GBAPSD Board of Education Meeting: July 9, 2018

001♪♪ ANNOUNCER: The views and opinions in this program are not those of CESA 7 or Spectrum. ♪♪ ED: Well, good afternoon. We'll call this special board meeting to order. And we have four board members present. And first item on the agenda here is discussion item liability insurance presentation. And we have Jodi Traas. And did you want to give her an introduction there, Melissa? MELISSA: We are lucky to have Jodi Traas with us. She comes from Community Insurance. She works with the district for a number of years. And she's here to present today on training she does throughout the state for a number of municipalities and schools districts on harassment, sexual harassment, diversity, and workplace bullying. As you know the district has done a number of outreach efforts to our staff and our students on this

002topic. And now we're here to present some training to the board as well. So, I'll turn it over to Jodi. JODI: Thanks, Melissa, can everybody hear me okay? No? Is that better? Am I not on? That's better. Okay, thank you. Good evening. I appreciate everybody's participation today. I know the Monday after the Fourth of July week when everybody was off is always interesting. So, I am Jodi Traas from Community Insurance. We are a liability insurance carrier. We insure 52 of the counties in the state, about 130 school districts, and over 100 municipalities. About 50% of the student population in Wisconsin. So, we are a carrier in which you own your own insurance company. It was formed in the 1980s when counties were having difficulty getting liability insurance and were seriously considering closing parks. So, the

003counties formed together and said, we need to have this kind of coverage, we can't continue without it. So, that's when it started 25 years ago, and then we started adding the schools in the mid to late 1990s. And now we have 50% of the student population. So, it's kind of unusual insurance company. To own your own company, we cover everything. So, it's very rare that we have an exclusion. There's only a couple. I think you can't fly a plane or certain yachts over 32 feet, or something like that. So, it's an unusual insurance policy. So, it's kind of unique that way. Add coverage such as cyber coverage in the middle of a policy period at no charge. And things like that. So, we are followed by a board of directors that are all public elected

004officials. So, it's pretty unique. So, whenever you have a question and you wonder if we do something or if we cover something, never hesitate to ask. So, more often than not I will say, yes, we will cover that. I'm not sure it's a good risk management choice. But we will cover it. So, never hesitate to ask us, that's what we're there for. So, just like that, with this presentation, if you have any questions as I go along, I've been doing this presentation for 20 years now. So, I was telling that my very first week 20 years ago I did sexual harassment training for a county board. So, been doing this for a very long time, we do this one all the time. And we really appreciate the fact that you not only train the staff,

005but also that we go to the level of the board as well. So, thank you. So, this presentation includes three different topics. It's called a trio of harassment. The first one is sexual harassment, and quite frankly we pull that one out individually because we get so many complaints of harassment, which really follows what the media's happened, right, in the last year. But we've been doing this for 20 years. So, diversity and sensitivity, it's all about respect, which covers the other protected classes by federal and state law. And the third one we've added in that is not covered by federal or state law, but is in your policy as well, is workplace bullying. Because that has become such a huge issue, we started included that about seven or eight years ago. So, our goal is to

006talk about what your rights and responsibilities are. Define exactly what those, each of those items are. I'm going to give you examples this evening. Unfortunately I have many in 20 years, so that's not always good, but they are entertaining and specific to the areas that I'm talking about, too. So we will try to shorten that up as we will go along. That's a part that I can count out as well to keep us down to the 5:30, we'll talk a little bit about your policies, which were all updated as of May 2017, so that's excellent. As a liability insurance carrier we're always looking for those to be continually looked at and updated as we go along. And answer any questions as we go along. I don't have to go in a particular order, just please

007do not hesitate to ask any questions. So, all right, so we'll start with stopping sexual harassment, the hot topic of the day. We do talk about supervisor responsibilities versus employee responsibilities. It is truly a supervisor, administrators, a school board member's responsibility if they see some type of harassment occurring that they stop it immediately. We want you to take immediate action. So, when you see something or hear something, whether it's at a football game, a soccer game, at a coffee shop, at the fireworks on Wednesday night. Wherever it is, you have to take that complaint seriously. It does not have to be formal, or in writing, or at the school district. It can be in a coffee shop or somewhere else. It can be over a back fence of your backyard, the complaint can come from

008anywhere. We want you to assist any employee with a complaint. Quite frankly that's kind of my line that I've added over the years, because what I've had is sometimes when someone goes, oh, but they complain about everything. We get complaints from them weekly. When it comes to harassment, discrimination, or bullying, we have to follow up on it immediately, please don't ignore it. It doesn't mean that there's not merit to it. And retaliation cannot occur. So, when we have some type of harassment or discrimination complaint that goes through the civil rights and the court system, it can take literally years, many years. And so, there cannot be retaliation against that person for putting the complaint during any of that part of that time at all. We'll talk a little bit more about that as well. Employees

009also have responsibilities. They're supposed to refrain from the conduct which is forbidden. It's certainly been in the media a lot lately. So, they're even more aware of what that might mean. We wish for them to report any acts of harassment as well. And really encourage other people to report. So, and to cooperate in an investigation, which is really key for a Human Resources department as well. Sexual harassment can occur toward and between any of the following, coworker to coworker, coworker to board member, board member to the public, or our parents, or our volunteers. Our student population, our students can sexually harass our staff members, and vice versa. Independent contracted service members means the person that's delivering the UPS packages, all the way to the person who's working on your plumbing, or some other type of

010repair work that's working in the district, and when we're doing renovations. Applicants for employment, we have had harassment complaints about people who are applying for the job during the interview process, or why they weren't chosen. And the key was, with sexual harassment that came put in 1998 from three Supreme Court decisions, which are now 20 years old, so they're not very new anymore, but that is the same gender and third party sexual harassment. So, before 20 years ago we did not have female to female sexual harassment or male to male, we also didn't have third party. We'll talk a little bit more about that as well. So, it really changed how we look at sexual harassment. I'm sorry, I went right by it. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission defines sexual harassment as unwelcome sexual advances,

011request for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. And it's broken down into three subcategories. I'm not going to read them to you, it's in your policy. It's the same ones that have been there forever. Okay, and you all have this presentation as we go along as well. There are two main types of sexual harassment, there's quid pro quo, which is a Latin term. We don't use too many Latin terms for general things like this anymore. But a Latin term meaning this for that. We also call it, today, a tangible job action. And that's an employment action based on the acceptance or rejection of unwelcome sexual behavior. Typically this is when a supervisor, a principal, an administrator, or someone else in authority offers or withholds work related benefits in exchange

012for sexually related favors. This is not anything new, it just kind of has a little bit of a new name to tangible job action. Clicking a little too--it almost clicks twice for me. So, we talked about tangible job action. It does have to have a tangible job benefit. Something as we choose not to hire them or not promote them. Maybe we change the job task so that they have the most menial task or most worse task there is if they have refused sexual advances from a supervisor or manager. Who is that supervisor or manager? It can be a direct line of supervision, but it can also be someone else who might have some type of authority over that position or job, or maybe some type of promotion, so, it does not have a totally direct

013line supervisor, it can be someone from a different buildings, or administrator, or school board as well. Then the other one that came about 20 years ago is hostile work environment. And hostile work environment is unwelcome sexual behavior that creates an offensive, hostile, or intimidating workplace that negatively affects a person's ability to do their work. What does that mean? It actually really opens it up completely. It does not have to be a tangible employment action. We can have same gender, we can have third party. It's anything that unreasonably interferes with a person's ability to do their work performance and creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment. So, it can be simple as, so every board meeting, you meet a couple times a month, correct? And when you come in, and this is obviously just an

014example. Ed and Laura come in and they're always one of the first ones here. And so, they sit down and they haven't seen each other, it was over the Fourth of July weekend, and they tell each other a few dirty jokes that they heard over the week. And they're always here nice on time. And Andrew, do you go by Andrew? ANDREW: Yes. JODI: And Andrew comes in an he wants to be here on time as well. And he's sitting next to them, and he has to listen to them telling their repertoire back and forth. Now, between Ed and Laura it is not sexual harassment hostile work environment because it is equal initiation and participation. They're both telling jokes back and forth. But for Andrew that can be third party sexual harassment. And it's something that

015occurs multiple times. We meet a couple of times a month. Sometimes the severity gets a little worse, but that can be a third party sexual harassment. And I'll be very honest, we get a lot of those complaints. And a lot of times it's when it's same gender. So, if it's a bunch of women in the room, or the break room, or something like that, or the men, and they think, well, it's all the same gender, it doesn't matter. We get a lot of same gender harassment complaints. So, we talk about hostile work environment. Typically it gets worse over time. And what's really important is the perception. The perception takes precedence over intention. What's really important, too, is that the employee did not solicit or invite the conduct. It's not as if Andrew has participated in

016the past in some of these jokes, and all the sudden he's kind of changed his mind. You can't have participated for some times and just change your mind real easily. It doesn't work that way. But it is something that it's got to be unwelcome. Some signs of unwelcome conduct. You know, if a complaint is made, that's the obvious one, right? Someone's certainly let you know about that. If they let you know that the joke or comment wasn't appreciated, they've asked you not to make those comment or jokes again, or innuendos, they sigh, they put their head down, they walk away, they don't laugh. You got to watch people's body language. I really talk a lot with staff that are the funny one. Because there's always someone that's the funny one. And they are, they're hilarious,

017they're a joy to work with. But it can be clean. You can still be funny and it can still be clean. So, when we talk about--oh, I went way too far, sorry. When we talk about different types of sexual harassment, I break it down between verbal, non verbal, and physical. Verbal sexual harassment is obviously the speaking to someone. This is a really large one, quite frankly. I've had three complaints by one of those words up there. Can anyone guess which word I've had the three sexual harassment complaints about? Sweetie, dear, hunk, doll, babe, honey, my girls, my boys. What do you think it is? KATIE: Sweetie. JODI: It's actually dear. So, dear is actually one of the biggest complaints that I get. Another one that we get more often than not is my boys or

018my girls. I was actually at an administrative meeting about a month ago and I had a female department head say, my boys, as she was talking about her staff. And I had just got done with the training. So, that means she probably does it a lot, right? So, saying that can be very demeaning as well. So, you have to watch comments like that. If you're someone who's not good at remembering names, that's something to work on, to use people's first name as much as possible. Turning a work discussion to unwanted sexual topics or stories. Unwanted asking about sexual fantasies or dreams. Unwanted teasing, jokes, or remarks. Unwanted sexual comments about clothing, body, or looks. Can you still give a compliment today? Absolutely. How we do it does matter, absolutely matters. If I choose, you kind

019of have a blue shirt. What is your first name? JOHN: Babe. (laughter) JOHN: John. JODI: Babe Ruth. John, so if I come up to John this evening and say, good evening, John, you look really nice today, I like that blue shirt with your eyes. Or if I come up to him and say, (flirty) good evening, John, you look really nice today, I like that blue shirt with your eyes. Did I say the same words? JOHN: I apologize, I did not mean to make light of the topic. It's extremely serious. JODI: Oh, that's okay. (laughs) JOHN: I did not intend to be offensive to anyone. JODI: I often have people give me a different name, so I'm used to that. So, my name is Jodi and I had a male recently say, my name is Jodi.

020And I said, yeah, right. And they said, no, really, his name is Jodi. I said, I haven't met one since I'm seven. That's older than me. But the point is that you can give someone a compliment about their looks. They get a new hairstyle, and outfit, that type of thing. It just has to be appropriate. And I should not be giving John compliments about his clothing or body on a daily basis or regular basis. It should be serious. How we do that is really important. And frankly, we get a lot of complaints in this area. I had an HR director who the school district was doing a phenomenal job on their wellness program. And they had a woman come in, she'd lost about 30 pounds, she walked in and he said, wow, you look great,

021I think we should have a district calendar next year. Was she offended? She was not. Remember, we have third party sexual harassment. Someone else who overheard the comment was offended. So, things like that, it has to be appropriate as well. Sexually offensive sounds or gestures. These are just ones I put up there because these are ones I've had the complaints on. But kissing sounds, whistling, howling. I recently had a school district that was hiring, and the female staff were scoring the men as they came through for the interviews with numbers. Not appropriate. And repeatedly asking out a person on a date. So, people obviously meet at work and spend a lot of time at work. But if you keep asking someone else, I always ask the staff, if you ask someone and they say, no,

022do you ask again? And they go, no. Yeah, you do. (laughs) They ask two or three times, but after that you gotta pay attention. Oops, I keep going a little too far. Non verbal, you don't have to speak to someone or touch them and they can have a sexual harassment complaint. The elevator eyes, looking them up and down. This can be a big complaint that I've seen in the past, quite frankly, of staff to students is a real big compliant as well. Giving inappropriate personal gifts. When you have a retirement or a birthday party at work, if it's going to be inappropriate gifts, like the shape of a cake or something else, personal items or lingerie, then you take it offsite or after hours at a different location, so people have a choice to be

023there or not. Email messages, text messages is another one. I had a female teacher, it was a Friday afternoon, and she was sending her boyfriend an email on what she would like to do with him that weekend sexually. Only his first name was the same first name of a whole other building, an elementary building. And so, she sent the email to a whole other staff of another building. So, once you've sent it, can you return? Go ahead. KATIE: Just 'cause you had mentioned earlier that the offense does not have to happen on district property, and if they take this party offsite, can they still? JODI: Oh, what I mentioned earlier, I apologize, is that if someone makes a complaint to you as a board member, or anyone in administration, or supervisory, you've got to follow

024through with that. If it's offsite and it's work related, then yes, as far as like a conference or something like that. But not if we would take the party offsite. Very good question, thank you. That's a really good distinction. Breaching a person's physical space, getting too close. Typically in a school district, this becomes an issue sometimes, and I don't know what your staff policy is, but can a staff member hug a student? I would assume, can they hug an elementary student? KATIE: They do. JODI: They do, sure. But we just do it appropriately, right? So, we do it out in the open, we do it, you know, you teach people to turn to the side. It shouldn't be all the time, it should be behind closed doors. That's why I like the visibility of the

025window, so we can see in the classroom and that type of thing as well. But I had, I was doing a school district not long ago, and I had a male custodian who said, I always pat the boys on the butt. He worked on the elevator. I said, no, no, no, that's a personal property, you cannot do that. But he had been doing it for years. So, if a complaint came in. So, you just want to make sure that we talk about that as well. (laughs) Physical sexual harassment, unwanted rubbing or massaging a person's back, neck, shoulder, or arms. Hugging, touching, cornering, or pinching, hugging, or kissing. Sometimes we have a tendency to say, oh, she goes up to everybody and gives them a hug and a peck on the cheek. It doesn't mean that

026it's appropriate at work. Patting, grabbing, caressing, or fondling, and exposing yourself. And quite frankly, I have more exposing yourself harassment examples than I can name tonight. But I had a male employee in a school mooing other male employees, which is exposing yourself, was actually reprimanded and then terminated because he didn't stop. I had, probably one of my most serious examples was, I had done an entire district's training, and afterwards I had a female bus driver come up to me and say, I'm so glad you were here today. And I said, why is that? And she said, well, last year, you see, my bus route was the first. I was the first one to arrive at the shop to get the bus. And there'd be two employees, other bus drivers, having sex. I said, oh. She

027said, that's third party sexual harassment, right? I said, that would be third party sexual harassment, yes. And she had went to the female transportation director and complained. And the female transportation director, this is a true story, said to her, it is none of your business, I have given them permission, they're having marital problems. And no, they're not married to one another. And it's none of your business. So, what the transportation director did was altered her work hours so she was no longer the first one in the bus shop, which is what? Retaliation. So, had retaliated against her and she lost all these hours of pay the last year. She just wanted it to stop, was her goal. So, obviously the concern there was the transportation director as well being notified. So, anytime someone in management,

028administrator, or supervisory personnel is notified, they have to address the situation, an investigation should have been done. ED: You think you've heard it all, huh? JODI: Yeah, well, the superintendent of that district, I ran into him a month later. I said, how are we doing with our bus situation? He said, oh, we're doing great, those two bus drivers are no longer with us. Who was I concerned about? Transportation director. KATIE: Right. JODI: Yeah. So, he said, well, she's retiring at the end of the year. Well, not really soon enough. So, exposing yourself, unfortunately, continues to be--I have many cases on that. It is a fact that sexual harassment is verbally about power, not sex. You've seen that in the media a lot. It's people in positions of power and they use that. We've had the

029same things in schools as well, whether it's a building administrator, whether it's a custodial supervisor as well. It is also a fact that men and women see sexual harassment differently. We always recommend that if it is a sexual harassment complaint that we have a male and a female doing the investigation, because it's just a fact of nature. And it is very true that training discourages harassing behavior. So, the more we talk about it, the more chance that we can prevent it in the future. Some mistakes, it's not a problem, we have no complaints. That is a mistake because you never want to be that school district that has that surprise. So, you keep doing the training like you have been, your policies are updated, which is excellent. Seriously, that means a lot. So, keep doing

030that as well. Harassment's caused by a person's clothing. I'm sure your district is no different than the rest when we look at different clothing trends throughout the years and appropriate attire for staff or for students. It's a constant challenge as that changes. Just make sure you keep up on that and you're as consistent as possible. It has nothing to do with the size of the person or how they're built, but you're consistent with those rules and have staff address it, whether it's staff addressing it with students or administrators addressing it with staff as well. And make sure you're as consistent as possible as you can do with that. Sexual harassment is a woman's problem. Absolutely not, men are sexually harassed as well. They just don't complain as much, we don't get the formal complaints, but

031it certainly happens. And the harassment will just go away. Typically especially when we talk about a hostile work environment, the harassment doesn't just go away. It usually gets worse. How do we stop harassment? We encourage people to talk to the harasser as much as possible. Hopefully John would come up to me and he would be really serious and have direct contact, not be joking around, and ask me to stop making the comments about his clothing. I may say something like, what, are you having a bad day? And hopefully he would say, it has nothing to do with that, your behavior needs to stop. About 50% of the time that does work. Because most of the time I just think I was being cute, or funny, or maybe I thought he was attractive. So, my intentions

032don't really matter do they? What matters is his perception. But if he's direct with me, a lot of times that does work. So, is everybody comfortable in doing that? Absolutely not. And that's why we have the policy in place as well, and they can go forward with that. Sorry, I'm still picking on you, John. Some signs of sexual harassment are any type of discrimination or bullying. These are general for all of them. But one of the ones that concerns with me most, we work with only public entities in Wisconsin, and I have been with this for 20 years. I have never, ever seen the turnover rates that we're seeing today. It is more difficult than ever and we never want to lose someone because of harassment or bullying. We've trained them, we don't want them

033going off to another district because of those situations. We want to make sure we're addressing this as we go along. But we want to decrease those turnover rates. Changes in appearance, how someone sleeps. If they're having trouble with headaches or stomachaches in a large one as well. A lot of GI problems, a lot of emotional distress, it could be some type of harassment. Same thing with students, right? You've seen it with students. So, a student who has difficulty. My husband was a fifth grade teacher at the time. And he had a student who was going down to the office every couple of weeks for a stomachache. And he said, I have to figure this out. So, he starting marking on his day planner. Well, it turned out it was the day she had a math

034test. So, it wasn't every Wednesday or every other Wednesday. She had math anxiety. (sneeze) JODI: So, they could just quickly affect that. ED: Bless you. JODI: Bless you. So, you want to really try to look at any type of harassment or discrimination. The reasonable person standard is in a sexual harassment case where the behavior in question is in question, or subtle, or falls into the gray area, what does the court system use? The court system uses a reasonable person standard. And that standard would ask, would a reasons person interpret this behavior to be sexual harassment? And there are some that can be in a gray area. We hope to prevent those, and to investigate those, and get past those so that they never get into the court system. We do assist with that as well.

035We have what's called pre claim loss control, which is very unique in the liability market, but we look at it in any type of difficult termination or something like that, or we've helped you with other types of discrimination in the past, whether it's ADA or civil rights as well. But we do what's proclaimed loss control. And this is very unique. Typically insurance company requires you to have a claim cemented before they will assist you with that claim. We will have pre claim loss control. We will pay for the attorney as long as it's one of our pre approved attorneys on our list that do a lot of work for us. And pay for that up front. So, that is a cost that the district does not incur. All right, so that's kind of unique. Traps

036and landmines. ED: Jodi, what does that entail? I mean, describe that a little bit more. JODI: So, instead of waiting until a claim actually comes in and the person has a ton of documentation and is so angry and upset that they've already gotten their own attorney, we try to prevent it and work through it, so we can do it correctly. Sometimes it'll be a sexual harassment complaint, sometimes it can be a gender discrimination, or ADA. But we will help pay for that and the attorney fees up front before that formal complaint is often given. Our goal is to prevent. ED: Do we take advantage of that at all? MELISSA: We have on a few occasions, especially when we have cases, more on the student side where we believe that they're going to be headed towards

037a due process. We've gotten community involved and gotten special ed counsel assigned so they can work with Claudia in the pre due process steps. ED: Successfully. MELISSA: Yes. JODI: We've had it for transgender cases as well. Sometimes it's an employment action, a really difficult termination, or a sexual abuse claim, or something like that as well. MELISSA: Not here in Green Bay, but that's what they've done. JODI: Yes, in other districts, sorry. MELISSA: In other districts. ED: Okay. Sorry. JODI: That was not Green Bay, sorry. Traps and landmines, it's really important not to over react when you get a complaint, that we follow your policy. If you've ever had someone come up and tell you their harassment story, it's difficult to hear the first time. And you have a tendency to go, oh my goodness, that

038happened here. I can't believe that. We'll take care of that, we'll rectify that. We have to do an investigation first. We have to follow the policy. And your policy is very well written. It states that the person, the investigation goes to the Human Resources Department. If there's a problem in the Human Resources, then it goes to superintendent's office, and it can come to the board of education as well. So, it is important that everybody knows what that policy is, and you follow the policy. I really recommend that all administrators, building administrators, anyone in a supervisory role, we read this policy on an annual basis. Because it's not something that we have to have the complaint very often. But if it does come to you, you should know what the policy says and what your procedures

039are, so you're not taken off guard. Because it's very difficult to hear a harassment complaint. So, taking everyone serious is really important as well. And properly training staff. So, we recommend that training is done formally every three to five years. We also have an online program that it can be done as well. And then it has a quiz at the end, much like a safe schools type of thing. We have our own online program as well. These are just some dangerous words. If you hear someone saying them, we hope you stop and talk to them about it. It's just teasing, really, it's no big deal. You're way too sensitive. Just ignore it. Why can't you learn to accept a compliment. It's just a joke, lighten up. If we're saying those words, those are kind of

040key words that we want to ditch and take a look at what's happening, if we're thinking that way. When a harassment complaint is made, confidentiality, you talk about that in your policy, is extremely important that we don't spread out rumors and that type of thing. I had a situation in one school district in which I had a middle school student who had masturbated in a special ed classroom in a dark corner on a computer. And that female staff member went throughout that whole community, including her daughter and her friends, who were the same age, and said that he was unsafe, and that they should stay away from this young man. So, things like that, that's a breech of confidentiality, and very scary as well because it really wasn't sexual harassment. So, when we look at

041that, confidentiality is incredibly important, to remind people of that. ANDREW: That's right, how was that not sexual harassment? I'm sure at least some people saw the results. JODI: So, if we would have a middle school student who would be masturbating in front of a teacher on a regular basis, that would be a concern. But this was a dark corner where she'd put him on a computer. And definitely something we wanted to address, but that wasn't done to her, so it would not be sexual harassment. ANDREW: And nobody else saw it? JODI: No, that's a good point. No, nobody else was in the classroom, he was alone with her. ANDREW: Okay, and the results of that--were not visible to others that came through later or anything? JODI: No, not at all. ANDREW: Okay, I understand. JODI:

042Yeah, no. Thank you. So, I always want to make sure to follow the policy, that's why I put it in bold, capital letters. The policy, you know, you have it. So, it's really important from a liability carrier's perspective and the court's that we follow that as well. I'm sure Melissa would agree, right, that we make sure we follow that, too. So, always protect against any type of retaliation and document. Too often I hear from an administrator that they sit down with a person, but they don't document anything, they don't take any notes. So, we need you to document as much as possible. We think we're going to remember everything, but we don't. So, please, take notes when that first complaint comes in. I'm just having fun with your clicker. Corrective actions can be up to

043and including termination, which we've seen for harassment. The investigation is one of the most important factors, what I've seen from harassment in school districts, especially when you're coming from a district and it could be someone who goes to multiple buildings throughout a day or through a week as well that we really do a thorough investigation. Prevention is our best remedy. Hopefully this is part of your new employee orientation program, as you bring in staff for the beginning of the year. I know they're not really thinking about sexual harassment or abuse much, but doing that training at the beginning when they first report is really important, and at least every three to five years. And for administrative staff, as you have a complaint or a situation happening, I hope that it becomes part of that administrative

044meeting once a month, too, if it's something serious, or we see a trend going on as well. Reporting, you allow verbally and in writing, you prefer in writing as well. It does talk specifically about a number of days in your policy. So, if someone is not happy with the result of the decision, it gives them so many days to respond, I think it's five business days. Am I correct? And then the board of education has 30 days. So, you do have some constraints there. So, it's really important, especially if you look at that summertime, and people might be gone, that we have enough time to do that investigation decision, too. We talked a little bit about retaliation. We don't want to allow any type of retaliation or ostracize a person who changed their job hours,

045or their pay, or limit them in any other way. Always remember that the perceptions of others are more important than your intentions. And that is a key part when we talk any type of harassment or discrimination. I like to say, if you wouldn't say it in front of your mom, or your spouse, or your kids, don't say it at work. My grandma's 99 and a half this year. I have used her my whole life. It works really well for me. I'm pretty sure she's not the prude that I make her out to be, but it works that I don't say it at work and I'm in a lot of different places. So, it's just kind of one of those reminders. And if you ever catch someone saying, I know I probably shouldn't say this, but,

046that is correct, that is your gut instinct and you probably shouldn't say it. All right, any questions on the sexual harassment specifically? Okay, all right. Diversity and sensitivity training, it's all about respect. This is covering the other protected classes by federal and state law. So, people are our most valuable resource and our whole goal is to capitalize on their uniqueness and their differences to build a stronger and more capable work place. And if they feel more valuable and worthwhile, they're much more willing to be greater productivity and happy. So, I love this poem because we all have personal biases. And the poem is called "The Cold Within". So far as I know, the author is unknown. "Six humans trapped by happenstance In bleak and bitter cold. Each one possessed a stick of wood Or so

047the story's told. Their dying fire in need of logs The first man held his back For of the faces round the fire He noticed one was black. The next man looking 'cross the way Saw one not of his church And couldn't bring himself to give The fire his stick of birch. The third one sat in tattered clothes. He gave his coat a hitch. Why should his log be put to use To warm the idle rich? The rich man just sat back and thought Of the wealth he had in store And how to keep what he had earned From the lazy shiftless poor. The black man's face bespoke revenge As the fire passed from sight. For all he saw in his stick of wood Was a chance to spite the white. And the last man of

048this forlorn group Did nought except for gain. Giving only to those who give' Was how he played the game. The logs held tight in death's still hands Was proof of human sin. They didn't die from the cold without They died from the cold within." The poem addresses several different stereotypes and biases that people might have. And we'll talk a little bit about how that's so important to identify them as we go along. Diversity has one of the most simplest definitions there is. It's how each of us is unique. Just like no two snowflakes are alike, no two people are alike either, and remaining open minded is really a key to that. So, our whole goal is to have people working together and teaching in a respectful environment. These are the protected classes, by federal and

049state law. There is many of them. There hasn't been a lot of new ones. The latest one I saw was the honesty test for lie detector from Wisconsin, which is still interesting. So, law enforcement can still use it occasionally, in the right situations. But people were starting to use them for hiring purposes, so they have put that out there as well. We talk about race, we'll talk about that a little bit. Color, religion, gender, gender discrimination is something that I've had complaints on in the schools, where I've had a staff member, a teacher who pretty much treats the boys different than the girls. I've seen it myself, and what bothers me is everybody knows exactly who I'm talking about if I bring it up in a school district. So, that's the concern. So, if we

050know we have an issue with that, we have to address it. So, I had a kindergarten teacher that every little girl who walked in that classroom got a big smile and hello and how are you doing every morning and the boys got a curt nod. That's how they started their day at five and six years old. That's a problem. So, when we look at gender discrimination, that's something to talk about, too. And we do staff training as well. Gender identity and sexual orientation. We'll talk a little bit about transgender as well. I know you have a transgender policy and are dealing with that, too. That is probably one of the hottest topics in the state. We've had several cases in other districts. We had been really successful with the pre claim loss control in one

051of the districts in the Fox Valley that did an excellent policy and the family was willing to go with it. And we had another one that totally went south. So, that was in Kenosha. So, this is hot topics, and making sure that we're following is really important, and working with that family. So, if we have--with transgender one of the biggest concerns I've found when doing the training is religion. People's religious beliefs can really hold them back in how they look at this or how they address this. So, this is really important to discuss, really have some important conversations about it. Do some great training on this area, because it's a big concern. Many children, by doing research, often identify with the opposite gender at a very young age. We're talking toddler, so it's very young.

052So, it's not something that's going to be puberty or later, it's going to start all the way through elementary and up. National origin. Age discrimination, I think 40 is really young, I don't know how that can be old. But it all is relative. We also see reverse age discrimination, treating those people who are first coming into the buildings, or the younger staff, as if their buildings had no merits yet, you haven't been there long enough, you haven't done this long enough. You can have some great ideas, too. It is reverse age discrimination, it is not protected by federal or state law, but it's there. Disability. We talk a lot about ADA as well. That also includes mental health under Wisconsin, too, so that's a key, too. Genetic information, creed, citizenship, martial status, and you can

053keep right on going. Political affiliation as well. So, those are the ones that are protected by federal or state law. We can have physical or mental abuse when we talk about harassment or discrimination based on one of those areas that are protected. This is a poster that I like to use. This was made by the American Red Cross. It was only taken out of our public swimming pools just a few years ago. I don't know if you can see it very well. But if you take a look at the poster, what do you see? KATIE: The cool kids are white, all the black kids are not cool. JODI: That's correct. So, if you look at the cool behavior, I don't know if I have a pointer. There is--I don't think I do. So, there is

054two, the young blonde-haired girl on the left by the diving board is cool, she's waiting patiently for her turn on the diving board. And the other cool behavior is on the right, it is a white dad and his son playing in the pool really nice. He's supervising his son and playing with him. Now, if you look at the not cool behavior, we have a young black boy who's diving off the diving board head first into the water. We have a black girl on the side of the swimming pool pushing a white girl into the pool. We have a couple of kids running. We have a young man in the middle, I'm not sure what he's doing wrong. It says not cool behavior. He's yelling. I think he's drowning. I don't know. So, it's kind of

055interesting, but this was only taken out a couple of years ago. So, the person who designed this poster, do you think they were biased? It appears that way, right, we really don't know. KATIE: It's my perception. JODI: It's my perception as well. I wonder if they knew it, or if they designed the poster and were even aware that they had a racial bias. ANDREW: Did they ever find the person and ask? I'm just wondering because it quickly became a classic, viral example. JODI: It did. I don't know. I'm not sure I would admit it if I was the one who drew it. Now, I had another young lady, she'd grown up in the Minneapolis area, she was a social worker. And she said to me, this is interesting, because I didn't notice color at all.

056She'd grown up in a neighborhood that had many shades of color and many different ethnicities. She noticed boys versus girls. So, to her more the girls were more behaving and the boys were more naughty. So, it's kind of interesting in how we look at it. But that is truly the whole point when we talk about diversity and sensitivity. Every single one of us has stereotypes and biases that negatively affect how we treat other people. And you have to identify those to ever address them. And we all have them. We wish we didn't, but we do. And it's really important in a school district. This is my favorite video, "Don't Laugh At Me!" It was originally done by Peter, Paul, and Mary. Has anybody ever seen it? This one is done by Mark Wills. I am

057running quite late, so I'm not going to show it right now. Please go back, I'll send you this and take a look at this link. It is a phenomenal video. My husband shows it in his classroom every year. It addresses a lot of different issues when we look at it as well. One of my favorite portions is the folks who are homeless in the video. And how one of the men had his--a car crossed the center line and killed his wife and young boy, and that's why he's homeless today. And I work with someone who had his wife and daughter get killed on Highway 10 when someone crossed the center line. And he's not homeless, but he could be, that could be him. And we were talking about the DECA conferences earlier. My oldest son

058was in Nashville for the national DECA conference and they had free time every night from 9:30 to midnight in downtown Nashville, which is a whole other management issue. But they had free time with no chaperones. And so, they'd be walking the streets, because if you saw my son, he still looks like he's 15 and he's 20, so they weren't going to the bars. But there was a lot of people who were homeless. And one of his friends, when they would ask for something, would say, what is it that you want? And they would typically ask for money. And his friend Christian would say, I'm sorry, I can't help you. And one of the men, one of the nights, said, I'd love a cheeseburger. And Christian said, I'll buy you a cheeseburger. He said, really? He

059said, yeah, there's a Hard Rock Cafe right down the road, let's go. So, this homeless person, Bob, started walking with them. Another homeless person said, Bob, where are you going? And he said, I'm going to get a cheeseburger. And Christian turned to him and said, would you like to join him? And he did. His name was Fred. And they went and got a burger and ribs and a Coke. And that shows empathy by a young man who works at Walgreens who couldn't afford to go college, he went toward tech, that was his college the first year. So, someone, it just shows empathy. He wants to run for president some day, so I'm hoping (laughs) that empathy stays right there as he does that. But when you look at that, my son, the reason he's telling

060me this story in the first place, is the fact that the men didn't order alcohol. Because he assumed that if they were homeless and wishing for something, it would be alcohol or drugs. That's what the money would be for. So, that was a whole other education. His buddy was doing really well. But watch this video. It is phenomenal. "Don't Laugh At Me!" Show it during an administrative meeting. It's really worth it. Mistakes, if you make a mistake, it is so important that we apologize. We will make mistakes for a million different reasons and not even realize it. And if someone pulls you aside and lets you know, we want to make sure that we apologize for that. I love tis saying, this was painted on my son's wall in elementary school. And the reason I

061now that is we started saying the saying at dinner that night, and my son repeated the end of it in fourth grade. So it was a great discussion for dinner. But it is true. To watch our thoughts; for they become our words. Watch your words; for they become our actions. And watch our actions; for they become our habits. And watch your habits; for they become our character. And we must watch our character for it becomes our destiny. What we think, we become. That's why those implicit biases that we're not aware of really are a factor, because they affect how we handle things. This was by an administrator that told me this story. She had a huge bias against tattoos. She hated tattoos. She didn't understand tattoos. She didn't understand why anybody would put something so

062permanently on their body. And so, that's a factor when you're an administrator, is it not? You're hiring, you're talking to people, and if a tattoo's visible, that could be an issue. Until one day her and her husband had taken in a lot of different foster children. And a young lady had run up to her and said, she had turned 18, and she said, I got a new tattoo. And Marge looked at her and though, oh, I have to fake that I like this tattoo. But this one she really liked. It said, "Always on my mind, forever in my heart." It was her husband's birthday and the day he died. So, that changed her mind about tattoos. She realized, it must be something really important to put it so permanently on your body. But that was

063one of her biases that she worked with for much of her career until that story happened. So, we have to address implicit biases. Tolerance is a very simple definition as well. It's not persecuting those look, believe, behave, or act in ways that we may not personally approve of. I think that's really important for staff as well. Those are the protected classes. That could be a whole day presentation, I'm sure, right, if we broke them all down. But the generalization as we go through. What would happen as I do these trainings. We would do an hour of sexual harassment and we would do an hour of diversity and sensitivity, it's all about respect. It never failed that I would have people come up to me afterwards and go, but I have this problem, but it has

064nothing to do with my age or my religion, it has to do with bullying and harassment. So, we began incorporating workplace bullying. It is not a state or federal law, it is in some other states. At this time it might be a healthy workplace. It's been in Wisconsin legislature a couple of times, but never went very far. You do have it as part of your policy. So, again, a nice pat on the back for including this so that you can address this when it becomes an issue with staff, or a parent, or someone else. Workplace bullying, and this presentation is titled "There is Power in One Voice", because each person can make a difference. Bullying does not stop from the playground or when someone graduates high school. Bullying continues into the workforce, and even more

065importantly, it continues into our senior centers. We work with many counties, we work with nursing homes, we work with nutritional sites, this is a huge issue. Senior bullying is a huge problem as well. So it doesn't end. So, I put the cartoon in there. You know, "Give me your donut, or I'll unplug your electric blanket." So, it is really a major problem. So, bullying doesn't end. Bullying is intentional. And I think that's really important to always note. It's not just a perception thing, it's totally intentional. It's repetitive, aggressive behavior that often will involve an imbalance of power or strength. It is a silent epidemic. Without a doubt it is repeated, it's conscious, and cyber bullying is included with that as well. But it is, they're really and seriously relating PTSD with this, when people are

066bullied, we've seen suicides, this is very serious when we talk about bullying as well. I think this is important to know. A factor that increases risk for bully behavior in the workplace is significant organizational change. Our public entities in Wisconsin have had more significant change than ever before. So, this is kind of an environment for this as well. When we look at the bully, the bully doesn't have to be male, the bully doesn't have to be bigger or older, bullies come in all packages. Do women bully? Quite well. Mobbing is one of my greatest concerns when I've seen this, and I've seen it in several public entities, where everybody's picking on one person, and eventually what happens? The person in the red in the middle does what? They quit, they leave, or they're terminated. And

067then what happens? Someone else has to be chosen to be bullied. This happens in the workplace, just like it does in a classroom. How it affects people? One of the greatest things that I have seen, quite frankly, is GI problems, digest disturbances. I had an employee who as soon as she crossed a particular street on her way to work her stomach started to hurt, and her stomach would stop hurting when she left and crossed that street again. She hadn't worked there in two years, but if she still crosses that street, it will start to hurt. People will go for tons of GI tests, they think something is wrong. And it turns out it is nothing. It's not that it is nothing it's nothing physical as far as a GI problem, it is stress. So, then

068they take it home as well. But a bullying affects people greatly. A bully is a Type A personality. They're competitive. Other people might walk on eggshells around the bully. I had a superintendent in a school district where the school district had set up a doorbell system. They only worked a couple days a week and it wasn't consistent. So, it didn't have to be Tuesday and Thursday, it was a small district, so it could be Monday or Wednesday. So, they never knew when he was coming in. And so, they set up a doorbell system. And so, the receptionist, as soon as he pulled into the parking lot, would hit the doorbell and it meant what? Get out. Anyone who could get out of the building did. It was a warning because they walked on eggshells. They

069were so scared of that person. So, we should never worry about waking a sleeping giant, we should never be screamed or yelled at. The bully craves power and control. And about 50% of the time it can also be the supervisor or the administrator, because it's about power sometimes. The victim is kind of interesting. Because on the playground, sometimes the victim is someone who is weaker, or newer, or not as strong, or unwilling to stand up for themselves. That's not true in the workplace. The workplace victim is usually the most experienced, the most popular, the most respected person. Because if the bully craves power, it's more beneficial to me if I'm craving power to take out that more experienced person. Because then it gives me more power. It doesn't help me a lot in the workplace

070to take out the weak fish, so bullying in the workplace is very different. Number one complaint by staff that I receive is stealing their ideas and not giving them credit. Oh, I had this great idea, says the supervisor or administrator, and it really came from their staff members and they don't get the credit. Number one complaint. ANDREW: That's unacceptable, but that's an actual bullying as opposed to something different but still inappropriate. JODI: It can be a bullying tactic, absolutely. ANDREW: If it were probably more than once. JODI: Yeah, this is not a one-time incident. Bullying is repetitive, definitely repetitive. ANDREW: I think people, maybe not around this table, but in general, go to that word too quickly when there's other behaviors that are certainly not okay, but it hasn't hit the pattern status of bullying.

071JODI: Right, it could be a different management style, it could be that they're trying to hold the employee to a certain requirements or job tasks, absolutely. So, typically by the time I've been brought in, when someone thinks, oh, it's a management style or administrative style. Typically it's gotten so bad by that time that we have multiple complaints, formal complaints often. So, to be careful, you're right, we don't want to just term everything bullying, for sure. When a bully finds a target that refuses to be controlled or intimidated in the workplace, typically they escalate their behavior. We try to teach staff to have responses, it's kind of like a first aid training. You have to have response. So, if someone is demeaning to you or screaming or yelling at you, or is derogatory, you have to

072have a response for them. And one of my favorite responses is, really? Because you can bring it back to them. Typically what people do when they're being bullied or demeaned is we come up and defend ourselves. We're stammering, we can't think of anything to say, we can't believe it's happening. We walk away and ten minutes later we're going, oh, why didn't I say this, or why didn't I do that? So, you have to be ready for that and think about that ahead of time. It's kind of like a first aid training. If someone is screaming and yelling at you, it is okay to walk away and say, I'll be happy to talk to you later, whether it's a parent or somebody like that as well. Do we have parents who bully staff? Absolutely. Okay, so

073talking about that is really important, whether it's new employee orientation or a staff meeting, so people realize that can happen as well. It might be a meeting, it might be as they come and talk to them. All right, I want to finish up here. So, we talk about bullying behavior. You have a policy in place. Again, it's not covered by federal or state law, but it is part of your policy that it's wonderful that you have that policy to follow through and do the investigation. There is power in one voice, one person can make a difference and come forward. Typically we look at bullying, a lot of people know it's happening. It's not something that's behind the door, a lot of people see it and hear it. And typically people will say, oh, glad it's

074not me. I'm glad he or she is not like that with me. And so, they don't come forward always. But the fact that you have a policy is a great means for that. Okay. I think I'm one minute over. Any questions or comments? ED: Well I will comment. I think it was really interesting. I think most of us have had similar kinds of training or experiences in the past. There was some things on there that admittedly I learned tonight, and it was very informative. You said we will get this presentation as well. JODI: Yes, I'll forward it right away. You're welcome to use any of our materials any time. So, if a staff member or administrator wants to use it with their staff, that's absolutely fine as well. ED: Okay. KATIE: Thank you. MELISSA: Thank

075you very much, Jodi. JODI: Thank you for your time and thank you for your questions and clarification, too, thank you. Thanks. ED: We have a few action items to cover. So, I'll entertain motions on these. KATIE: I move that the resignations, as listed, be approved. LAURA: Second. ED: Sandy? SANDY: McCoy. LAURA: Aye. SANDY: Dorff? ED: Aye. SANDY: Maloney? KATIE: Aye. SANDY: Becker? ANDREW: Aye. ED: Rhonda is here. KATIE: Rhonda is here. SANDY: Sitnikau? RHONDA: Aye. ED: Carried, what do we got, five, six? 5-0, thank you. KATIE: I move that the retirements, as listed, be approved. LAURA: Second. ED: Sandy? SANDY: Dorff? ED: Aye. SANDY: Maloney? KATIE: Aye. SANDY: Becker? ANDREW: Aye. SANDY: Sitnikau? RHONDA: Aye. SANDY: McCoy. LAURA: Aye. ED: Carried 5-0. KATIE: I move that the employment of staff, as listed, be approved. LAURA:

076Second. ED: Sandy, please. SANDY: McCoy. LAURA: Aye. SANDY: Dorff? ED: Aye. SANDY: Maloney? KATIE: Aye. SANDY: Becker? ANDREW: Aye. SANDY: Sitnikau? RHONDA: Aye. ED: Carried 5-0. KATIE: I move that the transfer of Daniel Slowey, Associate Principal, 11 months at Edison Middle School to principal 12 months at Edison Middle School, be approved. LAURA: Second. ED: Sandy? SANDY: Sitnikau? RHONDA: Aye. SANDY: Becker? ANDREW: Aye. SANDY: Maloney? KATIE: Aye. SANDY: Dorff? ED: Aye. SANDY: McCoy. LAURA: Aye. ED: Carried 5-0. KATIE: And I move that the transfers of staff, as listed, be approved. LAURA: Second. ED: Sandy? SANDY: Dorff? ED: Aye. SANDY: Maloney? KATIE: Aye. SANDY: McCoy. LAURA: Aye. SANDY: Becker? ANDREW: Aye. SANDY: Sitnikau? RHONDA: Aye. ED: Carried 5-0. JOHN: I would just like to recognize that Mr. Slowey is here in our audience and despite his new

077injury when he was playing with his kids, playing football, he is ready to roll with Edison. KATIE: So, this is did not happen at school. JOHN: It did not happen at school. It happened at Lake Michigan playing football. ED: Congratulations, Dan. (applause) ED: Okay. And I will entertain a motion to adjourn the special board meeting. KATIE: So moved. ANDREW: Second. ED: All in favor? ALL: Aye. KATIE: And this is just in, Brenda is now leaving Madison, so she will have her text when she gets to town. I will let her know our status. ED: Okay, all right. Everybody need a quick stretch? ANDREW: Five minutes? ED: Five minutes, okay, good. I will call the work session to order. We have five board members present. We're also joined by our superintendent. And we have Jamie Barbian,

078president of ICSC, and Noah Becker, both from West High School. Thank you guys, glad to have you here. And we also, although I don't know if we have anybody here to speak for the open session, but I will mention this, that the board will provide our community with two different opportunities during our meeting tonight to speak before the board. All speakers must fill out a form indicating their desire to speak. If you wish to speak during tonight's open forum, you may do so with respect to items that are posted on tonight's agenda, or any other matter with which you wish to share with the board. Please know that Wisconsin's open meetings law prohibits the board from conducting business on matters brought during this open forum. The board also will permit public participation during agenda items

079that the board of education will be voting on, as noted on the board's agenda. During this public participation time, consistent with state and federal laws, board members may engage in dialogue with the speakers. In order that all voices are heard, the board will suspend engagement until all speakers have had a chance to speak. Please keep your comments to five minutes, the time keeper will let you know when your five minutes has ended. Prior to starting your comments, please provide your name and address. Lastly, demonstrations during public comments, such as clapping or cheering in response to either public comments, or statements made by board members is prohibited. And the meeting is being recorded and is available on our website. And do we have anybody who was seeking at open forum? Looks like not, so with that

080we will move right to teaching and learning. And Katie will you, in my stead please. KATIE: Yes. ED: Okay. KATIE: We have discussion item achievement gap reduction report. Is that? JOHN: So, basically this is a report that we share each year on achievement gap reduction schools. This is just a report that we provide. If there is a need for additional conversation or presentation, we can be able to do that in August. Basically this is just a report to report. In the past we've done a variety of things with presentation, but this aligns how our achievement gap reduction schools are doing. And if there are additional questions, that's something that we can do. Oh, sorry. I'll start over. So, our achievement gap reduction report basically outlines how our achievement gap reduction schools are doing. The teaching

081and learning team is prepared to provide answers to any questions the board may have on the report. But what we would like to do is have those questions submitted so we can put together a presentation for August, if that is what the board would like. Previously this was something that was presented as a standalone. But that's requirement of the state. It sometimes folds better into how the schools are doing overall rather than a stand alone of just the AGR schools. But if the board has specific questions, we recommend that you address them to me, and or Andrea Lanwar, and we can answer those questions in August in a more formal report, if that's what the board desires. KATIE: Okay, has everyone had the opportunity to review the report? And if there are questions or concerns,

082if you would contact John. JOHN: Sure. RHONDA: So, what is done with the report, with the findings? Is there a plan that happens after that? JOHN: Sure. Actually, there's quite a bit of planning that is part of the report. Our school success planning process is embedded with AGR, and what we do with AGR. Specifically this is the state when we worked with SAGE previously, which is small class size only. The state now offers multiple opportunities for different ways to intervene with schools through literacy coaching and other aspects. One result that we saw that was quite positive is the schools that we're using the Bridges pilot had better than average math results. So, we're seeing even though that was just a pilot and its full implementation for next year, that was a foreshadowing. But what this

083allow us to do is because some of these schools tend to be our poorest schools, of course, because of the AGR piece, it allows us to see how the different strategies that we're implementing in the different schools are paying off. So, if there's a school that's having more success than another, we can compare and take those ideas from the school that's more successful and apply them to the schools that are less successful. And likewise if there's a school that's struggling, we can dig deeper into seeing what the issues are within that school. Gwen has shared quite often on how we're doing with a variety of schools, just as a for instance, we're digging more deeply into our bilingual education programming to make sure that is more closely aligned with our workshop process because we weren't

084seeing the results that we hoped to with our bilingual classroom. So, we're making sure that our universal for our bilingual students is strong. So, those are a couple of examples of how we use the AGR report to inform the strategic work that the directors and the team do with this school. RHONDA: Thank you. JOHN: Sure, thank you. ED: So, again, you said that we're going to have another report on this in August. JOHN: If desired. ED: If desired. JOHN: Basically the AGR report is a report that is submitted to the board twice a year. And we can either do it as a full presentation of the results, or it could be presented, as we had talked about, in our monitoring report, having a deeper dive into at the results of how the schools are doing

085in August. I would recommend that we use this as a subset report within that larger retreat process. ED: This report right now, as it stands, is available to the public on Neptune. And folks that might be watching this or looking at that and had questions or concerns, who should they contact? JOHN: They can contact myself or Andrea Lanwar, who is basically coordinating the reporting on this. I would probably say Andrea would be the best person to contact directly, because she is the person closest to the issues at hand, and has the most direct knowledge of the intricacies of the school success plan. ED: Okay, thanks. KATIE: Andrew. ANDREW: I'm not sure if this is--I guess depending on your reply, may or may not need more detailed information. Is that 18-1 or 30-2 ratio, is that

086a, baring something unusual, kid coming in six weeks before the end of the year or something, is that an absolute forced split? If there are 19 kids on September 3, are there now a job posting and a 10 and a 9 period? JOHN: We split, of course, as needed. We look at the overall needs of the building, too. There's occasionally we have to look at is there a student who might be involved in another classroom. But for instance, I guess what I'm trying to say is the, as we have enrollment in and out, it's important for us to closely monitor and we don't want to make a decision too early. For instance, if we look at the scores now, or not the scores, but if we look at the number of students in each classroom,

087there are some schools that we might say, oh, let's bump up and add an extra teacher there. But the thing is that three weeks from now we might look at the seats again and we might be down three or four and we're actually looking at then dissolving another section. So, we're trying to be as careful as possible, but we're really holding tightly to those ratios. KATIE: Michelle. MICHELLE: If you look at--there's more flexibility with AGR. Correct me if I'm wrong, Andrew. Were you referencing 18, and once they get to 19 it tips and then you split it, right? ANDREW: A hard limit, as opposed to our non AGR schools, currently we have the guideline and internally there is a certain number that, as we've discussed I think, in district practice as a hard limit, with

088a little room between there. And I like to codify that in a future board meeting. But it's a little tighter, I mean, it's not as tight as it was in SAGE, where it's 15-1, 30-2, or you must split, even if splitting made an 8 and a 7. But with 18-1 I guess are we running classrooms of 20, because there's 20 first graders in a building and it seems to make more sense, or no way? MICHELLE: If you look at, and I think it's on Page 6. And I know Terry knows this as well. There is some flexibility that as how once they hit a certain level, they can address it, if I'm saying this accurately. That you could bring in a para. ANDREW: Right. MICHELLE: There's some different ways to address the number. ANDREW: Right.

089MICHELLE: So, you could technically have a class that was 20, for example. But you would need to have brought in some additional reports or resources. You might have interventionist coming in, something's pushing in. So, it doesn't automatically split like it used to have to when it hit the number. If I understand this accurately. But typically they've been keeping close to that number. JOHN: Right, additional supports are required at that time. MICHELLE: Correct. JOHN: We look at a split as quite often the choice we make. But if it's a single track school, for instance, and there isn't the room, we wouldn't necessarily split right away to have two classes of ten, when there isn't a classroom for it, and bring in a portable or something like that if there was the support there with an extra

090paraprofessional or an additional teacher to provide assistance. ANDREW: So, when we talk about 20-I see at the schools of 24 you did hire a teacher, and it grows to 24. It's not that it is started intentionally with 24. So, the largest you started at--so I'm hoping that some of these 23s and 24s were with additions throughout the year. JOHN: Yes. And so, I think what would probably be most helpful, if I can gather your questions and I can make sure that Andrea and Anne are ready to present on that in August when they come back, or at the next board meeting they can also share as well. They have--they're very careful about making sure that the needs of the students are met in each of the buildings. Quite often we're having to be careful to

091a degree from a fiscal responsibility standpoint. But we are very, very, very careful to make sure that each student is served with a proper ratio. So, I think for them to describe their decision making process and how they're working with us would probably be more beneficial than me guessing for them at this point. ANDREW: Okay, thank you. JOHN: Sure. RHONDA: Can you, Andrew, can you clarify what you mea when you hope we would codify? ANDREW: I mean, it's no secret that AGR has separate ratios, but I advocated publicly for us to have, I guess, two things, the guideline number, but then also a, basically a hard limit at which a class must be split. I understand that we, again, short of the weird situation, someone coming in with six weeks left in the year, et

092cetera, that we would not allow 31 or something like that to run in an elementary school. And we probably would switch classrooms much sooner than that. And I know we did get the numbers of that. JOHN: Sure. ANDREW: I think it's good policy, probably. I have certain suggestions and some interest in the board discussion at which, hey, here's a guideline, here's a goal, here's where it must be split. That a high school class must not be 31 and we're not canceling either we're splitting it, we're making two, that kind of thing. Which I realize there is financial implications of that. JOHN: Right, it's interesting because, and I don't want to take us too far down the road without the people responsible here. But quite often what's in Infinite Campus right now is not completely representational

093of who's going to show up September 1. So if we, if we staffed at a looser level or a tighter level, it wouldn't be representational of who's actually going to show. Right now the secondary classes, they look like they're relatively full. But because we'll have students moving back and forth, chances are that quite a few of those classes are actually going to end up with fewer students in. So, somebody might look in their science classes, for instance, and look and say, I've got 28 kids in my science class, that's going to be really challenging, because of the safety issues. But when we look at the, and I don't want to say mortality, because people are not, but when we look at the cohort mortality, who's going to stay with that cohort, it tends to decrease

094over time, and so, you end up with fewer actual students in the seats when things occur. But we always take into account what is the need of the student and what is the need of the teacher in that classroom. But you bring up a good point, Andrew. That the fiscal impact is critical. Mr. Kasha would agree, and we've had lots of conversations around what can we do as a district to look at some financial changes that would allow us to hold tighter to the ratios that look to and make sure all the supports are there for the students. But that's something that needs to be shared in detail because we want to be able to say yes to everything. But the needs of the students need to be first. So, we have to take a

095look at some of the financial impacts might be of programatic changes and other staffing changes of that nature. But we do plan on having significant conversation with the board around that because we agree with you, Andrew, that the ratios are critical. RHONDA: And I think back to when I went to Wequiock at the end of the year and there were 26 kids in that kindergarten class, it was pretty--there was a lot going on. And I had asked if there was help in there. And they said, on occasion, it was not every day. So, that to me, just sitting in there and viewing that, what was going on. I counted, there were 26 kids in that class. It was a kindergarten class. So, I think it's important to have some sort of, something that has a

096little more teeth to it. JOHN: Sure. RHONDA: That teacher looked like she was drowning to me. JOHN: So, as I said, it would be really good if two weeks from now--actually it's next Monday when we meet again. If Andrea and Anne can answer a couple of questions related to the staffing ratio. But then if there are more specific questions related to the AGR report, we will be glad to come back in August with a presentation. Thank you. KATIE: Any other questions, comments? All right, thank you, John. Next we are going to have two more discussion items. Posting of standards, our annual posting of the standards. JOHN: So, once again we have myself. And joining me will be Mr. Fries basically this is our annual posting of the standards, that is a requirement of the state.

097But Mr. Fries will walk everyone through our posting. MIKE: Good evening, everyone. Yes, as John said, this memo is simply requesting your approval to complete our annual posting of the standards as required by state law. This is basically a procedural request. I'm happy to entertain any questions that you might have. This information, once approved, does get posted publicly on our website as required by state law. Mellisa, does that summarize it, in essence. MELISSA: In addition to school board's obligations pass that two budgets go to the state. And we come to every year at this time, a similar document that notes the standards. You need to approve that this will be the posting for the website. KATIE: Any questions, Ed. ED: Just would you clarify with the social studies standards, C3 framework, what is that? MIKE:

098Yeah, that College Civic Community Life, it's a framework, they are a national framework that contributed to our development of our curriculum documents. We've frankly always been a smudge ahead of the state. The state kind of put standards adoption on hold for a number of years after the Common Core. We got to the point as a district where we wanted to move forward with. We forecasted out what was going on nationally. The C3 framework was informing. Most states development of state based standards. And the state of Wisconsin did take the C3 framework. And just as of May 2018, so just a month and a half ago, did approve new social studies standards that are based on the C3 framework. So, that is--so we're in full alignment there with our curriculum. And then we've been reviewing what

099the state has published. And we will be making small tweaks as needed to our curriculum documents. But College Career Civic Life is what it standard for, sir. ED: Thank you. KATIE: Any other questions, comments. Hearing none, we'll move forward. Thank you, Michael. MIKE: Thank you. KATIE: And then we have middle school mathematics resources. MIKE: I would invite Miss Cindy Cantwell to join us at the table here, should you have any questions as well. Tonight we bring forward a request for approval to purchase the next year of our middle school math resources. About a year ago the district... (laughter) MIKE: Reminds me of when I got the "White" album by the Beatles back when I was a younger kid and stereo was left ear, right ear, left ear, right ear. So, about a year ago our

100district purchasing procurement policies were updated, and purchases of this amount are required to be considered by the board of education. So, as the memo indicates, this is a one-year request brought forward to continue with the current middle school series for the time being. Because we knew that we would need your approval to continue, we also took this opportunity to ensure our staff wanted to continue with the series for now. We did the work this spring, as the memo outlines, that Cindy followed kind of on point. And I assisted and joined her with some school visits to check in with all of our department chairs and principals to confirm we were moving in the right direction. Upon your approval of this, assuming that you do approve of this, we will immediately complete the purchase, activate the

101digital subscriptions, and initiate the distribution process so that there isn't any delay to start the year. I anticipate that a full year math resource review will be taking place over the next few years as we continue our professional learning journey at the secondary level, and as we respond to the needs of students coming out of the cohesive and rigorous elementary math experience. Cindy Cantwell, again, is here tonight to answer any questions that you might have. KATIE: Any questions or comments? Andrew. ANDREW: Are there going to be, is this adoption a 100% online text for the students, or will there be some--I saw that there's--I got the consumables, but as far as the full book, are there going to be some classroom sets, are we going online for the main text? CINDY: The student text is

102considered a consumable as well, so it's the text and workbook pages and things they can write in all at one time. So, there's no--the teacher edition is a hard copy, but they don't have a hard bound student edition. ANDREW: Okay, we're not getting it, it doesn't exist. CINDY: Right. ANDREW: So, there's material that they're going to take home and read that's in a text that's also consumable. CINDY: Yes. ANDREW: Plus the online resource. CINDY: Yes. ANDREW: Okay, thank you. KATIE: Any other questions or comments. Hearing none we'll move that forward. Thank you, guys. MIKE: Thank you. CINDY: Thank you very much. Thank you. MIKE: Thank you. Thanks, Cindy. KATIE: Unless there's public comment. ED: Thank you, Katie. So, we'll move on to organizational support work session. And Mr. Becker, we'll ask you to facilitate, please.

103ANDREW: All right, in our organizational support discussion items, business and finance and human resource, we have none. Discussion and public comment, we have business and finance first with the 2018-2019 CESA 7 contract update. Unless we have anything to present, or questions or comments. MELISSA: And we will bring forward the CESA contract for review and approval. Tonight's contact is before you. A minor increase in the fees, but otherwise it's the same services that we've been receiving over the past few years. ANDREW: Okay, questions. That will move forward then. Under human resources we have first the monitor job description. JEAN: We're bringing forward the monitor job description to request that the monitor, the supervisor brought forward, that their pay is the same as the monitors. They've asked to have their job pay the same as a monitor

104because they feel that and agree that they role they do is not just a monitor. They have expanded duties that take them through other parts of the day. So if you approve this job description, which we brought out to be dated, more up to date. They've had a chance to look at it and add anything they want. If they approve this you're also approving the change in job title. So, the role of supervisor is not the title they want. Now, just to be clear, looking in our systems, our Bitech systems, they may still see that title, because it's tied to so many things that this team is not even doing. They changed the title to assistants. It will be posting the job as monitors. Either monitors for elementary or monitors for secondary. And this is

105a job title that will be posted. That's how they will be referred to. ANDREW: Ed? ED: Could you explain a little bit more. You were saying some things in IC would still have a supervisor. If you expand, I don't understand that. JEAN: It's because--I don't completely understand. It's a very complicated change to make, it has a lot of tentacles. DIANE: Thank you. We have so many nightly scripts running where information comes from Bitech and goes to many other things. And so, with this job title, it's part of all those scripts. And so, to go back and change things means we dig into the programming language that takes place behind the scenes. And we have to change all those things. And so, that's why at this time it would be very difficult to do. ED: Okay,

106it's still clear as mud. JEAN: It's a lot of behind the scenes work that would have to be done in order to change every field and every piece of data that's in so many of our systems. ED: Okay, so we're just talking about something with documentation and with record keeping, it has nothing to do with the job or the salary. KATIE: It does affect payroll is one of the things. JEAN: The pay is already the same. KATIE: The pay is already the same, but in terms that it might be referred to to Pfiser is then the monitor as it's done. JEAN: Right, but their job will be posted as a monitor. There'll be titled monitors, and they want to be referred to as monitors when we're talking about them, and that can happen. ANDREW: Can

107you selectively update the scripts that are just the obvious things where people can see? DIANE: Outward facing, I'll check in on that. I'm not sure to the extent that you had inquired. So, I can check further in that to find out. So, you're saying outward facing documentation, like an employee online and things like that. ANDREW: Pay stubs, unless that's already resolved, auto updating of staff directory. Not, in my individual opinion, I wouldn't want to see a whole lot of programmer time spent on just behind the scenes that no one will ever see, but IT. DIANE: Right. ANDREW: Other questions. JEAN: Michelle. MICHELLE: Just as a follow up to that, Diane, as you move forward, would there be any different as we bring on new monitors to code them differently, or would you prefer that we

108keep them ll the same? DIANE: Right, consistency would be the suggestion until we make a full switchover. MICHELLE: Thank you. ANDREW: But everyone hired going forward will be a monitor after this action. JEAN: That is what they're asking and it is what we'd like to see. ANDREW: Okay, other questions? MICHELLE: So there would be--everyone is a monitor, so we would have no other--we would have no supervisor in the event someone would just go away. People retired, 30 or 40 years from now, or whenever it is. They're young right now. JEAN: The current new hires that have talked with us want to be called monitors. They want that name change to be happening with the new school year. MICHELLE: Right. ANDREW: Other questions? I have one. Additional secondary school essential functions. We have--it's not necessarily a

109big deal, but enough that I want to throw it out there. So, we have monitors completing locker inspections, yes, with an administrator or school resource officer, as directed. I'm just wondering was there any thought given as to whether something like that rises to the level of do we want two, you know, full time salaried staff doing that as opposed to putting a monitor in that position, or has that been a practice for some time already and there's always one full time staff or SRO, it has worked well? JEAN: We checked on that and it has been done. But as we--I asked for that essential function to be clarified because of your concern, because you just don't want to send somebody in. But from my understanding, and I'll clarify that by checking with some of our

110principals, it is with an administrator and/or an SRO. So two people. And I think it's been successful as long as you have the other. I don't know, Ed, what your experience has been when you were a principal. ED: It would always be, in my experience there would always be an administrator present. JEAN: Always, but they might need another person, so they may have the monitor go with them. ANDREW: Or to witness. ED: But not as a primary. JEAN: Not as a primary. ANDREW: Okay. All right, anybody else? Okay, we'll move that forward. And then we have the site director of after school programming job description. JEAN: This position is being requested to be a full-time position for both--two of our schools, Lincoln and Nicolet. This year we had the position split 50% by administrative intern

111and 50% site director. And the feedback from the principals, executive director, and the two individuals who held the position is that they couldn't do justice to both pieces. And so, for this particular position we're asking that it be a full-time site director, the hours are from 7, excuse me, 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., and were aligning the pay along with the pay very similar to our non profit agencies who also employ site directors. Which is about $35,280 roughly. It is an eight-hour position, it's going to be salaried, but it will not be a contracted position. And since we didn't have a full-time job description, we're bringing this to the board for your approval so you will understand that this is something new that they'll be hired by the district on a full-time basis for these

112two schools. ANDREW: Okay, Rhonda? RHONDA: So, what is the job description for that person, and then you said that admin intern, what would they be doing then? Can you walk through that, once this is created? JEAN: The admin intern piece will go away, this will be the full-time job description for that afternoon, after school program. RHONDA: So, that'll be gone. JEAN: This will be the full-time job description and then we'll post these jobs and hire two individuals, one from Lincoln and one for Nicolet. I'm not sure if there's going to be a back fill to the intern positions or not. John, do you know? JOHN: At this point we're looking at the needs throughout the district, because we want to make sure that with several administrative changes and some of the admin interns being hired

113into other positions, we want to make sure that the needs of each one of the schools are well served. But the administrative intern positions are basically, it's a combination position, it's something that's meant as a leadership ladder for some of our new teachers, not teachers, but people who are new to administration we want to give them an opportunity to try the role and for us to see how the person is doing within that role. Quite often it's recruiting ground for our administrators, even though it starts on a teacher contract. This is something that we allocate when we look at the overall needs of the building, when we look at the needs of the district where those individuals are serving. So, there will be likely a few changes where the administrative interns are allocated for the

114coming year, but that hasn't been fully decided. So, with the change here basically what we're doing is just looking at hiring a psych director, rather than trying to do the combo positions, because the combination positions weren't very effective. They didn't work well and we're hiring, we're hiring our own psych director, rather than having an outside entity do it. Quite often we've had other community partners hire the psych director, and they've been employees of that organization, and in certain circumstances we've found that it's better for us to have our own employee do it. We've also had a situation where we've had the CISA serve as a fiscal agent, and looking at that as not being effective. They charge a 3% fee for being the fiscal agent, so we're looking at not doing that anymore, so basically

115we're taking a position that used to be run by the CESA, and we're saving 3% by having it be our own position. RHONDA: So it said, Nicolet and Lincoln schools, is there a possibility that this will transfer into other schools, or why those schools. JOHN: Yes. There's a possibility that it would transfer to other schools, where there's also possibility that we would be looking at having an administrative intern split between the two schools. So that would be determined based on the needs of the building, and also the needs of the district overall. RHONDA: So this one position can turn into quite a few throughout the district, possibly? JOHN: Not for the site director. KATIE: Not for the site director. JOHN: No. RHONDA: So it's just this specific? KATIE: These are the two schools that we

116have that the district provides the after school program. RHONDA: So the YMCA, that's the reason? JOHN: Right, basically the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club, they are the fiscal agent and they run the after school program in multiple sites. We have two sites that we run ourselves, that we have a psych director for, but we've been paying CISA to be our fiscal agent, and so at this point we're saying you know, we're grateful for that service, but we're thanking for the 3% that we'll save if we can run that ourselves. So really we wanted to bring it to the board, because it's a slightly new position. It's something we've had, but something we've had as a subcontract through CISA, just as a fiscal agent. RHONDA: So parents would contact this person to get after

117school care. JOHN: Yep. Yep. so it's basically the same as what the community partners are providing as well. It's a very similar position and we'll be reporting later on on administration interns and other administrative supports for the buildings. JEAN: If okay, I know the board will be hopefully improving this next week. but we would like to get this job posted tomorrow if you're okay with that, because for all intents and purposes we're in the middle of summer and we would like to get this person hired for the opening of school, if not before. And it would be helpful to get the job posted if you do feel, would be okay with doing that. We've had the position, it's just that it was 50% after school, 50% admin intern, and this normalizes the job descriptions now

118that we know it's going to be 1.0 FD. JOHN: But if the board were to make another decision between now and then, it would just be a posting and we would just not hire the position, but posting it now. ED: Would we need to do anything about it? JOHN: No. JEAN: So we wouldn't make any job offers until-- JOHN: Approved. JEAN: --technically we have to post for five days to include a weekend, so the posting wouldn't come down there, the earliest would be Sunday. JOHN: Thank you. ANDREW: Are there questions? JEAN: Yeah, and Lisa Johnson, supervises these individuals and she's the one that made this recommendation and updated the job description to include all of the duties this person does. JOHN: Our oversight of the after school program, and summer school has been really beneficial

119to the district, and her leadership has been important. ANDREW: So is this going to--is this going to be cost neutral, or less cost, or exactly the same? I mean if we're placing half an admin intern that's actually a higher salary. JEAN: The Admin Intern would be a higher salary, because that's a teacher. I don't know if we're going to replace the admin intern, so that's, I think what John said, he's going to be looking at. ANDREW: That's a separate question. I mean for the moment, I mean if we did it would probably not be there, but it might be elsewhere, or it still might? JOHN: At this point it's a cost reduction, but we'd have to look at the needs overall, to see if there were needs for the admin interns at another site, or

120if not. JEAN: And there are some grant dollars, as well. ANDREW: So it's unlikely, though that we would go, we would do this, and then have an admin intern at the same school. That would be not in the current plan at least? JOHN: That's how it was costing. ANDREW: All right. ED: So this would be paid partially out of our after school program dollars, whereas the administrative intern is not. JOHN: Right. ANDREW: Anything, anything further on that? Questions? Okay, that concludes the operational support, and then we have a motion for closed session, which I will read. There's no public comment on these either. Okay. All right, I move that the Board convene in closed session pursuant to Wisconsin Statute 19.85(1)(c), considering promotion, compensation, performance evaluation of data of any public employee over which the governmental

121body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility, and pursuant to Wisconsin Statute 19.85(1)(f), considering financial, medical, or social history, or disciplinary data of specific persons, preliminary considerations specific personnel problems, or the individual, or investigation of charges against specific persons, except where paragraph b applies which if discussed in public would be likely to have a substantial adverse effect upon the reputation of any person referred to as such histories or data. And were involved in such problems or investigations. To wit personal matters, and pursuant to Wisconsin Statute, 19.85(1)(e), deliberating or negotiating the purchasing of public properties, investing of public funds, or conducting other specified public business, whether competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session, more specifically to wit contract regarding enrollment study. The meeting will begin in open session to confer the appropriate motion for a closed session

122so provided by law. The board may return to open session to vote on items discussed in closed session. KATIE: Second. ED: Sandy. SANDY: Becker. ANDREW: Aye. SANDY: McCoy. LAURA: Aye. SANDY: Dorff. ED: Aye. SANDY: Sitnikau. RHONDA: Aye. SANDY: Maloney. KATIE: Aye. ED: Carried 5-0 and we will reconvene across the hall. Brenda will join us on the phone, I believe. KATIE: Yes she will. MICHELLE: She could be in Rosendale. She'll never be able to join us. ♪♪ ANNOUNCER: You have been watching the Green Bay Area public school districts Board of Education meeting please visit the school district's website, www.GBAPS.org to view the program again. ♪♪ ANNOUNCER: 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 by emailing [email protected]. We will try

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