001Heat. Heat. Somebody A hush falls over the crowd. >> Are you okay while we get started? >> Okay, we'll get going. >> Sorry everybody. Thanks for your patience while we get started. Uh we got a full board here. So um we'd like to first recognize that the school district of Lacrosse occupies the land of the Ho Chunk people. Please take a moment to celebrate and honor this ancestral Ho Chunk land and the sacred lands of all indigenous peoples. >> Will the secretary please call the role? >> Mr. Alberts >> here. >> Mr. Bneski >> here. >> Miss Hooks >> here. >> Dr. Garcia >> here. >> Miss Hass >> here. >> Mr. Jackson >> here. >> Mr. Ma >> here. >> Mr. Newmeister >> here. >> Dr. Sprag >> here. A quorum of the board
002of education is present. So the regularly scheduled meeting of May 4th, 2026 is called to order. We will now have the pledge of allegiance. Please stand and face the American flag as you're able. >> I pledge 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. Tonight's agenda has previously been distributed to the board. I would entertain at this time a motion with a second to approve the agenda as submitted unless there is a motion to amend. >> Like make motion to approve the agenda as presented. >> I'll second >> with a motion by Mr. Ma and a second by Dr. Garcia. All in favor of the motion say I. >> I. >> All
003opposed. Motion passes. Um, we have no public speakers on the agenda for tonight and we have a whole bunch of people in the audience waiting in the wings. Um, do I have to read the whole statement if there's nobody registered? Okay, then we will keep things moving for everybody's sake here. Um, tonight is one of our uh all of the board members I think favorite nights is uh the recognition of our student artwork selections that will hang in our boardroom for the next year. Um, Dr. Engel if you want to help facilitate at this point. Absolutely. Uh so excited to have uh Miss Casey Charelle here, our art content coordinator uh who arranges all of this. Uh and we're so thankful to her uh for her efforts and uh invite Casey up to help us
004with the distri or with the recognition of our students. >> Awesome. Good evening members of the board, district administration, and all of our community guests. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight and especially thank you for selecting and recognizing a piece of artwork from our district. That choice sends a powerful message to our students that their creativity matters, their voices are seen, and their work belongs in places of importance. Every March, we celebrate youth art month, a time to celebrate the impact of visual arts education and the incredible things our students create every day. But more than that, it's a reminder of what the arts do for our students in our classrooms. Art is not just about making something that looks nice. It's about thinking, problem solving, and expressing ideas that don't always fit
005into words. When a student sketches, paints, builds, or designs, they are learning to take risks, to revise their thinking, and to see challenges as opportunities rather than obstacles. Those are skills that extend far beyond the art room. Art also creates space for every student to feel successful. In a school day filled with mathematics and reading, the art room can be a place where students discover who they are. It's where a quiet student finds their voice through drawing, where a hands-on learner thrives through sculpture, and where a struggling student expresses pride in creating something uniquely their own, even if others don't see the beauty. And perhaps most importantly, art connects us. It builds empathy by allowing students to share their perspectives and understand others. It reflects our community, our culture, and our shared experiences. When you
006choose that student artwork, you didn't just select an image. You elevated a story, a moment of creativity, and a young person's sense of belonging. None of this happens by accident. It happens because of dedicated art teachers. Art teachers do far more than teach just techniques. They create environments where students feel safe to take risks, where mistakes are part of the process, and where every idea has value. They see potential in students that might sometimes be overlooked, and they nurture that potential with patience, encouragement, and expertise. They're often the ones who help students build confidence, find their identity, and feel connected to school in meaningful ways. Public education is about preparing students for the future, and the arts are a vital part of that preparation. Whether students go into careers in design, healthcare, engineering, education, or
007skilled trades, they carry with them the ability to think creatively, communicate visually, and approach problems with innovation. So tonight, I want to thank you not only for supporting Youth Art Month and our students, but recognizing the value arts education and the educators who make it possible in our schools. Your support helps ensure that every student has the opportunity to create, to express, and to be seen. Because when we invest in the arts, we're not just supporting programs. We're supporting people. We're supporting confidence, creativity, and connection. Today, we're celebrating individuals from each school and their artistic efforts. Schoolboard members and district admin administration each were given the challenge to choose just one artwork to be on display for one year here in this room. I will call up the students one at a time and invite
008them to join up here with their teacher because some of them are rather nervous and their teacher might help that. Um and you will have the opportunity to share with them why you chose their artwork out of any other piece that you saw at that art show. We'll pause for a moment for applause and a photo because I'm sure the families would love one of those. Um, and then the student may return back to their family and we will hold on to their artwork safely on the wall back here for one year. First up will be Central High School student Lily and school board member Scott Newmeister supposed to go up there then? >> Yeah, that'd be great. Right here would be awesome. I've been told we don't have a microphone, so I'm going to
009very carefully >> I'm generally kind of quiet, so I'll try to speak that way. >> Shy and retired. >> Do you think you need this? >> Hold that. All right. I picked Lily um for this beautiful piece. I I had a heck of a time. number one there was I dropped it to 10 then to five and then I dropped it to three. Um but this just coming back to me just keep on coming back and I enjoyed it. Uh she put a lot of thought into it and I think it's a brilliant piece. So I spent they actually came and checked on me at Pump House because I got carried away there. Spent a lot of time there so they wanted to make sure I was okay. But there's a lot of beautiful pieces.
010So congratulates everyone. But congratulations to you. was beautiful. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> All right. Next up from Emerson is Eleanor and Mr. Wendy could not be here, so I will do it on his behalf. So, is Elanor here? Come show it on. >> All right. Can't see. It's a beautiful giraffe. And unfortunately, he couldn't be here, but he did send this. I chose the joyful giraffe because it made me smile every time I walked by it. There were so many great displays in the Emerson Library, but I found myself drawn to the joyful draft each and every time and thought this every board meeting should have a little more joy. Congratulations. >> All right, next up is going to be Sia from Soda One with
011Mr. Stra. Awesome. So, I also had a really hard time choosing. I wanted something enjoy looking after a whole year and it was going to make me feel good and I kept coming back to your because of how much energy it has in it and the way that the the colors actually come off the page and it looks like you used space and threedimensionality even uh just with the colors and and all the the interesting shapes on it and it just got so much energy and life. I just really enjoyed it. So that's why I chose I really All right, next up is going to be Mr. Ma with Addison from Logan High. She's not here. She got sick. But I'm videotaping solutions. >> There you go. >> Boom. Here we go. >> Here's who
012picked your uh thing. >> Thanks, Dad. >> Hold it up. Do we have her on speaker? >> Yes, we do. >> All right, Addison, can you hear me? >> Yes, I can. >> All right. Congratulations. So, I have a certificate for you. I'm going to hand off over to his dad, right? >> Yes. >> Your dad. So, hopefully it gets to you today. But I chose your art piece. And um can you tell me how do you pronounce the title for your art piece? >> I don't know. >> I thought I get >> the phobia of aging and that's what came up. >> It is the phobia of aging. That's what kind of drew me. There were a lot a lot of people. I guess there's something >> youngest person on the board. >> Scott,
013would you like to say that for the audience? >> I'm one of the oldest on the board. So I I get it. >> Okay. Maybe misheard you. I thought you were pointing out that I was young one of the youngest. >> You are. You are. >> Yeah. >> And I thought call for it because I recently turned 20 and just the way that I saw through here. It's like this kind of explains the experience of me adding another digit turning 20. >> She's all a whopping 17. I know we whipper snappers, but there's just a lot of great symbolism in there. I love how the fact it really looked like it was a young girl looking at time itself. And it was a very hard pick. I'm glad here I wasn't the only one. I
014had a very hard time deciding one thing right there. But I just loved all the detail and all the symbolism there where it literally looks like you're looking down time. And that's what really drew me to it and really got the final conclusion for it. and and also because the staffer there also agreed me there too and helped me decide as well being a judge is hard. >> So congratulations. I'm going to hand this over to your dad here. We're going to take the art piece and you hang out here for a year, but we'll get it back to you once you turn 18. All right. Next up from Spania with Mrs. Cheryl. >> Nice to meet you. I'm sorry I wasn't able to make your art show. I had a family emergency. And so
015your teacher very graciously went and took pictures of all the art and emailed them to me. And yours, I kept going through the pictures and kept drawing being drawn back to your piece of art. What I love about it is the contrasting colors. You use the complimentary colors for yellow and purple and it so the vivid yellow and the center of that continue to draw me in. And then I love the fact that I understand you use like a wet on wet technique. And so that gave a lot of the texture um of the leaves. And so I loved how you've got all the different strokes. And I literally even though it was a picture, I felt like I could reach out and touch those leaves. So loved it. And I just kept scrolling through
016and looking at it and then coming back to this one. So I think our board members will enjoy looking at this for the next year. THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT, NEXT up is Lena Lee from North Side with Miss Frank. And This is uh often is a very cloudy, dark day when we're picking out our art. And this picture was so bright and pretty. And it just brought me a lot of happiness on that dreary day. And I think it'll continue to bring everyone happiness throughout the year. Just beautiful. You're welcome. All right, next up from Logan Middle is Jasmine with Mr. BIG. I like all the other speakers so far and I'm sure those that follow they have it was really difficult to make a decision but this young lady was very lucky that day
017because I'm a strawberry grower. I love strawberries and my plants were about the same level as this. She depicted it perfectly. That's just the way my strawberries look right now. So, I just kept being drawn back to that picture. So, congratulations. >> Thank you very much. >> Next up from Summit Elementary is Mason with Miss Huth. >> All right, Mason. And I was completely inspired by your use of multiple medias with the paint and the layered paper when it's ripped and and so it just gave me um just this real life feel and then that bright sunny that bright sun shining down on that bird was just filled me with happiness and joy as we get closer to the summer. So well done. Thanks Next up from Hinton Elementary is summer with Mr. Jackson. >>
018U sorry. Um, so I chose Summer's piece first. There's a diversity of mediums when I walked through the the art show. Uh, so it was really cool to see clay and textures and paints and chalk. It was really kind of it was hard. It made the choice even harder uh for me. Um, what I loved about your piece is one, I love wildlife, and two, I like clay work. Um, so it inspired me because I like both of those things. your uh proportions were amazing. Um and your use of color was was very awesome. So for me, loved it. Um and I'm really trying to see how this will hit a pedestal. >> All right. Next up from State Road Elementary is Dean with Dr. Angel. Uh I had Gabe Bashaw. His uh artwork was
019uh so cool. It's a character from a book that a lot of kids know. Uh but he drew it freehand from memory and got the proportions just right. the use of color. It just speaks comic book and is uh it demonstrates action. Uh I was just really struck by it and it was very different than a lot of other uh works that other kids had done. So just demonstrating his own creative interest. So congratulations. >> All right. Next up from Kulie Monasuri is Dianiela with Mr. Elers. Okay, I have Daniela. Um, I'm uh one of my favorite hobbies is to sit in the backyard and look at the night sky. So, uh when I came across this, it made me very happy. Um, I love purple. Um, and the nice sky. So, great job and
020congratulations. >> Next up is Sophie from Longfellow. Miss >> Eson. Sophie here. >> Sophie wasn't able to make it tonight. She's at a track meeting. Okay. Well, tell Sophie, I absolutely loved this piece. As I recall, tell me if I'm wrong, watercolor is not an easy form of art. And when I noticed uh the detail on Sophie's art, uh you'll just notice how the blending of the colors and how natural it feels. And it is a scene of nature. I love how the sun is dancing across the water, the sunlight, and it just appears like those cattails are just watching. So, it brought me a sense of calm. Uh, I think Sophie is quite an artist, and she just made calm and and the feeling of alive come together. So, congratulations, SOPHIE. Next up from
021Northwoods is Miss Hilda with Dr. Garcia. You have to tell me something about your >> Matilda. I love this piece so much. I have an October birthday, so I like spooky stuff. And it felt a little spooky to me. And I love also looking out at the moon. And I was thinking about the Aremis 2 astronauts that described how beautiful the moon was. And then they called it moon joy. And so it made me think of moon joy. And I like all these little bats around here because I'm a big fan of gardens and bats are a really important pollinator all over the planet. And so this piece with all of the colors coming off the moon and the stars and the bats and the spooky vibes just gave me a lot of joy. So
022thank you for your art. All right. Next up though from Hamilton isari with MISS Dancing up. All right. I picked this because I love when you can tell a story with just a picture. And I thought this was really creatively done. I'm also a sucker for a dragon story. So congratulations. >> Next up from Southern Bluff is Parker with Miss H. Unfortunately, he got sick about half hour ago. >> Y. >> So once you see it, I think everybody I was going to say we need >> So yeah, incorporated one of my favorite colors, orange. And um I think that it was just a good symbol of this generation. >> Immortalized. Thank you very much for everybody for coming tonight and again, thank you to everyone for taking time to make choices and making these
023kids feel really proud of their work. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Thanks everybody for coming to support your students tonight. We really appreciate it. You are more than welcome to stick around for an exciting night of local governance, but if you do want to take off, we know uh people have been waiting and uh have other things to do with their night as well. Also, we'll wait a minute or two for folks who do want to leave. So, thank you everybody. So, >> and poof, they were gone. >> Warms up in here when this many bodies. My goodness. >> Exciting me. >> Got to work on that. >> Jim, I love that strawberry print. That's really nice. >> It is nice. >> Yeah, that's really good. >> Oh, I didn't give mine to >>
024I just started. >> Good job, Dad. my garden. I'm going to get this right. >> Oh, that was wonderful. You're a good dad. >> Logan, but I do know her >> strawberries last year that she ate them all. >> I have a fence. >> The bunnies. The bunnies. I'm sure. >> Thank you. >> Good to them. But our neighbors like they have a garden. The strawberries just like took over. like some she was one of her favorite things >> really the art was like I was so >> it was it was well for me here like I'm turning 20 I'm at a point in my life where it's like wait a minute I'm not a child anymore and that one's a little bit more of a darker image but not the last meeting this particular
025group that way to call me out there >> you It says everyday school. >> That's always so much fun. I love it. >> That's great. >> I do. It was up north. >> Still got a good eye. So more about it, but I don't >> it's like I'm not in I'm not like I love art. I don't policies. >> I just like what I like. It like gravitates formal approval. I don't I don't have a rich art vocabulary. >> Changes are not you have to report in the to say >> exactly. Oh my goodness gracious. >> Oh my god, a poor gooon. >> I tried to pick more than one. I feel like that comment was directed towards me. Pick only one. >> It is impossible, isn't it? >> I was like, can I pick
026two? >> Okay, we'll we'll keep things moving, I think. >> So, next up on our agenda is a recognition of our student representatives. This is the last meeting tonight that these four will be with us. Uh we wanted to take a few minutes to say thank you for your commitment, for your time on the board, for the perspectives that you've shared with us. Um and we do have a little token of of recognition for each of you. And how should we play this? I >> we can we'll tag team it. All right. You bring two. >> It's $50,000, but it's not a big deal. >> Yeah. Nor will you. >> And we're going to make you come up front and stand in front of the camera. So, uh, first we want to recognize our two
027representatives, uh, from Polytenic, uh, Bethany Schuy and Jill Britain. Watch out for that. So, thank you both very much. What's next for both of you after your exciting time on the board of education? >> Um, yeah, I'm going to go to a city first leadership college for youth ministry. Wonderful. >> Um, I will be going up to Minneapolis to study animation. >> Wonderful. Thank you both so much. >> Next up from Central, we have Owen. Owen Skywan, we were talking before the meeting, but what's next for you? >> I am off and Emerson representing Logan High School. YET >> and Emerson, what's next on your plate? >> I'm going to university and I'm studying communications. We greatly appreciate your perspectives and the time you've dedicated to us. You all have busy lives and other things
028you could be doing. So to volunteer for this service uh is commendable and speaks to uh your interest in your community and making it better. Uh I hope that you know however brief this experience was, it helps you in your future as you think about uh government, your future communities, and maybe someday you'll run for school board uh wherever you settle down, maybe even here in Lacrosse. So, thank you so much. >> Okay. All right. Moving on. Uh, next item on the agenda is just a night of recognitions. We have the Golden Apple Awards Program, our key staff awards. Dr. Engel. >> Yes. Um, we have a lovely collaboration between the Lacrosse Education Association, Lacrosse Public Education Foundation, and the School District uh to recognize uh uh some of our amazing staff each year. Nell
029Saunders Scott, our executive director of LPEF, could not make it this evening. Uh but we have Jill and uh here to recognize our awardees for spring. We recognize folks three times a year um in the fall, the winter, and the spring. And we have a Golden Apple Gala coming up Friday. >> Yes, Friday is the Golden Apple Gala. So I hope to see some of you all of you there if you're able to make it. Um and so um we'd like to highlight some of the key staff award recipients from the spring uh nomination period. We have Abigail Strait at Longfellow, Amanda Peeler at Spence, Andrew Keel at the District, Anne Kleinerts, Logan Middle, Annabelle Zawatowski at Longfellow, Bria Ames, Southern Bluffs, Caitlyn Yusha at Central, Cole Spanovich at Southern Bluffs, Colleen Sheriff at Northside,
030Darien Piccolola at Logan High School, Deborah Offy at Summit, Emily Juno at Hinchen, Jessica Hutchinriter at Central, Kate Hooper at Northwoods, Katherine Ericson at Soda 1, Laura Eber at Central, Morgan Vila at Polytenic, I'm sorry, Morgan Villa at Polytechnic, Nicholas Stone at Logan High School, Rachel Arch at Longfellow, Rachel Hosshite at Emerson, Susanna Barnhart at Logan High School, Teresa Higgins at State Road, and Timothy Sprain at Logan Middle. So, um hopefully you can see a couple of those photos of the folks getting their certificates. Um we're just really proud to highlight we we know everybody is a golden apple in this district and um it's just nice to sometimes toot our own horn a little bit or if we're too shy to do that, have our colleagues and our friends and our families and our
031community toot our horn for us just a little bit. So, um, really proud of the work that that happens here each and every day and, uh, yeah, another great year of successful education in our awesome public schools. So, thank you. >> Uh, next up on the agenda is our school showcase and tonight we are fortunate to have uh, Soda 1, School of Technology and Arts. Yeah. Yeah, sure. Or just fix me. Okay. >> She was sitting right there the whole time. I >> know. Pastor. >> All right. Good evening. Um members of the school district of Lacrosse um board of education. I'm Jenna Fernho's principal at Hamilton and Soda 1 and it is an honor to be here tonight. Um, this is charter school is in its 30th year in the district and every school
032year, our school has a theme and this year's theme is 30 years of wonder. It is also with great pride that I have our staff here. It is teacher appreciation week as well. So, I have Anna Jordan, Maria Henry, Austin Nichol isn't here, but Mike Lawrence, uh, Reed Dudek, Katherine Ericson, and our art teacher back here, uh, Miss Hanniban, too. So we are very grateful that they are here to join and to talk about our beautiful school. Um tonight we want to invite you into our world, a place where learning looks a little different and that difference really matters. Soda 1 is a public charter school uh built on four core constructs that shape everything that we do. First, we have multi-age classrooms where students grow and learn in a dynamic and connected environment. Second,
033we assess our students through performance, product, and demonstration because what a child can do and show is what matters most. Third, uh we are driven by joint staff and parent governance, a true partnership where families and educators work together to shape our school. And fourth, we place a strong emphasis on arts and technology, weaving creativity and innovation into everything that we teach. Here is a short film featuring our fifth grade students who will tell you in their own words what it means to be a part of Soda 1. After the film, you will see something special. A first grade student, Finn Keiel, performing on his violin. At Sodan, we introduce strings as early as first grade because we believe that giving children the gift of music early sets them up for a lifetime and of
034creativity and growth. Welcome to Soda 1. >> Hello, my name is Fiona and I'm in the fifth grade at School of Technology and Arts 1. One thing I really like about our school is all of the teachers support us. At Soda 1, students get to learn about mapping and the Civil War. My favorite project or activity at Soda 1 is drama because I love acting and being creative with everything I do here at Soda 1. Soda 1 is different from other schools because Soda 1 has drama and different activities weekly. In Mr. Mitchell's class, I learned how to use a protractor. Overall, this school helps me feel safe, happy, and welcome because of Soda One. I want to be an actor in the future. I think Soda One is important because everyone is kind, helpful,
035and important here. Thank you for listening to me. Sincerely, Fiona. Hello, my name is Lucas and I'm in the fifth grade at the School of Technology and Arts 1. One thing I really like about our school is that we have community room. At Soda 1, students get to learn about technology and the arts. My favorite project or activity at Soda 1 was the human body project because we got to learn about the human anatomy and create a 1 to1 replica of the body. Soda 1 is different from other schools because we have one of the only drama class in elementary school for the district. In wellness class, I learned how to be prepared for middle school. Overall, this school helps me feel connected and noticed. Because of Soda One, I want to power through middle
036school next year. I think Soda 1 is important because it teaches students so many subjects like math, ELA, social studies, wellness, and even JA. So, thank you for listening to me. Sincerely, Lucas. Hello, my name is Maggie and I'm in the fifth grade of so of school of technology and arts 1. One thing I really like about our school is that we have a drama and strings that start at first grade. At soda 1, students get to learn about different wars in all the states. My favorite project or activity at Soda 1 is a capital project because you learn about the capital and then you go to the capital for a field trip. Soda 1 is different from other schools because of the drama program. In music class, I learned how to memorize all the
037states in ABC order. Overall, the school makes me feel safe and welcomed. Because of Soda 1, I want to pursue my dreams of being a baton twirler. In this future, I think Soda 1 is important because it is a welcoming school with amazing people in it. Thank you for listening me. Sincerely, Maggie. Hello, my name is Raina and I'm in the fifth grade at the School of Technology and Arts 1. One thing I really like about our school is my friends in the playground. At Soda One, students get to learn about fractions and you get to do drama. My favorite project or activity at Soda One is archery because it because it was cool to shoot arrows at targets. So Soda One is different from other schools because you get to do a lot of
038projects and art. In my class, I learned about how to make a map and the human body. Overall, this school helps me feel happy and excited because of Soda One. I want to be a brain surgeon in the future. I think soda one is important because of all the friends and the teachers. Thank you for listening to me. Sincerely, Raina. Oh yeah. >> Yeah. Next, you're going to meet Keely Murphy. She brought history to life in our soda second and third grade wax museum. um students researched a famous individual. They um um did some informative writing about their person. They um also created portraits and diaramas to go with it. So, I didn't see Key out here anywhere, but uh we do have Juliet Gordon Low today. Hello, my name is Julia Gordon, the founder
039of the Girl Scouts of the USA. I started Girl Scouts to make little girls stronger, more interactive with activities and skill learning. I did this while being deaf and traveling around the world. I died of breast cancer in 1927. It was a very sad day. I better go. Would you like to buy SOME COOKIES? WHAT YOU saw tonight reflects and what happens every single day at Soda 1. The result of dedicated teachers, supportive families, and incredible kids. We're proud of our school and we are proud of our students and we are honored to share our story with you tonight. Finally, we are grateful for your continued support of charter schools. Thank you for having us. >> Well, thank you all very much for being here. Board members, are there any questions for our Soda 1
040staff or students? >> Maybe just a comment. I had lunch um at Hamilton Soda 1 for school board appreciation week and talked to several of the kids there and the drama is their favorite class. >> A couple of years ago when I uh got to do some substitute teaching, I got to be the music teacher for a couple of days and gave some not horrible third grade violin lessons. So, I really appreciated being able to to to see the soda program in action. And a couple of my best friends in this world are some of the earliest uh cohort of Soda 1 students from 30 odd years ago. So, they are two great people. So, thank you for everything you're doing. We appreciate it. >> Well, give folks a few moments. Uh once again, wonderful
041board meeting ahead, but if you have other obligations this evening, you're more than welcome to take off. >> Not coming to mind. >> Yeah. Okay, moving into business for tonight. We have the superintendent's consent agenda. So, the consent agenda is a mechanism used by the board to deal with routine business that must come before the body. Are there any items that the members want to remove from the consent agenda? Hearing none, I would look for a motion to accept the agenda as presented. like make motion to approve the items on the superend superintendent's consent agenda as presented. >> Second >> with a motion by Mr. Manga and a second by Miss Fuches. Uh all in favor of the motion say I. >> I. I. All opposed. Motion passes. Carries I guess is the language. I
042got to use that. Uh the board consent agenda. So again the consent agenda is a mechanism used by the board to deal with routine business that must come before the body. Are there any items that members want to remove from the consent agenda? Hearing none. I'll look for a motion in a second. >> I'll move to ex accept the agenda as given. >> I'll second. >> Uh with a motion by Mr. Bagnki and seconded by Miss Fuches. The items on the board consent agenda are approved as presented. Wait, do we have to vote? >> All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed. Motion carries. >> I'm nervous, guys. Give me your full >> uh information items for tonight. Uh first item up for business is a discussion on property use and reuse. Um very uh
043excited to have Brian Fakuda here from SE. Um with the passage of our um 2024 uh referendum um seems like just yesterday. Um, we have the opportunity to consolidate Emerson and Spence at the Hogan Elementary site and we are consolidating Hinchin and State Road at the State Road site. Uh, and so those transitions allow us to vacate three of our older aging elementary schools, Emerson, uh, Spence, and Hinchen. uh we need to kind of figure out what to do with those properties then as a result and um this is a big deal. They're, you know, they're not making new land. And so whatever we do for the benefit of the school district or our community, we want to make sure um it's thoughtful and um uh and uh meets our community's expectations and our school
044district's needs. And so, uh, thankful to work with, uh, Brian Fakuda on this reuse, uh, uh, plan. And, uh, he'll describe the process, but, essentially, it's about a year's worth of work to, um, figure out, uh, what's going to happen next. And, uh, of course, it starts and ends with the school board. Uh, and so, uh, today we'll have a little update. uh next uh meeting we'll have a workshop where we're really going to get the board's input and really, you know, create some guard rails around what happens in the future. Uh but just thankful to Brian for being here and I'll let him take over. >> Awesome. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. Um uh this was an awesome meeting as a past chair of Artspire uh here. I I'm I'm excited that
045I was able to be a part of this meeting and see all this wonderful artwork that the students are putting out. But um excited to be working with the board over the next uh 9 months to a year um to just take a look at um these these uh elementary school properties and try to figure out the best reuse. So this elementary reuse project for a little bit of background um as I'm sure you are all well aware uh in November of 2024 uh the elementary upgrade referendum was passed. Um, so that in involved the consolidated elementary school, the the uh addition and and uh upgrade to State Road, the move moving of the admin offices, um, and uh uh and then what we're focused on here today is that closure of the three existing
046elementary school properties at Emerson, Spence, and Hinchin. Um so the project that that we're undertaking uh will consist of assessing existing conditions and market data. Um we'll we'll look at uh some potential reuse options for these sites. Uh and then we'll engage key stakeholders and gather public input. um before then defining some reuse guidelines and then developing an action plan to then engage uh new or or new users and and uh or or assess whether the district uh has another use for those properties or that'll that'll all be part of the process. But really just kind of getting to that guidelines for reuse and then um the the action plan for for engaging uh other users. Um so as I mentioned there's a couple of phases. So the that market market condition analysis will consist
047of an existing conditions report and a market analysis. Uh through the existing conditions report we'll look at uh ownership adjacencies zoning planning building conditions kind of all of those different aspects to the properties. Make sure we have a full complete understanding of what exists there today. Any sort of constraints that might exist on the property. And then we'll look at the the market analysis kind of what what dynamics exist within our market, what uh what demands exist, um all of those sorts of things. So we'll have a solid baseline for for the work um to to start to to frame out uh the and and help you make informed decisions about the the potential reuse of those sites. Um so uh then we'll move into phase two, which is key stakeholder engagement. um that'll be
048working with the board um to develop kind of realistic options. Um we we talk a lot about you don't want to just necessarily throw it out to everybody um right off the bat because you're going to get some pretty wild ideas and and uh maybe unrealistic uh expectations. And so we really want to work with you to really understand um what are those constraints um and and engage key stakeholders like the city of Lacrosse as they have zoning authority and and other things to just make sure that we fully understand what's realistic on these on these properties. Um and so at the end of this we'll have a deliverable of a presentation of reuse options. So we'll we'll kind of develop that together and then we'll go out and and engage the public around those
049reuse options. um that'll take the form of four openhouse sessions. So, we'll host one at each of those sites and then we'll also do an online virtual one to just open up uh opportunities for everyone to participate. Um we do have some options in in our contract that we could do a public survey, we could do some more intense uh potential user roundts if those opportunities present themselves. if if uh that seems like a good idea at the time, we can always um talk about those other things uh those other opportunities to engage uh with the public and and other potential users. Um and then at the end, we'll deliver a summary of that public input and then we'll move into phase four, which is developing the plan. And so we'll we'll work with the
050board and and potential other key stakeholders to develop those guidelines for reuse and and the plan for engaging new users. So, we'll have deliverables at the end of that as well. Um, the timeline, um, we'll have the existing conditions report and market analysis to you within the next probably week or so. Um, because we're we want to give you an opportunity to kind of digest that information before your next board meeting where we will uh we will dive into that workshop to really talk about uh potential reuse options for the sites. Um, and then we'll we'll put all of that together in into a presentation of reuse options uh by probably around June. Um, so then we can work on public engagement. Um, figure out the right timing for that public engagement. Summer often isn't
051the greatest time to engage families. So, we'll probably push most of that uh to to September time frame when people are starting to come back to school uh and uh and schedules die down. Well, they they ramp up and die down at the same time, I guess. Um so we'll do that public engagement. We'll provide that uh in September October time frame and then we're we're hopeful by the end of the year we will have kind of those final deliverables of the the guidelines for reuse and the action plan for for engaging users. Um and then we we can talk about a potential phase two. Obviously we didn't want to bite off uh the whole thing right away. Um but but really look at what comes out of this process and then figure out that
052next step. Whether that involves a request for proposals, a funding review to try to engage grant funding or or other sources to help move some of those those potential reuses forward. Um potential development agreements and and we can we can assist with that as well. Um or further site analysis uh could be an option as well. But really just kind of wanted to do that that that phase one work and then we can talk about phase two and and how we can help with that if if you're interested. Um so next steps um as I referenced uh the May 18th uh board of education meeting will will involve a presentation of that existing conditions report and market analysis and then a workshop um to discuss the potential future uses for those three sites. So we're
053excited to to work with you through this process. I think it's going to be a uh an engaging process. We we hope that you'll engage in it and and feel free to, you know, kind of offer your thoughts and ideas as we we frame this out and then engage the public and um again really try to get get full full engagement in this process. So, um we we come out with outcomes that the the district can be proud of, the community can be proud of and really moving uh community priorities forward. It wasn't random that we started working together on this and so could you just give uh the school board that may be less familiar with your kind of CV, you know, what work you've done in our community. >> Sure. Yeah, thank you
054for the opportunity. Um, I I spent most of my career working for Lacrosse County as the community development manager. And so I've worked on a wide variety of uh of development opportunities and and uh uh economic uh uh promotion and and working with businesses and developers and all sorts of things from residential development to um to to business park development and and all of those sorts of things. I worked for about 17 years for the county. um spent a little bit of time at uh at Gunderson uh or Amplify now um doing community relations consulting. Um and then I I spent uh was was at the Boys and Girls Club um where I I spoke with many of you um with the life and workforce readiness uh initiative at the Boys and Girls Club. I
055I led that initiative for about a year and a half before it was time to kind of hand that over uh to to smarter folks than I uh to at engaging kids and building programming. And so, um, I I then transitioned over to um, and just doing this kind of work with communities around, uh, really all over the country, but really, uh, excited for the opportunity to to work right here at home because this is, um, you know, obviously where my heart is. Um, I work with Dr. angle on the board for the Lacrosse Promise, which is an organization that I helped start um a little while ago when I was at the county um to really again promote that link between educational opportunity and uh and economic development. And so I believe very strongly
056in uh in that link. And so uh we're we're doing that good work as part of the Lacrosse Promise Board. Um, and I'm involved with Habitat for Humanity, the Chamber of Commerce, uh, and, uh, um, uh, I've haveve have been on the the Downtown Main Street board, and, uh, other boards uh, throughout the years in my my community, but I, uh, uh, feel strongly about engaging in community. again, really just looking forward to to working with you all and and being able to hopefully deliver really good outcomes for these sites that are are really um you know, key parts of of neighborhoods and and part of our community. So, thank you. >> But happy to answer any questions. >> Questions from the board? >> I have a question. uh when we're thinking about a market
057analysis um how long does that actual process take and then how long how long does any analysis that's like so forward looking last like how what's the expiration date? >> Sure. So um it's a great question because it it is you know things change quickly with with you know just market dynamics in in a real estate market. Um that process um is taking a couple of months. We're working with a subconsultant on that aspect of it. So, Place Dynamics is is our subconsultant on the market analysis. They do really good work as far as just looking at a lot of census data and and other other sources of data and then kind of pull that all together into really taking a good look at um some of those market dynamics and really just trying to
058figure out what is in demand. Um, and and but as you said, it it uh um it it it changes quickly. Uh but I do think that it'll set us up for making informed decisions uh about the the path that we're headed. I I don't think, you know, I mean, understand that it's, you know, there there's a little bit of time um before the the sites will become available. Um but uh it'll still be great data uh to to to put on the front end of this and we can always update some of that if things change you know monumentally but um I think uh this will again provide good data on the front end to inform uh the the discussion and the decision-m process. >> What do board members feel about the idea of
059decision making timelines? So the referendum projects themselves are set to kind of wrap up in 2027 to open for the 2027 school year. So after that point is when we would be looking at what's next for some of these properties. Um while this is all happening, are we waiting for that information or are there things that board members feel we need to be discussing and considering in the meantime? >> I would assume we're going to learn more about all this next meeting. Correct. So, I think maybe we're putting the cart before the horse asking those questions. I don't know. I'm just I think we'll learn a lot more on the 18th on where we're moving ahead and how we're moving ahead. >> I would agree and just to urge caution like making a decision so
060fast that can abruptly change a lot of the community. You definitely want to hear more from the community more, hear from more other stakeholders before I think making decisions probably be wise. As uh Brian and I talked about this project, we were thinking about timeline and um kind of chose, you know, the new year 2027 as a time frame where we would have kind of culminated this phase of things. thinking about that would give us eight months, you know, if there was some sort of action that needed to be taken, you know, to to, you know, to change hands on the property or reuse it in a way within the school district and be ready for that change when the the new schools are built and ready to be uh populated. um when you have
061dormant properties or vacant properties for long periods of time, there's maintenance costs that add up and and um perceptions that can develop over um you know a blight on the the neighborhood. And so we wanted to be ready for whatever may come. There's no requirement to move on any of it, but we I think we'll be in a really good position to know what the possibilities are for the future and to choose a particular path when the school board's ready. And that decision could be delayed months thereafter once this process is done or it could be pursued immediately. So I think it gives the board a fair amount of flexibility uh between you know January 27 and August of 27 to determine the next path. >> And will this have any will we have any
062input any decisions as far as Lincoln Middle School? Where are we at with that? Have we heard anything? Do we know anything? WEDA grant awards are awarded in May. Uh hopefully any day now we should find out if they have been uh awarded those funds. Uh if they are, our purchase agreement moves forward and we hand the property over and uh and then we'll be done with Lincoln. If they are not awarded that uh grant, our purchase agreement falls through. Sometimes people have other sources of funds or or want to negotiate thereafter. We could continue to work with the Commonwealth if we felt that was prudent or it could be involved in this process to rethink the use of that property in a in a different way and maybe pursue other strategies to to make
063a difference on that site. So, >> and then just a quick uh what does the historic preservation announcement do to any of this or all of it? It's certainly one of those constraints that Brian was talking about on the property. Um, you know, my I mean, we have an opportunity to appeal that decision to the city council. Um, I'll certainly uh be going there to do so on behalf of the school district. Um, I certainly appreciate heritage preservation, you know, but we really want to get a true sense of what our community wants in this site before limitations are placed on it. And so my hope is that at a minimum the city would refer the issue for, you know, seven, eight months to let us get to the end of this process, really get
064a sense for what the community wants in that uh in that site, what the school board wants to do with it before they make a final decision. Um, so pending that, I mean, if that doesn't happen, then it's historic and then we'll just have to factor that into the future. And you've probably worked on some situations like this, I imagine, Brian. >> Yeah, certainly. Um, yeah, I think it's it's one of those, you know, we'll we'll we'll we'll kind of see what happens with that potential designation. Um, but that'll be an input into the process. I think just to emphasize the point that Dr. Rangle made um what we're going to try to accomplish by December is really to just give you decision-m tools. So, uh you know, some re guidelines for reuse and a
065potential action plan and and then there's still work that needs to be done after that to to really get to potential reuse. And so, we'll just keep tabs on, you know, those things as they might change. Um I know that's a topic of conversation. Um, I know I serve on the um the chambers uh advocacy committee and and there's been conversations with the mayor about just really trying to to clarify that process and and maybe potentially improve on that uh historic designation process at the city level. And so we'll continue to keep tabs on that as as all of this moves forward. But we'll see. >> Anything else from board members? Great. I think it's really helpful that we do have a a good, you know, year and a half runway to to do this.
066If we all learn the lesson of the the upgrade referendum, it was that taking your time to gather input and be out in the community and meeting and listening and talking really paid dividends and hopefully that'll be the case in in this situation as well. So, thank you very much. >> Yeah, thank you. >> Uh, next up we have a referendum construction plan update. Um the building addition at the state road site is coming along nicely. Uh they should finish up uh masonry block uh probably in the next couple of weeks, few weeks. Uh and then they'll be closing up the the roof, putting on roofing material, and so before long the place will be buttoned up and they'll be working on interiors. So very exciting there. Um, yeah, every day I look at the
067camera view uh and see where it's at. I can't look at it in the morning like I want to because the sun's in the wrong spot, but the nice glow of the afternoon. It's uh amazing progress uh at the Hogan uh site. The uh foundations are in on the north part of the building. The A part I think they're calling it. The B part is more the the the um kitchen and public facing facilities like the gymnasium and cafeteria. Working on those um and just moving ahead and I think pre-cast is coming in May even, right, Joe? >> Yeah, they're they're getting that all approved, right? The specs, they're approving that. In fact, electrician will be on site for that next week to make sure that everything's being put where it needs to be. had
068some storm water hookups and things that they worked on uh while the sorts all while the site is all tore up. Pretty easy time to move dirt, put things down in the ground. Uh they'll be removing the power lines and trees on the was it 19th uh side the the east side of the street. The the the lines and the trees are completely entangled and so they need to kind of remove both in that process. Sounds like we'll be able to keep the trees on the west side, though. So, that's uh nice. We'll have some mature trees there uh as the school district's being built. And then, of course, we're planting trees all around the building uh uh for shade and for beauty. Um yeah, I think that's it. Any questions on construction? Okay, carrying
069right along then. Uh, up next for information items, we have our proposed budget administrative goals. So, this is one of the earliest steps in our seemingly neverending budgeting process. Yes, Miss Smith has a a wonderful uh budget timeline that keeps us on track. Uh, something that we share initially and budgeting really starts in I guess January probably probably the day the last budget's approved. uh really uh and uh one of the processes is to ensure that our goals align with our funding priorities. And so uh the point of sharing our academic goals or our goals for the school district is to demonstrate that our that we're aligned in how we're approaching things. These goals are similar to last year. Um they're aligned with schoolboard policies. Uh the first one is R2 academic performance. Um the
070administrative goal is students will achieve at least one year's growth in academic subjects as measured on local summitive assessments andor benchmark testing. If all of our kids move forward one year, we will have done a really good job uh for our students. There's certainly some students we hope to move forward two years or three. Uh but we're also realistic about uh what learning looks like. >> Do you have any idea what percentage of students in the past years have made one year's growth? Uh it's it we we're we're taking some time to go back to find past data to get some assessments. It's a similar to um uh achievement in some ways somewhere around the 50 to 60% mark uh each year. Uh we think that as we take a more fine grained approach at
071looking at that data, we'll be able to move the needle a little bit further. Um particularly with some of our uh local assessments. So, one of the reading assessments that's required at the elementary level now is Ames Web. And we'll be able to get feedback at um uh fall, winter, and spring with that data as opposed to the once a year uh state test. And so, uh by looking at growth with that assessment, we feel we'll be able to make um um more responsive feedback for teachers uh to be able to move the needle with students. Um the second goal is around personnel administration. The district culture will become more positive over the prior year as measured by the annual staff survey. Um if our uh teachers feel good about where they're working, if the
072environment is positive, uh then we think that contributes to a great learning environment for our students. Um we've made some significant progress over the last few years and we're excited about that, but we want to keep moving. uh the the goalpost even higher until we're the best in the state in this area. Uh learning environment uh student belonging will increase over the prior year as measured by the annual student survey. Um student belonging is a critical component of learning. If students want to be in class, they're more engaged. They attend. Uh it's fun. Uh student belonging uh matters. Um it's also a critical element of closing achievement gaps for students. Uh if students feel like their teachers respect them, if they feel welcome in class, uh they perform better, um they um aren't um uh
073challenged by implicit biases and other things. And so student belonging is really a precursor, a precondition for student achievement. So we're excited to continue to work on this goal. and uh I appreciate that and say great uh but what are some things that are going to be done to achieve that goal? How are you going to make more kids feel like they belong to the system? >> Yeah. Um one of the things we do is we task our principles to identify those various strategies. It differs from building to building. Um you know it depends on where you're starting from and it also depends on the unique makeup of your schools. Um, we know that, you know, respectful environments matter. Uh, we know that the visual symbols in classrooms and hallways matter. Um, there's like very
074simple interventions that can really move the needle quickly if you simply greet kids by name. Um, that can dramatically change a sense of belonging in a very short period of time. And just imagine if your bus driver, your principal, the crossing guard, your teacher, everyone is greeting you by name. you know that you belong there, it it quickly makes a difference. And uh I recently talked to some folks over at Vurbo who do some research in belonging and uh one of the things that they mentioned that really resonated with me is uh you feel like you belong if you're needed. You're needed in a classroom. And so, um, uh, I was, uh, thinking about that a little bit. And, um, you know, I was like, "Oh, yeah. We should have the the the teacher greet
075the students when they come in, like, really glad you're here today. Excited to have you in class." And, uh, the the gentleman I was talking to said, "But think about it even further. Imagine it's the students role to greet kids every day. They feel like they're needed. They have a role. They have a job." Um, when I think about elementary classrooms, there's often roles that they have every single day. It creates a sense of belonging, a sense of being needed. I've got a role. I'm serving my peers. I'm important to this school. Sometimes those things slip as we get to middle and high school. And so there are ways to create a sense of need and belonging at the middle and high school levels that we might do intuitively at the elementary school, but could
076extend further up as well. >> Good article in Ed Leadership this week in terms of getting principles and staff to have students feel like they belong. Excellent. I will look for that. Uh and then instructional program. The district will integrate the teacher developed instructional framework into district and building practices. Um we know um that uh having non-negotiable goals for academic performance and teacher instruction are crucial for moving the needle on student performance. Um, we spent this last year developing a teacher developed instructional framework. So, basically, what does great teaching look like here in Lacrosse? And the best people to answer that are our staff. And so, they got together uh developed this framework. We're in like the final leg, maybe the last five meters of our 100 meter dash of completing this uh framework. And
077as we wrap it up, we're looking forward to integrating it into everything that we do next year. Uh we're imagining new teacher orientation, letting them know what great teaching looks like in lacrosse. Uh coaching conversations throughout the year. Um potentially evaluation processes so those are aligned for staff. Um alignment to our professional development so it doesn't feel like we're, you know, heading in random directions or adding new things to the plate, but we're sticking to the core of what great teaching looks like in lacrosse. And so we think of it as a a really a great description for staff to know what great teaching looks like, but also a way to um kind of simplify what we do also and stay within the boundaries of of what's good as opposed to chasing the next fad
078or initiative. Uh and so excited about these goals. uh excited to uh think about implementation for next year and uh for this next year really thinking about presenting these goals directly to our our principles and uh letting them develop how to make this happen. They're the experts in their buildings, their staff and their leadership teams know what's best for their kids and their environment and so excited to see what they come up with. >> Questions for Dr. Angel. I have a question. Um, in that piece, are we providing cultural awareness for those schools and those teachers? >> Uh, that's one of the elements of, uh, belonging that we're thinking about is cultural belonging, cultural awareness, cultural competence. Um, we are fortunate to have some great staff in our school district, our cultural family liaons who
079help with that work by providing professional development and ongoing support. Um, I think it's an area where we're always seeing opportunities for improvement. Um, uh, and so we're looking at what it looks like for next year. Um, and so it's definitely something that we're focused on and working at improving because we know we have a little bit of room to grow there. >> So, we don't have a plan yet. >> Uh, it's a little early for us to say what the specific plan is. Uh and it also relies on our principles you know developing their school improvement plans and identifying their particular strategy. Um we have a educational equity strategy. It is a little broad uh and we weave that into professional development and some other things but a specific point bypoint plan not right
080now. does. So, if I'm understanding your question, Miss Hos, correctly, um seeing that in the learning environment like kind of expecting to see that come up in that reporting structure, where where do we have this happening? >> Will will we also see something in the OE1 within the instructional program that intersects with that? can't remember exactly where, but we have um two um policy elements that speak directly to uh social justice and cultural competence with reporting measures for each of those. I think they come up in September looking back for the prior year. uh and I can definitely share those with the the school board just as a reminder of the the what we're looking at to monitor for this school year and report back to the school board uh in those areas. Thank you,
081Dr. Spur. >> Uh can you give us any examples of what like do we have any current non-negotiable goals in the instructional program or is this a new thing for this budgeting cycle? >> Um same as last year. So it's a similar so one year's growth and then the instructional framework are the the two things. Um >> I mean so like can you give us more specifically within the instructional framework like >> something that that you're you know you're telling a teacher at you know science and seventh grade like this is non-negotiable in the program. >> The first step was to figure out what the instructional framework was. And so we haven't gotten down to the level of, you know, in seventh grade science you will teach X. Um, our staff have standards for every
082one of our courses, every one of our grade levels. Uh, those have been self-generated. Um, and so, you know, the best people to determine what to teach in seventh grade science are seventh grade science teachers by and large, you know, in alignment with our our broader goals. And so we have um we have goals and uh standards for every single subject, every single day. Um those aren't what our focus was in terms of like non-negotiable. And so when I say non-negotiable, it's like we're a little far away from where we need to be. We need to like make sure our foundation is set. And we could have picked something very specific, you know, around um, you know, classroom discussions and said, you know, you will have classroom discussions in every, you know, every week and
083every class. For us, we think that that's premature. you know, we're really building the foundation by establishing what great teaching looks like here in Lacrosse first, integrating it uh into our practices and then when it comes to um some of those specific practices that will be forthcoming, you know, as we identify key things and it may be building by building, you know, so >> I think that's that's maybe the key thing is that this isn't top down, right? This this is non-negotiables coming from the teaching faculty and at each of those levels who are working as a as a community of practice. >> Absolutely. Yes. This is um you run into problems when it's top down when you are picking initiatives by fiat as opposed to working with the folks who deliver instruction every single
084day. So that's why we're really excited about this instructional framework because it's a collaborative endeavor. uh taking our staff who know what who do great teaching every day, they can just share with us what it looks like. And then um you know when we if we we go down the route of picking some element, let's say it's being a warm demander in the classroom, having high expectations or respect for relationships with students, it will be an element already identified by our staff as something that they prioritize. And it should be very easy for us to then say like, hey, this is a priority for all of us. that may shift from year to year depending on our evaluation of them. >> And I would imagine then that those those kinds of priorities become you know
085keystones for you in providing support to the teachers in in achieving those things and making those things happen. >> Absolutely. If we did a self assessment of a classroom or a building uh building leadership team looked at these indicators and said hey this is where we're doing great. This is where we're not meeting our own benchmark. then we will be able to support them in meeting those uh expectations. It might be through professional development. It might be sending people to training uh could be new resources um could be shadowing other teachers or additional mentors. Any number of ways we could address those concerns. >> Thank you. Other questions? >> Okay, we'll move on to matters reserve reserved for board action. Uh, first on the list for tonight is the linkage summary. This was the April
08620th linkage uh with uh cultural community linkage with black and African-American focused uh families and students. Um, we can jump into discussion as we will entertain a a motion to start the discussion. >> Well, I think we learned we have a a ways to go. Um I think they I think it's been brought up that I I think we have a lot of maybe it's called flavor of the month and we don't follow through with a lot of it. So I think uh we need to listen a little more into that and really drive um the culture change by getting advice good advice from that those who live it. Um, I think a lot of times we just think we know, which we don't. So, I think uh we need to work together and and
087I think we have a ways to go with that. I I think we've come a long ways, but I think we have a ways to go. >> Other thoughts? Most of us were at that conversation. >> I would agree with Scott. And then even following up with the meeting that we had tonight before this meeting, I think there is a tendency to maybe know more than what we really know. And the suggestion is that if for instance we should hire more con culturally significant people whether it's more mong culturally leaison or more African-American or whatever a native American I think those people really do make a difference in terms of relating what culture really means in their culture. I think there was a sense at both meetings that there are resources available in Lacrosse. There
088are people who want to do this work and have done it in the past either funded by other agencies or community organizations or parent volunteers. And so some of it is sort of creating the structures that will support that kind of collaboration. and some of it kind of dissipated during COVID and needs to be rebuilt. >> And honestly, I think that that's kind of what they're looking for um for this board to make the step and to put some things on paper structurally that can be introduced into the school. I think that that would help a part of that um I belong. if I see people that look like me that are participating, um, it would just elevate the students. So, I think that if we could get something on paper to show that the
089intention is there and that it's true and that it's not just another um, speech that would be tangible. I I I mean I would agree completely with that. I mean when we're talking about OE10 and you know OE1 I mean both these linkages are were the heartbeat of what we need to consider when we're looking at both of those because yeah we definitely know that there's some need and want or we can move in a positive direction. I mean, a lot of what we heard is, you know, the, you know, the belonging part of it is missing, especially, you know, kids of of color. So, I mean, that is that is something that we can we definitely need to improve on, I believe. So, >> yeah, I I agree with you. Uh, and I think
090what I kind of zoom in on on on the OE1 instructional program is that word relevant. And kind of like Scott was saying, you know, like we we may think we know what's relevant, but most of us up here do not have the lived experience of that. And so being in a position to decide what's relevant is that that's a little bit of a contradiction for us. So I think making sure that we are, as Loretta is saying, taking that that step to to learn, but then also, you know, prove the pudding, right? And and show that we have learned. So, other thoughts? >> I don't know that this is different from what we've already said, but like the idea that this could take place at every campus in the district, that it's not something
091that some campuses have and others don't. Yeah. >> Even though we know resources are tight. Um, but that creates problems and inequities when we >> when we have too few people to cover too much ground. Right. For sure. Can >> can I ask a quick question? I know we we had heard in there that there used to be six cultural liaison and now there's two. Is that correct or is that >> I don't believe so. I think >> we used to have one and then we had two. Stacy, do you have any history? >> I don't know at what point there may have been six, but I believe many many years ago there was a larger team. >> Okay. >> I don't know. They all under the same umbrella right now, but I too have
092heard that 90s might be right in that range that there was a larger team. >> I think when the Mung community was immigrating to Lacrosse, there might have been a a focused effort towards that community specifically potentially. I I don't have any personal knowledge of that. But >> yeah, I mean the program as we have it now is relatively modern, which is not to say there weren't individuals doing a number of different things. Maybe not as cohesively as we are trying to do now. So >> maybe not all as employees of the district. >> Correct. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Uh if there's no other questions or comments, then I'd look for a motion to approve the linkage summary. So moved. >> Oh, sorry. >> Got a motion by Oh, all right. We got a motion
093by Mr. Mena and a second by Mr. Newmeister. All in favor, actually. >> Oh, was it? Sorry again. Motion by Mr. Beagni. Second by Mr. Newmeister. Uh, all in favor of the motion say I. >> I. >> All opposed. >> Motion carries. Next item for board action is to consider approval of a brand marketing firm. So this is as I understand something kind of stemming from our facilities workshop, our Saturday workshop a few months back. >> Yes. Um so we talked about the public perception of the school district. It's been uh mentioned uh by the school board many times over the years. Um my evaluations is an emphasis for the school district to work on. Uh we've been working on positive culture within the school district in an effort to improve um kind of the
094immediate things that we can control and we've seen very positive growth in our teachers recommendation of the school district to others. And so that's a very good sign that we're making organic progress on these goals. Um but one of the the areas where we identified a gap is in unifying branding across our school district and creating a cohesive image uh for the school district. Um another thing that the school board has mentioned frequently over the years is a concern about the gap in open enrollment students. We have more students leaving the school district through open enrollment than students that we are bringing in. Um, part of this might be because of a a gap in uh marketing or branding. And so uh this uh endeavor allows us to create a more unified brand across uh
095the school district. There are some acute needs um uh regardless that we need to address. So we'll have um Pamel Creek Elementary School over at the current state road site and the new Hogan Elementary School. Colors, mascots need to be chosen for that endeavor. Um, we have existing uh brands that really don't have images to work with or I would say modern inspiring mascots. Uh, Northwoods Elementary is an example. The um the mascot or the symbol is 1997 clip art and it it's impossible to render properly on modern things. It doesn't have optionality. Um, it's not inspiring for students. Um, and then the the district as a whole, we don't have the benefit of being a small little school that has like a unifying brand and mascot from 4K all the way through um um
09612th grade and graduation through our high schools. And so finding a way to create a more unified school district brand uh in lacrosse in our area would be a benefit to us as well. Uh and so we're uh went out to uh RF uh P proposals for this uh this endeavor. Um they we got a number of good proposals back. Um our recommendation is CEL. Um they were uh we have some great local folks as well. They're just across the the river in Minnesota. Uh and they really set themselves apart uh through customer service, their broad vision and comprehensive plan. Uh, so just really excited for this work to really bring our school district together in a in a more unifying way. >> Go ahead. Y >> um, is this something that's been done in
097the past? Is this a new project we are approving with marketing? When's the last time we've done anything like this before? >> Whole rebrand. We picked a new district logo in the two to early 2000s, but that's really the last time anything has happened. Uh there's never been a cohesive unified brand established for the school district. Um yeah, and just like images that are useful when we're marketing things or putting things on our website. You know, our current situation is very challenging for website developers, for letterhead, for schools, for mascots, for branding wear, like across the the board. There's just a need for a more unified um and uh quality uh imagery for our school district. Yeah, this is the first time uh and historically, it wasn't like the realm of school districts to think
098about this sort of thing. Organic and ad hoc was sufficient. Uh but we operate in a very competitive environment that is only getting more incomp competitive with private school vouchers, with open enrollment, uh with the mobility in our region. And so establishing a solid brand that's unified across our school district will set us apart and set us up for success as we move forward. >> Would this impact like Nick Maru's job at all with public outreach for his own public affairs? it will make his job a lot easier. Uh right now we're trying to stitch together and cobble together things. Um he does an amazing job with photography, uh with communications. Um you know, we contemplated trying to do this work internally. We're simply not experts in this area. And we found with the elementary
099upgrade referendum that having an external consultant could elevate what we're able to do naturally. Uh and when they provide the templates, the quality graphic artists, the the unique approach to messaging and um establishing a brand, uh it makes a difference in success and and uh it lowers the amount of work so that we can focus on the right things uh as employees of the school district. And so excited to have this work available to augment the great things that Nick does already. So the the bids were crazy. Um yeah. >> So when we sent the the RFP out, what was the scope that we asked for to come back or was it really open-ended and that's why we're seeing >> Right. >> We had a relatively specific scope and so it wasn't uh a wideopen
100scope. We didn't put we didn't let you don't give them the budget number you're you're targeting, right? you know, so uh you know, we had uh you know, mascots at the schools that did not have quality imagery and options at them, uh district brand, um and then uh marketing materials. Uh so it was relatively specific. Uh and I think it just reflects the variability in this market. Um some of the lower bids, uh simply didn't include everything. They were really incomplete. maybe their, you know, we had heard, you know, about certain groups or their their quality from others and they gave us a partial, you know, response and so some of those costs came in lower. We reached back out, hey, it's not quite complete. Can you fill it out? And they're like, ah, it's
101just not in our wheelhouse or capacity. It's like, okay, so then we'll look at some others. And some of the other higher bids, you know, they may be local, but they do work nationally, you know, and so they're able to command higher prices. We're a school district. uh we don't have uh the budgets that some other entities do, private businesses maybe. And so uh what we were looking for was a comprehensive bid with a solid resume of school work uh that met all of our uh requirements and um we think that CEL will be able to deliver >> budgetary. I mean, I'm assuming you wouldn't have proposed this to us if you didn't feel like we've got this sitting in the budget and uh we're not shuffling money around. And uh we're not we're not
102short changing somebody else right now, are we? This was already budgeted to go in. >> We will not be shortch changing anyone else to make this happen. >> I assume just public records. Want to make sure the public >> Absolutely. And I I think about this as an investment, not just, you know, like a one-year thing like this year's budget. It's really a probably a 20-year endeavor, maybe 30 depending on how things work out. And so you defay that cost over 30 years, it starts to become a little more palatable. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I I think I've been pretty vocal on this as most of sen the board table know this is how we build community right starts with who we are and then from there it builds naturally organically but it starts with
103quality um marketing and PR um initiatives. So contextually I just kind of threw the bottom number out, threw the top number out and averaged the four that were left and came out to 925. The budget is 100,000. If you take that as the kind of the starting point to make sure that is this because there is such a swing in in costs between the two, but I think you look at that average it's I think it puts it into context. So as you know I'm supportive of the move. >> Mr. um I'm kind of struggling to see kind of the necessity of having a professional PR team, but I understand there's quite a lot of needs right there going on. So, can you tell me a little bit more about exactly what other schools have
104been doing for PR that you've mentioned? Is there any specific examples you think you could mention about other school districts who have done something like this before? >> Yeah. Um a lot of larger school districts engage in this work, even smaller ones. Um um uh Plymouth School District, you know, recently went through this work with CEL. It was one of their references. Um really just had a full comprehensive brand standards guideline. Uh how to use your logos consistently across different uh um kind of platforms, how to use it on clothing, how to use it on websites and letterheads. It creates a consistent identity that is recognizable across your community immediately. Uh it also they produce deliverables things like PowerPoint templates and letterhead templates and those things seem like small things and oh yeah we could
105do those ourselves. Well having a professional who understands how these things uh impact people and uh allows us to have consistency across our district um elevates the perception of what we provide. If we're presenting to city council uh from the special education department and it looks different than a presentation to the community from buildings and grounds, people start to wonder like who is this? You know, like are they is this a professional outfit? Are they just using the base template and PowerPoint and trying to make something happen? Uh, and that perception of professionalism starts to um impact how people think about your educators and your students and the education that they receive. You know, when you walk up to a uh a building and it's got, you know, a professional look to it, you're like,
106"Oh, they're they they take pride in their work. They're um competent at what they do." And a lot of it is, you know, psychological. You don't even register it. Uh, and so by elevating who we are, by unifying our brand, um, we will start to make a positive impact on how people perceive the school district of Lacrosse. Um, if they encounter weird symbols and, you know, odd mascots that don't format right, they'll ask themselves, are these are these people professionals at what they do? Do they know how to teach kids because they can't build a website properly or something, you know? So uh it's it sometimes feels difficult to justify the cost but there's a reason you know uh businesses and industry pursue this work uh to create lasting symbols and identities that bring you
107all together. >> And then a follow-up question I have for you. So we're going to be going through a process with the newer schools find a new mascot. Is this going to be implemented into like the community feedback we're getting for developing those mascots or the school colors or anything? What's the scope that this would do for um like the newer schools introduced by the referendum? >> Yeah, it'll typically be a school community uh process for that. Um you know, the teachers and the students that are currently there uh typically will engage in colors and mascot uh choices. Um we'll work with the company to consider if we want larger input, you know, from others. Uh there might be options to choose from at some point. um you know we have ideas about how to
108do that sort of thing. It's always nice to talk to experts and see what they've done in other places uh and lean on that expertise so that you uh get a good product in the end that matches our community's needs. >> So just to zoom in on Mr. Ma's question. So that PR side of it of outreach and gathering the feedback is part of the scope of the work that's budgeted here. >> Yeah. >> Yep. Absolutely. >> Um I have a question. Were there any examples given to make them be the the number one pick? Are there examples from each agency that were presented? >> Yeah. Uh the depending on what they provided, you know, of various different options, you know, some of the um options that were incomplete didn't have some of those examples.
109And so then it's harder to judge. Um CEL and some of the others um had examples both locally and regionally uh of work that they have done in other places. And so we were able to see visual examples of the brands they came up with, other materials that they produced. Uh some of the more uh comprehensive uh proposals included links on a website uh to go and check out like full rebrands at a variety of different school districts or businesses. And so, uh, we were able to kind of dive into the weeds on the the quality of each and we're I'm I'm a novice in this area. Nick's got more expertise and so he was able to uh pick out things that he thought were were great. Uh, one of the things we liked about
110CEL is they scheduled a follow-up with us just to learn more and asked a ton of questions in order to develop their proposal. uh and if they're willing to do that before ever receiving a paycheck and spend, you know, multiple hours with us to learn about our school district, it speaks to the customer service they're going to provide on uh the back end. And so there were others reached out maybe for questions, but certainly didn't offer that level of customer service. Uh and so uh that's one of the reasons we were excited by them, not only the examples of work that they provided, uh but also the just, you know, forwardthinking customer service that they were already demonstrating. >> And I noticed there's a local one for $42,000 less. I mean, there's obviously more than
111one, but that one is I struggle a little bit at the price tag of CEL uh compared to the others. And I know it's maybe apples and oranges, but um we literally have, you know, after school things that that are struggling right now. We've got sports teams that have a $2,000 budget. Really covers baseballs or softballs or whatever. I just wonder if we can't find a happy medium and go to the lower end and utilize these funds um differently. I I understand the need for it. I really do. But I I just wonder if um if we can't find one that is suitable where we can uh put in a little effort ourself or are we looking just to hand this ball over and and not have to touch it in the future? the the
112funds is a little spendy for me. >> Yeah, it's certainly something we thought about. We've been fortunate to work with a lot of the local vendors and um have personal experience with all of them. Um you know, as we went through reference checks, looked at materials, uh and thought about the the full scope of this project and the expertise in in various areas. Uh despite those very concerns, uh Mr. Newmeister, it led us to thinking about CEL as really the best choice from our perspective. Um, certainly respect the cost and the potential savings there. I >> think for me it's it's weird to be thinking about public education and a need for marketing and PR in the first place. I am not a natural marketer, but I I think the point that's in number three
113there is is a good one that that we we are in a competitive marketplace. I mean we have heard a lot over the past few years about you know why students are leaving where they're leaving to and we live in an area where there are a lot of options private schools uh charter schools voucher programs like it it does create a marketplace for education in a way that may not exist in some other areas and and that's just an interesting question before us I think so >> I think to expand on that I think the private schools are already doing this. This is how they're it's it's one of the avenues they're using to approach students. So, that's what we're fighting against on the private school side and throw the vouchers in. And the way
114that's funded, that creates a just a hot bed for families that want to move and and make that happen. Um, and if you look at some of the other districts around us, they're doing it whether they're using um an outside firm. I I guarantee some of them are already employing outside firms to whether it's for referendum conversations for specific things they're working on andor um just kind of branding for them. But the difference between them and us is they don't have anywhere near as complex of a brand as we do. Uh we have lots of different schools. We have two different high schools. There's good things in having um separate identities, but also at the same time having cohesiveness. And that's what we lack as a district is we lack that cohesiveness. If I walk
115out and watch a parade and I I like watching both the lacrosse bands go by, right? But there's no if you watch the Holman band, you can see all the homeman parents because they're all wearing the same colors, right? It's pretty easy. That naturally happens in smaller districts. We don't have that opportunity. So, this gives us that opportunity to start building that uh cohesiveness. And we're not saying we're changing colors. I don't think that's on the thing. And for Scott, for your, you know, reference, I'm not saying let's let's combine both the football teams or anything else. So, um, just throwing that out again. But, uh, but I think that that's the, you know, going back to the original point, it's really focused on we're competing against other schools that are doing this already. So
116>> yeah, >> budgeting whole different conversation as to where you land on that, but I think regardless this is this is money well spent. >> Yeah, I think too I mean and we've had these conversations before about students choosing other places to go and some of it is just that like it's hard to know what happens inside a building and people make their choices based on the public facing part, right? Like the beautiful buildings, the high performing sports or arts programs, right? Those are the things that people know and some of that is the visual representation and the easy identification of our schools and our district. I think >> I would like to pay to get it done right. That would be good. >> On that point, I will say working at >> whatever, >>
117you know, W lacrosse, an organization with marketing and PR shop and and a unified brand standards and like I don't have to create my own PowerPoint every time I want to do a presentation. And we have lots of people across the district who do lots of presentations both for us and for other professional groups. And that's time and labor as well. So it may not, you know, recoup that cost, but it it it certainly is helpful to have resources for people that u that that aid them in looking like strong professionals in their field, too. So that's something I benefit from every day. >> I have one more. Let's go up >> Adam. I I'm again I'm I'm devil's advocate and I will be voting against this because I think it's money that we could
118spend elsewhere. But I think some people like the difference in colors. I I think that each school has its its pride. Um I do believe there has to be some cohesiveness with the total lacrosse school district, you know, where we combined everything. I just I'm I could see the money spent elsewhere. I know it's you know if you think of our budget it's only 100,000 but I look at you know areas that are so struggling and just to keep afloat extracurricular activities I just for me I cannot grasp I mean we could save 42,000 go to a le lesser one and that's just me. >> Adam >> I'm going to have to agree if Scott I'm also voting no on this one here. Um, not that I don't see the merit for it, but that
119I I kind of see this as for the cost. We're kind of taking this away from the community when it comes to the the newer schools and I also think we have quite a strong public firm and I I honestly love going to the Lacrosse School District Facebook page to look at things. I think there's other things we could spend our money more instead of going through here. Could it come up as a need later on? It could and I'd be very much open for it, but as of now, I see there's so many different things such as I always mention this teachers aids that this could go to for schools. So, I'll respect the board either way, but I'm going to be voting no on this one. C can I propose something? >> Is
120there a way that we could get some documentation on what they proposed to look at of the two entities or three or whatever we would like? I mean is this something that we have to act on now or we could you know table to the next meeting? >> You could make the motion. >> I mean is that something that >> we do >> people would like I just more or less >> I mean I we contemplated sharing all the proposals with everyone. Um you know typically this would fall on a consent agenda for administration. You know this is definitely in the realm of school district operations. I heard from the school board over multiple years, addressed the perception of the school district. I reported back to the board in our workshop and many other places.
121This is our plan. We're going to go out for these bids. Things cost money. I know that there's an option that is cheaper. Um when we did our due diligence as professionals, we arrived at this recommendation. I can share the proposals right now. We can look at them. Um and uh if folks want to pick through them all, uh we certainly can do so. We can also table it until two weeks. Uh we do want to start this work as soon as possible so that we can accomplish it in a timely fashion. Um you know, our companies are waiting to hear back from us. Uh if the board needs more time, I understand. Uh >> I just with the amount of like dispar I mean it's you got 3,000 $300,000 and you have $22,000. I
122think there's just some I don't know some more questions I would I would guess. And I and I like Scott says I mean it's $50,000. I mean that's somebody you could hire. So I I'm not saying they're not going to vote for it, but I just I think this might give us some more clarity on making the right decision. Tim, >> are there are there other ways of coming up with the 100,000 such as community don donation some benefactor? Have we checked those out? Could we check those out? Is there a fundraiser someplace? Whether it's Lacrosse Community Foundation, Lacrosse Public Education Foundation, and I all know there's all red flags in all of those. At the same time, I think our problem here is where's the money coming from? And if we had some other
123avenue of fundraising, and I don't know what it is, I'm just throwing it out there. >> I think you'd more easily get fundraising for something student facing. I mean, the problem with this or one of the problems is that it hurts to spend money on things that aren't student facing, right? But but we do also have to spend money on things that >> I still think if you if you talk to the right people in Lacrosse, the money is there. >> My experience with fundraising, you know, it might take us for $100,000 for something like this. Might be a year, year and a half to identify the right donors who are curious about a project like this. And we can put this on the back burner. We have other things to work on. >> I'm
124just throwing that out there as far as an option. >> Dr. Dr. Engle, how much do we how much do we get uh per student? >> About $12,000. >> $12,000. So that's >> 10 10 students. Is that what I'm >> literally what that's our that's our break even. >> Yeah. >> On the investment. And you can slide this wherever it needs to be, right? like this is I can understand the trepidation on the budgets, but if we can go and net 10 more students, we've broken even. We've actually made money. >> Yeah. >> So, just remember our funding model, right? It all comes down to how many kids we have in the seats. >> Is there a motion on the table? >> Can I move to accept? >> Sorry. Yep. I was just gonna ask
125if I may really quickly. Um I know uh Mr. Vneski, you spoke about potential donors. Um I think that it's going to be a whole lot easier to get donors when they see a cohesive professional front. Uh if we want people in the community to support us, we're going to want something that looks together where it's not just, oh, I'm supporting Central or I'm supporting this school or that school. Instead, it's the district as a whole. That's how you're going to be able to get people in. And I agree wholeheartedly with eight nine sorry eight nine students uh in seats being able to cover this. If we look at the the gaps between open enrollment, right, with we're losing more kids than we're gaining. If we can get a handful of those kids back, if
126not more, I think we have a lot of really great things going on. And I love Nick Maru to death. He can't do it all himself. He tries and he's doing an incredible job. But I think help would really allow us to flourish because we have great sports teams that aren't getting a ton of coverage just because they're also running the same nights as this event or that event or fundraisers that clubs are running that just aren't getting the coverage they need. And it's that type of things, those extracurriculars that if people see those or have the opportunities to interact with them, that's how we're going to get more kids in our seats. There's no other comments. I guess we'd maybe look for a motion. >> Make a motion to approve the proposal as presented
127by the district. >> A second. >> The motion by Mr. Jackson. Forgot your name for a second. Sorry. >> I don't have a motion. That's why. >> Second by Dr. >> Second time. >> Uh, any further discussion? All in favor of the motion say I. >> I. >> All opposed? >> Nay. >> I hear three nays. Uh, so the motion carries. >> Okay. >> Thank you everybody. So, moving on to announcements. Uh, first we'll move over to our student representatives in their very last meeting. And why don't we go down the line starting with Mr. Skyles. >> Oh, do I have some fun ones for you. So, there is a choir concert going on right now at Central. Should be the last one of the year. Uh band had their last uh big concert on
128Friday and orchestra a week ago today. Um just wanted to celebrate all the hard work that all of our musicians have put in. Uh FBA, my one of like I'm helping set up a fundraiser for the Wisconsin Conservation uh Wow, I'm struggling. Wisconsin Conservation Corps Whisk. Um, it is Saturday, May 9th. We're going to have a bunch of like carnival games, uh, raffle baskets. We're going to have the fun little inflatable where kids get to knock each other off the pedestals because we know that kids, uh, love to beat each other up. Uh, we have a bunch of great packages from local businesses. I believe Lacrosse Loggers and Steam have donated a basket. Uh, it is also going on the same time as the plant cell in the greenhouse. And there is a youth track
129meet going on. It is $5 entry. Your kids can be there for as long as they want, uh, including all four hours. It's from 11 to three. They get to play as many games as they want, win candy, prizes, and interact with Whiskor. AP tests are in full swing. I had my first one today. It's not fun, guys. I promise. And graduation is coming up. We have, I believe, Logan, and then you guys are the 13th. Uh, we have like seven days, six days, something like that. Is it seven? >> I can't wait. Graduation is May 22nd. Thank you, >> Sari. >> Hi guys. Long time no see. Um, Logan, we've had a couple of I guess our pep club has been trying to like raise school spirits because it's getting a little long, but
130we had chill week the week before prom, which was last week, which was basically just every day of the week there was something to help ease the stresses of kids. It's like one day I think there was like a movie going on in the theater during home room and another week it was like making a fidget or something to help and then the next week it was spring fling which was leading up to prom which was really exciting. Um we both all of us didn't did you guys oh I don't know prom was um last this past weekend and it was a big hit I think um our theme went over really well with everybody and the gym looked really nice. Um we have athletic awards coming up. Senior's last days the 12th. Yeah. Um
131and then we had our annual student versus staff volleyball game during spring playing last week and seniors won. So, we've been gloating all week. >> Over to Poly Technic. >> Um, I guess I'll go first. Um, tonight, actually, right now at Pizza Ranch, we have our National Honor Society volunteering, um, raising some money for us. So, that'll hopefully bring some good funds in. I believe it's actually over by now. 8 o'clock was when it was done. But, I'm >> sorry. We should have got you out of here earlier. Oh, >> sorry. Um, coming up next week, Thursday, we have our senior showcase. We will be putting on our presentations for our projects we've been working on all year. Um, that is at the Black River Beach House starting at 5, I believe. >> Yeah, I
132think so. >> 5:00 p.m. Um, yeah. Hope you guys can make it. >> When is that? I'm sorry. 14th. >> That is Thursday the 14th. >> Thank you. And then the following Tuesday, we have our middle and high school bands performing at our school on the 19th starting at 7 p.m. And I will give it over to Joe for the rest of the announcement. >> Yeah. Um we also have um students have partnered with PBS to make student documentaries. I think I've mentioned this before and um they're showcasing them at the Rivly on May 18th. I think you have to RSVP for it, but yeah. Um, and the senior's graduation will be the 21st of May as well. And the all other grades except for seniors are having their own student showcase on the 26th
133of May um at Lacrosse Poly Technic. So >> yeah, >> thank you all very much and thank you for sticking through your last meeting with us. We really again appreciate your representation and and all the questions and insights you bring to the board. >> Uh announcements from Lacrosse Public Education Foundation update. >> Yeah, we met last week and it was interrupted by a fire alarm. So that was exciting. We approved the spring grants from the parking lot uh outside the administrative building. So those will be forthcoming. We've got this is teacher appreciation week and tomorrow LPF is delivering um breakfast baked goods and things to different campuses. Um golden apple awards are Friday the 8th. So that'll be awesome to celebrate the year. Um, this isn't LPF necessarily, but I happen to be at the
134school of education, the WL school of education awards, and there were several um, lacrosse district teachers uh, nominated or awarded for great mentorship. And Nick O'Keefee was among them that who runs the summit, Sugar Shack, he teaches PE out there. I got to speak to him for a little bit. And Ganna Fusel at Longfellow. So, also won the early career teacher award. So, I just thought I would share. We got people out there being recognized in the community. >> Great. Uh Mr. Alberts, Mr. Newmeister on the city school consortium. >> Um we had our first uh community information system last or uh information session um last uh can't even remember what day it was now. Everything runs together. Last Wednesday. >> Wednesday. Um it was wellreceived. Um quite a few people there. Uh all very
135positive. So looking forward to the next one. >> We also have the um Facebook and um other avenues. I think they were sent out now. Correct. Um we are asking for input from the public. So uh please uh give us your input. This is only an idea. We're just asking for your thoughts. It's nothing set in stone. That's very preliminary and we're just trying to get a a gauge to what the public thinks about uh having the pool. So, I hope uh those that get them actually return them or easy enough just to get on your Facebook page or any other one and fill it out right there. Very simple. Um next one, next information session is Thursday at the Southside Community Center. Correct. >> At six o'clock. All right, thank you very much. Um,
136announcements from myself. Uh, one of them not terribly timely. There is a May 4th, 2026 linkage with cultural community partners about 2, three hours ago. Um, next linkage coming up is on May 12th uh, linkage with districtwide parent committee at 7 p.m. and that will be a virtual one. So, if uh, you haven't given Laura uh, confirmation of whether you'll attend, please do that. Um, I would just make another plug for the Golden Apple Awards banquet this Friday at I believe 11 11:30 program. >> 5:30. >> Oh, that's the evening one. I have it on my work calendar in the middle of the day for some reason. Sorry. 5:30. That's the evening one. >> Uh, over to you, Dr. Angel. >> Teacher appreciation week. We're so thankful for all that our teachers do for our
137kids every single day. Uh, aligns with our Golden Apple Gala. So, attend. I'll be the 17th person to say. So, um it's National School Nurses Day on Wednesday. Uh they um deal with like every communicable disease known to humankind and the grossest things ever. And so I'm so thankful of the work they do. Um sometimes it's you think, "Oh, it's just giving out some band-aids and some medications." Well, they're doing tube feedings and CARES and uh you know, pretty significant emergencies they're responding to and ensuring that 911 gets called and kids are stabilized in the meantime. And so truly thankful for our school nurses. Uh May 8th is school communicators day. So on Friday, you can embarrass uh Nick Marul, our school communicator. Uh helps make sure that our Facebook page is as awesome as
138it is and helps with emergency and crisis communication. often goes unnoticed, but he's on the backside working with administrators, with law enforcement uh to make sure that all the the tees are crossed and eyes are dotted and a true resource across many different venues. Uh we already heard about our graduation ceremonies um May 21st uh for Kulie Region Virtual Academy at Logan Middle School auditorium. We have 40 graduates out of that program. Um what started as a necessity in the pandemic has turned into a solid viable option for a lot of kids to cross the finish line in a way um that engages them and meets their needs. Super excited about that. Polytenic has their graduation at 5:30 on May 21st at Polytenic. Uh always one of uh the most intimate and fun uh celebrations
139that we have. Uh and then we have Logan High School and Central High School on May 22nd uh at 5:00 and 7:30 respectively at the Lacrosse Center. Uh those are fun as well to see so many folks that have really put in a lot of time and effort and the staffs for both schools are incredible and show up to support those also. Um a little um plug for Logan. I think they have like every single staff member show up for Logan High School's graduation. It's incredible. um opportunity Owen for Central to win, you know, just reach out to your staff, let them know. >> Uh so those are my announcements. >> Okay. Thank you. Um agenda planning. Uh so we're looking at the May 18th, 2026 board of education agenda. Um any additions or corrections
140that members want to note? Hearing none, I'd look for a motion. So moved. >> Second. And uh the motion over here in a second by Mr. Alberts I want to say. Um all in favor? >> I. >> All opposed. >> Motion carries. Uh debriefing tonight. Mr. Ma. All right. Well, we started off with perhaps the the funnest part of our jobs is presenting the awards. Awesome. I mean, I personally love attending and presenting the art, everyone else, seeing all the art. Love the fact we got recognition for our students there. Excited to be at the graduation for you all here in a couple weeks. Um, as for the board, I think we're moving along quite well. We just changed up our board. We have our course, our new leadership, and I'd say we're still going
141in a very good direction. And I mean, we just had our first example there of disagreement there, but we were very much listening and attentive towards each other, too. And that was very much it shows that we're still unified as a board and we have a lot of things to look forward to as we move forward as well. >> Keep it short there for you tonight. >> All right. Uh so we do have um a closed session as well as a workshop scheduled for this evening. Um do we need to gavvel into close session? We'll be going into workshop first and then move into close session. Great. Wait to do the roll call until >> then. Hearing no objection, I will adjourn this meeting.