001Welcome everyone to tonight's meeting of the school board of the of Hudson. We'd like to stand for the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay, first on the agenda is the winter athletics recognitions. Aaron and Tim are here or just Aaron? >> Just Aaron. All right, thanks for having us. Busy room tonight. >> Good. >> Thanks for having us tonight. Uh, winter athletics recognition. It's been a very busy winter, tons of success, lots of conference championships, couple state championships, which was a lot of fun, too. Great accomplishments across the board. Couple things to highlight. Tim, if you want to go to that first slide for us, department. Um, we
002focus a lot on collective efforts across the board. Top GPA is one of the great things I like to point out. Believe it or not, it's incredibly competitive. There are multiple kids that would be in this position in a lot of different schools. We've got such a great collection of kids performing at a high level, not only behind me, you know, in their respective sports, but also in the classroom. Um, we have four conference champions this winter. That's almost half of the conference in perspective. We had that we had six state qualifiers, combinations of teams and individuals, and then three state champions accounting for five different state championships, meaning the Raiders won in two events. It's not common. It's becoming a little more common for us because they're they're cruising along, but they won both
003kick and jazz. And cheer and stunt are also backto back state champions as a team. And they also small group qualify and win state and then our first ever Big Rivers Conference and Hudson High School girls wrestling champion Mary Prescott. So, tons of highlevel celebrations and I'll let them get to the bottom of what they're going to talk about sports specific, but I did want to point out one picture in the middle of that slide is actually a something that just is really great and I wanted to, you know, thank this community for is from top to bottom, young to old. That's a picture of our sectional final hockey game and there were a bunch of little elementary school, I don't know what it squirts, um, but they cheered our team on. heading out for
004the third period at our sectional final game. We're chanting in the hallway. It was just one of those cool moments reminding you why we do what we do. K through 12, all of our kids coming together. And I know as much as our high schoolers maybe in that moment don't realize it, what those little kids look up to makes a huge difference. So, I've got some of those in my house. But great leaders behind me here. Looking forward to getting started with boys basketball. Uh we started the season rough, but by the end of the but by the end of the year we had a 17-8 record and we ended up splitting conference with River Falls. Uh we had an overall successful year improved throughout the year as a whole and had a better record
005than we did in the 2024 2025 season. Uh some of our accomplishments, we were BRC co- champions. Uh we got our first home playoff game. Um one player leading the BRC in points, uh growth and leadership and teamwork. And we hosted a cancer fundraiser night um guarding against cancer. So that was some of our accomplishments. [applause] Um, we had a successful season and we also tied for conference. This year we grew as a whole by committing ourselves with hard We tied the Big Rivers Conference with Rice Lake. We had two players get first team BR LBRC, one player get second team LBRC and two players with honorable mention and we also posted. >> Thank you. [applause] Um, Hudson had a very successful season with varsity and JB traveling mostly across the state. We managed to
006push through a lot of fatigue and had competitive success. >> Um, we won the state championship in the traditional vision. Um, varsity made school history by being the first ever backto-back state champion cheer team and we outscored last year's team with a score of 108.5. And then our JV team also placed fourth at jump state. [applause] >> We had a good year. We got second in our conference and then we also got third in our section. We had 14 gymnasts which shows the growth that our program has. Um this year we got a new practice space at North Hudson. So we finally got a full-size floor and then we also able to use this for youth classes through community ed. We hosted a pinkout meet and we raised over $1,000 to donate to Rhinos. And
007then like I said before we placed second in our conference and we had four individuals who went to state. >> Thank you. [applause] Our 205 206 season was successful with a lot of team growth and hard work. Uh we continuously improved upon last season and got closer as a team both on and off. Um we took first in our tournament which was really fun. Um we had one player on BRC second team and three players who are BRC honorable mention >> and then also along with the boys team we raised over $13,000 to donate to Rhino Foundation. >> Awesome. [applause] We had a very successful season. We advanced in all our teams to conference regionals and state and also finished with top results at the highest level of Wisconsin dance. Um to start out our
008season, we had two accomplishments that were fun to go to. And then conference, we placed first ins. And then we also advanced to state in hip hop. Um at state, we placed first in jazz and kick, which was really exciting. That is only our second time doing that. And then um like said, we advanced to in hiphop as well, which was which was our first appearance since 2019. And then we also had one individual qualify for state. And we also had 16 varsity athletes that were recognized as scholar athletes for the season. [applause] >> All right. We had a very successful season during both practice and competition. We showed commitment at a deep level through hard work. Um took this commitment to competition and accomplished many great things. Uh we won every single dual meet
009and we won multiple invites invite invite and then finished second at some prairie and gold. So this is our fifth year in a row winning conference and our sixth year in a row winning section. We had multiple individuals qualify for state for swim. [applause] >> Um, as a team, we're pretty young this year, so we didn't have as much success in the team area. Um, but we battled through and were able to still keep the kids like in. We had I think half about half we almost doubled from last year for attendance and stuff. So that was pretty good and um a lot of kids that battled through good in JB state JB state qualifiers overall we had a pretty successful season. >> Overall we ended up in the BRC outcome six last year. We
010had a 197 19 and seven overall record. We beat four ranked teams which is a huge accomplishment team. Um, five allconerence team members, two state qualify [applause] independent from the boys, having your own staff, managers, and captain. It's also the biggest team you've ever had. [laughter] Our accomplishments are we finished in conference champif two individual qualify [applause] Maria. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I just wanted to say thank you guys for coming and presenting. Some of you have gotten to watch a little bit more up close and uh cheer you on, but I I know you all work really hard um spending multiple hours every day practicing your sports and cheering each other on. And I know you guys work to create a really strong team atmosphere across each of your sports. So, thank
011you for that and keep doing what you do every day. >> Mr. President, I just want to echo what Maria is saying. I'm so proud of all of you. Uh amazing accomplishments. some of you backtoback state championships first year for girls wrestling being on its own. Amazing. Um, and I'm also so proud of the work you all do to to build your team with younger younger teammates, the fundraising that you're doing and that you're doing great in school, too. I mean, you're managing a lot at a young age and I hope you feel proud of yourselves because I'm really proud of you, >> Mr. President. Well, Megan said all the great things, but I hope you know, I always want to say this is that we are really proud of you as a school board
012and the community. Hudson is proud of you. Your school community is proud of you and you're exceptional young people. So, go out there and do great things. >> Yeah, I would just add and and we I know you guys don't enjoy coming to present here. We enjoy it and and and people watching enjoy it and and are just as proud as we are of you. So, excellent job, guys. Great great winter season. >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> Oh, I'm sorry, Erin. Did I cut you off? >> I'll just end with a few things. Um, this group [clears throat] was tremendous to work. They do captain's council three or every three or four weeks, depending on how the days fall. One of the most engaging groups I've had a privilege to work with. Sometimes you're
013sitting there waiting for somebody to talk, especially in the morning at 9:00. But donuts will help with that. But they are awesome and seeing them four times throughout a season. One of the pictures in that top corner. We did kind of a minute to win it right before winter break and you're not sure how these things are going to go, how they're going to work together. The engagement in that room was a blast to watch and we actually ran out of time and we didn't get to hand out any trophies or anything like that. But, uh, a great awesome group and officials appreciation and signing days and lots of great things happen in the winter. So, I appreciate your support as well. >> Thank you. [applause] Okay, you're free. [laughter] >> Okay, next up on
014the agenda is the citizens uh request to speak. We have five of them today, so we'll keep it to two minutes uh if we can. And we'll start out with Kathy Roberts. >> [laughter] >> So my my first reason for being here is to thank whoever wrote this article about the challenge of $9.4 million because the problem being here in Hudson, we are not close to Madison and we do not know what is going on. And I had somebody say that to me yesterday in church that they don't know what's going on. So this is on the front page. I highly recommend that you do it for every other issue that is causing the funding problem. And I what I just read that you were engaged with the people in the Madison in the office,
015but we need to be as a community writing letters and sending giving our opinion. And I know you've spoken for us, but I think other people have to So um so that's number two. So um we need more public information about the voucher system. It started in 1989. I was working then uh and it is expanded statewide in 2011 and I got a lot of information of how much it costs the state and Hudson on the internet but I know that you have those numbers so I'm not going to go over them. because I only got two minutes. So then that was one of the problems and I think it needs to be highlighted like on the front page of this because everybody gets it, right? Everybody gets this. Okay. So the other thing that
016needs to be highlighted is the levy limits that were adjusted from 1914 when our school was built O River 1919 till 2000 2009 according to the information that I have after that the levy limit was not raised to cover inflation. So, we're looking back at what it was happened in 2009 and it's 2026. There's a big gap there. So, that really upsets me. Um, so how are we supposed to do that? So, I think it's getting the information out to people so that they know what is going on because we don't. I mean, I do because I I lived it. I worked it and I even protested in Madison. So, But it's a long drive. So, and then the other thing I want to say is we last time I talked about making community and
017building these kids up that are leaving losing their schools. I would really hope that you would never put up a poor sale sign on either of the schools that you're thinking of selling. I would just cool it. Otherwise, it feels like an eviction. And if you start tearing things out, it's harmful. And when I that as that happened when fourth street went down that school. So I would really like you just to wait. You may decide that there's something that can can be done with those buildings without selling them right away. So be cautious. That's all I have to say. >> Thank you >> and thank you again. >> Thank you. Uh next will be Andrea Schneider. district. Um, I want to I really appreciate fact. I grew up in a country without free speech.
018I I know that all my boys would have been in that. They always had great grades and um I would have really stood behind them to not be uh in their school just because they decided to follow their uh my dad between fifth and nth grade his dad was in war. was an elite school. U he took he missed a lot of school and went people thought up in the mountains. He was hiding in the mountains just whatever people soldiers soldiers as a young And I thank everyone that fought for their rights. So these kids that walked out fought for their rights. I'm glad that you didn't act in a heavy way. And I hope that from the community pressure that you don't consider. >> Thank you, Andrew. Next is Kristen Hansen. Good evening. It's
019been a while, I guess, since I've been up here in front of all of you. Hope you're all doing well. Um, but I am here to inquire about our our district's current bathroom and locker room policy. I'm sure you heard that this week, um, the federal department of education opened a title n investigation for the new Richmond district for allowing males to use female restrooms. Um, this create serious safety concerns that sadly many try to diminish. It's really difficult to even have to think that I have to utter these words that I do not want my daughters to be forced to share bathrooms or locker rooms with males, not even one. Girls deserve their own safe space to take care of themselves and their bodies during the school day without the threat of males intruding.
020So, I'm asking the board to take this up for discussion tonight so that action can be taken to adopt a policy that explicitly provides safety, dignity, and respect for all girls. I don't think this is difficult. It isn't nuanced. It's common sense. Girls bathrooms and locker rooms are for females and females only. >> Thank you, Kristen. And next is Joe Rivera. And just to note, we really can't take it up for discussion tonight because it's not posted. >> Good evening. My name is Joseph Rivera and I'm a parent in the district with two young children in our schools. On Thursday, February 12th, I emailed you about a planned anti- anti- ice walkout circulating among high school students for the following day. I want to be clear. This isn't about the issue students were protesting or
021their right to express themselves. My concern is about district policy, student safety, and the need for clear expectations and enforcement. In that email, I raised concerns about the district's communication to parents acknowledging the walk out. Parents were told that students would not be permitted to leave campus, that disruptions would be minimized, and that parents could excuse their children if they plan to participate. In response, the superintendent wrote back stating that he supported that message to families and that the district had handled previous walkouts in the same manner. But the next day, around 150 students, including middle school students, walked out of school and were seen downtown participating in protests and wandering around the streets with alongside adults. That was not spont spontaneous. It was anticipated. District policy 442 clearly states that disruptive demonstrations and walkouts
022during the school day will not be permitted and that students remain subject to compulsory attendance laws. Yet the walk out still happened. Parents were told one thing and experienced another. I heard from families who were frustrated that their children were allowed to leave campus without their permission and without consequences. That creates confusion. It undermines trust and it puts our students at risk. When parents drop off their kids to school every day, they expect them to be safe until the end of the day. The safety of our students is nonnegotiable. When students are on campus during the school day, they are under the district's care and responsibility. Allowing that many students to leave campus and walk around through downtown during school hours creates obvious safety risks. Hudson police were present and I appreciate their support. They
023were only there because this was a known safety risk. But the reality is this. We got lucky that no student was hurt. And we cannot rely on luck when it comes to the safety of our students. Policy exists for moments like this. When leadership must enforce clear boundaries and set expectations. If a policy exists, it must be followed. If expectations are communicated, they must be enforced. And if safety is the priority, actions must match words. Our students deserve that level of leadership. Our families expect it. and our district must do better. Thank you. >> Thank you, Joe. Next is Jeannie Castro. >> Hi, my name is Gina Castro and I reside in Hudson. Um, I've had four kids through the district. Um, K through 12. Uh, with respect to our community, our Hudson school board,
024I feel, is not acting on the best interest of our students, taxpayers, parents, and the legacy of Hudson by listing our schools for sale. Um, it that's including Holton and Willow River Elementary. Uh the properties are a great asset to the community and keeping our buildings under district ownership helps assure that the residents do not need to fund the building of another school in the near future. The school board needs to have adequate communic or community input when making decisions a decision like this that affects so many lives. The repercussions of selling these schools would be uh detrimental to our school district and our community. As part of Hudson of um St. Croy County, our population is growing. There are so there are so much um immediate growth that we see happening in Hudson and
025Holton currently. It is the school board's responsibility to make sure this is done in a way that serves our community positively, not just immediately, but for the future of our schools. Superintendent come and go, but our school board members are chosen by our community to serve to serve our people. They are responsibil they are responsible to show us the future projections before making decisions. We the people get to be a part of this process. Please show us different options, other ways that this can work out by um because building a new school for $50 million down the road doesn't seem like a viable choice. Uh the school district operates on a 25% as stated in the last uh schoolboard meeting. We by the auditor who stated we have a healthy budget and we are operating
026on 44%. Um we also have that $5 million operational referendum that expires in 2032. Uh we have funds that provided our taxpayers for this uh provided by our taxpayers for the purpose of this. >> Genie operation. >> Genie, can you can you >> Oh, speed it up. I'm done. That was my that was my timer. Okay. I just had one more. Um, my request for the school board is to act wisely and give the HUD give Hudson a sure footing as we move into the future by holding on to our schools throughout the transition for our students, staff, and the next decade to asssure that the best outcome for our community and our school district. Thank you. >> Thank you. That brings citizens request to speak to a close. Next, we'll be going to reports
027uh with Shannon with the DECA presentation. >> Do I have my DECA folks? come on up and I'll let you introduce yourselves to the board. >> Do you want to sit? >> Yeah. If you guys want to sit, you can. >> Yeah. And then just push your button. Push your button to to green. >> Very good. Thank you. >> Push that one. >> Okay. Hi, I'm Jillian White. I'm a senior and I'm the president of our Hudson Deca chapter. >> Hi, my name is Nora Shalgo and I'm the vice president of community service for Hudson Deca. >> Hi, my name is Molly Shrader. I'm a junior and I'm vice president of membership development. >> And then we have one other uh vice president um Evan Schultz. He can't be here today uh but he's the
028vice president of brand management. So he's in charge of uh social media t-shirts, that sort of thing. Okay. So what is DECA? Uh DECA is a career and technical student organization that prepares high schoolers um for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, uh management. We compete three times throughout the year. Competition uh consists of three parts. So one 100 question test on your chosen cluster and then two role plays which are mock interviews situations where a student presents a solution to a judge on how they would address uh different business scenarios and then there are different clusters that students can compete in. So there's business, administration, management, uh entrepreneurship, finance, hospitality, and tourism, and marketing. And then within those clusters, there's more specific events that students can compete in. We introduced ourselves and then our adviserss
029are uh Mr. Weinfer and Miss Somerfeld, both business teachers at the high school. >> All right. So now we're going to talk about community service. We do a couple different community service initiatives at Hudson DECA throughout the year. This is really great because we're able to get a lot of our chapter members involved. So, first we start off the year with Trigger Can on Halloween night where we have our members go around Hudson and collect non-p perishable food items and canned goods from people's houses. Basically tricker canning and we're able to donate them to the food cupboard every year. And this year we collected over 500. Then we also support MDA which is the muscular drophe association. We partnered with the Common Grounds coffee shop in the Raider School store and raised about $810 for
030muscular destrophy association in October. And then lastly, we also did the miracle minute at every DECA conference. Hudson participates in a miracle minute that supports MDA. Okay, so leading up to competition, we like to encourage members to attend our bi-weekly workshops. So these are preparing members for role plays and tests. Oh yeah, sorry off and on on this one. Um, so first we start off our competition season with districts. So this year that was January 10th at W Stout. It's usually at Stout. We had 62 competitors, which is a lot. And we had nine individuals and two teams place first, six individuals and two teams place second, and one individual and two teams place in third. And then off of that, um, I've been in DECA all four years. My freshman year, we had 30
031members total. That's not competing members. So, that was really cool to see. Um, one of my highlights was we had to take two buses to districts, which has never happened before. So, that's pretty exciting for me. Um, and then we were just at state in Lake Geneva, we got to stay at the Grand Geneva Resort. Um, and then at the state competition, our top seven in each event uh get to qualify for the international competition. And at state we had two individuals place second, one individual or one team place third. Uh and then two individuals place fourth and fifth. And then there you also get recognized for top test score and top roleplay scores. And we had seven additional medal winners including finalists. And then two of our projects for school-based enterprises were gold certified
032which is the highest level you can be. And then to wrap up our competition season, we are going to internationals next month in Atlanta, Georgia. We have 12 students attending. Six of these are individual. They're competing individually. And then we have one team event that's going to be competing. Two school-based enterprise teams. And then two members are going to be coming with for the emerging leader series. So ICDC is the international career development conference with over with no not over just 25,000 total attendees from all around the world and to this year it's going to be in Atlanta Georgia and so like I said we have 12 people going and we have Jillian Nora and CeCe going competing individually and then we have Izzy and then Bella's gonna sub in for Ardan for entrepreneurship. ship
033team and then me and Reagan for the schoolbased enterprise and then Mallerie and Maria for the other schoolbased enterprise and then finally Maggie and Molly for the emerging leader series >> Megan. >> Okay, >> I am so impressed. Um I think this is going to take you so far in your careers and and honestly in your social life. I'm sure the social skills that you're creating amongst each other is amazing, but I'm super impressed. I wish I would have done the same thing you're doing. [laughter] [gasps] >> Megan, >> I just want to say bravo. Really exciting to hear the growth since your freshman year of high school. I mean, this is awesome. The work you guys are doing, the skills you're learning, the community service that you're doing. I'm just so proud of you
034and I hope you are really proud of yourselves and I know I said the same thing earlier but I wanted to say the same thing to you too because this is really incredible stuff that you're doing on top of everything else that you're managing and hopefully you know sleeping and the other stuff that you need to do in life as well. So bravo. >> Yep. I'll just say that great presentation and we wish you the best in Atlanta. Have fun. >> Thank you very much. [applause] Okay, moving on to uh topics for discussion and or possible action starting with uh looking for uh consent items. Uh approval if we have a motion, >> Mr. President. Yes. >> I move approval of the consent items and that the chief financial and operations officer be authorized to
035pay bills in the amount of $913,21060. >> Second from Molly. All those in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed say nay. >> Motion passes. Now moving on to uh tax credits 179D with Nick. >> Yep. Uh So, uh, we said we'd bring this thing back. Um, in talking with our contractor, uh, it was pointed out to me that, um, on page 23 of the contract, I believe, um, Tim has up on the screen, you might need to zoom in a little bit. Um, I'm just trying to get mine to catch up so I can see because that's a little too small for me. Um, under 4.5 uh.1 of the contract, they reminded me that the if the project does qualify for 179D tax deductions and if the owner does not qualify for such deductions,
036the owner agrees to assign the potential deductions to Market and Johnson. And so, um, my mistake was even bringing it to the board because you guys had already approved it once through the approval of the contract. And so, um, wanted to make sure that you saw that we would move forward with, uh, assigning those because that's what you've already agreed to, um, in the in the contract. Uh, and the advice of legal counsel was there was nothing wrong with with assigning these. Um, so it was in the original was in the original agreement. So, I just attached the original agreement to the agenda so people could see it. Um, and so, no action needed, but just wanted to bring it to people's attention and and apologize for my oversight. they pointed it out. It's like
037I said, it's on page 23 of the contract one line um as you work through it. So, uh any questions or anything from board members? >> I don't have a question, but I just want to thank you for bringing that researching that and making sure that we were doing the right thing and the clarity that you brought to the discussion. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Okay. If no one else uh Mr. President >> Oh, Erin, I'm sorry. Um, I mean, I I I didn't sign the contract beforehand because I wasn't on the board. So, I just um I was prepared to talk about this in a different way, but I just um I don't like I'm I'm just hesitant to agree to anything like that going forward um just because I think it I I
038just don't want it to allow any perceived private gain for any public projects. I think it looks poorly on the district and I just wanted that noted. Great. Yeah. Very good. Uh, moving on to a first reading of revised policy 690. >> So, this would typically be Bonnie's uh to handle, but this is the same revised 690 policy that you guys saw in the work session. Again, the uh whole purpose of this policy um is the the original 690 policy referenced a policy that doesn't exist. So, there's a redline version that's on the screen. um disposition of real property governed by policy 7300. Uh we don't have a policy 7300 and so um this uh would eliminate that and then follow the um the recommendation from WSB and their attorneys as to what it should
039really say which is if you slide down there to the bottom um what that what that looks like. So basically the state law dictates how we sell sell sell property in in the district. So the biggest thing is we wanted to clean up uh the fact that we are referencing a policy that doesn't exist. >> Any questions? >> If not um oh sorry >> the the reason it moved from 5 to 10,000 is because of a change in law I think. Was that part of it or was this recommendation? >> Was recommendation. >> Okay. >> Yep. Well, after having that answered, I move uh to approve the first reading of policy 690. >> Revise policy 690. Excuse me. >> Motion by Megan, second by Brian. Um all those in favor say Oh, any questions? I'm
040sorry. >> If none. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those post say nay. Changes passed. Uh, moving on to North Hudson brick veneer repairs with Nick. >> Yep. This is a another policy at bounty we typically talk about. We talked about this in the closed or not the closed session in the work session. Um, this is repair to the envelope uh the outside. That's the outside of the building at North Hudson. It wasn't part of the referendum project. It was never going to be part of the referendum project. We went out, we got bids. So, the administration's recommendation uh is this is part of our summer project list and since it's such a large project, we'd prefer to have the board uh approve it. Uh advanced masonry restoration in the amount
041of $28,512.33 uh for the um outside envelope of the building. So, >> Mr. Yes, Molly. >> I just want to say we we looked over this more in depth at like we said at the last work session, but um I appreciate that we are, you know, staying up and on top of our repairs as they come along. You know, that we're assessing what we have and seeing where we need to make some improvements to in order to retain the value of the buildings that our school district owns. So, >> appreciate it, Mr. President. Maria >> and kind of building off of Molly's statement and kind of just acknowledging that we're able to do that because we have the reserves to pay for this outside of and continue to pay for that maintenance. So, it's part
042of why we keep those reserves. So, thank you for bringing this and uh getting the bids. >> Mr. President, >> yes. Um, Nick, can you just go over one more time for people who might be hearing this for the first time why if this was caught when I mean as a flagged item beforehand when we were going through that, but it just wasn't part of the referendum or >> No, it wasn't it wasn't caught on the front end. It was when we did the window window replacements uh as part of the referendum project as they pulled the windows and they started looking back behind there. You wouldn't be able to see without doing destructive testing. That's when they started to determine that there needed to be some repairs, especially underneath the windows and then some
043other part parts of the walls that needed to be tuck pointed. And so that's when it came to fruition during the referendum process. We chose to do this outside of the referendum process and not do it as a change order so that we didn't have to pay any upcharges related to change orders and general maintenance fees. >> Thank you for explaining. >> Mr. President, >> Maria or Molly, sorry. >> Close. Doesn't matter. Um I was wondering if we could show on the screen the just the overall bid comparison of bids from February 3rd. >> It's the top one. Yep. >> Just to show kind of where we're the advanced masonry was what was recommended to us I believe >> as being the experts but just the comparison. So we were going to be paying net
044208 as opposed to 53,000. So >> obviously >> yeah they ranged they ranged in bids and so >> Yep. Absolutely. So, you know, three of them are very similar. Uh, you know, the 208 to 299 would be considered similar bids. The 503 is definitely an outlier. Um, and so, uh, definitely much much higher bids. So, yes, it was good to get four different bids. So, it wasn't just a, you know, one person bid. We did get competitive bids on the process. >> This isn't going to fall under energy credits, is it? >> No energy credits. No 179. >> Wanted to clear that right now. Yes, >> it has to be has to be figured out and negotiated beforehand if I did see that. >> Yeah, good job. Good. >> Anybody else? >> So, uh a
045motion to approve these changes. >> I move that we approve this proposal for advanced masonry restoration um as presented. >> I second. >> Second from Maria. Uh any questions move forward. All those in favor say I. I I all those oppos say nay. >> That expenditure is approved. Next, an update for uh litigation related to school closures. >> Absolutely. So, uh this is a statement that the school district put together, basically our attorney put together on our behalf uh after the first hearing that we had last week uh in St. Croy County Court uh circuit court. Um and I'm just going to kind of go through the statement, read through it. that today the circuit court held a hearing uh on the motion to dismiss the motion for temporary injunction filed by Save Our Schools
046case. The court first took up the service of process issue. The court made clear that the plaintiff's failure to serve any of the named defendants except two board members deprived the court of the ability to issue any injunction motion as to those board members. However, because two board members were served, the court moved past the service issue and then started to talk through the two claims uh at issue. Uh the court then addressed the plaintiff's motion uh plainif's open meetings law claim. After extensive discussion with the party's attorneys, the court methodically analyzed that claim and concluded the pliff failed to comply with the several legal requirements of the open meetings law. Uh for example, the court concluded the plainif failed to file a verified complaint with the district attorney prior to filing the lawsuit. The
047court also questioned whether the name plainif could even file a verified complaint uh since there wasn't an individual that uh had sign it signed the complaint. Uh the court concluded that the plaintiff's failure to bring action in the name of the state of Wisconsin was fatal and deprived the court of jurisdiction as a result of the errors made by the plaintiff. The court granted the motion to dismiss the plaintiff's open meetings law claim. That means the open meetings law claim is no longer an issue in the lawsuit. Uh while we were prepared to address the merits of that claim, the court determined that it did not even need to reach the merits because the errors made uh by the plaintiffs. Next, the court addressed the plainif's sole remaining claim, which is uh certiiori uh review
048of the board's decision. The court noted that the plaintiff failed to site any law in support of that claim in any of the briefs that the plaintist filed. The court asked the plaintiff's lawyer if she wanted additional time to discuss legal elements of the uh searchior claim. Again, since she had not done so previously, including whether the court even could decide that claim, the plaintiff's council indicated a desire to do so. Thus, the court gave the plaintiff's lawyer two days to file a brief citing law in Wisconsin to support the uh cersiior claim. Uh we will have an opportunity then to respond to the submission. Again, this was a statement that was written on Wednesday. Uh finally, the court noted that the court if the court gets through all the elements of a temporary injunction,
049the court would still have to address the requirement that the plaintiff post a bond before an injunction can be granted. The court noted that the pliff must be required to post a bond in the event of the court grants an injunction. The court prov uh provided the board with an opportunity to submit our position on bond requirements and the plaintiff will have an opportunity to respond to that submission. We did uh submit um our position uh on the bond requirements and what were the uh economic impacts uh of a potential injunction. The court is holding a hearing on the sole remaining claim next Wednesday uh the 11th at 9:00 a.m. So that's coming up here in two days. We're confident the court will deny the plaintiff's injunction motion to dismiss the plaintiff's sole remaining claim
050of asserti as outlined in the legal briefs we have filed. We do not believe the pliff can meet any of the necessary requirements to obtain the injunction and in fact we do not believe the law allows the plaintiffs to bring a challenge to court uh to the board's decision to close two of its elementary schools. Um we remain confident that the court will be guided by Wisconsin law and rule in favor of the board in this case. when that happens, we will make sure that the community uh gets a full accounting of the cost associated with what the district had to spend related to this case in in litigation. And so, um our attorney uh had wrote this, put this together for us. Uh we did submit it to uh the media last Wednesday. Um
051and I'm sure it'll make it in eventually. Uh and then uh you can also online I believe or I'm not sure how you obtain it. You can get a copies of our brief uh that we did on the bond uh and then also our response to the plaintiff's uh brief related to um the cersiior claims. So just wanted to make sure people had an understanding of where things are sitting right now. We started with four claims uh originally that were filed in December. Two of those claims were federal claims and so it was moved to federal court to deal with the federal claims. Those claims were dismissed. Uh the plaintiffs withdrew their federal claims. Uh it was then remanded back down to state court. One of the two state claims uh have been dismissed by
052the judge and the other one is being decided on Wednesday. So that is just kind of an overview of where we are sitting as it relates to uh the legal proceedings uh against the district because I know there's been people that have reached out to us. Uh there's been different things that have been put out on social media and different things uh and so we just asked our attorney to put something together so that we could share that with the public. So any questions for me by the board. >> Okay. Thank you very much, Nick. Uh next would be real estate tours and uh district property. >> Yep. And so, um, you know, week and a half ago, um, you know, two weeks ago, well, actually it was two weeks ago when the board listed
053the, uh, property, listed Holton, we were asked about, um, could a developer or purchaser tour the building. Um, we talked about that, uh, and we were under the impression that it was going to be an individual. Uh, it was going to happen from 7:30 to 8:00. So, prior to the regular school day, um and uh we didn't realize that they were going to bring 15 people through at that time. Uh it did play take place from 7:30 to 8:00. Um so before the school day started, however, uh it was a disruption to staff. Um you know, they didn't didn't like seeing that piece and we would agree with that. And so since then, uh we did make uh some changes related to the real estate tours of district property that they will not happen before
0546:00 p.m. at night. So after our school age care uh is is done for the day or they could happen on the weekends. But um we've made those adjustments uh through the feedback that we've gotten from folks. Uh had we known it was going to uh be that many people walking through the building, we never would have uh had them come through before school, we would have pushed it back to to after six o'clock at night. And so um but moving forward, the other thing that we did uh also want to clarify a couple things. There were no pictures of students taken. Um there was no um video of students taken. I know there's some of that that's been out there uh on on the internet and things like that. Uh so none we verified
055uh both with the develop uh sorry with our listing agent and with the folks that were touring through. Uh in addition since then we did uh create non-disclosure agreements that if somebody has to come through we have to disclose certain pieces of information through the due diligence period uh related to purchasing our buildings. um that all of that information is to be held confidential confidentially uh destroyed if uh and when you know if they are no longer um the buyer for the buildings and things like that. But we have to be able to provide them with uh pieces of information that aren't always available to the general public. And so we have now uh all of the any of the new tours, they will be signing the non-disclosure agreements and then we have those on
056file uh because we did have a couple tours that did occur I believe on uh last Saturday and they were they signed those agreements. So any questions from board members? >> Brian, >> thanks for that update, Nick. I appreciate it. Um, you know, I'm a I'm a Holton alumni and a Holton parent um to this day and you know I I regret that this happened. I think it was some miscommunication and um you know first I you know the the board was generally aware that there was going to be a tour the next morning. I don't think we understood the extent and and that was a mistake and but I wanted to just say sorry to the Holton parents out there. um you know and I think the important thing is one no kids were
057unsafe in this situation and then two that we've learned from it and you know we made it clear that it's a red line that we're not going to violate that trust >> thank you um I just want to piggyback on what you said Brian um I I we were not under the impression that we were going to have this crown going through never thought that this would have happened I can only speak for myself, but I mean I personally felt like what a fail on our part. What a fail. Um no intent for harm. Uh no intent to disrupt any um anybody's school day, but clearly was disruptive. Um, one thing that we have done is I know Bob has gone to a showing um, and made it very clear about how we expect people
058viewing the buildings to act. And I have been there for a showing and my opinion is we treat it like it's a hospital and we're all signing a HIPPA agreement. Um, if people come in there, this is private. Um, this is where children spend most of their day. So, um, hiccup, not the end of the world, but obviously upsetting to people and we would we'll do better. >> Mr. President, yes, >> I'm going to do a double piggyback. I don't know if that's a thing. Um, but completely agree with what uh Brian and Molly said, and I'm also a Holton parent, and I totally understand how this is upsetting for families, and we will do better. Um, Nick, this is a clarification. I already know the answer to, but I just want to make it
059clear. Um, we say after 6 p.m. or on the weekends if there's tours, but if there's a concert or some sort of school event that's planned, we would not be doing the tours at that time. >> Yeah, we would try to schedule around all of those things. Absolutely. >> Okay, >> just go ahead. >> Um, yeah, I I know it is very emotional. uh you know concerned with with the school knowing the the future. Um and I didn't say we made adjustments. Um we had two board members with each tour since that first one um because of concerns. Um I I will say that we have vendors in our buildings. The these people were with district staff and uh we have vendors in our buildings during the day when students are in the buildings. uh
060they they are not doing background checks either because they are with they are supervised with with staff. So that there are some things saying out there that you know everybody should have a background check who goes into those into those buildings. Well, when you're when you're monitored and you're with staff personnel, that is not a requirement. Is that right, Nick? >> Yeah, I mean if you're uh if you're with somebody, you're not out on your own at all in the buildings. Um, you know, we do have people during the day, um, vendors would come in and they would, uh, go through our, um, Tracy, why am I drawing a blank on the Raptor system, uh, where they they do scan their IDs. Um, and it does it does go through that way. Um, but, uh,
061yeah, they check in and check in in the main office. But, um, yeah, when we have people with, uh, with staff with them, if they have not been background checked, then they have a staff staff person with them all the time. So, And that's neither whether it's plumbers, electricians, IT personnel. Just I just wanted to make and that's not running from what happened in that first uh that first uh that first tour because I do agree that was uh not what we would want. So okay, anybody else? If not, I'd accept a motion to go into close session and we would be adjourning from close session. So not coming back to open session after. >> Mr. President, >> I make a motion for the board to convene in close session pursuant to Wisconsin statute 19.851E
062851E to deliberate or negotiate the purchase of public properties, the investing of public funds, or conducting other specified public business whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session regarding an official offer to port purchase Holton Elementary School and pursuant to Wisconsin statute 19.851E 851E to deliberate or negotiate the purchase of public properties, the investing of public funds, or conducting other specified public business whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a close session regarding the UYU property. >> Second from Kate to do a roll call. Oh, uh, Brian, >> I Kate, >> hi. Um Erin Molly >> I >> Megan >> I >> Maria >> I >> and Bowman I we are in