001[Music] the opinions expressed in this program are not those of CA 7 or Time Warner [Music] Cable [Music] what's your [Music] tomorrow [Music] all right I'd like to call this special board meeting to order um we have five board members here Mary Bron and Mike black are excused um Mary will be coming later for our regular uh work session and um we have one agenda item for this this board meeting um I would entertain a motion and then we'll have our discussion do something oh I move the technology purchases as presented that's the motion very good approve is there a second second right we'll turn it over to for discussion what do to call the role you mean no so go ahead okay um as requested in December there was more information that you desired
002about uh the devices and uh so as we move forward I reported in the board report that um we had searched for the answers U for to for the questions that you had and we are making recommendations then for uh many things that you'll see on page two uh which would include um 650 Lenovo laptops from gov connection 1,000 Acer 720 Chromebooks from CDW government um 4,000 huid Packer 14in Chromebooks from camera Corner Connecting Point uh replacement peripherals and items um to keep as spares from uh camera Corner Connecting Point uh 112 iPads for Apple from Apple computer 80 MacBook erors um 11 in from Apple computer some lab quest probes for science um from verer uh jar card upgrades jar is the brand of the carts and then some different carts uh to hold
003these devices and those are bretford carts eight of those um with this uh we will have a variety of devices for our students to use in the schools uh purchasing additional Chromebooks will also allow netbooks to um be put into libraries so they can be checked out by students who do not have access to a computer at home if they don't have wireless internet access they can use something called the kajit which is a wireless hotspot um that uh works very similar to WiFi that works off um well it does work off the Sprint network and it is filtered so when students are at home they can have the internet and a computer um at home to use uh checked out okay so those are the recommendations that we are making this evening other questions
004comments did um did you find out the pricing on the the data I did yes um we purchased uh 100 devices or that's the quote I have and it's 250 Megs uh per device per month but again it's not like we're paying the rollover fee and it's a 30mon payment so on average it comes out to $19.80 ENT per month so is it so is it device by device we would replace the data bucket or is it one huge one huge data bucket okay and it's how much then monthly um it averages out to $19 83 cents a month per per device per month if it were to use the average amount of data okay you mean the average or for to use or to go through it all 250 Megs a month so there's
005a so the and then it rolls over or it does not roll from what I understand yes it does roll over okay so then we're still we're still paying something if it it's unused but we're accumulating more data right we we can get more data thank you did you have something I was going to comment now I've been through some of this already so I don't have too many questions but the uh the last time we were here I believe it was an acce or 710 and this is a 720 you want to comment on that and uh assuming the 720 is a newer model it is uh there was a significant uh difference in our testing um when we took a look at the 720 model uh we compared side by side um we
006did not um we did not see um the deficits that we had seen in the 710 model at all uh and so this uh 720 really performed I don't have it here as a sample because we had to send it back right away it was such a popular model that it need to be down mod in other places did you find out have a chance to find out um where they can be repaired and with the turnover time might be um I did ask uh and Camera Corner Connecting Point can um they are a Lenovo um repair shop and so they can fix Lenovo laptops um but and yeah we're not getting Lenovo Chromebooks and then with the acers uh I'm checking I'm contining to check to see who the um who the repair shops
007are that are authorized around here it was Acer and also HP right the HPS are um repairable at camera Corner Connecting Point right on site so then it was the HP then it was the Acer because it was two that you were going to check into right the Lenovo and the Acer so what I need information on yet is the Acer Acer okay got it we're also getting extra we are yes um um with the acers um CDW had uh for value added offered 50 additional and for the HP um they added for value added 20 additional devices so that means we can keep those in reserve uh so when we take one back to get repaired uh we can switch it out with one that we have on reserve so that the student doesn't
008go without a device for a long period of time I'm a little bit concerned that we we don't know where the Acer can be repaired and at what cost and and turnover um I was hoping we'd know that by by this evening uh obviously uh I'm assuming by your recommendation being on the table that you don't anticipate a problem with that I don't know if my colleagues feel comfortable with that um I guess I go ahead wasn't Diane when you you and your team tested and looked at value added didn't they provide for you at least a turnaround pickup and turnaround time didn't all the different companies provide that they provided delivery dates but they did not provide they didn't tell me how long it would take to pick up and and repair so some
009some did though didn't they isn't that what I mean I think some of the value added obviously local was a huge asset cuz they said they would would come over and pick them up right but Acer did not no and uh in in my call to um or my email to camera Corner Connecting Point the answer was yes Lenovo laptops not Chromebooks um but um thinks that Acer can be repaired by their shop but again it it's not sure yet I need to confirm that are you are you thinking the repair centers will be something local that we could drive um authorized like Acer authorized repair or Lenovo authorized repair but I mean would we have places like that with dist to take yeah that's I mean because that's the the advantage Advantage so they
010don't have to get boxed up and shipped to where they were shipped from correct that would be my concern not knowing is that if there isn't a local one then we're looking at shipping costs right to ship that it's just just as a point of information um camera Corner doesn't go to the various schools and pick them these computers up they still have to be brought someplace then camera corner will pick them up from that some centralize them here sure so they're all returned here or brought here and they'll be picked up here and then they'll be returned here and we deploy out that way we can keep track of them as well and I think that was the other issue of the value ad with these extra well charge ones that they're given us
011that we would have those on hand in case we do get you know failures and obviously when you get that many there's going to be some that are going to have problems and then we could turn those around right away and make sure as said that the the students not out should should the board approved this uh now when would you actually place the order we can um place our order this week uh I I would be comfortable with agreeing with this if you find out prior to placing that order where you can get service in well cost then there's a showstopper with that then come back to the superintendent uh but uh I I just think that needs to be covered before you place that order okay so we could work on getting confirmation
012of who an authorized Acer repair center is prior to placing the Acer order corre got to that works and you're when you say cost I mean it's hard to know what the cost to repair a computer is because it depends on what the problem is well I I I bow to uh the expertise over here on that if they if if it comes in it looks like it's appropriate from what they know fine if it out of out of line with something here then we need to talk about or at least needs to be brought to Super tens attention thank you questions trying to find that just a quick comment I appreciate you're taking the time to get the devices in so that you could actually uh check them out personally and with other staff
013I think that helps us make a more informed purchase right thank you and I would EO spent a lot of time and effort and making sure we get the best product for our money and and uh appreciate the work that all of you have done to make that happen it's all still magic to me but I trust your expertise hey I I know that what I appreciated was the that that curriculum and instruction looked at it and and many people put their hand hands on it the tech folks did from a technology perspective in terms of functionality but also those looking at it from a students user what that would be like and and to me that was really important because you know if I put the wrong tool in front of a student and
014that's really what Diane has really brought to the district is the recognition that you have to have the right tool to get the best results for students um so I think that that has helped it looks like I'm out on online now as we're talking through the Acer it looks like a lot of people sell it in the you know Best Buy I mean there's many many places that it can be purchased locally so I can't believe there wouldn't be something nearby you know I mean there's a lot of places that sell and so so we will find that authorized yeah I do have one question I think I remember reading this in here about Smarter Balance assessment in one of in one of the paragraphs he mentioned that they would be able to use
015um I think or I making this up check um I guess my question is which of these units that we're purchasing will be um usable for smart balanced assessment obviously we have a much higher need for that in terms of volume of children at the El Middle School level but I just was curious which ones are correct use for that um the we would have um for Middle School we would have the HP 14s available for that and then uh for elementary we would have Replacements and so that would be the Acer 720s um our in talking with Steven Miller in our conversations uh the priority would go to computer that are hardwired at this point have the blue ethernet cable in them uh but we're definitely taking a look at possibilities with these for
016devices that can also be tested um but again we want to make sure that our wireless is the best it can be before we can continue on um with with testing on these devices solid so our um are our computer labs at this point the those are our hardwire correct computers are all those computers capable smar bals they are yes yep that that's our first choice and then as our computer labs are being used we're going to have more devices and carts that students can can use in their classrooms and ready to vote Becker hi Jeff hi Mone hi Wagner hi War I carried 5 Z that was quick um I'll move entertain a motion to adjourn this special board meeting mov all in favor I opposed all right we will adjourn we have a
017work session meeting that begins at 5:30 all right I'd like to call the um work session to order um we'll start with our open um open Forum which is a time for members of the community to speak before the board I don't have any slips today but is there anyone who would like to speak before the board toight all right seeing none um we'll move on um we have uh six board members present tonight M bu is excused I'm also uh joined to my left by Dr Michelle langenfeld our superintendent um we have two inter city student council members um Priyanka navani who is president of the inter city student council and attends Preble and Morgan St um also a member of the student council and she attends Southwest did I say your name star
018star all right CL um sorry the um let's see then we'll move to our uh teaching and learning work session and um I'll turn that over to Katie Maloney thank you br our first discussion item is going to be the naming of the gifted and talented School Tammy van djk will bring her committee up to the table and I have to say I was privileged to be a member of this committee and it was one of the the best run most articulate group of students participating in this committee and with that said I'll let Tammy take well I'm joined at the table this evening with sander Newman and Elissa sasio and they were also on our facility naming committee along with assistant superintendent Pao and we are bringing forward the name this evening for the
019school for academically gifted Learners of the Lita hollingworth school for gifted Learners and you received information um Lita was an accomplished educator and she is fondly known as the mother of gifted education um when I read I learned about her the first time that I took one of my gifted education courses and um I thought she really embodied a lot of what we believe about our school and I'm going to let Xander share a little and then I'll go all right so our school motto is Learners and leaders and the so it's goes down like I don't know if you can see that so the L so it goes downers L is Learners e is Excel a is alltr i d is determined e is engaged R is respectful and S is safe and we
020try and live by those and hollingworth definitely was a leader you feel like and a learner also uh she began the first school for gifted children the SP School in New York City and she's the first person to say gifted children with high iq's and she followed them all the way up until they were married and she also had um starting her school for gifted kids she also had a school within a school just like we did Lita also came from a family where um going to school was not easy for her family they were three um girls in her family and their mother died when she was um the youngest daughter was born and she grew up with her grandparents and she went to um college at a young age she was a very
021bright young lady herself um got put herself through college after she was married moved to New York City where she then got her Master's and doctorate degree and so she was became a very well-known researcher and um did a lot to contribute to the field of gifted education much of her work they believe laid the found for what we know about gifted Learners today but one of the most important parts for me was that not only did she know that it was important for gifted students to get the specialized Educational Services that they needed but it was also important to remember that they also needed the social and emotional support that goes with um dealing with the gifts that they have and so she felt it was important to combine both of those things which
022is also a part of what we believe at our school as well and then also a quote I liked from her is to have the intelligence of an adult and the emotions of a child combined to a childish body is to encounter certain difficulties Xander and I should know that because we are like who she was talking about and Xander there was one other reason why we thought it was a good choice can you share that with the group because it has a good ring to it let's get to the bottom over the when did she when did she live what was her um what years was she alive she was born on May 26 1886 in Nebraska and she died in 1939 in New York City we did talk about trying to contact any
023surviving relatives to have them be a part this is the name of maybe our opening surely Paulson is actually one who advocated for this name and through the process because she doesn't have any we we're not sure who her survivors are and Shirley cares so much about Lita we decided that maybe she was the last surviving longdistance Rel think she is she's a long lost niece so we are willing to to accept her as that and and shiry did some research and found out that there um there is a a gentleman who has some of her papers some of her research papers and that um he would very much like to be involved if we choose this name to be a part of the opening of the school are there any other is her name
024on any other school not that you know of surely there there's a couple not wiconsin but um surely there were there are Hollingsworth schools a couple of them but we're not certain if it's her or I'm pretty sure we're think we think it's her but not in Wisconsin and certainly not in our area at least one Pardon Me Ohio Ohio I I believe also letter Hollings were Institute or organization to promote GT and they might have names for you on relative because they've been exist for a while at least that's for some the line did did I have a lot of questions but one of the students um I read it was it VAR variability Theory between males and females that she tried to debunk did the kids did the students learn of that I
025thought it was very interesting I I did not heard that theory before no we discuss that theory later later I I I would I I personally like the name other names considered I I also personally hope that we could find somebody GT from the Green Bay Area that you know could be named after them but but I guess we don't have anybody there other than when you guys grw up we name a school after you does that sound we we did consider other names and Tammy used a a nice process um for us to be able to kind of weigh in on what were our first top choices um and this actually came out to be I think everyone's first First Choice ex ex except one who did a yellow card which meant they could
026certainly live with it um and I think one was Isaac Newton um Steve Steve JS and Einstein Einstein and one Rosevelt Teddy Rosevelt so I think the group felt that they felt pretty strongly as a group on one name and there was really of all those that remained we had some discussion about what might be attached to some of those and whether it was appropriate or not and um felt this was our recommendation and her work on behalf of gifted Learners really stood out in the discussion not only because there were other people that were considered or mentioned that studied gifted learners but she actually put together a school and programs for gifted Learners she took it one step further Andrew um you know a couple of couple of additional things as I was um
027reading up about her she was um she was one of the first people to call exactly what although she was in the testing profession she called it exactly what was going to happen she said the um this is this is sarcasm the adding machine has tremendous advantages over the child it does not lose its pocket handkerchief it doesn't kick or yell so we must be prepared to take pain so she knew she was going at this idea which she knew was was happening then and was going to keep happening of not looking at students as a as a number and she laid it right out there and she also u in addition to the variability uh theory that Dr Wagner had mentioned she was um she got Turman who the um one of the IQ
028tests is named after to change his mind about uh men being more gifted than women because she demonstrated that there were social factors in his test and so a hundred years later what are we realizing again that maybe tests aren't maybe standardized testing isn't too bad from a gender bias perspective but what bias does it have now so I was she's she's someone I would have gotten along with so I I think it was an excellent excellent pick any other questions or comments you did have other parents and adults on the committee besides staff and here you think that reported has the list if you go back yeah it was an extensive committee and it was nasty weather and people drove through the nasty weather to get there it was an important meeting so there
029hearing no other comments or concerns The Next Step will move it forward to next our next meeting which is the regular board meeting and we will actually take the vote to to approve may I ask one question of the students uh I if if you're not in position to answer this right now that's fine but how did you as students enjoy being on this committee and studying all this what what were your feelings about that it was cool that we got to be a part of naming our school I don't know well I don't know a lot of people who are in a new school but if I did I'd probably not I don't think that they would involved in nameing my school that was cool for me yeah and definitely like Alissa said fact
030that this doesn't happen often that this will definitely this name will be around for probably at least 100 years and you are part of its history yep exciting any other comments Dr Wagner well I would hope in a Time Camp so that committee by name would be in there and wh whom they were for that 100 years from now there you go good idea we actually have a student a couple students who are keeping track of the whole process from when we started so they're our historians it's very that's good that's good so we will meet again the 17th no the 24th of March and that's when we'll actually take the vote to make it official very good thank you very much for being thank you excellent presentation I know I need to be myself
031back we have a unique Learning System Update you can all s it you can all come up front come on guys and and Lees I'll I'll stay over here so that that um they have a place to sit cuz they're the real stars tonight um last spring you our school board approved uh the purchase of unique which is a web-based curriculum for students with significant cognitive disabilities and tonight we want to give you an update about what your approval has done for our students in Green Bay and where we are headed so tonight I bring with me um Kate malar who is our program support teacher for students with cognitive disabilities her main job this year was to support the um roll out of unique and the teachers who um teach that along with her
032is Andrea suer who is a high school teacher from West we wanted to get a representation from all grade levels um next to her is Ashley cleberg who is an elementary teacher at Jefferson and we even had to be male and female gender um integrated John brein who is a middle school teacher at Red Smith and um the two girls teach students with stri cognitive disabilities and then John teaches students who are on the Spectrum the autism spectrum along with them where did Sue go oh Sue weand is also here if you have questions to she is our assistant Technology support person and she has also helped tremendously with the roll out and with that I will turn it over to Kate all right well like Claudia mentioned um the curriculum you'll hear it referred
033to as the uls of the unique Learning System um we're using it in 22 of our schools this year 31 teachers approximately 180 students right now um are being influenced through the unique Learning System um overall we've had a real positive um reception to the curriculum from the staff from the students and from the parents um we created a little video to kind of show you an overview of what the curriculum is currently looking like and then if you have any questions for any of us we' definitely like to discuss just [Music] oh [Music] so that kind of gives you an overview of of what unique is to us and what what we're doing with it on a daily basis if you have any questions um you know we have three of the different grade
034bands right now we're implementing it kindergarten through transitional years so through 21 um and that's all represented here um so if anyone has any questions about how things are going so far Chris yeah thank you uh am I correct in saying this curriculum is for uh more involved youngsters correct okay and um are are we now serving all the involved youngsters we intend to be serving with this particular curriculum or is it going to be expanded to another uh disability grouping we're we're serving all the ones all the students who would be served by this curriculum presently okay thank you and uh one further question if I may um uh to him uh I mean I've heard you say that you're really happy with it Everyone likes it uh do you have any comparisons from
035the past as to what sort of growth you're seeing with the youngsters now as compared to previous curriculum that's a good question because in the past we didn't have a set curriculum it was we use the standards and then it was a lot of teacher driven teacher created IEP driven lessons from there and here what we have is a curriculum that meets those needs but also addresses the standards also has more of an academic rigor behind it um and we can put some um we can validate it with our assessments and so we have these monthly assessments and we're able to actually put um you know put it quantify our progress as opposed to before we would look at our progress reports and we'd look at the IEPs and that's when we would look at
036the progress and say yes they're doing better how much better better than they were before it was just it was um hard to really quantify things and now with these assessments and the data collection we're really seeing um a lot more with the numbers and feeling a lot more confident that we're making that progress and if you go to page two of the document that we provided to the board there's a um it talks about the percentage of increase um on the assessments from the beginning of the year to the SE to the um midyear um benchmark assessments so there what's occurring is benchmark assessments that are unified that are um Universal and everybody's doing them the same way with the same benchmarks and therefore we're able to see that there's actual progress across the
037district in for students at all grade levels and with talking to parents um through parent teacher conferences they've also seen immense growth with their Stu with their child so even having the parents come back to you and say wow my student or my child is growing immensely throughout this school year and our students can go from school to school and still be on the same in the same place and the same month on the same type of um topic so they can try not that ours is the most transient population but if they were to move they would be able to be in the same you know be at the same spot and Andrea you gave us an email last week I'd like you to share some about what happened with your student and the
038we have students that have never had access to an iPad before and what a great experiences curriculum is fantastic because it's AG appropriate so even though we might read at a second third or fourth grade reading level you're reading things that are relevant and that high school kids would talk about and that's really important for them to feel a part of that High School community and being able to use an iPad for the first time our students went home and they were so excited about it and they could share what they did we we're getting Google Chrome up and running for some of our kids so they can go home can read the books at home with their family on the weekend instead of having on paper they can have cool stuff at home that's
039technology Savvy too and that's important for them to grow because that's something going to keep growing as well I actually had a need incident too with one of my students where she actually does push in for Science and socialized content um and it's really neat because since it aligns with the Common Core element common core standards the things that she was actually learning or going over in her regular ed class we were going over or we went over the month before so she's getting the exposure not only in my classroom but also when she pushes in with uh with her regular Ed peers so that's one thing that I thought was really cool is that they're not learning how to count 10 butterflies over and over and over again they're learning about George Washington Abraham
040Lincoln the start of our country the our region of the world um all these really neat things that are that are um actually age appropriate so I think that is one thing that we were lacking in the past is I think everybody had the best of intentions with this functional um mindset and there is definitely still room for that and definitely still a need for that but this really brings in some academic rigor and just melts the two together in a really nice way that we're getting the best of our results um when you mentioned the parents noticing growth is that um specifically the academic areas or is it uh confidence or functionality what what kind of growth specifically do they do they see um well just a couple examples that I've been told from
041parents is academically um couple of my students one of my students is non-verbal and she's speaking two to three word sentences is all of a sudden um and she can now count to five all by herself so I don't maybe it's just the repetition of the curriculum and the different the variety of it um but as long as we're sticking to the same objectives I mean she's getting it um and then another student um just I think because it's divided up in different levels there's a level one a level two and a level three that we can differentiate and pinpoint what this child needs where in the beginning of the school year he couldn't even sit down in a chair so being able to teach these students what they need and helping this curric this
042curriculum helping us guide these students where they need and at their level with iPads with pictures and getting him to be able to actually sit down in a chair and learn his great growth from where this child has come from so well just speaking of the technology as aspect of it too um like four out of my seven students are considered non-verbal and they do have talking devices um there's a one wonderful app out there called PR loo to go um which is for an iPad um and it's cool about that is it uses the same syx that uh unique does so I'm able to pull pictures right from the unique curriculum and put them right on his talking device so where this kid who it was so tough for him to participate in the
043past now he has a voice now he can just he can match the picture he can do things like that and participate and just to see like I'm lucky enough to have or fortunate enough to have a Smartboard in my room and just the different interactive things that I can do with lesson pulled from the curriculum onto the Smartboard and have the kids I've never the engagement is just amazing I'm used to them you know staring over there at the wall and now I can look across and they're all attending to what I'm telling them or what we're going over as a class Celeste um yeah Claudia had told me about this long ago when we first met and so good to see you again I'm just really glad to see this come to fruition
044and so we don't have any issues in terms of making sure that all the students in the classrooms are out fitted with whatever that they need there's no issues there no we um the special education department oh I'm hoping not the spe they can speak to me better but the special education department actually purchased um printers so that they all had access to printers in their classroom um we've come across the fact that they were running out of paper and their buildings didn't have a lot of paper so we purchased more paper for them now we're on to the ink so we purchased more ink for them um Kate meets with them every month well that's what I'll get you the Kate meets with them every month so that we can go make um work
045on collaboratively together to develop books and and collaborate about the the different units and what we can do with those units um in the meantime unique actually got the um iPad application so in order to save paper and whatnot we um now made a commitment to purchase a set of iPads for all of the classrooms the caveat is the teacher has to get trained on how to use the iPad before they are able to access the iPad these these three have um done so so they have their iPads so as the teachers are trained because we don't want to just put them out there and let them be toys we want them to be Educational Tools so they all have iPads um our next Endeavor is the smartboards so that we can be doing more
046interactive things and less paper and pencil okay is that part of the iPad purchase or is that separate in the special education budget that's separate in the special education budget closely with UC we purchased it and that's what Su weand is here she supported a lot of that roll out and the pro proo yes and she's been supporting of that supporting that but we worked closely with Diane and the technology department to ensure that we roll this out in the best possible manner okay that's good are you working with the therapists as well in terms of accessing the augmented communication devices yeah any kind of therapist the speech and language or OT um I do give access to the curriculum so they they know what I'm working on um I try to you know give
047my lessons ahead of time just so they know on what specific day what we're going over so they can reinforce that and with communication being so well between us um it works really well so like when the speech knows what we're working on what we're going over she can t her lessons to that too so it's it's really nice to be all on the same page and they were all trained in the curriculum too so that they were right there in alignment with the teachers the licenses for the curriculum are classroom based and so it's not like this teacher has a specific license to her it's for her class so any students or any teachers are therapists that are working with those students has access to that to that curriculum and we encourage anyone regular
048Ed teachers the therapist speech and language to get in there and see the curriculum and and take their share of the of the curriculum each month very good awesome um back to the uh chart on page two um there's plus greater than one point and plus one point um I guess I'm I'm just curious if this is is um what the uh I mean I assume unique has sort of the expectations for growth and built into the system and and um you describe it as a 12o scale is that 12 12 points between kindergarten and and high and 21 or is it by grade level anyway if you could just flush that a little bit more for me sure each monthly assessment which is called a checkpoint according to the the curriculum um is on
049a 12 point scale so it's each month they have a maximum of 12 points oh okay per whatever they are um tested in and so they most of the kids have a Content understanding reading math or word recognition assessment but then we also have our students who are more participatory um the maybe 1% of our population and then they have just one assessment each month and it covers all of those things in one combined assessment for a maximum of 12 points so it's really it's every month what are they maximizing themselves at and math is where we're seeing the greatest progress especially at the middle school level where our students have made a growth of over two points an average per assessment um a lot of times when we're talking about this population of student
050growth it's it's a long time coming and so I feel really successful in that just in the last four months of using the curriculum we're seeing gross of over a point and then two points I think that that's a real positive thing I think it's important parents and students to feel that way too you might feel like you hit a plateau but here you can actually show Al would be nice because I could see at the middle school I could look at where they were at and I could kind of tailor to what they need when they got to nth grade but right now I don't have any kind of measurement that's consistent look at that that would be really helpful for me I would know they the right support right and when Kate talked
051about the level the um level one combined and she said that was 1% that is our students with the most significant multiple cognitive and physical disabilities in the district so that's why they participate in the curriculum but they're make even they made a one point gain on the scale in um but their progress is even much slower than everyone else's so any other just uh a general comment it's it's nice to hear these good things going on I I guess what I I like uh about it that the kids nowadays have a way to Comm communicate better because you you you don't you don't know what's behind uh that body in in that brain that brain when that body is uh has uh severe disabilities and can't communicate back and uh you know maybe we
052have some more Steven Hawkins out there who knows U but uh I I think there there are more kids there that are a little brighter than we we think and I think you're seeing going be seeing that I agree and actually um Ashley shared a story with me this last week um student of hers who the beginning of the year I mean we were really challenged and and he um it was really hard to find an access point for him and to get him engaged and just last week it's I think it's my take on is the consistency of the symbols and the consistency throughout his day but now with the iPads and the symbols he actually will go and get the iPad and bring it and show you what he wants and use it
053as communication so I just I'm it's hard to uh paint the picture that if if you haven't seen it for yourself but it was really moving just to get that that email it gives you Goosebumps to know what a difference she's making so have you shown I mean that's a snazzy video too did you show that to some parents to help explain what's going on in the classroom or she created it just for you guys if you have a chance and I apprciate you're doing that it's good but it's the tiny print it's even at that rate it's hard to to read all it so if you have it standards right available for like hard copy if you're showing this to parents because if you were showing this to parents I don't know if they'd
054get all you're trying to say we do use we do use the um like the graphs of their progress for the assessments during um parent future conferences and a lot of parents have had questions about the program that we're using so I've just explained it during just parent teacher conferences and showed them the program okay and then showed them the graphs and how we track the assessments and progress or turn this into a PowerPoint rather than a video because it it's it's just snazzy I just thought wellow you know the parents would like it so yes yes but tiny tiny friend well they're younger than we are though I was impressed that Kate created that speak for yourself Wag has a you know if you would have let it go I would have have have
055another common question that's okay I I have to ask with the music it sounded a little bit like The Safaris are had its roots in The Safaris where who was the group where was the group the music the back your video background it was just the general music that came with that that video template sorry you do know who the safaris are right see I mean okay let's not go there is is there a downside to this curriculum that you've come across as you're working through it that you I've had to tweak or need honestly you know I use like I said I because I'm fortunate enough to have a Smartboard already I use a lot of technology and things like that and putting up on the Smartboard and stuff it's really interactive uh there's
056only been a couple instances when like either the technology slows down or it crashes or it won't print off the news article we create together and then I have to go through and redo it myself but other than that I mean as they work out the Kinks and they they get used to actually running this organic program it's uh not you know um organic it's always changing um um it it's been fine-tuned and you know there's a typo here and there but you just let them know and they correct it you know immediately so and there's about every lesson every month has probably 50 to 60 lessons and so as they're learning this curriculum they're having to sift through this to determine what oh I'm going to take this piece I'm going to tweak that
057piece so I imagine the initial review of it is time consuming and creating the materials is right now is time is timec consuming and I can just imagine from what I've heard comes in really handy yeah well and having the printers in our rooms it it helps phenomenally I mean like you never know having our kind of classrooms what you're going to get accomplished when you're going to get accomplished or if you're going to get that accomplished so you might get it done really fast then all of a sudden you're like well well I I can search for a filler Activity real quick that correlates with the standards correlates with what we're talking about and you can just print it off right then and there and hand it to kids and and go over with
058them on the on the board so it's really it's really neat just to have that at your fingertips at all times and the compan it's going to become more interactive too that's their future so just as our technology is growing they're going to so that's really great because usually it's the curriculum you get for about 13 or 14 years in that book and there it stays this curriculum is going to keep growing and changing that's so wonderful about it staying relevant all right any other questions or comments this is stck informational piece and we welcome you to come view any of their classrooms that's a great idea with just may call your mother John and she and I went to she and I went to high school together maybe we'll have lunch and go visit
059your classroom sounds like a great she didn't call you by your middle name John so you must be full Jonathan thank you thank you very much thank you okay now I've got to be back and we have revision to equal educational opportunities policy and Rule first reading that's barbin Melissa all right um Melissa and I have worked on this um as well as as on the next policy to try to make sure that the language in each of the policies um complements each other that that's identical language the reason that we're suggesting adding some of the language such as gender expression gender non-conformity um and sexual sexual orientation which is already in there is because we had sent out a memo but it was quite a while ago so I'm not sure if you guys
060still remember the memo about we when we did the youthis behavior survey with the students the group of students that felt the most threatened um were the lbgt students and they felt that they were being um more than four times more likely to be harassed at school because them perceived them to be gay lesbian or bisexual only 50% felt they belonged at school compared to 69% of their heterosexual peers and only 48% felt safe at school compared to 67 of their heterosexual peers so we also brought in a training called gsafe that um our administrators the the associate principles and social workers and counselors attended I was their human resource has attended that training as well and so that is the reason that we are asking to update first of all this policy and if
061I could just add um gsafe is working with school districts across the state to ensure that um students particularly in the bisexual and questioning category are recognized in our equal educational opportunities policies as well as our bullying and harassment policies because while the Discrimination on the basis of sex probably does include those students it's not explicit and um their research and working with various groups across the state indicates that by making That explicit in our policies it's clear to students that they too are protected from bullying and harassment and are given equal educational opportunities as well so that it's it's really just a clarification um the category of sex probably already includes this but we want to make sure that we're being as explicit as we can questions or comments Chris yes um the terminology
062you have in here did that come out of any regulations anywhere or or where' you find I mean it just seemed like it a little over top gender this gender that gender that that you couldn't have a more inclusive one term you know uh to use um GS safe is working with school districts across the state as I indicated and and when we gender identity gender expression and gender non-conformity are really three different things that um students who are um transgender or bisexual associate with and those three different um groupings make it explicit because a person who is gender identity might not um fall in the same as a gender expression could be a person who is female but comes across as being male and so that would be a gender expression gender identity would
063be a person who is female but wants to come off as being a male and as going through um a transgender process gender non-conformity would also be could be a person who is male who looks feminine but is not conforming to the the typical male stereotypes and other school districts and I I can't remember now off the top of my head um have adopted this identical language and we can get you that um information as to what other school districts have have adopted this language in their policies C so actually it just raises a maybe not a a important question but who it determines whether or not the student is a gender non-conformist when the student would file a bullying or harassment complaint they you need to identify yourself and identify what is your category
064and what is the basis of your complaint so the student would put that in in the complaint as the basis for their complaint so let's say let's say that you have a student who is a heterosexual girl but who is you know very athletic and other girls accuse her of being too masculine although she is comfortable being who she is and she is not an identified homosexual and so writing you know I don't how would she see herself as a gender non-conformist just because somebody else says that she is well we wouldn't ask students to use magic language because that's not necessary in a complaint but her her allegations in a complaint would signify gender non-conformity but in high school terms something a high school absolutely absolutely but we would call it gender non gender
065non-conformity well that that's what it is that would be gender non n Stu n it would be nonconformity of a certain traditional correct a a stereotypical stereotypic it would be not with problem that's a problem for me I'm but her identity I would think she she would need to identify I don't think we identify someone as non-conforming exactly oh I'm sorry that's not what that's not what I'm saying that's not what I'm saying the basis for the the um impermissible conduct would be because students are discriminating or bullying or harassing her based on their idea of what is gender conforming okay right not that we're identifying her as G conforming they're harassing her because she is not conforming to their their idea to their idea but I'm wondering who where is the locus of the
066non-conformity the locus of the non-conformity needs to be not with the student who is being harassed but the student we're saying the same thing all right the harass sorry that I not clear yeah this isn't used to label people it's used to identify purpose yeah but you know I mean documents matter words matter so okay all right okay yep all right any other questions or comments yes Chris is uh this also being considered for staff a similar policy well that would be um The Next Step that wouldn't fall under what I would do but that usually what happens is it does it will be considered by HR after this for staff oh my it doesn't have to be no I mean no I'm saying oh my that that's very I mean I think that's important
067it's again just to reiterate this really is already encapsulated in the category of discrimination on the basis of sex we're just being clear right as to this being okay any other questions or comments Andrew um it's not for this meeting but it's it's probably worth exploring where certainly it's it's horrible that um only half of homosexual students felt like they belonged in school it's not good either that less than 70% of the majority population feels like they belong either that's also for another time those survey results are concerning to me too uh Mrs der for those figures local figures or national or state figures from your survey local right we own that and is it you can't disaggregate though by school or yes you can okay so I just as a followup can you see
068a difference or is it pretty much oh I don't have it in front of me to segregated by school normally when we report out we don't no no and I'm not suggesting but I'm I we could we can obtain that information that it is possible to can and it is and it is shared where does this information go the information shared with the school leaders building leadership team so that they can focus on what goals they would need to focus on Renda this is also another discussion um not for tonight but um have we started to give consideration for bathroom restroom safety in our schools and we do offer some choices when we when those situations arise we've been able to handle okay so you do it on a Case by case so far that's
069what we've been and you think that that's providing um providing what students need 100% for I mean I'm just I guess I'm asking about the student that doesn't come forward and say I'm uncomfortable you know going into whatever the girls or the boys bathroom um I mean I know it's complicated when you have you know six stall eight stall bathrooms and things like that you know we we don't know that a students not comfortable using the bathroom unless they do come forward so we do need some um information from the student we've we have been working with a few of the issues um this school year and just as um you know no one is is similar no student who would like a bathroom accommodation their their requests and what makes them feel comfortable with
070a bathroom accommodation is the same either so it really is working on a case-by Case basis and gsafe has been an excellent resource when um we've had these situations and when there have been the little nuances that while one situation worked well for one student it may not work well for another student so it's really just having a really good conversation with the student and the staff and working through those situations on on a case-by Case basis and I think also chiming in I was looking at Andrew because I did do some research last year regarding the number of newx bathrooms that we have in our facility and Michael was able to provide me with that data which I don't have in front of me um but we do have we do a pretty decent
071amount of and the signage is yeah I think the signage is is I mean it it just has female male pictur like is it is it or is it staff only or is it you know family how the labeling is no I mean you can if you go into Southwest for example off of the auditorium as you come in that's a unisex bathroom that's very clearly labeled unisex bathroom so I mean again I can get the information and Mike was very helpful and pulling up every detail for me um but I I think I was pleased to see that we at least are moving and thinking about that when we look at our building plans um and I think there were more than I antip good it's interesting I um study at the St Norbert
072library and they converted just in probably the beginning of this semester um the bathrooms in the library which are you know single door single bathrooms um but the signage on them is very clear that it's that it's not only for males and females but it say something about you know um says all gender and then gender expression gender you know and they they label it um was interesting I hadn't seen I hadn't seen that kind of signage before and I think we prob put some effort into making sure looking at those especially if we have the you know the the places where it's easy to just make it that way like I said when you have our bigger bathrooms with multiple stalls in them it's much harder to do that with and not every student
073wants to use bathroom either so it's also um working out what is the most safe and appropriate option for all students and and not every student wants to use yeah the unisex or the um staff bathroom me I just say um I hope that it never comes a point where a person that isn't doesn't fall into any of these that falls into any of these three categories doesn't have to read The District board policy as it comes to them but I do think that this helps with a greater in inclusivity of all three of these categories them being distinct I agree and really helps with the proactivity of the district and protecting any issues that should arise hopefully they don't but I think this is a good Andrew um you know I was and I
074appreciate Kim it was within a couple of days I think I got a the account back and it was 159 or it was very very high it was very high um I reported that back to um one of my operation snowball directors who also is um State and um a Statewide LGBT uh leader and what he said to me was basically it um sounds good now he is from another District he was happy to hear about it um asking around uh within some of his leadership circles the the feed back that I don't know this is secondhand by now but what came back to me was kind of while that's amazing that we have 159 of them and no one has ever heard of them and neither have you know neither the teachers don't know
075either so yeah and I think that just goes back to what I said before I think they exist and and how we let our students and our staff know that they're there and how they're identified is probably something that as we move forward to try to um accomodate that we need to take a look at um I just happen to know about South W cuz I know when I come in it's right there and I see it I don't you know I haven't been in the other buildings to look for those but um yeah I mean I think we could look at how we're identifying them and how we're sharing that but well and I do we do we need to maybe we can look at you do we even need to have people requesting
076them or can we just get to a point of okay I have to go to the bathroom oh there's a there's a gender neutral restroom I'm going to use it so what I I would that's what we do well I think now I think there's a I think there's a perception I'll bring it back to some of my student group I I think there's a perception that you have to like be on a list or or something besides getting the map and getting you the numbers I I think we did a lot more research with it but I I think that's all part of our educational plan on you know what Barb works on on a regular basis and trying to help our staff and students feel safe did you want oh I was just
077I Andrew went right where my head went just to make sure that you know I would hope the day comes when you don't need permission to use a gender neutral bathroom um I think that having to go ask for permission or making sure Administration knows is is as problematic you should be able to just use the restroom right you know and wherever you're most comfortable and and I would expect that there could be um not only only students that would follow in protected classes but there might even be other students who have medical issues or things that they would prefer to have hled by someone and yeah and they just need the priv is on us to just let people know they're avail a we're not the bom is lock Ava for anyone who wants
078to it but I'm guessing there's a feeling perhaps by our students that they need to have permission to use that bathroom because it's probably in their head an adult sure Chris Mrs DF do all the schools now or Miss Paula all the schools now have lb uh GT clubs all the high schools oh the all the high schools do and so it seems to me that would be a source to go back to to see what concerns they have be it bathrooms or anything else I mean involve the the kids with it uh since you added these three areas of gender you still need the the term sexual orientation in there and then a question right after that is why did you take out mental emotional or learning attributes we I believe still need sexual
079orientation because it's different than gender identity gender expression and gender nonconformity um so I I I that's different and um why did we take govern emotional and those are spelled out in the rules I can't remember status or physical I know the gender part spell out as sexual orientation SP out B is protected by state or federal law right we took it out because it's disability handicap or any other basis Protect by federal law or state law and to make it consistent with with the bullying and harassment policy as well yeah any other question just to just to be clear I think the um correct me if I'm wrong I think the um the leader the leadership groups that focus on LGBT issues are they're all gsas right Cas trade alliances you wouldn't have a
080you wouldn't probably lab and have LGBT club which I'm sure that's not what you meant but we usually it's a gay straight AI thank yes um that's what it's identified for us in our Infinite Campus Club and activity roster GSA gsaa okay all right any other questions or comments hearing none we'll move that forward and we will go on to The Bullying The Bullying revisions to harassment and or bullying of students policy so we added the word parental um y I can take it sure um again we wanted to make the language similar to the previous policy we just reviewed so we needed to Adder the word parental because that also so um marital or parental status marital status no longer includes parental status because not all parents are married um and then um gender
081we added the gender expression and gender non-conformity we had already had gender identity in this policy and again to make sure that we're clear about the differences between gender identity gender expression and gender non-conformity so same as the previous policy okay and any questions or comments I just want to make sure it's also looked at in terms of Staff place um I think Randy is here and um Randy can start looking at the the policy with staff as well as our staff handbook thank you thank you any other questions or comments hearing none we'll move that forward thank you just a reminder that policy takes two readings Yep this was the bet you I just got out of everything oh there you go all right and that concludes our teaching and learning work session all
082right thank you Katie next we'll move to the operation uh support work session or organizational support work session um and that'll be facilitated by all right uh for discussion items under business and finance we have none under Human Resources we have the uh job description for pupil Services secretary job description good evening we um we have one uh update to a job description which actually comes uh through a position underneath uh Barb where's Barb she I'm sorry I don't okay I don't need I don't need Barb's watch Barb here um this is a position um that's been held by employee that's evolved over a number of years into a position that has a different role than what it has before and Barb has come forward with some information about how she would like to have
083that position look thank you um the the position had never been part of the clerical Union um for many years it was um the person in that position supported indanet and it was a halftime position and um in order for the the person to have been actually at the level where the clerical were being paid they would have that person would have been paid more than the home school coordinators and that was not going to be okay because the grant only allowed for so much money so while the person was doing the work of a clerical because of the grant funding all we could offer was a certain amount of money well that continued on until this became a full-time position um it was within my office became at risk it was mck vento it
084was Indian Ed it was several other grants and the position really grew and then We Came Upon like the freeze of of salaries and so for the last really 3 to four years there there has not been an opportunity so now um in working with Jean and and Kim and Randy we they her position this person's position was analyzed and it was found to be much like a pupil services clerical position level four and so the position description was Rewritten and what we want to do is is try to bring this position to where it should be and and compensate it at the level in which the work is being done okay which is Grant funded which is all Grant funded none of it it will be paid through um District funding um and she
085supports many many grants that we get okay sounds good any just what what Gan has and and the team have been trying to do in HR is really bring these positions into alignment so the job descriptions really reflect what people are doing um and I think Ruth has been done the person we're talking about whether she but whether it's her or not in this position this is needed and and it's it makes great sense you alignment with what person is doing so that that is correct we we're doing a look at a lot of positions right now to bring them all up to date to make sure that they're accurate for the work that's being done this particular position um is a a person who's been in the position it won't be posted as a
086new position typically when a position is ACC Creed into a bargain unit the uh existing employee moves into that position um so it' be Our intention to allow this person to move directly into the position that she's been doing other questions just an acronym do grants what is do Department of Justice sorry Department of that's okay you know yeah just doj not do doj doj thought I C all knew bar knew what I meant yep thank you bar that's right Chris if I may piggy back on uh the comments uh I Believe hr's been finding a lot of little Oddball positions by a lot I mean several I should say uh and I appreciate that they are spotting them bringing them forward like this to make sure these uh employees are recognized and compensated uh
087in a just and Equitable manner that's correct that's good anything else oh I think it's a good thing that you put that it's Grant funded on the job description so I'm not sure that I had I've seen that before I just don't recall but are right I think that's important is is it permanently Grant funded or well it has been in my 11 years of tenure here we we're good at writing grants in my department so so the intent is to have it be Grant funded for but it's it's aligned with programs that are right all these different description of the job that when you're writing the grants it yep put in some for you always put in some money for support okay excuse me Andrew would you call it Chris I was trying to
088he wasn't looking at me Chris oh I'm sorry soting I still K's meeting I apologize um I didn't get my my nap today I do we have other besides clerical do we have other staff members uh such as teachers that are being paid uh totally through grants would you know that off hand yes I would know if some um and I guess my question is do we have in their job description that they're paid by a grant and so I I'm not sure can I it helps one way or another what purpose we could certainly provide that information well I think I think it's if it's a grand funded POS especially this position in particular all your 11 years that you've been here it's been Grant funded I think it's important to this is a
089public document I think it's important to put that on there but if there's some you know variability with whether or not a particular position is Grant funded then I'm not sure that it's necessary to put that out there I mean I think I leave that up to the Judgment of the staff I think the significance of putting Grant funded would let me know if I were yes exactly that's exactly right I mean I I think that it's tied to it's TI tied to the saying that's right I think it was our intent to let yep first of all I think to let you know that it wouldn't be an increase in District dollars because it's Grant funded but in the job description I I think I would want to know that if I applying for
090a job but could post it somewhere else as well question okay then that begs a question if we didn't have the grant funding for this position would we need this position anyway we would need the mckin vental part of it if we did not get the mckin vento grant because we're fortunate enough to have gotten the grant every year but the work that has to be done has to be done by districts who don't get the grant every year so the point five that she supports mckin vento we would have to provide them M evental support so um that that we would need at risk probably um but you know we have to we have by by the law we need to still do at risk we just no longer get funded for at risk
091we were getting funded for at risk just kind of absorbed that work that to10 into this position being funded by other grants because this position deals with a lot of risk students so it it didn't go over to a district um you know to a district funded person but we still have to do the atrisk work but there's no more funding from from the state so I think Katie what we would need to do with the grant ended was sit down like we do with all of our staffing pieces and determine whether there's continues to be a need is there somewhere else to locate the work if we don't and then would be funded as a district if it is still needed so we have to go through that decision making process at that time
092okay these are three three and four year grants they're not one-ear grants okay so we know we have stability and there's currently a person in this position okay because I'm I'm attending to your point Kim in that when you see that something is Grant funded that is going to discourage some people from applying M and I'm going to be careful not to not to do that don't have to okay thank you anyone else okay we'll move that forward and that's the only item in organizational support all right thanks Andrew um we do have a closed session tonight so I'll read that motion closed session is the scheduled for Monday March 3rd immediately following the adment of the work session meetings at the district office building pursuant to statute 19.8 51g conferring with legal councel for
093the governmental body who is rendering oral or written advice concerning strategy to be adopted by the body with respect to litigation in which it is or is likely to become involved to it potential litigation matters pursuant to Wisconsin statute 8 19851 C considering ENT promotion compensation or performance evaluation data of any Public Employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction for exercises responsibility in pursuant to Wisconsin statute 19.88 51f considering Financial medical social or personal history or disciplinary data of specific person's preliminary consideration of specific Personnel problems or the investigation of charges against specific persons except for 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 in such histories or data or involved in such problems or investigations to
094ITT Personnel matters and pursuant to Wisconsin statute 19851 e deliberating or negotiating the purchasing of public properties the invest in of public funds or conducting other specified public business whatever competitive or bargaining reasons require a close session more specifically to it potential property contract the meeting will begin an open session to consider the appropriate motion for a closed session so provided by law so move second Maloney hi Warren hi France hi Jeff hi Becker hi hi we move across the hall [Music] what's your tomorrow for more information or to obtain copies of this program contact cesa7 Interactive Learning services at [Music]