001(upbeat music) (James) Okay, good evening everybody. We're gonna reconvene into open session and I'm going to recognize that we are joined at the table by a couple of members of the intra city student council. You wanna introduce yourself. (Paige) Hi, my name's Paige. I'm a junior at Preble High School. (Hannah) Hi, my name is Hannah Csrenderez and I am a junior at East High School. (James) As always, please feel comfortable in joining the discussion. All right, let's stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. (indistinct) - I pledge of 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) All right, who had someone read the mission statement, please, Lynn do you wanna do that? (Lynn) We
002educate all students to be college, career, and community ready, inspired to succeed in our diverse world. (James) Thank you very much. I'll read the land acknowledgement. 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 homeland of 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 an integral part of our community. We uphold our responsibility to repair relationships, initiate partnerships, and stand with all First Nation communities. Okay, we're gonna go into the open forum and we'll start with the intra city student council report. (mouse clicks) (Paige) Okay, so across our four
003schools at East, they had an activity fair on Thursday that went well. Play rehearsal has begun. The pep rally for the winter dance went well. They had their winter dance. Their academic decathlon team is going to state. FBLA went to districts. The Fine Arts Institute went to see Hamilton. Two people are going to HOSA for state. Show Choir was awarded best female soloist and the dance team took second at state for JV Pom. Do you wanna add anything? (Hannah) No, nothing else is gonna happen. (Paige) For JDAL, they had a town hall one-on-one conversation between high school and middle school students and a health seminar started their egg baby. At Preble, Trium had a field trip last Tuesday. Show Choir has been very successful. Band Color Guard and Drumline had a concert. FBLA districts have
00422 students going to state. They had Deca State this week. The forensics team is going to state and six HOSA members are going to state. Play auditions have begun and their academic decathlon is going to state. Southwest just had a spirit week for Dude Be Nice week. Show Choir has been successful. They had club photos for their yearbook. Forensics team has advanced. A member of FFA has advanced to sectionals. FBLA is advancing to state. One student qualified for HOSA state. They had their winter dance and they've started practicing for the spring musical. At West, their bowling team has been very successful. FCCLA has been very successful and many members are heading to state. Forensics had a successful meet. The Library Olympic Games have begun. Frickin' American Readathon is on February 27th and Junior Prom and
005Senior Ball have set their dates. Thank you. I think health, occupational, something. I know it has to do with like health careers and learning about that. (James) Yeah, I was going to do that. So happened that I found myself in Monona Grove at a very large show choir event on this weekend and both Southwest and Preble were represented. And Southwest won grand champion in their division which was great to see. And then Preble in another division, they made it the finals. Won, I think, best crew and won best band. And there were 13, 14 different major programs that were there, it was huge. There was an extraordinary fire. The fire chief would be very disappointed at how many people were in the gym. But yeah, they did a fantastic job. They really represented the district
006well and was able to catch a couple of their shows. And the quality of the competition was very high. So to win grand champion and to win best band, it's not your typical high school performance. So it was very nice to see. Okay, so we're gonna go and move on to the public forum. Now we have two registered individuals to speak. Oh, sorry, we have three. So we'll start with Jackson DeGraves. Remember to say your name and your address, please. (Jackson) Hi, I'm Jackson DeGraves. I live at 1055 South North Bureau, Green Bay, Wisconsin. Hello, members of the school board. I'm here once again because I'm not being listened to. I'm very thankful for the people on the board who are trying to help me by funding the switch two for e-sports and thankful to
007the people here trying to answer my questions. But I'm also disappointed that I've said multiple times that I was done with meetings and I so badly want to be done. I'm 15 years old, I wanna be home, playing with my friends. I can't do that, however, because I need to speak again about how the members of the board aren't hearing me. And just so you know, I started almost crying whilst writing the speech. I had said at another board meeting that students don't want 30-minute lunches. I'm a student, I would know. Two other kids told you that. Two members of student council told you that they need their lunchtime so that they can decompress. And I need my lunchtime to see my friends. In the current day and age, I only see my friends during
008lunch. Otherwise, I don't see them at all. I've been feeling a little bit depressed feeling lately because my dad works long hours and I barely get to see my friends, so I feel pretty alone. And if you wanna focus on student mental health, it kinda screwed up mine by doing that. I will get even less time with my friends and I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Even I'm in my classes for eight hours a day and you wanna tell me that I only get 30 minutes with my friends in a nine-hour school day. I got half an hour not only to eat, but wait through the lunch lines, get my food, talk to my friends and generally just have a break. And I quite literally don't even have a study hall right now.
009So I have to fit my homework into that half hour. You claim to care about mental health, but anyone who can see what you're attempting to make students do can see you're only making it worse. There is not one student benefit for 30-minute lunches. We don't get done with our days faster or even the school year sooner. We are in classes for more time. Like seriously, think about me. Think about other students just trying to get through the day. We get nothing at all. And then another thing, your ID card scanners. The district spends a lot of money on them and I don't do anything good. They just screw things up. Whenever I walk into some of my classes, the scanners aren't working or on. And you know whose fault it is that I marked
010absent? It would be the teacher, right, for not setting it up? Nope. Is it the board's fault for implementing a faulty system? Nope, it's mine because according to the machine that was not even turned on, I was absent and it calls my dad to tell him I was skipping. Now I'm gonna tell you a tragic story about how my friend got affected by this. My friend who shall remain nameless, he had forgotten his ID one day and he stayed in the field house entrance. Upon being told he had to walk all the way around the school in freezing cold weather, he just decided to stay in the field house entrance because he did not want to freeze outside while walking to another entrance all the way across the building. And you know what happened? He
011got someone called on him who forced him to walk all the way to the front of the school in freezing cold weather. But why, why can't he get in the field house where all of the buses drop students off? My final word is pay attention. I'm done being ignored. Even though I'm still a kid, I'm smart enough to see that me, my fellow students, mine and their parents are being mistreated in the halls, classrooms, at home and even when we come to speak on these issues. I demand equality, not just between me and my fellow students, but between all of us. And you are no better than I am and I'm no better than you are. That means we are equals. Your opinions matter, so should mine. So I will ask again, no, I plead,
012please reach out to me and I will tell you all you need to know. I'm polite enough to say thank you for your time. I just hope I'm not wasting mine because it certainly feels like it. (James) Thank you, Jackson. Jeff DeGrave. (Jeff) My name is Jeff DeGrave, 1055 South Northview Road. That's hard to listen to. What's harder is he gets up here and talks to you guys. Nobody calls, nobody asks him, like what can we do? Nobody tells us a resolution to any of these problems. How hard is it to pick up a phone? You talk about portrait of a graduate or progression, how these kids need to enjoy going to school. That is your result of what you're getting so far. Now, it's hard to be a parent with this going on. First,
013I'd like to thank Courtney Keene for her hard work in finding the money to purchase a piece of equipment for the esports team. She is truly an advocate for all the students at Preble and we do appreciate what she does. Wish there were more like her. Second, I would like to thank Mrs. and I hope I say this right, Knill, Knill, for listening to Jackson, to calling him back and talking to him about some of the issues. We all know that every issue doesn't have the answer you want or the answer you're hoping for, but at least by calling him back, there is an answer. I appreciate that more than you will know. Two months have passed since I've asked about the system, the $8 million system that repeatedly calls me several times a week
014to tell me that my son has been absent for more than one class. No one has reached out, nobody has answered any questions. We just pay for an $8 million piece of equipment that brings in faulty stuff, faulty information all the time. I'm told that the reason they have this is because that way we can track your students if there is a security threat. Well, if it doesn't know he's in class and marking him out of class, even though he's in class, is that really keeping me informed or you informed or where he actually is? Wouldn't that be more of a distraction than actually understanding where he would be? Because I would assume he's in class. He's a good kid, he doesn't skip, but this would tell me that he's not in class. Kind of
015crazy to spend $8 million on something that doesn't work and don't demand that it gets fixed and nobody here has addressed the issue with anyone that has gotten back to me or the other people in the district. Next, he talks about the half hour lunch. Can someone please explain to me what advisory is actually about? Because according to Jackson's infinite campus page, this is what I read it says almost every day. Jackson's, Jackson's, Jackson's upcoming course, Cordis AAA is on 2-20-26 as I took it from today or Friday. ADV in room 249 with Isabel Cordis. That's what I get. That's what I see as a parent that has happening in advisory. We wanna take away the time that the kids can interact. Most people here have an hour lunch. They won't even get that. They'll
016be lucky if they can talk to each other for five minutes, 10 minutes and decompress. Part of decompressing is letting the stress out and being able to talk to your fellow students about maybe mental health issues, maybe what's going on. We don't wanna hear that. I think it's crazy. We had two members who voted against that. I appreciate both of them very much. We have one that's been advocating for closed lunch and finally has gotten her way. Can anyone tell me the importance of this advisory? Please call me and let me know because everybody I've asked, nobody can. It's a waste of 30 minutes every day. One thing that I find hilarious is we keep talking about portrait of a graduate, strategy priority plan, customized planning, customized for success. My son in this whole time
017has gotten talked to by one person and they asked him what he wanted to be after school and he said a ship captain. They looked on the computer, ship captain wasn't on there. Pick something else. Can you imagine being a sophomore in school and be told yours isn't on our list? Pick something else. Don't have a dream, don't dream, don't plan. I have gone through. I've been in contact with Maine Maritime Academy. Do you know what the average starting salary after three years of college at maritime museum is? 240,000 with an average of a 30 to $50,000 signing bonus. Isn't that something that a child, a sophomore should be striving to get to? But told that's not on the list. Kind of crazy. Last but not least, the budget. It can be fixed very easily.
018You have to listen to the people that are out there, not the people that aren't in the schools that are sitting behind a desk, not venturing out to the schools, not seeing what the schools are. Listen to the kids, what's important to them that we need to keep. What's not important that we don't need to keep. Listen to the staff saying this is things that are helping us. This is things that are not. This switching math curriculums every two years to justify a curriculum department, a gifted and talented program that in five months has not one person has contacted me to tell me actually what they do and have done nothing for my son. Although it says they're supposed to meet with him and help him plan for success, no one's called. So before we
019keep going forward with all these programs, maybe it's time that we go back to the old ones and take the ones that work for serious or that works, that we know works, the ones that I learned that you guys learned, maybe we go back to those instead of worrying about creating new stuff. I appreciate your time. (James) Thank you, Jeff. We have one more speaker registered, Denise Gomer-Hutchison. (Denise) Good evening. Denise Gomer-Hutchison, 3184 Hermans Road, New Franken Wisconsin. Today on the first day of Public Schools Week, we are celebrating the public schools that define our communities and the remarkable professional educators, staff and administration who do so much all year round to support, connect with and inspire our students. A lot of times people talk about the public education teams who go above and beyond
020in the classroom. But the truth is, teaching requires so much every day going above and beyond these days, that that phrase seems to have lost its meaning. We expect teachers to do so much more than their job description requires both in and outside of the building. They are expected to understand and support kids throughout our school, throughout of school challenges to serve as educator and counselor and career guide, nurse and nurturer, coach and so much more. There's no other occupation that demands so much for so little or requires more training and constant professional development to keep up with all of the changes in policy, practice and the unique customization to the needs of every student. It's exhausting work, physically, emotionally, intellectually and we expect too much and pay far too little for it. And yet
021public school teachers and the teams that work with them manage to do it until they can't anymore with love and grace and conviction and dedication and professionalism, even in the face of what feels like near constant opposition and shameless heckling from people who know nothing about how hard the work really is. So I celebrate and thank all of these education professionals today and hope they feel seen and appreciated and know that there are many of us out there working to fight back against the attacks on teachers, administrations, school boards and our public schools as we work to secure the funding necessary to allow all of you to be successful. Additionally, I want to acknowledge and thank the Green Bay Area School District Board of Education, the administrators and staff who work to hold together our
022school and provide a great learning environment for teachers, support staff and families of the children in this district. Thank you all for taking time to serve on this board, for showing up for our kids, for speaking out, stepping up and doing what must be done. At this time of acknowledging our public schools and what they are accomplishing, there are those who feel enough is not being done. I would say to them from experience as a parent in this district, keep communicating, stay involved and you will be heard. It takes all of us working together to move our public schools forward. The Green Bay Area Public Schools and all who work here should be proud this Public Schools Week for all that you have accomplished. This public school district shouldn't be cutting programs and services that
023are necessary for our children. You should be receiving the funding necessary to meet the unfunded mandates, the state and federal requirements and the individual needs of the children attending our public schools. Thank you for acknowledging this Public School Week and thank you for educating the next generation of citizens in our city, county, state and country as there are Green Bay Area Public School graduates living and working all over the world. Please know that you have made and are making an impact and that we applaud and appreciate you deeply. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. The children in our public schools matter, the families in our public schools matter and the future of public education in Green Bay matters. I will not
024be silent and I hope you won't either. Speak up for what this district needs. We hear you and we will speak with you. Thank you. (James) Thank you, Denise. All right, the agenda this evening is a little moved around. So, Lynn, will you read the motion for the consent agenda? (Lynn) I move that the consent agenda items as presented be approved. (Samantha) Second. (James) Any discussion? Kinsey. (Kinsey) Online voting is now open. Andrew, are you able to vote online? (Indistinct) Do you want to do a voice vote? (Andrew) I'll vote aye, but I'm a little concerned (indistinct) but yes. (Kinsey) All votes have been entered and the motion is carried with all board members voting in favor. (James) Thank you. So, instead of going right into updates, we're going to start with action items and
025action item 6A is the adoption of a resolution to support We Love Our Public Schools Week. Lynn, would you please read the motion? Oh, actually the resolution. No, sorry, the motion. Okay. Apologize. (Lynn) I move that the resolution in support of We Love Our Public Schools Week reaffirming this board's dedication to equitable, high quality public education and urging our elected officials to fund public schools accordingly as presented be approved. (Samantha) Second. (James) Any discussion? I would like a reading of the resolution. Lynn. (Lynn) Whereas the Green Bay Area Public School District School Board is committed in its efforts to provide all children with the highest quality educational opportunities and whereas all public school students in the state of Wisconsin deserve the same exceptional educational opportunities and highly qualified educators, staff, and administrators and whereas the
026week of February 23rd to 27th, 2026 has been declared We Love Our Public Schools Week and whereas the Green Bay Area Public School District School Board resolves to support public schools in Wisconsin, therefore be it resolved that the Green Bay Area Public School District School Board calls on our legislators across the state and country to support We Love Our Public Schools Week and provide equitable funding and opportunities for all public school students. (James) Any discussion or comments? I will say that what Denise said. No, I don't think that I can add anything to that. I think she speaks my mind and I appreciate the public comment. Others? Kinsey. (Kinsey) Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered in the motion as carried with all board members voting in favor. (James) Thank you. Just
027one second. All right. Six B, notice of change in adopted budget. Someone read the motion, please. Okay. (Lynn) I move that in accordance with the provisions of Wisconsin statute, 65.90 section 5A, the adopted changes to the previously approved 2025-26 budget amounts as presented be approved. (Alex) Second. (James) Any discussion? Kinsey. (Kinsey) Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered in the motion as carried with all board members voting in favor. (James) Thank you. To 6C, approval of other post employment benefits. (Lynn) I move that the district maintain their investments with CESA 6, OPEB, trust and remain in the moderate growth portfolio, investment strategy three as presented be approved. (Alex) Second. (James) Discussion? Kinsey. (Kinsey) Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered in the motion as carried with all board members
028voting in favor. (James) To 6D, acceptance of school security drill evaluations. (Lynn) I move that pursuant to Wisconsin statute section 118.07, 4CP, the written drill evaluation submitted by the principals from all district schools as reviewed be accepted. (Samantha) Second. (James) Discussion? Kinsey. (Kinsey) Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered in the motion as carried with all board members voting in favor. (James) Okay. Just as a note, as we go into the next couple of items around policies, we've been able to review these and have a conversation at the work session. Andrew, would you please read 6E? (Andrew) I move that revisions to board of education policies and rules in the 600 and 700 series of policies related to fiscal management and support services as presented be approved. (Samantha) Second. (James) Any discussion?
029Kinsey. (Kinsey) Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered and the motion as carried with all board members voting in favor. (James) Thank you. 6F, adoption of board of education exhibit 732. Andrew. (Andrew) I move that board of education exhibit 732 use of unmanned aircrafts drones request as presented be approved. (Alex) Second. (James) Any discussion? Kinsey. (Kinsey) Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered in the motion as carried with all board members voting in favor. (James) Thank you. Finally, 6G adoption of board of education exhibit 823. Andrew. (Andrew) I move that board of education exhibit 823 to parent guardian annual public records notice under Wisconsin statute 118.076B as presented be approved. (Samantha) Second. (James) Any discussion? Kinsey. (Kinsey) Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered in the
030motion as carried with all board members voting in favor. (James) Thank you. That is the end of the action items that we have on the agenda. We're going to go back to updates. So we'll transition over to Ms. Bayer for the superintendent update. No, it didn't. (Vicki) He almost said bear. (James) No way. (Vicki) No, it was right there. It was right there. All right. Let's kick it off with this. The Hall of Fame second annual nominations are open right now for the class of 2026 recognizing alumni from across our comprehensive high schools. A reminder that in order to qualify the nominee must meet the following criteria. They have to have graduated from Green Bay area public school district, must have graduated at least 20 years ago. Sorry ladies, you have 20 years yet. Must
031exemplify the values over the district excellence, engagement, equity, integrity and responsibility. And we're doing something new this year. We are seeking nominations of distinguished teachers, former educators, including coaches, counselors, social workers, any former employee that has had an impact on the lives of our students and on our community. They have to have formerly been an educator in our district in any role or capacity, must have retired from the district or have been employed here a minimum of 10 years and also exemplify our values. You saw this, I hope. Golden Apple we had the most winners out of the whole area. With four winners for Red Smith, Preble, Southwest and Baird. There's a lot of joy going to the buildings and surprising them because they have absolutely no clue what's coming. And families join and students
032join. We look forward to celebrating this group in April. Two weeks ago, West High School forensics team competed at the sub-district tournament. I'm not sure if you mentioned this one. I didn't hear it. They achieved an incredible milestone. Every single competitor advanced to the district tournament. So way to go West High. Washington Middle School had their musical two weeks ago. They presented the Addams Family. Did anybody get there? It was the best musical I've seen at Washington Middle School. Hands down. The timing of the actors was extraordinary. The vocals of the student singers, absolutely amazing. They're making great progress over there in that fine arts academy. National SRO Appreciation Day was two weeks ago. This is a picture of a celebration at Minoka Hill. They helped recognize our school resource officers. And thanks to our
033school resource officers that work daily to keep our students and our staff safe. David Johns and I over the last couple of weeks spent a lot of time in the schools. Top left is a picture. You probably recognize that, Alex. That's the swimming pool over at Edison. Spent some time with the PhyEd classes over there because the pools, closing the pools, was listed as a recommendation. I thought, well, I should probably get over there and see what's happening. So spent some time with the PhyEd teachers and talked to some of the students. David and I caught the East High School girls basketball game. That's the bottom left picture. That was last week. We also toured the Southwest pool. We actually had a tour by the two girls on the right. That's Lydia and Lily. They
034are two members of the team and both of their parents. Well, that's Bryan Milz' daughter, the far right one. Okay. Full disclosure. And Lydia on the left, her mom is Kelly Row. She's one of our amazing school counselors over at Preble. So they gave us a tour of the pool. And they had a big competition this weekend. It sounds like it was pretty successful. The top right is a classroom over at Wilder. David and I have spent a lot of time over at Wilder over the last couple of weeks. That is a kinder classroom and I caught them just in time for break. Okay. Howe elementary for the last couple of years, their community school has focused on attendance. And one of the activities they did to increase attendance over what traditionally has been a
035low attendance week was to hold a kid president for the day competition. By doing this activity, they improved attendance by 5% from year to year just by doing this activity. And I'm going to stop talking for a second to allow you time to read some of the comments. They had to complete paperwork and answer some questions. This is three things I'd like to change about the world. Go ahead and take a read. These are kids. They're smarter than we give them credit for. These are kids. It was a long list. But obviously they were responding to what they see around them. There were a lot of comments from the kids about ending hunger, for example. But let's shift to some good news. If you can hit that next slide. Those are the winners. The bottom
036left. President and vice president in each class had them. Crystal the school social worker helped create that activity. On the right-hand side, Melody the music teacher, K-5 music teacher invited I think Laura was in attendance at that one. Specials showcase where they highlight art, music, phyed. And it kicks off with all of the parents in the cafeteria for a musical. (Alex) I actually went to Howe on one of the schools I visited two weeks ago when I was in and around the schools. So I talked to Crystal and I actually got to talk to some of the students during lunch. It was actually kind of fun. I talked to a third grader. And I don't know, just their perspective of some of the kids. It was just really entertaining. I haven't spent as much time
037in recent years with elementary kids as I have secondary. And sometimes you always come across elementary kids that are just wise beyond their years in very fun and funny ways. And I met a couple of them there that day. (Vicki) Were they the kids that were running for office? (Alex) No, it wasn't. It was just a random little buddy that had come up to say hi to me and the principal and Crystal. And we just started talking to him about it. And I was just a random third grader because I was there during third grade lunch and they were explaining this whole thing to me. So it was just kind of fun. (Vicki) A reminder to the board and to the public that regularly I reach out to our state legislators. This is a regularly
038scheduled legislative breakfast with all of the Brown County superintendents. We meet with them. We talk about educational issues. Nothing changes. We meet with them again. We talk about educational issues. Nothing changes. But I want you to know we continue the conversation. They show up. They do show up. And they're able to share their perspectives and nothing changes. (Andrew) They didn't always show up even. So that is historically that's been hit or miss. So I'm glad they're showing up. (James) I don't see everyone there. (Andrew) No but even we wouldn't see six showing up in many years in the past. We get two or three. Or have to cancel it sometimes. (Vicki) Well that's good to know. In all fairness Eric Wemberger showed up just after I took the picture. So he was there. And actually
039what I really appreciated about this was that you'll notice a Democrat in a Republican sitting next to each other and they were able to have some really difficult honest conversation and still continue to sit by each other. I mean it's a great example for you two to know that they can butt heads but still be human and still still respect each other. Oh. Okay last week we had the community budget meetings well attended I thought. East High School and Southwest. Those are pictures specifically of the students that came. And I wanted to highlight that because they came for one reason only. It was because of Southwest pool being on the list for consideration for the board. But what I appreciated about it and I think those that KCale, Angie, David, Lori they came for that
040one topic but they fully engaged for over two hours in the entirety of the discussion. And they stayed for the end to be able to give us their recommendations on what we should do and what we shouldn't do. Shouldn't close Southwest pool is their strong recommendation. I think they want they want to go back to. Do you remember when we had just coming out of covid Wednesdays were virtual days. Do you remember that they want to do that again. Why would they want that. So we will just to follow up on that then we will we're gathering putting together all of their feedback and we're going to bring that to the board for the March work session. Okay. Over the last few weeks we've had a few student led walkouts. Interesting every but just about
041every school district in the area has had walkouts and my superintendent colleagues from across the area call me and laugh because the media only talks about Green Bay Area Public School students walking out don't understand why. I think for some of our community members student walkouts was very confusing because they don't understand the constraints that are put on districts in allowing and not interfering with students first amendment rights. So we had some calls to lock the doors. We had some calls to have teachers block the doors. We had calls for police to come and arrest the kids. We don't we can't do those things. What we can do is monitor students for their safety. We can look for opportunities to educate them not only about yes you have constitutional rights to speak and protest but
042to do it in a civil way that doesn't hurt anybody and getting your point across in a manner that works. The public probably doesn't understand that staff have to stay neutral in these situations. I heard from some people that teachers probably led this. That is absolutely not true. We communicated with parents as soon as we knew what was going on and there was a situation where some middle schoolers went into businesses over on the east side and when we learned about that we issued an apology and that was my decision because I was embarrassed and wanted our business leaders to know that this wasn't something that we as a district support going into school into businesses and scaring customers of confusing people. But this is a picture of our amazing middle school Edison principal Brendan
043Whitfield and this was the day after the students had gone into stores. You two heard about that didn't you? Oh she did you didn't. We went into the businesses that we heard had been impacted and every single one of them said you know what it's middle schoolers. At first we didn't know what was going on. So it was a little scary at first but then when we realized these are middle schoolers we just said get out and they did. And then they talked about how much they love the district. Every single one of them. If I remember she has students in the district I can't remember she might even be a graduate. And they just wanted to support our district. They understood what the kids were trying to do and didn't want to talk to
044the media because they didn't want to portray it as something bad. It was a really good conversation. And you would be proud of Brendan because he really did a great job of representing our values. And just threw this one in here recently every month we have a district office staff meeting. I like to create the feeling here just like we have at the schools of you're in this together and we focus on what our goals are for the district and how we all work together to meet those goals. This is a group of our interpreters. Once a month we recognize either an individual this is the first time it was a full group. The difference this group makes. It's one thing to have technology that can translate for you but it's so impersonal and I
045hope we never lose that human touch of having an actual person there to interpret for us. They're an amazing group and they work really hard on behalf of the district to make sure that every parent is able to communicate what their needs are. And then the last thing let's end on some good news. Our families took a survey recently. Almost 2,000 families responded. This was the baseline survey that we sent out. Ingrid's taken the lead on this and she's back there to respond to any questions if you have afterwards. But we're kicking off right now the results. So you're the first ones to see this outside of our administrators. What we have learned families feel their children are safe in our school. 90% of them are reporting that their child feels safe in our building.
046I do want to point out that we recognize that 90% is not 100% so we always have work to do in these areas. That's why we do these surveys. The parents shared that communication is generally strong. 82% feeling positive about how often and how clearly information is shared. 83% of our families reported they do not face major barriers when trying to engage with their child's school. Families feel confident supporting learning at home with 73% favorable rating. And what we learned from that feedback is how we are going to look at resources that we have or that might be out there to get that number up. 71% of families feel positively about their child's overall school climate and learning environment. So school leaders received the survey results in mid-January and they've been using this information to
047identify celebrations, understand their family needs and plan meaningful next steps. Each school as well as district office will generate the now what. We've got this information. It doesn't just sit on a shelf somewhere. What are we going to do? This is our benchmark, folks. So next time the survey is taken which will be. There we go. Okay. So we're looking at next fall. Doing the survey again. This is our benchmark. So we're going to see how much progress we can make on this in the meantime. (Alex) Within the category of the 71% of families feel positive about the child's overall school climate and learning environment, is that just kind of the one question in that survey or are there a multitude of different pieces of that category, a multitude of different types of questions in
048that category? (Vicki) Ms. Parker-Hill. Thank you for that. (Alex) Ingrid, did you hear my question back there? Okay. Yeah, I just wanted to kind of get, you know, 71%. I definitely want to see that number higher. I think, you know, that and the 90 on top, you know, is kind of juxtaposing. It's interesting. And I'm just kind of curious if there's a variety of different types of questions that get at that last bullet point. (Ingrid) Yes, there's actually five questions within that category. Yes, I'll be happy to. So the first step was to report it out to you. So thank you, Ms. Vicki, for doing that. And then the next piece would be to submit something in our eConnect. We want to make sure that we're transparent with these results. Families took this in November.
049Right now we're in February. This is the last week of February. So really trying to make sure that our timeline is succinct. And so when it'll go out in the eConnect, I'm not sure if it went out for February, but for March. And then administrators will get a message this Friday to kind of help them with their results and send that out to their families, too. We will be looking at what next steps look like as this is a benchmark baseline for our five year strategic plan. (Alex) Would it be possible to have this data for our district as a board so that we can kind of see where we are with all that stuff? Cool. Oh, sorry. Okay. -We wanted you to get it first before the public got it. (James) Any other questions?
050Yeah Jeanette. (Jeanette) So was this survey offered to every family in the schools or did you just randomly choose people and you had your cohort at 2000? I think she said 2000 responded. That's what I would be interested in. (Ingrid) Great question. We had over 1800s and we asked everybody to fill it out. It went out in our social media and went out in school messaging. It went out in a number of ways. We offered it in over 20 languages. Actually 30 languages we offered it in. For our English speaking families we had 1722 take it. For our Spanish speaking families we had 133. Our Haitian families we had three that completed it in Haitian and then one family actually did it in English with the support of Language Line and then we had one
051that completed it in French. (Jeanette) So what is the percentage of families in the school? What would that 1800 be percentage wise? (Ingrid) We calculated that would be about 13%. (Jeanette) That's actually a pretty good response. (Vicki) We can do better and we will. Our plan is to in April for the strategic priorities this will be a deep dive. So we are getting you the survey results tonight. Pushing it out to the community sometime between now and mid-March and then really digging into it in April. (Jeanette) But I think that over 10% is a pretty good response for your first time around. (James) Ingrid next year you will keep the timing the same. You said fall but do you mean late fall and November? Because sentimentality is very different between September and November when it
052comes to the honeymoon is over with the school year. (Ingrid) No I appreciate that. Our original plan when we set up the strategic plan was to do a fall check in and then a spring survey. Then we had an opportunity to reevaluate that because we wanted our schools to be able to use the information in current year. So we changed that to fall survey and then we were going to do a check in for the spring. However, the timeline is not going to be conducive because our schools just got the information in January. And so it will be setting them up for failure to try to do anything and then it's one of those things we hear from families. They take a survey they don't hear and then they don't get a chance to see
053anything change. So we are not doing a survey for this spring. We are looking at doing something in fall. It would either be the check in or the full survey. The full survey was actually pretty long. So we are trying to gauge what would be the best for that. (james) Alex? (Alex) One last technical question. You kind of made me think everything in the last minute or two. With the last part you just said about it being long. Do you have any indication with the system how many people might have started it and didn't finish it? (Ingrid) That's a great question and I don't have that but I can definitely ask. Yeah there might be some analytics that Panorama can help with that. (James) Other questions? Thank you Ingrid. (Ingrid) Thank you. (James) All right.
054Thank you Superintendent Bayer. -There you go. Yeah. Can we invite Cale to the table for the Clean Energy Advisory Committee update please? (Cale) Good evening. Our Clean Energy Committee reconvenes after a break after last calendar year. This was our first meeting of 2026. It was held on February 10th. And a few topics were discussed. I'll just briefly run through and then answer any questions. So we had an update on work completed since our last meeting which was significant. We brought online four solar arrays. We reviewed the sustainability roadmap that the facilities team is currently reviewing and plan to bring to the board to review once complete with McKinstry. That sustainability roadmap lays out what was proposed as a pathway to meet our energy goals by 2050. So these would be the actual steps of what
055that would look like. And then we also got a preview of our reveal dashboard. That is the tool that we're going to see our energy, our savings, our energy usage, and a number of many other things that we get to choose as it relates to our energy consumption and savings and even financials for our usage. So as we look at that, providing what we can provide to the public to view for that is something we'll be bringing to the board as well. I would anticipate that after our next Clean Energy Committee meeting, something to share with you on that. And then finally, the team decided to set a subcommittee meeting for waste reduction at the schools. So we're going to hold the initial meeting at Preble High School. So we're working with our students to
056set up a time for that meeting with the intention of following meetings at additional schools as well to kind of kick that off in partnership with McKinstry as well, who presented to the Clean Energy Committee some options as far as waste reduction goes. So with that, I'll take any questions. (James) Jeanette? (Jeanette) Was that waste reduction included food waste? So is it possible that I find out when these meetings are, I'd really like to attend. I'm on the Sustainability Commission for the city. And one thing that the city is trying to do is work on reducing food waste, increasing recyclables, compost, et cetera, et cetera. So I think it would be really helpful because we're going to try to somehow bridge everybody together on that. (Cale) I had previously had all board members at least
057sent out the invites for those. I don't know if I updated that, but I can certainly update it for all board members to at least have the invite. You're always more than welcome to attend. So I can update that moving forward. (James) The discussion of questions? How is membership? This is the first time that you kind of had a meeting in a while. We always worried about longevity of the members and if they would stick to it. (Cale) Yeah, I had some concern heading into the new year, but we did have our student representation attend our last meeting. I think at some point in the very near future, we will need to reconsider. We did lose one student to graduation and then we had a member whose tenure was up and opted not to come
058back. We are at our threshold still for the committee, but looking at the next cycle for this, we will have to look to up those numbers. (James) Any other questions? Thank you, Cale. And finally tonight, the legislative report. Jeanette? (Jeanette) Absolutely all good news. So before I start the whole legislative report, I just want to remind people that are candidates. You have some financial filings to come up. If you have any questions about that, please ask Kinsey. Anybody who is a former candidate, you need to file either that you're exempt or we need to get that paperwork in. And so if you or you know of anybody who was a former candidate and didn't dissolve their candidacy, Kinsey is the wizard on this. Talk to her. Don't talk to me. I'm just the messenger. She
059really does the work. And she does it very well. I sent out the legislative report. I really don't have too much to add except I did email David Martins from WASB. About what is happening with this estimated to be close to 2.5 billion. What is that? $1,000 million? $2.5 billion. And since the assembly has recessed for the year, gosh, I don't know. I had to work the whole year. But they've recessed for the year. So probably not much will get done, though. David did tell me that Speaker Voss has said that he will call an extraordinary session if something comes out from the governor and the Senate. The Senate is scheduled to meet once more in March and then they're going to recess for the rest of the year as well. So it's a wait
060and see. They've got a lot of money sitting out there. And none of the bills, you can see all the bills that pass the assembly and the Senate that are now waiting for the governor to either sign or veto. And I think that David from WASB did an excellent job on that. There are several bills that are hanging out there in limbo. I received something from the legislative update today. And it's a long list. And if anybody has any interest in something that they heard about and they're concerned, if it didn't get through the assembly to go to the Senate, the Senate isn't going to be passing it through because the assembly is not going to come back to play that back and forth between the Senate and the assembly. The only reason the assembly
061would come back for an extraordinary session would be regarding the surplus. Anything else that's hanging out there is going to have to wait until November. So that's about it. Thanks. Any questions? (James) Questions? Thank you, Jeanette. And with that, we come to the end of the agenda. I would entertain a motion to adjourn. The second? (Samantha) Second. (James) All in favor? We are adjourned. Thank you, everybody.