards to delaying the

266decision on the steps, with some discussion within the administration, that not only impacts our upcoming fiscal year, so a delay in that, obviously understanding our financial position for next year, that impacts our referendum question ask. So accelerating that decision on steps is going to be important of how we frame our operational referendum, if that makes sense. (James) No, it doesn't make sense to me. So I need more help. (Angie) So I know that we had discussed last week, right? We were in a meeting, I don't know, a couple of weeks ago or last week or whatever that was. So as we discussed a little bit further today, in order to plan for next year, we're going to need to know what we want to do for steps and what we want to do for CPI

267because that affects next year's budget. A passing of the referendum isn't going to change our financial picture for next year. And then it will change the ask for 2728 and moving forward. So for example, if we approve the 2.4 million in steps for next year, that is going to affect that ask. (James) It's going to be structurally $2.4 million more. So in July 1, we're going to need to decide at what that ask is going to be for the community. So in order to know what that ask is, we're going to need to know what the board's direction is for next year because that will affect this in the next four years future. Does that make sense? (James) Andrew. (Andrew) Right. But isn't part of the idea of freezing steps that we intend to be

268able to pay steps, but if there's a catastrophe, maybe we wouldn't and that would be paid retroactively? (James) Well, so I think at the work session next week, we have to at least come up with a consensus on what we're willing to move into next year when it comes to our financial position, right? Because it could be twofold. One, that's one how you just established it, established or framed it. Or it can be we will enter next school year with a when we in October say this is the budget, say this is the budget, it will be balanced. And if between now and October, we can't through continued attrition or addressing staffing can't get to balance, we will not pay steps, right? As a methodology to get to balance budget. (Andrew) I don't, yes, you

269could do that. I don't, I would strongly oppose with all the other things that are up in the air, but I mean, you could. (James) But so it's kind of your philosophical position on what our job and our responsibilities are. Or from a fiscal responsibility. Our job is to make sure that the district remains solvent. And the only mechanism we have to do that is making sure that every year we are balanced in budget. And every time we're not, we're taking a step in the wrong direction. All right, so we'll revisit at the work session. I want to appreciate thank everyone for their attention this evening has been a long one. I would recommend I would entertain a motion to adjourn. (Laura) Motion to adjourn. (Lynn) Second. (James) All in favor. We are adjourned. Thank

270you very much.