001Close session. >> Mr. President, >> I make a motion for the board to convene in close session pursuant to what 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 specifically related to the listing agreement for Holton Elementary School. >> Thank you, Megan. Do I have a second? Second. Second from Brian. I'll do a roll call vote. Dah >> I. >> Garza, >> I. >> Gerlock, >> I. >> Powers, >> I. >> Rosowski, >> I. Bowman. I And a reminder to people again watching or in the audience that we will be coming back into clo into open session as soon as we're Open session. Possible action is the listing agreement for Holton.
002>> Mr. President, >> Molly, >> I move accept the listing um proposed by Telus Real Estate for Colton Elementary to list it for $3 million. Do I have a second? >> Second from Kate. All those in favor say I. >> I. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes. [clears throat] Excuse me. Moving on to disposition of Willow River Elementary School. Nick. >> So, we're we're kind of somewhat at the same point with Willow. You know, we've made sure that um all of our previous meetings related to Holton have only been uh noticed as to talk about Holton. So, we haven't talked about Willow. So, u just looking for some level of direction on what to do with Willow as far as would you like me to have um a listing agreement drawn up for Willow
003that you can review in two weeks or what what direction would you like to give me so I know what I should be doing? >> Um before we start, I I I didn't call for uh any um conversation after the vote or after the second. Um, so I I would like to just make clear that what we approved was approved the listing agreement to list the property at Holton. It wasn't to accept any offer from um any potential purchaser at this time. Okay. Now, any discussion for about uh Willow River? >> Nick or Mr. President? >> Yes. >> Uh Nick, just a question with with Willow. Are the is there anything with Willow that you know is a a different selling experience or listing experience that we should be thinking about moving out of Willow?
004Any of those pieces that makes it different than Holton that we want to think about before we move forward with >> talking about talking to an agent and listing it. As far as the logistics, I don't know, Bonnie, if you see them being any different other than their different size buildings, but as far as logistically, >> you've reached out to the municipalities and there hasn't been any interest, but I don't think there would be any difference than with Holton >> and it I think I'm recalling would the plan is to use Willow for summer care. Yes. Through the summer, >> correct? And I think that will also goes in with there's a lot of equipment since Willow is our district storage spot. So it'll obviously would take some time to clean that that out or
005move through that. Megan >> uh Nick, has there been any interest in Will like any inquiries into Willow? I know there had been people had reached out with questions before. I would just hate, you know, the district office sat for a while. Um, UU still being worked on. I I worry that if we don't list it and we miss a a possible buyer, then we end up with a building that we're paying to maintain. And I'm just trying to think about what's best for our community and our taxpayers. So unlike Holen, we didn't we don't have any unsolicited offers on Willow River that I'm that I'm aware of. Nobody's come to me and said, you know, I'd like to make an offer as I brought to the board at the last meeting. Um, however, we've
006had people reach out. Um, but there's a big difference between providing an unsolicited offer and somebody just reaching out saying that they have interest in a building. So I don't think uh there is the same um seriousness at least at Willow at least that I have or that's been given to me as there was with the Holton offer to purchase. So >> Mr. President um also have we reached out to the city of Hudson? >> Yep. So, uh, per the direction of the board, I believe it was at, uh, two meetings ago, you asked me to reach out to the city of Hudson, the county, and to the town of St. Joe about both buildings. Uh, I have done all of those things. Um, and none of which, uh, have any interest in either of
007the properties. >> Thank you, >> Brian. Something Megan said brought a thought to mind. Um, and you may not know off the top of your head, maybe Bonnie will know, but um, to to carry the empty buildings on our, you know, maintain them uh, while kids aren't in them. Do we have a rough idea how much that would cost? I don't know, on an annual basis. And really what I'm getting at is, you know, we don't want to be wasting money maintaining empty buildings. So, um, like a sense of, you know, if we wait effectively that's costing us money. >> I don't I mean, Bonnie, I don't know if you have any idea. >> I I mean, we can get you a number. I mean, it would be based we would probably lower the heat.
008I thought we estimated around 100,000, but that was with the utilities and everything, so it was in that range. >> Mr. President >> um there's a lot of sensitivity around this topic and I feel like it would be good, just my opinion, to wait until the end of the school year to make this decision on Willow. We still have a lot of equipment in that building. We have to clear it out. It's going to be the end of summer. And I'm just proposing maybe we just wait till June to discuss listing it. just it's not going to cost us any more money between now and then. That's my kind of my point. Like just maybe one at a time. Slow it down a little bit. >> Thanks. I guess I am kind of two minds
009about it, you know. Um in in one sense I kind of agree with Aaron that it's kind of nice to put a pin in this year. Um I I don't feel like that that time period we're going to miss out on anything. I mean we had this conversation before. Um Holton is a little different. Um even if we do list it on the other hand um obviously we're not transferring. We would sell in two weeks. We're not transferring anything. We're not closing anything. I mean we'd have or we'd have to close when when we're done with it. So, I'm kind of on the fence. I don't know. I have no opinion. I'm Switzerland. Uh, is this is this something where maybe we'd like to have another meeting with Brian about the uh the differences in
010those buildings again or u what he sees as potential interest versus because I I kind I kind of agree that you know probably weren't not going to have an unsolicited offer but I didn't think we're going to have an unsolicited offer. uh for for Holton either. So, um I think if it's out there that you know we're closing the school, if people have a proposal or you know an interest in it, they're going to be reaching out. >> I would I would think so. >> Mr. President, >> two questions. Um, one I I don't know if if we don't list it and then you have people coming forward with unsolicited offers, you know, I just wonder is it people with it? It might give us fewer options to consider. I I don't know like when
011we think about what's best for the community. Um, but I also can we ask Brian what he thinks about listing it since he's here or is that not, you know, what his expert advice is on when to list it, what he thinks? >> Um, yeah. Could you introduce yourself, Brian? >> Certainly. Uh, Brian Zeller with Telus Property Services and Solutions. Um, I don't have a strong opinion. if you were to list it today or if you were to wait a month or two. I don't know that I would wait much longer than that. Just um it's a more complicated building and likely a buyer for that will have to go through um more entitlements and more approvals and that's going to take a significant amount of time and they won't close until they have whatever
012approvals they're seeking. So, I think Willow is different in that it's going to it's going to take a buyer more time to close. >> Mr. President, >> so your thought I mean you say a month or two like that's April or May. Is that your thought process? >> If you weren't comfortable making the decision tonight and you wanted to wait a month, there's no harm in that. you know, two months on the outside is is as far out as I would suggest, just based on what I'm hearing your timeline is. >> If if in a perfect world you'd like to close by year end or fall, then we should get going. >> Thank you. >> Is this something be interested in tableabling for one month? I would be interested in tableabling it for one month
013given the fact that there's a lot of housing and schools that are planted in the area of hol of of Willow. I think that that decision. Personally, I think getting solicitations is just fine. Um it creates that interest and kind of gives us a little food for thought on how to be very thoughtful moving forward with that piece of property right there. Is it do you see any difference like with Holton we're listing it with Willow if we put it out for proposals going in that other direction? Any advice either way? >> Not a huge fan of that. >> Sorry. I'm not a huge fan of the going out for proposals because it just it it it's like casting just a really wide net and you're going to you know it's not about price or
014or a buyer. It's it it just gets muddy in my opinion really really fast. You put a an asking price, everybody has a fair opportunity to pursue it. You know, everybody's on a level playing field. There's not a lot of emotion involved. Okay. So, table it for one month. All in agreement. >> Okay. Don, do we need to take a vote on that or? >> Uh, yeah, you could vote. >> I make a motion to table it for one month. >> Aaron with the motion. Second. >> Second from Molly. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Those oppos say nay. Uh motion passes to table for one month. Um next up is a mental health update with Terra. >> Yep. I have Sally Po here who I'm happy to announce is going to
015share all the things happening in the world of student services and mental health. >> Hi everybody. Um we've got a lot of great things going on in the world of mental health. So we just kind of wanted to come and give an update some existing programs and partnerships that we have this year with some we've expanded on and some new things we've got going on. So just wanted to give a brief overview. We're continuing with our colllocated therapy. We have therapists in every building. Not as much as we'd obviously like to have. There's always a need and a waiting list, but we do have um our three returning um agreements with family therapy associates, adult teen counseling, and thrive. And then we added one new agreement with Couples and Family Therapy Center this year. So
016that's great. We got an additional therapist to come on board. Um I'm reaching out to additional agencies. There's just a continuing need. The colloccated program allows students to see therapists in the building during the school day. They still through insurance, so it's not anything. It's it's exactly like if they were seeing a therapist at um a clinic, but it just happens during the school day. and that allows them to keep seeing a therapist and they're not having travel time so they miss less school and everybody benefits that way. So really proud of that program. >> Mr. President, >> and I think we know this, but um just some some folks might not and this is when parents are signing their kids up for therapy and then the parents don't have to take time off of
017work, do that driving and stuff. >> Thank you, Megan. So, it's just it's exactly as if a family were seeking outside therapy, but they can do it during the school day because there are very few and far between therapy appointments available in that one after school hour between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. So most of the time if a child needs weekly therapy or every other week, a parent would have to drive to school, pick sign them out, take them to that appointment, and then drive them back, which equates to a lot more missed work time and missed school time when they can do it at school through an outside agency, not employed by the school district. All HIPPA applies, all everything that would normally apply. It's just they're physically within our school building. They miss
018less school, parents miss less work, and everybody benefits. So that's um a great program we have going on and there's just a greater need for that all around. >> I have a question. Is there any downtime for the students then in between those therapy sessions and being shuffled right back to class just for you know that deep >> yes >> portion of it? >> That's a great question. So the therapists are pretty well attuned to that and depending on the age of the student some of the appointments are a shorter briefer appointment like a 30 minute. Some are more of the 45 minute closer to like a therapy hour and then we do have our counselors that are kind of monitoring and checking in with the kids. So if they do need to kind of
019have that um decompression or ease back into class, there's always eyes on too. >> I have a quick question. Could you talk a little bit about that? You mentioned that there's a lot of demand. Is it are are these are are they full right now or >> Yes. Okay. >> We have weight lists at every building. Um the need for therapy is huge and um particularly therapists that are willing to see our younger ages just in general. Um so people who are seeking outside therapy for children anywhere in the community. It's difficult to find particularly those who see under the age of 11. So we're always looking for increased um agency partnerships, but our high school therapists are full as well. So trying to increase that in any way we can is always beneficial. Sometimes
020we also particularly with high schoolers if they have like a teleaalth therapist that they see we offer space in our counseling office where they can log on. That doesn't work very well for our younger kids but you know if that's an accommodation that we can provide we'll make that happen. >> Mr. President, >> um I know the answer to this but I think it's important to talk about. A lot of people have said, um, are they gonna put my kid in therapy and not talk to me about it or tell me about it or Yes. And I I just think it's good to make everyone aware. >> This is this is never something that happens without parent consent. Like I said, everything runs through the parents insurance, the child's insurance. So, um, typically what happens
021is a parent reaches out and says, "Do you have like we have maintain a counseling list of area counseling services and we provide to a parent. We never make a referral to therapy on the on our own get a child enrolled. We they may say can you do you know of anyone who's accepting new clients and if they ask about coll-located therapy or there's a question about that then we can get them on the list and get it going that way. Um but it's come initiated by a parent or a question that comes up in a parent teacher conference that kind of thing. So um parents have to consent. They fill out all the forms. They get everything going. the counselor would just connect the two a the agency with the parent and then the
022counselor backs out. The only thing the counselor or the school would do is call the child down when it's their appointment time if they're present. So, like I said, HIPPA applies. We don't we know whether or not they attended their appointment because they were present at school or not. We don't know the content of that appointment. Um if there is a follow-up concern, the coun or the therapist is calling the parent, not the school. um unless you know it's an imminent risk that we need to address that in that moment. It is just as though they were attending therapy in a clinic. So the clinic just happens to be within our school building, but it is still the rel therapeutic relationship between therapist, the child, and the family. So all of that maintains, >> Mr.
023President. Thank you. >> Um so I'm just I just want to make sure I understand this. So parents don't have to be present for that. I heard that. Like parents, aren't they supposed to be present when they take their kids to counseling? I mean, they're dropping off, they stay in the hallway with them. So, I mean, they're we're >> for the initial intake of that. >> Um, no. Great question. So, depending on the age, again, for the elementary kids, the initial intake is usually over Zoom with the child and the parent present together. If they can come into the building, then that works well as well. um for over 13, it's just like with a doctor's appointment where it's up to the child um if they're in the room or not. And that kind of
024is the age of where that changes at the medical doctor and so it would be the same for a therapist. Um again, the therapist maintains that relationship with the family. So, it's just providing that space for them to do it within the school day. Okay. Hey, thank you very much. [laughter] >> A lot more. >> Yep. >> Okay, so DARE um >> answering the answering all the [laughter] questions. >> DARE last year was the first year that we had DARE at all of our elementarymentaries. We are continuing this year. Um we have opioid prevention grant dollars. And so we use those funds to train officer Isaiah Gran Corvitz who is the new SRO at the middle school this year. He just completed that training um end of January, beginning of February. That's his photo up
025there at his DARE graduation. Um, so now he can um start getting into the classrooms and teaching as well. That's a picture of Officer Hall in the lower left at um, EP Rock Elementary earlier this month. Um, so we're continuing right along. Officer Sharfigg will be teaching at Holton and North Hudson starting in early March. And I'm sure that our DARE mascot will make an appearance at all the graduations this spring, which is very exciting. So, yes, year two of DARE being in all of our buildings, which is great. And they, you know, the DARE curriculum, like we kind of have gone over in the past, very updated from the '9s. It stand uh the DARE decision making um model is define the situation, assess your options, respond, and then evaluate that response. They have
026now again um just as of January relooked at and updated the curriculum. It's that continual process. So starting next year we'll have that just newly modified you know slight changes to that curriculum as well but that program is continuing strong. Uh Jed team we've presented about this before but Jed is the um suicide prevention foundation and we're continuing that work at the high school. Year two of that three-year cycle. So year one was um really the uh first kind of evaluation looking at what we have in place and then we we have our Jed consultant who is on the far right of that photo in the blue sweater. His name is Brad and he worked with us to kind of see what we have in place and what missing pieces there might be and then
027came up with a really um thorough and somewhat overwhelming strategic plan for us to work on. But it's helpful and it's a great document. Um, so we are continuing to work on that strategic plan. One of the really nice things about Jed is it's a three-year cycle where we've got these regular check-ins with Brad and we've got the support, but we maintain access to their resources forever. So once we finish this active three-year cycle, we are a Jed I think legacy school or something they may call it, but we get this log into their hub where we can continue to see our progress on the strategic plan. We get all of their the best practices. So on each step for the strategic plan they linked to their um best practices and articles that support that
028and all the research. So we are not going to achieve every point of their 86 point strategic plan this year or next year you know but we will get there eventually. It'll be ongoing work. This year we're focusing on increasing our student connections to school. We have a goal of having 80% of Hudson High School students having a positive connection through a student activity, whether that's athletics, um, performance, a club, or some other connection. We're really in doing that internal mapping now to school next year. So, that's one of our goals. Um, a uniform and robust suicide prevention training for staff and then internal resource mapping. Part of what we determined last year is we have a ton of supports and our staff are not always aware of where they live, how to access them
029or who those point people are. So we created um an internal document that lists that out and has to be you know updated regularly because if it just lives and nobody looks at it, it's not very useful. But that's part of the ongoing work there. >> Mr. President, >> how often are you finding that you need to use the the Jed program? >> Um the Jed program itself is more of a consulting group. So we are just that's ongoing work for that. Our suicide prevention work is that more what you're thinking about? >> Uh suicide prevention work is also kind of ongoing. So we do suicide prevent like explicit suicide prevention education is required in state law and we teach that explicitly in seventh, 8th and 9th grade and then again in 10th grade health.
030Seventh, eth and nth grade are push into seventh is push into exploratories. Eighth grade health classes and then ninth grade um we push in to other classes and then we do it in 10th grade health classes. So that's when we teach it to our students. And then we've always had conversations during professional development with staff, but we haven't had one kind of uniform training. What we're going to be doing, we're moving toward is um using Mindwise SOS. They've got a really great staff training module. We use MindWise SOS with students. So that'll give uniform language. Um and that's the acknowledge care tell model for recognizing signs of student suicide in students and pairing that with then when you recognize that in a student in our building here are the steps you follow the people you
031have to notify and kind of the timeline like most importantly you don't if you see it in first hour you can't wait till end of day you know you've got to notify counselor dean admin in this order that kind of thing so making sure that We all have uniform language and expectations is where we're moving toward and figuring out how to build that into our professional development is what we're doing now. >> Great. I'm just curious how if our trends in the Hudson School District for kids feeling this way are up or down or >> um That's a really great question >> and I know I'm putting you on the spot because it wasn't necessarily >> I wish I had a I wish I had more data to inform. It feels heavy is I guess
032what I can say. You know, we always look to the youth risk behavior survey for data >> and we took that last spring. That was the third time I've been a part of administering it and we usually get our results back within eight months. It's been 10 now. I've asked EPI and I don't have a good source of when we'll sense of when we'll get that back. That is like our best >> the department of public instruction. >> Just department of public instruction. Sorry. Because when we take it, it's all administered anonymously and we don't look at any of that. They compi Department of Public Instruction compiles our results and give gives us statistics. So, it's completely um untied to student names or anything like that, but I don't know when we're going to be
033getting that. And so, anecdotally, things feel heavy >> and in the weeds, but I don't really have a good kind of zoomed out vision of how we're looking comparatively, which would be really helpful right now to know. Um I'm I'd like to say that we'll get that by the end of the year, but I truly don't know. at the end of the year I can compare kind of some other data points that we have internally and that will give us a better sense. >> Okay, thank you. >> Mental health week is something that started several years ago. We have grant funds again that we used to support this. It's kind of a studentled movement that started at the high school. Last year was the first year that the middle school had theirs. Um it's not
034unfortunately the same week at the high school and the middle school due to assessment schedules and AP testing and things like that that get really busy um in spring. So they have separate weeks, but they're both equally wonderful. Um student groups plan activities that focus on mindfulness, coping skills, and just kind of messaging campaigns. So that is something that we're continuing this year. Uh great new tomorrow I have a meeting with the public library. Um, one of the librarians who works with a lot of our students heard that they have a mental health week and reached out and said, "What can we do at the library to kind of co-c collaborate and support, which I'm really excited about." So, I said, "Watch out. I'm going to really pull you in and make this a citywide
035thing." But, she's all in. So, I think we're going to do everything we can to just grow this and hopefully um roll it down to elementaryaries next year and see what we can do there. And then I just wanted to kind of give you an update on kind of Speak Up, Speak Out because I know this has come before you guys before, too. Uh this is our anonymous reporting tool that students can use for concerns they have um about just about anything that happens within [clears throat] school, whether it's drug use, bullying, um crime, drugs. This is a report I pulled last week about the volume of tips we've gotten so far this year. And I know that some have landed in front of you for disciplinary measures. So, um, we had started really kind
036of promoting Speak Up, Speak Out to our students about three years ago, more formally, I'd say, through advisory lessons, posters throughout the school and things like that, as well as messages to parents in parent square about how to use SpeakUp, speak out. Our students, I'd say, use it really effectively and responsibly. Um, we don't get false reports. We do get duplicates. So, you can see that's quite a high bar there. the first time one comes in, it's coded to what it actually is and then additional ones that are about the same incident get marked as duplicate. Um, but students use it accurately and responsibly and it is an important part of our work in mental health and responding to school safety and everything that kind of falls under that umbrella. So, just thought you might
037be interested in seeing that. >> Thank you for pointing that duplicate out. >> Yeah, that's >> it was I wrote that down. I was like, what does that mean? That just means like somebody saw something in the cafeteria and five kids reported it is typically what it is. >> Mr. President, >> I just want to say I I love this and I'm so proud of our students. >> They do a great job. >> It's it's really amazing. >> A lot of area I presented on this to area districts and they were all really fearful that kids would be making false reports and I said, "No, it's super important." So, I think they're doing great. Okay. So, now we're on to new um partnerships. This is our new partnership with Health Partners for Power Up Open
038Gyms. We just had our second one yesterday at North Hudson. Um, and it was super successful. I'd say we had at least 150 folks come. Um, this is a free partnership that they offer to any elementary or any public school that wants to do it. It's great. They created this amazing flyer for us. They gave us funds to purchase new gym equipment and then to pay for staff to host these open gyms. Um, we just, Tara and I saw that Amory was doing this and said, "If Amry can do it, well then why can't we?" Um, so we had the first one in January during that really cold snap, which I think helped drive a lot of folks our way. Yesterday was also cold and um, health partners sent a staff member with some extra
039games and fun, but it's been really wellreceived. Uh, the first person or the first time people just kept flooding in. One woman kind of came in and she said, "Is this free?" And I was like, "Yeah, come on in." and she goes, "My kids don't go to school here." And it's like, "That's okay. Get on in." And people had a great time. So, we have two more planned. Um, the next one in March, we've got some students that are a part of Youth Action Hudson that are going to come and bring some extra games and facilitate some fun things that way. So, I'm really excited for that. And then in April, it'll probably be so warm that we'll see if we'll get anybody, but we can hope. So, Mr. President, really great. >> Oh, sorry.
040No, go ahead. >> I just wanted to get it out before we moved on to the next slide. Um, I think a huge part of mental health is uh physical movement. >> Absolutely. >> And I would love to see even if our athletic department did something with the high school kids or to work on >> I think that correlation >> the the body large body movement is a huge piece like the getting out in winter is difficult and all those things. And then you think back, we did the anxious generation book study last year and a lot of the pieces that he recommended are at play in these open gyms which is mixed age playgroups um free play with little adult intervention and the um problem solving amongst the kids. Like really we're not facilitating
041these games. They're figuring it out on their own. And jump ropes were used in a lot of creative ways that jump ropes are not typically used in. But the kids were having fun and they are getting you're getting into arguments, solving them themselves without the adults. Those are all the things that support excellent mental health and were all recommended in that book that we all read last year. So I think >> I wholeheartedly agree. I'm thinking to even expand it to our older kids. Absolutely. Teens and maybe they did some of them come to the open gym but >> few. >> Yeah. [laughter] So, and will you be switching this to other other elementary schools or taking Yeah, I mean obviously North Hudson works good because it's got a lot of space but >> potentially.
042So, um we will continue this next year. Obviously, we just got it started in January and the goal is primarily in the colder months, right? So, but ideally we'd have beginning in November, maybe October next year. And we had thought about rotating around to different schools. We'll see. My fear, my only fear if we do that is that people would only come when it's at their school and feel like that's it. So, I don't know. We're gonna kind of play around and see what we can do about it. But, we're definitely going to keep it going. Um, this is an upcoming event just next week, very soon, March, Tuesday, March 3rd. CAST Minnesota, which is an organization, stands for Citizens Against Sex Trafficking, but really they're broader than that, is going to be preventing on
043sexual exploitation, including things like peer-to-peer sexual exploitation, sending of um nudes and things like that, and how to keep your kids safe online. It's a very scary topic, seems overwhelming, but obviously very important. So, we're hosting this event. We're providing um food and child care again through our mental health grant dollars, hoping that families can sign up. It is appropriate for families of children of any age. Um they're going to take a lot of what they often present to middle school classes and then kind of talking about how you have these conversations with your children. So empowering you to talk to your kids about these difficult topics that I think a lot of us shy away from. um you know families are often looking for trusted information and where they can get information that is
044really reliable and upto-date. So looking forward to this event and hope to see a lot of folks there. And following that event as kind of an a companion after spring break on March 31st, Amanda McCarthy um from it will be presenting on keeping your child safe online. So all things online um social media um online sports betting um different websites and things like that. So we're going to have two pieces there. Um the first one will be uh focused on kids under 13 because that is when the law federal privacy laws apply to a ages 13 and up or 13 and under. So the first half will be 13 and under. Then we'll have a break for dinner and a resource fair with different organizations. And then the second hour will be 13 and up.
045So Amanda will be providing um guidance on we're not you can't prevent your kids from accessing screens on the internet. So how do you help them to do it safely and support them as they are um going through life in the world we live in today? And if you attend some of these events, you could get a copy of the book, The Amazing Generation. We'll be giving out some of those which is um recently published. It is the graphic novelization of last year's Anxious Generation. So, it's all the same content. Uh the book by Jonathan Height. This one's written by Jonathan Height and Katherine Price and is aimed at students. So, they say it's at for fourth grade through seventh graders. I' after talking to a fourth grade teacher, she'd say advanced fourth grade readers.
046um or you know, fourth graders reading with their parents. But it is it's a great accessible book and we will be partnering again with the Hudson Area Public Library for some um book discussions about this one scheduled for Thursday, April 16th or Saturday, April 18th. Hoping to get some parents and kids to read this book together about how to live kind of without smartphones as long as you can or how you handle life with one. Um, we've also got again that same librarian, Amelia I talked about is going to be having her tab teen advisory board and teen advisory board junior doing some work with this book as well. So we um are really excited about that. I think this is my final slide. Okay. So then one new last partnership that we have is
047um going to be starting up in 2627 but we were approached by the University of Minnesota about being a part of a study they have for 9th and 10th grade students. Um they are focusing on tier 2 small groupoup support in high school level. They have three um we're going to be working with students identifying students that need a little bit extra social support. Um, and once we kind of identify some students as the school, we'd be reaching out to their parents and saying, "We have an opportunity to be a part of a study. Would you be open to being contacted by the U of M. They get to opt in or out or not. And if they are okay with it, then the U ofM researchers can contact them. Every student who's interested in
048participating would be put into one of three different small groups that will be co-f facilitated by a U of M um employee and one of our student services staff into three different groups with uh three highly regarded um curricula. One is called learning to breathe, one is called skills for success, and then the other one is learning to breathe with a supported app that they can use after school. And all of them, they're all really well researched and supported by evidence. It's just kind of an idea to see which one may work best in a school setting. So, nobody's going to be getting a bad small group experience, but it's just part of ongoing studies. Um they've done this at Fidley High School, at Stillwater High School. And the nice thing is too, once they
049were a part of their study, they are training as many staff as we want to use this curriculum, including like our middle school staff because this is all normed for ages 12 and up. Um even though that wouldn't be part of their study, they will provide that training for us. So we are looking forward to that in the next school year. >> Excellent. >> I think that's all. Oh jeez. Okay. Lastly, um this is part of supporting our staff well-being. So, um we have a newly created well-being team which is joint effort. So Sarah Jameson, assistant director of HR, and I are the lead of it, but a bunch of us are on Bonnie's on the team, Amanda McCarthy, and we have staff that we're interested in joining to support all areas of well-being, mental,
050physical, um, financial, everything you can imagine. And so we are trying to make our well-being efforts year round, not just kind of a push during like one month of the year or it's January, start your resolutions and then forget about them by March. Um, we did kick it off in January, but that's okay because we have a lot of momentum then. And we started with this walk through Yellowstone, just kind of a typical step journey and we're continuing to push out new monthly newsletters. Um, each piece does just from my perspective have like a little mental health tip or things like, you know, did you know that if you work for a school district, you can get the Headspace app for free? Here's a look at it. Um, things like that. So, we are continuing
051to make this top of mind to support our staff as best we can. Okay, any questions? There's a lot. >> We're doing a lot of good things, though. >> Kate, >> I just want to thank you for all this amazing work that you're doing. It's so important. Um, I can't say enough about it. >> And I think these are your your kids. >> Yeah. Two of three. >> So, you were so well behaved and your mom is doing such good work. So, I'm thankful that you're lending her to us today, tonight, and every day. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Moving on to uh the schoolboard primary election results. Nick, you want to discuss? >> Um can't read that from across the room, so I got to pull it up on my computer.
052So, uh, the primary election results, we have the unofficial results because the official canvas is going to be Tim, remind me again tomorrow morning. >> 9:00 tomorrow morning. Uh, that'll be right here at the district office. Um, so we'll do the official canvas as we work through that. Um the four people moving on to the full general election which is coming up on April 7th I believe uh is Megan Rosowski, John Dolan, Maria Rudy and Joe Rivera. Uh you can see the vote totals by wards and um by municipalities. Any questions? There will be another ballot draw that will happen. Is that correct? >> 10 o'clock. >> Tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock we'll be doing. So, if you want to see the ballot draw, that's another captivating, uh, opportunity for you to come and witness
053that. So, uh, at 10 o'clock, we'll do the ballot draw. And so, then the order of names as they appear on the ballot will happen at that point. And then, um, you know, we give that stuff to the county. They put together the all the ballots and then people can request after that absentee ballots and things along those lines. So, any questions on the primary results? If no questions, we'll move on to uh early college credit uh start and a lot of other words. Shannon. >> Yes. Yes. So, you got eyes on this uh last meeting. So, tonight is just approval for the early college credit start college. Now, we have three students looking to take those courses this summer. Looking for approval and signatures on those. >> Sounds good to have a motion to
054approve. >> Mr. President, I make a motion to approve the early college credit program start college now requests as presented. >> Thank you. >> Second from Brian. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed say nay. Hearing none. Motion passes. Shannon. >> Thank you. >> Uh next up is 2627 student and family handbook. Terra or Yeah. >> Yep. Um I believe this is year two um that you are seeing a K12 district handbook. In years past or pre my time uh there was handbooks from every building and so we put all of the good stuff into one handbook. A lot of what you will see in handbook is district policy. Um there is no content changes in the handbook which part of going to that district K12 is that it would
055say stay consistent. All you're seeing for updates in there are maybe people names, phone numbers, buildings, but otherwise the content itself has not changed. Um, I will say that buildings do their kind of addendum to the handbook. You know, those are specifics like if you are a prairie parent, how are you going to pick up your your kiddo in the drive-thru line and how those things work specific to buildings? But overall, K12 district handbook is what's in front of you. >> Is that a concern >> per pickup? could be those parents there. >> That parking lot is a concern for everyone. Um, >> okay. Thank you, >> Mr. President. I have a question. >> With the change in the cell phone policy at the high school, is that in like the high school addendum? Correct
056then. Okay. Thanks. >> Okay. Um, moving on. Uh, elementary transition planning and events. Sure. So, um, families received information last week if they were, um, transferring to, uh, a new school based on the new boundaries. So, we started that process last week and then, uh, the principles have been meeting to talk about some of the transition activities. So, what you have up here are two of those upcoming activities. One is um tours for the children who are moving into a new school. Um and those will be held on um April 22nd. So pretty much from 9 until 11 that day. So kids will get on buses and be transferred to their um new school and um have a tour of that school. um have some basic understanding of um where the cafeteria is, all of
057all of the good stuff that kids get anxious about. And then also up here are um the two celebrations for Holton and Willow River Elementary Schools on um May May, yes, May 31st. And um so they they do overlap a bit so that folks can be able to attend both of those. And so um both of those schools are working with their parent groups to plan the actual activities. I know Willow is also doing um some more specific things for families. Um these two events um the celebrate celebration events are open to the whole community. So, this isn't just for families. And then, um, we are planning, uh, some open houses for, um, obviously in August to help families as they transition. And, um, looking at some dates this spring as well. Any questions? I'm
058sorry for putting you on the spot with that earlier. I didn't have my glasses on, so we skipped ahead a couple topics. Can't believe I wanted to skip budgeting, but [laughter] >> shocking, I know. >> Thank you, Bonnie. You're up. >> All right, so we do have our monthly budget update. Um the big ones this month that are a little off are um object 166, our certified staff um sick leave. We are running lower this year, so that was a good thing. Um 181 signing bonus. Um we kind of eliminated signing bonuses this year. We just had a few because of the new salary structure. Um so those funds are sitting out there that we've not allocated. Um 329 environmental and cleaning services. Um we are running a deficit in that budget. That is mainly
059due to snow removal. So that one is a little different. And then 417 is paper. Um, we've talked to the principles and we've actually we're trying to deplete as much as we can because we really feel like once we close those two schools, we're going to find a lot of stuff in those buildings. So, um, we've talked to the principles about being very conservative about ordering for next year because we can get things pretty quickly if we need to. And, um, we're going to hold off on our paper restocking for this year, um, unless we really run into it. But, those are the main ones for this year as of right now. Um and then I did we have been working with the layer group on the insurance. Um this report is through December. Um
060we are running at 104.6. Um so as we said so every dollar we pay in premiums we're paying a$14 out in claims. So we are running better than um last year but still at a deficit um through December. Um Nick and I have spent a lot of time meeting with um aair group about different ideas for next year. Um had a really nice um meeting with a provider this last week that might be really advantageous for the district. So that's forthcoming. Um but we are being really aggressive on how we can retain our quality benefits and lower our costs for the district. >> Bonnie, I have a question. >> Sure. Um, I'm still learning all of this and I'm sure other people are looking at this and want some clarification too. Can you explain just
061just talk a little bit about 80 the community service fund like how that >> like what what would someone expect to be in there? So our fund 80 community service is our wrap care. It's also our community education programming. Um it's our police lison on officers and it's our our eighth grade um activities. So those are things that we can run through 80 um that don't have to come out of our general operating budget. >> Mr. President >> uh Bonnie I'm looking at I think it is it the first slide from the um healthcare consultant I forget what >> aair group and it it's striking the um the little call out on large claims that um large claim payments make up 40% of our total spending. Mhm. >> Um couple thing if you have any
062thoughts on that. Just curious, you know, is that a regular experience or where you're experiencing um >> higher large claims? And then second, could you talk a little bit about stop loss? You know, does it is this where stop-loss coverage would come in? >> Yep. So, currently we have stop loss. So that's basically insurance claims that once they hit 125, anything over that is covered by insurance. So it's kind of that that catastrophic um insurance that we have for the district. Um actually meeting with them, they're saying we're actually running pretty well with our our high claims cost. Um it's it's kind of the nature of the beast. They think that we're we've also asked like if we looked at higher levels like we'll go to 150 would that be advantageous for the district. So
063they are costing out those scenarios for us as well. Um but it seems like it's kind of a right fit and we just have some large claimments but number-wise based on I believe we have 1,600 lives on our plan right around there and we only have 18 large claimments. It's not that it it's a lot, but it's not that out of the norm. >> And that's that's they explained to us that's essentially the function of of insurance as you pull everybody together in an effort to handle those handful of things that are pretty high cost. You know, we do have of that 18, we do know that one claimant is almost a million dollars in and of itself. And so, um, that stop loss kicked in. And so then we get a we get a
064stop-loss payment back that hasn't I don't think has arrived yet. Is that right? >> For I think we're up over 750,000 in stop-loss repayment. So we pay the claim they turn they turn around and reimburse us. >> We also I believe have of those claimants three or four of those individuals are on Cobra. So those individuals will be falling off our plan as well. >> Sorry, just one other question comes to mind. So we're running 4.6%. Am I reading that correct? Correct. Above. >> Just recalling from last year we what what did we end up exceeding budget? >> Um it was about almost $3 million. >> Okay. So 28% I think is >> okay. So it it um >> so we're doing much better this year. >> Okay. >> And this one actually with the
065300 we actually got this was through December. In January we did get a rebate from pharmacy of about 300,000. So that doesn't reflect in this as well. >> Molly, >> thanks Bob. Um, so in working with Ala and you've been talking about different solutions. Um, when will you be coming back to the board with other or will you be coming with a proposal? >> I think our goal is next month. >> Okay, >> great. >> Thanks. >> Um, one of the other things in our packet and this is actually um Dave, he's our new um finance director. um included just some a really nice um narratives of what the different um functions mean for you. Um I know we've talked about that, but it's a really nice glossery of kind of finance terms. So when
066you look at the numbers, it makes a little more sense. Um and then he also um ran some additional budgets for your review based on function, which is like by a department versus an object, which is like a a type of expense. So um and that's how we adopt the budget with the state. So I just some additional resources for you as you look at the budget that we hope is helpful for you >> because I know you will be looking at it. Bob, you look really >> Oh yes, absolutely. >> I liked it. [laughter] >> Yeah. >> Um I I would I would say is this something we could put on the website for you know? >> Definitely. And it is it yeah it is on the website because all these documents are linked
067to the >> Could you make it easy for someone like me to find it? >> Well, yeah, I was going to say maybe we could get it emailed to separate >> from that. Thank you. >> Yep. >> So then um the next agenda item is the um budget projections. So, we've been working on the budget projections. Um, I'll just go give you kind of a narrative of the snapshot. Um, if you look out through 2627, we are projecting a surplus of that 3 million 15,763 um before the referendum. Obviously, that includes the referendum that we passed and it also includes the savings from closing those two buildings. Um but if you go through five years based on some pretty general assumption I mean in five years we'll be operating at a deficit of 5.8 million
068and those are annual deficits not cumulative. So these are inclusive of the savings related about 3.3 million in savings related to closing the buildings. So for 2627 if if the board wouldn't have taken the action they've taken our new budget projections would have had us going deficit next year already. um which is an updated set of numbers. And some people say why do the numbers keep changing? It's because we keep getting new information as we get new information from the state. Um you know these are we're giving you the best information we have as we get the as we get the different assumptions. And then if we look at the snapshot um just um just to kind of go over the assumptions that we've made and I know it's really hard to see so I
069apologize but to get everything on here um we did when we built the budget for next year assume the 325 revenue limit increase. Um we used the CPI wage increase of 2.61 which was just finalized. Um, health insurance, we estimated an increase of 7%. Dental insurance, 3%. Um, special education funding, we're hoping 40%. Um, there has been some talk at the legislative level that might come through. Um, we use the MGT projections as we forecasted out. So, next year's enrollment is there. Um again the staffing reduction which we've just we're getting really close to with the closing of the buildings and then the operational expenses. Um so and this is just kind of the the model that we use um with Baird. So you know if any of these things change it's going to change
070our numbers but these are the assumptions that we utilize to build the budget. >> Mr. President. >> Yes. Um Bonnie, am I if I'm looking at this correctly, fund balance is starting to um be used in 2829. Is that correct? Because it's decreasing. >> Correct. >> So that is basically what some of that money is for. I would hope. I mean, I know this is it's really hard to look ahead and see deficits, but you know, to keep our budget um kind of flat would be great to be able to control some of our costs going forward um and then use some of our fund balance. But just looking forward. >> Yeah. And one thing that doesn't go on this projection is in the 203132 budget is when that referendum. So whatever your deficit is,
071you would have to add another 5 million because that will fall off. So that's kind of out there which will be a and and understand we hope to control some of these deficits as as you look at the overall enrollment uh based on MGT's numbers, you're going to see declining enrollment. You're going to see us uh as we've made reductions at the elementary schools. As those work their way through the middle school, work their way then through the high school, you'll see additional reductions being made. Um right now these are keeping staffing levels at uh next year's staffing levels for five years. And so um and as you saw the enrollment projections, those numbers are going to go down. So we will be reducing the amount of staff we have in the district. And so
072we'll be able to try to mitigate uh some of those deficits moving forward. But I think it's important for people to see that by doing nothing, it starts to add up in in a hurry as far as the deficits start to add up and you start to burn through a lot of savings in a hurry. um and it starts to go up exponentially. So, we'll we'll be continuing every year to be looking at how do we get, you know, overall how do we get our our total budget number down, but we just don't have the ability right now till we get closer to each of these years to be able to say, okay, we're going to reduce this many FTE across the entire district. Um we'll continue to do that as we've done in the
073past and as we're doing going into next year. >> Mr. President >> Megan, >> um I just want to point out that for the 2526 year, it's a 12.2 million deficit because we're spending from the fund balance for the construction, right? That's why it looks like that. And that goes into our fund 10 expenditures saying we have a $95 million budget this year, but a large chunk of that is onetime money for the capital project. >> Correct. And then um this has changed quite a bit and it's because of the health care costs increasing more than we expected. Um special education is still not funded great and we keep seeing increases in spending there and declining enrollment at a greater rate than we had anticipated previously. But now we know more from MGT. Is that
074fair? >> Correct. Okay, the alo thing in the 2526 school year um we had indicated earlier that our deficit would be larger but that also includes the revenue we got from the sale of the district office. So that's in that number as well. It's also important to note that the way the funding formula works in the state of Wisconsin is that as our enrollment goes down and yet our property values holds constant or go up, the state will continue to pull state aid away from us and expect us to put more on property taxpayers. That's the way the formula works um for us. And so when you start to look at that, you'll start to see our um tax levy will continue to uh climb. However, it climbs at a rate um you know that's
075going to be probably equivalent to the overall budget because we're not getting any inc you know our increases in state aid will not keep pace. Um you can also look at our mill rate or projected mill rate. I mean these are some pretty major assumptions. So you could argue that if somebody's house next year is worth the exact same amount as their house is this year and everything kept the same we would expect the mill rate to be the same, their taxes be the same. However, we have no control over how the townships or the municipalities assess different folks. And so, I know sometimes people say, "Well, you said there wasn't going to be a big increase with this referendum and and the um there wasn't as it relates to this referendum." But what happened
076is the state comes in and they redo the evaluation. They pull state aid away and then the townships and the municipalities then do a reassessment for everybody and then they determine what each person gets to pay. and all we have control over is the overall mill rate uh coming from the district. So, um we would anticipate that the mill rate is going to drop um pretty significantly after next year if all things held held even and then it'll have another potential small drop down the road. Um, just to give some type of perspective, our mill rate, uh, back when we passed the high school referendum, I think was up over 1050 or 1080. Uh, and now we're down to the 821, but people's house values have gone up so much. That's why their taxes have
077gone up. So, just a just a note to to put on there. So, >> Mr. President, >> Brian, >> I apologize, Nick. Can you maybe you said it and I was um looking at something else. Could you say a little bit more why the mill rate falls from 27 into 28? >> Um, well, there's a couple a couple reasons. We're going to continue to we're going to continue to we consider valuation continuing to go up. I think Bonnie has it. Um, you have it set at what about 5%. Um, so the valuation goes up and then eventually, you know, our budget's not going to be able to keep up because we have fewer students. But then also the other thing is is we're dropping our debt payment. Um, so our debt service payments, we've been
078trying to pe prep preay debt, prepaid debt, uh, to get some of those things down. You guys did some refinancing of debt, uh, just in the last couple months, which saved, I think, over $3 million, uh, to taxpayers, uh, because that's money we won't have to levy for. And so, if you look towards the bottom of that page, it says referendum debt and levy payment. We're levying almost $1.6 million less, a little over $1.6 million less in that that year to make our debt and levy payment. So, we're constantly trying to look at how can we try to minimize the impact on property taxpayers. >> Thank you. >> No other questions. We're moving on to staffing update and timeline with Shannon, >> Andrea, andor Terra. >> Yep. So, I can I'll start if you guys
079want to chime in on anything. Um, so just wanted to give you a little update on where we are with the staffing process. As you know, going from six buildings to four, it kind of required us to do a little mini overhaul for staffing and it has been a long process, but I think at the end we're we all feel really good about it. So, as of actually today, we have the the placements finalized. We're going to be communicating that out to staff on Wednesday. This is a very highly anticipated date that they know is coming. Um so, so that will be coming on Wednesday. Um the process it was a collaboration between the elementary principles and um the middle school and high school a little bit but most of with most most of all
080with the elementary team and Nick and Tara and Andrea and I um the placement decisions we really kind of kept students at the focus at the center of all of it at at the same time creating strong teams and then keeping kind of a district perspective while doing so. Um, we did send out the survey earlier and like we have in previous years it became clear like obviously clear that we couldn't focus really on choices for building as our main focus. What was very clear is that staff felt very strongly about teaching in the grade level that they currently are in. And that makes probably really good sense considering the time and the efforts that have been put into um their cilly new curriculum. So it it was very clear we had very I think
081one or two staff members out of all of them that said I will teach a different grade level otherwise everybody really wanted so we kind of kept that as our as our kind of guiding focus along with also where kids are going. We kind of wanted a good representation of staff members who were um who of of where kids are going just so that they had some familiar faces too. So we did that. Um we came to a good spot and we just looked at the numbers today. We ended up with um 98% of our staff members getting their first or second choice for for grade level. I think those are pretty powerful numbers. and those couple that didn't get that did get their first choice of building. So, we feel like that is a
082good, you know, that's a good um thing for them. And then again, when we looked at first choice, we actually ended up with 89% of staff getting their first choice. And then when it when it came to building, uh 75% of our staff members got their first or second choice for building as well. So, we think pretty good with considering all the movement that we that we were faced with. But, um, yeah, we figure, you know, this it's it's kind of an emotional thing for staff. We know that they're feeling the heaviness of this right now. I've been out in the buildings and we know that this is um it's heavy for them. We know that we're going to have some that won't be overly thrilled, but at the end of the day, they're in
083a good place. We know that all of our buildings are are good places to be and led by um really good principles and so yeah, I think that the sooner they know the better. That's how I'm that's what I'm sensing. Just tell us. >> So, yeah. Thank you, >> Mr. President. >> Yes, Kate. >> Uh will will people be made aware of any non-renewals on Wednesday? >> We're talking about that tonight. It gets a little um what they'll be aware of is what names are on the staffing documents because we're going to be sending out the position control sheet. And so um at that point some of that information will um there will be spots and there won't be spots um for individuals since we're sharing that out. Um but again we're uh communicating um
084have been communicating with all staff potentially affected by layoffs. All that's been done um so it's not like they're going to learn about it on Wednesday. They're all already individual. We've had individual meetings with the principal and those being laid off. >> Yes. >> Okay. And what was the I'm sorry, what was the form you were talking about? >> The position control sheet for the all of the elementarymentaries are is going to be sent out um by the principles on Wednesday afternoon. >> Okay. >> So, >> I don't know what a principal control sheet is. Position control. Sorry. >> So, a a couple of things that'll happen. So they uh Shannon, Andrea, and the principles have met with all people that would be laid off related to this process. So they've already had a personal
085meeting with all of those individuals >> so that they're not finding out about a layoff via an email. So on on Wednesday afternoon, we're going to send out a district-wide email that'll come from that'll come from the district that is going to say, "Here are all the staff assignments for the 26 27th school year as it relates to the four elementaryaries." The principles will also a few minutes after that email goes out will be sending an email out to the staff's uh the new staff of their buildings just kind of a introductory type of email >> kind of a welcome and then just it it'll show who who is all in their building with their team. So the position control it's really just it's a big Excel doc that we use normally it's just internally
086for us to see which staff members are in every building. Typically staff members just see their own building, but for this process they will see who's in every building in that dock. >> Okay. >> And then my last question, uh, will they get this email when the students are done for the day? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> So they'll get the they get the email, you know, around 4:00 on Wednesday. We wanted to make sure it wasn't a Friday email. I want so if they had questions um we'll also be able to you know I'm planning on doing listening sessions in each of the elementaryaries and the other team members will be doing those things as well and so uh but the reason we're sending everything out is you know we want to
087kind of take the mystery out of it you know so that people aren't asking which building did you get or you know what does that look like it's this is this is what staffing looks like for um we know some people are willing to talk about it more than others and so we want kind of take that out of there. But we also want to make sure that nobody found out via an email whether they had a job or not. That's those were face-toface conversations had with building principles and district administration. Those have already taken place >> and all of this was communicated a couple weeks ago when we went out to all the elementarymentaries um and talked to certified staff. So, we laid out all of these steps, all of the timeline, I think
088two, three weeks ago. Um, and they had every opportunity and some of them, some of the meetings lasted a long time to ask us questions, you know, and so yeah, I think we've as big moments are occurring, it's been in-person meetings, it's been face-toface conversations with staff. >> Mr. President, >> I real quick, sorry, I just wanted to thank you for that transparency. I think they all deserve that and I appreciate it. That's one of the things I was going to say. I just think it's it's Thank you for all the work you're doing. That's a lot of moving pieces to to get folks to have such a high rate of people either ending up in grade level or the building that they wanted if they didn't get the grade level. Um so right now
089is this staffing for certified staff only? >> Yes. >> Okay. Okay. So, we we were able to move a little more quickly because the boundary that decision that you guys made, it put our timeline a little bit ahead of of schedule, which is appreciated. Um, we we've got uh certified cemented now, so now we can start working on support staff. And we were originally our timeline would be the end of April for for support staff, but we're looking at um likely the end of March that we'll be able to communicate that out. >> That's fantastic. Thank you. Also quickly just to note, I heard elementaryaries a lot. We do have a lot of K12 positions. So it's not just elementaryaries. A lot of the student service positions, whether it's special ed teachers, speech, OT, PT,
090um, live in that K12 world. So that will include them as well. On Wednesday, >> Erin, >> um, I noticed that 227 is coming up and I just wanted to take a minute to acknowledge Andrea for her work, especially this last being her last week. Here I think is correct. Um, so just thank you so much for all your work and I'm sure this week is been very heavy for you as it has been for all the staff and I just wanted to wish you well in the next chapter. Thanks. Thank you. >> Absolutely. Okay. Uh, next up is our Wisconsin Association Association of School Board uh, section with um, we're going to discuss Megan if we're going to do a letter or we have any discussion on that. Well, [laughter] >> or not. >>
091I think there's uh I think Nick has updates from WASBY. So then I didn't start a letter because I wasn't sure. So >> yeah. So have been kind of in touch with our local legislators as it relates to the they're trying to get to a budget deal on the budget surplus. Um I think the governor and the uh legislature uh the assembly were in agreement. uh and uh we're ready to move forward and the Senate uh said not so fast and so um the assembly did go home without a deal. Uh I have been told by our legislators that they would anticipate that uh an extraordinary session will probably be held sometime here in March uh where it'll be probably a brief one day. They think they're very close on a deal with that. Uh
092the deal surrounds uh trying to bump special ed up to what they promised us that it was going to be at 4245. Uh and then in addition to that uh I think people have had an opportunity to read um in in the WASBY updates and things like that and even in the the different newspapers. Uh they also wanted to make sure that there was property tax relief. And so that's kind of the big um there's a couple different ways that that was hanging out there. Some people wanted property tax relief in the uh area of general aid. That's where the govern governor was wanting it in uh general aid to school districts. Um I believe the assembly wanted it in the area of school um lottery school lottery credits on people's actual property taxes. Um
093if we had a magic wand and said what would we like? we would want it on the school lottery credit uh property tax credit for Hudson because when things go just into the general aid formula because we're a negatively aided district related to tertiary aid we don't get the same amount as other districts would get whereas at least if it's put on the property tax credits it's going to be based on the value of people's homes and the uh credit that's associated with that. So our constituents and our taxpayers would get the most property tax relief having it be that direction as opposed to the general school aid formula. Uh the other piece I think the big hangup is this um income tax whether it be income tax credit, income tax rebate, income tax something
094along those lines. The Senate wants to see a rebate that would be mailed out to taxpayers. I think the governor and the uh legislature were really wanting to do more of a credit on people's income taxes for 2025 if they filed in 2024. Um so that I believe is the final sticking point on the on the deal is how that's going to be uh negotiated. But in all I think what it does is it spends down about 1.2 to 1.4 billion of the surplus. uh a large there are other pieces that aren't necessarily education related uh that are in there, but um it would be really great if they could get this done and we could we could count on that money for this current fiscal year. Uh without them making us whole related to
095special ed aid um we could see even bigger deficits than what you saw on those uh budget projections. >> Brian, >> thanks Mr. President. Uh Nick um any word on whether it's some certain or some sufficient? >> Uh it is it is going to be some certain. Um they're very reluctant to do some sufficient. So some just to give people an idea of the difference. Um some some certain is they put an actual dollar amount and then obviously as the price of things go up that dollar amount is uh has less buying power as you go through it. uh some s uh some sufficient would be they set a percentage and then um the benefit for us is as the they're just saying we're going to fund these costs at this percentage. So it kind
096of has a built-in escalator. Um there's I just don't see a world in which they're going to do some sufficient. It's only going to be some certain because then they are locked into a dollar amount versus a percentage. >> Yeah. just it's disappointing that uh you know you hear something on the news you know there's going to be some action and then you talk to Nick or Bonnie and they're like yeah but that doesn't help us in Hudson >> and so that's why the special ed was a so important for school districts like us because it's fair >> it's fair to districts like ours but I'm sorry Megan >> I was just going to say the letters that we talked about at our last meeting for our legislators and the governor did go out I
097was talking about a letter to Wby so I made the edits we talked about gave them sent them to Tim and Bob and Nick and Tim put them on letterheads so they looked nice and those >> did go out. >> Yep. So, so I guess you know going back to the original conversation about the letter to WASBY because they're kind of at a point where now it's it's leadership of both chambers and then the governor talking. I mean, now it's just u WAB's um lobbying is is more I don't want to say over, but I mean they're they're going to have to come to an agreement. I think they all are willing to spend the money. It's just how it gets spent at this point. Um and and it gets returned back to returned back
098to taxpayers. So probably not a huge need to do a letter to WSby at this point. Although I do want to give you a heads up. Um I did reach out to them about coming uh their their lobbyist coming and and so um looking at either uh late March or sometime in April having them come uh and kind of give us the lay of the land as we head into midterms and also how everything settled out once uh the assembly probably will not gave back in um I don't know maybe potentially until after midterms. Um they may be out of session for the next six months. So, uh, because it's an election year. So, and then I know we have a board recognition WBY. >> We do. I think I was going to forget [snorts]
099that. >> Yep. >> Uh, Kate has earned enough enough credits with the uh with WBY to earn her level one pin, which I'm sure she will proudly wear at the next uh meeting in Monomony or wherever. >> Thank you. >> And uh so certificate and a pin for Kate. Great job, Kate. Uh then we're moving on to 179 tax credit discussion. >> All right. Uh so this got tabled uh by the board at the uh last meeting. Again, um I don't I don't have a preference on this one way or another. I just know that I don't feel like I have the authority to make the decision on my own. That's why I brought it to the board. um and want to uh push, you know, let the board decide what they would like to
100do. Uh you have the option you can you could table it again and say, "Hey, we want to have more information." Bonnie sent you some information as it related to, you know, the summary of the program. Um but if you'd like to have more conversation specifically with our legal counsel on it, I could set up a time to do that and we could delay it until after you guys have that conversation or you can vote to say we don't want to do this at all. I mean, I I'm really open to whatever. I just need some level of direction from the board. Megan. >> Uh, so from the information Bonnie put together, it it sounds like it is fairly common for entities to pass this tax credit on or I don't know if if you
101can just give a little context because because we don't pay taxes, we can't get the tax credit, but there's the provision that allows for government entities or whoever ever to pass it on to the folks who did the um you know environmentally friendly construction work, right? >> Correct. I don't I don't know the com how it is. Um this is my first request that I've ever seen with it, but when we talked to Lori, it sounds like it's not it's common place that it does occur. But again, there's no benefit to the district to do it, >> right? >> I'm I'm kind of of two minds on this. You know, it it um I I fully support what Congress did here with this policy to incentivize, you know, commercial property, public institutions to build, you
102know, more sustainable, use more sustainable building practices in more sustainable energy efficient systems. All those things, those are good things. And presumably our buildings, the projects we just did were were built that way if if the there's this request that we pass on the credit. Certainly, Congress when they passed this law, they wrote in this exception for public entities like ourselves to be able to transfer our credits to the the vendor, builder, architect, designer, whomever it may be. So there there's certainly that intent. I do I Nick, I don't know if if you have an answer here, but this would have felt better if it was something that we talked about on the front end >> in the discussion with market and Johnson >> instead of them coming at the tail end. And I I'm
103curious if you have thoughts on that or or you know reach back. It's probably what four or five years now. Um, yeah, I was just uh I was going to look at um I was going to try to look back and see. I know there was some discussion about it in their original contract because the architect kind of pointed it out to us. I remember back when we when we went through it. Uh but we we pulled it from the contract at the time. We just didn't see that, you know, there was a need to put it in there. Um but there was some discussion at the time. Um, I don't uh, yeah, like I said, I I don't really have a strong preference either either way. I just, like I said, I just don't
104feel like I have the authority to make the decision on my own. So, that's why I brought it to the board. >> Um, I looking at this originally, you know, had a lot of questions and and just to feel better about it or I mean, I still don't feel like I have a grasp of it. I I would suggest we table it again, get legal [clears throat] counsel advice. Um, and like I said, I'd like to know how prevalent this is out there. What are other examples of this being being used? I mean, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with it. I agree with Brian that, you know, government set up that there's rebates and credits and all across many industries, you know. So, um, if we if they if they did follow practices
105and build, you know, an efficient building, they shouldn't be, you know, I don't know. I mean, is people other think if we want to table it again, >> Mr. President? Um, yeah. I mean, I I whether or not this is good tax code is beyond me. I mean, our tax code is I don't even know how many pages in the United States. I don't I don't want to know. 10 million. >> Um, but I mean I take the tax deductions that I can legally take. I I don't know. I feel like a mixed bag about it. It's kind of odd, but it's also like who am I to I don't know. Like should entities not be able to take the tax deductions they can? Um, I would like to not spend very much money on
106a legal review because then that's coming from our I don't know how long the legal review would be if we would have a lawyer look at it. But I don't want to pay a lot of billable hours to decide on this. Just thinking about our money. So, I don't know if that just muddy makes it even muddier. I'm not saying not to have the lawyer look at it, but I don't know how much that would cost us either. So, should we maybe take a break, do a little research, not necessarily going through legal? I mean, that's that's fine. >> I mean, if I think if it's a quick >> on Andrea's plate for the rest of the week, right, >> I think if it's a quick question for the at, you know, but if it's
107like multiple hours, you're like, that's not going to be worth that. >> Okay. Uh, I feel like I'm okay with tableabling this at this time. It sounds like there's a lot of questions and >> um people are unsure. So, I'm happy to make a motion to table the discussion at this point of the uh 179D tax credit. >> I second. >> Second from Aaron. Was that um all in favor say I. >> All oppose say nay. >> Motion is tabled. Uh And going on to policy 690 with bonding. >> Um, thank you. Um, so policy 690, we received a public records request. Was it this fall? Um, and we looked at this policy and if you look on that the edited revised policy, it refers to a policy we don't have. Um, so we kind
108of look back to try to figure out how that occurred and we don't know. Um, so basically it talks about the dis the disposition of real property as governed by policy 7300. So our recommendation is to strike that because we don't have that policy. And then if you go to the bottom, um when we um looked at WB, this was their recommendation um for the language to talk about um the disposal of real property. Um so those were the two main um changes. And then in that paragraph right above where it says 5,000 to 10,000, that refers to um the Gazsby um requirement for capitalization of assets. So we wanted to be consistent with that. So not a lot of changes, but more clarification and getting rid of the um referring it back to a
109policy that doesn't exist >> and following WSBY policy. >> Correct. >> Yep. So, is that something we want to vote on tonight, too, or >> No, no, you wouldn't vote on it. So, this is just the first look at it. Then you would do first reading at the regular meeting and then and then you do a second reading at the April meeting. So, it wouldn't actually go into effect until um the April meeting, >> right? >> Okay. All right. Any questions on that? If not, uh moving on to North Hudson brick. >> Just one question. Sorry. Um did you say um Bonnie that you had legal counsel that they were consulted on this the addition of the disposal of real property that was added? >> So we use WSB. They have a their lawyers have
110like recommended language and this is the language they recommended. >> Okay. I just I just kind of feel like there's like a little bit of a timing concern with updating this policy right now. I'm not overly comfortable with it to be totally honest. I I understand that we need to do that and when we look at review policies that it's appropriate time to update. I just particularly just wanted to note that. >> Yeah. I mean and honestly we were going to bring it earlier but we kind of had the same concerns but it is referring to a policy that doesn't exist and we wanted you guys to have a policy that you could follow. So that was our right. We thought we should bring it forth. >> That's why I was asking if legal counsel
111was consulted. >> Yep. >> Yeah. It was their language though. >> Okay. >> Yeah, >> it's the language is fine. >> Okay. >> Thanks, Mr. President. And then I don't know if it's worth just for newer board members that a lot of times we follow the WASBY policies because they're worked out for us and then we get to spend less on legal counsel in those areas. >> Okay. Next up is um the North Hudson brick veneer repairs. Sure. So, um we're starting to work on our summer projects. Um request for proposal. So, this one we have completed. Um during our um construction project, we did it was identified by the architect and the builder that the veneer of the brick in some areas of North Hudson was failing. Um these were things we would didn't
112know until we got into the building. So, we worked with Lurch and Bates. Um there is a in the attachment it actually shows where the defaults are in the um the facades that need to be repaired. It's a quite a lengthy report. Um but really things that need to get fixed because the brick is going to start falling off those buildings. There's hairline cracks um and they just need to be repaired. So we did get three bids. Um on the on that actually we received four bids. Um Lurchin Bates is recommending the advanced masonry restoration um in the bid of $28,512.33. We do have that identified in our long range capital maintenance plan. Um and if we um were to approve that bid um it would be done by August 15th. >> And that's like
113tuck pointing and everything, right? It's touch pointing, but there's also a large part on the south side of the building that it's going to have to be taken off and re >> reset. >> This is outside the referendum order. So, this is not not work that we were doing with the referendum. And it wasn't until we started pulling windows and started seeing, you know, where they had issues and things like that that we found this. And so instead of doing it inside the referendum project and paying an upcharge related to change orders and everything else, we chose to do this outside of the project, >> Mr. President. >> Okay. >> Have we received any other bid bids from other companies? >> Yep. So if you look at that bid tabulation, there's actually four bids. Um,
114Restoration Systems, Owen Masonry, American Masonry, and Advanced Masonry Restoration. Are you looking for a motion? >> Um, this will go to the board meeting. So, >> okay. So, we wait until then. >> Yep. Okay. >> Just wanted to present it to you first. >> I am impressed with the detail of their proposal. That's And they even did the little thing on the bottom of facade. The French >> Yeah. [laughter] >> I curly queue. That's Yeah. >> Okay. No other questions? uh security camera and door access uh replacement project. Bonnie again. >> Yep. So, this is another project um that we have in the works. Amanda's also here, so if we have any questions. Um the the other one on our kind of our big project is replacing the camera systems and the door access equipment
115in the district. Um it's you can probably talk better about the life. Sure. Hi. So, um, basically what [clears throat] we found over the last three years is that, um, we have a camera system system in place. It's working, but the cost to replace our cameras and upgrade our equipment is becoming greater and greater and greater. and the rate of change in the technology is um outpacing what we currently have. And so we came to kind of a crossroads I would say in the last year. I don't know if you remember two years ago when I did my board report, I showed you this really fabulous picture of this is what the old camera looked like at Holton and this is what the new Okay, we we're no longer in that situation, but the things
116we need to do with our camera system, the current software, we're unable to do it. The other problem that we're trying to solve here is take our access control and our cameras and put them under one pane of glass. The benefit that is for us is as we identify an issue, door 16 is propped open, we can automatically trigger a warning, we can automatically feed the video and somebody can see, oh, there's a problem or, oh, somebody stuck a chair in the door and we know how we need to resolve it. It also lessens the systems that we're trying to manage and increases our efficiency. And so we feel like if we invest some dollars into cameras, we can put better equipment that'll give us a more secure environment because um the way the current
117software works, there's a lot more technology available in it than we currently have. So I can say um somebody walked into my building and they had jeans and a blue shirt in on and the camera systems now have the ability to track across multiple cameras whereas now I need to go from camera 130 to 131 to 132 and I have to watch each of those individual pieces of footage. Um and it's very timeconuming for our building administrators when they're in the middle of an investigation. And so we think we have the ability to give them time back, put better, more current technology in place and not replace aging technology. >> Anything more to >> I think one of the other things that we found out when we were talking with vendors is that a lot
118of the equipment that we have replaced over the last years like the cameras, we don't have to replace those. It's more the backbone of the system. So when we initially started walking down this path, we thought everything would have to be replaced. So that was kind of that we weren't throwing out money like the investments we've made in security have been good investments. >> Y we switch to Morois and stuff for the high school when that or I mean I mean we're not still on DVR or anything are we? >> Yeah we are. >> Um the other piece because we have made a significant investment at both North Hudson and EP Rock. the equipment that we put in for door access controls and the cameras that have been installed, all of that would be able
119to stay and it's basically the backside software that we're looking to replace. And then cameras that are aging, not functioning well. Or the other piece that we want to do in this process is have a look um like a a 10,000 foot look down at our cameras in our buildings to make sure that we have cameras in the places that we need them um and that we have the the right camera in the right space. Mr. President, >> yes. Um, one thing, one discussion we've had over the past couple months is, uh, kind of making sure that our security is up to standards. We know they are the standards. That's not exactly what I'm trying to say. Um, what are the parameters for high quality school security equipment? And are we following those parameters? Do
120you know what I mean? Do we have cameras in the right places to catch all the corners? do we have like you we're going to upgrade the software to make sure we have the correct software. So can you speak on that a little bit? >> So one of the pieces of the this proposal is exactly that. Right now we have our door access control running on one system and our cameras running separately. When we integrate them we have the ability to be a little more agile in our response. um we can start to determine what our alarms are, what what incidents will trigger an alert to the people that we determine need to be alerted. And we'll have that ability to do some of that um with a a more upgraded software system on the
121back side. And and for this we you know without getting into a huge amount of detail because typically we do that in close session we just we want to just make you aware that this is a pretty large RFP that's going to be going out as part of a a summer project list. Not to spend a tremendous amount of time talking about what our capabilities are just because it is more of a safety security issue that would be then reviewed in close session. Um, but we can definitely schedule a close session coming up and give you a more in-depth um, feedback on what the current system is and what the new system will be able to do um, so that we have that. But that would be something that would would fall under something we
122would exempt from open session. >> Mr. President, >> yes, >> Nick, I would really appreciate if we could do a close session on that and we could actually just take this whole conversation offline. >> I I don't I don't like talking about these things. Um, I think it puts us in a position nobody wants to be in. [clears throat] Um, and I would encourage um, anyone looking for camera placement that we have some sort of extra set of eyes on where that placement is that is outside of our district. That is not somebody who's internal. >> Yep. >> Just my recommendation. Thank you. >> Make it >> I concur with Aaron. I I'm really glad that this work is being looked into. Thank you. Very important. >> And these are I mean, these are big
123dollar items. That's part of why we're kind of letting you know ahead. I mean, we're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to continue to upgrade. And then I think the thing is people have to understand is as technology continues to improve as as Matt talked about trying to stay up with it is consistent. You know, it's just it's a consistent expense that we're going to constantly have to deal with because some people will say, "Well, gosh, are you really going to replace stuff with the high school?" You got to remember the high school renovation was finished 8 years ago. Um and so or the majority of the renovation was finished 8 years ago. And so yeah, things are things are needing to be upgraded and replaced and things like that. And so um
124the good thing is and like Amanda said, a lot of the actual physical things that we have in place that we've just installed or that we've installed in the last eight years, they work regardless of the system. It's more of the system itself that we're and what it can do. So look forward to having that discussion. and we'll get that scheduled here in the next uh month or two. So, >> I think that's great. Um, you know, but just for people at home just to realize, I mean, when you have your own home security systems or your own home cameras, they're constantly upgrading. People with Ring cameras just had to upgrade because of storage issues. People with I mean, it happens all the time. And these cameras, they don't not these just cameras in general,
125they just don't have the capability to keep up with technology and all these apps and all this stuff that's out there. So that would be an excellent reason to be looking for anyone to do that kind of an upgrade. >> I the longer we've had the technology, we've realized there's needs in our environment that we want to be able to address. >> Thank you. Uh it brings us uh to the end of our of our agenda, but we will be going to close session and then coming back out of close session to possibly take action. So if someone would like to make a motion to go to close session >> and m Mr. president. Uh we we will not need to come back into open session. So that was kind of inadvertently left on the
126agenda by me. >> Okay. >> Um so we will be we'll be adjourning from close session. So I just want to make sure people know that we will not be coming back into open session to take any action. So >> okay, sounds good. >> Mr. President, >> the board will entertain a motion to convene in close session pursuant to Wisconsin statute 19.85 85 parent one parent C to discuss and take action if appropriate regarding the employment and performance evaluation data of public employees over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility consideration of certified staff employment and/or preliminary notice of contract non-renewal andor layoff. >> Thank you Molly. >> second from Brian. Do a roll call. D >> I. Garza >> I >> Gerlock >> I >> Powers Rowski >> I >> Bowman I
127we are now in close session.