001(upbeat music) (James) Good evening. - Welcome everybody. We'll start with a special board meeting. Today is December 8th, 2025. Kinsey, will you please call roll? (Kinsey) Meister? (Samantha) Here. (Kinsey) Knill? (Jeanette) Here. (Kinsey) Mineau? (Alex) Here. (Kinsey) Gerlach? (Lynn) Here. (Kinsey) Lierley? (James) Here. (Kinsey) McCoy? (Laura) Here. (Kinsey) Becker? (James) Becker is excused and absent out of country. (James) All right, so all board members are present and accounted for and also joining us tonight at the table, we have two members of the intra city student council. Will you please introduce yourself? (Chanel) Chanel Leopold, Green Bay Preble. (Lily) Lily Rodder, Green Bay East. (James) Welcome. We only have a couple of voting items today on the special meeting agenda. Lynn, will you please read the first action item? (Lynn) I move that the employment of
002staff as presented be approved. (Samantha) Second. (James) Any discussion? Kinsey? (Kinsey) Online voting is now open. (Laura) Kinsey, I'm having a little bit of a problem here, but I'm a yes. (Kinsey) All votes have been entered and the motion is carried with all board members voting in favor. (James) Thank you, action item 2B. Lynn? (Lynn) I move that Crafts Incorporated be awarded the bid for roof replacement work at Red Smith K-8 in the amount of $428,093 as presented be approved. (Samantha) Second. (James) Any discussion? Alex? (Alex) I was wondering if I would have the opportunity to ask a couple of questionsof Cale or whoever would have potentially some answers. (James) Cale? - Nope (Alex) All right, thank you. I just wanna make sure I cover all my bases on this just for a small amount
003of background. I taught at Red Smith for a long time and my wife currently teaches there and has for a long time. So I'm very well versed in the very long history of roof issues with Red Smith. So my first initial question is how, can you tell me a little bit about the scope of what is planned to be done and how is it different than the myriad of repairs that have been done in the past? (Cale) So this work isn't associated with the tile roof. So this is the flat roof portion of the building that the warranty has expired and the roof has failed. So this has not been repaired. I'm guessing you're referring to the tile roof repairs throughout the main portion of the building. (Alex) No, so let me actually specify, maybe
004give you a different question. Is this regarding any of the roof that has to do with the gymnasium portion? (Cale) I would have to look exactly what portions of the building this covers. I did not have the roof section opened up here, but I can certainly look at that quickly for you. (Alex) I think ultimately it's probably unnecessary. So I'm kind of gathering and this is just some general roof replacement stuff. It is not specific to any recent concerns with some of the structural issues. (Cale) Yeah, certainly not structural. This would be any kind of water moisture issues that we're having with the, again, the flat roof. I believe it's EPDM roof that needs replacement. Nothing structural. (Alex) Sounds good, that's all I have. Thank you for verifying that. (James) Any other discussion? All right,
005Kinsey. Thank you, Cale. (Kinsey) Online voting is now open. - All votes have been entered and the motion has carried with all board members voting in favor. (James) Thank you. That brings to a close the agenda for the special board meeting. I would entertain a motion to adjourn. (Lynn) Move to adjourn. (Alex) Second. (James) All in favor? Aye, we are adjourned. We'll move right into the work session. All right, so December 8th, 2025, work session. Would we please call roll? Kinsey? (Kinsey) Becker? (James) Absent excused. (Kinsey) McCoy? (Laura) Here. (Kinsey) Lyerly? (James) Here. (Kinsey) Gerlach? (Lynn) Here. (Kinsey) Mineau? (Alex) Here. (Kinsey) Knill? (Jeanette) Here. (Kinsey) Meister? (Samantha) Here. (James) Excellent, all board members are present or accounted for and we'll move into open forum. We have one person that is requested to speak. Are
006there any others? All right, Jeff DeGrave. Come up, please remember to give us your address and you have five minutes. (Jeff) Hi, my name is Jeff DeGrave, 1055 South Northfield Road, Green Bay, Wisconsin, 54301. I'm here to discuss my daily life. Every day at 5.03, I get a phone call from the Green Bay Public Schools telling me that my son, Jackson DeGrave, has missed one or more periods of school. Every day, he has not missed. You guys purchased this program from the JUUL system. That takes attendance when they go to class. It does not work. He has to leave class, go to attendance, get a piece of paper, get it signed, bring it back. This is costing between 10 to 15 minutes of learning every time for every class. Some days it's multiple classes. It
007was purchased through the JUUL settlement, apparently. And the reason I was told that they did this is because they wanna know where the kids are, which makes sense. But if it's not working and we're pulling kids out of class, you don't know where they are. So that part, something's gotta be done. We can't have, claiming that we have good attendance or we have this attendance or that attendance and we do not know what's going on. When I've talked to them about concerns, I get pretty much show them all that, oh, it's working fine, it's working fine. But it's not, the teachers don't like it. All my son's friends say the same thing, that it's not working, that they swipe their card. It doesn't register and they're waiting in line. And if they wait too long,
008it marks you late or tardy. So I get these things all the time. So I got, just the other day I went in, we had to fix like 20 some absence or tardy things that were on his infinite campus. My second concern is, I came here the first time to speak and said that that was a failure as a father. Today I'm here to tell you, I am. In three months I've advocated my son to speak up and things will change. He's not here today. Because in three months, as we've gotten up here and spoke, not much has changed. Three months ago, we were all about the safety of the schools. I haven't seen a lot change in that. Maybe it's behind the scenes. Maybe there's discussions that the public doesn't know about. But it's
009things that we don't know about. Gifted and talented. I have begged and pleaded for help with this. I was promised I would get a phone call from David Johns. I looked into it. I searched, I found, who apparently is the director of gifted and talented. Talked to her three weeks ago and she's like, "Well, those are things in the past. "We're gonna go help fourth in the future." I promise we're gonna get an email out. We're gonna get things straightened out. We're gonna get things done. Three weeks later, nothing. Not a call back from her, nothing. We're paying for a huge program with 14 people in that thing. And nobody can find out what they do. I've asked teachers, I've asked staff, I've asked students, who is the special education teacher, I mean the gifted
010and talented teacher in your school and no one knows. When I say I'm a failure as a father, that's where my failure is, that I can't get the answers that he needs. He's not here to say he's done. He's like, "Dad," he goes, "Why do we keep trying "when nothing changes, nothing happens, nothing gets better?" It's like all his friends say, he's wasting his time. He's wasting his time. And that's where we are right now is we don't have the answers. We don't get any answers. I appreciate a few of the board members and some of the people here that have reached out to me. But in the end, it's all promises that I'm told that I'm gonna get help or I'll get the direction I need or he'll get the direction that he needs
011and we haven't gotten any of it. It's a horrible feeling as a parent to know where your kid could be and where he is. And you can't get him there. That's a failure as a father. That's a failure on all of us. Thank you. (James) Thank you, sir. All right, we'll move then into agenda item 3A, which is strategic planning. And I think we're going to invite several people to the board table for presentation on family and community engagement. Welcome. (David) Good evening, board student leaders. I'm proud to bring to the table this evening for our fourth strategic priority, family and community engagement, Ms. Ingrid Parker-Hill and our team of family and community engagement coordinators who will all be introduced throughout the presentation this evening. This is the fourth of four meetings this is the
012fourth of four of our first round through the priority areas in our strategic plan. As always, we use these as an opportunity to share where we are in relation to the progress towards some of our goals and which actions we've currently employed, lessons learned from the actions and then some next steps that we'll be taking. I'll turn it over to Ms. Parker-Hill who will get us started. (Ingrid) Thank you, David. Good afternoon, board of education. Thank you for the opportunity to come together during a time when change is shaping every corner of our community. Our kids are growing up in a world that looks and feels very different from the one many of us experienced. That's why connection matters more than ever. Today, we'll share updates on our family and community engagement strategic priority, what
013we call ripples of hope, building partnerships that matter. This theme reminds us that progress begins with connection. We know that every family's journey is unique and some face challenges that others may never encounter. Schools cannot do it alone. And every barrier we address together, whether it's access, trust, or resources, creates ripples of possibility that transforms lives. Tonight is more than a presentation. It's a reaffirmation that hope grows stronger when we build it together. Thank you, that would be great. Next slide, please. My name is Ingrid Parker-Hill and I serve as the Director of Engagement. And presenting tonight with me is our District Family Engagement Team. I would like our team to introduce themselves. (Luis) Hello, Board members. My name is Luis Franco. I'm one of the family engagement coordinators. (Yussuf) Hello, everyone. My name is
014Yussuf Kassim. I'm also one of the family engagement coordinator. (Carrie) And I'm Carrie Rogers, one of the family engagement coordinators. (Ingrid) Thank you. Family and community engagement is not an add-on. It's essential for academic success. Research and experience show that when families and schools partner intentionally, students thrive. That's why we use Caring Maps Dual Capacity Building framework, which emphasizes trust, shared responsibility, and learning opportunities for both educators and families. The commitment aligns directly with our portrait of a graduate, which defines the skills and mindsets every student needs to succeed in life, such as collaboration, communication, adaptability, and empathy. These competencies don't develop in isolation. They grow through strong partnerships between schools, families, and communities. When we engage families as true partners, we create the conditions for students to practice these skills every day, at home,
015in school, and in the community, preparing them to thrive in college, career, and life. Over the last few months, you've heard from the other three priorities. Today, we center on how family and community engagement requires intentional partnership among families, district staff, and community partners to advance children's learning and development from birth through school and beyond. We believe this is the foundation that weaves everything together. Thank you. This slide brings our strategic focus into view. First, we'll look at our goals, what we aim to achieve in the actions guiding us forward. Next, we'll share early insights from the data, and from there, we'll dive into key learnings, what we've discovered about building effective partnerships and engagement. These aren't just observations. They have real operational implications, shaping how we adjust systems, processes, and priorities to better serve
016families and students. Finally, we'll outline next steps where we go from here, and how each of us plays a role in this journey. This isn't about plans on paper. On paper, it's about creating ripples of impact together. So I need you to imagine two islands separated by a wide river. On one island are educators, and on the other are families. Share the same dream, student success. The river between them can be filled with barriers like lack of trust, limited skills, and past negative experiences. For some, those barriers seem even harder to overcome because of language differences, cultural gaps, or limited access to resources. Now, here's where the dual capacity building framework comes in. It gives us both a blueprint and a compass. It's not a rigid plan. It's a guide that points us toward the
017central goals and conditions for building strong, lasting partnerships. It reminds us that building the bridge takes everyone. No one can do it alone. And we're all at different points on the journey. Some have already laid the foundation, while others are just gathering the tools. That's okay. What matters most is progress. The framework provides the essential conditions, the right materials and plans. The bridge must be relational, culturally respectful, and interactive. Schools, excuse me, schools need leadership support and resources to make this happen. Then come the tools, the foresees, capabilities, building skills like effective communication and understanding cultural contexts, connections, creating networks of trust between families, educators, and community partners, cognition, shaping beliefs and mindsets so families see themselves as partners and educators value family expertise and confidence, empowering both sides to feel capable and welcome in
018shared decision-making. These tools help educators and families learn how to build together, honoring the unique strengths and challenges each brings. When the bridge is complete, educators can cross over to invite families into learning and families can step into roles as co-creators, advocates, and supporters. Together, they create a strong two-way bridge that supports every student's success. That's the power of the dual capacity framework. It's not about perfection. It's about progress. It's about building capacity on both sides so the partnership is strong, inclusive, and lasting. Every step forward, no matter how small, creates ripples of hope for our students. So let's keep building that bridge and let the framework be our compass because every student deserves a clear path to success. So by 2030, family and community engagement will be woven into the DNA of our district.
019Every school will have a family and community engagement goal embedded in the school success plan, supported by meaningful data that drives action. It will increase favorable responses from families and community partners, ensuring engagement is authentic, measurable, and impactful. At that point, family engagement and community partnership won't be initiatives. They'll be part of who we are. Embedded in every school success plan, they will serve as core strategies for teaching, learning, and student success, creating a culture where collaboration is the norm, not the exception. In year one, our goal is clear. At least 50% of schools will include a family engagement goal in their school success plan. Right now, we're at 36%, which is a strong foundation. The favorable responses from our families have not yet been analyzed, so we don't have that measurement yet for this
020presentation. Our next update will include the two benchmarks for community partnerships, the percentage of schools with a community engagement goal, and the data on favorable responses from community partners. Our year one strategic action is about moving beyond involvement toward true partnership. Of the six strategic goals we set tonight, we're highlighting four that increases family engagement and builds authentic connections. Before we dive into those goals, let's clarify what we mean by engagement, involvement, and partnership, because they're not the same. Involvement is when families attend events or activities but may not have a voice in decisions. Engagement goes deeper. It's about creating meaningful ways for families to connect with schools and feel involved in their child's learning. Partnership is the ultimate goal where schools and families share responsibility and work together toward common outcomes. These distinctions matter
021because our year one actions are designed to move us beyond involvement and toward true partnership. Now let's look at the four goals that will help us start building that bridge one plank at a time. Our strategic actions and focus outline how we're building family engagement across all schools. These steps align with our Connect goals, building relationships, improving two-way communication, empowering families, and removing barriers guided by the dual capacity building framework, and our districts four priorities, which are academic excellence, thriving students, thriving workforce, and family and community engagement. These actions were shaped by families, educators, and community partners to reflect our shared vision. That matters because Green Bay Area Public School is Wisconsin's most ethnically diverse district. Let me say that again. That matters because Green Bay Area Public Schools is Wisconsin's most ethnically diverse district.
022Our strategies must honor that diversity and ensure every voice is heard. We've seen bright spots, stronger relationships, better communication, and early steps toward empowering families, but growth is ongoing. We need to expand culturally responsive practices, build confidence for families and educators, and remove remaining barriers. That's why our first focus is the needs assessment, to dig deeper into these areas and set priorities for next steps. Next one. Thank you. This strategic action is about knowing where we are so we can plan where we're going. It's like checking the map before the road trip. Needs assessments gives us a baseline of current practices and help us spot gaps and opportunities. So our glows, 100% of schools completed a needs assessment. Everyone is at the same starting point. Another glow we had were policies 8-12 was updated and
023approved, making family engagement a core part of school success planning. So we've installed the GPS to stay on course for the long haul. Now our grows. We want to ensure consistency. Even in schools where family engagement is a priority, it wasn't always reflected in the needs assessment. We need to make engagement visible and actionable by embedding it into school success plans and continuous improvement plans. Right now, it's like packing for a trip and forgetting your charger. You are still going, but you're going to hit a few bumps. Inclusion. Families and community partners weren't always deeply involved in shaping these assessments. We need to invite more voices because when families help identify priorities, they give us another lens to look through, making plans stronger, more relevant, and more equitable. The dual capacity framework is our blueprint
024for building a strong bridge between families and schools. Needs assessment show the gaps. Policy is the foundation. And embedding engagement into plans reinforces the bridge so everyone, students, families, and educators crosses together. This is how we turn insight into action. I would like to pause here to see if you have any questions at this time. OK, thank you. Now I would like to turn the presentation over to Mr. Luis Franco. (Luis) Once again, thank you for the opportunity to the board members and everybody else present. For the next section of the presentation, we are going to be able to tap into new technology that will allow to provide not only effective communication, but engagement through the lines of language access. For the next few slides, I will go ahead and conduct, hopefully provide you a
025firsthand experience on effective communication and translation services right on the spot. So for the next couple of slides, I will conduct myself in my native language, which is Spanish. Luis. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) First, let me share what we mean by being an educational ally. (Luis) And we are right on track. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) An educational ally is a partner that works together with schools and families. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) To help each student thrive. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Allies include students, families, educators, and community partners. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Who work together to eliminate barriers and promote equality. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Now I'm going to talk about our moments to shine. What we are learning. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) We have seen a strong commitment through various initiatives. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Roundtables on current topics, such as changes in
026the schedule for high school students. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) And school safety have generated a concise and timely dialogue. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) For example, at West High School, families and educational staff offered contributions. Spicy. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) About the block and reduced schedule. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Sharing that the plan time for concluding the school day might not match real life situations. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) For example, in sports and extracurricular activities. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Multilingual surveys through the Talking Points app. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) They helped us gather feedback from families for parent advisory meetings. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) In collaboration with the As the King Elementary committee. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) We organized our first meeting of the parents, teachers, and neighbors organization. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) An opportunity at the district level to strengthen community ties. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator)
027During our open house at the school district offices. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) And with activities like the candy trail. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Focused on the concept of a graduate portrait. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) I created a familiar and everyday way to connect with the staff and learn about the DF's priorities. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Growth opportunities we are acting on. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Although these efforts can be considered successful. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Because we were trying something new. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) We see opportunities to strengthen and maintain the impact achieved. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Roundtable sessions should be regular and structured opportunities. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) With clear steps that lead to continuity. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) The PTNO. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) It needs to expand beyond a single school to a district level model that includes diverse voices. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
028(Translator) The open house was a great start. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Next year, we will share the structure of how the activities were designed with the schools for. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) They can be adapted and used in each of the schools. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) As well as the 100 thing without having to start from scratch. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Our team does not view these efforts as if we were in charge of family involvement. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Or leading the work. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Instead. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) We see ourselves as partners. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Here, to support schools and community organizations in creating meaningful practices, we aim to help you. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Family participation. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) We offer resources. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Implementation of practical theories. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) And guidance to help others
029lead with confidence and success. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Ultimately. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Our goal is to develop capacities to make participation sustainable. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) And is integrated into the overall culture of our school district and individual schools. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) These next steps. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) They will help us create more spaces for authentic dialogue. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Strengthen trust and ensure inclusive contributions. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Drives our strategic priorities. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] (Translator) Thank you for your time. (Luis) And now we'll turn it over to-- no? Oh, got it. It's not going to translate now. OK, great. So basically, we have utilized the translation process available to us through new technology available in our district called the ILA. Currently, we have 69 different units. They are currently deployed in many different schools and other departments
030as well. One of the capabilities of this new technology, as you can see, you being the host, you can select your language of preference, in my case, Spanish. You can select an audience for a specific language, in your case, and for the purposes of this exposure, English. But that can be extended to pretty much any language available out there. So I think that the implications of this new technology are far beyond some of the current things that we might have in practice. And we forecast great use and the implementation of effective communication practices. (James) Thank you for the presentation. This is cool that we have this in our district. But you identified that we have 69 units available, but I'm seeing a web presentation. Are they required to have devices, or is this available via
031web implementation in our schools? (Luis) It's both. For the purpose of almost casting, we decided to go with the services provided through the website. We thought that due to the format of this particular meeting, it will be more appropriate than to carry out individual units and make those available right in front of your spots. It is very flexible. The capabilities of the new technology really offers a mobile component that you can probably see through the ILA. It can be the service that we're currently using for the purpose of this exposure. The experience is through the webcast, which is also part of the deal that our district has with this specific company. You can take this on the road. You can conduct conversations with parents as long as you have access to a reliable internet signal.
032They can be deployed. They can be forecast. You can be on site. You can be virtually-- all kinds of different things. It works under the accessibility point of a QR code. So parents go, scan the QR code, select the language, and they can go ahead and engage in a very meaningful, effective way. One of the other capabilities that we didn't get to try with you guys today, you can also make questions. So for example, if we were to activate that specific feature of the technology, you would be able to make a question. The question will be-- you will be making the question in English, but the sound will translate in Spanish. So it automatically detects what kind of language that interaction takes place. So it's very flexible. We just barely scraping the surface of all
033the capabilities of this new technology. But even on the entry access of the things that we now know that it can do, it's accomplishing amazing things. (James) I appreciate that. I just wanted to make sure that I understood the capacity and that 69 was not a limit that we had in the district. It was just mobile units or-- (Luis) Mobile units. Mobile units, yeah. (James) Thank you. Alex. (Alex) Thank you, everyone. So this is just one example of a resource that is at our disposal to accomplish said goals. What kind of resources do you think ultimately, let's say some of your targets are for five years, what kind of resources do you think you're going to need that either we have right now and we need more of or new resources, whether that's people, whether
034it's funding, whether it's devices, to accomplish the goals that we might have for the next five years? (Ingrid) That's a fantastic question. And some of that will be answered later in our presentation. But I'll just say that that is something that we are trying to figure out. There's a lot of tools that we have access to now in trying to figure out what's the best for our end user, which is the family overall. We just gave you an example of the ILA. We've had the ILA in our system for-- this is our third year. And so we are really just scratching the surface of what it can do and how we can utilize it. As Luis said, we have 69 of them. The device right here, you should see them when you walk into a
035school. They should be the first-- I shouldn't say the first thing, but they should be standing there. But there's other capabilities that are available that we might not know about. So the training, the professional development to even use these is something that we'll have to also consider too, because that's going to take time and money resources as well. More to come? OK. (Luis) OK, with that being said, we turn it over to Yussuf. (Yussuf) Hello, everyone. From November 3 to the 14th of this year, the district administered the family engagement survey. This year, the survey was co-created with Panorama Education, a nationally-recognized organization known for research-based tools that support school engagement improvement. We deployed this survey earlier than originally planned in the spring to ensure that we had more time to review feedback and plan
036meaningful next steps. Families received the survey link via an email and will also access through the district website. To increase participation, we provided the survey in multiple languages and distributed, printed bookmarks with QR codes to all schools, including our model three sites. So families will quickly scan and respond. We received 1,859 responses, representing a 10.2% of households, establishing a baseline participation rate to help us measure growth over time. Early findings show that families want clear communication, greater confidence in supporting learning, and a stronger connection with schools. We're using this data to strengthen family advocacy through targeted resources, develop action plans, monitor progress, and short-time metrics, and ensure every family feels connected, supported, and empowered to help their child thrive. Now I yield to the Mic to Carrie. (Carrie) OK. So I'm going to spend a
037few minutes going over two-way communication and technology platforms. So I just wanted to hold for a second here on two-way communication. We know from all the research that two-way communication fosters strong, more supportive student partnerships. It also increases academics, attendance, behavior, and dropout rates decrease. Families feel more confident in their students' education. And they also have a clear understanding of how to support their children at home. Two-way communication helps families to be more active and involved with real-time updates and progress, as well as opportunities to ask questions. Two-way communication builds a foundation of trust and mutual respect, provides a positive school climate, and a collaboration on strategies and goals for student success. I'm going to focus on a couple of things, talking points and Always On. I'll start with Always On just because it's a
038interactive feature that we already have. And we're looking at moving from more one-way communication into two-way interactive engagement. So we already have our platform uses the real-time update, which you will learn more about shortly from Yussuf. But it reinforces our thriving workforce and our family and community engagement. So a couple of the things that we started out then with talking points was we first used it when we were going through COVID, looking at how we could use it for our multilingual families. And now we've moved into that, how can we do this universally for all families? You have a couple examples up here of the different technology platforms that we have right from interpreters, talking points, language line, a pocket talk, and then our ILA, which you had heard from Luis. So some of our
039grows with this is really that we need to provide more training for support staff and for families to maximize the use of our technology platforms. We need to collect input from families as to what is working, what do they feel more comfortable using, so that we can strengthen engagement and responsiveness. And then looking at which tools and channels are most effective for connecting with families and how can we improve that. So with talking points, they actually have a part that has an analytic chart on it. So what you're looking at here is if you look at the yellow line that kind of goes across the bottom, that is just staff announcements. When we look at the blue line, that is actually staff direct messaging to families. And when we look at that green line, it
040is actually that two-way communication where families are messaging back. So what we'd like to see is that blue and that green line closely together to know that that two-way communication is happening. So this is our kind of district lens here. And each school actually has the capability to look at how they are doing with the analytics through talking points. So I wanted to talk a little bit about-- it's called a strong start pilot. This was actually the only pilot that talking points had in the country was with our district on this. So there were 21 schools that were selected. They chose to be part of this pilot. It was a soft rollout because there wasn't any marketing that was done. This just started at the start of this year. And it actually came about from--
041the talking point staff spent some time at Dr. Karen Map training and came up with this idea. So they sent emails to the administrators from Talking Points to let them know about their bank of resources. And for the first six weeks, staff received a message. And we wanted to share a little bit about what the results of this were. So we saw a 4.5-time increase in two-way family engagement from last year to this year and nearly a five-time increase in families receiving direct messaging. So the most effective family engagement strategies included explicit invitations to engage. So let me give you a couple of examples of what some of the questions were. Send a message about what you're doing in class and how families can support this at home. Send a message home asking families to
042share something special about their child. Send a poll asking families how their child is feeling about school. So this was very significant increase for just that first six weeks. We plan on scheduling a working session with Talking Points to continue this and looking at how we can do a targeted support for highly multilingual schools. Kristin at Talking Points will actually organize a mid-year check-in and review. And Ingrid has requested to co-author a blog post so that we have insights that can help other family engagement leaders, and that is in the process right now. And then Talking Points is actually going to develop a short one-page tip sheet for schools to be able to use. So in looking at this, we recognize how valuable time is for families, for our staff, for everyone. It seems like
043there's not enough time in a day for everybody to get everything done that they need to do. So we were looking for low-lift, high-impact Talking Points check-ins. So this is something that was a template that Talking Points actually has that runs for the season. So they run through the four seasons, and it's one click ready for teachers on their dashboard. It's a pre-built template so that they can send messages, and they can talk about attendance, progress, well-being, and it can be automatically translated into the family's preferred languages. It is mobile-friendlies for staff and families. So this is something that we are looking at for a quick and structured way to connect with families to give updates, reminders, and on-wellness checks. So now I'm going to turn it over to Ingrid, and she will take us
044through some examples of Talking Points in action. (Ingrid) Thanks, Carrie. I do want to-- there we go. Just two points that I wanted to point out. The universal rollout-- we did a universal rollout for all schools before school started. And then the pilot-- we had 21 schools that we selected. They did not choose to be a part of the pilot, and we looked at their school success plan. So if they identified family engagement as a goal or we could see it, then that's how they were picked. We could only pick half of our schools. So we had to kind of do a process-- a selection process that way. So Board U received an email from me regarding this slide with some additional information. Because we're live, I wanted to share some out loud if you're
045OK with that. All right. So I'm going to do the long one first. And this is really-- this is through Talking Points, and this is cross-sectional conversations that were happening. When we worked on-- when Julie and Kristen and I were looking at conversations, some of these conversations were happening in real time. So we saw one message, and then something came up, and so then we had to-- it was kind of exciting to see. So I'm just going to read two of them. Hi. This is from a staff person. Hi. "Blank loves to move and make noise. Unfortunately, it is becoming a disruption in our supplemental math class, where many students need it quiet in order to focus. He has access to fidgets, flexible seating, and movement breaks. I know this is a need for a
046blank, and I'm trying to balance his need to move and make noise with his classmates' need for quiet while they work. I'm trying to brainstorm ideas. Has there been anything in the past that has worked for a blank?" The parent. Hi. Thanks for letting us know. We had a talk with Blank yesterday. He said he just had so much energy, and he didn't know what to do. I told him that he cannot be disruptive like that while everyone is trying to focus and learn in class. He apologized and said he would try harder to be considerate of others. And to answer your question, when he starts moving around a lot and making noises, I just tell him to stop. I will repeat it many, many times until he gets the point. Then he needs to
047be quiet. That he needs to be quiet. Or maybe you can try moving him to a different area in the classroom and away from the others and see if that works. If you find anything that works, please let me know, too. Thanks. The next-- "How is he doing today?" From the parent, staff person. "Today went great. I moved him right next to my desk. We did have a conversation before class, which helped. Next day." Parent, "Thanks for being patient. I know it's hard." Staff, next day. "I don't want to change who he is, because who he is is pretty awesome." Excuse me. Sometimes it's just a difficult balance with many differing needs in one space. The parent, "Thank you." All right, one more. Hello. Blank just finished the book Fudge a Mania. This is from
048a staff. "I do not have the other books in the series, but I told him I would share with you guys in case you wanted to look at the library or bookstore for the others. He said he really enjoyed it. Have a great day." The parent, "Thank you. We struggle to find books. I'll check the public library." Next day, parent, "I just went to the library this morning and got blank the first book in the series. And I have the other three getting delivered to the library." Staff, "I hope he enjoys them." Parent, "He told me this morning all about Fudge a Mania and how much he loved that." And then parent, "Mom, it was so funny." I'm going to read one more just because this one is pretty awesome, where all of them are.
049Staff, "Hello. This is Blank from Nicolet. Wanted to let you know that I started working with Blank yesterday to support her with math. She is doing really great in our group and is a hard worker. Please let me know if you have any questions." Parent, "Tell my baby I'm so proud of her." Staff, "I let her read your message, and she smiled so big." Parent, "She's so sweet. Tell her keep doing good. I'm going to get a reward when she get out of school." So you could see some of the time stamps that was happening in these conversations. And hopefully, these tools can help our staff with better communication with our families. (James) Ingrid, can we ask a couple questions before you move on? (Ingrid) Absolutely. (Lynn) So considering the position of the parent, I
050assume the parent is at home. What does the parent need to have access to in order to do this? Do they do this with their phone? How does it work? (Ingrid) That's a great question. Talking points is you do it with your phone. And we don't assume where they are because of the fact that it is by phone. So some of them could be-- I don't want to assume where anybody is. But they can either have the app or not have the app. And that's actually what's really cool about talking points because you don't necessarily have to have the app. So we can communicate. The families don't have the app in order to get the messages. There's a lot of nicer features when you have the app, but they don't have to. So yeah, it's
051really a tool where they can communicate at any time that best suits them. (James) Jeanette? (Jeanette) There isn't any cost for the families, correct? (Ingrid) That is correct. There is no cost for the families. I(James) just have a question about penetration. So it's an app, and I know that you can use it. But do we have any statistics on how many families are actively engaged? You showed an infographic about messages sent. Do we have some of, like, unique parents or whatever that are engaged? (Ingrid) Sorry, did you finish your thought? OK. Yes, the analytics dashboard actually shows all of that. So schools can kind of drill down to even see who's not engaged, who's opted out. They can find out what people have not sent messages as well. It really is a robust dashboard that
052they can. And we can also see that at district level, too. (James) I appreciate it. Thank you. (Ingrid) All right, now we're going to try the Always On. (Yussuf) Thank you, Ms. Ingrid. So Always On is an in-person survey. It's available in our district website. Can you see if you can go ahead and click on the right side where it says English? So that helps us. It's available in multiple languages. And as the families come in, or any person in the community will be able to select the language they are familiar with. It was initially launched as a pilot program. This survey can be accessed on the website or in person using a QR code. So it has five steps. And the rating from four to five will prompt questions like this. If you go
053ahead and click the five steps, like what made them their visit positive, someone they would like to recognize for the director's customer service, they have experienced it. And it also gives us the opportunity to ask them how they identify with, if they are a parent, or a community member, or a volunteer in that building. And if that's not the case, and the rating starts from one to three, there are also other questions that it's shown. So like the fortress area, they would like us to improve. Or suggestions to enhance future experiences. If they would like to follow up, that's the questions that it will ask. And also, it asks about the staff member they engage, if they would like to share. Or if they would like-- it also shows the schools we interacted with. So
054which building you interact with. So that's the always on. So this approach allows us to gather actionable feedback, continuously improving communication services, and overall engagement with our school community. It also supports our goal of achieving a significant interest in favorable responses from our community regarding school and district collaborations. (Ingrid) I want to share a little bit more about the always on platform. So we have our website, which I don't know if you've noticed, but down by our chatbot. They actually have stars that you can click on. So we have the opportunity to use some of the other features that that platform offers. And the in-person survey is one of those. So it doesn't cost us anything extra. As Yussuf said, we piloted the program in spring because we were working with a few of our
055schools on some intentional family engagement. And we thought this would give us some good feedback on customer service. It's a two-part survey. One, if you do just the stars, that would give us some insight. But then you could go to the next step and add more information if you choose to. So we did pilot this. We offered it to two schools. One school took us up on the offer. We had over 30 responses. I would say a quarter of them actually completed the full piece. The rest of them did the stars, which still gives us some data as well. So again, the survey, you can do it by QR code or by the link. The school had a system which we could tap into where you sign in through the computer. And you have to
056check in and check out through the computer. So what they did was add a tab so people could use that. And then we had to do the survey. One of the things when we created the survey was we wanted this to be user-friendly for anyone that was coming into the school. So however they primarily identified-- can you scroll down, Kinsey, for me? Thank you. However they primarily identified was what we were capturing. So whether they were a volunteer, a staff member, we could capture that information. So one of the things we really wanted to do our due diligence with that. And again, what building that they were from, we have district office and ASB included in this too. So our goal is that hopefully we can utilize this tool across our district. It gives us
057some real-time feedback as opposed to just waiting on the surveys whenever we deploy them. All right, any questions? Thank you, Kinsey. All right, we're in the home stretch. So this is our baseline year. So significant data shifts haven't occurred yet. Our survey results and favorable responses will establish our starting points, providing our benchmarks to measure growth and identify trends in our future cycles. OK, should I pause? You have questions? No? OK, all right, we're rolling. One of the biggest takeaways from our recent work is this building capacity is the bridge. It's what connects our intentions to real impact. And without it, engagement can feel like a series of events instead of a true partnership. And why capacity matters, it connects intentions to our real impact. It prevents engagement from being events instead of partnership. And
058it builds confidence, clarity, and trust. What it looks like, neutral-led listening sessions, universal tools, like talking points or parent portal, role clarity, direct versus indirect responsibilities, professional development, and culturally responsive communication. How does it drive the partnership? Families feel equipped, informed, and empowered. Staff learn to listen, respond, and collaborate. And it creates sustainable systems for engagement. Capacity isn't extra. It's essential. It's the gap that turns connections into partnerships. Thank you. So to make family and community engagement more than a vision, we need clear operational steps. Alex, this is kind of what you were asking. That means embedding it into our policies, our daily practices and resource allocation so it becomes part of how we lead, plan, and measure success. Our district is proud to be the most diverse in the state. That's not just a
059statistic. It's a strength and a responsibility. Diversity brings incredible opportunities for learning and growth. But it also calls us to lead with intentionality. Every policy, every practice, and every resource decision must reflect our commitment to equity and authentic engagement. So our next steps. We'll keep tracking our progress on our engagement goals to ensure our accountability and transparency. Next, we'll establish a district-wide family engagement committee to guide the next steps in this work. We'll also collaborate with district administrators on next steps for the fall family survey. We'll continue supporting listening sessions for educational allies at schools to maintain dialogue and trust. These conversations keep families and partners at the center of decision making. We'll also identify what technology platforms educators are using so we can align communication and engagement tools. And finally, we'll begin implementing our
060community partnership goals to deepen collaboration and align engagement strategies with academic success. These steps move us from vision to action, embedding engagement into how we plan, lead, and measure success so it becomes part of our culture. In my 30-plus years of working with families, one truth stands out. Parents want better for their children, even when limited by what they have or what they know. That is why this work matters. Family engagement isn't about checking a box or hosting an event. It's about building authentic partnerships that helps students thrive. When schools, families, and communities work side by side, every child has what they need to succeed. Dr. Cairn-Mapp's dual capacity building framework reminds us that strong relationships grow from trust, mutual accountability, and shared learning. These early shifts show us where to focus so we can
061create those conditions. Have a message to our community. Schools can't do this alone, and families shouldn't have to. Supporting students is a shared responsibility that belongs to all of us. Your experiences, your voice, and your support matter. Keep sharing your ideas and perspectives so we can move forward together. And we will share with you, too, our progress, our challenges, and our hopes, because this work is about partnership, meeting in the middle, even when we start from different places. And remember, our children are watching. They notice how we work together, how we solve problems, and how we treat one another. Every conversation, every partnership, sets an example for the future we want for them, a future where they can thrive and become the very best version of themselves. We all enter this work from different places,
062different experiences, beliefs, and emotions. But our goal is the same-- to connect, to understand, and to act together. When we do that, we create excellence, not just in academics, but in character, resilience, and opportunity. When we build partnerships that matter, we create ripples of hope, and hope grows stronger when we build it together. Thank you for being part of this work and for helping build a community where every child can succeed. This concludes our strategic plan update for family and community engagement. Now we would like to open the floor for questions. (James) Jeanette? (Jeanette) Not really a question, just a comment. I just want to thank all of you for this very thorough and important work that you're doing. Thank you very much. (James) I concur. Thank you. Appreciate it. Oh, Laura, sorry. (Laura) Again,
063no questions, but just thank you. Thank you very, very much for the work you do. Not just here at the board table, but every day. (James) Thank you. Thank you. OK, then I'm going to turn it over to Jeanette to walk us through the operations section of the agenda. (Jeanette) Thank you. So first point on our operations agenda is the weapon detection recommendation. And Vicki, are you doing this? (Vicki) Thank you. And board members, if you can check your email in a little bit, Kinsey's going to share with you the memo and to the media. We'll get that out to you at the end of this part, OK? Thank you. Yeah. Oh, are you sure? Yeah, there we go. Thank you. All right. I'd like to begin with just a little bit of background of
064why we're even having this discussion tonight about weapon detection systems. It began with an incident involving a weapon towards the start of the school year, and that initiated a community roundtable that we had at Preble High School with a turnout of over 500 members of the community, parents, some of our students were there. Actually a large segment of our students were there. And through that roundtable, we gathered feedback and recommendations. And in the meantime, we also enhanced our existing security measures, did a review of all of our secondary schools, and made adjustments necessary there as well. We also initiated an RFI for weapon detection systems, which we shared with the Board of Education two weeks ago. When I say weapon detections, I want to make sure everybody has a clear understanding of what we're talking
065about. So I'm going to run through a couple of pictures that show you what it looks like in a school setting. There are a lot of different types that we could be taking a look at. This is actually outside of a football stadium, so portable devices. And they probably look familiar to you. I've heard a board member say before, if you go to department stores, very similar to what you walk through or at the PAC. Before we talk about my recommendation, I do want to talk about the limitations because I think it's important when we go into this discussion that we all have a clear understanding of what the research is telling us. When it comes to weapon detection systems, you can't rely on them as the sole solution. You must have in place a
066variety of security measures to support the students and staff in our schools. One of the limitations is false positives. Everyday student items like Chromebooks, binders with metal coils can all trigger alerts. High false positive rates slow down arrival times and can create long lines. There's also false negatives. Some systems struggle with nontraditional weapons. Bottlenecking at the entrance can be a concern, especially at the onset of utilization of these systems until the students can get a handle on what the entrance is going to look like so we can expect bottlenecking at the entrance for a period of time. During requirements, the systems require trained adults to monitor the alerts. We need staff to conduct the secondary screenings, which is separate from those watching the initial entrance, and we would need a consistent process for the searches.
067Many districts that implement weapon detection systems underestimate the number of adults that it actually requires. From evasion, we have multiple entrances and exits to all of our buildings. So any unsupervised entrances increase the risk. And really no system fully prevents a person determined to circumvent the safeguards. I think that's really important to keep in mind. There's cost consideration. There's high upfront costs, depending on the size and the number of entrances and lines. And of course there's ongoing expenses. These systems have annual licensing fees, maintenance and transport of equipment, staffing, replacement upgrades. There's limited scope. This is literally only addressing weapons. This does not do anything about the number of fights that we have. It doesn't detect drugs. Some of the systems do detect vapes. Some do not. This doesn't address the mental health crisis. It
068doesn't address online threats that we receive off-campus violence that spills into schools, on-campus grounds violence, like in the parking lots, or conflict escalation that happens throughout the day. This will not take care of that. And finally, limitation is that it can have a negative impact on the school culture and climate. Some might feel criminalized or surveilled. It may create anxiety or distrust. Maybe interpret it as a sign that the school is dangerous. I've heard that a lot from students, staff and families. And it can create a false sense of security where we stop relying on the other security measures that we have in place. So I tell you all that to keep in mind as we get to the recommendation. We would need to, before we could even implement, we would need to take care
069of some structural and workforce changes. This would have to be in place ahead of time. And to give you an example of what we're talking about, the board would have to create and pass a policy to support scanning systems. We don't have anything in existence right now. Melissa Theil-Collar did prepare a sample policy for you to review, and it's linked in the memo that was just shared with you. We would need to determine which staff are going to oversee and participate in the implementation of the system. And those staff would need to be trained. And we would also need to develop a backup plan for absences. So beyond the staff that are identified, if they're gone, who's going to step in? We would need to create strong arrival procedures and ensure that there's a process
070to make sure we do that with fidelity. We would have to determine or establish a timeframe for full system operation, which would most likely be the heavy time in the morning when students arrive. But then we have to think about what does lunchtime look like. We'd have to determine how to handle a search if the system alerts us that there's something concerning. We have to identify at each of the schools where we would implement this one or two entry points. And that would mean that with the exception of emergencies, the remaining doors in that school would not be utilized by students to exit or to enter. All exterior doors would have to be assessed to ensure they meet required access and security standards prior to us being able to implement this. And we would most
071likely need to add additional hardware or infrastructure to achieve compliance. We would have to consider closed campus or increasing staffing so that during cafeteria time, during lunchtime, we would have enough staff to cover both the entrances as well as the cafeteria to maintain safety there. So with that, we as a district have received mixed feedback about weapon detection systems. I would say right now it's probably about 50-50 and the concerns and the strengths equal. So I recommend that the board direct district leadership to pilot one or more of the portable weapon detection systems for a period of time sufficient to evaluate three different areas. Operational fidelity, equipment effectiveness, and the impact on school climate and safety. For operational fidelity, during the evaluation period, the pilot evaluation, we would be monitoring staff and how many hours
072they'd be needed per day. Quick flow, and we would set an expectation. For example, we would expect 15 students per minute. What the training would look like and the time required. We would measure process consistency and policy adherence. And secondary screening time. For equipment effectiveness, we would be monitoring detection accuracy, including expected false positives and false negative rates. Average number of alerts per 100 students and durability and technical stability of the equipment. And then we would also measure the impact on school climate and safety, which would include survey responses. We would survey students, staff, and families. And we would monitor secondary screening data, which would include demographics and incident results. At the conclusion of the pilot period, we would report back to the board on the evaluation results that I just shared with you. A
073full cost analysis. And a final recommendation to either adopt the system, continue the pilot, or not adopt the system at this time. So that is my recommendation. What I would ask is, we have discussion right now. Please let us know what questions, immediate questions you might have. And then I would ask that at the December 22 meeting, that the board vote on whether we go to a pilot or not. (James) Thank you. So I'll open the floor up for discussion. Any questions that board members may have? Either Vicki or we have Cale. We have Mr. Collar here as well. Lynn. (Lynn) If they don't mind, I would love to hear what the student council people have to say. (Chanel) So I actually got to know about this last week to get some student opinions. And
074I asked some of my classmates and stuff. And they said that they understood why they were doing it. Something along the lines of when we went to clear backpacks, how people were kind of upset at first, but how everyone does it now. And I don't hear many complaints, but that it was just a, it's a big jump. You know, we're going from backpacks to in the morning, we're doing this and this and this. But if it comes down to school safety, and this is what keeps the weapons out of our schools, then that's what they'll do. (Lily) And I think also with how lunch would look like next year, our lunch periods are probably going to be shortened to 35 minutes anyways. So most students have accepted that it's harder now to leave, which so
075that if the school district does choose to move to closed campus, it wouldn't be too big of a change if that would help them with if we choose to initialize this. And then there were two questions that we came up with while we were listening in. One of the questions is, would students be able to use their normal backpack after this is implemented? And our second question is, would we open up more entrances in the morning to help with the bottlenecking? (Vicki) Clear backpacks have been effective, so we would continue with that. My understanding is with some of these systems, the students would need to remove their Chromebook or maybe even pass the-- but they could carry the backpack through, just remove the Chromebook, so that would still enhance the security. What was the other
076one? I think we probably would-- it's going to be slow going the first period of time regardless, but guys? (Mr. Collar) I think you would have potentially a system where you could have two entrances but multiple lanes at an entrance, so it wouldn't be just one single lane coming in on two different locations. It could be up to four lanes in two locations. That way we could increase the amount of students coming in, but that would be something that would need to be evaluated by the companies before we would implement anything. That's something that they would like to do. (James) Other questions? Jeanette? (Jeanette) So under operational fidelity metrics, you have secondary screening time expectation. The kids go through screening. What's secondary screening time? Like if somebody needs to be pulled out because something got
077triggered? Okay, that's what I thought. Thank you. (James) Samantha? (Samantha) In terms of a pilot, are we envisioning then rotating this throughout all of our secondary schools so that each building gets an opportunity to try it out and give feedback or targeting a couple at each range, just kind of a little more understanding around that? (Vicki) My recommendation would be that we pilot it at each of the secondary schools so that they can give us feedback. (James) Other questions? Go ahead. (Mr. Collar) Do you mean just at that four high schools or do you mean all of the secondary schools? (Cale) I think the focus for the pilot initially, our discussions have been high school. That can certainly be dictated by the conversation around it. (James) Lynn? (Lynn) Will the pilot itself involve expenses? (Mr.
078Collar) Yes. Most of the companies that I've spoken with, there is a training aspect of it. In most cases when you buy their product, there is a cost for the training. So if they were going to allow us to pilot their equipment, we would have to, at the minimum, pay for the training. But in some cases, we might have to pay some additional fees. I don't know that they would allow us necessarily to use their equipment for free. (Cale) We'd be looking at either outright purchase or leasing of units, but we would have to get more in depth with the vendors. But initial feedback is they would not loan the devices to us. (James) Wait a second. When you say initial pilot programs would incur purchasing these units to pilot? (Cale) Correct. That's the feedback
079we've received. It's not formal yet, but that is the initial feedback that we've received. (James) Okay. And training as well. Right. So basically the difference between a pilot program and an implementation is just one of scale. (Cale) Correct. (James) Okay. Lynn. (Lynn) And does that mean if we pilot this and we think this was a bad idea, they'll just take it back? (Cale) We're going to have to explore. If this is the route the board chooses to go, we would get more detail on that. And if it is dictated by the purchase or the lease, potentially a lease might be our best option in this case, or we're not paying full price. There is lease to purchase options. So if in the case we do proceed with the product that could potentially count towards the
080purchase of a product. (James) Jeanette. (Jeanette) So we would have the same company at all, let's say we just do the high schools, at all four high schools. And if we not like that particular product and want to try the next product, we then would have to lease or buy that next product to try that. Boy, it sounds like a lot of money. So yeah. Thank you for clarifying. (James) Oh, we saw a list of vendors. And we, I think, have kind of decided at one point the types of technologies that we were interested in. And it's just within those vendors where we've done a check and they are not willing to engage in some sort of pre-sale pilot program where we've not yet started incurring costs. Or is it just generally the industry as
081a whole does not support pre-sale pilot programs? (Cale) The turnover of their products once we've received them. Again, this is initial feedback from these companies too. That is not their traditional model to lend out devices because of, again, the type of use they have. So typically they will want to do their evaluation of the site, recommend the product that we would use. And then at that point, we would establish some sort of purchasing agreement. But as far as loaner devices or things like that, that has not been the conversations directly with the vendors that we have had. Now we can reengage that if this is a path the board would like to go. But we've engaged with multiple vendors that have either the red light, green light kind of technology and the more advanced technology
082with the camera red boxing of where the potential threat is on the person. Both vendors, I would say we've spoken to multiple vendors from both products. And again, not a typical model of loaning devices for pilot programs for districts. (Mr. Collar) Most of the companies that we spoke with did indicate that they would come and provide a demonstration with them or like a short term, a few days worth of you being able to see how it operated. But what we're asking for is longer term. And I'm sure that there's not well, I mean, there might be a used market for these devices, but (James) Jeanette, Oh, sorry, Laura. (Laura) Just some thoughts. So for me personally, part of the problem is for me is coming to grips with the fact that we can never really
083promise 100% security. That to me is kind of an overriding issue in all of this. And I appreciate this cautious approach where we take kind of an initial look at this. But I can also it's the limit, the looking at this memo, the limited scope of all the things that this would not address. Is another thing that is hard to get around. And at the end of the day, what this none of none of that security measures that we take and we take a lot of security measures already will address the underlying issues of how our students get access to guns. So that is that's sort of my initial thoughts on this. (Jeanette) So my comment is these vendors are mostly providing their products to for profit entities like Lambeau field or whatever for profit
084the PAC or any of those places. Do they provide products to schools? (Cale) Yes, most of them just not even on their websites provide references. And we know of multiple districts in the state that utilize some of this technology. So they are in K-12 facilities. (Jeanette) My thought here is they're not willing to loan us or give us a break on trialing these things. They're going to make a lot of money when we do this. And we're not a for profit entity. We're an organization that doesn't have a whole lot of cash like some other facilities might, non-school facilities. So is there any negotiating with them on these things? When I think about them and I know medical devices aren't the same but when we wanted to trial a medical device at work they were
085all over giving it to us because they knew if we liked it we'd buy it. So I just it sort of gets me that they're not going to give us the opportunity to trial their product without some kind of a trial period at a significant savings to us. (Cale) From the RFI you'll notice there's similar technologies and multiple manufacturers. We have not engaged each manufacturer I would say. There are two manufacturers that we felt comfortable if you were to proceed that we would recommend looking into. The vendors of those manufacturers are the ones we've had initial conversations on that have stated that they do not typically run long-term pilot programs at a limited or no cost. So to answer your question would we attempt to negotiate? I think we can. I just don't know the
086result of that. We have not really pushed on that issue yet without having a direction from the board yet. (James) Lynn. (Lynn) I think we should not rule out the possibility that a local business or industry or donor would be willing to help defray the cost of a pilot. (James) Oh yes go ahead Lily. (Lily) We were just thinking what do you guys plan on doing to rid the concern that our schools are dangerous enough to need weapon detectors to like calm the students and parents or anybody that's concerned. (James) So I think it's become obvious that we do not have enough information in order to take a vote in that the cost is not included in this memo and before the 22nd we would need some understanding of what we would be buying into
087or how we would structure that in order to take a decision as to proceed. Samantha. (Samantha) I was just thinking like when we say pilot are we thinking that this would be you know happening simultaneously in all four of the comprehensive high schools at once or would this be like we get two to three units and then it's three weeks at one three weeks at another. So just yeah. (James) So because I don't I don't want to I don't want us to assume the scale of the cost right because some of these these systems that we looked at the individual unit costs would not be considered really significant right. It was when we were looking at cost of the cost of ownership and you know having multiple lanes at multiple schools whatever. Yeah the costs
088absolutely blew up on us and we that became a concern but for a pilot we still need to know what we're dealing with and what we would recommend for for costing them out there. (Mr. Collar) So I think in order to get accurate data it's going to have to be longer if you do it for a week at each school. (James) One hundred percent. (Mr. Collar) It's going to take a few days just for them to get through the process and get to the point where it's working properly and then you move it and then you're starting over. So it would have to be. (James) Right and the concept that we had introduced through the RFP process was a pilot was in a way to evaluate multiple technologies because to determine which of the systems
089we should invest in not just if we should invest in a system. So that's what I'm saying. I do think there's more information that we would need to gather. I don't think it's difficult information. I think we're just talking about what you plan to do as far as numbers and costs. (Cale) I think that's something if that's the direction we if that's the information we need I don't think there's any concern. (James) Yeah I don't think there is. It's just not in front of us on this evening. I do want to make a statement that you know I've really struggled with the fact that there's not a lot of resources that lay this out for you and say here's you know the quantitative evaluation and here's what it's going to do impact wise as far
090as securing. I really don't appreciate this being framed as if it doesn't do everything is it really worth it. Right. Everyone has a toolbox and you have hammers and screwdrivers and sometimes you need all of it. Right. And I think that when we look at this it is intended to you know do one thing and if it can't do that one thing. Yeah that's the point of evaluation. But I recognize that there are many aspects to security in a school. We are not asking for a weapon detection system to address any of those. We're only asking it to detect a certain type of metal of us you know that's coming in our buildings as a part of a whole security infrastructure. So I look at this and how you outlined what we are going to
091evaluate and what data this will generate. It checks a lot of boxes for me because without this information we are making an uninformed decision pro or con. Right. So if we go in and just assume that it's too expensive or whatever I don't think we're doing our kids and our community the appropriate service through continuing this evaluation. So I just need to see what it's going to cost and if that's really a point of negotiation or something that we need to push back on or if we need to change vendors that we're looking at as far as a pilot program. Superintendent. (Vicki) There is a safety grant available that the team has looked into and we believe this would qualify. We can bring more information about that to the December 22nd meeting as well. (James)
092That's thank you for that. Other questions or concerns? Alex. (Alex) My only concern and question for this moment is you know what does the next step look like if we do a pilot program and then you know we decide yay or nay. You know what does that process look like how does that play out what are the implications of making that decision one way or the other. Not that we have to have an answer. (James) Right. But I think the proposal was that there would be an end of pilot evaluation and a report and I have the expectation that that would include some sort of implementation narrative to help guide us through the next steps. I do think that we're early to determine what those would look like. I think it would be sensitive to
093what we learn out there. And you know I don't see this as a brilliant all or nothing either. I think that as part of what we learn is not necessarily for public consumption but strategy of how we deploy these things. So other questions? Thank you. (Jeanette) Let's move on to the 2224 referendum updates. I think that's Cale. (Vicki) Thanks Chris. (Cale) Thank you. For today's update, Nexus has again assisted in putting together a overview of active projects and then a summary of kind of what's next in regards to the 2024 referendum. Just a reminder, completed project at Washington Middle School, mainly main office restroom renovation. And then jumping right in, we go right into Starr Elementary. As you can see here, the building's really taking shape, starting to look like the renderings you've seen throughout
094the process. As we hit winter months here, we do have portions of the building fully enclosed. We are temporarily heating the building. And as you can see on the notes up there, we have drywall. We're already taping, mudding, and priming even in some of those areas within the building. And that will continue through the winter months. The project, I can officially say is ahead of schedule right now. That was noted by Nexus. So obviously it is still a tight schedule and things can change. The weather will certainly not be helping the next few weeks, but we are confident even with that, having enough of that building enclosed as we continue construction. A few notes that aren't on here are furnishing and equipment and our environmental branding of the building is also nearing completion. So ordering
095that, having that ready for the start of school is all on track as well. So not only the construction, but the FF&E as we'll call it, the furnish, furnishing, fixtures, and equipment as well. So a few more photos inside. These were obviously taking a few weeks back with no snow on the grounds. So a lot of progress even between these photos and today. More interior shots, as you can see a lot of roof incomplete. The upper left corner is the main entrance. As you can see the roof, currently that's being enclosed temporarily. So the large windows and things like that so they can continue the interior work throughout the building. (Laura) Just out of curiosity, what is that long corridor on the bottom row in the middle? Yeah, it looks a little bit like that.
096I'm just curious what would those walls look really close together and I don't know maybe it's just the pictures not showing it as it is. (Cale) But if I'm seeing that correctly that would be the entrance back. That would be more of a utility piece to back of house loading, shipping, receiving, kitchen, and then a secondary entrance into the gymnasium. Yeah, not a main thoroughfare. But could is likely one of our targeted tornado shelters. So it's something like that. Yeah. The second project we'll update on is Doty Elementary. This is another one based on what you see on these pictures here has progressed rapidly. What we've been waiting for is our precast plank for the gymnasium. I believe as of Friday all those planks were up. They are swapping out a crane on site there
097to jump right into steel erection which will go very rapidly. This phasing went a little different as I mentioned last time. As you can see here we poured a lot of the floors for the addition prior to walls going up. Kind of a little bit of a reverse just to make up some schedule due to the not a delay but the timing of our precast plank installation. So as those plank go up, as that steel goes up, we will make up that schedule having these floors poured and some of that infrastructure underneath the floor already in place. So Doty will certainly be looking kind of that progress you see at Starr with steel going up and things like that here in the coming weeks. Some more photos there. Chappell is the next project. What I
098will say on Doty too, we are on schedule so no concerns at this point for having the addition and the majority of the remodel complete for the opening of the 26th school year. Chappell, same thing on track here. We are still working through the phasing and what the start of the 26th school year will look like with some of the interior renovations. Some of that will carry into that following summer but looking at our three main additions being complete for the start of the 26th school year. What you are seeing here is a new classroom wing. Those footings have already been poured and are complete. Walls are in and if you drive by that site you are going to see steel being erected this week again coming out of the ground. So that progress as
099it has looked pretty slow here I would say for the fall season, you are really going to see it start looking like something here in the coming weeks. As we get it enclosed, temporary enclosures and heat, that work will continue throughout the winter. Again, trying to make up that schedule due to our just our bidding and our design and phasing piece. One note on here as you can see in the lower center is the playground has been turned over. The school is utilizing the brand new playground. So that is an accessible playground. Not ideally accessible right now through some of the construction but it is the surface and everything like that is complete. The equipment is complete so they are utilizing that now. (James) At Chappell or Doty? Okay. (Cale) Oh I'm sorry yeah I
100didn't catch that. Yep. Doty's playground is open. It doesn't have the accessible surface yet on it that will be added this summer but the new equipment is in place and they are utilizing that. Yeah this is Chappell the one you are looking at here. Yes sorry about that. And then just a brief update just a reminder of the significant upfront push that we have made to save those dollars. Again avoiding inflation and anything that unknown that can come by pushing these projects. You know stretching that timeline to three five years. So you can see that significant upfront push on the amount of design and contracts let. And then also just the work complete to date. Clearly at Starr you can see that Doty Chappell as well. Washington being complete. One note on that previous as
101well contingency and inflation dollars again our bidding has been very competitive as noted in previous meetings and we continue this push up front avoiding some kind of concerns that we've had you know COVID things like that where we really saw some volatility in the industry. And then coming up next we have our next bid opening on 1218 that's an addition at Beaumont addition and renovation for Beaumont Elementary. Lincoln you see here is 75% that's actually a little bit further we have 99% review tomorrow. We will be bidding that then shortly after the Beaumont bid opening. So we before spring we'll be having Lincoln and Beaumont both awarded ready to break ground this spring. And then just a few more updates. Any questions? A lot or anything you'd like to see in the future for these
102updates. (Lynn) Did you talk about that those student interviews? (Cale) I should I should highlight them more because they're great. So Nexus has been interviewing students and the videos are shared out I believe on our website or it was here. Otherwise I'll have to get a link of yeah yes shared out on the website and it's our site superintendent at Starr Elementary interviewing students about the projects. So they're great informative and then some great interaction with the students. (Samantha) Yeah if they're not on the website I know they're at least being shared on social media pages and such so they're short they're really consumable and they're great the kids are super excited and they're awesome. (Jeanette) Any other questions? Thanks Cale. Okay let's go on to uh C recommendation to consolidate wage rates for utility,
103utility, painter, and facility technician positions. I think that's Mike. No that's you too. Oh. (Cale) Did you want a brief summary of what this is? (Jeanette) That might be good. Does anybody yeah I think so. I think we need a brief summary. Thank you. (Cale) So the purpose of this we have a few wage groupings. So this is in in regards to the compensation grouping not the positions themselves so this wouldn't be changing any job roles or anything like that. But there's a few reasons listed why we would like to propose this consolidation of these three groups including our utilities, utility painter, and our facility technicians. Previously our facility technicians had two levels one and two those were merged together at the current facility technician rate. And part of that reasoning which is part of
104this reasoning as well is there is overlap in these positions. So they do substitute for each other that's one of the main reasons and fill in these roles. That one of the main reasons for this is the reduction of what we call step up pay in these. So when step up pay is enacted there's also often manual paperwork. I shouldn't say often there is manual paperwork submitted to multiple departments to make that happen. So that reduces that that step makes it a more fluid transition for what I would I would say really offset that cost of what this wage adjustment would make. So that would be one of the more significant ones. The other reasons as I have listed here in the memo if you want to take a look at that if you haven't
105been able to. It does offer our HR department some simplification of how we classify those jobs within within our payroll systems. Efficiency again that step up tracking and ease of transitioning especially when we're consolidating and this is one of the reasons why it comes up at this time. As we look at consolidating our schools and looking at adjusting our workforce due to these changes and then also the referendum projects. We're likely going to have to lean on that agility between job roles to help as we head into a deficit to help make sure that we're able to transition with those without that additional step up process would be where I'm defining that as agility. And then the last piece would be job responsibility alignments I think is really important because these positions not only cross
106over into that facility technician. There's arguments for what that role involves these utility painter and utility roles do need that knowledge base of all of our buildings in our district. Not only for where as you look at the facility technicians at their buildings they're expected when they do sub in those buildings to have a great knowledge of that building. So they're not having to be retrained and it can be can step into those roles at any given time being a primary backup for those positions. And I've also included a few job responsibilities that we felt make that justification for that wage increase and alignments reasonable due to some of that. This is mainly our snow crew if you look at the recorded carry CDLs on call responsibilities heavy equipment operators. So that justification and job
107job responsibility is also needed. And then finally the last point I'll make on this then with the previous alignment as well I think there is some organizational charts aspects to this as well as again as we're consolidating schools and moving positions in buildings one of the offsetting factors I noted that our facility technician roles will be decreasing. We will likely be decreasing then potentially our substitute our substitutes for those positions again making for that agility between roles ever more important as we consolidate schools. So with that I knew I threw a lot at you there with that memo hopefully that lays that out for you but is there any questions on this? (Jeanette) No it looks like we're okay thanks. So resolution authorizing request to DPI for school start that's not you Cale. Yes. (David)
108I get that one and I get the one immediately following it and I ask the board's permission to possibly tie the two together because they they do have to do with each other. Thank you for that. A board tonight I represent the work of 22 colleagues across the district who served on the calendar committee. The partners in this work are engaged in various levels of teaching support work administration operational work and have been working since October to put together a proposal for the school calendar for the 26-27 school year. One of the conditions built into the school calendar is tied to request seeking the board's permission to file a waiver to start before the first day of September. Without this waiver we would be connected to state policy that locks us into only starting in
109September. The way August works out this year is the very last day of August is the Monday of the week that we would intend to start school that's August 31st. The rationale behind the waiver is tied Some of what Kale shared in his slide deck. We have phase two of several of our construction projects going on in the summer of 2027 which would allow us actually an additional week to get those teams into buildings get staging in place and be able to start clean the second full week of June if we were able to wrap things up in the first full week of June. So the start date moves us one day into August but it allows us to finish a day earlier than we originally planned which if we didn't finish earlier we would
110now be down into that second week of June. So that's the rationale behind the waiver. Happy to discuss that as it relates to the proposed calendar and Kinsey's going to put the calendar up on the screen as well. Two years ago we did a widespread survey of the community and asked questions about potentially starting even early in August when there was interest in having spring break, situations around the fall holidays, the winter holidays. It was useful information to gather at that time and we really banked it for a two-year approach to building a calendar. So really what you see in this proposed 2026-27 calendar besides separate from the request to start that first day in August is really a fairly status quo model of dates off professional development dates, holidays and how they are structured
111that matches just where we are in this particular school year as well. The team that gathered to work on this proposal was living this year's calendar while they were building out next year and they were getting feedback from their colleagues very favorable about things such as having the school day before or even the actual day of Halloween off for example as a conference day. So those types of things were fresh in their mind at the time they helped inform the mapping out of this calendar and this is what you see before you. The motion would be really a conditional motion because first we have to have that waiver approved and then this would be the actual calendar that we would propose putting into action. The contingency would be if we weren't to get the waiver
112approved everything just moves a day and we start on September 1st and we end that first Monday of the second week of June which is the seventh to my recollection. Questions about the rationale for the waiver anything about the calendar structure? (Jeanette) Go ahead Sam. (Samantha) Just in the earlier start and then resulting in a somewhat earlier end time does that impact at all considering our full assessment calendar schedule as well as like state testing windows and things like that in the spring does that compress any of those unnecessarily? (David) Thank you for that question because this year we were able to really work with the three full assessment windows. Last year we enacted the winter and spring only and so not only were they again was that fresh in their mind but we had
113that fall one now that we had experienced so not only does this accommodate those windows well the intentionality of placing teacher work days toward the end of each of those windows to build in the time for most importantly the actions coming out of those are the development of the individualized reading plans. Having those two reps under our belt from last year really had informed this as well. Thank you for that. (Jeanette) I have a quick question. So this wouldn't affect the summer school sessions at all would it? (David) Not really it just defines the starting point of where we would start looking at a necessary and proper break short break for our summer school teachers before we would bring them back again for this summer school session which in this case we would be looking
114toward later June to start that. It does nothing artificial to our summer school which we're able to set each year. (Jeanette) Any other questions? I think that's it. Thank you. (James) I'll pass the chair to Samantha to take us through policy and governance. (Samantha) All right. Oh I see. Hi Melissa. Thank you for joining us. Just a couple of policy updates it looks like for here tonight. The first one is considering revisions to board policy 170 related to meetings of the board of education. So Melissa would you like to comment on these changes? (Melissa) Just one small change to match the language that you adopted at the last meeting in the rule. So that the language mirrors it the language from the rule. (Samantha) Thank you. Any questions? No? All right then we will move
115on to area 6B which is related to revisions to board of education policy 343.2 class size and then the two accompanying rules which is rule 343.2 rule 1 related to class size and school staffing guidelines and then rule 343.2 rule 2 class size procedures. So Melissa can you just give us a brief overview? (Melissa) Yeah I'm actually going to turn that over to David and have him review the changes that he and his colleagues made to those policies and roles. (Samantha) Thank you. (David) Thank you Melissa. Our class size policy was last reviewed by the board of reviewed and updated in 2012 and so in the long list of policies that many of you have seen over the last 18 months this continued to be one that we were looking at for fine tuning and
116here you see it today. There's a policy and two rules here associated. Changes to this policy are more in the form of updates making things more contemporary. Some language was referenced in here of statewide grant funded programs that were explicitly tied to class size that no longer exist as they were identified and we're also in an era where and you know because you've had conversations with us about this evolution of virtual coursework and the opportunity to really position virtual coursework as a multiplier for our students depending on how they experience it. So for the first time you'll see in here updates related to ways in which students might experience coursework virtually and how the way in which they experience that class whether it's self-paced or a hybrid or literally a teacher's on the other side
117of the screen with them at the same time would inform how many students we would schedule into that class because that varies. We're not establishing a hard and fast limit on virtual courses but it would be determined based on how the course is built and then advertised accordingly in the in the course book. The only other piece in here is the option now for a student to potentially join as a virtual member of a course being taught in another school where there's maybe not enough spaces to run the to run the course in their own school. That just introduces a different way for a student to be able to experience a class. Of course that would be counted toward a seat in that class if that were to be the case. Happy to take questions
118on those. (Samantha) Any questions? No. (David) Thank you. And then it looks like our last one here is related to revisions to the policy 363.5 related to internet filtering. So Melissa would you like to offer any? (Melissa) Yep. Amy is going to join at the table as well. These changes are largely in response to our compliance with federal law regarding our e-rate so I'll turn it over to Amy and she can explain why we're coming forward with these changes. (Amy) Thanks Melissa. So the changes today are just removing the technology committee from the work for the purpose of the categories that we block. Like Melissa said we have to block because of e-rate and SIPA compliance. So we bring the committee together to review the categories to see if they have any suggestions to block
119or unblock but we can't truly unblock the categories. So I think the intent of the committee I went back and I watched the board meeting from 2021. Thank you YouTube. And I think the intent was for the committee to be able to make suggestions to independent sites. That process still takes place the way that it was intended back in 2021. Staff members can put a request in to review a site. Sometimes we find that the site just isn't categorized correctly but we're not changing the categories just the site itself that aligns with a category if that makes sense. So the suggestions are just to remove the technology committee from the policy as it was written in 2021 because again they we can't unblock most of the categories that we do block. (Samantha) Any questions? All
120right thank you Amy. Thank you Melissa. And I yield it back to James. (james) Thank you Samantha and that brings us to the end of our agenda for the working session. Lynn would you please read the motion to adjourn into closed session. Now this is the adjournment. (Lynn) I move that the board convene into closed session pursuant to Wisconsin statute 19.85 section 1g confirmeth legal counsel for the governmental body who is rendering oral or written advice concerning strategy to be adopted by the body with respect to litigation in which it is or is likely to become involved to it discuss strategy for potential litigation related to the sale of district property and Wisconsin statute 19.85 section 1c considering employment promotion compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has
121jurisdiction or exercises responsibility to it superintendent search discussion on developing interview questions to evaluate applicants and the final advisory committee members. (Samantha) Second (James) discussion, Kinsey. (Kinsey) McCoy (Laura) Aye. (Kinsey) Lyerly. (James) Aye. (Kinsey) Gerlach. (Lynn) Aye. (Kinsey) Mineau. (Alex) Aye. (Kinsey) Knill. (Jeanette) Aye. (Kinsey) Meister. (Samantha) Aye. (James) Okay we are joined into closed session.