001talking >> basically called him and then when he started literally ran into him trying to get away like literally just like >> oh need to see that >> did the My uncle's just like cold. Hey. Hey. Hey. like to call to order this meeting of the Lacrosse Board of Education. >> We 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 lands of sacred lands of all indigenous peoples. >> Will the secretary please call the role? >> Mr. Alberts >> excused. >> Mr. Bneski >> here. >> Miss Fl >> here. >> Dr. Garcia >> here. >> Mr. Jackson >> excused. Mr. Ma >> here. >> Mr. Newmeister >> here. >> Dr. Sprag >> here. >>
002Sucla >> here. >> A quorum of the board of education is present. So the regularly scheduled meeting of March 2nd, 2026 is hereby called to order. We will now stand and have the pledge of 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. >> Tonight's agenda has been previously distributed to the board. I would entertain at this mo time a motion with a second to approve the agenda as submitted unless there is a motion to amend. >> Like to make a motion to approve the agenda as presented. >> Seconded. >> Okay, we have a motion in a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >>
003Those opposed. Motion carries. We'll then move on to school showcase and recognitions. And we've got several exciting things to celebrate this evening. And I'll turn it over to Dr. >> Yeah. The first is uh we were uh able we have an amazing student, Ruby Vanzy, who took first place in the Wisconsin Association of School Boards Wisconsin Art Education uh competition. And so we would invite Ruby up to talk a little bit about her piece, the experience, and anything else you'd like to say. >> Hello everybody. Um, I want to preface this by saying this is the most attention I've ever um, thought I'd ever get from a piece of art I've made. Um, I'm really proud of it. I put a lot of work into it. Um, and I do want to share this recognition
004that I've gotten with my previous and current art teachers. It absolutely would not be possible without them, and they've done a lot in encouraging me to go um pursue my passion, which is art. Um, yeah. So, I I want to share this um recognition with them. And like I said in my um acceptance speech at WSB, um I just want to continue to I'd love to through this if anything's taken away from it, I want to just continue to support the arts. But yeah, that's all. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I do want to say I was at the Wisconsin Association of School Board conference when Ruby was recognized. out of all the students in the entire state of Wisconsin, her artwork was picked. And not only did she represent us beautifully in her
005artwork, which we can maybe set over there so the rest of the world can enjoy it too. Um, when she spoke at the conference and she gets up and there's thousand plus people in the room and she represented us so well because she spoke so elegantly and even as she was walking off the stage, I heard a schoolboard member from another district say she just carries herself so beautifully. So, thank you for for um representing us in such an elegant, beautiful way and thank you for your excellent artwork. Thank you. >> And we know for the folks that are here as guests, if it's time for you to leave, you're more than welcome to. Although, we have a riveting school board meeting ahead of us. So, you're welcome to stick around. Our next program is
006the Longfellow Middle School Just Recycle program. Uh, and we have some teachers here to introduce the program, including Liz Ramsey. >> Thank you so much for inviting us tonight and giving us this opportunity to showcase all the amazing things that our lacrosse students do. My name is Liz Ramsey. I teach seventh grade math and science at Longfellow. >> Hi, my name is Annabelle Zawastki. I teach seventh grade ELA and social studies at Longfellow. >> Hello, I'm Elsie Ner and the reason I joined Just Recycle is because I want to help the community of Lacrosse. >> Hi, my name is Kyla Cole and I joined Just Recycle to get a better point of view of how to make our school better. and I'm proud to say that I have seen a difference in our school over
007the years. >> Hi, my name is Haley Wagena and I joined Just Recycle because I saw the seventh graders now eighth graders this year doing it last year and I thought it'd be really fun and it has taught me a lot about recycling. As middle school teachers, we believe in empowering our students to identify real issues and then give students opportunities to fix those problems by creating solutions. Last year in the spring of 2025, our seventh grade students identified recycling as an issue. Why do we recycle paper and not plastic? And how about recycling the milk cartons at breakfast and lunch? We had the issue. Students needed to create a solution. In March 2025, the Just Recycle program at Longfellow Middle School was created. We are proud that Just Recycle is created, managed, and operated
008by seventh grade students. As soon as we had the idea, we got to work. We included Dr. Angel since he is our school leader for the school district of Lacrosse. Once he listened to our ideas, he was 100% on board and very supportive. Our needs were simple, but they required money. Our teachers wrote a grant offered by the Kulie Regent Sierra Club. Luckily for us, we were selected and awarded a 200 environmental grant. We bought 25 containers and one wagon. It was just enough to get Just recycle up and running. We developed a management system. It's the same system as we we use today. It includes rules as the Just Recycle volunteers and a data sheet where we track the amount of just recycled paper and plastic. Each month, students sign up to be volunteers.
009Then our teachers make a monthly schedule. We feel very strong that Longfellow Middle School is a place where everyone belongs and everyone is included. The monthly signup does just that. Students are offered an opportunity to become a just recycle volunteer and learn from their friends. When you want to join, you can. If sports, music, and other clubs got you busy, you just don't sign up. We work in teams. Some other volunteers take the wagon into classrooms for just recycle collection. Other volunteer teams go outside to count the paper, plastic, and place the recyclables in a large dumpster with a green lid. We have a map of our school and list of teachers that show the participating classrooms. Last March, we began with 22 participating classrooms and now we have 32 P classrooms recycling. From March
010to April to May 2025, we have completed our first month of just recycle. Each month, we created a report that we gave to the Sierra Club to show our appreciation of the grant money and to share our successes and goals. Seven students volunteers signed up in March, 15 volunteers in April, and 29 volunteers in May. 3,100 milk cartons and plastic cups escaped the landfill. After summer break, a new school year was started with a new team of seventh graders, us. We wrote goals to make more morning announcements, write a grant for more money, and to increase our recycled items, and to present to the Lacrosse School Board. We are going to tell you how we have achieved our goals and want to and what we hope to do next to grow the recycle program. The
011just recycle program at Longfellow. We began our day with the morning announcements. We have created we have created many announcements. This is how we spread to tell the world word. Spread the word to tell everyone what just recycle is to explain the importance of recycling has on our environment and to encourage students and staff to recycle more. We also give lots of positive shout outs on the morning announcement. Everyone wants to hear that they're having a great job. A new school year presented a new problem and we were ready to solve it with help from the cross public education foundation and the Longfellow PTO with 105 students. Longfellow produces a lot of papers and plastics during the lunchtime. And when you calculate 5 days per week and four weeks per month, the numbers really add
012up fast. Okay. Our teachers were awarded a LPF grant and a PTO donation that provides the money we need to expand just recycle to the kitchens during lunchtimes. We brought a new container so students could start recycling milk cartons and plastic at lunch. And we bought a second collection wagon to accommodate the increasing numbers of participating classrooms. Numbers from breakfast recycling in the classrooms have grown starting at 1,034 items collected in August and September to the end of February. Now our total is over 7,000 recycled items. These numbers do not include the impact just recyclers had during our lunch periods. So combined we've made a significant reduction in our waist stream. Student volunteers are busy every morning during our flex class from 8:25 to 8:45. They follow the monthly schedule and join as teams to
013help each other collect, count, and bring outside. Our system is running smoothly and we had identified a new issue, aluminum. At lunch, students had the option to purchase food and beverage from the alle cart sections. We noticed that there was no place to collect and separate aluminum cans. We used a small container as a temporary solution while we worked on something more sustainable for our large school. Thanks to our community partners, Harders of Lacrosse donated a recycling bin for us to use for aluminum only. This has allowed us the space to collect more aluminum cans and more importantly keeping the aluminum separate so that we can turn cans into cash. We will be using Altra as a local business to turn metal into money. Although giant pizza parties are tempting, the Just Recycle team will
014be selecting charitable ways that we can make another kind of positive difference. It is important that we recognize the students who choose to sign up to be monthly volunteers. These are the students who make Just Recycle the successful program that it has become. The students highlighted in yellow are truly special because they have volunteered every month from August through February and yes they signed up again to work in March. Lastly, we want to extend our appreciation to Dr. Engel along with Longfellow's support of administration, Mr. Robotic, Miss Horton, and Miss Strait for the encouragement that they give to our Lacrosse students to be thinkers, problem solvers, and designers of today's issues and tomorrow's solutions. We'll wrap up with our next goal. Let's bring together our environmental advocacy school groups to build a district recycling program.
015Thank you all for your time tonight. Look at the size of that butternut squash. >> Thank you. That was impressive. I uh especially a huge thank you to the students who spoke. I know that that takes a lot of courage and preparation to do that. And uh you did a fantastic job. You should be really proud of yourselves. And um thank you not just for your presentation tonight but for what you're doing um to help to be to be leaders to be role models in your schools and to show other students what can be done not just regard regarding recycling but when there's another issue that they find. So impressive impressive group. Thank you. Other board members any comments? >> Good job. >> Thank you. Great. >> Thank you so much for being here. So
016much celebrating. >> Should I just go ahead? >> Yes. Sorry. Our next item is our Golden Apple Awards program. And here to present our award, our program is uh Nell Saunders Scott from Lacrosse Public Education Foundation and Jill Shams from LEA. >> Um we're always glad to be here to celebrate staff. And just as a little refresher, there are three uh periods throughout the year, fall, winter, and spring when community members and school staff and students are invited to nominate staff for special recognition. I think we received 140ish unique recommendations for the winter round. Um I think in the meeting materials there's a list of all those who were nominated and we'd just like to recognize by saying the names of the winter key staff uh rec uh who are receiving key staff recognition. So,
017Andrew Mick from Southern Bluffs, Becky Luek from Logan Middle, Brooks Luek from Miss Central High, Caitlyn Glimmy from CRVA, Christine Rox Hinchen, Ellen Johnson, North Side, Jennifer Appel, Logan Middle, Jennifer Delenbach, Kulie Monasuri, John Morshhoser, Longfellow Middle, Jordan Peterson, State Road, Jordan Young, Hamilton, Sodan, Julia Schlaggel, Longfellow Middle, Katherine Keaney, Logan High. Uh we're also recognizing Kyle Guper, Central High School. Mark Ziggler, Logan High School. Mason Angelson, Emerson. Mitchell Olsen, Central High. Nicole Stefins, District Office. Nick O'Keefee, Summit Pow Jang at Spence. Peter Lure at the district office. Ruth Anne Bent at Logan High School. Steven Spear, Central High, Summer Emerson, and Tanya Deandash Northwoods, and you Xeen Logan High School. So, congratulations to all those who were nominated and those who were selected as the key staff. We'll um have one more nomination period
018that's open now for the spring. So, we encourage everybody to nominate um the educators and staff that have impacted them or their students um throughout the year. and that then at uh May we'll have a final Golden Apple Gala celebration. So we hope to see you all there and uh celebrate the fine work that our staff does each and every day. >> Thank you. It's incredible to read through the nominations and see students and family members and fellow staff members uh identifying the great work they do. And it ranges everything from uh custodial staff to school nutrition to administrative assistants to teachers and specialists. Uh it's really heartwarming and one of the best parts of uh the year. >> Thank you. >> We'll then move on to public speakers. It is the policy of the
019board to provide at its public meetings an opportunity for individuals to address the board. Comments about individual staff personnel will not be allowed. Open meeting law prohibits the board from engaging in discussion or responding on matters not included on the agenda. All speakers are reminded at this that the same policy limits your time to speak to five minutes. This limit will be strictly enforced. May I ask the superintendent to keep track of the time and to notify the speaker when time is running out? I will do so. >> Thank you. You're also asked to give your name and the school district where you reside at the beginning of your time for public record. And our first speaker tonight is Jodie Clo. Am I saying your name right? >> Call. Thank you. >> And I'll give
020a 30 second timer when you get towards the end. >> Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'm Jod um and my kiddos are in this district at Northwoods. I also want to thank you for your service to our community. I'm here because I've been talking to parents, uh, teachers, and administrators in our district for two years about the use of technology in classrooms, and we're ready to have a bigger conversation about the relationship we want our kids to have with technology at school. I'm talking about smart screens and onetoone devices, specifically, including internet access and edtech programs and apps. I want to thank the district technology and curriculum teams who've been very responsive to parents questions and concerns. I'm speaking specifically about the impact of digital tools on our ability to learn. However, issues
021of data privacy, bullying, AI use, and the effects of social media on mental health only add reasons to be more cautious about the use of these tools by our students. Over the last decade, communities around the nation and the globe eagerly adopted technology in the classroom. This was done with hope. Hope of bridging equity gaps. Hope of bridging learning differences. Optimism about the power of bringing the world to the classroom. We're learning together that technology has a bigger influence on our brains, relationships, and mental and physical health than we could have known. This requires that we reconsider the role of technology in our classrooms. Now, new research is demonstrating that the mere presence of a screen such as a smart screen reduces focus and erodess communication. Research is showing that more is retained when notes
022are handwritten. Reading comprehension is higher when reading is on paper. It is showing that the regular use of internet devices reduces cognition and memory. Digital formats are more distracting regardless of their use. As adults, we feel phones and tablets shaping our brains. The research demonstrates the addictive nature of the dopamine hits from information delivered by clicks. For children whose brains are still forming well into their late teens, we must be much more diligent about their exposure to digital tools. EdTE is not exempt from having these impacts. We want our children to be careful readers, deep thinkers, cogent writers. None of that requires a device or an app. There is time to learn the skills of technology, including mousing, typing, computer literacy, and online safety. After they've learned to think, read, and write, the tide is
023turning all around the country. Cell phone bans are just the tip of the iceberg. Can we really admit to the distracting nature of iPhones and yet hand students distracting iPads? A recent Senate hearing about the impacts of technology on learning raises serious concerns. A quote, "Multiple indicators now show stagnation or decline in literacy, numeracy, problem solving, creativity, and general cognitive performance among adolescents. A lawsuit against YouTube is revealing the insidiousness of their manipulative design and the danger of their algorithms to children. State legislators, legislators are beginning to introduce bills to reduce the use of screens in classrooms. In our own community, leaders at the YMCA, United Way, our health institutions, and others are joining together in their be here campaign to encourage us to unplug for our health. We must also unplug at school. Our
024students very ability to learn is in the balance. It is worth saying we are on the side of teachers. We don't want tools that truly serve them and their students to be taken away. We are on the side of students. We don't want programs that reach students with differing needs taken from them. However, these tools must be proven effective in order to outweigh the cost that comes inherent in these devices. We request that smart screens and onetoone devices be greatly curtailed. We want digital formats to be swapped for analog starting in the upcoming school year until and unless the digital tools can be proven to be as effective as their analog counterparts. The benefits of digital tools must be significant enough to outweigh the costs. Costs such as blue light exposure, accidental inappropriate content, and
025the unintentional development of shallow, distracted brains. We request that a technology working group of stakeholders including parents, students, teachers, and administrators be formed to assist the district in this work. We need to take a pause together and reimagine a vibrant, healthy school system where young brains can grow without distraction. >> 30 seconds. >> Thank you. >> Our second speaker this evening is Andrew Strathman. Thank you. Good evening everybody. I would like to thank the board for their time tonight. My name is Andrew Stman and I am the father of students at Emerson Elementary and Logan Middle School. I come before you tonight with concerns about the district's digital release policy, also known as the release of student directory data information. The district spends significant time teaching our children how to correctly understand, manage, and protect
026their online digital presence. This is critical knowledge to have in the modern world and resources well spent by the district. Our children need a full understanding of their online rights and responsibilities long before they become adults. However, the district then turns around and provides their parents and guardians with an ultimatum. Either seed your child's online presence to the district or see them ostracized from all digital activities within the district. Unless we allow unfettered use of our child's digital presence on publicly accessible platforms, promotional materials, and many other areas of the web subject to scraping by artificial intelligence. they will be relegated to a corner during classroom activities that might involve a camera and become a gray square in the yearbook. So while you teach our children that they have online rights and that they can
027control their online presence, the district says, "Sorry kiddo, it's all or nothing." This is wrong. It disenfranchises your students of their rights to decide their online presence. rights. The district teaches them that they have and that they should use wisely. The district's policy is one of convenience, not one of reality. Just as you have taught our children that there is not a onesizefits-all style of digital presence, the district needs to review how they treat or mistreat students ability to decide their online portfolio by reviewing and revising the release of student directory data information policy. Thank you. We will then move on to the superintendent's consent agenda. The superintendent's 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 would
028like to remove from the superintendent's consent agenda? >> I would just offer up for our speakers. Appreciate you very much coming in. We'll certainly be reaching out in the future. board's not able to comment on your comments and so that's why we can't respond tonight. We'll be moving on to our next items and once again you're welcome to to leave if you like but uh democracy in action here. Feel free to stick around and and enjoy the rest of the school board meeting as well. >> Um at this time I would look for a motion with a second to approve the superintendent's consent agenda. >> Like to make a motion >> seconded by Mr. Mr. Magneski, seconded by Mr. Ma. Any further discussion on the motion? >> Signify by saying I. >> I. >> Those
029opposed. Motion carries. >> We'll then move on to the board consent agenda. The board consent agenda is a mechanism used by the board to deal with routine business that must come before the body. It's minutes and the annual work plan for GC6E. Are there any items that members would like to remove from the super or from the board consent agenda? Hearing none, I would look for a motion to approve. >> Second. We're doing all kinds of good motions around the table. Motion by Dr. Garcia, seconded by Miss Fuches. Um, all those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> Those opposed. Motion carries. We'll then move on to items reserved for uh board matter or matters reserved for board action. I'm going too fast. Uh the first one is exciting resolution awarding the
030sale of 30 million general obligation promisary notes. >> I'm just going to go back to the superintendent's consent agenda real quick. If you get a chance to look at the contributions and grants that are on there, LPF donated, I think well over $150,000 in there. Uh just an incredible asset to our community and does amazing work. Things like our uh recycling program here and any number of other things. You can't turn around and not see something that LPF made better in our school district. So, thank you so much to Nell and LPF. >> Thank you. >> Okay, so today was an exciting day. um the $30 million that we are borrowing for the second borrowing of the referendum uh was out put out to bid today. So, um, we got a great response, um, and
031you remember Eric Cass came and spoke a few weeks ago or about a month ago um, about this process and so now we have come to the day where we put out for bids um, and it was a good day. So, uh, the second page just shows the interest rate perspective. And if you're going out 20 years, that would be the top line. When we go out to borrow, it is for 20 years. So, it is right between that 350 and 4% mark that we based our um our bids on. And if you look at page three, so this is the bid tabulation from today. Uh last year we only had seven uh biders for the 14 million and so we were lucky to have 12 for this 30 million. And as you can see,
032uh, well, I will tell you that last year the bid came in at 3.92% and we were really excited about that because we we went out for um referendum. We were thinking that it was going to be more like 4.5%. So, we were really excited about the 3.92%. And this year, I'm happy to say it came back at 3.70%. And so this is is really good for our uh paying back the debt. And it's just like if you take out a loan and you want to have that lowest interest rate as possible um to pay back the interest on the money we're borrowing. So the TIC C column which means the true interest cost and that was tabulated and a FHN financial capital markets uh won the bid and that's what the board is approving
033tonight. So you had the attachment that was um quite large as far as a resolution and a lot of legal ease. And this is um this little presentation was put together by um Eric Cass um after they received the bids and Corals and Brady wrote up the resolution for the board to approve. But this kind of puts it in easier terms for you to understand the process. Mhm. >> Can I ask just a quick question? >> Sure. >> Obviously, some of these names on here are well known >> and others uh most people may have not ever heard of. >> How do we determine even though if it's the best um best bid that it's not the may may not be the best option for us if I mean a solid company and somebody like
034that, >> right? and we we rely on PTMA to do that for us. But I did Google this one because I hadn't wasn't familiar with it. And last year actually Hilltop Securities, as you can see further down, was the one that uh won the bid last year. And the FHN Financial Capital Markets um if you Google it, they have a long history of um municipal bonding. So, and >> they have a whole team of folks at PTMA that um scrutinize lenders every year and they're always looking for, you know, AAA rated entities that work in municipal bonds and securities. And so, um, you know, you have to extend a little bit of trust to the experts there. Uh, but I know, you know, from meeting with Eric in the past, they're removing clients from time
035to time when their ratings drop a little bit or it doesn't seem as solid a proposition and they add people from time to time. So, I feel confident with this list that, you know, if they're if they're in the consideration, they're one of those top AAA rated uh outfits. >> Exactly. So, if you look on page four, that is now our financing plan uh updated to include the 14 million we borrowed last year, 30 million we're borrowing now, and still have 9.5 uh million to borrow in the future. As you can see, uh they all started out with the 4.5% interest is what we anticipated. and these first two borrowings have come in under that amount. So what that means is we're paying less in interest and then they uh revise our debt schedule so
036that the uh public is not impacted at a higher rate than we had anticipated from the beginning for the borrowing. So, um, and if you go to the last page, it kind of summarizes all of this, uh, that the closing date, the date that we'll receive these funds and we will have available to pay our contractors is March 23rd. So at that time um there will be another um uh approval that will be signed I believe by the board president and I think the clerk again but you also signed the resolution for tonight. Um the principal matures in 2046 so 20 years and then the first interest payment is March 1st of 2027. So that's next year and the call date is March 1st, 2034. The call date is only important because uh interest rates
037at that time might even be less than 3.70. So then we might need we might want to refinance. However, we are locked in at the 3.70% interest rate for the 20 years if we don't have any less of an interest rate available. So, we had planned on 3.91% uh came in at 3.70. So, this is good news. What kind of questions do you have for me? >> Questions? It's great news that looking at those interest rates and it's nice to come in under knowing that we're locked in and we have the availability in 2034 um to re you know refinance if we feel that it's uh needed or wanted. >> Yes. Very good. So on the uh financing plan page because it came in at less than we had originally budgeted is that difference is
038that what's in that less bid premium column? >> Yeah. So if you look at the interest um column for the 30 million and the total is 14 million. When we were in the planning stages we anticipated it would probably be over 15 million. So it's so that what they do then is they adjust all of the years so that when we have to go out and levy for this that our taxpayers are um impacted on a consistent rate until debt runs off from as you can see our north side will be running off our debt schedule. >> I believe they adjust the interest column down. So whereas if it had been at that 4.5% you know those payments would have been higher and so uh we're able to lower those and uh either increase our
039principal so it's paid off quicker or lower the annual payment for our our community members. >> Thank you. I anticipated my next question. Thank you. Any other questions? Otherwise, we would look uh for a motion to adopt the resolution awarding the $30 million general obligation promisary note series 2026. >> I move to adopt. >> Second >> and we will need uh do we need do we need to indicate the bidder name in that resolution or in this motion? >> I don't think it it says that you need to do that. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion before we go to roll call vote? >> Can I ask quick question? Uh Patty, we've heard in a couple of our last meetings and maybe Dr. Angel, you want to jump in
040on this too about the opportunity we have for investment of of the referendum money along the way because we're not of course laying out $30 million in one check. >> How does that Maybe you don't have this information at this point. Do we have any estimates around how that will um balance against the interest payments over time? >> Okay. So when we borrowed the 14 million that was under 15 million anything over 15 million falls into the arbitrage rules. So the 30 million we will be spending it now. We have uh different increments that we have to spend that 30 million on. So that 14 million we can still keep that as invested. Um, and we will be using the 30 million to pay off, but I don't really have an estimate because of course
041some of it we will invest um, going forward, but we have to have that cash flow, right, >> for the bills that are coming in. >> So the 30 million we say you have to spend it now. What's the timeline on that? Is there it has to be in so many months or >> Yeah, it's like 10% within the first three months and then it goes up and um so that's how we figured from our draw down menus or schedules from our uh market and Johnson and Fowler so that we have the money available to pay the bills when we know they're going to be coming in. >> So this is all negotiated with the contractor in terms of when he or she gets paid. Well, it's I mean they provide us a schedule of
042when they're going to need because they got to pay their folks and they got to buy materials. So, they work with the architect to identify a schedule for when they'll need funds and then we work with our financial adviser to identify when we need to acquire them to make sure it aligns with our draw down of our own funds so we don't run into arbitrage rules. It's a a little bit of a complicated dance, but everybody's used to it at this point. And so, >> right, and before we even went out for this 30 million, remember we have like 39 million that we we need to borrow. And so, we got that draw down schedule from Market and Johnson. um we already had followers for state road and make sure that 30 million would be
043enough to pay the bills till next March when we go out for the final and and that's what we get from that draw down schedule. >> Yeah, the additional funds from interest earnings, you know, could be $300,000, could be $700,000. It'll be based on the interest rates that we get along the way. We're not planning any spend of those right now in part because it's a very uncertain world and material prices change, labor changes, and so it's nice to have that hedge against, you know, anything that could arise over the next 18 months or two years. So, nice to have that just to be available in case something occurs. >> Go ahead, Mr. Beeski. Well, at my age, I hate to look at a figure like 2024 to >> 2046. Yeah. >> It's important to
044note, as Miss Spring has, uh, just said that a year from now, we'll be looking at going out for the final 9.5 million. So, um, for the for the public to understand that this is a portion of because 30 million isn't what we had in the referendum. And so, where's the rest of the money? Part of it was last year, part of it this year, part of it next year. And all of that is timed out to uh put us at the best advantage uh interest-wise. Ju >> I have a um just so everyone understands there there's a reason we do this in three different I mean so one would say well we're at 3.7 why risk it and why don't we go out for that 9.5 million right now and lock it in at
045uh you know the 3.7 instead of waiting. But I think it's people need to understand that that isn't what we h can do. Right. >> Right. And and that 9.5 will fall under that 15 million and it won't be um you know fall into the arbitrage rules. So >> it's smart to do it this way. >> Yes. >> Any further discussion on the motion? >> We look for the roll call vote. >> Mr. Vneski. >> Yes. >> Miss Folks. I >> Dr. Garcia >> I >> Mr. Ma >> I >> Mr. Newmeister >> I >> Dr. Sprag >> I >> Miss Sla >> I >> motion carries. We'll then move on to 6.02 operational expectation monitoring report OE3 treatment of community stakeholders. >> Um this is the part where we make any changes to the
046monitoring report in advance of monitoring for next year. So the school board's already set the policy. There's no recommended changes there. So, this is just the monitoring report for the following year. What we'll report on uh in the future, we have no recommended changes. It seems to have served us well and uh is not ownorous to collect the information and seems to meet our school board's needs. I'd >> like to make a motion to accept the OE3 treatment of committee stakeholders minor report template as it currently stands. >> Seconded. >> Motion a second. Any further discussion on the motion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Those opposed. Motion carries. We'll then move on to 603 long range facility plan update. >> I should have put a caveat
047on this one with a giant draft over the top of it after your review. Uh depending on what you see tonight, you may decide to table this, you know, as we make refinements to the the final product. Uh it's based on our uh original long range facility plan from about two years ago that uh identified a number of key tasks. Um those key tasks were to uh reduce the number of elementary buildings, replace, renovate or repurpose aging elementary facilities, invest in public facing facilities, invest in underdeveloped career and technical education facilities, and adapt to future declining enrollment. And these key tasks were uh spaced out over 25 years. So a relatively long time horizon um with some more immediate interests in the in the 5 to 10 year range. Um after the workshop with the
048school board um kind of listened to the discussion, identified uh priorities for the school board and the one thing that really um rose to the top that was missing from our long range facility plan was updating middle school facilities. Uh and so added in a key task there um with the intent that over the next two years we would evaluate the best course of action for each middle school facility, remodel, relocate or replace and then over the next 10 years uh seek to do so uh at the middle school facilities once we decided a course of action. Uh I added this time a shorter range facilities action plan and this is the one where I'm uh particularly interested in feedback so we can uh adjust it and make sure it matches the schoolboard's interests. Uh
049but it takes up key task number six, the middle school facilities. Uh addresses investing in public facing facilities, particularly the auditoriums and athletic fields. Uh and then key task number four, uh investing in our underdeveloped career and teched facilities so we can uh ensure that our kids have the skills they need to be competitive in the workforce here in Lacrosse. Uh so this is uh an update and just very interested in schoolboard feedback so we can make the edits and changes necessary to make it our plan. >> I'm interested in key task number four. Uh what other technical facilities are we looking at? >> Uh so as we look at um our career teched facilities, you know, depending on what era you went to school, for me it was like the welding shop and the
050wood shop and um you know there was uh back then it was home. It's family consumer science now. Uh business uh what we find is that some of our facilities are okay. You know uh like a business office or classroom, you know, meets our needs. It's pretty standard classroom. Uh but there are some places uh like what was typically welding which is now transformed into maybe more advanced manufacturing or robotics. Our facilities are not on par with other school districts or able to prepare our students for jobs that are in the workplace right now right out of high school. Uh and our instructors do an amazing job with limited resources. I'm impressed every time I walk in there. But as an example, here at um Central High School, we don't have an overhead door to
051bring in a car. And Joe Levina did an amazing job building a shed out back by the football field that allows us to have one car in there and do some work. Uh but we're really not meeting the needs uh locally of our community or providing our kids with the hands-on skills they need because of the limits of our technology. And things have just shifted over time. And so our hope is that in the next few years we're able to shift our facilities to be able to meet those needs. Whether it's um you know uh health science labs where kids are able to get CNA training at school or um advanced manufacturing where they're using robotics and um um you know computer generated modeling software uh on CNC machines. there's just so many neat things
052that are available and kids can walk out of here with jobs that pay $25 $40 an hour uh if we're able to give them the right certifications and training. And so those are the sorts of things we'd be looking to update and modernize both at Logan High School and at Central High School in particular. Uh and then with any new middle school designs, we would be thinking about that as well. >> I have a question about the middle school's facilities here. So, um, based on my understanding, looks like we're just looking at more so like an exploratory thing of what we're going to be doing for these facilities, but how far of a scope are we thinking of going to is that the question of a referendum in 10 years or so with it, or
053is we looking at mostly like more smaller things? >> Uh, it depends on what the school board's intent is. Uh, so initially it's looking at, you know, do we remodel the buildings where they're at? You know, that would come at um, you know, a range of price tags. It could just be certain facilities. It could be cosmetic stuff, could be a a dramatic remodel, hard to tell. Um, it could also be, you know, so that would be one path kind of remodel in place. Um, we could be looking at building a brand new building uh at a site or on those existing sites, you know, so that could be a potential course of action. And then another thing that the school board discussed um at the workshop was potentially going to like a self 712
054model at our high schools, taking advantage of existing space, maybe adding on a little bit uh of facility in order to accommodate u you know separate spaces for kids. Uh but those are the three courses of action and paths that the we could investigate and really the the in the near term it's about exploring those and seeing what the the board uh most is interested in talking to our staff of course and parents uh to understand what's viable and what will meet our needs as we move into the future. um in here. First of all, I'm in my mind doing the big time happy dance to see middle schools on here because I've been saying the same mantra for about 20 years now. So, this is pretty exciting stuff. Um to see middle schools being
055looked at, the facilities. Um there's reference here to the school debt retiring in 2029. I thought it was we've talked about it was 2033. So when it was initially um uh bid out, you know, on a sheet like this, it would have said 20 years 2033. Absolutely. Um right as I was coming to the school district, uh Miss Spang was refinancing the debt. And I remember at that time we were able to adjust our payments, uh lower the interest dramatically, and so that shortened up the time horizon for being able to pay that off. And so that's an example where we saved the taxpayers I think it was like a million dollars at the time in interest payments uh thanks to refinancing and it also shortened our time to be able to pay stuff off.
056Uh and so the the timeline actually comes in at 2029 when there's a natural reduction of the mill rate. We could certainly extend that time horizon if need be. um you know if we want to um but there's a natural opportunity then for the board to consider doing something. So it's a little sooner than it would have been. Uh but it also means there's a nice opportunity to do something at a lower impact for our taxpayers at that time. >> It's not a bad thing. It's just different than what we had discussed. So >> totally. >> But yay middle schools. >> Any other comments? Are you looking for us to approve these changes? Is this part of our policy? want to >> um it's not a policy, but it's pretty big strategic work, right? It's
057directional. You know, it it's certainly something that the school board has wanted a little more ownership over over the last few years. And so, um for me to move forward on pursuing some of these things, schoolboard approval, I think, is appropriate in this case and would give me the authority to go out and start to set up some meetings and ensure the board has access to all the information you need to make good decisions on these key areas. And this is a plan and as all things plans change and so understanding this will evolve and there'll be continue to be updates. Correct. >> Absolutely. >> Are we ready for an approval? Do we want to table this? Yes, Mr. >> I just another comment or two. Sorry. Um, as we're thinking about the the key
058tasks, I I feel in a couple of ways that there's there's a cart before the horse here when we're already in this year looking at exploring actual courses of action when I don't feel and maybe I'm alone in this that we have we have even identified like what's that ideal future state that we're aiming at, right? I mean to updates are always good but it's very generalized and it can be very vague and that can mean any variety of things. I think we have to to look first at what are some of our intentions and expectations in order to think about the possible courses of action that will get us to those rather than some undefined sense of update. I think also and I know that this is this is probably just arbitrary if I'm
059remembering from the key tasks just the way they kind of developed in the conversation that doesn't the numbering of them doesn't represent a priority list and we should maybe invest some time in thinking about that because we have talked a lot about middle schools recently which I think is also very important we've talked a lot about investing in the public facing facilities as well recently this is not six seven this is wondering which of which of those for those two for instance, would we want to be prioritizing and why? And I think it would be beneficial for us as a board and and for the next, you know, seated board um or in in April um to to think about establishing those priorities as a prior step to to establishing courses of action. Just some
060thoughts. I think I agree. I had very similar sentiment for it too of I mean when I looked at this year I didn't see it was type of action right there. So it's just kind of good to know exactly what are our long-term impacts of it and I don't think I'd feel comfortable really accepting this right away without first looking at what Mr. Sprag has mentioned. >> I have I have a hard time I mean I question why we couldn't accept it. I guess I mean it's we the stuff we've talked about it it's not like it's set in stone. It's a plan. It's an action plan. It just gives our superintendent an opportunity to look at these options to give us more information on them. >> I don't see where this hinders any of
061our future um future plans at all and it only enhances them if nothing else. So, I I don't have a problem with it personally, but you know, I'm one vote. So, >> I I agree with you, Scott. I'm I'm not opposed to the plan the outlay such as it is here. I think that one of these action steps when we're talking about exploring courses of action for updating middle middle school facilities. I would just add speaking as an individual member, my direction and my hope from what I would see from the administration to to support us in that process is is that earlier step, right, of of thinking about uh a really detailed needs assessment, right? Because if we're if we're talking about we we have to consider what requires us to go to referendum
062and we want to be really judicious about that. We've been immensely fortunate in the support we've had in our referendum questions lately. That's not true across the state and and we should be mindful of that. And then what are options that are more straightforward to us and we have talked a bit, you know, in our workshop recently about possibility of reconfiguring uh reconfiguring grade assignments across existing facilities with some necessary improvements. And there may be other creative solutions that feel less drastic. And if we get a a good needs assessment, um, we may be able to identify a productive way forward. >> And I see this as an outline of possibilities. >> Yeah, I think to your point, Dr. Sprag, you know, ensuring that we have set the stage for why something needs to change.
063you know what what's the future state that we desire? What's the current state and what's that gap? Some sort of gap analysis. So if we want classrooms that have at least, you know, 900 square feet for a classroom of 25 students and we see that it's inconsistent across our middle schools and it's you know some classrooms are sufficient, some aren't, that would be something to consider. if um you know air quality is a challenge because of the arrangement of our buildings and hallways um and we want good air quality for our middle schoolers and that's a hypothetical our air quality is fine as far as we know >> but that would be something to consider as well or if our um athletic space is insufficient to meet the needs of physical education as required by
064the state that that would be a reason to consider something different. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. >> Yep. Some of those justifications for certain certain concrete steps would be really helpful. Absolutely. >> We'd look for a motion then. >> Accept the facility plan 2026 update. >> I'll make a motion to accept the uh long range facility plan 20 2050 2026 update as presented. >> Could you second that? >> Thank you. You have a motion to second. Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Those opposed. Motion carries. Um our next item is uh linkage summaries and there was a linkage with the Lacrosse Education Association. I was not able to attend that one. Um but that linkage summary is attached and anybody that was there I'd like
065to hear any comments. >> It was all of us, wasn't it? >> Yeah. Go ahead. No, I I just meant I Deb was u gone so and I don't believe Adam could make it. He was mostly it was a very full house as I remember I was sitting on the end of the table with Jim. So >> um I thought it was an awesome discussion. Um and and one thing remember that we we reorganized the questions. Um and I did I feel that made a tangible difference in the way the conversation went. um getting people talking about things that they were proud of, things that they were excited to to be seeing, changes that that were positive that that were noticed. Uh the whole tenor of the conversation was different than previous linkages in a
066in a good way. And I think that actually helped when we turned the corner to talk about some of the existing challenges to have everybody in a more productive frame of mind. Um it it was I mean you can see in in the depth of the notes that that Laura took. I mean the whole conversation was taken up in really in those first two questions because it was just constant discussion. There was not a lull. So I think at this and every other linkage we've had with teachers. teachers have expressed um their appreciation and gratitude and about timeness of how well PD has been handled lately, how it's been professional development for teachers. like they've been given more control over their time on PD days and um that's been really important for them and they
067feel like they've been listened to and people have paid attention when they've organized districtwide PD and it's been really useful. I think one of the things I heard is that there's still, and this is kind of my hobby horse, so that's why I heard a lot of things, but the thing I heard that I was like, "Oh, yes." Um, there's still like some problems with traveling teachers not really being able to be part of the community, the campus community, because they're spread so thin. As soon as they finish their art or music or sped TA duties, they have to pack up and leave. And so they miss like staff meetings and announcements and they don't feel like they have a strong um community presence in either of the schools that they end up being part
068of which um weakens their ability to be as effective as they could be. So the more we could do to keep them on campuses I think would be good. Those were some of the things that I heard that I >> I was also thrilled with the um the kudos to administration. I I think they I've never I this is I mean it was really nice to hear that they they're they've built a I think a trust together between um both parties and and I I think they're heading in a direction that hasn't seen been seen in quite some time uh the way it was taken and and that's obviously we need to continue to build that but that is very good to hear because again with they are the lacrosse school system, our teachers and
069our staff. So, um, we need to we need that communication to continue and we need to continue to work together and it it it thrilled me to hear that. >> Yeah, it was it really was great and and not just that they were felt they felt they were being listened to, but that they were seeing action as a result of those conversations and that's that was really meaningful. The only thing I would add is that they talked also about the connection between the teacher assistant and the teacher. How often can they meet? And so many times they wanted to plan with them, but there's the time to plan even before school open >> and how we know we're still lacking in those positions. Yeah, >> but as we think about like planning for the next
070school year, they were talking about getting their sped TAs and all their TAs paid days during >> sort of the ramp up week, the professional ramp up week so that they can know what's going to be happening before they get there the first day. Otherwise, it's kind of on the teacher to like >> communicate with the TAs what they're going to do while they're also trying to set the tone for their classrooms at the beginning of the year. So, if we can think about ways to manage that, that would be awesome. >> It's a good meeting though. >> Well, thank you um all who attended and thank you to the LEA and all who participated in that. I this is a rich conversation. It really says how important our linkages are and how much this
071board hears um what's being shared with us. So, thank you. Uh then we'll need to approve the linkage summary as presented. I'll need a motion. >> I'll make a motion to approve the linkage summary as presented. I'll second >> motion and second. Any further discussion? >> All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Those opposed? Motion carries. Move on to information items starting with the referendum construction plan update. >> I'll invite Joe up because I forgot everything he told me. That's a good sign. >> Uh the the the biggest update I can give is we had our groundbreaking today. Uh thank you to Miss Sukla for making comments uh at the at the meeting and the others for being there. Greatly appreciated. It was an awesome time. It was
072a little muddy. Got a little cold and windy, but um >> it was worth it. >> It was well worth it. And the kids were so cute. They had on little construction hats. It was just the best. >> That was boldfaced. Honestly, >> it was great seeing the kids. I mean, it really tells you why why this is important. It was just, it was just wonderful. And the teachers did a great job with managing all those students there because that can get kind of wild and woolly, but they it was well done. >> One of my colleagues at WL stopped me in the hallway to let me know that his daughter was at the thing and she was so excited about it. So, he's got >> it was a great day. And so, what you'll
073see there, they'll be finishing up the demo at that site uh this week and then starting uh next week they hope to start construction of the new school. So that's exciting. If we look at state road school, we're progressing there. The weather, you know, caused us to have a little step back, but I think with the weather turning, we're good things are happening. And so we're still continuing to do masonary walls primarily on the gym. What you'll see is we poured decking over the new classrooms last week, and you're going to see a roof going over uh the 24K classrooms. They'll be starting that next week. And so the other thing that's happening is we'll start the renifi renovation process. So the four classrooms where we're building the second story above, we just moved them
074out of that area. And so they're starting to renovate that area and put on the second floor uh starting this this week. And so really progressing there as well. So um we feel like we're right on schedule and good things are happening. And I have to tell you the staff have been terrific there. um everything from the leadership to the teachers and and this construction process is different than normal, right? It's because it's happening while they're there. But they've been terrific and they've really worked through this process and worked with us and so good things are happening going pretty quickly. Uh here in the next three or four weeks, you'll see some major changes. >> Awesome. Yeah, we're getting uh budgets for uh kitchen, library, and some other things to bring to the board in
075the near future uh as we make decisions on whether or not to pursue those projects. Um and then the only other thing I would offer is um we've talked a little bit about how this will allow us to consolidate staff and we'll be a little more efficient on the back side of it and that's what allows us to balance our budget as we move forward. Um the cost projections for savings um that I had put together happened in about 2022. Uh and those um cost reduction estimates were also based at the time thinking about school sizes that were about 400 students, you know, so efficient schools. Uh and so our need to cut $2.3 million out of our budget is still the same and we will still do that. But as we look at those
076initial estimates, some of the landscape has shifted a little bit. There's new positions that we've added since then that can be uh reduced. But there's also needs of a building of 550 that looks a little different than the needs of a building of 400. whether that's specialist art music fed um or AA support or administrative support and so we will I will be providing an updated you know summary of how we're going to get to those budget cuts but I just want to let you know that the assumptions that were made in 2022 look a little different than the reality of 2026 and so uh we'll make the necessary adjustments we'll come in on budget we will balance our budget for the long haul but it might look a little bit different than our prospective
077you know four years ago. >> You'll share that with us? >> Yep. Absolutely. I'll share you a copy of it. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions regarding the referendum construction plan updates? I I was at a neighborhood association meeting um on our off night, our school board off night. Um but and they were asking, "Is there any way to see, you know, we I was describing the virtual walkthrough that we did for the new school?" And they were like, "Is there any way we could see that? Would it be poss?" >> I don't think it is. Um I'll work with Laura and Nick to put the a link to that. uh that walkthrough that we did with the board. >> Yeah. >> Online and we can bookmark it to that specific time spot. Um
078we've directed numerous people to that already. There are elementary teachers that go and look at it like every week. >> They're really interest They were really interested. So >> yeah. Yeah. So that's a great presentation that uh Nathan did that day and so we'll put that up on our construction website so anyone who wants to get to it can find it. I think that would be great because you know we got that email I think it was earlier today that the the rendering that was given in the Tribune referenced the intersection of Wnebago and Market as the which doesn't exist of course. So >> yeah, I think it'd be really great. I think it'd be a nice way to build some excitement around it because it really was remarkable. So Wnebago and East F South
079for those looking for the correct intersection >> and that can then put be put on next door as an example. >> Yep. It can be shared widely with anyone uh that we want to. >> Social media. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Any other questions on that? Okay. Then we'll move on to staffing philosophy report. >> Uh I'd like to thank Mr. Wthy for being here tonight to talk about our staffing philosophy. Um this is essentially the first of a two-part presentation. So we definitely want to talk about actual staffing uh in the near future. uh but we're right in the midst of staffing season and so we could try and give you some sort of estimates but it would be truly a plan not an outcome whereas in early April we should have a pretty good
080idea of where we're landing and so I'll turn it over to Mr. Wy. >> Sure. Dan, is this the copy that you have or do you have the updated one? >> I have the one that's on board. >> Okay, that's fine. We prettied up the other one. I could share it though too. I can I should be able to screen share it. Correct. art stream here. >> If you get stuck, you want my help, just give me a yell. >> 8512. >> Coming your way, Leo. Board decks didn't update for some reason. >> No worries. >> Here we go. >> Oh, look at that back. >> There we go. There we go. So busy. This is the busy time in HR. This is when we are start our staffing process. A lot of stakeholders uh
081meeting with them. Job fairs are be coming up here in the next month or so. Um meeting with meeting with building principles and determining needs. I've met so far with the secondary principles and the director of secondary education. Next Monday I'm meeting with um uh Shelley, director of elementary education, and we'll look go through all of the elementary staffing. Let me talk a little bit about some of the philosophies as we as we uh get to that next step. So we want to ensure staffing aligns with expected student needs and established district policy. The that teacher pupil ratio was our one of our guiding philosophies. And then of course whatever budget constraints we have to look at as well. Um as we look at staffing factors, it's the enrollment numbers at the grade levels and
082within the buildings. Uh at the secondary level, it's more the student driven course selections. What do they sign up to take? Looking at the staffing ratios and then of course equity needs of each of our schools too. At the elementary level, 18 to1 is our guiding principle for K3 overall. The hard part of course is you know that when it comes to numbers, if you have 26 26 first graders, well that's too big for one first grade class. But then you end up with two sections, a 13. You can look at you can look at neighboring grades and sometimes we we uh um you know share grades. We might have a one two teacher if the numbers dictate that, but that's not always a best practice either. So you know we look at our equity
083needs depends on the building. Um we look at the makeup of the class. Uh at the grade four and five 25 to one is our guiding principle, but we've had classes that have been bigger sometimes sometimes a little smaller too. of course mentioned the equity strategy. Lower ratios may be provided at buildings of the high need to support students experiencing poverty. Um I work with I work with uh the director of elementary education to determine staffing and specialist assignments. This year our specialist assignments we have a new wrinkle and that's okay. That's a good thing. Um when we expanded 4K that means our 4K students are now taking art music fed which means we're going to be adding sections at the elementary level. Uh the last well the last few years as we've looked at
084staffing and and you had mentioned about you know traveling staff. It's not ideal. >> It's bad for morale. >> It is. It is hard and I understand the challenge. With that said, people want to work full-time too. Yes. So, and that's the challenge. Um, you know, if between a between a choice of traveling or only being paid 70% for 70% work, most people would take the uh the least bad decision. Um, 18 sections would make a specialist full-time. And increasingly, we have decreased the number of sections at our elementary buildings, which has meant to keep people fully employed, we've had to find other work for them. So, our music teach elementary music teachers, for example, might be doing choir uh uh choir lessons at the high schools. Um via teachers might be picking up one
085section at a high school or middle school. When we add in 4K, our section numbers will likely go back up again. So, it's going to be interesting to see what schools where we're at. Um the tricky part is when they're at 16 or 17. you know, that's not quite full-time, but to travel and go somewhere else would put them at a an overload. So, now it becomes, okay, you're going to have 17 sections and you're going to do one intervention period. Um, you know, we come up with, you know, we find things that we need, we address our needs and find ways to keep people fully employed. To go less than full-time really becomes um a revolving door of of uh you know, trying to keep people. So that that's one of the things we
086have to keep in mind as well. The middle school 25 to1 is our guiding ratio although we can go higher and we have but 25 to1 you know ideally we'd have 150 kids and have six sections. Um I work with the director of secondary education and the building principles based on enrollment and course selections. Uh I know that at Logan Middle we have uh we had a smaller group go out and we have a larger group coming in. We probably will have one extra um section of sixth grade this next year because of the numbers. Last year we were able to reduce and now we're back to where we were a year ago. High school, same thing. Um we can go higher than 25 to1. We do. We try not to have anything below 18
087students, but sometimes we have to make exceptions depending on what the class may be. For example, how many welders do you want to have in a in a lab safely? Um we may have classes that you know we want to offer an AP course but the numbers aren't quite there. Um so we may you know we may off run a class with say 16 or 17 in an AP section or a career technology education pathway. um this is a class that's required for the pathway and and then of course the other thing that you know we always try to uh schedule the classes and then when the time comes to run the classes students move students transfer to different classes and sometimes you'll end up with the section smaller if you'd had known in the
088time if you had crystal ball you might have done it a little differently support staff other positions um working with working with the director of student services determining our needs for occupational therapists and speech pathologist, uh, physical therapists, sped teachers, um, working with director of community service for community service needs. This last year and I think the next slide talks about that. The big thing we added last year was we added five behavior specialists and that was a direct result of uh, the needs that you saw in linkages um, some of these big behaviors and limited options of what we can do as far as alternative education. So bringing in behavior supports um behavior support specialists to help address those needs. Last year I mentioned we added we add we had uh one person split
089between the two high schools that was a literacy specialist. Um they felt that that was an important uh program. We added so we went from one between two to each one having their own. We added those five behavior specialist for this next year. We know that elementary consolidation is right around the corner. We know that that'll impact staffing next year. We want to take advantage where we can this year. Um we will likely post more limited term positions. Limited term position essentially says it's not a revol ongoing job. It's a one-year position. Um and maybe that changes. It would depend on attrition, uh resignations, retirements, whatnot. but especially in art, music, fied, guidance, library. Those are positions at the elementary level that if we have an opening, we will likely post it as limited term
090for now. And then as I mentioned before, the increased staffing needs due to expansion of 4K, especially including those elementary specialist. We want to maintain full-time staffing when we can. Um, declining enrollment makes that a challenge. you I I know from past experience that if you try to if you post an 80% full-time enrollment position, you're not you're going to get very limited candidates. People aren't looking for 80%. So, those are the positions that become the struggle. And we try to find ways to make those people full-time, whether it's offering a class that may not be at that 18 mark or or having them help with interventions in the in the building depending on their skill set. We want to continue addressing behavior concerns knowing that there are limited op options for alternative education and
091um despite declining enrollment overall, we have an increased number of special education students. Um and as a result, we have we have had increased staffing and some of those needs. Um some of those have been big needs as well. We take advantage of staff attrition when we can. We try to maintain that full-time. I mentioned that. Um we've had some conversations about addressing pay that's not competitive in the region or creating the desired candidate pool. Um without saying too much, I I will tell you that uh teacher assistance is one area that we know that some area districts uh we strive to be number one. We aren't right now in teacher assistance. And that'll be something that we we look at. Of course, you know, budget's the budget. You have a pie, you can make
092one piece bigger, but then you mean mean means you make another piece smaller. Um, but that is an area where we we need do need to look to make sure that we're getting um the candidate pools that we're looking for. And then identifying critical gaps and services that have a high impact on student achievement, achievement, and teacher well-being. Any questions or comments? Yeah. >> Um, when we're looking at the when you're working with the building administration and thinking about projecting staffing needs, how are you factoring in transfer in, transfer out, do you look at like a three-year average and make your best guess? >> We do. That's about all you can do, especially at the elementary level. And this and these last couple years have been skewed, of course. Um some of the elementaryaries are
093closing and that's you know impacted the amount of people who opt out to other other uh schools. >> Um and all you can you know we make an educated guess and I know that uh um we put some caps last year on at least one building >> try to prevent this mass exodus that impacted our staffing numbers. >> Okay. It's a moving target and we want to be hiring ideally in the March, April, May time frame to get great candidates that are looking for jobs when other candidates are looking for jobs, but we've had to hire as late as August or, you know, even September on occasion when a need shows up. And special education is one of those things where every year there's transfers in, increased needs, new referrals coming through, you know, where
094you might need to hire midyear. uh then if we can hold on to like November, December and take advantage of graduates coming out of the universities, we can get a semester grad who uh is looking for their first job. >> I forgot about one of the key things I was going to mention. Um this last year we had a partnership with WL um residency students. They were year-long um in both elementary education and special education. Um they are student teaching year-long. They get a stipen from UWO. They get a stipen from us. Part of that agreement is that they will stay with us next year. So, we have seven teachers. The plan right now, and they're doing great. Everyone loves them. Um they will they will have an opportunity to apply internally for positions that
095we have this year. Um I have told them that if we if they have not found a position by June 1st, we will put them in positions. So, that could have a huge impact, especially on special education. if we have some candidates that are highly qualified that we can um put in those positions if high need. >> Yeah, >> I I'm assuming this happens, but I just want to make it clear anyone of the millions of people listening to us tonight. Um, but I I would assume that you're getting a lot of your needs by speaking with uh the teachers and parents alike, but you're getting you have like a focus group or wherever you're always continuously uh talking to the people that are in the know um you know like teachers and what is
096needed and what maybe I'm sure nothing ever can be reduced but um is that something we look at? Well, you know, we do have we do have reductions and in and you know, especially at that secondary level, kids vote with their feet, you know, and what we often see is that um there may be one area and I don't want to give any specifics because I haven't shared this with anyone yet, but u we may have one area where the numbers drop and maybe we have one less teacher in that area, but another elective, you know, kids went there. Um we've seen that especially with foreign language. Um, we offered we offered Mung here a few years ago and that program is growing. That's great. That's what we want. So, but that means that other
097programs might go down. >> Yeah. And I and I guess I I I understand that sometimes cuts need to be made. I I was kind of half cheek, but I was saying that as long as we're getting um feedback from teachers and and staff and and you know, people that are working in the schools themselves. Um I think it's important and and I'm assuming we do do that. >> Principles bring that feedback. >> Yes. Okay. And then um Miss Charelle, director of elementary ed, she has an elementary advisory council which has representation from all the elementary buildings. So it's teachers in those buildings. So she has a an opportunity to get direct feedback that filters up to us. Uh and then um Ammy Zabrowski Browski has a special education advisory council as well. And so
098we're getting information there about where hot spots are and where we can do to to meet people's needs. And then of course at our district leadership team meetings, our principles are letting us know uh you know there behavior issues here, do we need social emotional needs here? Do we need social work there? Um uh so I I think we get a lot of information uh from uh the voices of our staff and then of course there's always joint leadership where we meet with our uh union representatives to make sure that we're hearing concerns and addressing them through the budgetary process. >> And I guess that's what I wanted to get clear to everyone. That way it's not just you know two three people thinking of what is needed and determining that. It's a collective collaborative
099effort from everyone. >> Yeah. What I really appreciate about our budget uh how we develop our budget which Miss Spring put in place is zerobased budgeting. It really starts at the ground level in teachers classrooms thinking about their budgets and what they need and it filters up through the principles and then finally up to us. I really have little to no input on what goes on in the science budget. It's the experts in the field telling us what they need. And it's really no different with staffing. It's the teachers in the building. It's the principles working with staffs to identify needs and filter them up to us. We often have to make the difficult decisions of limited budgets and you know weighing priorities what we can do this year and what we might do next
100year. Uh but it's really an organic process that starts with the folks on the front line. >> Mr. Beeski >> I don't know you mentioned UWL as far as student teachers etc. Uh I don't know what the connection is with Vurbo also. I mean they shouldn't be left off the chart. You need additional people they're an option there. >> Speech and language pathologist residency program. We've we've we started a partnership this last year. That's a hard to fill area. They have a new program. We have their first uh first cohort that's going through and we're working with them and and that's something I think we'll probably plan because that's that's an area that we've struggled to um hire and we've had to contract out. So, yes, certainly we're working with Vurbo on that. I actually
101just met with um oh, I forgot her name. um someone on Friday too about a uh um work for department of workforce development grant that we're hoping to use that would um one of the key things we'd be able to do with that is is is to have paras or other support staff teacher assistants or other support staff uh go to Vurbo get a license in an area and help fill those uh shortage areas too so that hasn't that's we're working on the grant it hasn't been approved yet >> and then uh the other option would be in terms I don't know, activities, uh, coaches, uh, activity directors. Um, do you have a shortage of those? And are we doing something to help that situation out? I bring that in simply because if kids get
102involved in some activities, maybe then they feel more like they belong to the school. >> Sure. Um, we don't do a lot of that during the staffing >> part right now, but that's certainly a area that, you know, we we're always >> recruiting whether it's from the universities in town or or wherever else to try to maintain, you know, find good people. >> Yep. >> I I appreciate this report. Um, I know when we did the budget approval last year, there was uh some tense moments talking about staffing, and so getting this information up front is helpful. um to the board as we uh move into our budgeting process. Any other comments? Okay, then we will move on to um >> uh the WASBY 2026 delegate assembly report from our delegate. >> I have a
103report. Did >> you do the homework? >> I I mean I did. It's right here. Um, you'd see some of the things that were passed through the resolution, including our own. You could also see what's what was not, what was voted down. What was significant this year is that we had a amendment proposed for the bylaws of WASBY, which was voted down. Um, that was for the limited membership as well. Resolutions not adopted. The public education endowment fund had a lot of controversy. It did not pass through. And then also the big one that caused a lot of stir was the either supporting decoupling or disapproving decoupling of the public and private school funding. And the one that was voted down was the supporting decoupling, which meant that the question of wasby going to oppose
104decoupling came up right away next and WASBY decided to go go with that instead. Um overall some of these amendments I'd say like they passed through the metrics which I kind of expected them to. The early childcare education one that we put up there ourselves passed and and fully intact which means there was no amendments to it brought forward by the WASBY delegation. There was one person who or one district that wanted to amend something for it too but that was voted down. Um, I guess that's really all I didn't have any prepared written statements for this at all. So, I'll open up the floor for any questions at all. >> And you'd shared some of this when we did the summary of the convention. So, um, but we have to officially uh look at
105this. So, any other comments on these Bosby um >> Oh, I'm on the wrong thing here. Uh, the assembly report. >> I just appreciate you taking the time, Mr. Man, to attend this assembly. It's a not a small commitment to be prepared and to to be a part of that process. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Right. Then we will move on to budget development timeline and then you can just move right into budget update and projections. >> Excellent. I'll invite Miss Spang up. Uh this is her area of expertise. I just do my best to chip in. >> So the budget timeline I Yep. Thank you, Dan. So, this is something that you see every year. We do put it in the um the budget plan document. And as you can see, uh
106we have when we start the budgeting process and how we progress through the year until you, the board, approves the final budget in October. So, it it's almost a a year-long process. And uh so even Matt's uh presentation tonight will be part of the process right to tell you about how we go about staffing because in the budget plan document you will see the staffing FTE at the um at the end of October. So, this is uh it doesn't really change from year to year, but this is what the board can expect as far as getting information beforehand because as you know, when you do get the final budget plan document, it's full of information, but you are not surprised by anything because you've seen it as the year progressed. So on um let's see
107I think a couple of weeks ago I sent out the uh workbooks for the budget development to the departments and the schools to start with the zerobased budgeting that will come back to me on March 13th and then I compile it. we talk about it um as the cabinet and see where we might uh need to adjust some things from this current year's budget uh to meet the needs of next year. So, >> um I would add um one of the tasks in here um is that we would because I don't see that it shows board presentation for like staffing projections or staffing philosophy. I think that's a good task to add in there. >> Okay. >> Um it it's being done so that's a good thing but I think it should be added on
108here and recognized that way. >> Any other comments? >> Otherwise then we can just move on to the budget update and projections. >> There's two different items here. Well, there's the March update quarterly. Um, but then there is um Miss Spang's uh detailed uh kind of assessment of next year and then there's uh another document that I work on in collaboration with Miss Spring called budget projections and that's, you know, intended to take like a longer term view to kind of project out what's happening. Miss Spang's accurate in what she does. I'm looking at kind of general projections as we move forward. So, the numbers are similar but not exact. uh and for our purposes and looking forward, you know, they're close and so that's good enough. And so I'll turn it over to Miss
109Spring. >> Okay. So at this time of year, we're really looking way out there. But one thing that's good about this uh 2627 budget planning is it's the second year of the state bianial budget. So, we already know a lot of information at this time for next year's budget that last year at this time we didn't know. So, we know that it's going to be uh $325 per student within the revenue limit. We know that the uh amount for the categorical aid has not changed. So actually I think if you look at this page here that is uh lots of colors that's our projection at this point for next year. So we kind of uh estimate our revenue based on the revenue limit and the per pupil. And you can see that the net revenue
110change is about $650,000 to the good. Why that is is because that $325 per pupil becomes part of the base for the next year. That's why that is so important to have that in our uh state budget. that amount was at 325 years ago. It might have increased but then there were years where there was zero dollars zero dollars uh per student and that means that nothing was added to the base. So then we take that net revenue change and say okay what kind of estimated additional cost are we going to have if we uh want to give our staff increases and um we know that our maybe our WRS uh percentage might increase but the biggest part is this health insurance. So we've been struggling with that for quite a few years because we
111had a terrible loss ratio. So that's when we implemented the high deductible uh plan and we also implemented a few other things like a in um to a contribution to a HSA for our employees to offset that cost and also um a family reimbursement account if somebody went off of our plan. So we have good news. Um I don't know that you've shared that. >> Believe I did. Yeah. >> Um that we've had like a 12% decrease in our health insurance because of our loss ratio going down to about 60%. So we were way over 100 and now we're much less. So um so what we wanted to do is not only did our uh our premiums re are reduced but um we still have a high deductible plan. So we took that money and
112just pushed it into HSAs. So instead of $1,000 uh for a single plan they will get 2,000 uh to offset that cost of that high deductible. So in that um summary there that health insurance decrease the additional uh to the employee HSA and the family reimbursement budget which we overestimated the last two years because it was new to us. Uh that is like a a wash. So it's not an increase to our budget. It's not a decrease. It's it's just uh a shifting and probably for the benefit of our employees, it's really a great uh shifting of costs. So, and then um we have our transportation contract which is in place until through 2028 I believe. So, we know what type of percentage that increase is. But I will remind you that we reduced that
113contract this year because we went to the two-tier busing. So we were able to save money this year. So this increase um is less than if we would have had our old um amount of routes. And then of course our our utilities um contract services. Uh the state budget dictates that the open enrollment amounts in and out will increase. So, we kind of try to figure that in. So, the increased budget costs at this point we are estimating to be $3 million. Um, and then we took that from the 650 or so. So, we're anticipating again that $2.5 million deficit which we knew we were going to have in these next two years while we're waiting for the benefits of the consolidation of our schools. So we will propose for this coming year just as
114we did for the last year to not make the uh contribution to the post uh employment benefit because we do have enough fund balance there to cover those uh expenses in the next year. So, we still have at this point about $250,000 uh deficit and we don't even know at this point how those zerobased budgets are going to come back. So, um this is just a snapshot at this point to give you some idea where we're at. Questions? >> Can you can you have any estimate? And for instance, we've had many buildings with solar on them. Can you can you talk about the savings of energy utilities cost because of that? >> Um, I will say that at this point it um maybe I should have Joe come up to talk about that. We've reinvested
115savings like we'll get focus on energy rebates. So, we've reinvested that. Um, but I don't know if it's um >> but it still would be good for the public to know. >> Yes. I don't know if if it's been long enough to calculate those savings, but that would then impact Joe's budget for utilities. >> And and just example, I mean, I get monthly statements from XL Energy. I have solar and he and it tells me how much I've saved that month. >> We can share those with you. We we have all that data. >> I think that'd be good for the public to know. >> I think that'd be a good presentation to the board for the public to see. I think the last estimate I saw was somewhere around 50 to $60,000 of total
116savings and it amounts to, you know, about three to $4,000 per building, you know, where it's occurring for the size of the systems we have, which is pretty substantial. >> Yeah, the payback on these systems is about 15 years with the tax credits that are in place. >> That's what I was going to say that return on investment is a while. So I mean you talk the so the savings may not be instant now but if you look down the road it's it's going to be a huge savings. >> Absolutely. >> Which is obviously very important. >> Yeah. And the rebates we've been able to use to reinvest in more energy saving opportunities. So it's like a flywheel that keeps you know expanding our our savings as we move forward. Can you talk a little
117bit about the the impact of underfunding the OPED? >> The impact of underfund, right? We would never want to do that for the long run, >> right? Um but um but that was one of the avenues that we knew we could use for at least these first two years um because of the uh balance that we've had that uh is there to support any claims in the in last year or this year. >> Right? So so in other words, we're looking at $2.2 2 million underfunding OPAD, but that is not opening up significant liability based on the balance that we've already cared. >> Correct. >> So, yeah, if you recall that we always report to the board every year about um where we're at with our oped funds and so we do that annually and
118we do have uh dollars there to cover us so that no one is in uh jeopardy of not receiving their benefits. Are you gonna present? >> I'll do that next. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, um, Patty gives a very detailed snapshot of the year. I'm looking at a a general projection out as we go forward. Are the, you know, the the assumptions that we're making putting us in a good financial position long term. So, the assumptions that are made are, you know, what is our per pupil revenue limit as we go out? And that's based on the revenue limit change. So, we're anticipating an additional $325 per year to the revenue limit based on current state law. It could easily change in any bienium or a negotiation with the governor, but right now that's what we're
119anticipating. Um, and so that changes our state funding revenue limit as we move forward. Uh, we're projecting enrollment uh based on um kind of a cohort model plus the different projections that we've gotten recently both from applied population lab and MD roers. that helps us to predict, you know, from experts kind of what our population will look over the next five years. And we still see declining enrollment. Uh but it's tapering off some in the next few years down to a minus 30 minus 40 uh over the next few years. >> How confident are we on that? I mean, we've been running around 150 100 somewhere in there. And at the bottom again, we're looking at at some of these having less student uh decline enrollment um helping pay back what we're borrowing out of
120our fund balance. But how likely I mean I'm I'm a little like is this a little optimistic? >> Um you won't find Patty and I optimistic around the budget. I I'm more optimistic than she is. Uh no, those numbers uh we feel confident about. If you look at our our um freshman through senior class, uh those numbers are higher than the rest of our classes by about 40 50 kids. And so as those metriculate out, we're going to see this stabilization of our enrollment for about a decade. Um we're still kind of seeing what's happening in kindergarten 4K. Uh but we feel confident that we're, you know, leveling off some as opposed to the dramatic decreases that we had historically. Will it continue to be declining perhaps, but not as dramatic as it was like
121two 300 kids a year like we had for a while. That was that was a lot. >> I think it's important for people to also understand that the de declining enrollment um it greatly affects the city of Lacrosse. I mean, we're just living off um people moving away and it's historically everywhere, especially in the Midwest, seems to be a decline in enrollment, but um as people leave our city, um that affects the school district and it affects it big time. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. So um that we feel confident those are the best projections we have by the best experts in the state and so we feel confident that those are the right uh enrollment changes and so then >> right I hope you're right. >> Yeah. So do I I we will continue to
122monitor every year uh with the applied population lab we do an update. We've you done it every five years. We've done it more frequently just because we want to kind of hone in a little bit more. Small price to pay to get some comfort about what's going to happen next. The MD Roth's assessment we did was very detailed neighborhood by neighborhood uh block by block almost and so we feel confident that for the next five years that's a really good picture of what's going to happen you know so we see increases in our change in revenue >> and 4K those students don't count one for one do they >> you're correct they only count as a 6 uh FTE we're hopeful that that state law changes in the near future as more school districts uh
123embark in all day 4K options uh when its comes to expenses, uh we look at just a few buckets, uh wages, health insurance, transportation, and and everything else. Uh and predicting percentage increases kind of across the board there. 3% in wages, 5% in health insurance, 5% in transportation, and 1% uh with everything else. Uh and as we kind of factor that in, uh what we see is that um we continue to have a deficit budget in the near term that is offset by a reduced uh retirement contribution this year, but will be reduced by the um consolidation uh and the reduction in personnel costs uh in the near future. And so right now, you know, early days, we don't know the changes in the bieniums and enrollments of course, but uh we're on a good
124trajectory to be in the black uh in a couple of years, which is where we want to be. >> I'm glad to see that you're you're assuming a 3% wage increase in each of these years. I know that it's it's tough to consider uh not knowing what's going to be happening with CPI. Um, I would hope that we can we can make wage increases index to CPI more of a standard practice, understanding that in budget projections that's not necessarily best practice for you and especially not knowing what's going to happen with it. But I'm I'm thankful at least that you're thinking about 3% as a as a minimum. >> And we talked with the union about, you know, what our projections represent. And you know the Fed, you know, their guideline, their goal has always
125been about a 2% inflation rate. I don't know, you know, right now if we'll get there necessarily in the near future, but if that were the case, if 2% was CPI and we had about a 1% cost for step increases, then that puts us right around 3%. And so that's a budgeting number that we're using. Now, if CPI is different or there's something crazy going on in the world that we have to adjust to, we certainly will. But we feel like that's a a thoughtful number that we can plug in uh that represents kind of kind of the federal government's goals and our goals locally uh and would be sustainable uh over time for keeping both our new teachers that are coming in at the bottom of the pay scale and our top teachers uh
126whole so to speak with inflation. >> It's sustainable because assuming ongoing operating referendums because that's really what help pay for that. >> Yep. Absolutely. our operational referendum. We're fortunate our community so strongly supports public education. Uh if we did not have that as an opportunity, we would either have uh I mean $10 million in budget cuts would be devastating to our school district. Uh and so uh because the state has not contributed, you know, sufficiently over the last 15 years, our community's really stepped up and made a difference for our kids. >> Hopefully the state decides to step up. That would be special. >> They're looking at tax relief. One of the clearest ways to get tax relief is to fund public education so that districts are not constantly relying on operational referendum. >> Absolutely.
127>> Yeah. So, we feel confident that um you know we're headed in the right direction, you know, and it's often about arrows. Maybe it's not as steep or as flat as we project, but we're headed in the right direction. The numbers are are trending where we need them to be. We feel confident we can meet our our obligations to our our our staff, our students, and our community as we move forward. >> Did you have a question? >> Go ahead. >> I'll say it later. >> Um, looking at the health insurance change, I think 5% is was fine. Can you in in the last cycle or two when we had such a a heavy loss ratio, what was the actual percentage change? I don't remember from the past. We had 7.5% increase >> for this
128current to this current year. Okay. Yeah. So that's not >> wildly outside. It wasn't like a 20% increase and then we're going down to five in our projections. >> I think that actually it was supposed to be capped at 9% but we were able to get it down with some negotiation. >> But that percentage is what it is because of the increased deductibles. >> Correct. Yeah. So, we have to make programmatic changes sometimes to hit our target number. And so, you know, if our target was 5%, we had to make some pretty dramatic change that impacted our employees uh to hit that 7.5% number. Uh and those aren't changes we want to make. We know that it makes um a difference in our in our staff members lives. You know, a higher deductible that doubles,
129you know, that for some folks that dramatically impacts their their day-to-day budget and we're very conscientious of that. Uh so it it doesn't make you feel good when the medical loss ratio is lower simply because you increased your deductibles. And so that's why we're particularly thankful that with the changes we're able to make this year, we're able to double the health savings account so that it lowers their out-of- pocket costs. And uh when we look at kind of comparables to other school districts in our area, we absolutely have the lowest premium now. So if you have a good year, you're in a really good spot. and we're about average for the kind of the out-of- pocket deductible cost that an employee has. And so we're competitive in that range now uh for next year. And
130so we feel pretty good about where we're at finally. It's been a rocky six years to get here. Uh you know, don't feel great about some of the decisions we were forced to make. Uh but we're in a much better position now. Our staff has a a competitive health insurance plan and if you have a good year, you're way ahead of a lot of our peers. What happens if somebody has like they have their spouse's insurance? Does that just doesn't matter? I mean, that $1,000 is still going to go to um to them for that. >> Um if you are not on our health insurance plan, you don't get the HSA. It's just for the folks that are on our health insurance plan. There are we have we implemented what's called our family reimbursement account.
131And so it's a opportunity for folks that can leave our plan if they want to. Uh we will pay them uh $50 or $100 for a family plan to go on their spouse's insurance and we will cover up to like $6,000 of deductible costs uh for them and their family. Uh and so for a lot of families that was really good deal like I can go over there, you're offsetting my premiums and my deductibles covered up to $6,000. That's a nice opportunity for those that have that. Not every staff member has that as an option though, right? And so that's why we're really thankful that we're able to double that HSA contribution and bring the cost down a little bit. Well, I think one of the benefits of being a um an employee or a
132staff member of the Lacrosse School District and many others is uh the benefits were generally fantastic, you know, and and that's really why you got top-notch um employees here that, you know, fought to come to Wisconsin and other areas like that. So, to to lose some of that is obviously devastating. >> Absolutely. especially for our employees. >> And one thing we often, you know, our postemployment benefits, which we just talked about, are by far better than any school district in our area and one of the best across the state really. We're fortunate to still be able to provide that. Uh, and that allows us to attract mid-career teachers to our school district in a way you can't find in a lot of other places. um between the HRA account that we provide to help with
133medical expenses when you retire as well as the um 403b for our teaching staff uh that we're able to provide to them uh you know based on their high three salary. Uh we have a great post-employment benefit and so all the way through you know up to about you know age 50 we're able to really strongly attract teachers in a way that doesn't happen other places. Uh, and then another thing that often gets overlooked is that we we essentially have an employer match 401k, right? It's our Wisconsin retirement system, which is one of the best pension plans in the country. Uh, and so, um, our teachers are able to, you know, work, you know, a great job, you know, maybe some tough hours, some tough years. Uh but when they get to 57, 55, 60,
134you know, they've got a great option for retirement on their terms instead of, you know, kind of being forced to work longer than they might want to. >> How about other employees? Do they have are they able to get on that as well? >> Yep. Absolutely. If you work for the school district, you get Wisconsin retirement system. So, our our custodians, our our school nutrition folks, our AAS, uh they're coming out with a a great uh retirement. uh and many of them work 30 years plus for us uh and are able to take advantage of uh you know great work life balance and uh and retire well. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Any other comments on the budget projections? >> I just think it's important to toute the good things that we have, you know,
135other than, you know, the the tough decisions that had to be made because we're still the best school district to be at. And uh I will say that till I'm blue in the face, but I I think added benefits that that people can hear is is good for everyone. >> For sure. >> Especially future employees. >> Yes, exactly. >> Did you have any Were you going to add anything, Joe? No. >> Okay, we're good. >> We'll Thank you, Miss Spring. We'll then move on to the uh immigration related concerns agenda item that was the board added at the last meeting. Uh wanted to know more about uh what direction we're providing to our staff. Um so I'll turn it over to you. >> Uh absolutely. Uh so um you know with the things that had
136gone on in Minneapolis and St. Paul uh and some kind of activity in our more immediate region. You know, there was certainly some nervousness around uh you know, from our staff like what do I do if something happens? How do I support my students? Uh and so we wanted to make sure that we had good information uh for folks. Um, we sent out a staff email, gosh, probably about a month ago now, uh, just kind of outlining what our legal obligations are, uh, and, uh, what our kind of scope of authority is when somebody shows up and how we would approach that. Uh, and, uh, added a little bit more of an FAQ describing some situations, uh, so that staff felt more comfortable. And we got a lot of positive feedback that that helped, uh,
137kind of reduce anxiety in buildings. Uh as we talked to uh a variety of folks around the community though, we also noticed that there was kind of rising anxiety amongst our parents as as well. And so uh we put out a message to families uh that uh reinforced uh uh kind of the primacy of student student privacy. We don't share people's data. Uh and uh the safety that we intend to provide on our campuses. Um if there's strangers around, we get our SRO's involved. if there's uh intruders, we have lockdown procedures. Uh and so just reiterating to our staff and our families what our procedures are and how we would approach things. Uh and then we've also just um you know been following up with our uh English uh learner TAs who work closely with
138families with our uh school uh cultural uh family relations folks to get a pulse on where families are at. Are we seeing absences? is their uh increased uh concern. Uh and we've been able to support those families with additional resources, directing them to community assets. Uh and for those that need it, providing counseling and social services uh to follow up. Uh and so things have quieted down a little bit in the last few weeks um you know, based on what we're hearing uh in the community and from staff and families. Uh but those communications have been helpful just in um alleviating a little bit of fear, giving folks a little more concrete pathway of what to do if something should happen. >> Dr. Sprag, you asked for this agenda item. I want to make sure
139this is addressed uh the direction you were going. >> Yeah, I I appreciate uh Dr. Angel uh the resources that you shared with us by email after we put this on the agenda. Uh it is is really heartening to see this much proactive material um that you know just recognizing that for well for anybody but I mean let alone you know a first year teacher um in in their very first position if something were to happen in that moment you know what do I do? Um having really clear directions I think is help as well as actual just like statements knowing what to say um in the right circumstances I think is useful. um glad to see that this has been shared widely and discussed with our staff. I think that the the extra step
140of having this in in the public setting at the meeting here um our parents may not know that that this is material that is being circulated that is being put out there and at the same time I want to recognize yeah um I asked for this on the basis of a number of comments that I've been receiving u from individuals who are concerned. Um, I think it's important to note, you know, I was may well I may have been hoping to see some public speakers to share uh those those concerns that coming into a public forum and and that that invites a bit of risk for some individuals and and so I hope that um we can recognize that that doesn't mean the concern is not out there. Um so thank you for recognizing that
141as well. Um, I would start there, but any other comments? >> I will say I did get uh some public input. Um, and I know you're ready to address this on uh student uh uh >> I don't want to walk out. I don't know if I'm going to use the right word. I don't want to use the wrong word here. Um, regarding immigration and I know that you had shared some information with some board members regarding student rights. >> Yeah. So um uh some of our students uh arranged a walk out in protest of immigration practices and ICE. Uh and uh you know we've had I've had you know long history of working with students on uh protests over the years uh certainly starting here in 2020 with some of the things going on around
142the uh the George Floyd murder and other things. Uh and uh students have first amendment rights. Uh they have a a right to express themselves as long as it doesn't cause a disturbance and it isn't profane. And there's a number of Supreme Court rulings which give us pretty good guidance about what that means and what our flexibility as administrators is to control that environment. And so when we hear that there's going to be a protest potentially, we usually have our teachers talk to them or administrators to find out, you know, what's going on, what's going to happen, uh because if if students are going to walk out and exercise their First Amendment rights, we want to ensure that they're safe. Uh we want to make sure that they're not in danger. Uh and uh we
143want to make sure their parents know where they're at so that we're noting attendance properly and those other sorts of things. And so uh it's not our goal to interfere. It's also not our goal to be, you know, exuberantly supportive of their particular platform because that's not our job. Uh our job is to support the students and make sure that they're safe and um you know, in our preferred world as educators back in class as soon as possible so we can be learning. Um but uh I think uh students at uh Logan High School uh some walked out and walked down to the uh city hall and then students from uh Central walked out and over to the intersection of uh 33 and Lozi in order to protest there. Uh and we had staff members
144with them to ensure that they were safe. And we um sent out um we had sent out some stuff to to parents in advance uh families in advance so that they they knew what was going on. Um, we don't always get our messages right the first time and so there may have been some miscommunication in that process and we did our best to ensure that we conveyed the right sentiment as we move forward. >> Can you talk a little bit more about attendance? If they walk out, how how does they're absent then? Is that what's happens? >> Yep. If a parent calls them in and excuses the student, uh, then they're excused for the day and they can leave of their own accord. That's a parent's right. A student's right any given day. uh but
145there are some students who maybe don't seek that uh in advance uh or maybe uh don't intend to maybe they even disagree with their parent and so in that case uh it's a unexcused absence and we note it in their uh attendance record and follow up with any logical consequence that could happen. Um first amendment rights uh just like for all of us don't mean there aren't real world conver uh con consequences for your speech. Uh and so we support your first amendment rights. uh and we support what we have to do as an administration to properly know your attendance. >> Thank you for that. Yes. Uh, can I just say I'm really glad to hear that there were faculty out there with them and that they were talking with administration and faculty to organize
146their right to protest because when I got hired here um there were students protesting all over the country after the Parkland in the wake of the Parkland shooting um about stricter gun control measures. And one of the questions that I asked when I got hired to my field students was, "Are students participating in walkouts? Are teachers talking about that with them?" And they were like, "No, we're not hearing anything about it." They and they were kind of being squashed actually when they tried to organize and bring things up. And so I'm glad to hear that's changed. >> Yeah. Our goal is when kids graduate from here, they're informed and participatory citizens. We want them showing up to vote. We want them active in politics. We want them interested in the issues of their community of
147the day, whatever they are. And these sorts of activities uh with adolescence are an opportunity to explore what that looks like, to practice that in a safe place uh and exercise uh their rights. Um you know, we don't encourage walkouts or anything like that. Uh but we do support students if that's the choice that they make >> and all of the work we do to develop critical thinking, right? It's the application of it. So >> the decisions on either part, right? >> And really in the interest of being the best, to Mr. Newmeisterers's point, if we're going to have protesters and walkouts, well then we want the best ones, you know, the best protesters. >> Yeah. Um, >> I didn't I didn't want to monopolize the floor if other people had comments, but >> I've
148heard from my field students in local schools that there's good communication among staff around what the proper procedures are. I ask them the first day of classes like, "Do you know what to do? Has has someone talked to you about what to do if something were to happen?" And um, everyone felt like they knew. some campuses had more um sort of organized campuswide communication moments around it than others, but they all felt like they understood. I think it's important to also just to ease some of the questions I've received and and I emailed the questions is the the fear of what the rumor was that uh we were actively involved in the um walk out and we actually had staff members um pushing them towards that which I'm glad to hear was not because we
149all we all have rights and I agree with that. Um ju but we we shouldn't be forcing our own beliefs onto others no matter what they are. >> Yeah. It's uh very clear what educators responsibilities are towards politics and we need to present uh uh an environment where if the setting is right and the curriculum aligns then we support students in having a debate and understanding the the scope and the the differences in those uh positions. But um you know I was a a high school science teacher and we'd talk about genetics and we'd talk about um all sorts of things like that involve policy and my job wasn't to convince students of a particular direction just to provide an opportunity to have a rich debate that allowed them to exercise critical thinking and develop
150their own ideas. And it's the same for any issue. Um but if students are going to leave the building then we want to make sure they're safe and supervise them. If students have questions about what their rights are, of course, we answer them and we let them know what the the scope of their uh authority or uh rights are. >> Any other comments? >> Um so, circling back around more to to immigration action and preparation there. Um, I just wanted to share. So, my sister is a is an elementary school teacher in the Twin Cities and um talked to her about students not coming to class, students uh being afraid to come to class, staying staying home, being out of the classroom, about staff at her school whose spouses have been arrested um and the
151impacts on the overall school culture that it's having. And I think that um without sharing too many more details about her um and in an area where I think people would be willing very easily to say well that would never happen here and that's sometimes I think what we hear in our area that well this you know that would never happen here but um that is not um that is not an adequate plan for when something does happen and as we keep you know unfortunately ely learning again and again and again society um the unthinkable does happen um and so I'm glad to see the proactivity here I think that's also really most useful when things are being done in the proper procedures and in the correct way and of course we've seen that that's
152not always the case right now and so I would hope also um that we would be able to see district support for our staff um and our students um and and their families uh if necessary and and to the extent possible um if and when um things go sideways. So, thank you. >> We'll then move on to announcements and um we will start with our student representatives to the board. Um welcome back Emerson. I know you were out for a little bit so welcome back. Um but we will start uh um let's start with you Bethany. Do you want to start? >> Yeah. Um just two weeks ago, our school had our um second showcase of the year where we presented our projects that we've been working on. Um during that showcase, our party planning
153committee hosted a fundraiser. We sold um baked goods and flowers that parents could buy for their students. And with that, we raised over $300. Um, all going towards prom, our decorations that we need. And so, we're really grateful for that. Um, secondly, not specific for our school, but as the district, our robotics club had our zero day this past weekend where we got to use our robot on the field. Um, and got to collaborate with other teams and other schools to see how we could better ours and how we could help them better their robots. Um, and lastly, our school is taking our high school is taking a field trip out to W. Stout on the 13th. Um, it's going to be really I'm really excited for it. Um, we basically just get to tour
154the school and see what it's like there. >> How did you pick that school? >> Um, we were given I believe two or three different options. Um, we did Madison last year and that was another option this year, so we chose not to do that one again. and Stout. I know a lot of our students are interested in going there. So, >> it is Wisconsin's polytenic university. >> Thank you, Emerson. >> Hi, guys. Good to be back. Um, like you said, I haven't really been here, so I also really haven't been at school either. So, um, I know that our boys first playoff game is tomorrow against Toma, so that's pretty exciting. And I guess the only other update that I really know of is people are getting excited for prom. Pep club started meeting
155last month and they're they're getting the theme put together and all the decorations are getting planned. So, it's pretty exciting. >> Exciting. Sweet. >> All righty. Okay. So, state powerlifting is this weekend. So, we have a bunch of lifters who are going and competing there. I want to say it takes place over two days. It's either two or three days. I can't remember off the top of my head. uh spread throughout the day. So if you guys get a chance to take a look, I think there should be a link to watch live. Otherwise, uh lifting cast should also have it. Uh support our lifters if possible. It is officially the end of showqu competition season. They are however doing one last big show for the public on Thursday at central at 7 p.m. if
156my sources are correct. Um, I know that there are going to be a lot of people, but if you haven't had the chance to see our incredible program, come out and take a look. Uh, and we had eight me uh eight students who competed at state DECA uh the business competition. We have eight students who are going on to compete at the international level which is at it's the next step. So, it'll be state and then Atlanta in May. I think it's May >> the Galaxy. Thank you. That's exciting. >> Uh Mr. Beeski, CISA 4 Board of Control. >> Uh I think I reported on most of this previously and we have a meeting on Wednesday, but uh when we talk about dollars for school districts, everybody in CESUS for all the districts talk about
157the lack of money to do things in their district the what the way it should be done. Um we also talked about the evaluation of the director and uh the employees were marginal as far as appraisal board was high. So we surveyed the superintendent in season of 4 and their recommendations or or evaluations were very similar to the board. So we got that completed. >> Thank you Dr. Garcia Lacrosse Public Education Foundation. We heard about the key staff awards from Jill and Nell earlier and the donations from Dr. Engel and so people are doing my work for me. >> Thank you. >> Uh Mr. Newmeister, do you have any city school consortium updates? >> I was on vacation. Thank you. >> I was at a nice warm spot. Um, well, I was on vacation, too.
158So, that was that's why we had our little break this last month. And, uh, Dr. Engel and I actually talked and maybe once or twice a year we give staff a little break from us. I think that maybe is a good uplift for them. Um, for my, uh, reports, um, there's, um, each of you have this linkage document in front of you regarding upcoming linkages. Um we want to make sure we have uh as many people there to hear the important feedback we get from these groups. Uh Logan students uh is tomorrow. Um central is Thursday. Um on the 12th, a week from Thursday is the community youth serving organizations is a virtual one. Um cultural community partners is uh on the 16th. The 24th is the LEA student services committee. That was that additional
159linkage that uh was recommended to us that we approved. And um April 6th is uh we're going to have a workshop. It's our board assessment. We're going to review that. Uh so I want to make sure we get that done. Um you've got information this evening about uh already got an email, but you also have uh information in front of you regarding your art selection. So make sure you do those on a timely basis. Um, I didn't always do that and then I'd have the teachers reminding me and they have enough other stuff to do. So, don't don't make them do what they had to do for me. Just make sure you do that. Um, and I also want to say a huge thank you uh to Dr. Engel and the staff for uh really
160awesome event uh this afternoon with the groundbreaking at the Hogan site. Uh all those beautiful student faces with their cute little hats on them. Uh it was it was just wonderful. It was really well done and um I and I want to thank the board members that were able to attend. It was just a great event and and a lot of fun. So, thank you. >> An exciting start. >> Yes. >> As I said today, that that's property, that piece of ground has been used for public education in this community for over 125 years and will continue to do so for generations to come. And that's really cool. >> Um March is youth art month, so it's fitting that we're picking out art pieces. And we see those beautiful ones over there and alo those
161by Ruby Vanzy. So uh don't hesitate to get out there. That's always good. Uh this week's so school social work week. Uh we have many school social workers across our school district and they do really important things connecting families to resources as they need them. Uh this week is also National School Breakfast Week. You'll find me over at S Southern Bluffs tomorrow morning. Uh I think it's um some sort of um adventure theme. I might be wearing a princess hat or a knight's helmet. I'm not even sure. I always like what they put me in. Uh >> wear a princess hat. We need pictures. >> Nick will get pictures. Uh I enjoy uh meeting our kids expectations there. Um and then I had a couple other things. Uh musical middle school musical Wizard of Oz
162uh next not this weekend but the following. And then there's also a Founders Day pow-wow on Saturday, March 14th. So, a neat opportunity to see a pow-wow with the Ho Chunk Nation if you haven't seen one before. Uh, so those are my announcements. >> Thank you. Uh, agenda planning. Uh, you have the March 16th, 2026 proposed agenda. We'd look for um a motion to approve or any recommendations uh to add. like make a motion to approve the March 16, 2026 board of education agenda without any additions or corrections. >> Sorry, do we need to >> Oh, no. I see. I'm sorry. The polytechnic linkage. I haven't transcribed my notes yet. Sorry, Laura. Never mind. >> Okay, we have a motion. Do we have a second? >> Seconded. >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. Sprag. Any further
163discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. Those opposed. Motion carries. for debriefing. Is that you or myself, Meredith? >> Uh, you gave it to me last time, >> so I'll do it this time. >> Yes. >> Um, I think we had >> we had a variety of topics here this evening uh including uh recognitions, public input, um discussing lots of future things uh with the board. I think we had a good rich discussion uh setting a lot of things in place for the future um and positive for this community. Um uh and even discussing the immigration issue which can become a very um hot political polarizing conversation. Really had a very respectful conversation here and really appreciated that. Any other comments? Okay. Then um hang on, I got
164a slide down here. Um at this point, the Lacrosse Board of Education will consider a motion to move into close session Monday, March 2nd, 2026, immediately following the board of education meeting at Central High School, room 232 pursuant to Wisconsin statute 19.85 85 PN1 PNE E for the purpose of deliberating or negotiating the purchasing of public properties, the investing of public funds, or conducting other specified public business whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require close session and pursuant to Wisconsin statute 19.85 85 PN PN1 PN C for the purpose of considering employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility to which property acquisition and superintendent evaluation. Is there a motion to adjourn to close session? >> So moved. >> Seconded. >> What'd you
165get there, Laura? I was going to say, who's got the motion? >> I think somebody down here asked you to repeat that. Give it to Adam. >> Okay, >> there's a second. >> Seconded. >> Okay, >> that was smooth. >> Okay. Roll call vote, please. >> Mr. Beeski, >> I. >> Miss Fuks, >> I. >> Dr. Garcia, >> I. >> Mr. Manga, >> I. >> Mr. Newmeister, >> I. >> Dr. Sprag. >> I. >> Miss Zucla. >> I. Motion carries. >> With that, this board of education meeting is adjourned. We'll >> give them a few minutes.