001Good afternoon everyone. It is 4:31 and I would like to call this special school board meeting to order. Um and I also I've asked Nolan Jacket to chair the meeting as I have been dealing with a migraine all day. So I will let Nolan take it from here. Thank you Tracy. Uh Marie, could you get us started with a roll call, please? Okay. Tracy Hennis here. Nolan Jacket here. Heather Barry here. Tiffany Stapleton, Kenneth Miller here. All right. And we will move on to the adoption of the agenda. Uh before that, I would like to make a motion to amend the agenda to note that we did do the roll call. It was not included in the print out we had. So, I'd like to make a motion to amend the agenda to show that
002we did do the roll call. I'll second that amendment. All right. Any other other discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? And that passes. Uh, next is the pledge of allegiance. Ethan, I heard you were uh leaving the pledge for us tonight. All right. Do we have anyone signed up for public comments tonight? Yes, we do. We have Louise Shrunk. Do you have the uh orange sheet up there? All right, I am going to read off our notes on the public comments beforehand. Uh the public comments for this meeting is limited to items that are posted on the agenda and shall be limited to 30 minutes with each individual being allotted no more than three minutes unless extended by a vote of the board. The board or administration may respond to your comments at a
003later date. We may also provide uh you may also provide your comments of copies to each board member and the superintendent. No public comments will be heard that the presiding officer deems to be critical of any individual or group either by name or by reference. Also, per board policy, the presiding officer may interrupt, warn, or terminate a speaker statement when the statement becomes too lengthy or is personally direct directed, abusive, obscene, or irrelevant. Please direct such comments to the principal or their superintendent for administrative action. Comments on other agenda items and non-aggenda items should be submitted in writing or email with copies to each board member and the superintendent. All right, Louise, time is yours. Okay. Politics are inherently complex and that is precisely why districts strive to remain neutral. Our schools should be places
004where students I didn't hear which agenda item. The agenda item is title N. Thank you. Title six. Title six. The will letter. The title six. Thank you. Thank you. Our school should be placed where students come first always. Nowhere in your mission or vision statements is there mention of political bias or alignment. And yet react recent actions suggest otherwise. I am here to express my concern regarding the board's decision not to support DPI on the matter of title 6 last year. Now appears that this decision may be jeopardizing our funding. It is in this case it raises serious questions about the board's ability to represent the interest of our entire student body and community. Frankly, I find this deeply disappointing. Additionally, I would like to know how much taxpayer money was spent on a letter
005drafted by Will. For those unfamiliar with Will, it is a conservative interest law firm and that has historically opposed our governor, DPI, and public education initiatives. Their involvement raises concerns about the motivation behind recent board decisions. Let me remind you, positions on this board should never be used for political gain or endorsements. The Hartford community deserves transparency and accountability. We must remain viligent and aware of the affiliations and influences that extend beyond the walls of our schools. I urge the board to refocus on what truly matters, our students, to ensure that all decisions reflect the values of equity, inclusion, and educational ex excellence, even if our federal government disagrees. Thank you. All right. Thank you. We will be moving on to items for discussion and possible action starting with uh personnel recommendations. Is there any
006discussion on the personnel recommendations in our packet? We're just excited to welcome a number of new staff members uh to our district. And so we extend a very warm welcome and as I had indicated, we're just excited to continue to hire great hires as we move forward into the 2526 school year. All right, we love to hear that. Uh any other discussion? just glad that we are um hiring people quickly um getting through the applicants in an efficient manner and it's good good to see that there are a significant amount of hires on this list for tonight. Thank you. All right. Do I have a motion to approve the personnel recommendations? I'll make a motion to approve the personal recommendations as presented. I'll second. All right. Motion by Tracy, seconded by Heather. All in favor?
007I I. Any opposed? And that passes. No. Nolan, I do believe that that was supposed to be a roll call. Was that that was supposed to be a roll call? Okay, we a roll call vote starting with Tracy. I I I I Thank you. All right. Now, uh 3B, we have the referendum bid package for the pool. Hello everyone. M. Maybe I need to get closer. Just a little closer to the microphone. Yeah. Uh going through our second bid package here for the referendum project. scope primarily we'll get into is the pool uh repairs and needed uh work done to incorporate that scope into the project. Do you want to say anything at all to start? No, I think just kind of overarching with the second bid package, first bid package, we had great coverage.
008Um this one we still have very good coverage. Um having three bids in most categories. Um there's a couple that were a little lighter and I think that may have been a product of just the timing of when this came out to bid and and the work that people were already signed up for. Also, the size of some of the packages was um relatively small. Um so you sometimes see less interest if it's a smaller package and more specialized. So Ethan's going to go through an agenda and kind of talk through the results and and we'll take any questions. All right, let's try this out. Awesome. So, as we said, targeting the pool specifically and only with this bid package. I put a circle around it from this view because part of the scope of
009this was to add roof replacement this summer at the pool. Um, this specific section of roofing doesn't make sense for us to hit next summer when we've already finished the pool, the pool is filled with water, anything that comes out of the at that time falls into the pool and needs to be cleaned out. So, it is the also the only area left with a ballasted roof, meaning that there's essentially rocks holding the roof down and it'll be replaced with a fully adhered roof, which means it's it's glued down uh being the only spot that uh needs to be addressed in that way. Within the pool space itself, the main the main star of the show is the the gutter system repair and replacement. uh through testing earlier this spring, last fall, uh determining that
010is where the leak was, the the source of the leak. Um the pool, just as an FYI, we drained it back in February, so it has not been leaking. Tracy's been very happy to see her water bills go down in that sense. Um, but replacing that involves cutting the old gutter system out and replacing with a continuous stainless steel gutter around the entire perimeter and tying that back into the pool's mechanical systems as they exist. So the we're addressing the problem right where it exists within the pool gutter system only uh is is the correct fix to take care of the leaking in that respect. There was also um some concern with moisture in the pool as as obviously the pool is full of moisture but also for that moisture getting into the steel the
011structure behind the wall finishes. Um the moisture uh typically would be stopped by a vapor barrier and that's what we're going to be adding in the orange line around the entire space keeping the moisture within the pool space and isolated from the outside. And as I mentioned the roofing over the pool You don't want to be losing heat out the top is potential situations in Wisconsin. It's 85 to 90 degrees in the pool and minus 10 6 in outside the walls. Um that thermal transfer really needs to be addressed in order to prevent maintenance issues in the in the future, degradation of the structure. Um a whole sorts of things to do with water going places it shouldn't. So, uh, our bid results as they came in are on the screen. We had very good
012coverage in most categories. Some of the smaller categories, as Ryan mentioned, had less coverage, but still competitive, um, to what our budgets were expecting. Um, the biggest piece on this was the pool repairs. Uh, I feel honestly the most confident about the two contractors who bid that, being the only two pool contractors in the state. Both of them had the budgeting version of drawings a month or more in advance. So they knew this was coming. They were prepared to take a look at it competitively and and Newman Pools came in as the low bidder uh in that contracting um in that work category. Another piece kind of you'll notice there's an alternate included in this. Our base scope for the ceiling fan, a 20 foot diameter fan in the pool. the base scope was to
013pull it down, repaint it, and reinstall it. Um, the premium to do so was uh about $15,000 as opposed to replacing it with a brand new fan, which potentially would have less maintenance issues down the road. Um, and whenever you take something down that's been up for 15 to 20 years and then reinstall it, there's concerns with its longevity after that point. Whereas here starting from starting from new uh we felt given the budget situation it was a was the best option to proceed with. Um at the end we have a little uh rendering to take a look at what the interior finishes look like. Uh, the tile piece on this is essentially 9 ft of tile around the whole perimeter, mimicking what's in there, but with an updated look, not the yellowish uh color
014that's currently in there. Going with a white tile, making a lot more clean. And in here also the epoxy flooring piece is covering the entire floor with instead of a ceramic tiles but a monolithic epoxy flooring which gives you better grip uh better leak protection and and just easier to clean as well for custodial staff. Um are there any questions on any of these scopes and what might be included or as a part of them? Any questions about the pool space itself too? Updated lighting I didn't mention should make the much more uh kind of a vibrant space. Ethan, I guess the question I just have is that for folks who might want a chance to look at what the future look is of the pools, the pool area itself, will those renderings be available
015before our next regular meeting? Yes. Um, I think I don't remember where the print out went. We could It's left behind here somewhere in the school. Um, but it's also in the presentation here. Uh, seeing what that that's going to look like once we're completed. We're not to this slide yet, but I quick flipped ahead. It looks good. But yes, we have those those imagery is all done and those renderings that can be shared and used by the district to communicate out what the space is going to look like. Was there some detail added behind the bleachers in discussion? I can't remember. We left it open with this. We wanted to see how the bid package came together before we added that scope in. There was thought of having an oral on the back wall,
016a large decal of some sort. Um, but we wanted to make sure these numbers came in favorable before adding that to the base scope, I believe. So, smart I just want to say I appreciate how you broke down um the different bids and the results. I love seeing the the final bids versus budget table. So, thank you very much for providing that very clearly for everyone. Like to second that that I appreciate that. Yes. And I think one one thing to note um the roof replacement would have been budgeted with the roof which would be next summer. So that actually helped so that that amount came over into the pool above and beyond the amount that we had budgeted for the pool because it was budgeted somewhere else if that makes sense. Um but as
017Ethan said it made sense to do it this year while all the work is being done in that area. Um, so that's that's also attributing to why our our budget savings is is even better, right? Because it was something we we can do. It was budgeted somewhere else, not within the 1.5 million roughly dollars. Yeah. All right. Uh, thank you guys. That was really great. Does anybody have any other questions or discussions for this agenda item? All right. Do we have any motions to approve the projects? I'd like to make a motion to uh approve the referendum bid package number two for the pool. All right. I will second that. This is a roll call vote again. So, we will start with Heather. Yes. I I I I and that is approved. Moving on to
018the title six letter. Thank you. Thank you guys. So this is a topic that the board wanted to discuss tonight. Um and we just as a reminder we did uh sign the certification around the reminder of legal legal obligations undertaken in exchange and that was advised that there was greater risk um with not taking action on the certification by our legal um that in terms of the possibility of subject to investigation and then greater inquiry by the DOJ. So that was something that we were um told would have greater risk by not signing it. Um the current letter that is attached was not written by our legal um representative and indicated that there was not necessarily a benefit nor a risk from um signing or or not signing. So the attached letter is on there
019for the board's discussion. And I can add that I did reach out to Corey Brewer from Will. I'm not quite which board members all received um the the emails regarding if our district would be interested in joining this coalition. I'm not sure if it came to just board presidents or if other board members did receive it. Um so I thought I'd just share a little bit of what was in the emails and then my discussion with Corey Brewer. Um the deadline for the deadline they gave school boards to join this coalition was May 30th, but she said that is there's still an opportunity to join the coalition if we decide to after this discussion tonight or in the future. Um basically like Stacy said, you know, we have been advised it's it's it's a good
020idea for HHS to submit independently that yes, you know, when the Department of Ed um asked for districts to declare that they are I'm sorry I'm missing my point here. Um definitely you know using practices that are not struggling with my that were not discriminatory. So all of our policies 2260 um 2266 the non-discrimination within programs have always been in existence. So essentially the first letter that we were advised to sign on was essentially just indicating that we do not um you know condone or promote discrimination within our programs. And so that was the initial letter that was put forth uh the reminder of legal obligations undertaken. Um and that was in April that that was signed. And so in effect, um, the Department of Ed was asking for this to be done by districts
021and by by state education agencies. Wisconsin's Department of Public Instruction declined to submit the form. Um, and so it was up to individual districts to submit on their own in Wisconsin. And so that's why we chose to do that because we did not want to lose any access or potential access to federal funding for our school district. So that's why we decided to go ahead and do that independently. Um there are quite a few districts around the state who decided to do that. And so Will is forming this coalition of districts who either did file independently or are willing and just signing on to this coalition to help ensure that um it is confirmed that there that they are compliant to the Department of Ed is asking in terms of non-discrimination practices and to protect
022our access to federal funding. Um this is particularly important in situations where state officials have declined to comply with the department of ed. So in effect is to help make sure that we do get access to federal funding for education. All right. I guess there is no cost. Okay. I guess my first question here is that like with sending this letter off in the first paragraph it talks about looking for guidance. I guess I'm just kind of curious as to what that is. I mean, because we signed that letter back in April saying that we're, you know, compliant with being non-discriminatory. Uh, but what what else would we be looking for additionally by sending this off? Well, unfortunately, when the Department of Ed put this out, they didn't provide a whole lot of details. They
023just said, do this or you could lose funding. And so, what Will is trying to do is going to the Department of Ed saying, you know, give us more details here. And we might being in Wisconsin, other states may have that coming through their state education agency down to the districts, but Wisconsin is involved in a lawsuit um against this and so we may not easily access that information. Will is helping us as a school district in Wisconsin to help access that information. And just for reference, at the time that that was signed, um the initial document that was signed by the district, there was about quarter of the states that the state agencies were not certifying. So the quarter of the states that had state agencies that were not certified, that's where that initial
024letter um came to fruition and was advised, we were advised by legal to sign that letter um that there was a greater risk of not signing it. We have approximately a million dollars in title or probably about a million dollars in funds uh between special education launch title one two three four um flow through funds. Did I miss any rough? Okay. And I know that um through the resources that I've been able to access and through um attending the will conference and speaking with people at will, I know that they strive to present balanced information. Um and so I've been pretty impressed with how much they do maintain that balance. I think this is another action that to me helps us have that balance. I mean, yes, we are a school district in the state
025of Wisconsin, but yes, we do also, like Stacy said, we do also have funding come coming from the federal education agency as well. And so, it helps us kind of maintain that balance. All right. Is there any other discussion on this agenda item? I will say Corey said if we had any specific or further questions that she could answer um as a result of this discussion tonight, I can bring those forward to her and she can help clarify for the board if there's more information that we need. Basically, I think what this does for us is it gives us more power together with other districts and we're going to get this this information for free if we have any issues in the in the future. um just relying on our our personal law firm for
026the district which is a solid law firm. I have confidence in them too. That will cost us money. Whereas joining this coalition with Will, we're getting that that information and that we're basically just getting that for free as being a part of this coalition. So our our legal advice was it it doesn't hurt us to join it, right? the legal advice was that there really was not a risk nor a great benefit of joining it um either way. So that was the legal advice that we received. Hi Tiffany. Marie, can you have the record state that Tiffany joined us? Thank you. All right. Any other discussion? All right. None being heard. Uh do we have a motion to approve the letter as presented? Motion to approve as presented. All right. Anybody second? I'll second. All
027right. Motion by Ken, seconded by Heather. All in favor say I. I. All opposed. All right. And that motion passes. Uh, all right. Moving on. Policy 7250, naming of school facilities or areas. I guess Tiffany, did you vote on that one? Just so we know for the record. Okay, thank you. Sorry, I didn't hear it. Good catch. Uh, all right. Okay, so the next set of policies relate to the naming of school facilities, gifts, grants. We're truly grateful for our community who has been incredibly generous. um over time and so we are just simply updating these policies. The first one is the commemoration of school facilities. Um and so indicated in there would be the Neola update um which I can certainly not read word for word and let you take a look at it
028but essentially from time to time the board may wish to obviously commemorate um a facility by means of naming that facility etc. Um, so that is really just an update. There's not a significant change necessarily um in that first policy 7250. And I'll stop there if there's any questions um as we move forward. I should note too that if there is for example and we'll talk about this perhaps when we move into gifts, grants and bequests, but if for example there would be a large um donation for a particular um area of a facility that would be named um we would enter into for example a contract so that the person who is donating as well as the school district would have a clear understanding what the expectations are um on both ends. of that
029donation. All right, it looks solid to me. All right, any other discussion on the agenda item? All right, with none being heard, do I have a motion to approve? I'll make a motion to approve polic 7250, the naming of school facilities or areas as presented. I will make a second on that motion. All in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? And that item is approved. Moving on to uh 7230, gifts, grants, and bequests. So 7230 again just really outlines the procedures governing the acceptance and administration of gifts, grants, and bequests. uh through the district and so really aligning with the district's goals etc. In this particular um revision we are looking at that the district indicates the district shall provide written acknowledgement to the donor of any cash or non-cash accepted donations and this
030is something that we do um as a practice and so we do that as well as recognizing certainly at the board meetings. So that was a change um which reflected our current practice as well as that we provide the appropriate tax forms to that donor. Um it is the district that does that. So just some minor changes there. the bottom moved from $5,000 to $1,000 or more in terms of if we have any equipment um that is purchased by a non-district um entity essentially or parent organization that will be used for district property um that essentially is um analyzed and accepted prior to that purchase which really again from a practice standpoint we work closely um as an administrative team to intake those donations and kind of work through those to asssure that they align
031with the goals whether it's academic or extracurricular or activities. So just provides that um overview of that and I believe that's all from the NEO update. All right. Thank you. Do we have any more discussion on 7230 for gifts grants and requests? All right. None being heard. Do I have a motion to approve? Motion to approve policy 7230 gifts grants and requests as presented. And I will go ahead and second that. Uh all in favor please say I. I. I. Any opposed? And that policy is approved. Moving on to the administrative guidelines for policy 7230. So this really ensures the um more comprehensive or in detail guidelines and intaking. And so what has been added to the NEOLA update is that the gift or donation does not um that it's not incompatible or inconsistent with
032an existing program or equipment or requires specialized support or maintenance. Um it doesn't meet district standards. Um require additional space. And so those pieces were added and quite frankly something that over time has been considered certainly as we accept um donations or gifts as we take them in. And then at there also is a piece added under I um that really this section says these are the gifts and donations that must not and it indicates what they should not do. We did put in there, unless defined by an individual contract, which is what I referred to um two policies ago, um that if there is, for example, a donation that necessitates or provides us the opportunity to allow for recognition of that um company or individual. Um that would be defined by a contract. So,
033it wouldn't preclude us from doing that. Um, and that's really those are kind of the key updates of that policy. Thank you. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but administrative guidelines don't have to be approved by the board, do they? They have not historically, but we are bringing them to the board for an overview and transparency. I want to say I appreciate that. I appreciate the discussion that I was able to have with Stacy regarding this administrative guidine. And I think it's important for board members to have a better understanding of how our policies are translated in practice um by our administration and our staff. Yeah, I enjoy seeing that too. Uh is there any other discussion on the administrative guideline updates? All right, so since those do not have to be approved by us,
034uh are we good to move on to the next agenda item then? Mhm. All right. Wonderful. So we are going to policy 7250.01 01 memorials for staff and students. Yes. And under this revision there is just very minor um under the memorials are permissible only after proposal is approved by the district administrator. We are also adding the board rather than the board being informed of such permanent memorials. So really incorporating a discussion um certainly at the board level and community level as well. And that's the only uh revisions. All right. Do we have any further discussion on this policy? I just think it's um a nice change. Thank you for that, Stacy. I think it's good to see the collaboration and collaborative decision making, specifically when you're looking at something of this level. I think
035it's important. So, thank you. All right. And any other further discussion? None being heard. Do we have a motion? I'll make a motion to approve policy 7250.01 memorials for staff and students as presented. Second. All right. Motion by Tracy, seconded by Ken. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? And that policy passes. All right. Next up is the German to close session. All right. Uh do we do here? I'll read it off first. I think legally we're supposed to read the reasons why we're going to close session and then make the motion. All right. Let's just All right. Wisconsin statute uh 19.851E. 851E uh to deliberate or negotiate the purchase of public properties, the investment of district funds, or the conduct of other board business uh whenever competitive or bargaining reasons acquire a close
036session specifically for negotiations with the Hartford Education Association and as well as uh Wisconsin statute 19.851C 851c considering employment promotion compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or expresses responsibility 19.851c specifically support staff certified staff and administrative compensation. Do I have a motion to journ a close session? So moved. All right. And do I have a second? All right. Motion by Tracy, seconded by Ken. This is a roll call vote. Uh Ken. Ken, we start with you. I I I All right. Thank you. And we are going into close session. Uh, if there aren't