001♪♪ Laura: I just want to welcome you all to this meeting on June 26th, 2023. We're joined at the table tonight by some new members of our ICSC. Would you guys just go ahead and introduce yourselves? Chanel: Hello, I'm Chanel Leopold from Preble. Adam: Hi, I'm Adam Bruner. I'm going to be a senior next year at Preble, and I serve as the vice president of the Intercity Student Council. Laura: Welcome, please, during the course of the night, if there's questions or anything you want to add, please do. Okay. Alright. Will you all please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance? All: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Laura: Would someone please
002read our mission statement? Please. Nancy: We educate all students to be college, career and community-ready, inspired to succeed in our diverse world. Laura: Thank you, Nancy. Next, I'll read our land acknowledgment statement. We, the members of the Green Bay Area Public School District, recognize and honor the original inhabitants of Northeast Wisconsin. Our district lives, works and learns upon the ancestral homelands of the Menominee and Ho-Chunk nations and the current homeland of Oneida Nation. We acknowledge the 12 diverse and vibrant Wisconsin First Nations, who have persevered here since before recorded time and continue to be integral parts of our community. We uphold our responsibility to repair relationships, initiate partnerships, and stand with all First Nation communities. Okay. So tonight... we're going to be handing out some awards, which is always fun to do. So on the
003behalf of the Board of Education, I'm pleased to recognize several individuals tonight who have made significant contributions to our school district and the greater community. Our first award of the evening... Okay. Hang on. I just need to... Okay. Our first award of the evening is the Friends of Education Award is bestowed upon an individual, organization, or group whose leadership acts or support have significantly benefited the Green Bay Area Public School District, its employees, and/or students. This year we are acknowledging Denise Gummer Hutchinson, who has made a tremendous contribution to the students and families of Green Bay Area public schools. Denise's original involvement in the district began when she worked for the Wisconsin Education Association Council, building community support for public schools through the Great Schools Initiative. She served on the Superintendents Parent Advisory Committee under
004four different superintendents and was involved in the PTO parent organization, or, sorry, parent network at her children's schools, including Red Smith and Preble. Denise is the founder of the Champions for Green Bay Schools, which led several "Vote Yes" campaigns, including one for our most recent November 2022 referendum, which have resulted in much-needed facilities improvements in our district, and the passing of the district's first operational referendum. Denise continues to be a strong advocate for public schools to ensure all students have access to free, high-quality education. Denise remains a passionate supporter of the district and all the students and families it serves. Her contributions will have a lasting impact on our district and our community. At this time, would you please come forward for your award, Denise? Denise, if you'd like to say anything -- Yes, yes,
005you, please. You're welcome to step up and say a few words. Yes, that'd be fine. Denise: President McCoy, Superintendent Bayer, school board members, Green Bay School District Administration staff, education professionals and students of the Green Bay Area public schools, thank you so much for this award and this honor. It is just incredible. Thank you to all of you who serve our wonderful community, the children who are educated within the district, the families who are supported through the massive number of services provided by the district to children within the Green Bay Area public schools, and also those you are required to serve in the private schools. This school district is a valuable, uncomparable asset to all of us in the Green Bay area. When our children entered kindergarten, Lucas and Nina, who also graduated from Preble,
006we had a number of options on where to send them to school. The Green Bay Area public schools had more options than we even knew were available. As a parent, I knew I was always welcome in the building. I could ask questions regarding their education, and I could be involved as I wanted to be. I'm sure there were times the children in my family would have appreciated a little less involvement. Running a public school is like running a major corporation, except for you are dependent on the taxpayers and legislators to fund this very large institution. I have appreciated supporting the last four referendums to show you the support you have from the community. It takes all of us to support our future generations who choose to access a high-quality public school such as the Green
007Bay Area public schools. Public education is democracy in action, because every child deserves a great public school. Thank you for allowing me to be part of that democracy, and for this honor. I will always honor it. Thank you. Laura: Thank you. We're going to take a few pictures here. Sorry. One moment. Denise: Thanks, everyone. Laura: Thank you. Okay. Um, we have another award tonight. We have a very special award, The Shining Star Award, which recognizes the brightest stars are those who shine for the benefit of others. It is my pleasure to present this award to Doctor Judy Wiegand... ...who for the past year has put the welfare of Green Bay Area Public School District, its staff, students and families ahead of her own personal plans. Dr. Wiegand had planned to retire at the end of
008the 2021-'22 school year, but when GBAPS faced an unanticipated leadership change last spring, she graciously committed to not only serving another school year, but serving as interim deputy superintendent. Dr. Wiegand was a stabilizing force whose presence ensured that the good work of our education team and schools continued. She was a champion for student success and worked tirelessly to ensure academic achievement was at the center of our decision making. According to interim Superintendent Bayer, it is because of Judy that we didn't stop believing that we could continue to fulfill our mission of educating all students to be college, career and community-ready. At this time, I would ask Judy to come forward -- -- oh, there she is -- to receive your award. Judy, we'd love to hear anything you'd like to share with us. Judy: Um,
009Board of Education, Superintendent Bayer. Um, I'm really honored to receive this. As you mentioned, I was planning on leaving at the end of last year, and then, um, Superintendent Bayer said, "But we're going to have so much fun. Please stay another year." And it has been. I work with some of the just utmost professionals serving these wonderful students and staff that we have here in Green Bay. I am a big believer that public education is the greatest equalizer that we have in our country. And so as I end my 38th year serving public schools, I couldn't be prouder of the people that I work with and work for and the children that we serve in this community. The Green Bay Public Schools is a true gem for our community, and people don't understand or maybe
010don't realize how much we do for everyone here in the school district. So again, thank you very much. Laura: Thank you, Judy. What's that? Um, hang on just a moment. Denise: He said he was coming, but maybe he got caught up. Who knows? Vicki: Thank you. Laura: Okay, go ahead. Bryan: I'd like to move that we allow flexibility in the agenda to move Item 3A, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award to the end of consent agenda approval 5F. Lynn: Second? Laura: Okay. All in favor? All: Aye. Laura: Okay. All right, we're going... We have another award, but they weren't able to attend. But before we move on, if you will just indulge me for a moment, I would like to acknowledge another person in this room. As some of you know, this is Vicki Bayer's last
011school board meeting as our interim superintendent, so I have a few words. There's a lot I could say tonight about Vicki Bayer, things that would no doubt make her blush and feel uncomfortable. I'd like to say I'm not going to do that, but I would be lying because I'm totally going to do that. But mostly I want to talk about her being a hero. We aren't used to talking about women as heroes, and mostly we think about heroes as being highly visible and very public. I'm pretty sure that Ms. Bayer doesn't relish being highly visible or very public. I've decided it's because she prefers to keep her superpowers well hidden and really works best away from the spotlight. But they're still superpowers, and she's still a hero. On a personal note, she's been a good
012and deeply patient mentor to me, and I really needed a mentor. Walking through any of one of our schools with her is an interesting experience, because that is when you realize that she has done the same thing for many, many people in our district. We owe her more than we can repay. She has led us through some difficult and challenging times and set our district on a course for the future, and that didn't come without a steep cost. Leadership can take many forms, many iterations. Anyone who works in public education knows there are people who quietly go about their work, who stitch little pieces of themselves into the fabric of our learning communities, and I believe this is Vicki's natural setting. The good news is that she's staying close, because the work continues. And as
013we head into this exciting new time with our new leader, Dr. Tiller, we can take some pride in knowing that when our last superintendent left, we could have had a lost year with very negative consequences. Instead, we remained unified and kept going and made remarkable progress. That takes real leadership. That also takes a hero. So I say this with utmost gratitude, thank you, Vicki. Vicki: Please. Thank you so much. I really am grateful. Thank you so much. Whew. Laura: Okay, we're going to move on. Just give me a moment to gather myself, folks. Okay, so there won't be an intercity student council report for tonight. And then the next thing is our public forum. So first up is Jolo Diaz. If you could state your name, your address, and you have five minutes. If you
014just want to come right over here. Jolo: Good afternoon. My name is Dr. Jolo Diaz. My address is 1122 Pleasant Valley Drive, Hobart. And my interest for participating in this forum is from my involvement with knowledge as the Chair of Parental Involvement. I work directly with parents and hear their concerns and educate and empower them to speak up regarding the experience and that of their children while attending the Green Bay School District. Today, a parent asked me to voice her concerns on her behalf, because this board will be speaking about the future of Tank Elementary School. She had a child that attended Tank two years ago. I have been working with this mother for a few weeks now. Though my work is empowering parents to attend this type of forum and speak up, she is
015unable to take off from her work as her family depends on her financially, and she also expressed some hesitation to publicly speaking in a space that she is unfamiliar and she sometimes don't feel welcoming with. I think that this will change. It's something that we're learning, and it will change. It's my deepest wish that we'll be able, together, to change this kind of feelings from the parents. I think we will be successful with this. Anyway, she insisted that I help her voice the concerns to the board, and she asked me to keep her name anonymous. The mother is from Honduras and arrived in Green Bay four years ago with her younger son. The journey was difficult, and the only certainties in their new life were the sense of finally being in a safer place. Finding
016a home in a neighborhood where there were other people that spoke Spanish and knowing that two blocks away from their home, Tank Elementary School would be the child's first school in the USA -- all of these factors made their first year more manageable. Soon after, they were informed that to continue with the language program, the child would be transferred to Sullivan Elementary School and he would need to go there by bus. She tells me that they both felt stressed and discouraged. The child was making friends and getting used to the new school and trusted the staff and teachers. They decided to adapt again and give it a chance. After all, both only spoke Spanish and they needed the language program. The mother could not understand how this could happen, since their new neighborhood had many
017other families in their same situation. The school transfer was complicated and stressful. The boy was fearful, withdrawn, and did not want to go to school anymore. The worst came when one day he boarded the wrong bus and arrived home very late after the bus driver realized the mistake and had to find his home with the help of the GPS. Then they decided to move to a new place closer to his new school, and the challenges started again. The mother has the following questions. Why were so many children from Tank Elementary School moved to other schools and taken by bus and no one got concerned and did anything for them? Why suddenly now are people worried about children's stability, and her child and his peers did not receive the same consideration? Why was the language program
018removed from Tank when so many of the neighbors of the area are Latino and speak little or no English? Why is there a claim of Tank Elementary School not having enough students if many were already sent to other schools? Why is Tank Elementary School singled out and will not be considered in the new process, examining borders, boundaries and equality? Will this happen again to my son? Where will he go to middle school? How can I trust the leadership of the Green Bay Area School District? And how can I trust that they will make the right decisions for my children and their peers? She asked me to tell them that she feels that there is, again, a lot of stress in her life and again, there's many uncertainties for her family. Thank you. Laura: Thank you.
019Okay. Next, we have, I believe it's Mary Yang. Mary Lou: Hi, my name is Mary Lou Yang. I live at 364 Laverne Drive in Green Bay. Um, I'm here today to speak as a parent and to those and as a voice for those parents in the Hmong communities that has concerns regarding the school closures and the upcoming events that may be happening with the school district. So I guess to start off with is, you know, I attended the Washington event where there was an open forum on May 24th just to learn, learn about what was going on with the school closures, having heard whispers here and there of them possibly closing some schools, I really just came there to learn about this process. Come to find out it actually wasn't a conversation. It was just
020an open forum for community members to express their concerns, so I didn't actually get to learn more about the information until after that meeting. However, during that meeting, it occurred to me that there was no other Hmong parents in that auditorium. I was the only one. And then hearing the voices echo throughout the auditorium of everybody there that they had concerns and just very simple, you know, questions that couldn't be answered, it dawned on me that maybe the Hmong community has no idea what's going on either. We have a lot of family members that still don't speak or understand English or can't even read it. So then I took it upon myself because it just kept bothering me that, okay, maybe something's -- maybe this information is not getting across. So I made a Facebook
021video of myself speaking in Hmong and I had posted publicly, um, and, you know, then some parents came out and said, "Oh, we had no idea that this is going on. I had no idea they were closing schools." And then other parents or said, "Oh, I thought that these schools were determined that they're closing these schools, like this is just set in stone." So there's a lot of confusion. I posted this video on May 26th and, you know, and it reached a lot of different ears. But at the same time, there were some people that still has no idea. So come to find out, there was no translation put out there, you know, and I thought that was really unfortunate that there was no translation materials sent out in Hmong, if anything, or even phone
022calls made out to alert parents, "Hey, we're having these meetings, you know, please come join if you have any questions or concerns or if you want to know more about it." By then, May 26th, we had under a week and a half, so I took it upon myself to coordinate an emergency meeting at the Green Bay Hmong Center, the Hmong Center of Green Bay. And unfortunately, the only date available at that time was June 4th, one day right before the vote that was going to happen on June 5th or that discussion. So we had informational meeting. You know, all the information was just gathered from the Green Bay School District and their board member website that was that was there just to explain how, why this is occurring and where we are today and why
023the schools are closing. A lot of these parents really just want to know why. You know, they just -- it's under the understanding that schools are going to be closing. It's, you know, not sure how many, not sure when for sure, but schools will be closing, and right now, the community is just looking for when, when are these closing, and just communication on that process. Even so, you know, we're glad there was a lot of members that came out on June 5th to the board meeting that day, and they were happy to hear that okay, at least ten of the schools are being reassessed or, you know, up for discussion later, um, out of the 11 schools, 10 out of 11 were just, you know, going to be held off. So there was some, I
024guess, hope in that way, because some of the community members are just learning about this, too. You know, I just learned about it on the 24th here, absorbing the information and then some members learning maybe even on the 4th, June 4th. So here we are just a few weeks, you know, later, and even other parents don't know yet what's going on. So what I'm saying here is there's been some mistrust in the community at this moment, and I think that what would be best is if the Green Bay School District, you know, sends out a newsletter of just in the translation, you know, so schools are closed now. There's no, you know -- schools have been closed since the 8th. There's no way of handing, giving handouts to students during this time, and I think
025it's important for people to just be able to absorb the information so if changes need to occur, they already have an idea of what's going to happen, not thinking that it's already set in stone or not thinking that, you know, they were just never informed and left in the dark. Like, there's issues that can arise there. With some of these, with this process that has occurred with the school proposals of closing schools, there has been issues that arise. And, you know, one of the main issues that the Hmong community have realized is there isn't main communication between the school district and the those parents. So the other thing what we're looking for is a Hmong liaison between the Green Bay School District and the Hmong community. You know, just be able to build that bridge,
026you know, and also that gap, you know. There are still generational differences in the schools where we have students that are first-year students that it's their first time going through the United States, this public school system, their parents have a different way of understanding how schools should be like. They have different expectations. So also looking to build that gap, you know, between those students and the parents of the understanding of what the expectation of the roles is for when they are here at school, as well as the parents building that bridge between the parents and the schools and then all just all around. You know, we have a lot of uprising LGBTQ students as well, and right now the Hmong community is, um, a little behind on some of those understanding, and so to support
027some of those students too in a mental health way, it'd be, I think it'd be wise for us to be able to... Laura: Sorry, you've reached the end of your 5 minutes. Mary Lou: Sorry. Laura: Can you just please wrap it up? Mary Lou: Yep, and that's all I really had to say was just that part. It was just being able to support the students, the parents, all in that way. Um, with, with the process, it had caused some mistrust and therefore, there's some misconception that maybe the students are also not being taken care of in the schools as well if the parents are not being informed outside. Thank you. Laura: Thank you. Okay, next we have Gracia Villareal. Please state your name, your address, and you have five minutes. Gracia: Good evening Green Bay
028District Board of Educators, Superintendent Bayer and staff members. My name is Dr. Gracia Villareal, and I'm a political science and international relations professor at St. Norbert College. My address is 927 Oakmont Court, Hobart, Wisconsin. Today, I stand before you on behalf of the Northeast Wisconsin Latino Educational Task Force. NWLETF strongly opposes the proposed closure of Tank Elementary School under schema 12.1. Our position is driven by several critical concerns that have primarily plagued Tank Elementary School for many years, including lack of resources, displacement of the children and choice of bilingual programs. First and foremost, the lack of programs and resources available at Tank Elementary is deeply troubling. Comparing the GBAPS fact book and the Tank Elementary School website with other schools in the district reveals stark disparities. Tank and Elmore have the fewest programs available on
029that fact book, with Tank Elementary being the only majority Latino school without a bilingual program. More comprehensive and consistent support was needed long ago for Latino students attending Tank school. Furthermore, a review of Tank elementary newsletters available only for 2019 and 2020 academic year reveals a need for more updates, information programs, etc. In contrast, other schools in the district, such as Langlade, Wequiock, and Da Vinci, have regularly updated newsletters available through May or even June of 2023, which promote multiple programs to their parents and their students. According to the Tank website, effective communication and engagement between the school and parents has been lacking for over three years. Displacement is another concern and a mystery for us regarding Tank and Fort Howard in the last ten years. Given that the district's rapid growth of the Latino
030population, enrollment data for Fort Howard shows that between 2014 and 2019 the Latino population declined by 75% in that school. We also noticed that the two or more races category at Fort Howard increased by 300% between 2015 and 2020. By comparison, in the same period in schools very nearby, it declined by 17% to 20%. Tank Elementary has also dramatically decreased its Latino student enrollment in the last three years. Indeed, between 2020 and 2022, there was a decline of 71% of Latino student enrollment at Tank School, and the population declined from 86 students to 40 Latino students in just one year. Where did all these students go? It was almost as if the district was prematurely emptying Tank school so it would be ready for closure by the time the facility's task force was created in
0312023. The decade-old displacement of Latino children in Fort Howard Elementary and Tank Elementary, both on the near West Side, helps us understand why the district did not think twice about massively displacing BIPOC and Latino students under schema 12.1. They have already had a lot of experience doing this. Another crucial aspect that has afflicted Tank School children especially, but also other Latino children in the district is their approach to bilingual programs, where the district has opted for the most minimal support permitted by law. Indeed, numerous bilingual teachers, both those who have left the district and those who are still there, can attest to this fact. The transitional bilingual programs implemented in the district since 2019 allow for less than 50% of Spanish instruction for Latino children, and therefore fail to meet these students academic needs adequately.
032Latino parents have shared their negative experiences of being discouraged from placing their children in two-way bilingual program if their four children even speak minimal amounts of English. Other Latino parents say that they were strongly encouraged to place their fourth and fifth graders in monolingual English classes against their wishes if they have even the most minimal English skills. As a result, Latino children feel lost and inattentive in the classroom in the short run, but are assimilated into a monolingual culture that strips them of their language and abilities in the long run. Indeed, they get the worst of both worlds under the Transitional Bilingual program -- students requiring Spanish instruction language support may receive as little as one hour per day, including transition time. This inadequate support hinders their Spanish language development, placing them in classrooms with
033primarily Latino children with only one monolingual English speaking teacher. Bilingual teachers have left the district due to the implementation of this transitional bilingual program, as well as insufficient support from the district administrators. Retention of bilingual teachers is vital for the success of Latino students, and failing to return them hurts them deeply, as we have seen with with Tank School Elementary. While we applaud the district's new recognition of bilingualism biliteracy and biculturalism through the Seal of Biliteracy program, we were astonished that only 26 out of 1150 seniors in the district received this distinction. In conclusion, it is crucial to emphasize that keeping the Spanish language is not a luxury for Latinos or Latino students. It is an essential part of our tradition, our culture and our connection to our families and our background. Furthermore, research studies
034show that it promotes innovation, creativity and cognitive ability. Creating monolingual students of Latino students is the last thing that this district should be doing. Displacing students because bilingual programs are shut down due to the inability to retain bilingual teachers is appalling, as several teachers from BAPS have told us, it costs the same amount to hire a monolingual teacher as it does to hire a bilingual teacher. NWLETF respectfully requests that you keep Tank Elementary open until there has been a thorough understanding of why Tank students receive such minimal attention from the district, why they were displaced, and why they have been provided limited bilingual programs. Only through a comprehensive examination of these factors can we truly address the educational needs of our Tank children. Thank you for attention. Thank you for your attention and consideration. Laura:
035Okay, next we have Lisa Knuthe. Thank you. State your address. You have five minutes. Lisa: Hello, my name is Lisa Knuthe and I live at 605 Edgewood Drive in Green Bay. I would first like to thank the board for not pushing for a full vote on Schema 12 on June 5th. I appreciate that you have taken a step back on most of the recommendations of the Facilities Task Force in order to have a broader conversation on such monumental decisions. Further research by the board, involvement of community members, consultation with staff from within all of our buildings, combined with the new leadership of Dr. Tiller, will lead to a fresh perspective which our district has been severely lacking. The steps that you are taking to maximize diversity, equity and inclusion should be applauded, and it will
036lead to a more successful and dynamic district going into the future. I'm here tonight to question why Leonardo da Vinci is being included in the request for proposal for boundary analysis services. A boundary analysis for Da Vinci would be inapplicable, because it is not a neighborhood school and there are no boundaries. The Green Bay School District's website refers to Da Vinci as a choice school, and in their At a Glance brochure, it clearly states at the top of the page that choice schools do not have attendance boundaries. The Da Vinci population is made up of students from across the entire Green Bay School district, and 43% of our enrollment comes from outside the district. That in and of itself leads to diversity. The current location was chosen with purpose. The central location downtown was chosen
037to give students from all over Brown County and beyond an opportunity to have access to the unique programing offered by the school. The district must have had faith in the current location, seeing as how they just invested $10 million to purchase, renovate and expand the current location within the last nine years. The RFP asks that the following factors be analyzed. None of these factors, in fact, apply to Da Vinci. Number one, boundary revisions associated with the proposed transition to K-8 facilities minimize change for students, families and district operations. As I mentioned earlier, Da Vinci does not have boundaries, so this would not apply. Number two, all board-approved education pathways remain intact. Again, Da Vinci would not apply for that. This would not apply to Da Vinci. Independent of the district's traditional K-8 curriculum. Da Vinci
038has a unique curriculum and social emotional support as the foundation of this program. Number three, the resulting school populations are equally or more diversely integrated than present populations. Any of these studies would not change Da Vinci's population, so this would also not apply to the school. Lastly, number four, transportation services should not be negatively impacted. The Green Bay Public School District does not currently provide transportation to Da Vinci students, so again, this would not apply. The RFP also asks that contracted professional firms shall analyze student body demographics, transportation patterns, geographic proximity to school, the concept of community schools and analysis of current curriculum and feeder patterns. Again, none of those items would apply to an analysis of Da Vinci. At a time when the district is facing a budget deficit, the minimally available resources available
039should be used sensibly, especially on the heels of the large amount of money that was just spent on hiring ATSR. I don't even see including Da Vinci in a third-party boundary analysis and equity consultation as a wise use of district funds when most, if not all, of the main factors of this study do not apply to the school. The analysis and consultation should solely focus on the schools where it will be applicable and incredibly beneficial. Da Vinci is not a linchpin and any of the potential facilities plans. I implore you to allow this school to stand on its own when being analyzed for a potential closure and move to Webster. Thank you. Laura: Thank you. Next we have Kate Janiak. Your name, your address, and you have five minutes. Kate: Kate Janiak, 3751 North Holland
040Road, New Franken. I'm here again tonight to express my concerns on the potential closure of Wequiock Elementary Children's Center of Environmental Science. I'm sure you're sick of seeing my name signed up on the public forum and hearing me talk. Quite frankly, I'm sick and tired of it being here as well. I should be spending my free time with my family enjoying summer, but instead I am here advocating for my child's education, because the district doesn't seem to know how to have the best -- the children's best interest in mind. Monday, June 5th, just three weeks ago, myself, along with the Wequiock community, sat in agony while the fate of our school was in your hands. We heard how more steps, new taskforce would be developed to look at the boundaries amongst the districts, how educational
041pathways will remain intact, and how a third party firm was hired to look at the positions within the district office. We even heard the decision on the potential closure of Tank was tabled until this evening. Do you know what we didn't hear? That Wequiock was getting the same treatment inequality of other schools. We weren't included in ensuring investments that are impartial, that transportation would not be negatively impacted in how the changes would be minimized for the students. We aren't being treated equally. You, the board, voted to allow the district to move towards closing our school and gave them criteria to look into Wequiock being combined with the Red Smith before voting on the final decision to close our school or not. I am genuinely curious on how that's going to be presented to you and
042if it's truly going to be an accurate representation of the reality of combining two schools. Wequiock educators have spent years gaining environmental knowledge to pass down to our children. Money has been spent to purchase equipment to provide the countless learning opportunities, and now we are going to depend on the district office to show us how our unique curriculum is going to be merged into Red Smith? Are the two programs going to stay separate within the school, Wequiock in one area and Red Smith in another? No one knows. The district is just going to come up with something that will give you to vote in their favor, and that will fail our children. Who will be held accountable if our children move to Red Smith and aren't being taught the same environmental curriculum? No one, The
043district office will just turn their heads and look away, and it's our children and future children who will be losing out and will be the ones who suffer. To say these past few months have been emotional and stressful for us, not knowing the future of our school would be an understatement. Do you know what hurts even more? The district advertising a position on their Facebook page of a drone operator, while I know she has more other duties than that. It was in poor taste to the district. How many schools are possibly closing due to lack of money? But hey, guess what? We can now have a bird's eye view of the grounds. What message does that send to us, the children and the community? Any newly created position should be put on hold until we
044know the future of the district. I ask you, the Board of Education, to ensure that when the district is ready to show you their findings on the potential merger, that you know they are being 100% honest and that the environmental aspects will be able to successfully be transferred to Red Smith. And if there is any question that they're not able to answer, this should not move forward. You at least owe that to our current and future children. Laura: Thank you. Next is Leah Weekly. Leah: Leah Weekly, 3467 Yorkshire Road, Green Bay. As the Wequiock community, we have made numerous pleas through both forums and emails requesting the inclusion of our school in the equity and boundary study, because you are impacting an entire community and our children. We have also asked you formally, and the
045response was disheartening. Excerpt from the Green Bay School District regarding my discrimination complaint, "Your complaint does not list a legally protected status or classification on a basis for which you allege the District and/or Board of Education has engaged in discriminatory practices. As a result, your complaint is returned to you and will not be processed at this time." That was the legal response, and the only response from our board member? "I have read your message." As board members who oversee our district, we are asking you to care about our kids' education and equality in this process. We want explanations, data, responses. I'm not sure I understand the reason behind having a Wequiock representative if we don't receive any feedback or responses. Put yourself in our shoes. We want to see that you care, and so far,
046you haven't shown us or our children that you do. It is correct that District Policy 411 doesn't specifically state the word "community" as a classified group, but a community is simply a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common, which could be said for race, religion, national origin, ancestry or creed. It does, however, recognize discrimination based on access to programs or activities offered by the district, methods, practices and materials used for testing and evaluating students and facilities. All of these are grounds for the claim. The fact is that the Green Bay School District is discriminating by inaction. You are discriminating against the community of Wequiock and subsequently Red Smith to be granted the same rights as the rest of the district. Whether or not it's malicious is irrelevant.
047The fact that we are not given the same opportunities to have additional studies to provide all of the information for our school and our community deserves. Our community does not have representation by facts and data. These facts and data are important to understand if or how the school programing and students can integrate properly into Red Smith, how the boundaries and bussing will operate, and community input from all the concerned parties who will be affected. You are completely disregarding the community impact of the entire East Side. If you can't see how this inaction affects our children, this is no longer a district I want my kids to be a part of. I would also like to add that our community also includes the town of Scott, something that you have been leaving out of this process.
048They want to keep the school open just as much as we do and are disgusted with this process. They applied for a grant to repave Wequiock Road to the school and are adding a bike path, something you don't know, because you haven't studied it. Yes, we are advocating to keep Wequiock open. It's an environmental school that allows kids to learn through hands-on activities and enjoy great mental health benefits through outdoor time. Not many schools could compare, but right now we are just asking the board to pause and include us in your study to understand all of your data before making informed decisions. Give us the same rights. Laura: Thank you. And finally... And if anyone else wanted to speak, now would be a good time to fill out the form and hand it to Kinsey.
049Nicole Tillet? Nicole: Hi there, Nicole Tillet, 3659 Point Lane, Green Bay. Today I am here as a concerned community member and a town of Scott resident. While I do not yet have children that go to Wequiock, I hope that someday, Wequiock is where they will go. I was very disappointed to see that not one of the recommended schemas even considered saving Wequiock as it is, as if the decision was already made without even gathering all of the pertinent information. To strengthen this thought, the survey data presented by the planning team on March 8th repeatedly left out Wequiock data and the survey results, originally, they didn't even have Wequiock listed. Additionally, the growth rate used for Wequiock was likely inaccurate, as suggested at a previous board meeting, and the Green Bay Smart Growth 2022 analysis on
050the City of Green Bay site didn't even have Wequiock School listed at all. Data tells a story, and this story seems to be that the planning group has already made up their mind about Wequiock and was portraying that opinion by providing biased information or no information at all about Wequiock. If this isn't discrimination of our community, as Ms. Weekly has proposed and the district has rejected, it certainly is biased decision making, and we must ask why. It has been suggested that perhaps there is a potential buyer already lined up for the space. I hope it isn't that grave of a reason and that that is just a rumor, but people are concerned about the true motive behind this decision. Our children should go to Wequiock. My husband and I have heavily debated public versus private
051school. He wants public. I want private. The only reason I acquiesced was because our home school is Wequiock. The school is small and unique. The focus on outdoor learning was a huge deciding factor for me. We have seen trends for unique education styles growing -- Montessori, outdoor hands-on learning, etc. You certainly have to do something to account for the declining population across the district, but the answer isn't getting rid of a school that is an in-demand learning style and close one of the only schools in our district that offers a unique learning modality. According to "USA Today," more than half of 3,800 parents of school-aged children surveyed have considered or are considering a new school. A majority of Hispanic, Latino and black parents in that survey, about 65%, said that they were looking into or
052thinking about a new learning environment for their kids, compared to 46% of white parents. The National School Choice Awareness Foundation survey showed that last year, 32% of parents considered public charter schools, 29% considered private and parochial schools, 23% considered homeschooling, 21% considered online schools, and 4% considered micro schools or pod learning. Additionally, in the Facilities Index, an educational adequacy report, Wequiock scored as the second best elementary school in the district, second only to Baird, which scored higher largely because it is a new facility. And then let us not forget that the decreased enrollment at Wequiock can largely be attributed directly to the actions of the board and the district during COVID. Many parents elected to send their children out of district to keep their children in school and subsequently decided to leave them there in
053the best interest of leaving their children in a stable learning environment. The impact of this decision on enrollment will take time to recover from. If the goal is that every school close has improved educational opportunities, Wequiock should not close, as there is no other current school that can improve upon the outdoor learning environment that Wequiock has. I believe that the work you are doing is necessary to align the budget and address aging buildings. However, I believe your vision is very short-sighted. Instead of eliminating Wequiock, you should be adding more opportunities like Wequiock for more children in the district to experience. You have a much larger problem on your hands that you haven't even begun addressing. If Wequiock closes, we will be part of the trend, part of the statistics. Our children will either go out
054of district or to private school, causing the district to lose even more financially. And I know we're not alone. I ask you to do the right thing for our children and for our community and reconsider your decision to close Wequiock. Thank you. Laura: Thank you. Okay, I'm going to move on to the consent agenda approval. Would someone like to read the motion, please? Go ahead. Lynn: I move that the consent agenda as presented be approved. Laura: I'll second it. Any discussion? Oh, sorry, discussion or questions. Kinsey? Kinsey: Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered and the motion is carried with all board members voting in favor. Laura: Thank you. Yeah. Vicki: If I could, we do have Heather Zelzer in the audience today, and you just approved her to become our new
055AP at West High School. Laura: Yay. Vicki: Congratulations, Heather. Heather is transferring from Franklin, so we'll be posting that position and I had said to the board a couple of months ago about two new hires at the AP level, that that's the future of the district. Heather's a part of that as well. She's an outstanding leader and expect her to be leading a building at some point. No pressure, Heather. Congratulations. Laura: Congratulations. Yes, Bryan? Um, okay. No, don't believe he is. What would you like to do about it? Bryan: I'd like to make a modification to the agenda to move what was originally item 3A, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award to the conclusion of action items prior to discussion. Lynn: Second. Laura: All in favor? All: Aye. Laura: Opposed? Okay, that'll be reordered. Bryan, can
056you just make a point of reminding me? Thank you. All right. Um, the next thing we have is the legislative update. James, are you there? James: I am. Laura: Okay. James: I'm going to try to do this remotely, I apologize. But think all board members should have a memorandum that contains the legislative update for your purposes, the content of which is solely from the Wisconsin Association of School Boards and their legislative updates. And looking at it, they provided a very concise, um, detailing of the legislative actions over the course of the last month. There are four primary topics for tonight. The Joint Finance Committee completed all of the budget work last week on Thursday, and it is now to the Assembly and the Senate this week to finalize that work. There was an, you know,
057I don't know if Angela is in the the room there and if she would want to join us at the table? But there are questions about the impacts that I had about, we know that the budget and the additional dollars for the school K-12 education and subsequently the voucher programs was, will have a increased impact on local school levies. But there was a tax credit mentioned out there. I didn't exactly know what the timing of the tax credit meant and why that was important to address. Angela, do you have any information about that? Angela: Hi, everybody. James, I don't have any information. I was asking around. I talked to Baird this morning to see if they had any additional information, but there isn't any at this time. So that is something that we need to
058watch, because we aren't going to see it, so as a board with the changes that James will talk about, I'll add in, James, when you're done, if I have anything to add. But um, you know, really what it comes down to is the mill rate that we will be proposing in October will be what is, you know, whatever it might be. I'm assuming it's going to be higher than $8, just because we haven't seen that large increase being put into equalized day to offset the revenues that we're going to be getting. So all of the things that James will talk about is really, essentially property taxes. So when we come to the board in October, we'll know better what that looks like, because we'll know what our equalized aid is actually going to be. But
059that mill rate is what we vote here. We don't know what that school tax credit -- what that school tax credit is going to be and what that looks like on everybody's property tax bills, right, as an individual. So that's what makes it a little difficult. But there will be some relief there. We just don't know what that looks like yet. James: I appreciate that. And I did poke around at that as well. It looks like that that tax credit actually goes back to the municipality, that levies, and not to the district. So it is pure tax, property tax relief. How it manifests and how it's applied, that's what I haven't been able to determine yet. Um, you know, the WASB points out in the legislative update that paired with the increase in school funding,
060there is a $3.5 billion income tax, and that is part of the budget as well, $32 million of cuts to the UW system, which was intended to support the diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives for the UW system. The second thing that was of topic was Act 11, the low revenue ceiling and voucher program was signed into law by the governor, which would increase our ability to spend up to $11,000 per pupil. But as Angela just stated, you know, what portion of that will be covered by equalized aid and what portion of that will fall to local taxpayers is not yet determined at this point, but we'll follow up on that. What is known in that budget is the voucher independent charter increases were substantial, right? So as the update communicates, K-8 vouchers increased by 22.3%,
0619-12 vouchers by 41.1%, independent charters by 27%, special education vouchers by 18.1%. It's important to note that, especially in the last bullet point, the special education vouchers increased by 18.1%, the same budget increase, the special education funding for public school districts by 3%, right? I'll see that you have a question, Bryan. Bryan: I just wanted to add clarification for people that are watching, because you're virtual on here. Um, just to go over those numbers one more time, K-8 vouchers increased 22.3% from what they had before and the high school, the 9-12 vouchers was 41.1% from what they had before, which I believe puts them above the cost for a public school student that's attending one of our regular K-12 schools that's not on a voucher with it. And then to look at the special education
062voucher increasing to 18.1%, that just completely knocks it out of whack as to what the state funds for our special education students here, what they reimburse the state for. So I'm going to tie this into a question for you in a second, James. But just to go back to it one more time, because we we hear this frequently, if the state was funding special education near the rate that they would have for voucher schools -- I'm going to guess, Angela, I'm going to kind of throw a question towards you, but I'm hoping the numbers are correct -- that would probably cover the majority of our deficit that we're experiencing in the future? If the state would cover the special education rates that they're covering, the voucher programs for, that would cover the deficit that we're
063facing now. So that's not even taking into consideration the K-8 voucher increase. That's not taking into consideration the 9-12 voucher increase, but the increase in special education vouchers that the state is putting forth would cover our deficit. Am I correct on that? Angela: You're probably close, but I will say that so the 33.3%, so it went, you know, so that's what they're proposing is that that special rate is going to 33.3%. That means about a million and a half for our district. So $1.5 million. And we transfer about $33 million from Fund 10 to Fund 27, which is our special education, out of our operations fund. Bryan: So just clarification again that Fund 10 is our general operations fund that we take how many million out? Angela: $33 million every year, and it keeps going
064up. Bryan: And if the state had reimbursed us anywhere near the level they're doing for the voucher schools special education program, that gap would be much, much less. Thank you. James: Yeah, and Bryan, I think, just to support your position, right now, our revenue ceiling will move to $11,000 per pupil and the 9-12 vouchers, it's my understanding that that will be $12,000 per pupil, so it will be $1,000 more. Angela: That's right, James. James: Yes, Lynn? Lynn: So want to make sure I understand what you're saying about this. When a student from our district gets a voucher to go to a private school instead of to the public high school, we pay, we will be paying $12,000 to that private high school, which is more than we would be investing in that child's education at
065Preble or Southwest or whatever? Angela: That is correct, because the revenue ceiling is going from $10,005 per pupil that we receive now to $11,000 next year. So yes, so 9-12 will receive $12,000 per student. James: Angela, can you walk us through collecting that $12,000, how that is levied and passed through? Is it subject or supported by equalized aid or is it direct levy? Angela: Um, it is direct levy it's taken from. So the way that the private schools get paid, they take it out of our aid, you know, at the state level. So we're not cutting a check to all of the private schools. They figure that out at the state before we get our aid, our aid payments throughout the course of the year. But, yes, that is the line item that you see
066on the revenue limit calculation. That is all levy dollars. So that $9 million-ish that that sits there. So these have increased. So we'll expect to see that line item increase even if it stayed the same. So if we had the same number of students receiving vouchers, that would automatically increase, and that is that is definitely taxed to the taxpayers, so that falls on into our mill rate. Laura: Go ahead, Bryan. Bryan: And James, you mentioned that this comes from the Wisconsin Association of School Boards. There are many groups that lay out this information, because I recognize that school finance, we get caught in the weeds a lot. It's difficult. It's not logical, as far as how the state funds it, but there are many resources out there. So if constituents or the media want to
067find out more points on this, the Wisconsin Association of School Board has it. DPI has information on it. There's other pro-advocacy or public education groups that have that information on this and how this directly impacts our local school district, correct? James: Yeah, that's correct. Yeah. Lynn? Lynn: And just one more question to make sure I understand this. This is a question for Angie. So when at the beginning of the year, when the voucher money is distributed to the private schools instead of to the public school district, if that child stays in the private school for three weeks and then decides to come back to public school, that money that was given to the private school stays at the private school and does not come back to us, correct? Angela: Yes, it is somewhere in there,
068Lynn. It is pro-rated as well, so as you get into...right? I mean, they do pro-rate that and it's not all paid up front, I don't believe. I would have to look into -- I mean, it's a pretty complex way, the way that they do figure that out. And it also is difficult, sometimes, to find some of this information on vouchers and how it all works behind the scenes. It is difficult to find information sometimes, so you really have to dig. Laura: Andrew? Andrew: So, for at least a significant amount of time, I think as long as they stayed past the third -- a student stayed past the third Friday, my understanding was that the voucher school could keep all the money and even could keep all the money even if they closed. So has there
069been a change that there's an actual proration formula, or does proration just refer to that... You know, you wouldn't be able to keep both semesters for going for three weeks? Angela: That's my understanding. Kind of the same idea as open enrollment works, open enrollment in and out. Laura: Okay, James, if you'd like to keep going. James: Yeah. Yeah, I appreciate that. Okay. Angela: One thing -- One thing, though, James, One other bigger topic that I didn't see here is that we will be losing that high-poverty aid that we receive, which is about 1.1 million -- I think it's $1,147,000. So that aid is -- The way that I'm understanding it, is that it is kind of going to get put into maybe the equalized aid bucket. So we might see a little bit of that.
070But again, if you simply left everything the same on the revenue limit worksheet and you took out that aid, that is more property taxes, right? Because that aid offsets property taxes. So that does increase the mill rate, as well. James: Right. I think in the information that you sent out, you said it wasn't a change in the spendable amount per student, but it will impact the mill rate. Right? Okay. I appreciate that. All right. Continuing -- Thank you, Angela. Um, there was a bill that we've been tracking through the spring, and it was signed, as well. It's Act 12, and it was the sharing -- shared revenue portion of the bill where we had to report crimes. So just to kind of run through the bullet points. All public voucher charter schools will be required
071to collect information regarding incidents, including homicide, sexual assault, burglary, theft, battery, aggravated battery, arson, possession of controlled substances, alcohol, possession of firearms, and disorderly conduct. The incidents must occur during school hours or at school-sponsored events and on -- or on school transportation. Must be reported annually to the school board, to us, and to DPI. DPI will create a reporting rules and will report to the state and districts. It'll be on the report cards but not part of the scores on the report cards. And the key component or the attribute of this act that still has to be figured out is, you know, what's the process -- right? -- of accumulating the data? It's going to be police records that, you know, will have to be, you know, aggregated and reported out. So just have to
072figure out how that is to be done. But it was part of the shared revenue, um, bill that the governor signed. Um, still in process, the one that we've been tracking, and we're very interested in it, interested in Assembly Bill 321, the Right to Read Act. It passed the Assembly, and it's now headed to the Senate. And it wasn't straight party vote. There was some bipartisanship to the votes. It's endorsed by DPI. It's been modified by amendments. So there are a couple of things that changed. All of the references to retention have been removed from the bill, which I think is a very positive occurrence for us. We will have to have a retention policy, however. Right? You know for third grade. DPI will create a model one for us. Change some wordings around proficiency
073to make it precise and reading at grade level. But, however, DPI needs to define what reading at grade level means. There is a -- If a student is promoted to the fourth grade but reads below grade level, we must notify parents and provide intensive services. There is an offramp where the school district and the parents can agree that no intensive services are necessary or are no longer necessary. And we have more flexibility to select our reading curriculum. But if we want it paid for, it does have to come from a list that is being provided by a council that is created to provide that list of approved curriculum. So, any questions about that? Comments? Concerns? Laura: Looks like we're good, James. James: All right. Thanks, everybody. Laura: Thank you. Okay. All right. Now we're moving
074on to action items. We're going to have 35 -- roughly 35 votes tonight. So I'm just getting you all prepared for that. It's going to be a long process. Um... So the first thing we're going to vote on is review and approval of meal price recommendations for 2023-2024 school year. Would someone like to read the motion? Go ahead. Bryan: I move that the 2023-2024 meal price recommendations as presented be... Nancy: Second. Laura: Okay. Would anybody -- does anybody have questions, or would anyone like to discuss this? Actually, maybe I should just hit the pause button here a second. We did have opportunity to review these and discuss them at our last meeting. This isn't the first time we've seen this, but we are -- Everyone will get another opportunity tonight to ask questions if they
075would like. So... Okay. Kinsey, I think we're ready. Kinsey: Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered, and the motion is carried with all board members voting in favor. Laura: All right, good. Next is, B, Southwest Baseball/Softball lighting. Would someone like to read the motion? Bryan: I move that Musco Sports Lighting LLC be awarded the bid for the Southwest Baseball/Softball lighting equipment design and layout in the amount of $328,000, as presented, be approved. Nancy: Second. Questions. Discussion. Josh is here if you have questions about this. All right, Kinsey. Kinsey: Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered, and the motion is carried, with all board members voting in favor. Laura: Thank you. Next is Atonement Church land property acquisition. Would someone like to read the motion? Bryan: I move that the
076offer to purchase the property known as part of tax parcel number 21-2284-2, described in Exhibit A for $14,500 for the purpose of the Preble football field referendum project, as presented, be approved. Nancy: Second. Laura: Okay. Um, I don't know. Josh, would you like to just give a little synopsis of how this came to be? Josh: Yeah, because this -- this wasn't at the work session, so this is the first time you guys are seeing that. Um, so, you'll see, um, the survey in board docs, and actually, I'm going to bring up... Google -- Google Maps so that it makes maybe a little bit more sense for you. Okay. So I'm going to -- I'm going to zoom out. Here's Preble. Here's the football field. This is Atonement Church and their parking lot. Preble's current property
077line is here at this fence. In order to get the triple jump area, we need to encroach on this property. The church has been very, very good about working with us on this. So what we're looking at is 10 feet off of the edge of the parking lot and basically straight across. It's approximately 0.2 acres. Had it appraised. It came in at $14,500. That's the offer we'd like to make. If the board gives approval for me to sign that offer, the church council will need to convene. They'll need to approve it. And then we're looking at closing in August. So we've had this agreement in principle for some time. This is just formalizing the transfer of that property. Right now, it's basically kind of a dead area. They pile snow there in the winter. But
078it's not really a usable area at this point. Laura: Okay. Bryan. Bryan: Josh, if you could zoom out just a little bit on there. Currently, I'm assuming that that activity for a triple jump is over by the throwing area on the other part of the stadium -- or, on the other part of the school. To the right. Because there's not a compass rose, so I'm not sure which way is north on there. Here we go. So right where that throwing area is on the right hand, far, far, far over to the right, I'm assuming... Yeah. Is that where the jumps were before, or is it still... I'm gonna guess it's not. Sorry. So the throwing areas will still be over on that side of the stadium, though. This just moves the triple jump and long
079jump part? Josh: Sure. Let me pull up something that'll make maybe a little bit clearer how this project's going to end up. Um... Kind of skipping ahead in the agenda here. Bryan: As you pull that up, that's also going to make it more attractive for regionals and other events for fans and parents to watch their athletes in a closer area, I would assume, so... Josh: Yep. So this is the area we're talking about here. Right now, the... this kind of hash line is where the current property line is. Keep moving it out. Laura: Okay. Any other questions? James, did you have something? No? You good? All right. I think -- Kinsey, I think we're ready to vote. Kinsey: Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered, and the motion is carried, with all
080board members voting in favor. Laura: Thank you. Next is the boundary RFP language. Um, would someone like to read the motion? Bryan: I move that the boundary RFP, as presented, be approved. Nancy: Second. Laura: Okay. [ Coughing ] Excuse me. Um, I did have a look again. I'd already read this, but I looked through it again today. I couldn't really find anything that's jumped out at me. But does anyone have any feedback or any questions about it? Go ahead, Lynn. Lynn: I have -- [ Clears throat ] -- excuse me -- a couple of questions, and I'm sorry I didn't -- Maybe should have gotten these to you sooner, but I'm doing my best to keep up. On page four, paragraph three. Number one, scope of services, it says that "Will draw new school boundaries
081based on the task force recommended school closure and realignment decisions." Is this -- Are we asking this firm to draw new school boundaries or to propose new school boundaries? Who actually draws the new school boundaries? I just truly don't know. That's for you, Josh? Josh: I think we're looking at assistance in, um, in proposing boundaries that will -- that are created through the lens of equity and then evaluated by a community task force. I would imagine this as an iterative process. Lynn: So then would you say that perhaps we should -- it should say "will propose new school boundaries" or "recommend new school boundaries" instead of "draw" them? I'm just -- I'm thinking about how this reads to the public. Josh: Yeah, we can do that. Laura: Yes, please. Lynn: Then, on page 5. Um,
082it's -- Let's see. The professional service -- Okay. You can you see the paragr-- the second full paragraph. "The professional services firm shall analyze the impact," et cetera. If you go down to the third bullet point, it says, um, "geographic proximity to schools, including the preservation or interruption of natural or defined neighborhood boundaries." I wonder what is meant by that, natural or defined neighborhood boundaries. Josh: A natural neighborhood boundary would be something like the Fox River or the East River. Um, there are also artificial neighborhood boundaries based on, you know, the way the city's been laid out, so... Lynn: I guess what I want to know is, you're not talking about the boundaries of Green Bay's 45 established neighborhoods that -- for example, I live in, Old Preble. When we formed our neighborhood association, we
083set our boundaries, and never did we say, "And all the children in this neighborhood must all go to the same school." I just want to be clear about that. Josh: No, that it was not the intention of that language. So look at roads and rivers and railroad tracks and things like that. Lynn: Then, my next one is also under these boundaries, the fifth bullet point. You list these current curricular programming, and I don't -- I just want to be sure. I don't see fine arts in there. Is this meant to be exhaustive? I don't want to leave something out if it should be in there. Josh: It concludes with "and other special programming." So that would be encompassed. Right. Lynn: And my last one is page 6. Um... Ah, oh. Okay. Under "facilitate community engagement."
084Um... I think it's the second bullet point. "This organization we hire will facilitate in-person and remote community meetings to share information and gain feedback from the public impacted by school boundary realignment." I would, um -- I would like to request that that be changed to "They would be willing to facilitate, if asked or if required..." I just feel like our most recent experience with ATS&R, I don't feel that they did a good job facilitating those public things, and I would prefer that that not be automatically assumed that these folks are going to facilitate public forums. Laura: Hang on just a second, folks. So, that fundamentally changes what we're asking them to do. Lynn: What I mean is, instead of saying that they will facilitate in-person remote, that they will be willing to facilitate in-person and
085remote community meetings, if asked or if required. Not necessarily saying that they're going to facilitate them. Laura: But then if they come up with a number, as far as cost, that this facilitation aspect is time and meetings, et cetera, and it would have to -- We're going to want to know what that costs from each person -- each entity that applies for this position. So I'm going to want to -- As an individual board member, I'm going to want to know what that -- the full cost of what this is going to be, and it needs to be included. Lynn: Yes. If they are -- If they are asked to facilitate public forums, it will cost this many dollars. If we don't ask them to facilitate it, they won't have to pay -- we won't
086have to pay for that. I don't know. I mean, I understand what you're saying about what they're going to be required to do and we will have to pay for it. I'm just saying, I think it's a mistake before you even know who you're going to hire to assume that they're going to do a good job facilitating public forums, based on my recent experience. Laura: Andrew. Andrew: I would tend to agree that we should at least be open to the concept of whether we have outsiders facilitating the public forums, people from this firm versus someone from the district or versus someone maybe else locally specifically for that purpose. I too was very dissatisfied with much of the third-party facilitation provided by ATS&R, and I've brought that up more than once. Um, I think we --
087I don't know, though, that -- I mean, unless we want to be so specific as to say, "Let's break out, you know, to specifically start editing this on the floor," to say, you know, break out your line item of facilitation cost, I just don't want to be here all night breaking out different line items. I do think it's a valid point for negotiation in the context of, um -- in the context of what a firm brings to the table, you know, negotiating and saying, "Well, okay. What would it be if --" You know, we've had some further discussions since then. "We're going to have -- we're going to do our facilitation this way. What does that do to the cost?" I think that's a valid point. Laura: Bryan. Bryan: This is a point of order.
088We have a motion on the floor, so any -- But it sounded like Lynn was saying before was more inquisitive questions on it. If she wants that changed, there's going to have to be a motion because we're voting on the whole body here. So with the motion being on the floor and with us planning on voting on it tonight, I'm just -- Laura: You're saying it would have to be an amendment. Bryan: Right. Laura: Okay. Bryan: So, I'm kind of looking at Lynn, whether she's asking that amendment or not. Laura: Okay. Um... Okay. Before we -- let's have a little bit of further discussion, because my thoughts about this are, is that when you hire a company to do this work, they're going to want to know very specifically what we're asking of them. And
089I think it's to the benefit of the process that we have a third party, disinterested, company, do that work, not someone who has a stake, not someone necessarily who's local, but someone who has no dog in the fight, so to speak. And that's... to me, that's what this bullet point would provide is that third-party disinterested entity. So anyone else have anything they want to say? Go ahead, Laura. Laura W.: I'm curious if we have, for just this portion of facilitating community engagement, if we have any resources to do that part in-house, if we could enlist any community volunteers. Just a thought. I'm looking -- You know, I've been -- Professionally, I have been asked to facilitate a number of community input sessions, and so I know the process. and I think that when you look
090at an interested third party -- or, a disinterested third party, I think that you could have the process be transparent, the notes be transparent, that this is something that could be, um... taken out of, just based on the comment that Lynn had shared, and it was also something I had asked about initially, and I did get a response back. So that was -- it was -- Jake and Vicky were very responsive to my questions, but I didn't realize that you also had some thoughts on that, as well, Lynn. Laura: Bryan. Bryan: Looking at the way it's worded in the document that has been moved on, um, I would envision the our resources that we've utilized before within our district with Laurie's department and other groups working with them to facilitate in-person, I'm not -- I'm
091not terribly concerned with the phrasing of that. We know our concerns that some board members had with the previous one. They did what we asked them to, and I think the input comes from our department here rather than necessarily making the -- changing the RFP on here. I don't know if I'm being clear on that, but I don't think this is where we tie it in. I think we do it after we find the company and we say, "These are concerns we've had," and by facilitating, they can facilitate with our staff, as well, to coordinate it, so... Lynn: I'm not going to offer an amendment. James: Um, Laura? Laura: Go ahead. James: I'd like to offer an amendment to amend the motion to change the language of the second bullet point under "facilitate community engagement"
092to "collaborate with district personnel to facilitate in-person or remote community meetings." So that gives us optionality on who takes lead, but they also need to be able to demonstrate in their RFP response that they can do it. I think that is the -- And what the cost of that is. So to introduce the concept of collaboration allows us to make a determination whether or not we want them to take the lead or if they are a second chair in that facilitation. Bryan: I'll second that. Laura: Um, okay. I guess we're going to vote on that amendment. Kinsey, are you typing that right now? Kinsey: James, do you want to e-mail me what you want that motion -- the amendment to look like? Or do you want to just paraphrase how you want that? James: Yeah.
093So, um... Kinsey: Right now, I have that the boundary RFP, as presented, be approved. So what would you like added in there? James: Well, that's not the motion, right? There's another motion to amend that to change the language on page 6 under the paragraph "facilitate community engagement," to change the language under the second bullet point, to collaborate with district personnel -- school-district personnel to facilitate in-person and remote community. So... Laura: Just hang on a second while we figure this out. Yes. Lynn: Can I just ask a point of information while we're doing that? Um, I would like to go back to my very first question and suggest an amendment for the first thing I talked about, the scope of services that they will propose or recommend new school boundaries rather than draw new school boundaries.
094And I don't know if we could vote on this amendment first and then go back to that. Andrew: We have to do... Laura: Yeah, but we can take that up next. Lynn: I'm just asking. I'm just asking. Point of information. Laura: Yeah, we'll take that up next. Go ahead. Nancy: Lynn, what was the exact wording, though, on that next one that we're going to take up? I know the word "drawn" is taken away. And what are we putting in there? So I'm going to... Lynn: I would like to suggest that we, under scope of services we say "will propose" -- I don't know. I would like Josh or Vicki to say which word it should be. "Will propose new school boundaries" or "Will recommend new school boundaries." Laura: Exactly where under school -- All right.
095Okay. All right. All right. Kinsey: Do you want to add something? Is somebody -- Laura: Nope. We're going to deal with this one first. So can you read it out loud? Kinsey: Yes, I will. That the language on page 6, section facilitate community engagement, under the second bullet point, be modified to be "to collaborate with district personnel to facilitate in-person" and remove "Community meetings to share information." Laura: Sorry. This is what -- James: Remote. Kinsey: Okay, let's try again. That the language on page 6, section "Facilitate community engagement," under the second bullet point, be modified to be "to collaborate with district personnel to facilitate in-person and community meetings, to share information and gain feedback from the public impacted by school boundary realignment," as presented, be approved. James: So, Kisey, I wasn't suggesting the removal of
096the word "remote" in front of "community." Laura: We just missed that. In-person and remote. Kinsey: Okay. James: Yes, both of them are community meetings, but one's in person, one's remote. Laura: Yep, we do. We just missed that. Kinsey: Okay, we have that added in. Do you want me to reread it? James: Not necessary for me. Laura: Nope? Everyone's good? All right. So we have an amended -- amendment. Has it been seconded? James: It has. Laura: Okay. All right. Are we ready to vote on it? Okay. So, give Kinsey a moment. Just the amendment. Yeah. Kinsey: Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered, and the motion is carried, with all board members voting in favor. Laura: Okay. Now we can go to your amendment. And would you say again exactly where that is
097that you want to change? Lynn: Yes. On page 4, number one, scope of services. Sure. Page 4. Number one. Scope of services. I suggest that we -- I move that we change the first sentence to read, "The professional services firm selected as the result of this RFP will recommend..." Vicki? Vicki: Yeah. Lynn: "...will recommend new school boundaries based on the task force recommended school closure and realignment decision." Just change "draw" to "recommend." James: Can I -- Can I propose a friendly... Laura: Yep. Go ahead, James. James: And, Lynn, can we change the last word from "decision" to "proposal"? Because that's appropriate. No decisions have been taken. Lynn: Yes, that would be fine. Laura: Bryan. Bryan: I'm just speaking out against on this for one reason. This seems more of an editorial change rather than the
098substance of it, where a previous motion stressed that collaboration part. So, I understand your intent on it, but this seems more of a editorial change with it. Laura: Okay. What's that? Nancy. Okay. Go ahead, Lynn. Lynn: I don't view this at all as an editorial change. I view this as substantive. Drawing boundaries is very different from recommending boundaries. Laura: Okay. James: Laura. Laura: James. Go ahead, James. James: Can someone define for me the difference? Because I think that to propose a set of boundaries requires that they be drawn out. So they -- so I just want to make sure that we all understand that they're not drawn or approved until we vote on their approval. Right? So I kind of am with Bryan, in that we're trying to -- to differentiate between two words. But
099if the intent and spirit is that everything is a recommendation to the board through a task force that has been put together, I'm not clear that I understand the substantive change. Laura: I think the second half of that sentence is what you're talking about, which is the based on the task force recommended school closure realignment. James: Correct. Laura: Yeah. James: No, I'm talking about the whole process of getting the work product from the the consultancy and having a task force that's been created review that, and we've given them latitude to make changes -- right? -- and look for alternatives to school placement. So anything that comes from the consultancy is a recommendation because it's not fixed. Laura: Okay. I see what you mean. All right. Andrew. Andrew: Um, yeah, I'm, uh... It is -- it
100is true that everything that -- it is true that nothing comes from this committee that is a -- that is -- or, this firm that is finished without a board vote because -- because it can't be. However, I think Lynn does bring up an important point here. We have people coming to us saying that they don't trust the process. We have people coming to us saying that documents weren't even translated into an important language in the district by a different firm. Um, and I think if they -- I think it is important to have the public not take a piece of this out of context and say, "We are farming out drawing the boundaries. There you go." Even though, yes, if we said draw, if we said recommend, if we said propose, if we said
101give a recommendation, all of those are, in essence, the same thing because they only can recommend. Right? We can't delegate that authority without a vote to them. I think it's important to send the message that, I think, whenever there could be confusion that we're handing complete control of something over to a third party, that could be concerning to people. And so if this -- if this clarifies it for some people, I think it's worth -- I think it's worth doing, and it causes no harm to what we're doing here, either. Laura: Anybody else have any comments? Okay. Can someone read the change? To this amendment. Kinsey: That the language on page 4, section one, scope of services, be modified to be "The professional services firm selected as a result of this RFP will recommend new
102school boundaries based on the task force recommended school closure and realignment proposal," as presented, be approved. Laura: Okay. Anybody else have anything they want to say about this amendment? All right. I think we're ready to vote. Kinsey: Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered, and the motion is carried. The results of the individual board member votes are as follows. Becker, yes. McCoy, yes. Layton and Warren, yes. Welch, yes. Lyerly, yes. Mills, no. Gerlach, yes. Laura: Okay. Amendment passes. All right. Are we ready to vote on the RFP as a whole now with the two amendments? Go ahead, Laura. Laura W.: I have one clarifying question, and I've been trying to look in here where it would apply. I guess maybe scope of services. And this is more a general observation or comment.
103When we are looking -- we're going through this process. We've heard from Wequiock some concerns about Tank not being considered in the -- in this, um, boundary, yes. But wouldn't we be looking at the district and its entirety through this process? So although the way I interpret it is, although it's not identified and the schools are not named in here, but neither are a lot of other schools in our district that could be potentially impacted by any boundary changes. So I just wanted to clarify, is that, in fact, correct, that -- the -- The study is going to look at the boundaries entirely in the district and the communities and where and where they're going to align looking at, um, the diversity, equity, and inclusion for the student population. So I guess I'm just looking
104for, I guess, maybe a confirmation, if that is correct, or a clarification. Josh: That was not my understanding of how this was going. This was in response to the resolution passed by the board on the 5th regarding the K-8s. So... I thought that this was limited in scope to the K-8s, although there is latitude within that resolution to propose different things. Um... I'm not sure, based on how the resolutions read and how this RP language reads, though, that -- that there would be a process for other schools not listed here. And that goes beyond Wequiock and Tank. Kennedy, MacArthur, um... Keller. There are -- there are other schools that were kind of involved in other resolutions that the board passed. Um... If that's a -- if we need to take a different direction in this,
105we should probably be explicit because in that overview, it does -- it does list specific schools, and that seems to define the scope. Laura W.: Yeah. I guess -- I guess that was my understanding, because thinking of the other schools that would be potentially impacted, like MacArthur or Kennedy, I thought that that would also be included in the entire boundary study. Yes. Yeah. Like, yes, they're going to be included, as well, because their numbers could change, as well. Their population could change if the boundaries change, which is why I guess I thought it was kind of implied. Laura: Go ahead, Lynn. Lynn: So, is it safe to assume then that we could leave it just the way it is? Because our focus is on, as you said, the four K-to-8 schools at Langlade, and McAuliffe
106and Franklin. And is it safe to assume that when this study is done, there might be recommendations that might affect other schools that aren't listed here, but that we are not asking someone to come in and look at all the boundaries for the entire district. You know, what I'm saying is, I feel that it's safe, but that doesn't mean that it couldn't affect another school like, let's say Tank, for example. That could be part of the recommendation. Can we be comfortable with that? I can. Laura: Yeah. All right. James. James: Yeah. So, and that -- I authored the resolution that directed the district to put this RFP together. I'll support Josh's position that this was a limited-in-scope study and that, you know, in looking at the proposed changes and consolidations, some populations could move in
107their entirety and that we weren't, you know, changing and busing them and changing, um, their feeder patterns or anything like that, right? The Wequiock population, you know, ends up at Red Smith, so there were, um, concepts that -- And I know that people from the public have spoken, you know, at length on this, that these -- this -- this equity study was to ensure that the large amount of movement and redirection of populations and changes in feeder patterns and splitting of the boundaries across it and not treating them as holistic things to make sure that we weren't, you know, inadvertently impacting certain populations or certain neighborhoods more than others. It was always in the perspective that we had a looming budget deficit. And we, when analyzing the recommendations of the task force, looking for actions
108that were lower risk from whether or not there was an equity question involved, and if the recommendation from the board to the, um -- to the task force said minimum change, right? It didn't say no change, right? So in the spirit of those recommendations, it wasn't a holistic look at all the boundaries across. It was there were aspects of this plan that required us take dramatic -- and change dramatically feeding patterns and where populations went to school. So if other board members want to see a more expansive study, I would not be comfortable communicating to the public that this is comprehensive. I think that we would restate the scope of this and have Josh bring that back. I want to make sure that everyone understands I would not have written a RFP, um, using the
109way this has been written, if the intent was this global boundary study that encompassed all of the district and proposed changes, if that makes sense, Laura. Laura: All right, Laura. Laura W.: Thank you for that clarification. And I also want to just share that this is -- this is the challenge of -- You know, we talked about making motions or adjustments on the fly is that a lot of our work has to happen at the board table and that's the transparency and, um, part of being on the board is that we have to have a lot of these discussions. And sometimes the meetings go long because we're having these discussions at the table. So it's an important part of the process. But I appreciate your clarification. I did misunderstand that, and I appreciate it. Thank
110you. Laura: Thank you for saying that. Yeah. Go ahead, Andrew. Andrew: So, are you saying then -- What you're saying, James, is that... separate from this RFP and presumably at another time, not where there's less time urgency, other things that would involve boundaries would be looked at later, for example, at some point down the road, there would be some shifting of high school boundaries to the west. That wouldn't need to be here, you're saying, because it's not -- it's not happening imminently. James: I don't know that that is the example I would use, but I would use the example that, when -- if we are successful in passing a referendum question where there is a new school created on the west side that is central to a couple of boundaries that would then, you know,
111be -- you know, those schools close down, redrawing those three boundaries or however that many into one boundary would be, yes, Andrew, a separate task. Right? Andrew: Okay. Now I get it. I get it. This is -- These are making sure that we have equity studies... James: Correct. Andrew: ...right now for things that might be done sooner and with, prior to it, separately from a referendum. James: Correct. And, you know -- But the spirit that everyone needs to agree to is that there were portions of the recommendations that were pretty discrete actions. Right? You know, as the referendum was -- As the resolution was written for Tank, it was the entirety of one population into another school that was geographically close. Right? And they were of very similar, um, demographics, right? And so that was
112carved out because ultimately we could make a decision on that. The same with Wequiock, right? You know, you approve of, you disapprove of that particular proposal. There's no change in feeder patterns. Right? And you know, our -- the impact to the community, you know, wasn't taking into consideration municipalities. Right? It was, "Are we taking a neighborhood that typically has gone to the same school and making decisions straight-wise -- right? -- to redirect, and are we doing right by that -- that neighborhood and community? So that's -- that's the limited nature of this. You know, again, you can agree with or disagree with it, but that's -- Josh, it was acting on the resolution. Laura: Okay. Um... any other questions? Any other discussion? Are we ready to vote on this, as amended? Okay, so we have
113a motion. We have a second. Kinsey? Kinsey: Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered, and the motion is carried, with all board members voting in favor. Laura: Okay. Thank you. Um... Thank you for everyone's patience as we work -- we work through these. This is -- Laura's absolutely right. It's -- Sometimes this kind of discussion -- It has to happen in public. It's the only way to do it. And -- And it's -- it's -- Patience is a big part of it, so... Okay, so we're moving on to, um, E, a resolution regarding the future of Tank Elementary School. Could someone please read the motion? No? Vicki: This was tabled. Laura: Oh, that's right. Okay. Um... All right. So, um... Hang on just a second. Let me get to the right place.
114Vicki: The board had asked for an update for us to check on the feasibility. Laura: Go ahead. Vicki: So that's what I would like to share. Fort Howard has increased their special education programming substantially, including midway into this past school year, which results in fewer students fitting into those classrooms. So the question was, can we move Tank in its entirety over to Fort Howard without having to make any modifications? And my answer to that would be no. The recommendation I would have is that the board direct us to look into the feasibility of an addition on Fort Howard, to explore that, including, I believe it was President McCoy who had suggested maybe we consider a community space over Fort Howard. Um, but definitely addition for classrooms would be needed. Um, the alternative of course, would
115be -- which is a possibility but not my recommendation, would be to move our special education programs out of that building. That wouldn't be my recommendation at this time. Laura: Okay. Nancy: How many special-ed classes are we talking about? Laura: I mean, how many were recently added or how many are currently there? Nancy: Total. Vicki: Okay. Um... Special-education programming currently at Fort Howard. We have an intellectual disability focus room, autism focus, behavior focus program, as well as cross categorical. Looking at numbers, we would need 20 general-ed classrooms, one for K for kinders, three classrooms for each grade level 1 through 5. Um... Fort Howard would add 1.5 cross categorical FTE in addition to the existing 3.5. That's all I have for numbers on this. Sorry, Nancy. Laura: I'll put you... Nancy: I thought the cross
116categorical was really high. So it's five rooms. Vicki: Yeah. Nancy: Okay. Laura: Okay. So, um... Any other questions? James? James: Um, so, Vicki, when you say we would have to modify Fort Howard, you're saying, you know, exterior additions to that building. And that's... Vicki: That's correct. James: And was that informed by anyone outside the district? Because when I look at the volume 1A for ATS&R, on page 16 of that, there's a summarization of the -- basically the scoring of the buildings, with the last column being if an addition is reasonable or feasible or possible, and Fort Howard is listed as no. Laura: Mm. Vicki: No, that was not advised by external. That was internal. James: Okay. Laura: Andrew? Andrew: Um, it seems to me at this point the -- Whatever -- whatever might have been
117-- right? -- one of the possibilities, and although although, in the end, I didn't vote for it, we had at least a bad situation when all of all the entirety of Jefferson was able to fit into open space in Fort Howard. Right? So although I voted no, I can see that was a at least bad situation. And so my purpose for postponing, and I appreciate the additional checking here, is that, do the -- You know, is this one that similar to Wequiock, although I didn't support that move for Wequiock -- yet, at least -- um, the answer to that is clear that it did -- they did fit into Red Smith, so at least they're with that. Here, we don't even have that. Um, I guess I would -- I would propose just waiting here
118because now there's -- now there's multiple things that could happen. You could... not close -- I mean, yes, in the end, more than one school will close on the west side. But now who's who's going where? I think that's. And too much to figure out here. And I think there's plenty of things to be looked at that we can just pause on what to do with Tank, especially if we don't know where we might add. I think Bryan's idea about having some kind of a, um, optional, um... center for higher-need -- higher-need students which might be which well, which would be somewhere on the west side I think is valid. There's just too many different pieces here. So I think we could simply not act on this resolution and the administration would just keep --
119today. And the administration just keep proceeding down... If necessary, I could make a motion to postpone it further. I don't know that we necessarily would need to vote it down. We could also just postpone it indefinitely. Laura: Um, Bryan. Bryan: It's my understanding that we tabled it to this meeting. So doing -- you know, just following the sequence of it, we could table it again until our next working work session or any of the other meetings. Would that provide enough time to get more information on that, or are we just kicking the can down? Vicki: If, um -- If you want us to explore the cost of an addition, the feasibility of an addition, we could certainly do that. Laura: Go ahead, Bryan. Bryan: I agree with what -- and I'm sorry to follow James
120with that. I agree with what Andrew is saying with now we've got a couple more moving pieces in there. Um, I think this goes to our once in a generation opportunity to make some changes that really improve the programming for students. And if we -- if the best fit is to move them to Fort Howard as opposed to other options based on the students with disabilities that we're servicing, when do we get to that tipping point of it makes sense to look at other programming and, you know, other opportunities in other buildings. You know, we're going to be chasing our tail on it, but I guess I'd like to make a motion that we table it until our next work session. Laura: Um, go ahead, James. James: Um... Given the fact that the entirety of
121the population does not fit unaltered into that building, and to make that happen, we're going to have to use referendum dollars, um, to make those modifications, I would encourage my fellow board members to vote this resolution down because the subsequent resolutions or motions will be so substantively different that I don't know why we'd table this one. I would say, let's vote this down. And then at the next board meeting, we can provide a different directive to the district. Laura: Josh? Josh: You know, there could be one other potential funding source for this outside of referendum, which would be ESSER offsets in the next year, depending on how much this would cost and what kind of timeline could happen. So I think, either way, if... I think it would be valuable for us to know how
122much an addition on Fort Howard would cost and the feasibility of that, whether that's happening using ESSER offsets or the next referendum or the referendum after that. Um, I think that it would be good for us to know that. Laura: So, when it comes to Fort Howard -- I mean, we talked at our last meeting about that potentially becoming a community school. So in order for that to happen, you know, having an addition and having a community space, as well, like we have it at Eisenhower and some of our other schools where the community can use that space and hopefully feel more comfortable in our schools, which we all would like that to happen. Um, I'm not quite ready to give that up for Fort Howard, so I would like to instruct the staff to
123start that process of looking at what that would cost and how we would fund it. Um, is it feasible on that space? Can we expand the footprint there? Um, I would really -- I personally would like to know that. So, um, anyway, those are my thoughts on it. So, Lynn. Lynn: This is a point of information. Please refresh my memory. Last meeting, we voted to table it. There has been further information from the staff. It gave us three possible recommendations that did come after we tabled it, right? This was further information that we were given, correct? Okay. Just want to make sure I got my timeline right. Laura: Yep. Um, James? James: Um, I don't know how to process the information that Josh just provided as a second or alternative source of funds. That makes
124me extremely uneasy that I don't understand because we have had a very communicative position on how we intend to use ESSER offsets through the '23 and '24 calendar years. And I don't -- I don't really have a good grasp of co-mingling capital and operational expenses like that. So I need a lot more there, um, before I felt comfortable. But my question is, um, this resolution I put forward, if I remember correctly, is there's still an opportunity after it's been tabled for me to withdraw the resolution. Laura: Yeah, no, I think it can't be withdrawn at this point. Um, hang on just a second. Um, Bryan, go ahead. Okay. Go ahead, Andrew. Andrew: So, I don't think that -- I think we can -- You know, when we have the writer of the resolution suggesting that
125the best option is to vote it down and start over, I think we should just vote it down at this point or use the motion to postpone indefinitely, which is essentially the same thing because there's no date on it. Um... There's -- It's just, this moved from something where there was, "Is this an option where we can move an entire school into another school with open space? And if so, maybe the majority may have voted to proceed to that quicker?" That's not the case. And now, you know, I would like to see more community schools. I do support that. But now there's different ways that could happen. Is it because we'll use some space that's in Fort Howard now and, to have space for the community programs, move fewer kids into there because this move
126from a single track thing to something that is just much -- much, much broader than that. So, um... I will... I will move to postpone indefinitely the resolution regarding the future of Tank Elementary School as presented previously on June 5th. Yeah? Bryan: I'd like to offer friendly to postpone -- to table this until our next business session just so we can get some more feedback on it. I think we hit the same intent, and if we need to do it again, we can do it again. But that still gives us the feedback on it. Laura: When you talk -- Bryan: Work session. I'm sorry. Laura: Feedback. What do you mean, feedback from staff? Bryan: Yes. Laura: Okay. So when you say feedback from staff, what do you mean exactly? Do you want them to explore...
127Bryan: In regards to the original resolution with it. The cost that we -- these issues that have just been brought up with the original, looking at the full transfer of students over so... Laura: So we can definitely table it, but we are instructing staff to investigate further how we could do this. Is that what you're saying? Bryan: My friendly is not indefinitely tabled until our next work -- I'm sorry -- business session. Laura: Okay. Bryan: So one month. Laura: Josh, is that enough time? Josh: I don't think we would have more information for you by your next work session. Laura: Okay. So that's why I'm worried that we need to maybe indefinitely table it. And, Josh, when you are -- have a bit more to share with us, can we get that on the agenda?
128Josh: Well, we do have a standing agenda item, I think, for facilities, master planning, and referendum activities. Laura: All right. Okay. Bryan, go ahead. Bryan: Well, now we're kind of in two different spots. We've got a motion and a friendly, but my original point was something separate. So I think we need to address the motion, whether Andrew accepts it as a friendly or not. Andrew: Um, I think we should just -- I mean, again, we have the -- the -- I mean, administration can -- I think it is often good to direct the administration with motions because it sets a public statement and it directs the focus. I think here, the administration certainly can continue to bring up different ideas for Tank and Fort Howard at any time. But I think the I think the
129resolution was written for a situation that no longer exists, so I'm going to stick with my motion to postpone indefinitely, with the understanding that obviously it'll still -- things about taking Fort Howard will still be looked at. Laura: James? You had your hand up. James: I agree with Andrew. Any information that the district is going to come back to is not pertinent to the -- the resolution as it was written because it does not entertain any additions or any kind of modifications. Actually, it states "without modification." So anything that the district's going to provide us is going to be against some future new resolution or motion. So, you know, Andrew can table it. But, you know, in my mind, it's deprecated. It's no longer applicable. Andrew: So postpone indefinitely is essentially that, because there's nothing
130to vote down yet because the motion isn't made. James: Okay. Andrew: So... Laura: All right. Lynn: So I second the motion. Laura: Okay. Bryan. Bryan: This ties in with the original resolution, which is why I'm speaking to it, which I was intending to do before, as well. When we're looking at the increased costs of referen-- of expanding buildings and looking at comparing a community school as well as programming needed for special-education services, especially if we're having students where we're going into making sure we have proper facilities, two completely different things. And when we get the proposal and when we look at the pricing of that, we need to take that into consideration. You can't just have a regular classroom if you're having students that need toileting, if you're having P.T. and O.T. being done in
131the room, and there are two completely different items on there. So tied into the original resolution with I just want to make that point clear. When we look at this, we're comparing apples to oranges with it. So whatever our goals are with the -- we've got to take that into serious consideration with it. So... Laura: Okay. All right. We have a motion. We have a second. Go ahead, Lynn. Lynn: I'm asking this because I can see that Laura's confused, too. Bryan, what do you recommend we do right now? Do you recommend we go ahead and postpone it indefinitely, or do you go -- do you think we should just vote it down? I'm just asking because I don't understand. I want your advice. Bryan: I think we're on the same page with it. I offered
132a friendly to bring it back within a month. I think it's the intent of the board and through conversation that this will not just wither away on the vine. So I'm fine with the motion as proposed. Laura: Well, let me muddy the water just a little bit more. I mean, we can make this part of the referendum discussion, obviously, and make it part of that process. So, go ahead, Bryan. Oh, James, go ahead. James. James: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So that's what I'm saying. If they come back with dollars and modification costs that make sense, the motion would be to add it to the referendum, modify the referendum resolution -- right? -- to direct the district to add that to the referendum question. I agree with you, Laura. Laura: Okay. All right. Does that sound --
133does that make sense to everybody? Are there any questions? This is some serious sausage-making here, so... Like, there's a lot. Go ahead, Bryan. Bryan: Well, I think we're also going to need to recognize that we're going to need to make decisions on some of these things soon. Laura: Yeah. Bryan: And as it continues on, and I understand the concern with this, but while the public has spoken on many different levels and different points of concern on this, eventually, we need to make a decision on some of these things. And some of these decisions were more straightforward on it. So I understand the change in the students and the increase in student population on there, but we're going to eventually have to make some difficult decisions with these. Laura: Okay. All right. Everybody feel like they've
134been heard on this? We have a motion. We have a second. Kinsey, do you know what the motion is? Have you got that? Kinsey: Yep. Can I read that? It is that the resolution regarding Tank Elementary, tabled from the June 5, 2023, special board meeting be postponed indefinitely. Laura: Thank you. All right. I think we're ready to vote. Kinsey: Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered, and the motion has passed, with all board members voting in favor. Laura: Okay. Thank you, everybody, for your patience and for your good work on this. All right. Okay. We are going to take a five-minute break. Kinsey: Your turn, Melissa. James: I just want to remind the chair that I'm in a different time zone than you are. Laura: James, what -- What time is it
135there? James: It's 9:23. Laura: Okay, we're going to -- we're going to do our best, okay? I promise. James: I'm kidding, Laura. You do what you have to do. We'll blame it on Melissa. Laura: Are we -- Are we ready to get back at it? Okay. Um, okay. The next item on our agenda is policy 185 advisory committees. Uh... You guys have the recommendation? Um... And do we have any discussion or any questions? Oh, someone -- Yeah, would someone please make a motion? Bryan: I move that the Board of Education Policy... 210... Yep. Yeah. Now it refreshed. Hold on. Sorry. I move that the Board of Education Policy 185 advisory committees, as presented, be approved. Nancy: Second. Laura: All right. Discussion or questions? Andrew. Andrew: So I do have one question. It's under part two,
136implementation, B, advisory committee membership and then 1B. Um... So my understanding here that I think nomination by the board president and the school board voting to confirm the list and presumably, I think, that implies that board members would talk to the board president if they had suggestions. I just -- I just want to make sure that in the flow of this, the board vote, because it's in, number one, before the sub points. That includes, um... It doesn't mean the superintendent can add people that the board didn't vote on. Does it? I'm just making sure. I don't think it does. I'm just making sure it doesn't. In in practice, I think it would be unusual to not include someone that the board president or the superintendent wanted. And if one of them wanted it, the other
137probably would. I just want to make sure it doesn't create a... And I don't -- I don't think it does. I just wanted to make sure. Laura: So... Laura W.: Which part are you looking at in here? Andrew: 1, 1B. So, its nomination by the board president. A, the board president may consult with superintendent of schools or their designee. Laura: Advisory Committee membership. Andrew: Yeah. Advisory Committee membership. Laura: Go ahead. Melissa: I read that as the superintendent can also suggest the names, similar as the board president and the board has the authority to appoint. James: Laura. Laura: Yes. James. James: So, we use two different verbs. Melissa: I can change it. James: Yeah, I would appreciate that. Melissa: I'll change "a point to nominate." James: Thank you. That makes it cleaner and, I think, supports
138your position. Laura: Okay. Um, I don't know. Do we have to -- Do you think we have to take a vote on, like, an amendment? Melissa: I think it's an amendment, so, yes. Laura: Okay. All right. Would someone please make that amendment? Go ahead, Lynn. Lynn: I move that section B, advisory committee membership, number 1, point B, be amended to say, "The superintendent of schools and learning may also nominate members to the advisory committee." Laura: I'll second that. Andrew: We could probably just ask unanimous consent on that one. Laura: Are you good with that, Kinsey? Okay. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right. That amendment carries. Go ahead, Bryan. Bryan: I'm just looking for feedback from the board on Part D, where the board will endeavor to appoint advisory committee members who are residents of
139the district or whose primary place of employment or business is located in the district. Um, I understand the reasoning behind it. And I guess I look at, um... a slippery slope with, you know, this should be focused on residents of our district. I get the reasoning behind it. I just kind of want feedback on how we justify primary place of employment or business located in within the district when -- I know other districts, you're not even allowed to speak at a board meeting if you don't live within the district. So to open up the flexibility to have someone that's employed within our district to have the speaking, I get it. I just feel slightly uncomfortable with it. So I just kind of want feedback from other members. Laura: Tell me again where that is located.
140Okay. Um... I share your anxiety about that, Bryan. I guess that's how I would put that. James: So, Bryan. I'm sorry. Laura: Go ahead -- Go ahead, James. James: I apologize. Um, so your anxiety is us opening it up to those that live outside the district? Is that your concern? Bryan: Um, yes. James: Okay. Bryan: I see the reasoning for it, but I just want discussion from the board on that. As far as, um, yeah, the feedback on there. And to be honest, how do we define employment and whether their employment really has a direct impact with the operations of the district. I appreciate how it states that their area of expertise, um, based on the expertise kind of plays into it, but I just want the feedback from the rest of the board. Laura:
141Melissa, did you -- did you grab, like, a template from WSB on this, or did you...? Melissa: There was no template from WSB on this one. The reasoning for this is, if you look back on things that could fall as advisory committees to the board, and if you look back at the various different committees that have been formed, there may be people who have certain expertise who are not residents or who do not work in the -- in the district that you would want to be a part of your committee. And so if you limit it just to residents, you're boxing yourself in, and you may not be having those individuals serve on that committee. That's why, primarily, you -- it's saying it should be residents and people who work here, own businesses here. But
142there may be some time where you need to go outside of that to have someone with expertise be on the committee. Laura: Okay. Thank you. Andrew. Andrew: Um, I get what you're saying with this, Bryan. I appreciate you bringing it up. I think there's enough emphasis in part D on this probably isn't going to happen very often and you really probably shouldn't do this very often. But if you absolutely have to, you can. I think it's clear enough there that it would be, um, not a thing where a board president or superintendent would be proposing a list with multiple people, you know, multiple people from outside. Laura: So, Andrew, you're saying this would be taken care of during the the screening process? Yeah. Andrew: Well, and I think it's clear here that if there's, yeah,
143we're just not going to have lots of people. But if that is for a special reason I think is adequately covered here. Laura: Okay. Um, Bryan. Bryan: I agree. And I think also looking at that the board has the final say, you know, the final vote on it also covers that. I just wanted to, like I said, get the perspective of other board members on there and see where they stood. Laura: Thank you, Andrew. Andrew: Um, we had discussed a bit about having, um... It's important to me and it's essential for me to be able to vote yes, to have something that says we will have a process of some kind for people from the public to apply. And I'm just wondering how -- I don't know that I have an exact -- I don't
144know that I have an exact wording for how to do it, although it's probably not very hard to come up with one. But I think we -- I think that is just very -- we've always done it. We've always had a way for people to apply. I know, um -- I don't know that we even have to write it as specifically as -- I know something like how the city does it is probably a reasonable idea. I don't know that we have to specify it, but I do think we need to have something that says that the general public can express their interests. Laura: I'm going to assume that something will be set up online. Andrew: But if it's not, it has to be in here. Otherwise we can skip doing it like we did
145this time and then we get a lot of problems. Laura: Bryan Bryan: Andrew, would you be comfortable with that as a nomination or interested parties can -- nominations can be sent to the board president? Laura: I would like to -- I'd rather have them have to apply, like actually fill out an application. Bryan: So when we look at an application, then what is that application form state? And I think that... Laura: Go ahead. Melissa: I'll just offer this. When you've taken nominees or interested parties for vacancies on the board, there's no application. People just simply submit their interest and offer why they're applying. So it could be as simple as that. Laura: So what would be the mechanism for that, though? Like, how do we do it when we have an empty -- do they
146just email something or -- but that usually would go to like to Kinsey. But that's... Melissa: So I don't think I would write a policy as specific as that because of the way of doing that can change. It could be through a Google form. It could be through filling out some sort of information. I think if you just simply say the board will permit individuals to submit their application or submit their interest. Laura: Okay. And then we'll indicate in open session how that's going to happen. Go ahead, Bryan. Bryan: I think my initial question with it to Andrew, do you feel that that would qualify? I'm fine with proposing an amendment to this that interested parties may contact either the board president or the board secretary someplace in there so there's that tracking of it
147as well. Andrew? Andrew: Well, I think if we say the... Yeah, there's that, or there's, "The board shall provide a method for members of the --" I think like something more along the lines of, "The board shall provide and publicize a method for interested parties..." Well, the board -- I think the policy here would be saying that, "Whenever an advisory committee is made, the board shall provide and publicize a method for interested parties to express their interest and participation." Laura: That sounds right. Andrew: "Interested parties to..." Lynn: Yes. And I think that we don't want to get any more specific than that because it can be different at different times. The obvious way to me is to do it Google form through the website. But I would think what Andrew has proposed is sufficient, and
148we can leave it at that. Doesn't have to be more specific. Laura: Okay. Andrew: I'm going to email it. Laura: Okay. Bryan. Bryan: My reasoning for having a specific language in there is it doesn't give us wiggle room, which we shouldn't necessarily have. I think part of the reason that we're kind of in this spot is because we didn't have a policy set up with it. And by having an opportunity for a consistent policy regarding any committee on it, if interested parties, either contact the board president or the board secretary, that doesn't change -- I don't want to say change the goalpost, but it keeps that standard there for any committee to reach. So if you say on this one you can do it by Google form and on this one you can do it
149by a phone call, you're changing the standards or the expectation there. And I think having the consistent expectation is what we need to have. Laura: Lynn. Lynn: I just don't think it's a good idea to name a person and make that person responsible for receiving the applications and then run the risk of having people say in the future, "Oh, but I told Laura McCoy I was interested," and now Laura is left holding the bag. Laura: Go ahead, Bryan. Bryan: So when I mentioned it, I specifically said either the board president or the Board of Education secretary because those are not person-specific, those are title-specific. And then we don't need to change the policy on there. That also gives us, if it's via email, the opportunity to make sure that that has been made. It's an
150easier way to check that someone showed interest to it by, you know, just our email contact on it, as opposed -- tying it into the the job of that person, either the board president or the secretary of the school board. So... Laura: James. James: So I think there's two motions here. I think if we want to require that committees that we establish be advertised to the public, I think that belongs in the charter section. And I would offer a motion for the communicating interest if we are there, but I do think we're not -- it's not one and the same. Andrew: Well, I'm not sure I'm following what you're saying. James: So you want to make sure that the committee that is established is communicated to the public, that the public is made aware that
151the committee exists and that there is a standard by which we, you know, make sure that they know that they can nominate, they can -- they can participate. Correct? Andrew: That they can submit their name for interest, so we will never again have a situation where someone says, right, "I would have -- there was no way for me to apply. I've always applied to committees before." So now there's going to always be a way to -- and I realize "apply" is a strong word. "Express..." But I don't know that it's necessary. I don't necessarily need to legislate it down to -- I mean, a Google form that is viewed by the board president, I don't know how much different that is than an email to the board president or the board secretary. James: Right. But
152so can I make a motion? And Bryan, see if you agree with this. I move that residents of the Green Bay Area Public School District can self-nominate by communicating, in writing, interest in participating in the committee to the Board of Education. Right? Because ultimately, if it lands at the district, whatever, ultimately it should end up at the Board of Education so that nominations just don't land with the president. Because, Andrew, I do think that part of the spirit of your, um, your amendments are that the board should be able to see the list and see who's nominating and have those discussions before entering into a public session for vote. Is that -- am I correct? Andrew: Yes. But by introducing the word "nominating" here, I think you're -- I think it confuses how that word
153is used in other places. And I was about to make a much simpler motion that I think covers -- a much simpler amendment that I think covers the point. Laura: Okay. I feel like we need to reset this a little bit. Bryan: James, do you still have that motion on the floor? Laura: So James has made a motion. James: It hasn't been seconded, though. Laura: It has not been seconded. Can you say your motion again, James? James: I move that residents of the Green Bay Area Public School District -- so just, you know, stakeholders, right? -- can self-nominate -- and I'm willing to have a friendly to change the word "nominate" to "propose" or whatever -- by communicating in writing, to avoid phone calls, interest in participating in the committee to the Board of Education.
154Laura: Where would that be part of this policy? that we're supposed to be working on? James: It would be in the membership where we were just modifying. We could put it either -- we could nest it within -- it could become the new C, or we could just add it to the end of E, So it'd be section 2 implementation, B, advisory committee membership, E, would be the the enumeration. Laura: Do we want to just replace C? Bryan. Okay. Bryan: James, can I offer a -- it's going to be a substitution with the same intent. Um, my substitution would be, "Interested parties may contact the Board of Education via email." And I'd like it, under implementation A, advisory committee formation, and it would be letter J. I'm sorry. It would be letter I, and then
155I would become J. James: I would accept your substitution if you changed "interested parties" to "residents of the Green Bay Area Public School District." Bryan: That works. So I'll restate that. "Interested residents of the Green Bay Public School District..." "...can..." I'm avoiding "nominate." "...can communicate interest by contacting the Green Bay Area Public School Board via email." "Board of Education." Sorry. Laura: Okay. And this is -- Melissa: Wait, one second. Can I just offer that We don't always get email submissions because some individuals don't have email, so that might be restricting. So I think just "in writing" would probably be sufficient. James: I appreciate that. Yeah. Melissa: Yes. Bryan: "In writing." Laura: Okay, so tell me again where this is going. Under what? Melissa: It's going under section 2A, advisory committee formation, number 4. And it's
156going to become I, and then I is going to become J. Laura: James, do you accept that? James: So, Melissa, I was not looking -- 4 is "formation," and that's in the charter. I was looking at section B, "advisory committee membership," where we enumerate how you can become a member, under 1, and putting it in that enumeration. Melissa: I think it could go in both. I think the reason -- I don't want to speak for Bryan, but the reason it would be in the charter is that that is the method of describing the purpose, the makeup, the mission of the advisory committee. So it would be put in that that core document with respect to the creation of that advisory committee. I think you could go in either. James: Yeah. Okay. No, fair point. Laura:
157Okay. Lynn. Lynn: I'm just concerned about just saying who are interested. I think it needs to say something like "who are interested in serving on or being a member" or something. We're not inviting people to send us emails saying, "I'm interested. Tell me all about it." James: If that's a friendly, it's accepted. Laura: All right. Andrew. Andrew: So the only problem I have with that is that I want it to be mandatory that it is publicized. I don't mean a large advertising campaign, but it has to be made -- people have to be made aware of how to do it. And buried in the bottom of -- buried in a policy that, "Well, hey, you know, sorry you didn't read the policy manual, you would have known that you could have always emailed the board
158president," that's my concern. I want it to have to be explicitly put out on the web, put out wherever, and I don't want to have to say where all of the wherevers are, but it should be, I think, is obvious. Laura: Where would you recommend that go? Andrew: So I did -- I actually emailed something different to Kinsey, and I was trying to do that when other stuff then ended up being offered. Laura: Yeah, we need a second to James's -- Bryan: Second. Laura: Oh, all right. All right. Does everyone understand what we're doing now? All right. James: So... Laura: All right, hang on just a second, James. Yeah, we're just going to make sure we get this motion correct. You just blinked. Oh, yeah, we're still at it. We're just waiting for the amendment
159to be drafted so that we can vote on it, so everyone just bear with us. All right. Okay. We have a motion and we have a second. Kinsey, can you remind us of what we're voting on with this amendment? Kinsey: That section 2A4I be amended to include the following language -- "Interested residents of the Green Bay Area Public School District can communicate in writing to the Board of Education their interest in serving on an advisory committee," and that section 2A4I become 2A4J. Laura: Okay. Bryan. Bryan: Andrew, part of your concern was making sure that it was kind of up top is why wanted in the charter part as opposed to buried, so every time the charter comes out, this is recognized for every group that we would have. So I hope that addresses your concern
160with it. Laura: Andrew. Andrew: Well, I think if you take -- I think I'll vote yes on this. And then the piece that I emailed to Kinsey, that is one sentence -- "The board shall provide and publicize a method for interested residents of the district to participate interest in writing for for all advisory committees" -- that would go into -- 2B, I think, covers the rest of it. But I will vote no on the whole thing if there isn't something that has to go to the public. I think the way to do it is to do this piece voted in, and then I'll make my amendment and that'll go in too. Laura: James. James: Andrew, I agree with you. Why isn't it just in the "advisory committee formation" section that the charter itself is made
161public? Because that gives the public all the information about the work, the membership, the criteria, the duration. And now we've just added that residents can, you know, communicate interest. Andrew: Because I don't want it to be deep inside of a big charter document. I want there to -- I want it to be forced that there be some kind of reasonable method like -- which I think might often be a Google form or an email form or something like that -- and have to do some type of publicizing. And I think just something existing in the charter is not really -- it's technically publicizing it, but it's not the kind of publicizing that I mean. But I'm prepared to vote on this first amendment. Laura: Yes, let's go ahead and do that. All right, Kinsey. Kinsey:
162Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered and the motion is carried with all board members voting in favor. Andrew: Okay. Then I'll move my, um, I'll move my amendment, which would be a different amendment to 185. I did email to Kinsey. This would add 2B1E. "The board shall provide and publicize a method for interested residents of the district to express interest in participation for all advisory committees." Lynn: I second. Laura: Discussion about this amendment. Bryan. Bryan: This would still provide the opportunity that was brought up with concern, Melissa, over email versus written in. They'd still have the same -- it would still be addressed the same way as we did before. Melissa: I think so. Can you read it one more time, Andrew? Andrew: "The board shall provide and publicize a method
163for interested residents of the district to express interest in participation in writing for all advisory committees. Melissa: Yes. No concern about that. Laura: All right. Melissa: Do you want me to come over there? Laura: Okay. All right. We're gonna take another take another pause here while we make sure that amendment is drafted correctly. Good? All right. Very good. I think we're ready to take a vote. All right. Go ahead, Kinsey. Kinsey: Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered, and the motion is carried with all board members voting in favor. Laura: Okay. Now we have to vote on the policy as a whole. Go ahead, Lynn. Lynn: I move that we accept the policy 185 advisory committee as amended. Andrew: Already made it. Laura: I think someone already made that. Lynn: Oh, okay.
164Laura: Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Lynn: As amended with the two amendments? Laura: No, no. Andrew: We made the motion. Laura: We made the motion. Yeah. So unless there's anything else, we can go ahead and take a vote on the initial motion. It's okay. Andrew: So just like in the city, right, someone makes a motion, right? And then you have an amendment, and it passes or it fails, and you have an amendment, and it passes or fails, and then you're at the end and you're voting on the whole thing? Lynn: Voting on it as amended. Andrew: As amended, yeah. Lynn: Yeah, that's what I said. Andrew: But you don't have to remake the motion to say as amended. It has been amended. We did that. Laura: All right, let's move along. Go ahead, Kinsey. Andrew: You remake
165the -- Kinsey: Online voting is now open. Lynn, you'll see what you're voting on. It does say as amended, be approved. Laura: All right. Kinsey: All votes have been entered, and the motion is carried with all board members voting in favor. Laura: Okay. The next is -- Would some-- Policy 823, access to public records. Would someone like to read that motion, please? Oh, sorry, Laura. Go ahead. Laura W.: I wonder if I may make a motion to table the rest of the action items until our meeting in July. Laura: We have quite a few of them. I don't know. I'd just as soon plow through, but I guess I'm open to other people's suggestions. Does this affect your work? It does. Okay. Sorry. Andrew: One of the questions on my part. Probably -- Laura: Okay.
166Okay. All right, then we're going to be real efficient about this, because it is getting very late. I'm sure James would like very much for us to get through these policy votes. All right, so, who would like to -- If someone could volunteer to do all the motions and all the seconds. Motions and seconds. Okay. All right. Bryan: I'd like to make a motion to adapt -- I'm sorry. Adjust the agenda to package items H, I, J, K, L, M, and N together. I'd like to adjust the -- I'd like to make a motion to amend the the agenda to package items G, H, I, J, K, L, and M together. Andrew: Second. Laura: Discussion. Anybody -- Everyone okay with that? All right. Bryan: I'd like to make a motion to approve items G through
167M. Lynn: Second. Laura: Kinsey? Sort of new territory for her, I think. Kinsey: That the agenda items G through M be repackaged and as presented be approved. Lynn, you seconded that? Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered, and the motion is carried with all board members voting in favor. Laura: Bryan. Bryan: Like to make a motion to -- flexibility in the agenda to package items N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, and V together. Andrew: Second. Laura: Discussion. Go ahead. Go ahead, Laura. Laura W.: I just wanted to say that we did have the opportunity to discuss these at length at our work session earlier this month, so. Laura: Good point. Yes. Yeah, this isn't our first crack at this, so. All right. Kinsey, do you need to rework the --
168Kinsey: Yes. Laura: Yes. Bryan: This is similar to when we do consent items. And that's the approach I'm taking with this is we do this with the consent agenda. So. Laura: Yes. Yep. Kinsey: Online voting is now open. Bryan: My original -- Lynn: So we should vote yes on this? We're ready to approve it? Laura: Yep. Lynn: Okay. Kinsey: All votes have been entered, and the motion is carried, with all board members voting in favor. Laura: Thank you. Bryan? Bryan: I'd like to make a motion that items W, X, Y, Z, AA, BB, CC, DD, EE, FF, GG be packaged together and approved as presented. Nancy: Second. Laura: Discussion? Right. Bryan: Just as a clarification, this will allow us to vote and approve on it at the same time. So if you don't want anything
169to go, now's the time to say it. Laura: Hey, Josh, do you want to come up and get ready to do your bit? Yeah. All right. Yes, we are. Kinsey: Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered, and the motion is carried with all board members voting in favor. Laura: Thank you. All right. Before we move on to this last part, I'm going to read. So we gave out awards earlier tonight, and one of our our awardees was not able to join us, but because Dr. Jeffrey Rafn is such an important person in our community, I'm going to go ahead and read what I had prepared, and because he's such a huge presence in our community and I think it's important that we do that. So Vicki will be delivering his award to
170him later this week. Okay. So our first award this evening, the Champion of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award, recognizes an individual, organization, or group whose leadership, acts, or support have demonstrated outstanding commitment and made significant contributions in advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion within the Green Bay Area Public School District and/or Greater Green Bay Community. This year, we are acknowledging Northeast Wisconsin Technical College President Dr. Jeffrey Rafn. Dr. Rafn has a long history of embracing diversity in our community and recognizing that we are a better community when everyone succeeds. Dr. Rafn's commitment to all students in Green Bay Area public schools has been demonstrated in many ways over the years. Tonight I will name just a few. During the 2015-'16 school year, Dr. Rafn led a partnership with GBAPS and UW Green Bay called Turbocharged for
171College Credit. This partnership is committed to all students applying to a post-secondary institution of higher education, all graduates earning at least 15 college credits, a college certificate, or an equivalent achievement while in high school, and by reducing financial barriers to post-secondary education for all students. Second, Dr. Rafn is one of the initial founders of SUNG Community, which is comprised of St. Norbert's, UWGB, NWTC, and Green Bay Area Public Schools, whose aim is to bring about a climate among the majority population of Brown County that embraces, celebrates, and promotes the growing ethnic and racial diversity of the region. And then, in addition, Dr. Rafn's recent commitment to GBAPS charter school Northeast Wisconsin School of Innovation by providing a home for the school on the NWTC campus, which enables students to access dual enrollment courses, giving students
172wonderful opportunities to explore career options and/or earn college credit while in high school. The Greater Green Bay community has been blessed with Dr. Rafn's leadership and incredible example on which to embrace and celebrate diversity, equity, and inclusion. And he just greatly deserves this award. So anyway, I'll -- I just want to say that it's a shame he wasn't able to come tonight, but, as I said, Vicki will be delivering that award to him later this week, so. Okay. Congratulations to Dr. Rafn. Andrew: And that that was there because that is precisely where we moved it earlier, was to -- Laura: In hopes that he would be able to join us. But it wasn't meant to be. So we're going to move on to the final thing on our agenda tonight under Discussion is the Facilities
173Master Planning and Referendum Updates. Go ahead, Josh. Josh: Yeah, and this is a standing agenda item. So, what we've been doing is bringing construction updates at the regular board meetings. So this is the one for June. The Preble Stadium is under way. Here you see a rendering of how it's going to look. This is a new press box, turf field, track, bleachers, sound system and scoreboard, concessions, restroom, storage shed, and team room. That field will be completed by September of '23, along with that team room, the rest of the stuff by spring of '24. This is an actual overhead view of of the site, I think about a week and a half ago. So if you do get a chance to drive by Preble, you can see the action from the street. If you drive
174down Danz or Newberry, you can get a good look. Southwest, this is the architect's drawings for the baseball and softball fields. If you may recall, we had originally been toying around with drawing and striking the softball fields somehow on the baseball field, we really couldn't come up with a way to do that that really respected our female athletes. So we did as an alternate bid request a separate softball field, and we found a way in the budget to do that. So, the press box, batting cages and bullpens, bleachers, of course, the turf field, scoreboard, that should be done by spring of '24. That is going to be a pretty tight timeline. Just, we're in pre-construction right now. The issue with these turf fields is you need at least a month for the concrete to cure.
175So this one is going to be pretty weather dependent, kind of depending on how October looks. But we've got some contingency plans for the spring season. Here's a drawing of some of the paving improvements at Southwest. That'll be done by fall. Here's a rendering of West. So this is looking to be completed by fall of '24. Again, basically everything all new at West. You've seen the Jackson playground that's going to be installed very shortly. We're just awaiting delivery on that. That'll be ready to go by fall, as well. These are some early renderings of the West High School weight room addition. We're expecting construction to begin in September of '23 on that. So this is an addition out to the east of the school toward the parking lot along with, it's not shown here, but
176a canopy over the Marchetti entrance to direct people to that activities entrance. It's not noticed or signed very well right now. Really excited about this one. And we'll also be then as part of this project... ...moving the wrestling room on that second floor where the existing weight room is. The existing cardio room will be kind of combined with this weight room. It's going to be a total space of about 6,000 square feet. Laura: Andrew? Andrew: Why not construction sooner to be ready for when the school year starts? Everyone else seems to be getting stuff when the school year starts. Josh: This one had to be -- I mean, this one was -- Each project is individually different, right? This one had to be completely engineered and designed from scratch. With the athletic fields, there had
177been a lot of fundraising work that had resulted in work being already completed that could be put toward the completion of the project. So an analog to this one, this is actually happening fairly quickly. Not expecting basically the same project at East to hit quite so quickly, for example. Andrew: So when's the expected completion date? I guess that's a more important question. Josh: Hoping for the spring of '24 on this. Andrew: So will West have -- Maybe there's more later, but will West see anything from this referendum before 1/1/24, or will they be the only ones waiting for any visible thing from this referendum? Because that's been a point of concern. And this isn't on you. This is, I'm saying we need to maybe tell people who are, you know, tell contractors to do certain
178things faster. West has been very upset that they are, you know, I thought, okay, at least can we get as all other schools seem to be getting visible pieces in place? Or stop me if I'm wrong, if they're going to have at least, I want them to be able to see something before -- I want them to see something in 2023. I don't think that's unreasonable. Josh: I'm not sure, given the scope of the the projects at West, that that would be possible. Andrew: So nothing with auditorium sound or anything, either? Josh: Well, of course, we're having all of that engineered. The structural stuff is the more complicated part in that auditorium. Andrew: Okay, I'll talk to you separately. But I'm glad to see that stuff is under way. But I'm trying to just communicate
179what I'm hearing a lot, a lot from the community about. And it's a lot easier to explain to people, look, here's why. Here's why someone else is getting the field done before you, the big ticket item. This is why West has to wait. Okay. Then what are we seeing over here from this referendum that we support? laura: How many people have you heard from, Andrew? Andrew: A fair number. Laura: Like how many? Andrew: About probably 15, 20. Josh: Now, I do think that this project is the only one that we're doing real winter construction on, if that helps at all. East is also not going to, like I said, not going to see the fruits of that referendum right away. And we'll get to -- Well, we'll move on here to -- But now East
180will get the fire alarm. Edison track, that's currently under way. The roofs at Southwest and Franklin, the upper lot at Preble. The Red Smith playground asphalt, the cooler and freezer at Red Smith, the tennis courts at Southwest, these should all be completed by fall of '23. These are the things that are currently in design. So all those East renovations, the expansion at Preble with the commons and classroom addition in addition to the auditorium remodel, the auditorium at West with the locker rooms and the gyms, and then Edison Auditorium windows, the ceiling, lighting, and flooring. You can see the playgrounds are also being designed. Different playgrounds have a different process. It depends if they're on city land or not. The city's taken the lead on the stuff that's on City Park. And I think if you
181check the uploaded attachments for this meeting, for this item, you should see a list of all the projects we had slated for the referendum. So there are some that haven't been started, and there are some that are currently on hold as we figure out how the school closures may shake out. laura: Andrew? Andrew: I know the city is doing it, but the West tennis courts, they started on that immediately after the school year. Josh: Yes, that's correct. I didn't include that here because we're not funding that with referendum funds. Andrew: And yes, seeing construction, and I'm talking about West, I mean it for East, as well, at schools, if it's important, if we're going to be talking about another referendum to be able to see the work of referendum. So yes, walls going up or
182getting things being moved, seeing construction counts for something. And people know construction is not overnight, so I get that, too. So, all right. Thank you. Laura: Okay. Thank you for the update. Are there any questions? Anything else? All right. That brings us to the end of our agenda. I would entertain a motion to adjourn. Andrew: So moved. Laura: You're looking at me funny. Laura W.: Second. Laura: Oh, okay. All right. All in favor? Yeah. All: Aye. Laura: Opposed? No. Okay, we are adjourned. Announcer: You have been watching the Green Bay Area Public School District's Board of Education meeting. Please visit the school district's website, www.gbaps.org, to view the program again. If you cannot fully access the information on this video, please let us know the accessibility issue you are having by calling (920) 448-2025 or
183by e-mail at [email protected]. We will try to provide the information to you in an alternative format and/or make the necessary improvements to make the information accessible.