Hudson Schools - November 14, 2022 - School Board Session

001pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay first up on our order of business is recognitions and so I'm going to turn over to Nick for the district appreciation of Service Awards okay hold on one second just open this up so we have our district appreciation of Service Awards these are volunteer awards at the district uh has put together we do these quarterly uh and I'll just read what it what it says on each of the certificates and then I'll be inviting uh the different members of the administ the leadership team in the district come up and introduce uh the recipients so the Hudson School District empowers all students to cultivate their

002talents Embrace their passions and leverage their learning to impact the world around them the Board of Education recognizes the school volunteers Community leaders and organizations who contribute to our vision and Mission so at this time I would uh like to welcome to the stage I believe Kim osterhughes she here yes there she is there Kim and she's going to introduce our first recipient it we would like to recognize Alicia Snyder the staff at Rivercrest Elementary would like to honor her for all she does for the River Crest community she's a lifelong resident of Hudson she's graduated from Hudson schools and has always been an active member in the community her dad was a River Crest noon Duty supervisor her mom has been a sub at Rivercrest as well but for Alicia for Rivercrest she's been

003the president of our PTO she's been a substitute teacher active parent and she's truly has embedded is truly an embedded member of our River Crest community she's selfishly selflessly supports oh sorry Alicia selflessly supports students and staff alike she's that silent leader who works behind the scenes and never wants to be in the spotlight that's why this is so fun when Rivercrest wanted to order t-shirts last year for our Blue Ribbon School Alicia personally called all of the distribution plants because she wanted to find us those blue t-shirts for years she's sent extra snacks for students who may forget theirs during food drives she sends extra cans of food for students who might not bring any Alicia is described by our River Crest staff as selfless generous and just an overall kind individual and that's

004just a few of the kind words that they have to say for Alicia so we would like to take this opportunity to honor and recognize Alicia Schneider [Applause] foreign all right next up I am going to welcome Joe benke from Hudson Prairie our Hudson Prairie principal to introduce the next recipient all right um we're going to bring up our kindergarten team and that's part of the reason um that Grandma Carol is being recognized tonight and I'm actually going to let our kindergarten team speak on her behalf because she's been volunteering in their room um for numerous numerous years so I've got Susan Johnson Elsa Breton Christine Nielsen and Karen pessic the kindergarten team here at Hudson Prairie come on over Miss Elsa Grandma okay this is too high for me Carol we are filled with

005gratitude to you for your 12 plus years of service in and out of covid iviche during our covid uh time when we couldn't have volunteers in the school she came to school or she did stuff at home for us she made our memory books she is awesome um so we thank you immensely for all your valuable work that you've done for kindergarten and for our school as a whole we've not thanked you enough and we want to let you know that your dedication is essential to the work that we do we can't do it well without you and nor would we want to do it without you so we thank you you bring a beautiful positive energy and we feel lucky to have you in our presence and to call you friend thank you and

006our last recipient tonight is going to be introduced by Mr Tim chuckle Denny Benoy has provided many years of service to the Hudson school district and most recently in his countless volunteer hours coordinating our lower level athletic officials for football and basketball he often has filled in as an official as well which he has done for over 50 years officials are an integral part of the athletic Spirit experience and like many things are battling Staffing shortages so Denny's work is extremely helpful to the execution of our athletic competitions and on a side note I've known Denny for since 1976 when I first met him and I met his family and he has been volunteering in this community that as that time as well so it's very very much an honor and a privilege to uh

007to congratulate Danny Benoy foreign thank you the board is always looking for uh individuals that we can recognize and volunteer and in service of our school district so it doesn't have to be a staff nomination it could be the community wanting to make a nomination of of someone that has done outstanding things and volunteer service to our district so thank you very much for that uh next up on the agenda is going to be cheers for peers Andrea okay got it got a big drink of water beforehand so uh really excited we picked up the program again this fall um after last year's success and just for the month of October we had a over 115 nominations so with all those fantastic nominations we actually are taking this pool of employees or the this group

008of nominations and spreading them over two months so it's going to be the same pool that we're going to award in December as well but for the first group of 10 and we couldn't quite do 10 so we did 11. um not the best rule follower but wanted to start off and I again I'm talking really fast just so that I can get through them all but really excited about the nominations and celebrating these staff we have a really fun gift baskets or gift for them that we'll be giving them later this week so first up congratulations Tammy McKenzie she's an administrative assistant for financial services and been with the district for 16 years she was nominated by Becky Simpson and Bonnie segment and they said I admire her strength and perseverance in the financial

009services department she has always been willing to help me when she was busy with her own work I admire how when a problem arises she says okay and starts working on it without a single complaint or frown and then another person said I would like to nominate Tammy for her outstanding support of her co-workers in addition to her regular duties she has provided tremendous support to the payroll department as the new individual has transitioned into a role she goes the extra mile to make her co-workers feel supported in an effort to retain quality employees and I'm very grateful to have her on my team next up Rick azabel she is a school psych at Ep Rock and Prairie and has been with the district for six years she was nominated by Mary chromican and Brandon

010tilkins I'm not nominating Rickett because she is always kind and patient with staff and students she has a plethora of knowledge and knows just when to share information without overloading anyone she's prompting responding and follows through with everything Rika is my mentor and has made my transition into the district much more smoothly than I could I could could have anticipated there have been several times I've had tough situations and I knew that I could count on Rika to help guide me through these challenges with encouragement along the way as well not only that Rick is quick to respond balancing my questions with her own busy schedule she's a great school psych and mentor Grace heinzahl is the next one she's English teacher at the high school and she worked in the district for two years

011Grace was nominated by three people um Amber harvestmeyer Kim Schluter and then an anonymous person Grace is a bright light in all of our days she is great to collaborate with and finds a way to connect with all of her students I appreciate her willingness to help out anyone and everyone she can she brings such a positive energy to her PLC and it's always open to sharing ideas Grace is someone who never needs to take credit for her amazing contributions and I feel she should be recognized for the Infectious attitude and insight she shares with colleagues and students every day her positive energy and love for education has made my welcome at Hudson so much brighter Grace is a dedicated passionate teacher who deeply cares about her students she is a second year teacher who

012truly knows how to be a teacher she sees where kids need support and definitely provides it Ryan Hooper is next and he's a math teacher at the high school and has worked for the district for 20 years and he was nominated by another long-time Hudson employee Brandon Bach Ryan spent hours over the summer making dozens of video lessons for every lesson we cover throughout the year which she shared so that all algebra teachers can use them to benefit their students and to help parents of students who need extra resources while their kids are homesick Etc next up is Jackie hanneman she's a long-term sub at the middle school and has worked in the district for two years she was nominated by Tony benlin and Karen ebben Jackie goes above and beyond to help not just

013her students but all students she's a happy bubble of positivity love that and she truly makes HMS a brighter place she jumped into a subbing position that likely will go longer than she anticipated and she has never once complained monster patients are given up she works with even some of the most difficult students and helps them grow Jackie works well with the General Ed and special ed staff always working hard to meet the needs of all students Jackie's caring and enthusiastic in everything she does then we have Martin Lukey she's a math teacher at the middle school has worked for the district for 14 years she was nominated by Melody boersma and Nicole Gunderson one breath sorry Start and lose the breath okay Martin has been the backbone of the sixth grade team this year

014and every year for that matter she is our go-to person and is a great leader she organizes meetings helps others and is so amazing with the students Marina is the one that always knows the answer and if she doesn't she finds it out and advocates for you she's an incredible educator and team member my transition from the elementary level to the Middle School level has been smooth because of colleagues like Marin I truly truly appreciate the time she puts into teaching into her students and into her team then we have April Finke she is a math and reading para at Holton and has worked in the district for eight years she was nominated by Ellen Wright Lisa Wasson and Kristen ziebel she is an amazing educator in person the students are so blessed to work

015with her as her Timeless as her tireless effort to help them succeed as a staff member she always is willing to jump in and help with any task she goes above and beyond every day April is so great with all the students she works with she also goes above and beyond to help out around the school she's always trained trying to find new ways to bring sunshine to the staff anything from creating gifts for bus drivers celebrating custodians to helping in the classroom she's amazing I can no longer think of our building without April she's I was there to lend a helping hand whenever she can she truly has the best interests at heart I love these they're so much fun okay then we have Marlene she is a math and reading para at Prairie

016and has worked for the district for 19 years she was nominated by just mollus Marlene has been so kind patient and helpful as I'm learning my new role she's wonderful with students under the light to work with I'm blessed to have her beside me every day she is fantastic then we have Chris strap she is a counselor at North Hudson and has worked for the district for 25 years she was nominated by Paula Blattner and Sarah Heil Chris is an integral part of the success of North Hudson elementary school she has a wealth of knowledge for problem-solving specific students needs and is a fabulous support for students and teachers alike Chris literally never stops moving can be seen hustling from place to place on a daily basis and jumps in without hesitation when situations arise

017she balances her tasks with poison a positive attitude North Hudson is lucky to have such a caring collaborative and compassionate school concert Chris is always there to support the staff and students she is constantly running around the building and assisting teachers in their classroom teaching her own classes helping calm students are upset teaching groups has helped students learn various skills and so much more glad they didn't listen too much more I would have passed out okay next up Allison Slusher she is a first grade teacher at Willow River and has worked for the district for 13 years and she was nominated by Annie fredland she has been incredibly inspiring and helpful Mentor as well as a great friend to me she makes Willow feel like home and I know I can come to her with

018any questions last but not least and I happen to see her I think over there Veronica Guzman she is a fifth grade teacher at Rivercrest Elementary and work for the district for 36 years yes if Veronica was nominated by Pia Freeman Capehart and Madison Bergman two of which are first-year teachers that she's supporting Veronica Guzman makes coming to school every day an absolute Joy she is knowledgeable supportive and kind she is a fierce advocate for her students their families and colleagues she works tirelessly to support her team and is extremely patient with us first-year teachers she has a fantastic sense of humor making her not only an exceptional leader but a dear friend Veronica can regularly be found visiting with students from years past arriving early and staying late to attend a work that helps

019others mentoring multiple new teachers using her artistic talents to create a display for River Crest events sharing her gardening skills all over the river cross grounds I could go on and on congratulations to all 11 of our recipients all right before we go on to uh fall activities I just wanted to give board members a chance I didn't do that after our three volunteer Rec uh honorees but between the staff and the volunteers you know that's these are the great things about this District we have good people doing good things and uh you know doing great things actually for our students so I don't know if there's other board members that wanted to comment that but I just wanted to extend our sincere appreciation for those of you that make it you know your mission

020to prove you know educations that we're delivering here and make a difference in people's lives so we really appreciate that Mr President yes well congratulations to all the recipients but I also want to thank all those that took the time to nominate somebody it just shows that the relationships we have within each of our buildings is strong and that we care for one another so uh thank you very much and congratulations again all right I guess next up we have fallen Mr President yeah go ahead if I could just piggyback I'm I'm so appreciative that we launched this I think for many of us who have had kids go through our elementary schools we get to know our elementary school my kids were at North Hudson so I know Chris shrupp she is amazing and

021it's great to hear and and have some Persona put onto all the teachers in the other buildings and recognize that man we have great teachers in every single building in this district and um that is a very fortunate place to be so thank you for taking on this recognition program and providing us with the opportunity to call out people for the great things they do for our kids each and every day so I guess they call on Tim chuckle him stepping in for Aaron Moon our activities director so Tim the floor is yours so as I like to say the Raider Nation had a great start to the school year this year this fall and but instead of me staying up here and telling you about it I'd like to invite the the student leaders

022of their prospective activities to speak a little bit about what happened this fall so not any particular order all right okay hello I'm senior Captain Elena Larson and I'm just gonna share a few things like a favorite memory and what this like leadership opportunity is kind of giving me and stuff talk about the program so a favorite memory of the season for the team is taking two sets from Chippewa Falls in our last match though it was our last match we fought hard and competed with the fourth ranked team in the state this was a big accomplishment for us and a great way to end one of our best seasons that Hudson volleyball has seen in 20 years in this match we played for each other and left everything on the court the opportunity to

023be a captain my Junior and Senior year has helped my leadership skills grow I learned to support my teammates through the ups and downs of the season and be a role model for players in or entering the program I learned to connect with each of my teammates to provide them with what they needed from me as a captain on and off the court I'm grateful to have this opportunity and we'll take these skills with me for whatever the future has to bring I'm really proud of how far this Hudson program has come while I've been at Hudson in the direction that it's moving in with the new coaching and initiative from the parent group I can't wait to see the future for this program hello my name is Jada Lockhart senior here at Hudson High

024School and a captain of the volleyball team I'm going to speak a bit about my experiences about being a leader this season a challenge we had to work through was adjusting to the third coach Hudson has had in four years our coach this season is an awesome leader and an amazing person but coming into the program admitted that there was still a lot she wanted to learn more about this was a bit challenging for everyone going from one coaching style to another was a struggle and none of us knew what to expect for the season that being said as a captain I tried my absolute best to help assimilate the team with our coaching staff so Hudson volleyball could be one cohesive unit I think it's fair to say that this season we did demonstrate

025that as a team as it shows and how we played so well together this challenged me as a leader individually because I wanted to advocate for my teammates and what they wanted but also wanted to allow our coach to genuinely coach us for some background in the past running the team was left primarily up to our captains during the 2021 season although I was not a captain at this time I recall nearly everything being left up to our captains it felt like our coach was there to handle coaching duties but left everything else up to us which is not necessarily A Bad Thing by any means and definitely helped me grow in my coaching abilities my leadership abilities this year however our coach was incredibly passionate and involved with everything we did the clear dichotomy

026and coaching Styles was difficult to get used to on my own but was also hard to help guide the team into as well however as the season continued we all grew closer to one another coaches included and any fears or doubts about the season seem to dissipate in essence the program is moving in an incredibly amazing Direction with the leadership of the coaches the young players on the team and the amazing bonds that's been created that have been created I cannot wait to see what comes of Hudson volleyball thank you [Applause] hi I'm Caitlin Kurth and I am the senior drum major for the Hudson marching band on the other drum major could not be here tonight so I'll just be doing all the talking um so just kind of a recap of our season

027this year we marched the largest band we've had in five years with 84 kids um which I thought was just really cool um how fast our program rebounded from covid going from much much less than average to well over average and I was just extremely grateful to have 84 kids on the field this year um on top of that we performed at four football games three of which were in the rain um and it was also just amazing to see all the kids performing in much less than ideal circumstances but still being able to perform to their fullest potential and on top of our football games we also performed at six field show festivals um at Cumberland Baldwin Chippewa Falls there was one right here in Hudson which was a really cool experience another great

028experience was performing at U.S Bank Stadium being able to just walk out into that massive stadium and being able to perform was an experience I don't think I'll ever forget and to cap off our season we bus everyone down to University of Wisconsin Whitewater to perform for the Wisconsin State marching men championships it's a very emotional weekend but um it's an amazing way to end the season and we always put out an amazing performance and it's been really cool to lead the band and watch it grow over the past two years I was drum major in my junior year as well if you don't know what a drum major is I'm the person on the podium waving my arms around um yeah so it's just been an amazing experience and I'm very grateful to have

029the opportunity to lead that group of kids thank you [Applause] I'm Darren chuckle I'm Toby Schneider and we were two of the boys soccer captains this year this year we had a very successful season we definitely had high expectations going into the season we started pretty well and okay I mean just a recap is we started pretty well and then in the middle it definitely got pretty bumpy we had a pretty big loss to River Falls and that was tough um we definitely went through some stuff as a team a lot of diversity or not not diversity adversity um sorry uh the team we ended up we ended up getting back on the road and did Super well at the end um we won the BRC so that was big then we got number one

030seed for the playoffs we we won a really big game against Eau Claire Memorial and then finally got back to State for the third year in a row which was huge um our team motto was together and we followed that through our whole season as we hung out after games we had a bunch of Team dinners and we had fun at practices and bus rides um together was definitely important to us because if we didn't stay together through the season it definitely could have gone poorly through what we went through and there were a couple injuries stuff like that so yeah it was a really good year it was a lot of fun another successful year and I think I I want to thank all of our parents and the staff that we have and

031obviously everyone who who supports us and we also have great like facilities and stuff here so we're set up for Success well thank you hi I'm Helen vandenbark and I was a senior Captain um this season so I'm just going to be talking about like how participating in tennis has helped and like added to my life um yeah and I'm very grateful for all these things um it has brought me joy daily to make connections with my teammates and to gain new friendships I truly never expected I learned to love the challenge of a difficult match finding the fun in each heated Point um like with my partner um this is a life skill I will always take with me being a captain helped me become a more empathetic person and teammate because I work

032to understand how my teammates were feeling in order to create a better team Dynamic most importantly it brought me so many special memories to my high school career my name is Jonah Simmons I was also a senior captain of the tennis team a unique challenge that our team had to overcome would be the fact that we had so many seniors this year we had eight seniors on our top 10 varsity team which is something that we were concerned about preseason and making sure that everyone felt included however our ability to accommodate rides for our single freshmen and to our spaghetti dinners made sure that everyone was definitely bonded the constant van seating shuffles and the ability to come together as a team in such an individual sport made this year so special our coach and

033my fellow captains worked very hard to make sure that no one felt left out and everyone felt equal Hudson tennis Incorporated all tennis players and valued the to all time that we were able to spend on the court this year and for that I'm for that I'm grateful to say that I was a captain thank you [Applause] I'm Brady Miller and this is uh Ian Rood and we had the honor of being football captains this year last season ended in a disappointment as we finished with a 5-5 record in our lowest placing in the BRC in over eight years so it was truly special to watch this year and all the success that we had this year's success really started off the field we have an uh an amazing leadership program put on by our

034coaches which focuses on character and Leadership effort and teamwork and that really propelled this team to success all of the coaches mentioned this year how this team felt more like a team that it had in years past and that was truly a blessing and an important factor in our success we were able to finish at the top of the conference for the first time since 2013 and we earned a number two seed in the playoffs for our region and um it was just truly an honor and a special experience to be a captain and a leader on this great team as Brady said our team did have a great year but we did have stuff that challenged us we did lose a big game in River Falls and we did unfortunately lose the job but

035after that we won out and we battled through adversity in multiple double-digit lot uh comebacks and then we came back and it got better and then we won our first playoff game in six years thank you [Applause] all right I'm diesel Haverly and then this is my co-craft and Ethan eilerton this year was a successful year it's fun watching a team grow and it was my first year as being a true leader on the team I was a captain last year but I didn't do much but this year I put in a time and effort um to um to really grow the team and I feel like the team had a whole lot more fun this year and we grew as a team and we bonded and we did a bunch of other extra stuff

036throughout the season that we didn't have to do but everyone bought into the program and that resulted in a Seventh Place day finish uh like a DC said uh this year was probably one of the most uh like well-bonded our team was I think our coach would say the same as it was one of the happiest we've ever seen them it's hard not to be happy when you have a Seventh Place finish but it was really nice to see the boys grow together and just kind of knowing that we had some partner to do with that there was a lot of hard times too though we had multiple injuries on the team people being in and out such myself I got injured before the first meet I was out for the rest of the year

037but uh I so showed up to all the practices all the meats and I'll just try to be the best Captain I could support the boys while even though I couldn't race but it's just fun to see him grow in a different way even though I wasn't competing with them or against them it was just fun to watch them grow and just keep getting better and better each race but it was a really successful season like Adisa said uh and we're hoping for an even better one next year thank you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] um I'm Rebecca bellany and this is Riley white and we're the two captains of the girls cross country team um last year we ended the season strong with a trip to State as a team which was really big for us

038but then this year changed a lot as we lost three of our top five runners and we had to adjust to this change but the younger athletes especially really stepped up and worked hard and it really showed in the races and then about halfway through the season as captains um we helped guide the team to step up our work once we realize our potential for later in the season and all that hard work paid off we placed fifth in our conference and then fourth at sectionals and one of our Runners Lyla velcek was able to go to State and she ran 31st it was a really great opportunity to see the growth of the season and like Becca said to see all of these younger girls who had been on JV to step up and

039to really take that next step in their running um it's been an amazing opportunity to be a captain for this team and has been a great privilege um I'm so grateful for this experience and I can't wait to see what happens with cross country next year [Applause] hi my name is Ellie Wilson and my name is Jaden Hartwig we're the co-captains for the girls swim and dive team we kind of started off our season a little bit Rocky as we didn't have a coach but we got super lucky and Heather both stepped in she's been absolutely amazing to work with and we feel really really lucky to have gotten to be on her team overall we only lost one meet this season and we got to be conference Champs which was really cool just to

040kind of see all your hard work pay off like that especially because it was a close meet and we had no idea if we'd won or not so getting to hear them announce that at the end was really cool anyone who knows me knows that this team means a lot to me swimming's kind of my life it's what I do and so throughout being a leader on this team it's just been really amazing to kind of see other girls evolve and see the way they've met their goals and kind of seen swimming become a big part of their lives the way it has in mind to go off of what Ellie said um one of the things our team word this year was Drive which I thought the whole team really embodied and was were

041able to like drive through practices like going through every meets like continue to work hard through the whole season which I think is what really led us to our conference when uh I joined swim team freshman year I've done it all four years I love it and I'm so very happy to have been able to lead this team this year and really see it grow and see all all of what I've put into it get got out of it so yeah thank you Mr President are all the kids done no I just wanted to say a few things exactly so um I've been lucky enough to have a daughter on the swim team as well and so I've seen firsthand what all the team means for all the kids and I wrote down a few

042things that I heard continuously the kids talking about leadership hard work bond together and experience and I think there's so much more to sports than winning it's also the relationships that they form so thank you to all the captains and all the kids that participated in the coaches for all your hard work excellent very well said Kate any other members that wanted to say anything I guess this makes the 10th presentation of fall sports that I've seen and it doesn't cease to make me feel good about our school and about our student body it's great to see the participation and I just Echo everything Kate said because it isn't just about winning state championships those are nice those section championships those are nice but it's overcoming adversity we hurt people who suffered disappointing injuries and

043we heard people who maybe start the season without a coach so that's what these activities and just so you know we don't just recognize Sports I mean it's other activities and we do have academic programs that we recognize throughout the year so I want to thank everyone who's in attendance and hope you appreciate you know what our school gets from our students but what we try to give them that opportunity that stays with them for the rest of their lives so all right with that I guess we're done with recognitions and moving on we're going to have two sets of public input and so um the this being our monthly regular meeting if you will um where we entertain public comment um first on non-agenda items and then we have also allow comment for agenda

044items but they're not heard at the same time so we're going to first deal with the public comment on non-agenda items this is for input only the fact that is non-agenda just means that school board can't discuss the item because of you know state laws that require posting of agenda items so we're not going to respond directly to public comments that are made at the meeting although District Representatives May follow up with you after the meeting but just don't expect any specific action to be taken at the meeting in response to the comments that are made if the board determines that action is appropriate then you know an agenda item may be put on a future board meeting whether that's a work session or a regular meeting usually it's work sessions we we rarely bring

045up things for the first time at regular board meetings but the board chair that would be me will recognize one speaker at a time only those speakers who are recognized will be permitted to speak individuals who we interfere with or interrupt speakers the board or the proceedings may be directed to leave we discourage personal attacks on any individual including any other speaker during the public comment session it's just not acceptable nor of course is obscenities or profanities and persistence in making such remarks will end the individual's opportunity to address the board and may result in the individual being directed to leave no with that having been said I will try to get out my timer and we give our speakers up to three minutes there's nothing saying you have to use the whole three minutes

046in fact if you want to have somebody come up with you as a team effort you both can use the full three minutes if you wish but I will call on folks our policy does require give your address I'm just going to State the street and city that you're from and what the topic is so first up is Psy and I apologize for any missing pronunciations not purposeful or anything I guess we should ask folks to put phonetically their pronunciation but Psy Houston of Grandview Drive in Hudson regarding board policies please come forward thank you for this opportunity to address you I could talk to you as a parent and a grandparent but I'd really really talk to you tonight as an ex-sch School administrator retired with 30 some years in it started off as

047an elementary teacher Elementary principal Junior High Principal High School principal assistant superintendent program director and finding superintendent I'm a superintendent in three states South Dakota in Pennsylvania and assistant superintendent in Saint Paul that was 22 years of doing what Nick does and guiding Administration and school boards on how to implement effective policy now you can send me home in just a second if you tell me I'm wrong but I have understood that Administration has directed teachers to inform school counselors of any student who questions gender or sexual identity so that that student name can be transferred by the counselor to the parents if that's not the case just say so now and I'll go home that that's not accurate could you clarify it for me the what's been directed is if a student is wanting

048a different experience at school than what their parents would expect them to have when they drop them off at the door we would need parent permission to change that experience okay so I understand if they want to change their name then they've got to get parents to approve that correct okay so if you're questioning your identity your gender identity your sexual identity name is a critical part of this whole process the name Psy isn't necessarily gender-based but Tom Dick Harry Mary Sue those names are so it creates a problem for the student so my question is what's the good what's the good in this policy what problem is solved what purpose does it serve if you're the parent well I think the parent probably wants to know I would like to know but folks I'm

049here to tell you if you're a parent and you're doing your own job you will have known already you will have had discussions with your kid enough you'd be aware of this already to have to find this out from a third party tells me that your parenting skills are lacking what's the good for the student I can't imagine any good in this for the student if you out that student and force them then to deal with this in a public fashion public by the way includes parents knowing you put them in a situation of extreme adversity lastly what's the good for the teacher you've all heard you heard tonight who is it that's one of the best persons in my life it's a teacher this sets up the teacher in an adversarial position with at

050least the counselor potentially the parents and the students and it's just plain wrong thank you for your comment foreign regarding supporting our gender diverse student body um Hello thank you again for another opportunity to speak I realize you'll have a tough job and you're all trying to do the best you can to support our students I have a few statistics here right now 71 percent of transgender and gender non-conforming students experience discrimination 75 percent feel unsafe at school which results in lower gpas miss school days and so forth 41 attempts suicide less than one in three have a affirming home support lash in 2022 32 youth were killed at the hands of a family member because they were gender non-conforming or transgender our school officials have been singling out these particular groups by refusing to

051respect their gender identity and effectually punishing them for expressing that by denying use of appropriate pronouns and chosen Name by giving direction which is verifiable and not conjecture to educators that if any of their students go by name and or pronoun other than what is listed in Skyward or what matches their sex assigned at Birth that they are to immediately out them to their counselor who at that point shall immediately out them to their parents this is very discriminatory in practices it targets those particular students who are protected under Title IX it puts their lives at risk thus far at the high school in one of the meetings it was brought out that the school records have been being scoured they've only found three so far and of those three with that 41 percent rate

052of suicide one of those three is at risk for death by our school board and our administrators pushing these policies that marginalize these students and remove the one place where they could have a supportive human that gives them hope to continue another day we're saying that their lives are less valued we're saying that they deserve a less Equitable educational experience what I would like to see this board do in our district do is seek best practices have an individual comment who is an expert in gender diversity and gender care for our youth to educate on how to support our students to also read the emails that we've been sending that have not been being responded to that has a policy that is backed by law and case law showing the Montgomery school board non-binary and

053gender non-conforming supports in place that not only Bridge the relationship between families and said students but also acknowledges the fact that not all students come from an affirming safe household and ways that they can support these students without having to out them before they're ready or to whom they don't wish to be outed to for future time I would like to see you guys take up some sort of policy that protects our students finally Martin Luther King Jr said in the end we'll remember not the words of our enemies but the Silence of our friends our students have noted the silence of the school board and of this District in not doing anything to protect them thank you for your comment [Applause] next up is Sarah mackovic soli or Solly of Noel neural Wood Drive

054Hudson Wisconsin pronoun policy I'd like to compliment you for getting my last name right yeah thank you those small feet I wrote to many of you regarding this issue and heard back from some I supervise a team of Mental Health social workers and I feel that I need to speak out on the Hudson School District policy regarding our gender non-conforming non-binary and trans kids requesting teachers use pronouns that may not match their assigned sex at Birth according to several studies in CDC data lgbtqia plus kids are four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers a 2020 peer-reviewed study found that transgender and non-binary youth were two to two and a half times as likely to experience depressive symptoms seriously consider suicide and attempt suicide compared to their cisgender lgbtq peers only one out

055of three trans and by non-binary youth find their home to be gender affirming putting them at greater risk every day I see the psychological harm done to human beings who as gender non-conforming or non-binary or trans kids were not supported at home we're not supported at school we're and or were bullied it is truly horrifying how detrimental a lack of support and bullying can be to the rest of a human being's life the good news is that having at least one accepting adult can reduce the suicide Risk by a whopping 40 percent school has always been a source of support for kids who for whatever reason don't have support at home providing meals caring adults encouragement and reinsurance Hudson's stated policy of outing kids who request the use of a different pronoun to possibly unsupportive

056parents before they are ready is that best misguided and at worst dangerous Hudson schools could provide that one accepting adult that one very important protective factor that could help keep all of our kids safe I am asking the district to reconsider the pronoun policy which I would like to see in writing when the alternative hurts absolutely no one I cannot imagine why our school district would continue in this fashion I would like to see the district pivot to a policy that respects accepts and loves all kids by doing the simple thing of using their preferred pronouns without possibly outing them at home I am happy to continue this conversation to serve on a committee to review this policy and formulate a policy that protects all children I can also provide resources so you can become

057better acquainted with this issue thank you thank you and the last citizen to speak about non-action item Tamira Butler of 5th Street in Hudson thank you for allowing me to speak um I'm a high school special education teacher in Minnesota with 28 years experience working with at-risk students including dozens actually probably hundreds who have been removed from their homes due to abuse um over the years I've had several trans and gender non-conforming students I have learned from them how important it is to their safety and mental health despite my own deeply held religious convictions to create a safe space for them in my classroom and I urge Hudson High to reverse its recently created policy of outing trans and gender non-conforming students trans students must be able to choose the time and manner in which

058they share their transness and with whom they must be able to choose safe people and sometimes home isn't safe people it is not our place to force them to do so I urge you to end this dangerous and misguided policy all right thank you all right thank you everyone for your comments and next up on the agenda we have reports first up is teaching and learning thank you very much I'm going to invite Jenna Weiland Elementary literacy curriculum specialist and Lisa scoyan assistant director of teaching learning up to the stage to quote cheers for peers they are both bubbles of positivity and welcome to the stage and they're going to provide an overview of our letters initiative letters is a professional learning framework based on the science of reading that gives teachers the tools to

059specifically and explicitly address the needs of their students when it comes to learning to read the science of reading is a body of research that tells us what matters and what works in literacy instruction we're looking forward to continuing our professional learning with letters and will determine in the future how we can leverage this learning to improve our reading instruction and outcomes for all students take it away all right I'm gonna start so my name is Jenna Weiland I'm the literacy specialist here in Hudson and the first thing I'm going to address is that we know this is a reading and spelling resource to or Pro platform to help our teachers learn on how to be better at what they do every day and the first thing a lot of people notice is letters is

060spelled incorrectly kind of ironic right well it's because it's an acronym it stands for the language Essentials for teachers of reading and spelling and it's written by Dr Louisa Motz and Dr Carol Tolman so one of the things you're going to probably wonder is what is letters letters isn't a program it's not an actual tangible resource it's professional development that provides our teachers and strengthens our teachers knowledge of the language structure we all live in the development of the reading brain and how to nurture the development of foundational literacy skills such as decoding and language comprehension it's scientifically based it shows those relationship piece and most importantly it has reliable assessments and theoretical models to help our teachers deliver effective instruction for all the students in their class I'm going to reiterate that it isn't

061a reading program it's what teaches teachers the why and the how of what they're doing you can really use it with anything in front of you so with letters it really focuses on the five big skills of literacy all of our teachers that are currently going through the letters training are doing a case study and putting into action with what they are learning with students in their classrooms and in our schools the five big language and literacy skills are in front of you and so for most people these things might feel very foreign so I'm going to explain all five of them to you guys so for phonological awareness that is the ability to hear identify and manipulate sounds in our spoken language so for example when we see the word cat it's the ability

062to hear three sounds at it's knowing that that is a c not a k because of the a that follows it and it's able to manipulate those sounds like changing cat into cut phonics is the understanding of the patterns and the rules that we use to read and write so for example did you know that you use CK after a short vowel to make the cuff sound so when kids are writing a word like back or stick they're learning that they use CK because of those short vowels that they follow versus just using a c or a k the vocabulary piece is knowing not only a word's meaning in context but also its origin and part of speech when we look at comprehension that's understanding and interpreting what our students are reading so that they

063have that purpose for what they're doing and fluency is accurately reading with automaticity at a speed that supports their comprehension but also brings in their expression so together these five big skills of literacy are what make a skilled reader for not only our kids to be successful at reading but to also love and enjoy reading as they grow up foreign has shared a brief overview of the letters course I would like to share training details currently we have three or two cohorts of teachers participating in letters training a cohort that started in June has 46 participants and another one that started in August has 36 participants we also have a group of teachers that are interested in the training that would start in February the training is self-paced and includes virtual and textbook components a

064teacher spends an average of one to two hours per week completing coursework and it takes about three months to complete one unit Jenna checks in with the teachers monthly and provides and facilitates a collaborative meeting after each unit with this timeline teachers will complete letters volume 1 and approximately one year does anybody have any questions if I could Mr President before questions just seriously want to thank Jenna and Lisa for their hard work and the teachers that have taken this on just in what Lisa described you can see it's a daunting task teachers plates are full they've got way more than enough to do to take this on is a huge commitment Jenna's support for this has been outstanding we're really excited to see where this will take us any board members that have questions

065comments yes Mr President So to that point about teachers plates being full one of the things I continuously think about as we hear from all of the different departments and instructional coaches about the great things happening in our district and the ways we're trying to support teachers is this all takes a lot of time so I know that we have some professional development time built into our school year we have days but how this cohort of 46 teachers who started in June 36 who started in August when does this one to two weeks an hour when does that happen Jen is looking at me she'll know better than I but honestly it's we do allow for this work to happen um on the job when that works but it's going to take a lot of

066time or does take a lot of time just outside the workday that's why it's so impressive that teachers took this on um when you hear what they're learning the excitement that you hear from Jenna is echoed by teachers where they're um although it takes a lot of time we're hearing teachers being really being fed by the fact that they're learning new ways and new skills that will help them Reach their kids I will confess I was guessing that was your answer and I'm biased because I'm the child of two Public School teachers I just I think so often people think some people think oh what a great job you go to work at eight and you're done at 2 30 right and I just I mean the all of the things that our staff are

067continuously doing we heard about it during cheers for peers that are before and after their formal work day not just to support their kids and their colleagues but also to develop their own skills so that's that's a whole lot of teachers who have made this commitment so um just very cool thank you for sharing this other board members all right thank you very much for your report I appreciate the work you're doing [Applause] right next up is our action agenda and uh so I would entertain a motion right now on the consent items with the language regarding Mr President yes sir we have a Tac update I'm sorry I jumped ahead Nick was asking me about how many speakers we have coming up so that's why all right go ahead well it's such an exciting

068report we don't want to miss it no no we really appreciate these updates so yes well and we have had a wonky year with Tac in that uh we haven't met um we usually meet in August we have another one in early fall but with the priority being really on TSS um creation or the replacement of TSS um and that committee's work knowing the subbing issues that we had our first meeting at Tac was just last Wednesday I love the TAC meetings because it's Dynamic group of teacher leaders in the district about 30 people um with every building is represented every level is represented and they're vibrant conversations so last Wednesday was another one of those situations some of the topics we discuss Elementary facilities I thought that because we're doing forums and we're having

069lots of discussions about this that it would be a shorter part of the meeting but I think it was about an hour that we talked through a lot of the details a lot of the what-ifs associated with Elementary facilities and the potential discussion that you guys are having later tonight we also discussed TSS because that is such a big initiative that we're working on in collaboration with the teachers so student services we talked quite a bit and Tara led the conversation there regarding Staffing certainly anybody who wishes to apply for a special ed Pera role there's still vacancies we are struggling with the filling of those positions the consistent filling of those positions we talked a lot about IEPs compliance with IEPs and transitions again with all the different level levels represented at the table

070it's helpful to hear the different perspectives from the different levels so that was a good discussion we had a great discussion on the lgbtqia plus students and the support for staff um lots of discussion about misunderstandings about how the application of the policy or of the of the practices being implemented and I think more discussion from there will certainly be occurring we talked about calendars and we talked quite lots of discussion um on a variety of topics it's always Lively it's a robust conversation that again I value greatly and I hope the members of the committee do as well and we're scheduled for another meeting mid-January so we're back on schedule all right great excellent thank you for the update any questions for Andrea regarding the TAC update you said there's 30 people on that

071committee about I have Administration alone and then we have Representatives I think we have four from the high school um three four from the middle school so yeah once you hit all those buildings it gets to be quite a few so every building has somebody on there at least one person from every building yes very good any other questions comments for Andrea thank you for your work in that regard um sorry I've kind of had my head on a swivel here and looking backward and forward make sure that nobody has their hand up now I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda items and uh the expenditures Mr President yes move approval of the consent items and that the chief financial and operations officer be authorized to pay bills in the amount of

072three million one hundred ninety thousand two hundred fifty dollars and 41 cents all right is there a second second right there's been a motion in a second there is no discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye aye those opposed say nay the eyes have it and the consent agenda with expenditures is approved as stated next up we have an agenda item that is financial considerations of capital and operational levies in elementary facility planning and with that we have I think I counted 16 to 18 somewhere in there um speakers normally we give three minutes and past practice has been to limit it to two minutes if we have more than five but unless there's an objection from any board member I'm inclined to just give the full three minutes to whoever wants to

073use three minutes again reminding everyone that there is no mandatory use of three minutes if you want to use one minute that's fine but uh with that is there anybody that wants to limit it Beyond three minutes okay so we'll we'll keep it at three and does somebody else have a better timer mine has a tendency of intermittent it seems like it goes off when it shouldn't and all right yeah Carrie I appreciate it our our longtime Clerk of the school board so all right that's great yeah that's a lot to do up here so for me to not have technology um you know the meeting was delayed because of my inability to log in here so first up Mitchell I believe it's blue and of Bluebird Drive Hudson Wisconsin it is okay there was

074no vowel between the L and the V and I didn't know it is more than likely my handwriting okay I grew up in Hudson and went to the schools and was lucky and then I graduated in 2009 which was near the peak of when Hudson High School was overcrowded and you know you could barely get through the halls and now I own a home in Hudson I don't have kids and in 2016 I voted to renovate the school and use the existing property that we had when I looked at that there's several different options for building new schools building you know all these different options and then one to renovate obviously I voted to renovate and looking at these new options here to for another referendum that I'm still paying for the last one I'll

075be paying for the next one I don't have any kids in the school system but schools are the basis of our community I mean we'll hear again and again about how small schools are good for kids and when but there's also a lot of numbers a lot of reasons why it's smarter to stick with our smaller schools to demolish two perfectly good buildings to consolidate into one larger we become less agile less able to Ill if we continue to lose students to shutter one school should we need to in three or five years because you're not going to shut down a perfectly new brand new school but we could hold off on those decisions we could renovate the buildings we have and and have more than two options for the renovation the task force was

07650 50 split on whether or not we would it was a good idea to build the new school or fix the existing and now there's only two options for fixing the existing and six for building the new fixing the existing keeps our costs lowest right now and if in a few years attendance continues to drop as some projections are showing which I don't understand I don't understand any way how we could look at it and see that we won't have more kids in our school system in 20 years than we do today I don't want to plan for the next five years I want to plan for 20 years and you know if at that point we decide that we need more schooling then we can expand potentially onto our different schools but to shutter

077them down into smaller schools it removes our ability to um adjust in the future there's there's no reason to build another school the the costs to renovate and I specifically looked at Holton the the paint we don't need to paint the school but we it was listed as part of the basic expenses so they're all the same color all the different schools it's not an important expense we don't need to do that right now all right well thank you thank you for your comment thank you um sorry Megan again you know Megan rosinski rozowski okay rozowski of Willow River Drive Hudson hi thanks for opening it up for us to speak today um I'm the mother of a Holton second grader and of a two-year-old daughter I have several concerns about the enrollment projections that

078are being used as the basis for closing Holton and Willow River Elementary schools these enrollment projections were part of a study conducted by UW Madison's applied population lab the pandemic and the impact on education and family decision making in the past two and a half years have made it very difficult to make accurate projections right now if we'd gone two and a half years before the pandemic I don't think anyone would have guessed where we would have been in 2020 right um and the projections that were done by the UW-Madison applied population lab are based on data through the 2020 census which was conducted in early 2020. there's been a lot of growth in housing in the school district in the past couple years more than 300 new housing units were built in 2020 alone

079as is noted in the study to me one large flaw in the study and the enrollment projections is that it assumes that no families with children will be living in condos apartment buildings or town homes of which 150 alone were built in 2020 it assumes that children will only live in single-family homes but we know it's expensive for families out there and more families are living in multi-family units and condos if we change the enrollment projections to assume even a small portion of those units would include families with children would be on a different enrollment trajectory since 2020 there's been an outmigration of families leaving cities like Minneapolis and St Paul moving to smaller towns my family's one we left South Minneapolis after living there for 15 years and we now live out in St

080Joe's Township the population in Hudson and the surrounding area has been growing between 2020 and 2022 according to statistics from the state of Wisconsin it's been a one percent increase in residents under the age of 18 during that period of time and the City of Hudson is expected to grow by 37 percent by the year 2040 and birth rates are rising Years After Decline after years of decline so to end this up I'm worried we're going the way Stillwater did they closed three schools in 2016 to save money by firing staff and building a larger school they said there is the only way to solve the budget issue few years later last year overcrowding in the schools have to build an addition redraw boundaries again students had to have their boundaries redrawn and the community

081pushed back on it in Stillwater and they were told no no no this is the only way to make the numbers work but now on the Stillwater School Board website it says these schools were built with the idea of adding on later and on the Hudson School District website in the FAQ it states that if we end up with enrollment growth we can always put additions on so let's not make the same mistake as still water thank you thank you next up I'm going to get it right this time Janet blivin of Bluebird Drive I've heard that last name before I have to write mine down I even had to write down hi I'm Janet 11. uh that's my son my husband Ted and I have lived in this community for 35 years we would

082like our tax dollars used to support all six small community schools I don't really have any thoughts on whether we're increasing or decreasing in population it doesn't seem to matter whether it increases or decreases it still makes sense to keep our small schools Holton is a great school it's in great condition sorry I'm off it I'm gonna go back to my paper the other thing I would like my tax dollars used is to keep those student small student to teacher ratio I think that's best done in our small schools our kids attended Holton Elementary we were pleased with all aspects of that school I'm just going to speak about me being a parent I liked the quality of the education at Holton it was excellent the social bonding that my kids got of six years

083being with that small group of kids helped them have a nice base to move on to middle school and high school lastly the sense of community not only for the kids but for us parents when I was a young parent and I walked into that school and VI was sitting behind that desk and she looked up and smiled and said well hi Janet I didn't have a clue who she was it made me feel so supported I would like to support our young parents it helped me I think we need to support these young parents um now I'm an old lady I have no children in schools that local community still helps me feel involved in my community it does me good I want to keep all six I can't imagine Hudson downtown Hudson not

084having a local school for their kids to walk to all right thank you for your comments next up is Diane Diane wetstein a Vine straighten Hudson hi I could be categorized into the 70 percent of Voters in the district who have no connection to the schools other than paying the bills through the taxes this was not the case 21 years ago however at that time I had three children attending Willow River Elementary they were kindergarten second and fourth grade I was the willow parent who led the charge into the investigation in subsequent corrective action of Willow River's environmental health problems about getting into all that directly let's just say that Willow had fallen into a state of disrepair there were serious problems with the infrastructure that needed to be corrected problems that were Way Beyond

085the score scope of normal budgeted maintenance dollars problems that only referendum dollars could fix the institute for environmental assessment assessment was the environmental consultant to evaluated the school and its various systems the summer of 2001. they came to the conclusion that for example with the ventilation system the school by the way had a lot of indoor air quality issues it was better to put in a whole new system than to try to Band-Aid the old system as a result of these costly recommendations the talk became raise or remodel that was when Johnson Controls the Minneapolis Minnesota specialists in rejuvenating school buildings was brought in to assess Willow The Objective was to evaluate the facility to determine sensible options ranging from structure modernization to complete renovation to his decision whether or not to build new the

086school board went for the option of the complete renovation and what a great plan that was it made use of the existing site taking advantage of the high ceilings thick mass large windows The trouso Brick and woodwork which were all still in excellent condition and were in many ways Superior to materials used in new facilities Johnson Controls reported that the structure itself would last 200 years the outer skin would be good for a hundred the Willow River that you see today is a result of a referendum passing on October 2nd 2001 which gave 6.9 million dollars towards the complete Rejuvenation of the school it took the old high school constructed in 1917 and added on in 1920 and 1950 and changed it into a true Elementary School sadly we lost we did lose a historic

087structure in the process the old 4th Street Elementary School built in 1920 which housed kindergarten and early childhood at that time but in the process we the community the school board saved the original historic structure and modernized the entire campus which is what we have today the school board and the community were proactive back in October of 2001 bringing this historic Community Landmark from the last century into the new century the school board and community community overwhelmingly shows I'm almost done to carry this school this school well over forward into the future I worked hard to get that referendum passed and that was one of the things this is our choice we're going forward it's only been 21 years how then can Willow River the historic neighborhood school be on the chopping block now too

088much was done to save Willow 21 years ago goal just to see it eliminated now so save Willow thank you thank you for your comments next up Scott Ellingson 6th Street Hudson as we have heard the best the best referendum is the referendum that we can pass to pass the referendum we need as much of the 30 percent directly connected to schools and a good part of the other 70 percent option one would best unify our 30 base and operate our district in the black we need the intensity and passion from the November 1st middle school meeting and the people here today tonight to to have on our side to pass a referendum Dr Ouellette has done a good job of articulating the need for an operational Levy question and a capital Levy question the

089suggested operational Levy for option one would be three million dollars more per year than option two for a three hundred thousand dollar house the difference would be an additional ten dollars per month that's one Starbucks visit a week Hudson's attraction and charm is its quality education as delivered by its six neighborhood Schools elementary schools each school is unique which is okay to be unique and brings Priceless value and connections to our community Plus at Willow we have this wonderful public private Dynamic going on with Trinity and St Pat's we've heard a lot about efficiency special education is one of the least efficient areas of our budget we proudly follow the law to serve all students and we all share that cost we don't make special needs students families pay more than others likewise Willow River

090and Holton Elementary families should not have to pay more by closing their schools and making them travel a greater distance for their education closing the admin admin building and housing them at the two schools would better utilize space any administrative inconveniences would be far outweighed by Holton and Willow family's inconveniences if their school schools were closed closing schools is a very permanent and disruptive decision major reboundering for students and reshuffling staff would increase anxiety before deciding visit Willow and Holton around school to missile time quietly observe families and kids imagine those spaces one day without kids the referendum signs and passions are ready for option one we just have to add a little vote Yes to them this passion can swing a spring election please think outside the box just a little take a little

091more time to find a creative solution that unites us all United and together like this we heard about the soccer team we can do this thank you all right next up we have Kathy Roberts of Hudson hi I have been with you before and supported uh the school board and I was out of town when they had the uh session at middle school or someplace was about speaking up and I felt as a parent of four kids that went through Middle School uh as a teacher now retired from Willow it is my passion that school is my passion and I Scott just said you just have to walk after school and see all of the parents standing around and being together and I was privileged to walk with Arnie Fett and the architects in 2001

092as Diane said when they were talking about how to make the school work for an elementary school and the architect said this building will last longer than any other building that you've got here and it has we just celebrated 100 years uh I was part of that group that organized to have people come in and we had a celebration and I know Tracy was here part of that so I just I would just be appalled if you would con even consider closing that school which we put almost 7 million into it and voted it for the community to support and renovate that school so I am just asking for not closing a school does not solve the problem you're just going to add busing so I am passionate about Willow River because I worked there

093I love that school I went back as often as I could until covet happened so um you know I the other thing I heard is well there were two other schools in the area but those are two private schools this is a public school this is what is our foundation of our America is is building public education and I'm all supporting those that want to go to private school but I'm a huge supporter of public education and Willow River and Holton thank you next up we have Sandra conrath um of North Hudson Mrs conrath I think taught my son in kindergarten that was 26 years ago yes okay I'm Sandy Conrad and I taught kindergarten at the Old Forest Street School in Willow River for 27 years and then I subbed in all the schools

094for another 10 so I'm well aware of all those schools in the district they were great years I'm feel the same way about Willow as Kathy does have you ever toured that school it is like the Taj Mahal of elementary schools it's absolutely beautiful the classrooms are every teacher's dream um the library is phenomenal um and the people are just terrific um I wasn't planning on doing this but I was talking to Kathy and way back in the olden days when I got my master's degree we did a study on effectiveness of elementary schools and it was shown that the optimal size for elementary schools is between four and five hundred and once you get over 500 um learning starts to bottom out test scores go down children aren't connected families aren't connected to the

095schools and the neighborhood schools um and the smaller the smaller neighborhood schools are just the best for teaching kids once you get up into the 600 they become children factories and we don't want that in Hudson thank you for your comment next up we have Genie Castro of Willow Drive hi my name is Jeannie Castro and I live at 1806 Willow Drive in Hudson I had the privilege of sending my kids to school at Willow when I lived when we lived at 1312 3rd Street so every day we would walk the kids to school me and Schmitty the dog and there was a couple times I even got called by Pat Hodges the principal to to tell me schmittee was on the playground again and I have to go pay so that learning situation or

096learning um experience for my kids living and going to school in the same community and the families I met so many people when I walked my kids to school daily and picked them up and there were tons of relationships built that way and it's a unique experience to go to school like that my son Arthur who is now 21 said that how important it was to go to a small school and how how cool that was and it just um affected him greatly I also saw my son Paco who kind of mimicked something that I created at Willow where he had an art show at college and he got all his community friends involved to put on the art show and why I say that is because it's a unique experience with the renovation we

097had a beautiful library and a bunch of us on the parent group came up with an idea to have an art show for a fundraiser and so for 14 years I volunteered at the school um putting it on the art show and each child's classroom created a project a project that was auctioned off and they were so proud of those projects and the whole Community embraced the event and at first Kathy Roberts um who just spoke the second grade teacher it was her idea to do this chairs project and from there it you know uh the community and support grew with the more people that were involved in the project and in the whole art show so uh it was just the most magical experience that my kids could have and I had four kids

098go through the school system and Sandy conrath was my daughter's kindergarten teacher so about an 18-year career at Willow and I enjoyed every minute as a parent as well as my my kids really had a unique special magical education there so thank you for considering um the quality of Education that we're providing at in Hudson and I I really I know that you guys will come up with a solution that that doesn't interrupt what a cool thing we have going in Holton and Willow and all through Hudson thank you very much thank you all right next up is Nick Corinth of Holton a Fox Ridge Trail good evening board members and thank you for this opportunity um just want to say this summer I had the pleasure of being a Hudson booster coach for my

099eight-year-old daughter a bunch of eight you girls it might be some parents out here but we have the best girls in the community in Holton Hudson we brought the girls to State this fall coach Hudson fall ball and we got 13th out of 81. the three goals I gave those girls from day one the coaching PMA positive mental attitude don't give up motivate never and always keep yourself focused on what we can do teamwork but most of all have fun I'm here today because I believe in the PMA as the number one positive mental attitude and I'm not giving up on Holton back in 1986 I moved to Holton Wisconsin uh had a rough time in the school system in Southern Florida my parents got a new job over here came back to the community

100and that school turned me around to where I am here today I went from second grade I saw Brian doll on the crowd I don't know if he's still here but Brian doll is also here now a Holton parent and Holton is the reason I was successful turned myself around from a elementary school kid Middle School High School Hudson grad 98 went and joined the Marines served overseas found my wife got married had a family moved to Minneapolis and said you know what there's this great place across the river called Holton Wisconsin that's where I want to raise my family had I known that in 2016 what this discussion is going on here now I promise excuse me promise you I wouldn't have moved here and it's something we have to realize having the smaller

101Community Schools the smaller atmosphere the team building that we have which leads to sports and what we can do never giving up is where Holton and Willow River all these Community Schools that's where we are it's it's who we bring up and um I just want to say having my kids and you know we heard covet earlier that the 2020 isms whether it's the the birth rates and I don't even know if I was part of that census or not it was a foggy year that year but to use stats like that to use stats and I was at the some of these meetings to use stats that birth rate in the community I just showed you I'm a Hudson Community member but my stats weren't part of that stat that you guys are using

102for birth rate I just brought two kids here and depending on the outcome of the board I plead you please don't close these schools I agree with everyone that's spoken tonight but I plead you one of the things we're considering as a family is Holton or Hudson where we want to end up in three four five years from now if you close that Community today both my son and my daughter who are currently in Holton Elementary may not be a Hudson grad like their dad so again I plead you board members think about this think about the increased costs I know we're looking at savings I'm pretty sure we can all afford you know Mr Ellingson I think uh you're a teacher back in the day when I was going through school so thank you

103um but think about the ten dollars uh situation that he brought up with a Starbucks ten dollars a week pull the community a lot of us don't want our housing values to go down if people leave the community we'll pay ten dollars a month might even pay 50 a month depending on who you're talking to but again just please reconsider that I think we all in this this room and outside this room want to keep the schools open smaller is better we don't want to have buses going around bringing uh our kids driving an extra 50 minutes 30 minutes and I'm almost done I promise but those are things that we want to focus on smaller is better and my last point is if it was even possible to bring up what would it cost

104to add a net new school to further keep those those class sizes further down so thank you for your time all right I'm apologize in advance now on this one but I think Josie Ramsey of Somerset sir Jossie or Josie Ramsey um somebody from Somerset address all right then next up is John Hester of Fifth Street hey there hello I'm John I have two 20 year olds at UW-Madison in the University of Minnesota and a 16 year old at the high school all of whom got their start at Willow River Elementary and I'd like to talk briefly about investment demographics and Facilities when we're talking about closing these two schools we're using the word cost a lot I'd like to use the word investment Community Schools are an increasingly rare and valuable asset that we

105should invest in our community community Elementary School was a large part of the reason my family moved to move to Hudson my understanding is that I'll need to pay a few hundred dollars a year more in taxes to invest in Willow River and Holton Elementary our community schools I say that sounds like an amazing investment demographics I grew up in downtown Springfield Illinois for much of my life the downtown of Springfield was in a continuous State of Decay not enough young families were moving to downtown they were instead moving to a series of successive Rings moving out from the city center where large new schools were being built if our downtown area is not attracting young families I say from experience that we have to turn that around in my expensive city planning experience playing

106SimCity this would mean doubling down on our community school and building some affordable housing I think all of us here should influence our city council to do the second of those in our school board to do the first in fact Springfield Illinois has been successfully revitalizing part of parts of its downtown over about the last decade starting with affordable housing to attract young families I'm also dubious about the accuracy of demographic projections given just as we emerge from covid as other people here have noted facilities I've heard the argument that the two older schools in our district are too old to be brought up to Modern facilities standards I've thought about that and consulted with some teachers and I'm just not persuaded my observation was my kids had great modern facilities and equipment and most

107importantly great teachers in a beautiful historic setting we now have a gopher at the U of M and a badger in Madison well you could argue my family is indecisive with respect to which rodents we support it's clear that the old building did not limit their educations at Willow River DirecTV brings to my 1920s house high-speed high def NFL Sunday Ticket every week I have every confidence that the school district can continue to provide excellent Elementary learning facilities in an historic building and you should do that because the alternative being discussed is to close a rare and historic Community School destroying an anchor for our community denying young kids here now the opportunity to walk to school giving in to a demographic trend that could ultimately start downtown Hudson on a path to decline and

108yes reducing the property values for me and for all of us downtown all to save me a few hundred dollars a year in taxes I object that proposal is a poor investment it seems to me like an extreme solution a permanent one with more potential downsides than upsides I think we should all invest in keeping our community schools for now while we work on affordable housing and watch our demographic data evolve for a few more years thanks for listening thank you okay next up we have Bert Yardley is Bert still here I saw him earlier all right I think he left Robert Comstock of Third Street hey thanks for having us up here today allowing us to speak we appreciate it a lot of Rich history here in Hudson that I am just not a

109part of so I'm actually the flip side of this uh my kids two out of three of my kids were born on an island called Maui and the school system was so bad there um with one high school and one Elementary School 30 minutes to drop your kid off 30 minutes back down the hill and not a very big emphasis on education like here so we scoped the world my daughter was born had five years to pick a spot and we looked for a small town values home pricing and of course education so in looking at Zillow and so on and so forth I found myself constantly coming back over here and you're building a new school it was looking good so we came here and we actually have my daughter Riley enrolled in kindergarten

110before I had a job I replaced lift that's how committed we were and so now we live on Third Street I have three kids at Willow River we love the school so what I am is unquantifiable I am your ex Factor how are you going to sustain Hudson in the future right it's it's public perception that brings people in I didn't come from across the river but I came from a long ways away I've owned businesses in Hudson to bring a lot of tax dollars thoughts and we love Willow River Elementary School but mainly what we like is Mayberry right we joke about it online but it's real and it's a dream and it's here and there's no real reason to move past that um Hudson will lose its uniqueness it will lose its downtown

111feel it will lose the term Mayberry and that brings a lot of people to town so that's kind of an unquantifiable thing that you can do what you can do is you can look at the news and find out that our economy is changing land values are dropping so this great piece of land we've had for 100 years will be less valuable 16 months from now we'll also find that our Corona babies are coming do you live on Third Street I'm blessed I was the first person there in probably six eight years everybody else's kids had grown up so my neighbors are here now they welcomed us with open arms yay there's kids there's noise there's commotion here welcome back so fast forward not to today I have two a two and four-year-old on this

112side I have a one and two year old on this side we have five kids around the corner that are in Trinity just moved in the neighborhood we have kids everywhere I mean it is loaded downtown so I don't know how to get your current numbers but I would encourage you to try to see that the foundation of the starting of the this whole discussion things have changed and there are people there and people did leave the cities during the Runa and our neighborhood still did fill up some of our older people have moved out younger people have moved in with the high school referendum happening it was rated at 8.0 everybody's house's house values Rose right so yes you're paying out a thousand dollars but you're 250 000 house is now worth 285 000.

113congratulations elementary schools don't quantify into real estate so what you're offering is people to pay out without getting back right your the whole the value of your home will not rise based on losing uh based on your decisions with the elementary school it can only go down well thank you thank you for your comment and our last public speaker uh Megan Laney is it Megan still here Megan Laney all right she's no longer here all right that ends our public comments I want to thank everyone who spoke I want to thank the crowd for your respect in listening to the speakers and uh very good comments made I personally agree with a lot of what was said and now at this time because it's part of our discussion slash action agenda it's posted in this

114area I'm not anticipating any action tonight but I am hoping for a discussion and um you know I think if I will I'd turn it over to Bob um do you have any comment just want to say that I've really um I think our community uh very closely connected to Willow and Holton have shown up and have spoken and many encouraging words challenging the community the whole Community to support what affects you is is going to be key to this I I did not join the board to close schools or lose teachers there are real concerns we have these are our financial concerns and yes our schools are more than just money and our tax dollars um but while some will be willing to pay more many might not so we have to be very

115Community Driven with any attempt we make to pass any referendum we can point to every argument I hear for keeping a school open or closing a school or this that there's always another side to look at it um my one of my personal main concerns is keeping our school district strong as far as programming and the ability to pay our teachers because we have seen what happens when we can't afford to pay our teachers it's happened in the past here we lose our teachers to Minnesota and other schools we have some advantages and some disadvantages the disadvantages are real and and I know I keep hearing you know I can't believe that our we won't have more kids in the future that it won't bounce back the facts are right now we have 3 000

116kids uh space for three thousand kids and we have 2100 kids uh believe the demographics report or not our opposing prices are real that other communities don't have those High housing prices so it is very important that we work with our community and let our leaders know that we need affordable housing to allow younger families with children to move in I I really want to stress that I believe our board no one on our board has an agenda moving forward to closed schools if we can make things work financially we will we will try and I hope our community understands that and I just really feel that we need a lot of communication not division we all have our students and our families top of the list in mind right thank you Bob I I

117think I want to Echo you know some of those sentiments as well as sentiments as well in that if quote unquote money were No Object I think it's clear we have great schools it's really fulfilling for me to see the love that this the people in this room have and the people that were in the room on November 1st have for Holton and Willow but I also remember back in 2018 when we reboundered and we had very very fervent parents that also thought River Crest was a great school and people that thought Ep Rock was a great school and people that thought Hudson Prairie was a great School they're great schools because of the teachers we have because of the pairs we have because of the administration we have in those buildings all right it's

118the people that make it great and just like any Community it's the people that make it great buildings are there to serve a purpose and in this case I would if we had the budget to do that and throw all the numbers out then we just you know I want to see us have an option where the community decides this point I would like to see us put an operating referendum on the ballot in April that the folks in this room and the folks that were there on November 1st can get behind um and maybe we can raise the money that we can then run the school district for the foreseeable future maybe buy us a few years to see how the effect of covet is on some of these numbers and enrollment and see

119if we can have the kind of Grassroots campaign to get affordable housing in um maybe if there's folks who have a big stake in schools like Willow River and Holton they will see the value of that but that's one of the factors here that we don't have control over folks we can't force people to make babies we can't force people to move here I appreciate the people who did move here I'm very very appreciative that we moved here 32 years ago my wife we were and I we were able to raise our kids in the school with teachers that are in this room and very much appreciate that I think Hudson's a great Community I want to keep it great I think our schools make it great we want to keep that the alternative though

120is if we don't have the money to run these schools we can't okay we can't maintain the class sizes that we strive to have in all our schools right now that class right size range is 18 to 22 K through 2 and 22 to 27 or 28 27 22 to 27 in the grades 30 through 5. that to me is the most important thing because I think class sizes in that classroom and help the teacher be able to have the ability I do not want to see our district turned into a Minnesota District where teachers have 30 35 kids in a kindergarten class but we are threatened with that if we can't get this operating Levy to pass people asked me at that November 1st meeting aren't you going to take questions what happens about

121this what what's your real plans folks we don't have any real plans other than we're throwing this out here we have tried to do this without going back to the taxpayers as far as when I say try this keeping we under levied for almost 17 years in Iraq I think it was 16 out of 17 years we under levied we had the capacity to tax more we opted not to all right because we felt we were running our schools well we didn't need to spend just for the sake of spending and and taxing everyone to the max but the law passed and one of our retired teachers spoke at the November 1st meeting made a very very good point is that the state legislature put this on local school districts doesn't give us the ability

122to just raise the taxes that we think we need to be able to raise to do it instead they put Levy limits Revenue limits on school districts and like I said we operate fine but somebody mentioned the 2001 uh Willow River referendum another referendum I was on most of the vote Yes referendums that we've had in the last 32 years all right um but that came after we had a referendum in which we raised the revenue limit okay so this community did that at the time it was for teacher pay and computers Dave Granville you can tell me am I right so the the community will do it like somebody said you know two poor Starbucks visits whatever there's a great way to to pitch it you know if we can make it sell I

123want to be able to keep the schools the way they are but if it doesn't pass we're going to be forced to do things and people say well what are the consequences go to school districts where they haven't been as fiscally responsible as this school district has for 20 years okay go to the other school districts where they are they have to be forced to freeze teacher pay raise class sizes or close buildings I mean we're not the only School District in the whole state of Wisconsin consider it we're not the only School District that has lost enrollment in the last eight years all right it's not unique to Hudson so I would love to turn it around I think that we do have a way to attract people to this District I'd like to

124get more open enroll folks who maybe live in neighboring districts and they're on their way to the cities anyway bring your kids to Hudson I want to be able to promote them so I think there's ways that we can do it I just think that we need to move forward with the capital expenditures in the buildings that we know for instance the middle school for Hudson Prairie for uh or not for Ep Rock and North Hudson you know we know that there's Capital expenditures there I would like to see us address those and for me I would like to put a pause on Willow and the discussions about closing Willow and Holton for probably three years and see what they what comes out of it but again we're just discussing things we're not voting on

125anything tonight and um so folks have said you know it's all been one way we're trying to give you information if you have a question we're willing to answer it I'm willing to do more of these community means but I'm just one board member we got other people up here so if we want to do those we can do those it's just a matter of scheduling them Heather did you have something sure if you're done yeah yeah thanks um John Hester I don't know where you sat down but I wrote down um if our downtowns aren't attracting new families we need to turn that around and when you said that I kind of thought wait a minute it's not that we're not attracting new families it's that they can't afford to live there and then

126you followed it up with we need to invest on keeping our community schools open while we work on affordable housing and watch our demographics for a few years leaving that community meeting on November 1st those of you on the board know this but my my day job I work with I work with the Community Foundation I previously worked with Allina Health nothing that's helpful in a medical emergency we're working on the external stuff around what makes communities healthy and strong and for the past 20 years in this region affordable housing and initially we used to talk about low income housing and now we're talking about Workforce housing right we're talking about housing for families that make a hundred thousand dollars a year and still can't afford to buy home so we're talking about our teachers

127who can't afford to raise their kids in Hudson because they can't find homes and you know I think um I just had the challenge of helping someone try to find an apartment in Hudson and a tiny little two-bedroom apartment is eighteen hundred dollars and it's not that wonderful people and so I think I left that November first meeting and it sounds like Jamie may be echoing you feeling like we've got a convergence here that I didn't expect that could actually but that actually could be a real win-win for this community many of you may not know we as a school board know one of the things that Nick has worked really hard on kind of behind the scenes since I've been on the board so for six years is really involved with initiatives trying to

128figure out how can we have more affordable housing in this community because he's been telling us as a board the way that school funding Works in this state people if families with young kids can't afford to live in this community we're going to have trouble and now I got trouble right here in River City or Mayberry or whatever you want to call it so um I think that there is there's a really good energy that I hope really turns into a commitment around around how can we turn this into the situation we wish we were in we wish we were in I should say we I wish we were in a situation where all six of our community schools were busting at the seams with kids and we were talking about how do we either

129build on to continue to invest in or maybe we do need a seventh Public School here in Hudson because wow this is a place that families are moving to and so I like the idea of and I don't know exactly what that solution is yet Jamie if it's a mix of of operating in capital it sounds like probably we can't just pund the capital I mean we do some work but while we really get people engaged in yes whatever referendum question we advance for April whether it's operating and or Capital because as part of that question we'll be able to engage and start doing the education around what's driving this um in in a way that I think will raise everyone's awareness that for so many reasons we cannot afford for Hudson to be a

130place that only wealthy retirees can afford to move to that we need this to be a place where people of all ages and incomes can um can live so um yeah I'm I'm liking the idea that we find an option that for now and I think we have to be careful because we don't want to look like someone brought up still water and Stillwater is accused of kind of doing a bait and switch you passed a referendum and then you closed the schools that we thought we were keeping open so I think part of the message would have to be an honest sort of we need to figure this out and there's still a chance that in five or ten years if we don't see the trends change that we'll be back having this conversation

131and then we'll have buttons again so maybe you have to save them but I think to be really transparent about that with if we move ahead with an option that is a bit of a let's buy some time while we see how this shakes out and then hopefully to energize the folks who are in this room the full folks who were at the middle school on November 1st to really help us engage the community in this conversation that is yes about our schools and it's about something that's bigger than in our schools so Jamie all right other members Mr President yes [Applause] such a strange thing to be doing this because you kind of come up with uh and somebody had emailed us the head it's the the money you know um and how the

132discussions we have with parents is more about the heart um I just want you to know that I mean this literally keeps me up at night I don't know about any other board members it's sickening um it's tough to be put in a situation like exactly where you want the schools to be bursting at the seams and they're just not we don't know what's going to happen no none of us can predict the future um none of that um I'm rambling sorry um I think one thing I've been thinking about is I appreciate I know that um we've been chewing on this for a long time and thinking about this um and for for the community it's new and it's shocking and when you feel like somebody's messing with your kids that is just like

133a no-go for all of us I get that but I do want to say the school district and Nick and The Architects came up with the best financial plan and it's always good to start with well this is the best financial plan over the long term we don't have to do that but we have to have go into it with an with open eyes knowing that we can do some of the things not that necessarily do some other things where we're rattling we're renovating but It ultimately will cost more money and we have bought those schools for the next 20 years um and I'm not saying that I don't understand the the heart and the feelings of the schools and probably if my kids had gone to Willow River I would be in the same

134boat as all of you and same with Holton um but I'm not um so we have to make these hard decisions about what we're going to do um I guess I feel like we absolutely have to have an operating referendum there's just no other way around it we are not maybe going to get some money from the state maybe not at all um and as you guys know teachers deserve raises prices for materials for keeping lights on paying for fuel that all goes up so we have to pay all that has to come from somewhere it comes from the community um so I think absolutely we have to have something like that I would be comfortable um you know tabling something for a few years to see what happens um the one good thing I

135was thinking you know when Heather you said there was kind of a convergence on November 1st because it was such a tense situation and people you know had rightfully had questions um and needed answers and by the end I felt like okay we're all on the same page here trying to figure out how can we make this work um and um I don't know I feel like the affordable housing issue it is an issue um I don't know we couldn't afford to buy here we moved here in 1993. um and bought a house I think in 98 for 80 000. um and we bought a house so that me and my tiny little salary if something happened to my husband that I could afford to pay for it our mortgage was 426 dollars um I'm

136not that old I may look it but I'm not that old um so it is a real problem it's it just is um so anyway super rambling totally appreciate all the emails and everything that everybody says and just the really thoughtfulness and from the heart Expressions about your schools so thank you Mr President yes Rob so I think the uh the families that will and Holden are paying attention the the nice thing about what we've heard tonight is that we know there's passion for our schools I'm also supportive of keeping Holton and will open um taking into consideration that as one gentleman mentioned it's important for the energy that's in this room both communities to start spending time with your local community leaders to start helping with help help us help you um because for

137unfortunately we won't be able to say no forever you know I I agree with Jamie as it relates to the operational Levy it's important for us to focus on our financial future to make sure that we stay intact I for one personally am okay with holding off on any long-term capital campaign um and certainly you know we as a board will continue to have that conversation [Music] um it's not all about the money it's not but at the end of the day as community members you all expect a strong education every one of us that spoke tonight talked about the passion they've had for their teachers and for the education that their children have gotten and how miserable it would be for our local community schools to to close and we as a board and

138speaking just for myself am passionate about to make bubble making sure that we have that experience for all of our kids and so if you can help us with this engagement of your local community leaders I think that will go a long way towards helping this declining enrollment issue and in the meantime certainly help us focus on this operational Levy um so we can continue to provide good services and great education for our students and but and by the way I'm okay with closing the ASC yeah yeah I think that I'm not sure there's any board member in the discussions that we've had already that said that we're going to be continuing with the ASC forever it's just that well I think we don't want to do is move it multiple times until we have

139a plan for our facilities Mr President there will be an ASC as administrative Services Center yeah yeah Mr President I just want to weigh in as the last board member here to talk about it I'm definitely willing to get creative I think there's a lot of different things that we've gotten emails about that we need to focus on so I think there's going to be compromise for all of us when we look at getting creative but I think there's a lot of different options things people have emailed about the administrative building about The UU property and then looking at what these priorities are I've heard people talk about we don't need the same paint in every single classroom I'm in agreement with you I think we need to look at what these priorities actually are

140so that we know how much we're asking for and what's needed okay yeah Kate uh mentioned she was the last year not the last carry is hasn't I'm sorry Carrie that's okay we can't see each other tonight I'm actually in agreement with everything that's been said uh I would also be supportive of an operational Levy um and not to Echo everything that was said tonight but I I am in agreement um one thing that has not been stated that has come up at the community meetings is that yes we need we need a referendum to address any Capital Investments that are needed at schools we do not need a referendum as it's been stated for a board to close any schools I would I would state that I I will not vote to close either

141of our schools any of our schools [Applause] but I I do think this will need to be delayed and looked at certainly because we we have maintenance issues that we know of so I'm I'm glad we are seeming to all agree on the potential path that we'll be going and hopefully our community leaders are also listening government leaders and we can address some of the pressing issues thank you Bob did you want to see something I just I just want to defend I know there's been a lot of you know the paint has been taken to beating tonight um you know this this opinion we're in the color right now but um this was a branding effort a few years back that we want to to build community that was that was organically grown throughout

142it wasn't meant to individual or take the individual you know effort out of schools or whatever it's it was uh I mean you look at all the kids at football games wearing that those colors with pride from from this tall all the way up to the seniors on the football team so you know come on it's it's it's a great color those walls needed to be painted anyway at some time I mean they weren't all just painted all at once just to change something yeah no I just I just want to clarify the the painting it's it wouldn't be painting a wall that doesn't need to get painted they just they're saying painting to District standards so um I just I just want to make sure we clarify it would be if we're going into

143a room and they do other work um and they're going to paint the room they would bring it to the district standard it wouldn't be going into like let's say River Crest and painting that whole building to change colors or something like that it would be when rooms need to be painted because we've done different work and things like that you know replace windows or stuff like that I just want to make sure everybody's on on the same understanding what that is it's it's uh you know similar to like you know the high school here we we do a lot of painting in the high school every year um even with new building but we try not to paint things that don't don't need pain it's just when they do need Paint we just want

144to put them to the district standard is is what that was getting in so they just want to make sure I wish I wouldn't have made that comment now sorry for the time taken Mr President yes just one final comment I think I'm stating the obvious we will need to pass and operating referendum and that is not a given in this community I mean so so really I mean we're sitting saying yes we will work hard we will pass an operating route because as much as we can say we weren't going to close schools we're going to have some serious operating challenges financially so we need to pass an operating referendum so yes affordable housing and more immediately if assuming that we move ahead with a with a referendum question in April that include we

145need to pass an operating referendum and there are people in this community who are going to vote no on that so let's just be real about that we are going to need people to get out and other folks have said we're going to need your help we're going to need other people's help we're going to need to convince this community to help them understand the importance of being willing to spend an extra whatever it is 10 bucks a month 400 whatever it is to support our schools while we figure out this bigger question so I just wanted to make sure that we didn't miss that that that that's work ahead of us if we move ahead with this and we're going to need you all the help with that so right foreign [Applause] that sentiment

146and maybe make a harder point that I don't want to be the Debbie Downer with all this positivity coming from the crowd and from from up here on the board but um I guess where I differ with Carrie although I mock no a tribute that she put a specific date on her never vote to close or would not vote to close schools I don't want to misquote you Carrie um but I'm in that same camp I would not vote to close schools as our first option all right so just so we're clear and we have transparency folks because if we get to April and that operating referendum doesn't pass and I want to see a capital referendum for the other places where we need to invest in those things but specifically the operating reference if

147it doesn't pass we will be back here somewhere between April of 23 because the next referendum after that can't be until April of 24. and I'm not sure that one year is enough time for us to have this huge influx of students to reverse the trend and that that's not enough time to get affordable housing put up in all the townships in the village in the city so but we will have to come back here because I will not vote I will not vote to do Mass firings of teachers and raise our class sizes to 35 throughout the entire District I'm not going to vote for that but I would vote to close a school before we get to that point okay so that's that's where I'm coming from I'm not going to vote this

148year for that but we need the support of the community the community supports the schools there's no nobody a bigger support of our schools than me all right with all due deference to the other board members out there and our superintendent and everybody and I want to mention Nick too because he's taken a lot of heat in some of these emails that we get and I think it's unjustifiably so because he's trying to run a district with the way that we can and he's been sounding the Clarion call for the last three years folks where we are going into we're dipping into the property tax and anybody in here that pays property tax has seen it but that's because of the way the state funds schools this is not a function of Dr Nicolette or

149this school board saying that we want to just raise your taxes for the sake of raising your taxes it's because we have Revenue limits all right from the city that now or from the state that we're now running up against all right and so we need the community support to be able to keep the way of life that everybody in this room wants to try and keep okay but if those referendums don't pass you know we we will be back here talking about the same thing okay is there anybody else that wants to make a comment from the board all right with that we move on to the very important work of selecting our Delegate for the State Convention of the Wisconsin school board and um usually it's the most Junior member draws the Short

150Straw for that task but um since I got appointed to the state policy and resolution committee and I need to go to that delegate assembly anyway I will not reject the nomination if somebody wants a nomination all right second all those in favor signify by saying aye aye aye Okay I accept and I have the job all right with that I'll entertain a motion for a German by the way there was a posted on there uh some a closing agenda but that's being adjourned for now you need an alternate as well oh an alternate very good I nominate Rob are you willing to take the alternate second okay uh all those in favor say aye aye thanks Rob 4.0 we need an alternate now I'll entertain a motion to adjourn move to adjourn second all

151those favors signified by saying aye aye aye we are adjourned thank you