001[music] Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> 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 sacred lands of all indigenous peoples. Will the secretary please call the role? >> Mr. Albert >> here. >> Mr. Vineski >> here. >> Miss Fols >> here. >> Dr. Garcia >> here. >> Mr. Jackson >> here. >> Mr. Ma >> here. >> Mr. Newmeister >> excused. >> Here. >> Oh, he's here. Yay. >> He is on. >> Dr. Sprag >> here. >> Miss Sukla >> here. A quorum of the board of education is present. So, the regularly scheduled meeting of January 5th, 2026, can you believe it? Is called to order. We will now have the pledge
002of allegiance. Please stand as you're able and face the American flag. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Tonight's agenda has been previously distributed to the board. I would entertain at this time a motion with a second to approve the agenda as submitted unless there is a motion to amend. >> Like to make a motion to approve the agenda as presented. >> Seconded. >> Motion and second. Any discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify. Oh, we have to do roll call. >> Thank you. >> I'm getting better. >> I actually forgot this time, so I appreciate that. Mr. Alberts. >> Hi, >> Mr. Bneski. >> Hi, >> Miss
003Fuks. >> Hi, >> Dr. Garcia. >> Hi, >> Mr. Jackson. >> Hi, >> Mr. Mao. >> I >> Mr. Newmeister, >> I >> Dr. Sprag. >> Hi, >> Miss Sucla. >> I motion carries. Uh, we have no public speakers this evening. Correct. >> Correct. >> School showcase is delayed. >> Delayed. uh [clears throat] our presenters are the the bug going around is getting everybody. So um next we have the WA Member Benefits Foundation grant award. I'll turn that over to you Dr. Angel. >> Yeah, we're very excited to be able to um um celebrate and recognize a grant from WA Member Benefits Foundation as well as the Mayo Health System. They also provided a grant uh through LPEF. And so I will invite Steve Goldberg up uh from WA Member Benefits Foundation uh to discuss
004a little bit about the grant and then I'll invite up uh Ami Zabowski to talk about the the the funds that will be used and how they'll be used and then uh Nell and uh Sarah Train to talk about uh the uh funds from uh LPF and uh Mayo Health System. [clears throat] >> Thank you Dr. Angler. Hello everybody. Welcome back from the holiday break. I'm Steve Goldberg. I'm executive director of the WEA Member Benefits Foundation in Madison. And I'm here because uh we're about to add the School District of Lacrosse to a network of uh 20 more school districts throughout the state of Wisconsin uh that are receiving unrestricted multi-year grants from us for the purpose of strengthening their mental health programming at the district level throughout the state. And we learned a few
005years ago that one of the issues keeping school superintendents and educators up at night was student mental health. That's a big issue. It's a challenge. Uh it's underfunded in most cases. Uh federal funding and state funding are not keeping up with the need and the need is growing. uh about half of the students in the state of Wisconsin, the K12 students who need mental health or behavioral health services are not getting those services. 49% are not getting those services and about 20% of teenage girls in Wisconsin schools have a suicide plan. So the problem is pretty significant and we are in the business now at our foundation of helping to strengthen the mental health budgets of school districts. Unfortunately, there are 421 school districts in the state of Wisconsin. We are funding 21 of them
006right now, but that's growing. And one of the reasons we added the Lacrosse School District to the program is we were impressed with the significant and strategic relationship that this school district has with community providers and with other resources throughout the Lacrosse area to support youth mental health, specifically schoolbased mental health. We also learned that the approach that is used in this district is very holistic. It provides wraparound support not only for the students but in many cases programming for the parents and the whole family as well. And there is an emphasis on the whole child. We're also seeing something that you'll hear about in a moment that really caught our attention and even though our our grant is unrestricted, we're excited that it's going to be used for the purpose that will be described
007in in a few minutes because that's going to strengthen the culture and the environment in the district to be more supportive and more understanding and more helpful uh of student mental and behavioral health issues. That's a growing trend, by the way, in the state of Wisconsin and throughout the country where in addition to helping to provide direct service. School districts are looking for ways to strengthen the support provided by the entire school district and the curriculum and the staff and so on. So, it's very proactive uh and it's going to have a significant effect. So before I talk about specifics of our grant, the size of the grant and so on, um Ammy Liberowski will talk a little bit about how the money is going to be used and how that will have an impact
008on the students and the staff of this district. >> Thanks, Stephen. >> Thank you, Steve. Um good good evening, uh board members. Um, first I want to express uh as a district our deepest gratitude to WA Member Benefits Foundation, Mayo Clinic Health System, and Lacrosse Public Education Foundation for all their generous donations to support student mental health. And as Steve alluded to, um we actually have um a phenomenal network of connections and relationships in our community to support um student mental health. And um it's something that is a district we take pride in. uh and we have grown a really great framework to um help support a wide variety of needs. As Steve alluded to, what we're excited about with these funds is that it allows us to um take a different approach um to
009helping support not just uh providing intervention to students that may have mental health needs, but as Steve alluded to, really setting the foundation to have environments and relationships in our schools that are um what we would call therapeutic in nature and can help support student um growth and healing. Um so we we are going to be using the funds um to support the training of a uh and the implementation of what's called the neurossequential model in education. Um the neurossequential model which was um developed by Dr. Bruce Perry is a brainbased neurodedevelopmental perspective to understand the why behind behavior. Um it teaches core concepts around brain organization, state dependent learning and stress response so that we can move away from reacting to problems and rather start anticipating needs. Why this is really important and why
010um I'm so passionate about this is um when you think about traditional mental health intervention, it's usually a series of counseling session that a student goes to, you know, maybe once a week if they're lucky. um we have great relationships um in our community to make those things happen um for the students that have that level of need. Um but when you're talking about students with deep-seated um mental health issues or that have trauma backgrounds um once a week is not sufficient to help them heal. And so what the neurossequential model does is it teaches education educators how to structure environments, how to structure their relationships and their interactions with students, how to structure strategies that we use um in the classroom from an academic lens to a behavioral lens so that they're getting a
011dosing of therapeutic support that actually can start to rewire the brain and teach um and teach kids to react in healthier ways over time. Um, so we have this great system already in place, but what we really want to do is make every environment in our school and every relationship in our school therapeutic in nature for all kids. Um, we will be using the funds to um begin training um a a specific cohort of 20 staff members. Um they're going to go through intensive year-long training um in the neurossequential model. Uh and they these uh individuals represent um at least one person from every school building in addition to some district level um key positions. Um this first training cohort this year is going to start in February. Um and they will become the in-house
012experts at each building. So that when they're thinking from things from how do we set up a classroom environment to when we are looking at um our interventions, how do we make sure that they are um brainbased and supportive and aligned with this framework. um to even thinking about how do we implement um instructional practices so that we're we're helping kids manage through stress in a in a healthy way and not get overwhelmed or um or ensure that they're ready to learn um based on where their brain is at. Um so that uh that is what we uh intend to do with the the funds. Um we will be able to train with these funds 20 staff members this year, another 20 next year. So, we'll have a second or third person in each building.
013Um, and then, um, potentially a third cohort as well. Um, we'll be doing other outreach to get information out to other staff too, uh, with the funds as well. Um, and, um, Nell will also and, um, Sarah and Heidi will also talk about how the funds that Mayo is donating will help us to support implementation as well. So, we're very excited. Um, this is really taking uh taking us from having a holistic approach to mental health to really thinking about being a school district where all our environments and all our interactions are therapeutic and supportive of healthy brain development for kids. Um, so with that, I'll turn it over to Nell and Sarah and Heidi and they will talk about the Mayo funds and how we're going to be using those to help support this
014project as well. >> Yeah. So, you all know me well. This is uh Dr. Sarah Train. She's LPF's newest board member, actually. So, I'm really glad she could be here with me. >> Yes, absolutely. >> And we are grateful to be supportive of this grant from WA EA benefits. Um, Lacrosse Public Education Foundation often is funding projects through our competitive grants program, Goldstar grants, that have a mental health focus. So, when Dr. Dr. Angel approached me about the opportunity to perhaps find some grant funding that is supportive of the grant from WA benefits. It aligned really well with timing from a grant request um opportunity from Mayo. And I'll let Sarah just say a couple of sentences about Mayo's commitment to mental health and then I'll share about how we'll implement the funds. >> Yeah,
015thank you. So, I am here to represent Mayo Clinic Health System. Um the previous member on the board, Dr. Mark Brum, um served his three years. She's a family physician who's quite intimately connected with the mental health concerns of the district and the community. Um I grew up in the Lacrosse School District um until high school when they changed the boundaries and so I had to make a little switch. Um but I just so happened to be a pediatric psychologist um and one of the only board certified pediatric psychologists in the state, let alone this area, the only one within Mayo Clinic Health System. And I I'm right here. So um I'm I'm happy for the um for the the timing. um for me to be coming on to the board um for the district's
016efforts of paying attention to student well-being um and our city as well. Like our county has been a trauma-informed county. It's led the state in some of that work. Um and um I'm just very excited and totally on board and thank you as well um from um for the state to be able to recognize this city and this district um for the things that it does. It's different than a lot of other districts. So, thank you. >> So, just very briefly, we mayo um donated $10,000 and that those funds will be distributed through gold star grants. Uh like I said, we receive lots of requests already with mental health references to mental health, to belonging, to social emotional learning. All of those things are related to this model. Um we will be letting teachers know
017especially those receiving the training but also any other teacher who um wants to implement these concepts in their classroom. We know sometimes training comes along but then the materials or um resources associated with bringing that to life in the classroom can be something where there's a little bit of a gap. So um setting up spaces, setting up routines, those sorts of uh requests will be uh some examples of the way these grant funds will be used. and we'll work with Amy's team to make sure that those grants are aligned when we distribute these funds. So, we're excited to be a a part of it. >> I want to say one more thing if that's okay. >> Please go ahead. >> Um because as a you know, as a provider in the community, Mayo Clinic is
018definitely committed to uh coordinating services with our local community partners. Um we very much appreciate this and as well as the important of using evidence-based treatments um it to conquer mental health concerns. It's not just about getting more people out there. It's about getting people well trained. And that's something specifically that this grant is doing, which is wonderful. Um, and again, appreciate the opportunity for the um for the interaction and the community connections. >> Great. >> Thank you. >> So, not only is the program in good hands, but there's something else we'd like to put in your hands. >> And Jesse Martinez, could you join me here? I Jesse is in addition to being a proud staff member of the district, he's also a member of the the board of trustees of the WA Member
019Benefits Foundation. So convenient that you're located here and uh help me show this to the board. So our grant is in the amount of $55,000 to be paid over a 4-year period unrestricted, but the district have decided to use it for the neurossequential programming that you heard about. And uh I know that uh not only is that evidence-based, but the track record of your student services support team uh is extremely uh bright and uh significant. So uh thank you for supporting their efforts. Uh we know that this is going to have impact. Some of it won't be overnight as Ammy was explaining. It's going to take a while, but after you developed a couple sets of cohorts uh in each school building, you're going to see some good results. So, thank you very much, Dr.
020Angel. Thank you for your support in reaching out to the community. We're going to be partnering with Dr. Angel to approach other funders with whom we might have relationships in the lacrosse community to make this effort even more fully supported. So, thank you very much. [applause] Board members, do you have any questions? >> I don't have a question, but I do appreciate your willingness to come forward and help the school district of Lacrosse out. That need is out there and needs to be helped. >> I've spent a large part of my career working in the mental health field and there's just not enough services. There's certain niches. If you're a certain demographic, you might be able to get some services, but there's lots of people that don't fit neatly into those demographics and and need
021the services. I do have a question though on the training. Who's providing the training? Where is that something local? Do how what is that training about? >> Yeah, great question. Um, so over the last two years, um, three staff members, myself, um, Leoette and Curt have gone through, um, training in this model. So, we've done the training that we'll be providing and then we um Leah and I just finished our advanced trainer status which allows us to train anybody in our district um to be a local trainer in their building. >> And that's for all grades, I assume. >> Yep. All grades. We have every every building represented. Um and honestly, I didn't get too much into this, but um the model is super helpful with every human interaction that you may have throughout your
022life. Um I use it a lot with my own children. I use it with I think about it when I'm talking with my husband and we're going through things. So, um it really is just learning about the brain and how you think about what's happening in our brain so that we can help regulate and um support people through difficult times. >> Speaking of time, we've already taken a lot of your time. Is there time for a picture? >> Absolutely. >> I [clears throat] have a question. Is there some good reading material on this? >> Yes, actually um there's some good reading material. There's some great books if you really want to get into it, but um that I can have passed along. Also, there's some great intro videos that um give a good brief overview
023if you want to do something easier to access. So, I can share this with >> Dr. Dr. Bruce Perry. Is there a book he's written that would >> Yes. >> Yeah. So, the the two key texts that we reference is What Happened to You by Dr. Perry. Um, and Oprah Winfrey was part of that. And then, um, uh, the boy who was raised as a dog is the other, um, uh, text that the training goes into. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. a picture and I'll send it to you [laughter] right now. Ready? One, two, three. >> You guys look great. I'd like to stay at high school. I know, but >> so we'll just keep moving along here. Move on to the superintendent's consent agenda. The superintendent's consent agenda is a mechanism used by the
024board to deal with routine matters that must come before the body. Are there any items the members would like to remove from the superintendent's consent agenda? >> Hearing none, I look for a motion. >> Make a motion to accept superintendent's consent agenda. >> Second. >> Okay. Motion and a second. Roll call vote, please. >> Who had the second? >> Mr. Beski. >> Mr. Motion. >> Okay. Mr. Alberts. >> Hi, >> Mr. Beeski. >> Hi, >> Miss Folks. >> Hi, >> Dr. Garcia. >> Hi, Mr. Jackson, >> I >> Mr. Moff >> I, >> Mr. Newmeister, >> I, >> Dr. Sprag, >> I, >> Miss >> I. Motion carries. >> Uh, we will then move on to the board consent agenda. And the board consent agenda is a mechanism used by the board to deal with
025routine business that must come before the body. Are there any items that members would like to remove from the board consent agenda? >> Hearing none, I look for a motion to approve. like to make a motion to approve the items on the board consent agenda as presented. >> Second. >> Yay, you're mixing things up. I like this. [clears throat] >> We have a motion to second. We'll look for a roll call vote. Thank you, >> Mr. Alberts. >> Hi, >> Mr. Beski. >> Hi, >> Miss Folks. >> Hi, >> Dr. Garcia. >> Hi, >> Mr. Jackson. >> Hi, >> Mr. Ma. >> I >> Mr. Newmeister, >> I >> Dr. Spray, >> I >> miss >> I. Motion carries. >> Okay. Matters reserved for board action. um results monitoring report R2 and this is um
026the monitoring template. >> Uh we have no recommended changes for the monitoring template. Um however we are thinking about evidence in different ways for next year. Um, one of the things that we shared in our last board update or that I shared in the last board update was um, uh, student growth based on the forward test and it was, um, looking at a little bit differently than just achievement at proficient or advanced. Um, and so that is the sort of analysis we're going to be looking at this year. Um, [snorts] different ways to capture growth of our students as opposed to just raw achievement. And then um thinking about our our um kind of our our reference groups a little bit differently as well. Um you know certainly disagregating like we always do so that
027we can track that information and progress but also looking at those who might be in intervention and seeing the impacts of those interventions uh for our students. And so while the report template will look the same some of the evidence we present this next year might be a little bit different. >> So uh my question is um often times when we're looking this data we like to look at previous years and always go well they changed the score they changed the cut score they changed the test so now we're changing again I just it's it's some it's a struggle sometimes for us to get some consistency >> we're the what we have presented in the past is pretty simple and straightforward for us to continue reporting we want to just present a more multiaceted look
028at achievement for our students and so we'll continue what's been there already but I think there's other ways to think about achievement uh and we want to present those options as well for the board to look at to get a more holistic view of how our students are performing. >> I'm not opposed to looking at student growth. I think that tells you more than achievement on a particular day. But other questions? >> Okay. Then we would look to approve the R2 template as presented with no changes. I'll make a motion to approve the R2 academic performance monitoring report template as >> second. >> I'm going to give it to Mr. Vagneski. >> Okay, the motion is second. Any further discussion? >> Roll call. Thank you. >> Mr. Alberts. >> Hi. >> Mr. Vagneski. >> Hi.
029>> Miss books. >> I. >> Dr. Garcia. >> Hi. >> Mr. Jackson. >> I. >> Mr. Ma. >> I. >> Mr. Newmeister. >> I. >> Dr. Sprag. >> Hi. >> Miss. >> I. Motion carries. Uh we then move on to operational expectation monitoring report OE4 personnel administration and we've got the um report with the data and then the recommended action. Um this is a part of our regular monitoring process. In this case it's OE4 uh personnel administration. And so Mr. Mr. Wthy is going to present some evidence uh for the board that identifies that we have met uh the school board's expectations. And with that, I'll turn it over to Mr. Wy. >> Thank you. Um I'm going to read through the summary. I'm going to point out a few key things. Um I think
030things are going well and sometimes when you look back, you start to realize, gosh, we went through some tough times. Um I started in 2021, the job market was crazy. It was hard to find people. Still hard, but getting better. I think we're going the right direction. Um, let me read through the summary. The monitoring report OE4 personnel administration is in compliance with schoolboard expectations with exceptions noted as set forth in the 15 operational expectations in the policy. The human resource res resources department in conjunction with the superintendent is primarily responsible for OE4 but relies on the support of a wide variety of members of the administrative team particularly in the area of hiring qualified diverse staff members supporting staff with professional development and evaluations. The OE4 monitoring report demonstrates that expected human resource practices
031and procedures are in place. Highlights would include meeting compliance requirements and no formal complaints or grievances filled filed in the 2425 school year. Areas of growth would include the need to make continued progress toward matching the diversity in our community with our workforce and remaining competitive in salaries and benefits. One indicator did not completely meet goals. The board made a change to OE4.5 with a goal that 85% of staff respondents agree or strongly agree that they work in an environment that is respectful, collaborative, and safe. While we saw growth from last year, the survey results were slightly below 85%. And I'd like to touch on that 4.5. That's one of the ones that I'd like to go over. Um, under 4.5, there's a couple indicators or there's one [clears throat] indicator rather, a couple pieces
032of evidence. Uh, indicator one is the results of an annual staff climate survey will indicate that 85% of staff respondents agree or strongly agree that they work in an environment that is respectful, collaborative, and safe. And the evidence is that we had had 550 employees approximately complete the climate survey last year. The results of the survey showed a small improvement in the average from last year in all six relevant questions. Um, the most notable increase was in the question, I feel safe at work, which saw an increase from 3.87 to 4.09 on the average score. You've got a link to those questions and results. And overall, the staff climate survey showed positive improvement on 43 of 44 climate survey questions. And the most notable is a 25% increase on the question, how likely are you
033to recommend the district as a place of employment? which of course ties into our theory in uh HR of attract and retain. So we want to attract good people, we want to keep good people. Um looking at 4.3, there's a few different indicators I just wanted to touch base on. Uh 100% of certified staff and support staff required to have license or highly qualified as as defined by the DPI. We are regularly maintain watching m making sure that all all licenses are in place. DPI is slow in processing things. I wish they had a better system. We're often waiting uh six to eight weeks for things to go through and if there's a mistake, there's an error, it goes back and it may take another six to eight weeks to to remedy that. So, it's
034an ongoing process to make sure that everyone has completed everything they need to to have the license. Um, indicator two, the annually calculated non-retirement teacher turnover rate is below the state average. We are below that state average. Um, it's it's high. It's higher than it's been if you look back historically over the last 25 years, but it's below the state average here in Lacrosse. So even though it's higher, it just reflects the the culture that we're in right now. And indicator three, racial diversity, we continue to work on that. Um we are we were almost identical to last year, but above where we had been. And then the last one I'd like to touch base on is 4.6. um 100% of regular employees who are with the district for at least 30 days starting the
035traditional school year will complete the annual safe schools modules that include district personnel policies. Um and I I point this one out just simply because I'm proud of the changes we made. We created some efficiencies. We've made this much better. Um, we've always gotten 100% but we have literally been finding people the last week of May to get them to complete bloodborne pathogens or whatever compliance requirement that they needed to do. Um, we changed how we did that. We do all of our training as part of orientation. We have all staff on the same cycle. Um so every you know if if we have um mandatory [clears throat] reporting I think it's every three years four years I forget that but everyone's on that same cycle and now what we do is we have all
036staff watch the required compliance training either in professional development or in staff meetings and it's a lot easier to ensure that everyone gets it done and everyone in the staff does it um when we do it together rather than have people do it individually. We're no longer tracking people down. we were done before Thanksgiving this year. Um, which is far better than tracking people down in Memorial Day. Questions on 04. >> One of the documents that's attached is the longitudinal report and I don't know what all those columns mean. I've been trying it. First of all, it's teeny teeny tiny so I got out my microscope um to read it, but I I'm I don't know what all these columns are. >> I can help with that. Let me blow that up about a thousand
037times. Well, >> yes, >> this is OE4.5. >> It's got some rich information. I just don't know what it's telling me. >> I think the top column was top row was probably cut off, so that doesn't help. Um, >> that would make a difference. >> I probably didn't share it with Mr. Wy properly. Uh, so the first um three columns, first three, let's see. Uh, the first four columns would be the district as a whole. And so the first column is the agree percentage. So on the first one um the amount of work I'm asked to do is reasonable. 67% of staff indicated um yes in some manner. So the affirmative uh the average out of a score of five was 3.38 um for this school year. So this would have been spring of 25.
038Then [clears throat] the previous survey would have been spring of 24. And then the change was the percentage increase. And so those first four columns represent the agree percentage, the average of this year, the average of the last year, and then the change over time. And then the next set of four columns are teachers. The next set of four columns are support staff, uh, etc. uh and I can provide an updated graph [clears throat] so that you can look at the specific uh headings and groupings. Um so it breaks it out by um group uh after that and that's helpful for us to know that you know maybe we're doing well on supporting our teachers but our TAs are feeling under supported or maybe our uh administrators aren't you know feeling the same way about
039things from their perspective. And so having those diverse viewpoints uh on this survey helps us um kind of tackle groups of individuals that have different experiences as well. So I apologize for that miss, but we'll get that out to you. >> Sure. >> Thank you. Any other questions >> on indicator um 4.9 or expectation 4.9 indicator number two it talks about CS of poor district in the upper 50% statewide comparable districts base and highest teacher salary that's the highest salary on a teacher schedule and the base starting salary >> um 4.10 910 I think is what you're on. Correct. This is the the teacher salary. Yes. >> Yes. Um >> are you the the Are you I'm sorry. Are you looking at the CISA one or the >> Yes. >> indicator two. >> Yeah. that
040that references the highest salary that's listed on the the that we have a survey that goes out every year to every CISA and we all report our stuff to each other and the high salary is on our matrix. There are some teachers with coaching contracts and additional duties and things can exceed those by fair margins. And then the average listed there out of CISA 4, that's the average salary based on the DPI report uh for um our school districts in CIS4. >> I I don't see where the average comes. I don't see the average in here. Maybe I'm misreading something. >> There's a the top one the top one is wage comparison data CISA 4. That link takes you to the all of all of the schools in CISA 4. There's a state one that
041has all of the state ones. >> I mean, I just think from my understanding, it would be more relevant if for instance, the average teacher pay in on an Alaska, Lacrosse, West Salem, Homeman, etc. as comparison to the top salary in each case. >> Yeah. And in the the top piece of evidence there, it shows that the top average salary is also the highest in lacrosse. So the highest average salary is 65 66,555 in Lacrosse and then the second highest is on Alaska very close 66,392 and it drops from there. >> Okay, I see if you go down to evidence and then >> yes >> I see the word average I had missed that previously. Yep. >> Yep. So yeah that that first link indicates the the average salaries which is >> I think that's
042more relevant than top or bottom. >> Correct. >> Totally correct. Although I would argue that that introductory one is pretty important for recruiting too. >> It is. But at the same time, you could have one teacher in your district at that salary and the rest at a beginning or entry sent >> total percent. >> Other questions or comments? Jeff or Scott, do you have any? >> I do not. I just know it's important to keep our staff happy. So, I appreciate us continuing to work on it. I I just want to say kudos on chasing people down on the bloodborne pathogens. Every place I've worked, you have to have them. And then boy, I mean, it's those kind of trainings. And your job is to work with kids. And so sitting down at a computer
043and doing that survey is not always the top priority. So getting those in is kudos to you for that. >> I I wish the DPI would maybe have a little quicker version, too. So, I think uh 14 minutes is maybe overkill on that topic. >> That's a lot shorter than some of them I've done. So, >> well, true. I would just um wrap up if there's no other questions saying like we have low attrition. You know, people are not leaving our school district. It's less than in other school districts. Um we've dramatically improved the staff climate over the last few years. And while we still have some areas for improvement, uh we're making moves in the right direction that show up consistently. Uh no complaints or grievances. Uh, and I think that's largely due to
044our joint leadership process where we meet collaboratively with all of our staff groups multiple times a year uh to work through issues uh collaboratively and our staff compensation is the highest in the area. Both the the top wage, the starting wage and our um average wage um and uh it exceeds the state averages as well. And >> I think we might be number two behind on Alaska in one area, but otherwise we're we're always in the top two. Always. So, so we have an attractive place to work and good things are going on and we'll continue to to seek improvement. >> Thank you. >> There are no further questions. We look for a motion to um approve this report. >> Make a motion here in regard to the monitoring report for policy OE-4 personal administration
045with respect to the provisions of policy. >> Yes. SL uh SLS SR5 superintendent accountability the board of education concludes that superintendent and district are in compliance with exceptions noted >> second mouthful there >> motion second any further discussion roll call vote >> Mr. Alberts >> I >> Mr. Veski >> I miss >> I >> Dr. Garcia >> I >> Mr. Jackson >> I >> Mr. M >> I >> Mr. Newister >> I >> Dr. Hi, >> Mr. Cle. >> Hi. >> All right, then we will then move on to the consider additional linkage. Um there's been a request by the LEA um got a narrative student services um would like to have a linkage with the board. Um the request was made to me as board president and since the board typically approves our linkages
046and our linkage questions um and bringing it forth to you. I would support doing it but I want this is really an action that the board should take not just the board president. I don't know if you have any questions or anything you want to add. Um Laura would then work to schedule it get it on her calendar. Um but I um I think it's kind of nice that the group reached out and would like to meet with us. I think it's a good idea. I think I would be interested in hearing from them. >> Second. >> Well, I'll go ahead and make a motion to add the linkage with the LEA student services committee to the board's annual linkage calendar. >> Second >> motion and a fight for the second. >> Dr. Garcia. >>
047Any further discussion? All those in favor? Oh, roll call. >> Mr. Albert. >> Hi, >> Mr. Excuse me. Vagneski. >> Hi, >> Miss Books. >> Hi, >> Dr. Garcia. >> Hi, >> Mr. Jackson. >> Hi, >> Mr. Ma. >> Hi, >> Mr. Newster. >> I >> Dr. Sprig, >> I miss >> I. Motion carries. >> We will then move on to the Wisconsin Association of School Boards proposed resolutions um for the upcoming um conference. Typically the board um provides recommendation to the delegate Mr. Ma um to vote as he sees fit for the board. But I do want to I'll bring up too I don't know if any other board members have any other thoughts but um the item number two I don't think works for our district and I um talked with uh Dr.
048angle. Um, it really talks about removing the waiting for poverty in terms of the school report card and that would not work in our favor. It would work certainly in the favor of um wealthier districts, but um not in our favor and so I think that's something we should consider opposing. And then um resolutions number 10 and 11 [clears throat] kind of counter each other. um one supports it, one is is against it, but it's about um decoupling the funding for private school vouchers. And quite frankly, what it would then do is hide it from the tax bills and and it's public money going into education. And I think it should be transparent to the public how it's being spent. >> I think I'm Am I saying that fair? >> Yes. If if if the
049the money is spent through solely state funds without any local reporting, then it will be very difficult to identify where the funds are coming from. reduces transparency, lowers accountability, and it really does create two separate streams for funding of schools, which starts to violate a number of the um the clauses of our constitution related to the provision of public education. And so I think to support something that would start to jeopardize how we fund public education would be a bad idea. >> Mr. very musky. >> Uh I happen to be the representative voting on these resolutions as as the CISA 4 representative. So I'll also be working within and then our next meeting is the 7th this Wednesday and Paul Fischer the CEO of CES is going to go through each one of them with
050an explanation. So I'm hoping because there were some of them that I read through and I just what are they really saying here? We can we can meet up on that. >> Absolutely. >> So, what we [clears throat] need this evening is to provide direction to our delegate on how to vote on these resolutions. So, >> are there other comments? Is that we'll need a motion to provide direction to vote as he sees fit um for all of them or provide more direction on some of the resolutions. Would this need I mean I'm going to set out the motions here as a delegate of course, but is this going to need multiple motions to make for any discussions for any of these things? >> Imagine if we wanted to provide specific recommendation. We would need
051to break them down on >> however you I mean >> forget what we did in the past. >> We only had one or two. >> Yeah, this one's a little bit spicier than some of them have been. >> I agree by that. I am happy to say that our own resolutions we brought to WASBY was passed through. So that's very exciting for there. >> Largely unchanged. You are correct by that. I just noticed a couple of small changes here. I mean >> 10 and 11 I completely agree with you. I would like direction about this one right here because it's kind of contradictory to vote yes or no on one or the other. It seems I hear you can only go on one part. Can say from last year too when voting with the discretion
052I focus on what exactly the district would like. This year I actually while sick I actually did some more research on what exactly the state legislature was doing in accordance with this. So it made a lot more sense looking at some of these resolutions and knowing what's going on in the state assembly and what's being proposed here. But um feeling quite confident to come in there in support and to represent the district here. But I agree if you're for 101 I would like some discretion on that one there. >> So direction or discretion? >> Directions. very very different things. So um one option might be to u recom make a motion to recommend that our delegate vote as he sees fit to represent our board with the exception of item number two to oppose that
053one and for items number uh 10 and 11 to um keep the to vote to keep the funding transparent or your words. Those are just kind of my summary or you can make it more separate motions. >> I wouldn't mind a little opportunity to talk about these kind of individually and just see if we have consensus around them. >> Sure. >> Number one opposing the removal of caps from the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program. >> I can speak a little bit give some background information. So, and um was a bill that expired last year of which limited only, I believe, the voucher program to 10% of students in the state of Wisconsin right there. And um I think there was a bill to put that cap to 2027. That's where a lot of this whole entire
054fight is in the state assembly right here. And it looks like based off this proposal, it um it is trying to get WASBY to gain the position to kind of let go of the removal cap and to let it go forward. >> I'm not sure I follow what you're saying there exactly. >> December one opposes removing the cap. So >> because [snorts] there's a limit on how much public tax funding can go into voucher programs. Because as we as we continue to expand the per pupil funding of the voucher, if proportionately higher number of students are are able to access those and then also removing the income limits caps, uh it opens it up to individuals who don't need the support even further. >> So an I vote on one maintains the caps, right? >>
055I agree. >> Is that the consensus of the board is to support that? I would support an I vote on number one. >> Okay. Looks like that. >> We're just going to do consensus. >> Do we want to [laughter] get Jeff and Scott to >> Jeff and Scott? Do you have comments? >> No, I agree with what you're saying without >> Yep. I support it. >> Okay. >> So, number two, I would recommend opposing that one. >> We don't need to We don't need to vote. We're just gonna generally >> just get a consensus and then we'll have a motion at the end. >> Yeah, I suppose we can if we want to really put it on record. Yeah. [snorts] >> So, sorry De. So, the number two was the one that I talked about
056um that um we would look to being opposed because it takes away the waiting for the poverty in that school report card and would not benefit our district and would benefit wealthy school districts such as the ones putting it forward. >> Is that everyone agree with that? Okay. >> I would go on that one. >> Okay. Number three. I skipped one. Mr. Ma, do you want to talk about number three or Mr. >> I wish I brought my notes along with me for this. [laughter] Number three to me reads as related to powers uh in that it it connects to the the creation of the funding stream through is it DPC rather than DPI >> like for for the 4K programs >> DCF the department of children families department of administration is another one that's
057been used and sometimes the state legislature has sought to seek direct authority through their own body to distribute funs And this policy is asking that all funds distributed to public education schools go through the DPI because of their expertise. [clears throat] >> That makes sense. >> I would support that. >> Then number four, this would oppose limits on scheduling referendum um any limitation, duration, scope, frequency or effect of school referendum. There's currently statutes that do limit when they can be done. Um but this resolution would oppose um scheduling limits >> and this is something that's al >> put forward in the state assembly was quite a contentious issue last year in the state assembly as well. So this would actually be a point of interest to um WASBY to take a position on >> and
058when referendum come before this body and I can speak from previous years um when I was on the board my first goound um we had lively discussions about when we would schedule and whether it's in the spring or the fall and and um so we as a body can still say and and typically we ended up going with whatever election um within our time limit that we had that would produce the most voters. Um that's been a pretty consistent um vote by this body in the past and so this body still has a lot of say on that as well. So I just want to provide that um fe that input to you as well. I I appreciate the comment in the rationale that a referendum is one of the only tools that we have
059and I think it's one of the most direct ways to get feedback and I know people may you know let's look at California where every election is 800 referenda to vote on individually and this doesn't mean we're headed in that direction but just having a little bit more leeway in when a need is identified to be able to pose a question and get direction about it. I I would support this. >> I agree. >> I would also agree here. This is something which I kind of felt strongly about just knowing by the fact that schools have been consistently kind of forced to rely on referendums as time goes on, especially we saw this with declining enrollment a lot is that the funding challenges are still there. >> You can it's not hard to imagine a
060school district that you misses a piece of red tape and loses their opportunity to secure necessary funding because of the limit on referendum. questions, >> right? And the law in the that was proposed in the state assembly, I believe, was to limit schools from seeking referendum until they paid off all of their kind of obligations from the previous referendum, >> which in theory >> those are often 30 years >> in theory sounds like fiscal respon in theory sounds like a fiscal responsible action, but in practice, as we've seen here, it's just it's not doable in the current climate. >> You can't buy a car till you've paid off your house. [laughter] >> Doesn't make sense. So it's consensus of this body that we um support the resolution. So number five, substance abuse disorder um and
061treatment aid. I think we had a good presentation already this evening um that would recommend what we support. Um this would have categor categorical aid um that would be comprehensive to fully fund necessary resources and staffing. Certainly something we I think we all support on that one. >> Okay. Then we will move on to number six, vocational transition for students with disabilities. Um using state, federal, local resources with um DVR to work with students. And I think that's important because there is there comes um students special needs can be part of our district till they're 21 and DVR serves over 18 and over. So there comes some overlap. So that makes some sense. We all support that one. Okay. >> Seven. Universal state covered meals. >> Yes, please. >> Let's do it. >> I was
062going to say that's pretty self-explanatory. >> This is the one that always comes up though. >> I mean, we hear pretty consistently about the needs in especially at our elementary schools. I mean, the title funding is a major concern that came up in our referendum question. Um, it's it's a big issue and it's really surprising how much hunger is around us and schools are a primary source of of sustenance as well as education. You'd be shocked how many college freshmen write about the humiliation and um school avoidance they experience because they can't afford lunch or they don't have money for lunch and they're given cold lunch like a dry peanut butter sandwich instead of the lunch everybody else has. It's just >> cruel. Another thing too is to research this is that it's kind of
063also hard for local schools to fund their own self if they if school districts are >> expensive for us to try to do it. >> Right. I believe from my own research from when I was looking through this when I went through I believe was Black River Falls or an adjacent school to that that um recently had to stop their funding from local localized like covered meals for everyone there just because of the funding challenges right there. Springs to the state. I mean, of course, there's always the question of how exactly are we going to support this? It is still be expensive. I mean, who's going to take the cost of it? But like, as you said, there's still a need. It kind of leaves a lot of nuance there. >> We tend to go
064to referenda for teacher salaries, right? That's mostly what we go to referenda for um operationally, but I would love to see the state make a plan for this legitimate >> put some of those budget surpluses towards feeding kids. Okay. Number eight, public education endowment fund. This would support the creation of a public education endowment fund um on behalf of Wisconsinites to fully and equitably fund public education across the state. >> I like your >> agreement. >> Number nine is ours. So I think we are in agreement on that one. Number 10. >> So, >> might as well mention number 11. The same one here, too. >> Yeah, we'll have to It seems like you need to pick 10 or 11. >> You have to pick either to support it or oppose it. >> Support it.
065>> All right. >> And Okay, this is like referendum questions. It ask questions backwards. So, make sure we're going in the right way. >> Um, the way I see it from Erin's perspective. [clears throat] I would support I would oppose decoupling. I would choose number 11 to support and the rationale I think does a pretty good job talking about it. You know, WASBY opposes single stream public funding for any private education system in Wisconsin. And this is another way that that would be created. [snorts] Um if it's decoupled, it will disappear. in the state budget and you won't notice that your taxes are rising elsewhere. Um, and it decreases transparency and accountability for this program. The way schools, public schools are funded right now, it's very transparent and accountable where it is all coming from
066and where it's going to. Taxpayers have an opportunity to investigate those tax bills, to look at our funds, to audit um what's going on at the local level. If this money gets stripped out and hidden at the state level, you won't see and taxpayers won't know how much of their local taxes are being used for private school voucher funds. And so for me, as I read through this, [clears throat] um, opposing decoupling is the right move. So, as I hear you, you're arguing against the rationale in number 10 that the increase in transparency by allowing debate of the program in the state budget conversation. You're saying that's unlikely to happen, that it will be less easy for taxpayers to see where voucher and charter school funding is in the budget and where it's coming. Oh,
067>> absolutely. because I have personally looked for the funding that goes to the MS Milwaukee public school choice program and the [clears throat] rine choice program. They're impossible to find the budget lines. You have to go to the DPI large budget th hundreds hundreds and hundreds of pages and [snorts] find the spot where it outlines the exact money that our taxpayers here are paying for that program. And they're not even kids that live in our school district. I mean, at least we can see the money that's going to kids that live in our school district. Uh and so I know from personal experience trying to track down those funds is very very difficult. Uh for the average taxpayer who isn't familiar with financial documents at the or the DPI website or how to track those
068things, it would be near impossible. Uh and so from my experience, I would say that opposing decoupling will keep things more transparent. There's a I mean on the other side of it there's a the idea that if if we don't have to pay for that at the local level our taxpayers aren't burdened with the cost right so if you decouple it the portion of our taxes you know I don't know if it's uh it's less than a mill here but that money wouldn't be paid for locally uh through your taxes it would be paid for at the state level. Well we all still pay for everything regardless. Haven't they done that in some other states and it just got out of control? >> Yeah. Yes. I I don't know if it's here or elsewhere they
069reference Florida and another Arizona where once it got hidden and things ramped up a lot. Um the state didn't properly plan for what that would >> result in and then the taxpayers were on the hook at the back end of it. Uh there were negative impacts as a result. >> Yeah. For me, the part of the rationale that resonates the most is the ability to continue talking about that item um just the voucher program in general in conjunction with public school funding. I think keeping them together allows for that. I think the shortterm win would be it's off my tax bill. I don't have to worry about it locally and that would be number 10. The long-term play to ensure that public education is properly supported uh I think is number 11. And that's ensuring
070we have an ongoing discussion in a transparent and accountable way. >> Are we in agreement that we oppose 10 and support 11? >> I support 11. >> Okay. All righty. We got nodding here. We'll move to number 12 encouraging schools to participate in WIAA policym and this is really about um regulation of all unsafe training methods and performance enhancing drugs except as determined to be medically necessary. We want to support that um member schools participate in those decision making. I see the heads nodding around the table. >> I mean, what percent don't participate in that one? Do you have any idea? >> I thought everybody was I don't >> Yeah, I mean, everyone's a member because you have to be a member. I think there's one school district that might not be. Um, but not
071every school district is as engaged as another. Many is just their athletic director pays the fee and make sure that they can compete in the state tournament. [snorts] Uh, make sure their refs get certified and coaches are certified and trained. I think what this is encouraging is on key issues for, you know, superintendent and school districts to get involved in a material way. I kind of thought they all were to start with, but >> it depends on the the topic. If it's, you know, NIL would be one where superintendents and school districts have been engaged. Um, uh, let's see what else. Uh, the success factor for competitiveness in the state tournament has been an area. Um, back in the day, the inclusion of private schools. There are some resolutions that the um committee turned down
072but can be brought forth to de to the floor and when I was delegate they did sometime on a few of these. >> Um in that case I voted no because I felt like the the group that reviewed these said no for a reason. So, um I we can go through these one by one, but um I would my recommendation would be that we direct our our delegate to not support these and rather than getting I >> even if we went through them, we might not know the reason that they were like they might have been knocked back because they were previously adopted. Well, they they give a couple of >> reasons, >> a couple of things here that it's like there's already pol or a resolution covering it or it violates the our overarching
073policy of local control. I mean, I for one love the idea of supporting other districts to adopt a disciplinary model more like ours, which is what that reads to me. But if it comes up, you know, it's >> oftentimes these are highly controversial issues and one size does not fit all >> and that's exactly where the local control is. I agree with that. >> Yeah, you would vote for number six, local control of educational programming, then turn around and urge people to do exactly what we do and all the other policy proposals. And so there's bit of irony if you say yes to them all. Um, do you have as our delegate, do you have any questions, Mr. Ma? >> Laura, have you written the record all this down here? >> Thank you. Otherwise, I
074have to >> I did not write the I should have. Shame on me. >> So, based on the conversations we had, I we had consensus on supporting all of the resolutions except number two and number 10. We would oppose those two. That's the consensus that we had going through one by one. And further, we would oppose any of the ones that um the I want to get the right language the resolutions that were turned down by the policy and resolutions committee. >> Gotcha. >> Does that sound like a motion somebody wants to make? >> I will just a heads up for just for transparency sake. I'm going to abstain from this vote because I do not think I should be voting on myself how a delegate should go. Uh, I'll make a motion to direct
075our WASBY delegates to vote following the consensus of the board as indicated at our regular meeting of January 5th, 2026. >> Can we add which is to support all the items except for items number two, number 10, and the ones not supported by the um >> resolution committee. >> So amended. >> Okay. Now I second. >> Okay. Motion a second. Um Jeff and Scott, do you have anything you want to add? We kind of ran over you and didn't quue you in on all these. >> I don't have anything to add. Thank you. >> Nope, I'm good. I would have jumped in if I needed to. >> Any further discussion on the motion? Roll call, please. >> Mr. Alberts. >> Hi, >> Mr. Hi. >> Miss. >> Hi, >> Dr. Garcia. >> Hi, >> Mr.
076Jackson. I >> Mr. Ma >> abstain >> Mr. Newister >> I >> Dr. I >> miss >> I motion carries. Last item for action this evening is the linkage summaries which we have the December 8th Northwoods uh staff linkage attached as well as a summit staff linkage attached. And if anybody wants to comment on those otherwise we look for a motion to approve. >> I do have a question. I'm trying to find where it is. Um, holy cow, this is such tiny font here. [clears throat] All right, found it here. So, on the Northwoods staff linkage summary, I just had a question about our early childhood education impact coordinator position right there. is that it sounds like from this language here that um there wasn't adding of more middle management positions but no additions have
077been made to day staff that directly impacts children in schools. I just want to kind of ask here, I'm not sure if this is the time to do it though, is is the reason why we're kind of seeing some of the uh comments made towards the early child care is that we haven't really started the program yet because I remember the last conversation we it we had that position vacant until very late last year too. >> Those who were at the at the linkage, do you recall the what the comment was? I was not there. So I I want to make sure we Yeah, I was there. I would say that [clears throat] that's part of it. I think some of it is that the elementary schools are seeing so many students enter not really
078developmentally ready for kindergarten. Like some of them aren't potty trained yet, >> right? Like they're really developmentally sometimes um they have a gap, right, to meet. And so the teachers were like, "We actually really need more people on the ground, right? We need more people right here to support us. When one kid has a high need, then even a small class size of like 13 doesn't help you very much when all your attention is taken up with one high need and you don't have more people in the room to help. Um, but I do think because the early childhood coordinator hasn't gotten off the ground, like there's room for that position to be helping families get resources to get their kids developmentally ready. I mean, I think that's the idea of that program. So, it's
079sort of like we need both. >> Um, but that was the feeling. I think the feeling expressed is that the needs are so great, we really need to spend our money on people who are in direct contact with students. Um, but to your point, because we haven't really gotten that position up off the ground yet, it's unclear. The hope for that position is that it could help families get their kids ready for that entry. Right. >> That makes sense for you. I had a question about regarding what exactly it was and it sounds very similar to what we hear for instance of the summit elementary >> um linkage we sound it's >> there's no doubt they need more people on the ground >> right [laughter] and honestly if I were to summarize the linkages from
080what I've heard and I went over to Longfellow to spend the day over there and I got to kind of get understand how it's like middle school level two is that there's still a need even upon there too >> is that really what we're hearing is that early child care I don't I'd honestly say it's more like a crisis in in the stateide or perhaps nationwide just knowing how far behind children are starting to fall right as they're starting to enter into schools is you know reading this information here and it's just my own commentary or perhaps my own rambling here is that really the big picture we have is again is that we we have our needs are starting to change into how exactly are we going to I mean we can't exactly ask
081how can we get kids ready to go to school when they're coming into their their schools not exactly ready the pandemic. >> Well, that's I mean that's exactly the difficulty is that the reach of a traditional public school district is limited by our age range. And so part of the discussion when we approve those fund levy funds for the position was how do we the argument is an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure, right? And and spending the dollars up front on birth to three programming will as research shows and hopefully right um pay a greater dividend in you know in cohorts that follow. That's that's the rationale anyway as I remember the discussion from the fund ad and I think that one of the big points they're trying to make
082is that the special ed department has changed drastically. They the number of students and the needs of those students has skyrocketed and so [snorts] they would like more help in line if anything with special ed. >> Yeah. >> Did you have something you wanted to add? I saw you moved your microphone. >> No. >> Okay. Oh, okay. [laughter] >> Just very close. She looks like she's prepared to say [clears throat] something. So, >> I have my hand waved if I could talk. >> Go ahead, Scott. >> I just uh I just want to let uh these linkages, especially Northwoods, is I left and I I I was just depressed. Um, while I seen immense pride in in what our teachers and staff do and the the pride they have for each other and the school
083district, they are they are in desperate need of some help and and I just want to let them all know that we heard you and um it wasn't gone on deaf ears and and we really need to do what we ever we can to to help some of these uh schools that that are struggling immensely. in in being able to take care of their students. No teacher should ever leave crying. Um that in in just tears for days. That's not what we want. Um and that's not what we'll accept. So I I hope that we take a lot of these linkages to heart and and makes make some drastic changes to areas that are needed. And I know budgetaria needs and and we can only afford so much, but we need to really work on
084on getting what's needed for these staff members to be able to do their jobs to the best they can. Otherwise, we'll lose them. It's just pure and simple. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other comments on the linkage summaries? This is why these comments are really important because that's why we have this on the action item because we want to hear this. We want to be able to discuss these. So, look for a motion to approve the linkage summaries. >> So, move. >> Second. >> Okay. Motion by Mr. Magneski, seconded by Dr. Garcia. Any further discussion? I'll look for a roll call vote, please. >> Mr. Alberts, >> I. >> Mr. Beeski, >> I. >> Miss Books. >> I. >> Dr. Garcia >> I >> Mr. Jackson >> I >> Mr. Ma >> I >>
085Mr. Newmeister >> I >> Dr. Sprag >> I >> Mr. >> Hi. >> Motion carries. We will then move on to referendum construction plan update. >> And this is where you get the answer while you have the bricks here, right? >> Oh yes. Yes, bricks. >> Uh so at Hogan Administrative Building, we are in the final week of removal of lead. Uh it turns out that back in the day when they would treat some bricks um they would glaze them uh in a lead coating and those are the bricks in front of you. No, [laughter] I'm just kidding. >> Just kidding. >> Awesome. [laughter] >> Don't eat them. >> So they'll taste sweet. Um >> no, these are not those bricks. Uh these are bricks from the the basement foundation uh that were pulled out
086once they removed some walls in some other places. And we thought for those schoolboard members and and student representatives that are interested, here's a brick for you from Hogan. Uh if you would like to keep it, they're neat and old brick company in our community. Uh and uh maybe there's a spot for it in your garden somewhere. >> Uh but thought we would provide that to each of you in case you're interested. They are safe. They're perfectly fine. >> Um >> sorry, just is Gerie doing the the land abatement as well as the general? They're the general, but I think there's a separate company that's subbed out to do the that does the work specifically. >> Yep. >> Uh so the the deconstruction will probably start play start taking place um next week, the week
087after um as we wrap up uh the removal of hazardous material. Uh and that's a good thing to do. We don't want that leeching into our soil or being uh filtered into our air for others to to be impacted by. And then at State Road Elementary School, uh the addition is going up nicely. If you look at the live feed, you'll see that there's plastic and scaffolding up to protect masonry work that's going on on the classrooms next to the building. Uh and then they're also putting in utilities, uh water, electric, uh etc. Uh underneath. So, very nice progress there. The weather has not impeded anything. Uh, and once they finish up um some of the masonry, we'll probably start to see some pre-cast concrete go up around the gym. So, it's going to start
088to take shape really quickly here. >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> I also learned there is somewhere hidden over in the Hogan site a time capsule that our superintendent is aware of too. And there you look a little bit excited there, Trevor. But >> is this going to be like the October Fest medallion? I'm going to [laughter] go fonkers. You may have to find a local jeweler who apparently um held on to it for safekeeping. After the time capsule was opened in 1979, the last year the building was open. The um uh students that were in sixth grade at that time came to a visit to Hogan when we had the open house and they talked about seeing it and being excited about it and then that this individual held on to it for safekeeping. Uh
089that said, we will be looking behind all of the date stones and in all the nooks and crannies as we deconstruct the building to ensure that uh if there is anything of historical record uh to be kept, we will make sure to secure it. >> Do we have subpoena power for local jewelers? [laughter] >> We're we're going to reach out and see if we can't uh identify if that is true or not. That may also be a rumor. Rumors abound in these sorts of things. >> More urban legends. The Hogan time capsule. It's got to be a good one. Good start. At least >> students are excited about that, too. [laughter] >> But not le >> somewhere. >> Anything else on the referendum construction plan update? Any other questions? >> Okay. We will then move
090on to communications from our student representatives and we will start with uh Mr. Skles. >> Oh, okay. Well, my my colleagues are here this time which is a nice little change, but um Hoops for Hope is coming up. I've spoken about it a handful of times. I believe it is January 29th. Uh I won't hold you here too long on that one. We have DECA districts this Saturday. We'll be up at W. Stout. handful of students who are interested in business and the experience that a a club like that can provide. I myself will be competing uh in retail merchandising. So, I get to talk for 20 minutes. I already took my 100 question multiple choice test at 7 in the morning. Not the most fun. We have a powerlifting meet in Whiteall next Saturday.
091Uh at this past meet, boys took first and girls took second in our uh division. Fem club is hosting a shoe drive. So any students that may be watching because I know they all watch uh should drop them off with people uh who are posted on the posters on the school. And then uh Dr. Angel, I know you said that no one approached you about a snow day last time. This is my official consider consider yourself approached. I know we're getting um freezing rain. So I know we just got back from break >> too dangerous. But at you and I are like this. So you got me right. >> Uh well I looked at the National Weather Service reports and I saw that in Lacrosse County there's uh not even a chance of a trace
092of ice. So [laughter] unless you live in the northern half of Telo County, you're probably not going to see a slippery road. But that said, I will be up early in the morning and talking to my fellow superintendent. And should something occur, you will all get a notice. >> Nice try. Thank you. Um >> Bethany, you're next. for our school, but our lacrosse robotics team is going to the kickoff this Saturday at Luther High School. It should be really fun. >> You're part of that? >> I am. Yes. And then um >> [laughter] >> um honestly nothing within the school much going on, but uh over winter break uh the girls basketball team had a holiday tournament in Sock Prairie. We went one and one. We beat Reedsburg and we just lost to Sock Prairie.
093That was a hard loss. Um I know the boys had two games. I'm not sure if it was a double header or if it was a tournament, but I am confident that they lost both. So, we got them on that one. Um, but the kids were really happy for a long break this year. >> Awesome. Awesome. Thank you, >> Dr. Oh, any questions for students? >> Welcome back to school. >> In my regular meetings with Dr. angle. I was telling them, you know, the month of December, we kind of slide into the holiday and feeling mellow and that week between Christmas and and New Year's just we don't even know what day of the week it is and then January 2nd just hits you. So, um I don't know, every year it's like that. But
094anyway, >> um so Dr. Garcia, your turn. Yeah, we haven't had a meeting or January meeting yet for LPF, but our grants lunchon is January 16th. So, we'll celebrate all the grants that have been dispersed this year for local teachers and schools. So, should be fun. Thank you for my announcements. Um, tomorrow, January 6th, is the last day, 5:00 pm, to turn in any papers for any candidates that are interested in running for school board this term. Um January 24th, Saturday, um we are having our uh board retreat uh to discuss facility planning from 8:00 am to 2 pm in this room. >> Correct. >> And I've been promised treats and food. So, um that'll [snorts] be good. >> Absolutely. >> Um and then, uh [clears throat] two days later is our uh board meeting,
095and we're going to start the board meeting at the planetarium on the third floor. So, make sure you come a little bit earlier and get up to the planetarium. We're going to be up there about a half hour. We'll have about a 10, five, 10 minute break to get down here to convene at the table. Um, but that's going to be our spotlight. So, um, anything else I have to add on the planetarium one, Laura? >> Okay. >> Only one in Lacrosse now. >> It's the only one in Lacrosse, so it's pretty cool. >> Little Chad Wilkinson. >> Yeah. Talking about it. >> Got some good assistance. So, and then um our rest of our meeting then will start at 6:35 um that evening um and move forward. So, that's all that I have for
096announcements. Um and there's a number of us that will be going to Milwaukee for the state convention. Um so, we'll have um the next meeting we'll have uh some good reports coming back for that. >> Dr. Engel, >> uh just to to reiterate, in two weeks from now, it's Martin Luther King Jr. Day. we won't have school and we won't have a school board meeting. So, it'll be on the fourth Monday that we'll have a school board meeting. So, just a reminder there. Um, and uh, two things I included in my board update, but just want to celebrate here. Uh, Hamilton Elementary School really spent a lot of time this last year focused on uh, attendance and working with families and family engagement, and they've done a lot of really neat things there. Uh, and
097they have seen a 20% reduction in chronic absenteeism. So, just a huge improvement. >> [applause] >> That's a big deal >> and it takes a whole group of staff coming together and their families engaging uh and it's been uh wonderful. Uh and then the Hinchin Elementary School um when we looked at their one year's growth data, we saw that their intervention group, those that had uh performed in the 25th percentile or below, uh 100% of those students saw one year's growth. So it proves the effectiveness of our teachers interventions, the hard work that they've put in and the support of our families and students. So incredible work on that group as well. [applause] >> Uh and that is all I have. >> Okay. Then move on to agenda planning for the January 26th uh regular
098board meeting. And we look for a motion to approve that with any additions or corrections. I'll make a motion to approve the January 26, 2026 board of education agenda as presented. >> Second. >> Okay. Motion. Second. Any further discussion? >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Albert. >> Hi, >> Mr. Hi. [laughter] >> Miss Books. >> Hi. >> Dr. Garcia. >> Hi. >> Mr. Jackson. >> Hi, >> Mr. M. >> Hi, >> Mr. Newster. I >> Dr. Sprag >> I >> Miss Supa >> I motion passes for debriefing this evening is Mr. Manka >> again >> with Mr. Jamaica/Scott Newmeister, but I figure Scott's under the weather, so sure don't want to take it, Scott. It's a great opportunity. Let's share the stardom. >> You're all hard, buddy. But you go for it. [laughter] >> All
099right. Well, I don't [clears throat] really have too much to say. I'd say we went really well. I mean, it's 7:22, so we're not going way over across over here. Um, we're really working together. We're starting to get over the slump. Don't know if anyone else here when they started this Monday like, "Oh boy, I have to get my energy up after the holidays." I also got six. There was that there. But um really don't really have too much to say. >> Scott, now's your time to add something. I appreciate everybody's efforts and um especially guiding um council member or council member I guess he's board member Minka and uh his upcoming trip and what to bring up and I think uh once again we all work together to do the best we can. So
100no that's what I have to add. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay, with that, the board of education will consider a motion to move into close session on Monday, January 5th, 2026, immediately following the board of education meeting um in central high school room 232% to Wisconsin statute 19.85 PN1 PNC 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 its superintendent's evaluation. Is there a motion to adjurnn to close session? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Roll call vote, please. >> Mr. Alberts. >> Hi. >> Mr. Vagneski. >> Hi. >> Miss Fs. >> Hi. >> Dr. Garcia. >> Hi. >> Mr. Jackson. >> Hi. >> Mr. Ma. >> Hi. >> Mr. Newmeister. >> Hi. >> Dr.
101Sprag. >> Hi. >> Miss Zukla. >> Hi. >> Have a couple minute break here while we close things down. Um, and then we will convene.