001Good evening all. I'd like to call to order a meeting of the Hudson School District. If we could all rise for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands nation. Okay, first item will be recognitions for spring athletics. We have Aaron Mowen. Yep. With trophy. Right on time. Um, I'll start. I've got a couple of our programs here today who were gracious enough to make it on a beautiful summer day. Um, a lot of things going on in their lives after spring sports, but we had a ton of fun this spring. A lot of success on top of that. Um, which I'll let them hit on. But, um, upfront, I appreciate this group and all the opportunities you provide. Lots of great things to celebrate that
002I want to capture at the end. Some cool department announcements and we put together kind of a collective infographic of the whole year which turned out pretty cool. But I will start with inviting our softball captains up. This softball season came with its fair share of adversity with three season ending injuries. But the leadership of our nine seniors helped guide the team to winning their first playoff game in three years and beating the 2023 state runner-up superior for the first time in over 10 years. Um we ended up placing fourth in the BRC and finished with a season winning record. Um our allconerence athletes were Paige Adrian first team. Our second team athletes were Elena Juel and Carly Meyer. And then Elsa Burner was an honorable mention. you want? So, one of the cool things
003that the captains get to do is meet with each other as a group and just like share our experiences throughout the year. We get to kind of share leadership styles, how we lead, what things each team has gone through, and how we learn from them. And they're led by Mr. Mowen, and it's just a really cool opportunity for all the captains to get together and learn from each other and share our experiences. Um, and then also another thing that we wanted to just talk about was um, extracurriculars, more specifically student council. So I was the senior class president and Binn was the vice president. And so we just wanted to talk about how like this year our biggest goal was making sure we could get everyone involved in as many different ways as possible. So
004like when we had homecoming week or like our mental health week, we were always reaching out to like other clubs to make sure like they had an involvement in not only our week, but like they could take their own spin on different things. So, we just kind of wanted to touch on that a little bit as well because we're very passionate about our extracurriculars spirit. So, thank you. Well done. Hi there. Uh this year, boys tennis was able to accomplish many things that we hadn't done before. Uh for example, we beat Memorial in a dual meet for the first time in 30 years, which uh that photo was taken right after that. It was pretty great moment with the team. And this year we're super deep as well. And next year we're going to be
005returning almost all of our guys except for two seniors, including me. So hopefully next year they'll do even better than we did. Uh in conference, our record was 5- one and we placed second overall in the BRC. Uh we had three state participants, Nate Anderson, Chase Burning, and Andrew Kolani. Uh Nate Anderson was able to achieve first team all conference and Chase Burning and Andrew Kolani were second team all conference. Thank you. I would I would mention that beating any Oaklair team in tennis is you mentioned 30 years. 1987 as the last time I remember my team from Wasa East beating them and unfortunately I was 88 which we lost badly. So going to the Hob Center and which is now the Menard's Center whatever was always an embarrassing trip to Oaklair. So congratulations girls
006lacrosse. Yeah we had a really successful season. We were really lucky. Um, it was really cool because it was our second ever season as a high school sport. Oh, this does work. Um, so yeah, we had a perfect season. It was really exciting. Um, yeah, 19 and0 and state champs, which that's the post the what do you call it? Trophy. Thank you. Um, we did have a it's actually really funny. We had a little tiny mishap on the bus ride back. The stick did break off, but a little super glue and it'll be perfect. Uh yeah, I feel really lucky to be part of that group. Um we are a really close group and we have really fun team dinners. Those are a big thing to mention. Yeah. Yeah, that's it. Really? Mr. President, can
007can you show us the trophy? You brought it all the way here. I got to see it. That's that's awesome and very impressive in your second year as an organization was great. We were happy as a board to approve the uh sanctioning for for lacrosse in this area. So very happy, very impressed. Hi. So we had a pretty successful season both boys and girls in track and field. Um, we had a really big group of girls this year with almost 100 girls. We had 98 and our motto was better each day. So, in track and field, there's a lot of different types of people that do it from like people who just want to be in it with their friends or some people who compete to go to state and work really hard at that
008and have worked for all four years doing that. So, better each day was our motto because no matter what kind of level you're in, you can always be better each day. So, we took fourth in our conference this year. Um, we had one first team BRC which is K. Anderson. In second team, it was Kate Anderson, Dela Dryer, and then our 4x8 relay. And then our state competitors were Kate Anderson, Dela Dryer, and then Llaya Vulch. And then for boys, track and field, um, it was a bit smaller this year. I think they had around 50 guys. And then they had 11 academic all-conference athletes, four BRC allconerence award winners, and then their individual conference champions were Ryan Keller and TJ Penny Cookook. And they had a few more athlet So went to state as
009well and that's in that picture there. Thank you. [Applause] I'll skip over the the remaining pers, but it's just if you have a chance just glancing through the accomplishments of each, it's it's really special what they were able to, you know, not only accomplish in their accolades and finishing and records, uh, but just the culture that each of these groups embodied was really important. I want to point out two things on here. Um, it's this isn't quite a finished product. There are still some things being wrapped up from spring, all state awards, things like that. Um, we have spent a lot of time with our staff and our parents and at our orientation meetings talking about what our purpose is and our purpose is to add to the educational experience. So, we're trying to do
010things the right way as we would expect in a school in an athletic setting. And if we do that the right way, all the results will take care of themselves. This was a really cool activity Mr. De La Croy and I did of just trying to pull together some of those kind of key accolades that are across all of our programs and it absolutely felt awesome to just see it come together knowing full well. The second thing I want to make sure I bring up is the academic part. uh our our cumulative or our average GPA for our seniors that's in our weighted GPA is 3.66. I had to go back and redo that a couple times because it was I mean I know we've got a lot of great kids but 3.66 for our
011average senior student athlete GPA and the amount of time and that they dedicate not only to their their activity in the spring but a lot of them are multiport athletes involved in a lot of extracurriculars and then also taking care of the classroom is really important. So, um, tons of awesome things that went into that in all of our fall, winter, and spring seasons. So, um, just to that last slide, a couple highlights. One more slide, Mr. Miner. Yeah. Um, as always, we do our we do appreciate our officials. We do have a week where we try and honor them. Our girls track team really kind of grabbed the boys to help track collectively recognize our officials, but they did a great job. Those four officials are commonly at our track events really do feel
012like a part of when we host a track event and without them it obviously can't happen. Um we view them as part of our team. We try to appreciate that and oftent times if you've been at sporting events sometimes they're criticized. So trying to build that rapport is really helpful. I'll end with the one in the middle but we also have a new mascot. Um, couple years ago we did a uh car raffle with Daybreak Rotary. We used a chunk of those funds to go towards this and really make sure that we had to kind of beef up our mascot and it was getting a little bit weathered, we'll say. Um, but Mr. Ballard's actually agreed to be the mascot for home. Wasn't that right? No, we we do have a couple students interested in
013getting that out more and engaging with um youth at football games has been an early priority and trying to kind of get out and um be in parades and be at events as much as possible and kind of be outward a little bit more than we have been with that. So, that'll be great. And lastly, our Hudson Cheer and Stunt team got recognized. Not only were they state champions at their um competition this year at the state WACPC, but they were also honored as the 2025 sportsmanship award recipient. And that is to me when I spoke to the team like the best thing we can do um when we win and then also have no reason for people to dislike us other than we're good and they have no other reason to dislike us, we've
014made it. Um so a lot of great character. I'm really proud of these teams, not only spring, but um throughout the school year. But thank you so much for your support. I don't know if you have any other questions for them, but thank you for having us. Okay. Thank you, Aaron. Uh we will now move to citizens request to speak about non-aggenda items. And since we have four that are on an agenda item, we might as well do them right now if that's okay. So, uh, first speaker will be Angela. I believe it's Drewzy. Hello. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Angie De Bruy, and I'm here tonight as a concerned parent of a fourth grader. I want to talk to you about something many of us parents are seeing firsthand. Our
015fourth grade classrooms are overcrowded and our kids are feeling the effects right now. know at least five students in the grade are receiving tutoring outside of the school. Um it's um when class sizes are this large, even the best teachers can't reach every student the way they want to. As a parent, it's hard to watch your kids struggle. Not because they're not trying, but because they're in a system that's stretched too thin. The teachers are doing everything they can, but they're being asked to do more than is reasonable with the number of students in each room. Adding another fourth grade teacher would make a real difference. It would ease the pressure, allow for smaller groups, and most importantly, help more students succeed right in the classroom without needing to seek extra help after school. I
016know resources are tight and these decisions are never easy, but I truly believe this investment will pay off in the stronger learning, less stress, and more confident kids. Thank you for taking the time to listen and for all you do for our students. Thank you, Nick Balderback. Good evening. I'm here tonight to advocate for smaller class sizes in the 25 26 4th grade at Hudson Prairie Elementary. I'm asking then when it's time to decide about dedicating resources to reduce the number of students in each classroom, you consider adding a fourth fourth grade class and teacher. Doing this can benefit the students by providing a more focused and engaging learning environment. This decision can also benefit the teachers by allowing them to provide more effective instruction and better classroom management. Taking the students in each class
017down to around 21 to 22 kids would provide a much better studenttoteer ratio for this grade. I would also like to ask if an additional fourth grade class is added that boundary exemptions that were denied be reconsidered. We open rolled our daughter at Hudson Prairie when she entered kindergarten. We chose to do this because we knew we wanted to raise our family in the Hudson community. We commuted for two years from Baldwin so that when we eventually did move to Hudson, it would be a smooth transition for her because she had started her elementary education at Hudson Prairie. Unfortunately, we did not find a home in the Hudson Prairie elementary boundary area and we learned that our open enrollment spot went away when we moved into the Hudson School District. We were able to keep
018our daughter at Hudson Prayer for two more years through a boundary exemption. that changed this year due to the student teacher ratio at Hudson Prairie uh climbing above the desired maximum. We and especially our daughter were devastated when we learned that she had to change elementary schools. She is thriving at Hudson Prairie and we would like to maintain continuity and keep our grade experience going. And we ask that her application for boundary exemption be reconsidered if a fourth grade class is added, lowering the number of students in each class, which is what caused her application to be denied this year. Thank you. Thanks, Nick. Piper builder back. Hi, my name is Piper and I'm 9 years old. I've gone to Hudson Prairie since kindergarten and I really love my school. This is where my friends
019It's where my friends are and where I have special connections with teachers and where I feel comfortable. I think smaller class sizes are important because when there are too many kids in one class, it's harder for the teacher to help everyone. Sometimes kids need extra help and it's easier for a teacher to notice that in smaller classes. Also, when there are are less kids, it's not as loud and that helps me be less stressed and more focused. When I found out my boundary exception for this upcoming year was denied, I was very upset. I want to stay at Hudson Prairie and I hope you will add another fourth grade teacher so there's room for kids like me to stay at the school we know and love. Thank you for listening. Thank you, Piper. [Applause] Abby
020Welling. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to follow that. So, um, my name's Abby Walling. Um, I am I need a break here for a second. Um, um, I'm the mother of a soon to be fourth grader as well. And, um, with the anticipated reduction of a fourth grade teacher, um, our student teacher ratio will go from 28 to1. The Wisconsin average is 13 to1. So, we're we're nearly doubling that if if this, um, does continue on. Um, And this place places a sign significant strain on both students and educators educators. As you've heard from um the last three uh people, our district profoundly upholds student centered decision-making as a core value. In that spirit, I urge you to consider the profound educational and emotional impacts of oversized classrooms. Research consistently shows that smaller class
021sizes foster stronger um academic performance, higher engagement, more meaningful teacher student relationships, and a safer, more supportive learning environment. When classrooms are overcrowded, students receive less individual attention, learning slows, and those needed e needing extra help may go unnoticed until they've fallen behind. This doesn't just hinder e academic growth. It also disrupts classroom dynamics, diminishes part participation, and heightens behavioral challenges. Smaller classes benefit teachers as well. With fewer students, educators can better manage their classrooms, sustain a healthy uh learning environment, and avoid uh burnout. When teachers are overwhelmed, the entire learning experience suffers. Given these challenges and with our students best interests in mind, I respect I respectfully ask the board to allocate resources for an additional fourth grade teacher. This single decision has a potential to change the educational uh trajectory for our many
022children. I would also uh it would also reaffirm the district's commitment to prioritizing students in every decision. Thank you for your time, your dedication, and your thoughtful consideration in this important request. I do also have um a little speech here from my daughter Corbett. Uh fourth grade needs another teacher. As a fourth grader now, I can see many kids forced to go to another school with without many friends. Plus, teachers could get stressed. Um and kids, too. People can help. We can we can change this. Thank you for your time. Can I ask to see the picture on the back of that sheet? I think there's I saw some art there. Awesome. I think that was like last week. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, moving on. We're going to uh department reports of accomplishments and
023highlights. First up is Will River Elementary. So, um, Sue is not able to be here tonight, so she recorded hers and so we should be all set and ready to go. Uh, she will be doing both Willow River Elementary and the Hudson Community 4K program. So, I'll go ahead and turn it over to Tim to click on this. Good evening, school board. Um, I'm sending you this via video tonight because um, I'm actually in Alaska visiting my daughter. Um, so just wanted to share some highlights um, on the Willow River Elementary School year. So our academics, we did a lot of focus on literacy. Um we worked really hard on the implementation of the new curriculum and uh teachers were super excited about it and felt like it was a really great year that both
024kids and teachers learned a lot. Our students were involved in some partnerships with the FIPS uh which is great because of its location and proximity to Willow as well as this year uh Willow hosted the friendship games for students in the Hudson school district. So, we have a lot of our students helping out with that. We did an opening ceremony with the whole school as well as fifth grade helpers down at the events. Um, some highlights this year, like I said, a lot focusing on our, um, literacy, but also some other math and things like that. Our teachers, um, the PLC's focused on that implementation. We also talked a lot about warm demanders which is uh leveraging those strong strong relationships to maintain and keep those high expectations. Um as always uh Willow staff kind
025of view our approach to each day as all hands on deck and really always eager to help out anybody whether it's each other as teachers or the students. Our school did several schoolwide events that helped support um literacy. We also had a lot of family events that um just brought in our community and and celebrated the great things we have here. We did something different this year. It was called a state of a school and it's where staff shared their goals and the last one of the year, the end of the year celebration um was my favorite because we had all grade levels and departments from 4K through our custodial staff, our nutrition services all shared their successes from the end of the year at an all staff meeting. So that was a really great
026way to celebrate our work. Um we did, as I mentioned, a lot of family events with our parent group. We did some math and literacy nights just to share some things that are happening in our school curriculum as well as ways that families can support at home. We also built in some community service activities which are always a highlight for the kids um both through our student council as well as some all school events. Um we just uh at Willow we really pride ourselves on bringing families in. Um lots of annual events, some things that have become traditions like our fine arts night. Um we have boot camp nights where the FIT teacher brings families in to showcase what they've been doing in FID. So just really love to have ways to share our work
027with the parents and families in our community. Um thanks. Have a great night. not able to ask any questions. Anybody? Anybody's questions? No. Hudson. Good evening, board. These are the highlights from the Hudson Community 4K program for this past school year. Um, just wanted to share an update on where we at are at with enrollment. Our enrollment stats are pretty similar and consistent with the last few years. Uh, one change for next year is that we do have an increase in open enrolled students from previous year. Um, so that always brings in more students into our program. We're continuing with Hegger Defconics curriculum as well as assessment and we reached 73% at benchmark this year as a um increase from 71% last year. We've also implemented um as web assessment which is new to 4K
028this year. Um, and based on the data that we got from both of these assessments, we will be revisiting the 4K standards and making sure that what we're doing in 4K aligns and supports what um is happening in kindergarten. So, it's a very busy place. Lots of things happening in our 4K classrooms. Uh, ongoing professional development is something that I make sure we do just to keep consistency between all of our sites. We did three trainings in person and three PLC's um virtually just to update and make sure that our approach is consistent with our curriculum and our assessment. Next year we'll have three school sites um and seven community partner sites. So we're adding Hudson Prairie AM and PM next year. Um and again we'll continue to focus on that alignment of our standards
029and um all the adjustments and um and revisions that are put into place with Act 20. And finally, our school community. Each year I do a family survey. I had 68 responses this spring. Um, and overall 97% of our families um rate their experience for or five out of five for their child and 96% rate their own experience um as four or five out of five. And so this um I think tells us that we're continuing to serve our community and um providing a really quality 4K program. The top outcome for families was the social and emotional development. They listed their benefits with their um building comfort with next year's school for those kids that were at school sites as kind of the number one um thing that came out as as a benefit. Next
030steps, well, we will continue our focus on play-based and that philosophy um or increasing wrap care at school sites. uh hoping to streamline the registration process as well as increasing 4K outreach events at the sites. We do a lot of whole district 4K um outreach. We're required to do 87 and a half hours and those um events include the invitation to all 4K um families. Uh but the request has been that we do more at our sites. These are some pictures from our last event. We had um over I think it was like 250 almost 300 people at White Camp Park on our last ice cream social to kind of wrap up the year. It's always fun to see families and kids engaging with each other and and talking about their school year. So overall
031a really great year in 4K. Okay. I would hope if anyone has any questions about anything that Sue has presented, please reach out to her v email or give her a call. Mr. President, yes. I just have a request and it's just for my own benefit because I forget things. And for people newer board members and for people who are maybe listening, watching, um, if there's something like PLC, can you explain what that means? Just what the abbreviation means so us non-educators know what you're talking about? PLC's, uh, the acronym PLC stands for professional learning. What it is, it's just the way our teachers or our staff collaborate together. It's a model in which we collaborate to talk about kids. Is this not on? It's on. It's on. Okay. Uh and so um it's something
032that we've been implementing for quite a while now, but really it's about making data driven decisions about kids and making sure that we're adjusting how we operate as a district based on the data that we're getting and and what we're looking at. So it just gives a little bit more framework, more meaning to to how we meet as educators. Thank you. Okay, anybody else? Next up is Hudson High School, Mr. Ballard. All right. Well, thank you. Um, wonderful. I love this time of year. So, wonder, wonderful opportunity to come and share some of the accomplishments and and successes uh at our high school. We had a tremendous uh year at our high school. A special thank you um to the to the leadership team that I get to work with every day. Uh some tremendous
033people and without them uh so much of it doesn't happen, right? So any of the accomplishments that kind of roll off your tongue, it's because somebody did some really really hard work with some kids and some kids really divested hard into into what it is that they're passionate about. So um I boy, we just got That's not mine. Oh, there it is. Yep. Yeah. Perfect. Um just got done talking with Matt. You you got a chance to talk with Maddie and Bren, our student council people. I mean special kids, right? We have lunch with them. our team has lunch with them every month to talk a little bit about leadership and what's coming up in our school and and you know they don't understand that we learn more from them than they take away from
034us in those. It's just it's they're a special group of people but anyway I'm going to keep on going and you can kind of flip through the the pictures Tim as we kind of go. Um I'm not going to highlight all of them but I just want to share a few. Um we have successfully updated our academic achievement recognition program to the Latte system officially there uh the class of 25 at 33 kum lad um kumlady students 44 magna kumlady and 85 suma kumlady uh students. So just some spectacular numbers from our kids. uh we had 744 students register for AP tests and,240 uh exams were completed by these students and that's a five-year high which I always am amazed at how we can have five-year highs with our high school enrollment kind of declining
035a little bit each year. So our kids continue to step up to the plate. 12 uh Hudson DECA members departed to Orlando to compete against tw over 20,000 high school students from around the world at the international career development conference and our Raider Stu school store essentially finished in the top 20 in the world in their event which is an absolute first for Hudson DECA and then over 30 uh Spanish students took uh the national Spanish exam. we had um in and in German we had 11 students receive gold which ended up being accounting for 19% of all of the gold medals in the German exam in the entire state came out right out of our school. So that was pretty pretty cool accomplishment. Going to move on to our team. Um really proud to
036announce that Hudson High School has been named a PLTW 24-25 distinguished school for their commitment to increasing student access, engagement, and achievement in their PLTW engineering program. And then Brett Weinforter, as you know, was acknowledged uh was awarded our marketing teacher of the year um the Wisconsin Marketing by the Wisconsin Marketing Education Association at their annual awards ceremony. This year we had 142 students hit the 10 ab 10 10day absence mark or fewer students hit the 10day absence mark uh than the year prior. Um bring bringing that total number down to 536. That's been an emphasis that we've been trying to do is is is to impart upon students the importance of being present. Um and so that's that's a wonderful uh statistic that we're really proud of. The industrial educations department uh led by
037Mr. Clatt um grew to a record number of students taking woodworking this year with over 11 sections. 62 students participated and received transcripted credit in welding through Northwoods Tech College. And next year students will receive seven college uh credits through the welding program. We're going to have uh quite a few students. I think 13 that are going to are going to be on track for that. On to the community. The respect choir uh performed beautifully at the pops concert if those of you that had a chance to see that and sang for senior citizens at CCH. And additionally, they also performed the national anthem at the Raider Rally hosted at Hudson High School. So, we host that every year. That was really, really cool. Um, there were 97 seniors inducted into NHS this year. They
038completed over 4700 hours of volunteer service throughout their junior and senior years. 188 students in our personal finance um class joined 80 over 80 volunt business volunteers uh during the test drive event uh which is a hands-on community volunteer-led real world experience of planning and managing a personal budget. If you ever have a chance to come to that uh boy our business department gets together and pulls in like you said over 80 volunt local volunteers. Really a cool event. very very handson and uh real world. And then finally, just want to say the senior all night party. I saw some of you there at at the conclusion of our graduation ceremony was a spectacular success. Uh special thanks to Alicia and Steph for all of their coordination and communication. I mean, the hours those people
039put in, just unbelievable uh ability to rally and come together as a community. and it's just it's with Steph and Alicia in particular just a partnership I really just cherish and appreciate. So very very fortunate to have those folks on board. That's it. Thank you Megan. Um one of the things that you didn't highlight that I think is so awesome is the drop in for math and English that's offered in every period throughout the day. And it's it's just incredible that that's there for students to get the help they need. And I think for students who do decide to go on to college, it's like teaching you about the idea of office hours and it's okay to show up and ask the professor to help you and it's not showing that it's a weakness. It's
040actually a strength to ask for help. So, it's just fantastic. I love it. So, I'm so glad to see that. For those for those new board members and maybe people at home, what you're referring to is our intervention block. And that means that we have an English teacher and a math teacher available every period of all four periods each day, A day or Bday. The first 45 minutes of that block, we um we call it intervention. In other words, it's specific. We say, "We've identified you through test scores andor performance in the classroom, and we really think you need a boost in either English or math. Come on in. We're going to have a small group and this year we even adopted a new curriculum. So they're going to be in like their own self-paced
041curriculum with a small small group support. The second 45 minutes of that 88 minute block is what we call it's just called support. It's like anyone who would like to come particularly from study hall but even if it was from another class if they'd like to come and visit they can get math or uh English support. And we had over almost 4,000 uh of those dropins just this year, which is an increase over the next year, right? It's just it's catching on. It's catching on as an intervention. And it's it's okay to go in and get help on that on that essay or get get help in preparation for that math exam. Yeah. So, thanks, Megan. Uh, excellent report, Dr. Ballard. Thank you very much. Uh, Bonnie, good luck following that one. I know with
042with the financial I know you guys are going to be on the edge of your seats for this. Um, so for the finance department, and I'd like to echo what Mike said. I mean, I think we all have such amazing support people in our department. So, um, again, I don't do all this, but I have a great team that works with me on it. But, um, just kind of our focuses this year, um, we continued our paperless initiative. Last year, we did student services. This year, we worked with payroll and human resources. Um, all of our contracts and offer letters were emailed and accepted online versus paper folding envelope. So, a huge efficiency this year. Um, we are in the process of implementing a paperless accounts payable approval. So, again, right now we're making copies,
043sending to the buildings, they sign off of them, they come back, it's all going to be electronically and scanned. So, that's a huge savings I think for all of us. Um, we're increasing our AC payments versus paper checks. Um we did a lot with human resources this year. Um we now have um online um personnel files and our onboarding system is all electronic. So that paper is all gone. Um we are working on a paperless time sheet effort for summer school because contracted employees can't use our true time. So we worked on that this year. And then we really um spent a lot of time and I think you know about that with staff communication around benefits and benefit changes. That was a huge push we did in I would say April through May. Um
044the PE card, which we started I think a couple years ago, um our rebate this year was in excess of $5,500. So that was a great thing. Um the PC card is basically a credit card the district uses and we get a percentage back on those purchases. Um we automated our Amazon purchase order system and we have a savings of almost $12,000 this year based on discounts by setting up that system. and our paperless initiative um in human resources and payroll. So they had 32 file cabinets, we're down to nine drawers or 32 drawers down to nine. Um payroll was 18 file cabinet drawers down to four. Over 120,000 documents were converted. So it was it was a big Yeah, I think our offices had a had a lot to do this year. So they
045were amazing. Um this is a trial. We're just implementing the summer school um electronic time sheets for those that can't run through our true time. Um I think we're going to see how it goes, but so far so good. It's been working out okay. Um a little bit of a change for our staff. Um just some financial services fun facts. Um we issued almost 1,250 Ws totaling $43 million. Um we issued over 20,000 paychecks over the course of the year and that bottom is we up have to upload over 218 documents ahead of the audit. Um they typically were here 5 days. This last year they were only here two days. So that was really nice to get them the stuff in advance and have them do their samples. um with our students um I
046think one of Mike's graphics our data is a little bit different but they ran through our books um $91,000 of scholarships and 84 students and we just took randomly two of our students Olivia Li and was it Jace Olsen were some of the recipients but um a lot of um communication with the high school office they're great to talk to to get those scholarships out to those students and then this is our second year um we started a program called Hudson for you financial wellness. So really trying to educate our employees about um other things than just like curriculum and instruction like estate planning. We had Annie Bros come in from Door Drill and Scout. She did a presentation for our staff. We had Wisconsin Deferred Compensation come to the district and talk about the
047importance of putting money away as well as Kelly Benkey from WA really talking about the importance of putting even if it's $20 a check. It's important to start early and start, you know, as much as you can. We also did um several webinars throughout the year for the employees. Um really good feedback. We had a 76% increase in presentation participants. So those are people actually going to them and a 9.9% increase in individuals contributing to their retirement savings for last year. I think that was everything for me. So I guess our goal is to, you know, support the overall financial wellness of our employees, not just the getting paid and things, but how to be better informed about life choices. Megan, thank you, Mr. President. Well, I thought that was exciting, Bonnie. Good job with
048all the paper. Thank you. And um I had a question on the retirement savings. Uh are we is it currently an opt in or an opt out? So there's two things. Um we participate in the state retirement system. So that is a requirement of the district that we match. But what we're promoting is an additional savings. So even if you want to do pre-tax contributions in addition to that. Yep. So nits Bonnie about because about the finance because I hate math but um it is much appreciated this work to digitize and get rid of files and and uh you know it is very important on top of everything else that your department does. So much thanks. Uh moving on we have um Hudson Prairie Elementary School Joe Bying. It's always nice to follow finances report.
049Thanks, Bonnie. You can't lose. Well, that that's what if if I knew um we were going to have some students here tonight, that would have been great. I would included them right in the program, and they would have loved to jump up here and help me out, too. I know it. Um so, uh I think we should start. I don't Does everybody know it's Nick's birthday today? Nick, did you announce it's your birthday today? My voice is a little horsearo. Otherwise, I was going to start with a rendition of Happy Birthday, but I think we'll save that for everybody else. You can you can ask him how old he is later. I won't get into that. I like my job too much. So, um welcome to the new board members. This is my first time
050getting to meet you uh face to face here. So, welcome. Um glad you're part of the team. Now, uh just wanted to give a shout out to the families who got to speak tonight, too. That's that's fun to see families. And what a great job for the kiddos to get up and advocate for things, too. I think that's a that's a great lesson right there. So, shout out to the Hudson Prairie families. Um just want to highlight uh just a few little things about our students, our staff, and then our our community. So um the first part with our students, I wanted to make sure that we recognized Keep clicking Tim, but you can go back to that last day of school picture. It's fun to watch the staff get excited about being silly and
051then getting to show it to the kiddos. So um on the last day of school, we have a all school meeting in the gym and then we roll through a bunch of the slides and the pictures throughout the year. And so then the kids, we always do a fun little thing for the kiddos at the end, too. And they they enjoy seeing teachers act a little silly once in a while. So, um, talking about our students, so I chose to really highlight, um, at the elementary level, there's not a lot of extracurriculars when it comes to in school. They're more community- based extracurricular extracurricular events. And so, I wanted to kind of highlight um, all the work that our specialists do at school. So that's our our PE team, our music team, our art team,
052um media life skills. So our counselor, um and and all the different options that they give kiddos to pull them in to show their talents. And so Mrs. Youngman, our art teacher, does a fantastic job of connecting with the community and giving kids an avenue to show their talents through different art. And um we even had a kiddo head down to the state art show in Madison um to because he won an award down there and so he got to go down as a kindergartenner and and receive an award down there. So I just wanted to make sure I shouted out that specialist team and all the different activities they do to pull kiddos in and highlight their talents. Um moving on to the staff, there's some of the fun pictures. Um, what really wanted
053to highlight, um, we had two teachers retired this year, so I wanted to give, uh, Mr. Kenokei, one of our fifth grade teachers, a shout out. I started back at Willow with him, um, when he was just coming back from his, uh, military leave. Um, and so it was kind of bittersweet to see him go at the end of the year. Um, and he's a just a great friend and colleague as well. Um, and then Jen Johnson's a first grade teacher who also retired this year. Um, and it's it's fun when your family is based in the community you teach in. Um, I got to coach her son through um, different things and now he's a grown man and his his wife teaches in the district and then um, you know, they've got two little
054ones now. So, it's fun to see those things start to come full circle. It does mean we're getting older, right? Um, Nick can attest to that, right? Birthday today, Nick. Right. Yep. Yep. Yep. I'm gonna keep going here. Um, and then and then I did want to highlight um Jess Mllis um from our our team too. So she's our reading specialist. And so with Act 20 and the different legislation that came down this year, um we had to um enact personalized reading plans for kiddos at third grade and down and um at at different cut scores. And we could get into all the logistics of that, but she really headed that this year and did an amazing job to the extent where we our fourth graders going into fifth grade this year. We will have
055zero fourth graders going into any math or reading intervention to start next year. And that's really because of the work that she did um with that. And and we didn't have to have um with with all the different legislation, we did not have to do um fourth or fifth grade included in that. and and we chose to as a district to do that which was a great decision. Um and and you're already seeing the dividends of that and so very excited um to give her a shout out um with all the work she did to get that up and running this year. And then lastly, um our community just highlighting all the different things that make make um your school your school, right? It's all those those annual things that you do um that are
056important. This is where I could pull the the girls up and tell them what is what is what are the what do you remember about the school year and these are those things that they would they would talk to you about. Um the one piece I did want to highlight it's always great to partner with the community and so we are partnered um with our Prairie Pals mentoring program with over 20 community volunteers who come in. I know there's many elementaryaries who have a version of of a mentoring program. Um but ours started about three years ago now and we've partnered with um a local church which just helps us pull in the adults. They're they're that avenue to that. Um and so at the end of the year we had over 20 students that
057got to meet um the mentors and families at our our ice cream social and that's only grown over the years. Um just giving kids another opportunity to get to connect and get that individual um connection and support that they need. So just just a few highlights in all those areas of our students, our staff, and our community. Questions for from anybody. Not not a Nick's age, please. Um, excellent report, Joe. Thank you. Thank you very much. And I I will have to step out. I'm sorry. Um, I we have a PTO meeting after this, so I'll I'll be hanging around about 15 minutes, but if you see me sneak out, I do have an excuse of why I'm leaving early. Next up, we have Tara with student services. We do. And since I can't do
058anything alone, I have um my assistant director, Fifani, here, we're going to tag team the presentation. Excellent. Um so, I'm not going to read everything on all the slides, but on this particular one about our students, I just wanted to highlight a couple of things. When we talk about our ELLL students, we do have 114 or 115 students. of those 40 of them are newcomers, meaning that they have been in the United States for less than three years. Um, I it's amazing to me these students who imagine stepping into a ninth grade math class or reading class and you don't speak the language at all. Um, and so we've we've just seen some incredible students that come to us and the teachers that are working with them. Um and then this picture is from our
059transition program, our first open house that we have done with that. I don't know if um a lot of people realize, but special education services are provided to students from ages 3 through 21. So our our youngest learners three through kindergarten are um they receive services like in that natural environment, preschools, daycarees, and our 4Ks. But then students after they have completed the coursework required for high school, some of them continue to need some services for that post-secary readiness um for going to school or getting a job um or even just like functional life skills. And so our transition program provides that. We do rent this space um that's in the picture from the YMCA. It's in their teen center and um in collaboration with the department of vocational rehabilitation. Try not to use just
060acronyms. Molly, I got you. It's not just DVR, but half the time I don't always remember what they mean. Um, and bringing in some of those um, people as well. Perfect. Next slide. You'll see throughout this a lot of things that we've started or piloted last year and we're continuing. Last year we started with a dog therapy team at the middle school. You'll see we have added three new teams. We have Penny at the high school. We have Ember at Riverest and Eddie up at Holton. So, this is a no cost to us as a district. Not only do these teams travel far for us, but they show up to open houses, mental health community events, conferences, and so we're very thankful for our partnership with that organization. Um, and so when we talk about
061our team, it doesn't just include the picture that was at the beginning of this presentation of some very awesome people that work in our student service office, but we're also talking about all of our special education teachers, service providers, counselors, school psyches, social workers, nurses. I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody else within that, but um, this slide just really kind of gives you a breakdown of all the different things that are coming out of our office. Some things to highlight here as well. Our health office visits, there are over 23,000 visits to the health offices across the district and zero medication errors. And so today, as I was thinking through this presentation though, I kind of thought like like I would hope that there's not, right? But things can happen. And in hospitals, the medication error
062rate is anywhere from 3% to 25%. So I was like, okay, yeah, that's pretty cool that we have zero. Um, and I think several years in a row we've done that. And then also our um our PCSA, which is our procedural compliance self assessment. Um, we have to go through that every four or five years um over the course of the year through several different steps. We work with DPI and they um we pulled over a hundred different IEPs. We analyze those for 22 different standards. I've always found it to be a great way to find the things that we're doing really well and to celebrate that, but then it also gives us um some ideas and working with the consultants at DPI, like how can we make sure that we are doing the right
063things in our IEPs and continuing to maintain that compliance. And our big thing too was that we went paperless. And if anybody has ever been up in our student services, it used to just be like filing cabinets everywhere. And now it's like this huge open space. So Tara and I do yoga after school, right? No, I'm just kidding. Um, next slide here we have um, we were fortunate enough this year to send a team um, through grant dollars to the LRP Institute. It's an institute of some of the nation's best educational attorneys that talk to us. This is our favorite speaker we're with here, David Hodgen, who talks us through all things that can be legally problematic in the world of student services and how to avoid those. So, it was really nice to have
064a team um who could lead some of the work whether it's in their smaller departments or back in their buildings. You'll see some um building administrators there as well. Um we partner with legal learning series. It's a group of legal um professional development where we can bring in counselors, we can bring in psyches to do those throughout the year. And then key to ed is our partnership with our facilitated IEP. We are in year two of that. Um Fifani and I have spent this year with all of the buildings in a variety of different ways. We've ran mock meetings. So, we not only talk about the content of IEPs, but how do you run a process of an IEP and really the key thing with key to ed is that parent involvement. And then we've
065talked about this at board meetings um our community events that we've done. We've did two great uh well-attended screeners events for elementary and secondary. Last year we piloted uh DARE at fifth grade at Hudson Prairie. This year we had all of our elementary buildings participate in DARE. Um, shout out to North Hudson PD and the sheriff office who help us with facilitating that at North Hudson Elementary and Holton. And then we'll show up and those who know maybe who's behind the mascot there, we will show up to any event that people will invite us to. Um, and so there's some other things in that picture too that we've done. It's not Mike Ballard that's in the Darren costume either, just so you know. um our our community. We have found lots of different ways um
066to engage the community. Celebration of Nations, I know a lot of you um are very familiar with that. Our first Celebration of Nations was held at um Hudson Middle School in 2022, I believe. We had 50 people attend that and if anyone was there um in April of this year, we had well over 700 people attend the event um at the high school. So the it's was started really by our ELELLL teachers and that team and this year the teachers are like we can't do all this on our own and so it became a big committee that put that together. So that was pretty exciting and it's it's fun to see that continue to grow. Um talking about growing too last year at the end of the year we talked about the Jed Foundation that
067is a foundation that supports suicide prevention. um that team or the steering committee got together. This year we worked on our baseline report and developed a strategic plan specific to the Jed Foundation and now we've divided up into subcommittees to do the work um based on what that baseline report and our strategic plan is. So you'll see some of that work and updates throughout the school year. And then last but not least, we're very excited. We just finished last week. So we have turned um pays I always forget what it stands for, practical assessment exploration system. But what we've done is we've taken a whole classroom and we've turned it into a workplace environment. Um teachers and staff were trained last week on that. We're looking at this is for students with disabilities and what
068they will be working on is the teacher now becomes the job supervisor and the students become the employees. So, it's going to teach them anything from workplace skills to uh hygiene skills in the workplace, behavioral skills in the workplace and give them some skills to give um some of that entry level work that maybe they wouldn't have had the opportunity to experience before. So, very excited. Um and thank you to the high school for giving up an entire classroom for us to to make that over. I think that's it. Questions? Any questions, Mr. President? Aaron? Oh, I'm sorry. I just want to comment how what a great job student services this is doing you guys. That's remarkable and it doesn't go unnoticed. I I really enjoyed seeing the dare lion and um and and the
069photo of the the dogs being brought in for therapy. I think that is so cool and there's so much good supporting evidence that that just does so much good for the kids. Um so I appreciate the time that you guys are taking to do that. And you did mention um the DARE mascot and the booster days parade is coming up. That would be kind of cool to see the DARE mascot there. Maybe arm-in- arm with the um other mascot that Aaron showed us earlier. Kind of cool. Just thought I'd mention it. I am not offering to be in that mascot. I just thought it but I thought Principal Ballard agreed to do that. Right. Thank you, Erin. Molly, I just want to echo what um Erin said that you guys do such a great job
070and I have a special spot in my heart for anybody who works in special ed and the things that you do. It really is a wide spectrum of things, but just amazing and um thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, chair. Fun. That closes out our report section. Now, we're moving on to topics of discussion and possible action. Um if I could have a motion to approve uh the May regular meeting minutes special meeting for the language on the screen. Mr. President, I move approval of the consent items and that the chief financial and operations officer be authorized to pay bills in the amount of 8,99,19348. We have a second. Second. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say nay. Hearing none. That is approved. Uh Mr.
071President, if I may, as HR director, I often interrupt at this time to celebrate retirements. However, it's not a retirement. It's a recognition of the uh resignation that you just acted upon of Dave Granbo. Um having served the district for 30 years and now accepting the position of superintendent in Somerset. um during his tenure in his different roles here, Dave exemplified leadership excellence and served the district with passion and purpose. And again, I just want to express gratitude for him and wish him all the best in Somerset. Thank you. Any other comments? I would add that uh I knew Dave when he taught at at EP Rock back in the days when uh Shannon Sexy was a teacher at EP Rock and uh Lisa Skoyan was a teacher at EP Rock and so many uh
072other people that you know have risen up from teaching and some into the administration and uh it's just good to see hiring from within and promoting from within and continue learning and support to our district. So Dave's years here are certainly appreciated and uh we wish him the best. Thank you. Um I just wanted to say thank you to Dave. He's not here. Whatever. Um I'm kidding. I'm kidding. He deserves time off. Um but just thank you for all of his hard work. Um over the years that I've known him since before I was on the school board. You can always go to Dave and he'll have the answer to to a question. Um, I know he's worked really hard and does done amazing things for our district and we are sad to see him
073go, but boy, Somerset is sure lucky and we wish him the best and their school district the best. So, thank you Dave. Okay. Uh, moving on. Certified staff adjust salary adjustments with Bonnie. Um, well, I I can take this. So, this is the memo um that came from our team. We went over this at the work session, but we didn't have it noticed in the work session for you guys to actually vote on it u because it was a discussion only item in the work session. So, we brought it. It's the exact same memo, the exact same outline of what we're proposing is what we brought to you in the work session. So, the administration's recommendation still stands uh at the um highlights of this proposal. Okay. Can we have a motion or our discussion?
074whatever you'd like. I was I was just going to say a little bit about our discussion at the work session. Um and the presentation uh that was so great to inform us of, you know, adding more on to each step to help offset the insurance cost increases. Um trying to make the adjustments so that our starting salary was matching our our districts nearby. Um, and I love that we're adding more onto the a new special education salary schedule since that can those can be hard positions to fill. Um, I'm really excited about this. So, I will make a motion to uh approve the proposed compensation changes for the 2526 school year. Second. Have a motion from Megan, a second from Kate. All those in favor discussion. Oh. Oh. Um any further discussion? Sorry. And I
075know it was explained earlier but for people who are not wa who are watching now um could somebody explain the step process that was removed? Yep. So um what we do is so we removal of the steps A and B and then reumbering the steps. Uh what this is is uh our salary structure has people move on steps as they have more tenure in the district. Um by removing the bottom two steps or top two depends on how you want to look at the salary schedule but it'd be the starting two steps I guess would be the best way to put it. Um we would actually our our minimum salary then would go to uh the old step C which I think is just slightly over $50,000. And so everybody uh that was below that
076level would get brought to that level. It doesn't mean that we would move everybody two steps. It just means that that's our new kind of our new beginning or floor. And then maybe it's a silly question, but it looks like when I'm reading it this way that removing steps A and B is costing us money or Yes, it does. Why is that? Well, because um what would happen is if somebody was originally supposed to start at, let's say, $45,000 and now they're going to be at $50,000. So that that's what you're seeing there. That 62,000 is the difference to get everybody up to the new floor. You bet. And that was kind of a result of seeing uh what uh neighboring districts are changing with their pay structure. We want as our goal is to
077attain and retain, you know, good quality teachers. That's uh one of those actions. And I would say that uh it was a collaborative uh uh group from TAC as well as the benefits committee that uh working with the administration and uh you know coming to what we think is a very uh positive step forward for uh for answering some of those those concerns about pay and benefits and very proud of that collaboration. So, anything else then? Uh, all those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say nay. Hearing none. The certified staff salary adjustment passes. Next up is uh the 2526 enrollment and sections discussion with Andrea. Okay. So, what you have here is updated um most of them updated either late last week or today. um not any radical changes. Un uh one
078thing to note is that we're now at 294, so we're under 300 again for kindergarten, which is not a great trend. We would love to have some more kindergarteners join before start of school. Um overall, we have um the 19 Oh, I'm getting old. I can't even read my screen anymore. 1930 uh or 1929 there. um and 91 sections were approved by the board. Uh going into um our staffing analysis this spring. Um you can see the changes in um the numbers for fourth grade at Prairie. We're now at 29 uh 2930. Um and then third grade is 28 across the board. Those are the only two sections at this time that are red. Um and so wanted to uh bring this information to you guys. We also have the high school middle school information
079that's updated. Uh not any radical changes. They actually have gone up a little bit um in both of those um buildings. So that's positive development. Mr. President. Yes, ma'am. Are we with the increase at um Hudson Prairie, which great I mean Yahoo, more kids. Um are we at the point where we need to start looking for another teacher? Yes. Or Okay. I mean, that was going to be that's our conversation is, you know, we're at the point now we've added some more kids to those sections that, you know, if you guys are okay with it, we'd like to pop both of those, both third and fourth grade, uh, sections for Hudson Prairie for next year. Um, they'll still be within the class size guidelines at fourth grade. third grade, it'll go a little bit below
080class size guidelines, but um if we do move these sections or add these additional sections, it does give us the ability to um move some boundary exceptions back in that we told they couldn't be in. Um and so, uh again, it's we we try to give it as long as reasonably possible before we go down this path. And I think we're now that we had even some more moveins, uh I think now is the time for us to to move forward with that if you guys are okay with it. Erin, thank thank you for saying that. You knew I was going to ask about those numbers anyhow and that makes me really happy. It makes me happy for the people sitting here that came and advocated and all the people that were emailing in. Um,
081it's important. Um, do we need a motion to do that to back that up at all? Um, no. It all kind of it all falls within the budget guidelines. I mean, you guys don't actually approve number of sections. You don't I mean it's basically you guys will approve the end all be all budget operating budget but we try to make sure that we're doing what you're okay and comfortable with. And so if we've been showing you 91 sections for the last three months and then all of a sudden you see 93 sections you're going to say what hey where' those extra sections come if if we didn't talk to you about it ahead of time. So that'll be for third and fourth grade at be one section for third and one section for fourth at
082at Hudson Prairie and then re um visiting those enrollments that were denied to football boundaries. Yep. Awesome. Thank you. And then also timeline process or timeline is significant in that uh we had this discussion last week and so we've already posted the positions two weeks ago actually. Two weeks ago so contingent upon um this conversation tonight. So we already are feeling like we have a good pool um of applicants for that those positions. So we will move expeditiously. So about a week and a half ago, two weeks ago, we said go ahead and post the positions and pending uh board approval, we'll go and we'll actually interview form. So we didn't want to delay it delay it three weeks from now. So we're moving in that direction. So in order Kate, then Megan, then Brian.
083Thank you. Um just out of curiosity, I wonder um how many people were on the wait list for the open enrollment. Do we know? I don't believe anywhere on third or fourth grade uh boundary exceptions. How many or boundary exceptions? Um not the open enrollment um boundary exceptions. I think there was three four. It's helpful to have Joe here tonight. So yeah. Okay. And then I wanted to review the average class size Minnesota Wisconsin that you're seeing with the department of education or what people are reporting. So there's a couple things you have to you have to keep in mind. There's average class size and then there's number of students per certified staff member. They're not that's not the same number. So uh our class size guidelines are in line with we what we'd see
084in neighboring districts especially on the Wisconsin side. on the Minnesota side, they're going to have much higher class size guidelines. They're going to have much higher class sizes. Um, now you couldn't say it's a hard and fast rule, but um, you know, to be on average in the 20 the 13.1 I think that somebody mentioned before, that's that's the average class size be might be the average number of students per certified staff member. And so per certified staff member because that's what DPI reports. Um, that would include counselors, that would include PE and music and all those things. So if you were to take for example any of our buildings and add in all of the certified staff that we have not just the classroom teachers our class size number would drop even more but
085this is these would be ratios of actual students to our actual you know to classroom teachers in here. So but we are we are on average much smaller than what you're going to see if you go to the other side of the river. So there is no state guideline. there's no state minimum maximum and a and a lot of it depends on what I'm sorry my phone's ringing in my hearing aids. Um and so what what happens is depending on the situation like you may have some smaller districts, they might have really really small class sizes or they um or they might have one really large class depending on you know how big the district is and if they don't have enough sections and things along those lines. And so um but we feel like
086we're we're sitting pretty good. It is a balancing act because there have been times before uh when we've hit like let's say 24 in first grade at Holton and we broke it into two sections and then all of a sudden we have three kids move out and now we have a you know class of nine and a class of 10 or a class of 10 and a class you know so it's it is it is a balancing act a little bit and it's not perfect and I know people want us to make the decision pretty early and we started doing this I don't know about four years ago Andrea three years ago we started Ed bringing this number sheet up at board meetings because we've had this for since Andrew's been here 12 years but
087we haven't publicly made this document you know available until about three years ago four years ago so people could kind of see what our actual class sizes are across the district um and what that looks like. I didn't know if you I thought you had motioned, but No, we were just happy to see the smiles on our student advocate faces in the audience. That was making my day. So, right. Uh, Mr. President, that's all I had. Although, I also want to acknowledge that it's not often we get to have smiling faces. It is a nice change. Yes. Um, anybody? Oh, just one question. So, does this address the boundary exception concern for uh the speaker Mr. Okay. Yes. Uh we will be communicating with them via Tim shortly. Very good. So, good news all around.
088Uh that brings us to the end of our meeting. So, I like look for a motion to adjourn. Erin with the motion. Second. Kate with a second. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say nay. Do a 10-minute break. Hearing none. Um, thank you very much. [Applause]