BOE Meeting 03/09/2026

001And we're going to start with our taking positive steps of service award. >> Yeah. So our first uh nominee, we have several here. Uh Sue Meford. So um Cody Enris nominated Sue Meford. So Sue, stand up. So the loaded wrest I should the loaded wrestling program would like to formally nominate Sue effort to the taking positive steps of service award in recognition of her unwavering commitment not only to our program but to all of LOI athletics. Her dedication, Tyler's work, ethnic and countless sacrifices positively impact hundreds of LOI student athletes every year. We serve firsthand the time and energy Sue pours into the LOI wrestling program. When you consider that she provides the same level of excellence and attention to detail to every athletic program in our district, the true magnitude of her impact on

002Loai community becomes clear. Due to several weather related reschedules, the end of our wrestling season became exceptionally demanding with multiple large-scale home events on consecutive days. On Thursday, January 29th, we hosted a double duel against Beaver Dam in Oregon. The following Friday, January 30, we hosted our first ever GV tournament combined with our girls varsity tournament. Then on Saturday, we concluded the stretch with our annual Terry Conklin duels. Three consecutive days, three major events. Sue played a critical role in the su the success of all of them. Long before the first whistle blew, Sue was collaborating with our program to ensure every detail was accounted for. She was proactive in her planning, solutionoriented when challenges arose and fully present present through each event. Whether troubleshooting unexpected issues, coordinating logistics, or welcoming visiting school, she represented

003LOI with professionalism and class. One week later on February 6, who helped oversee the first ever capital conference tournament held on Friday night with 10 schools and 20 varsity teams competing. It was packed in an energetic environment. The event ran efficiently and effectively and multiple coaches praised Loi for the organization and atmosphere. Sue was centered to that success. Simply put, it would not have been possible without her leadership. As we prepared to host one of the most competitive team sections in the state in February 21st, Sue identified ways to improve upon previous events and ensured LOI remained a premier host site. Her commitment to excellent does not end when an event concludes. She's constantly looking ahead to make sure the next one's even better. Sue consistently goes above and beyond the call of duty. The

004countless hours she invests behind the scenes often go on. The results are visible in every well-run event and every positive experience our student athletes have. For these reasons, we wholeheartedly recommend SUM effort for the taking positive steps of service award. And along with that um you get 100 grand bonus. There it is. >> Certificate suitable for framing. >> Excellent. Thank you. >> Anything you would like to see? >> Not really. Just doing my job. >> Thank you. >> Pick your picture in front of the banner. >> Yes. >> Not that weak. Thanks, Sue. >> Thanks, Sue. >> Yeah. So, uh the other uh area that we're looking at is a fifth grade team. So, I'm gonna have to turn over to Eric Shannon. >> You guys can stand up now. So, um, Chris McNeel, Leslie

005Shyach, Nicole Shunman, uh, Gary Shriber, and Sharon Whipper. The Wisconsin State Journal has an annual holiday initiative called Helping Hands, where K12 students can submit letters requesting $200 to help community member, a friend or family in need. This activity helps students develop empathy and provides opportunity to recognize all that we have to be grateful for, while also thinking of others and their needs. All of ALES fifth grade wrote letters about someone they knew or families teachers shared about. Historically, the Wisconsin State Journal has chosen 32 total letters and maybe three or four from LOI were selected each year. This year, 11 different families in the LOI community received a helping hand of $200 because of our students. Pretty amazing. We also had a community family cover their ch child's letter when it wasn't selected by

006the Wisconsin State Journal. Such a great example of kindness and action. This opportunity and impact doesn't happen without the guidance of these staff. Our students in our community are better because of them. Thank you. >> You guys all deserve more than sorry. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anything you guys want to say as a team? >> Well, thank you guys. And that says a lot about what you're teaching the kids. I mean, obviously >> for them 11 different families I got picked. That has say a lot about your writing style like and the empathy they put in that and that just that's amazing and I really appreciate it. That's awesome. And they must have felt so good about themselves. >> They did and they do. >> Yeah. >> They state journal came and took

007pictures of them. They usually don't do that. So it was pretty special for the kids. >> Yeah. >> The letters were awesome. They were so heartwarming. >> Just really nice. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So we're gonna take pictures of you. >> Yeah. >> The screen. Mr. Sherman, you want to begin with that as well? Heather so many family in the paper every year. You guys don't have this day. That's the gift >> and we have a presentation. >> We do. We have a German trip presentation. >> Yes. I want to introduce um our German trip co-advisor, Michael Myers, and he is going to introduce his students that will give a presentation about their German trip that they just took this last fall. So, I'll let you introduce our students. Good evening. I'm Mike

008Meyers, the school counselor at the middle school, but also the uh co-advisor co-coordinator along with Mason KDson for the German program at the high school. Tonight we have Charlotte, JB Mill, and So hello. Today we are going to be telling you about our trip to Germany. So I'm going to start by telling you about two of the big cities that we visited. Uh so we visited Berlin which had a lot of governmental buildings and the remains of the Berlin Wall and we did a lot of and we experienced city life. This is one of the governmental buildings in Berlin. It was under construction though, so it wasn't as pretty. Um, this was one of our day trips where we saw the fairy tale castle, also known as New Schwinstein Castle. And then in Munich, which

009is the third photo, uh, we spent four days where we absorbed culture, history, and new experiences. Um so some of the history that we learned was we went to Dao with and where there is where we saw the Dow concentration camp which had a very um well put together museum that we were able to go through and then we were able to see the barracks and all of that. Um and then when we went to Eisenh which is where Martin Luther hid while translating the Bible into German from Latin during the Reformation. And then here's a little bit about the school system. So, first of all, the school that we attended had grades 5 through 13th. And their rooms were also pretty undecorated as you can see in the picture to the right. And this

010is because they tend to switch around classrooms. So, the classes aren't the classrooms aren't always going to have the same class in it. And school days were from 7:50 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. And that sounds like a very long day, but you also get a 30 minute break for breakfast, as well as, I believe it was 10-minute passing periods. And you also have throughout the day holes in your schedule where you can leave the school, go do whatever you want, and then come back for your classes. And another thing that was very interesting was if a teacher was out for some reason, if they were sick or just couldn't make it, you just didn't go to that class. There was no subs or anything. Simply didn't go. >> So, next is the travel in Germany.

011While we were in Germany, we used many different kinds of transportation. Getting there, we took a plane and then followed by a train. Uh, it was common to take a bus, car, or subway when we were there to get to your final destination. In the big cities such as Berlin, we saw a lot of bikes and electric scooters as well. And sometimes the trains and subways were packed with people and other times it was just our group in there. Now some of the food first the first picture there that shows curry worst and it's a common dish and it is fried pork and it has sauce. It's uh excuse me it has curry powder which is sprinkled on top and it's also served with curry infused ketchup and a lot of dishes which this I

012found was surprising also came with American fries. And then the second pretzel or excuse me, the second picture shows a pretzel which we have here in America. The big difference was that a lot of them would a lot of them would be cut and inside of them would be like a stick of butter. Um that was Yep. >> And the third picture there is Duna. Now, this was an original originally Turkish dish, and it features a seasoned meat, usually lamb, and it's in burritos as that one. I had it in pita bread, and it also traditionally comes with two different sauces that you can choose from. I tried both. There was a barbecue sauce, which was similar to here, and yogurt sauce. That one I found interesting, but it was very good. Um, and then

013for festivals, we were there during Halloween, which is very similar to American Halloween. Like I honestly did not see any differences. Um, and then Lulfest was one that I went to with my host family. Uh, it's an annual festival since about the 8th century that is in celebration of St. L. >> Uh, St. Lol. He I think he helped like bring Catholicism. >> And then this is a bit about the natural life in Germany. So, a lot of it was similar Wisconsin. You can see raccoons and bears in those two pictures. Those were taken at a zoo by someone that came with us on the trip that unfortunately was not able to be here tonight. Um, but in the wild, they do have deer, foxes, badgers, very similar to here in the in Wisconsin. And

014then the top right picture I actually took because my host brother, he owned um, Highland Cows and I got to go and feed them and it was a really cool experience. So now about sports in Germany, the schools didn't offer sports there. If you did it a sport, it was organized through a community. Soccer is a very big sport there. Um when I was there, I was able to go to a game between the rival club clubs, which is kind of like it was kind of like an American football game. Like everyone was very very into it. There's flags, everything. And then I also went to some of the like local community teams games and there was quite a bit of people there. But overall the environment was like comparable to >> um then our

015personal favorites. My personal favorite as a history nerd was going to the DA concentration camp. It was a very impactful museum and it was the only day that we had a lot of fog. So it was like perfectly eerie. >> So this was Chris's favorite place. It was one of the many churches that we went to and it was like the most beautiful building ever. And then my personal favorite was Marberg. It was like a small town. It was gorgeous. There was lots of like things to see, little shops. And then there was a big like castle and it had a whole bunch of cool things in it as well. And then my favorite was when we hiked the Bavarian Alps and it was about a 4hour hike with a very beautiful view. And it

016was also on my birthday that we hiked it. It's a beautiful picture. >> Very nicely done. >> Thank you guys for coming and we love We love hearing this stuff. This is so exciting. >> Feel like we took a little trip to Germany. Yes. But now I want a pretzel. >> They're so good. >> So, how many kids went? >> Uh, 14. >> Okay. And you guys all stayed with different host families? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Did you stay in contact with your host? >> Uh yes. Uh the US two stayed with people that we had hosted in the spring. >> So it was a full exchange. >> Nice. >> Awesome. Nice. >> So always a great experience hosting these and you know traveling and we really thank you and the LOI community because

017really it's the the that make it possible when they come here and host and then the support they get when we travel abroad. And I have to say after being hired to come here as a school counselor while I was in Germany, I naturally looked on the website. Oh, German. No German language program. But I was pleasantly surprised to see that Loi has had this relationship with >> a long time. >> Yeah. With our partner school in Traa for I think now 15 years. >> I believe it was 15 years. So that's quite something >> to offer without a German language program. And so that speaks to the support from you, >> the administration, the board, and the families here. Well, and thank you to you too for doing this. >> What's fun for hosting

018a German student because we did um even though again there wasn't the language ahead of time, those kids would sit at the dining room table and spend hours figuring out the different words, you know, that it and they kind of all knew a little German by the time >> by the time they left. >> It's a lot of fun. So, thank you girls. >> Thank you guys for being here. Should we all go for this? >> Yeah. >> I don't like the picture that's >> squad. One, two, three. Great. >> So, we do not have public input. >> Um, so we do have our consent agenda items. We have our minutes. We have our vouchers. We have two fundraiser requests um from the golf team. Snap raise online fundraiser and broadstand. We have a fundraiser

019report of our FFA fruit sales. We do not have any field trip request. We have some committee recommendations for approval. Um base salary from the personnel. Um we under other we have middle school discipline report, the elementary OC discipline report, primary school discipline forward start college now applications. We have two Wednesday night activity requests. one from the music department and another from the M trial awards banquet. Under resignations and retirement, we have a request to resend retirement. And then we have resignations of primary school special education assistant, middle school volleyball coach, K through2 science department head coordinator, volunteer golf c coach, and high school associate principal/ auditorium director. Under cocurricular, we have a middle school track assistant coach, volunteer baseball coach, volunteer golf coach, volunteer girls soccer coach, and a volunteer track coach. All these

020volunteers. Thank you. >> Thank you. Yes. >> And under crew, we have um two crew wrestling volunteers and a volleyball volunteer. Under regular staff, we have primary school special education assistant, long-term seventh grade math substitute, math interventionist, and buildings and ground maintenance. And under personnel, we have uh two leave without pay requests. >> So, I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented with the additional approval of the Wednesday night activities request for mock trial awards banquet and the resignation of the high school associate principal and auditorium director. Motion by Terry, second by Sarah Ramish. Any more discussion? All in favor? >> Anyone opposed? I'm recusing. Motion passes 6. We have our administrative reports. Uh curriculum. >> Dr. Carl was out today. He'll >> Okay. Okay. Report is there too. >> The report

021is there. So >> and I'll report later. Okay. at the committee on schedule. >> Sure. >> Um our LCAT. >> Okay. So, um LCAT is excited to partner with Loi Middle School to implement the preventure program for seventh grade students. Preventure aims to promote mental health and delay the use of tobacco, alcohol, and drugs by providing interventions that help young people utilize their strengths and develop new skills. The program will start on Friday, February 27th, so it's already started 2026 and it concludes on Friday, May 1st, 2026. LCAT sponsored a virtual presentation given by certified prevention specialist Ricky Barton on Monday, March 2nd. Attendees were given information on the links between social media, substance use, and mental health. The presentation was recorded and posted on the school district of LOI's YouTube channel for future viewing.

022ALCAD attended the Alliance for Wisconsin AWY Northeast and Southern Regional Meeting on February 20th, 2026. This meeting was held virtually. The purpose of this meeting was to hear updates from our regional partners and to get up-to-date information on prevention and harm reduction programming. LCAT receives funding through AWE or AY to purchase items such as medication lock bags and lock boxes. LCAT received a $10,500 grant from the Wisconsin Department of Instruction. The funding will be used to purchase Bo Vin's life skills workbooks for Mr. Bower's life skills class at the Little Middle School. Funding will also be used to implement the preventure program for the seventh graders facilitated by ECAT staff. Brian and Sarah are excited to announce that they have secured a $97,000 in Cong at congressional directed funding from the office of United States

023Senator Tammy Baldwin. Thank you, Tammy. This one-year grant will support LCAT's sister coalition prevention and response Colombia County Park, allowing them to continue providing vital prevention programs to the you residents of Columbia County, including those in Loi. >> And thank you, Brian and Sarah. >> Yes, they a lot of work. Please join us for our next ELCAT meeting. It's tomorrow morning, which will take place on March, not tomorrow morning, March 18th from 9:00 am to 10:30 a.m. in the boardroom at the district office. This meeting is our annual awards ceremony which recognizes students, schools, staff, organizations, and community members who advance our vision of creating a community where all youth are empowered to make healthy choices. >> Awesome. Thanks, Terry. >> Student services. >> Thanks, Heather. Um vision and hearing screenings were held this winter

024at the primary school and OSC. Um in December we had 209 third and fifth graders that had their vision screened. About 20% of those screenings resulted in uh further vision referrals. And in February 144K and first graders had their vision and hearing screenings um with about 3% of referrals um from that process. Um the screenings at the primary school were definitely impacted by illnesses. So, they um just came back to do um their last makeup. I believe it was last week. So, thank you to our health office staff um school nurse Janelle Civum and health office assistant Nisha Ry for all of their work to get this scheduled and thanks to Dean from the Lions Club for his leadership and support for our screenings. And we had our third and final um developmental screening day

025last Friday. Um there are five key components that are observed during these typical developmental screenings like communication and speech, motor skills, social emotional skills, cognitive and pre-academic skills and vision and hearing assessments there also. Um these screening days are for students who are close to their third birthday and are designed to provide a play-based setting for young children. And we offer two sessions for each of our days. Um, this takes a whole team of people, as you can see, to do these screenings. Um, so Ally Brandt is our early childhood teacher, Andy Rabino, our school psychologist, Crystal Schaef, our occupational therapist, Laura Hansen, physical therapy, and then our speech team, Ashley Anderson, Jen Fifinsky, Nora Mack, Megan Roadie, and Lindsay Steiner. So, thanks to all of them for all of the developmental screenings throughout the

026year. >> Thank you. And those vision and hearing are very good. My son discovered we had he was having hearing problems from the that screening. So, >> partly because he's probably never been in a he's never in a quiet room before then with being fourth kid, but um but no, it's you think nothing of it, but it really does make a difference. So, I'm glad they do that. Thank you. >> And Lai Primary School is not here tonight. >> Okay. And let's see, where am I? Um our student report Emily's here. So, we had a math meet um the conference math meet actually on February 23rd. Um and we placed fourth as varsity team. Um some individuals placed including Bryce getting eighth and fourth for JV. For varsity, James Walsh got sixth place and Nor

027>> I would like to say almost by a landslide. Um the way that those work is there's three individual rounds here. You get sheets and each question there's three questions. They're each have a different point value. Um and then you have team a team one. So the team score is based off of everybody's individual scores and the one team score. Um but the individual is strictly that Norah answered the most correct questions. >> Nice partner. >> Um Going into the music wing, we had solar ensemble district at LOI High School on February 28th. We had 80 students participate overall with 64 different events. Um 42 students have advanced to state solo ensembles in 25 separate events. Um those events that are going to stay consist of solos, duets, trios, and large ensembles. This event was

028a huge success. Um, and so I'd like to give a big thank you to the LOI music boosters and the parent volunteers that made it happen so smoothly. There's so many rooms around the school that operate on down to the minute schedules. You know, you get eight minutes for so long comments. Um, but having the room monitors and the runners, >> that's a hard job. I never wanted to be one of them. I always felt bad for them. >> Get out of here. Go get it. And I felt very awkward telling people to be quiet in the hallway. They gave me a sign that said to be quiet, but I was like kind of afraid to I had another lady say, "You need to tell them to be quiet." I'm like, "Okay, sorry." >> There's

029like 500 events. >> Yeah. Oh, yeah. >> It was so well done. >> Over I think it's eight schools that also come and >> who all came, Emily? Which which schools all came? I know. I'll point out was there >> Nick Mills was there. >> It's our conference. It's it's our conference. >> Yeah. >> All our conference schools like Lutheran Lake >> Mills Columbus. >> All right. Um and then we had our FFA week. Um our FFA put together fun dressup days and activities for FFA week which was February 23rd through the 27th. Um they highlighted the importance of agriculture in our community and Friday hosted an assembly. During this, the officer team had a trivia contest, a dance competition between Mr. Marshall and S. >> Is that on video? >> Oh, yeah, it is.

030>> Is it? >> It is. >> Someone might have recorded. >> I think I got rid of it. >> Oh, come on. >> I saw it. >> Somebody's got their phone out, I'm sure. >> Plenty of phones in the crowd. >> And um a competition for teams to throw pies at teachers. >> Um overall, it was very informative and fun. February. >> Who won the dance competition? >> Mr. Olsson, I believe. >> He was a part of the Dancing with the Stars that happened at the time. >> I did see that. >> I think he had some He had some training. >> He was practicing. >> Excuse excuses. >> He's just like half my age. >> Thank you, Emily. and Ala Elementary OC. >> Hello, thank you board. Uh so a couple things just wanted

031to highlight. We are in our full preparations for Ford exam. Um we have our fourth grade will start before spring break, but most of our teams will be starting after um spring break. Um so just thank you to all the work that staff are doing to make sure that um everything is aligned for that so we can set students up for success. Um and then next path just wanted to uh kind of give a thank you and an update. Um this is something that we've been using for the last couple of years and it's just a very beneficial uh data collection tool for us. Um and there's things that we've been able to to use and recognize to be able to help students um grow um and also to uh be efficient in our data

032analysis. Um, and then under pillar two, Special Visit. Um, if you haven't never read the book, uh, Out of My Mind, I highly recommend it. Um, it's a great book. Um, we had a high school junior, Riley, um, come and give us some information about how he uses a communication device. Um, and the students just obviously love hearing from high schoolers. Um, and so they just really ate it up. It was a great a great time. Um and also special thanks to um the team of staff that helped um set that up and make that a great learning experience for our students. And then uh bullying prevention update. Just want to let you know we did meet um K5 with our bully prevention team. Um we have decided to change our name um to ensuring

033a sense of community for all kids um family team. And then uh we did do activity where we had um we had to categorize scenario into either a mean moment, a conflict or a bullying situation and how we would respond to that. Um, so that was uh a great activity that Mrs. Bar led and then we talked about how the month of February how we have done the things that we've done to try to promote kindness during this month and then reviewed our resources that we continue to share with families in our newsletters. And then I also wanted to highlight um we had students choose to participate in the Columbia County youth conservation awareness poster contest. And so we had some students recognized um all students who submitted a poster. They didn't know this but

034all of them got um Culver's tokens um afterwards. And then these students were recognized for placing and so they came and got their picture taken and some fun goodies from S County. >> So they did the posters. They didn't even know about the >> the recognition. Um, and then we did have a staff outing. Went bowling at the Rivera Bowling Pizzeria in Sock City. And it's always just good to spend some time together outside of the building as well. >> Nice. Thank you. >> Uh, Lai Middle School. >> Uh, good evening board. Um, first thing I want to highlight is we participate in the gra greater day county advanced learners network um as a way to challenge our advanced learners. And one of the things we do is we take part in the Greater Dayne

035County Anthology Project, which is a contest for writing and drawing. And we had several students uh make submissions this year. There were 475 students across 24 school districts. And we have three different winners. Congratulations to Anna Plant, Floyd Stapleton, and Alex Gort um for their submissions to that. And thank you to Paula Ton and to Elise Kernney for organizing this events for our kids. Um, next we have youth art month. Uh, more celebrations there. Uh, this year Loai Middle School proudly had five students enter exhibits uh, showcasing their talent and hard work. I want to say congratulations to Lucy Fehee, Nissa Edwards, Alexis Stark, Reese Wilcox, and Braden Rowan for their amazing contributions to that event. Uh, middle school forensics, one of my favorite things. Um, we had, I believe, 48 students um, in middle

036school forensics this year, which is just incredible. Um, and really just want to give a shout out to these students for their courage u to get up on a stage in front of their peers. It's one of the hardest things you can do and I'm really proud of these middle schoolers for all the work they put in, but also the courage to step on the stage uh, in front of their peers. And I'm going to go down to pillar two. Um so February historically has been a challenging month um for middle schoolers um with we've had higher referral rates that month. Um so one of the things we tried to do was really focus on positivity on noticing kids and helping them feel valued. Um and and I think I just think the reminder at

037this time of year that letting staff know like hey this is one of our months that is going to be challenging. So let's give them some grace. Let's also hold them accountable, but let's also try to make sure that they're hearing more positive things than normal. I do think our staff does an outstanding job of being positive with our students and connecting. Uh, and I just asked them, hey, let's let's step that up this month. And, uh, the result was we had a significant decrease in referrals. And, um, so I appreciate all of their efforts in, you know, helping our kids belong, which I think makes a big difference in their day. um after school movie outing. We had 120 middle schoolers go to see Goat uh which I heard was an amazing show. Um

038and going to experiences like this makes sure that um some of our kids don't always get experiences like this. So it's great for them to have the you know know what it's like to go order from food from a movie theater to even go into a movie theater. So it's really great for them to have that opportunity and mostly it's really about making connections with each other and making memories with each other. So, thanks to our student celebration team for providing that opportunity. Um, January student of the month was respect. Congratulations to sixth grader Ivy Hack, seventh grader Maya Scalitzky, Cole King, eighth grader. Uh, and Liam Blake uh Blankenship, uh, sixth grade and congratulations to to Terry for your grandson being >> Yes. So, >> very proud. He said, "Grandma, you're going to see

039me and hear about me." Oh, >> she's not a proud grandparent. I am already I I told her >> um down to pillar three. I want to thank our parents that came to parent teachers conferences. It's a great opportunity as always for us to connect. I also want to thank them for their support for providing our staff with a taco bar meal. Um and this and I want to say small things not a small thing but this really takes it takes one thing off our teachers plate on a really really busy day. Uh so they are very appreciative of that. Um we had and this is uh actually happened already. Uh Greg Marshall came to perform uh for our middle school and high school on March 4th. Uh his message was really about courage, kindness,

040and humility. Um he does a little bit of everything. He does some storytelling. He did some freestyle rapping. He played some songs. He has like he does like looping songs with some pedals and things. So uh it was a great show. Uh and also, you know, it's really cool that he is he's a LOI high school graduate. graduated with me and Heather >> 98 >> and I just think it's really cool for our LOI students to see someone on the stage from LOI. So, it was a great opportunity I think Greg for coming back and riding that show. >> Uh district workforce uh the legend's back. Ly Henderson is stepping in uh for seventh grade math. Um this is actually his last week this week. Um but I appreciate all he's done. um you know,

041he's been for, I think, like seven years and then he's stepping back in the classroom and um he just has done an awesome job of really laying a foundation uh for his kids and making and holding his kids to high standards. Um and you know, he was my middle seventh grade, middle school math teacher. So, it's was a little bit nostalgic having him in the building. I guess I became a math teacher for a reason. I would say he was a big part of it. >> Do you call him Lyall or do you say Mr. Hendricks? >> I've called him Lyle for years. He's a he's a friend of uh my in-laws. So that's true. A long time. >> Um also a district workforce. One of the things the impact team wanted me to do

042um towards the middle of the year here is to ask staff why LOI. So as I meet with them um to review their classroom observations. I just ask them okay like why Loi? Um these are some of the themes that come up. But really I will tell you it's about people. Um they love the people they work with. Uh they love the kids. They love this community. I think they feel very supported and fortunate to work here um and feel like LOI is just a great community. So um and it really takes it takes a village, right? And and it's not just like one person that's going to make them feel valued. It is it is an entire community that's making our teachers feel that way. Um then the student success team, I'm just trying

043to highlight um teams each month. So this is our student success team. uh they develop and implement multi-tered systems of support to address student academic, behavioral, and social emotional needs while also monitoring the effectiveness of those interventions. Team members are myself, Mike Meyers, uh Lee Kernney, Pete Franklin, and Nick Franciscich. And that is all from the middle school. >> Thanks, Derek. >> Thanks. >> And good luck on Saturday. >> Hey, thank you very much. I'm excited. Good luck to you. >> Thanks. I will only cry 83 times. Um, uh, high school. >> All right. Thanks, Heather. Uh, first of all, we are going to be giving the ACT tomorrow. So, Tuesday, March 10th. Um, all of our juniors will come into the school. And we also have close to 55 9th and tth graders that

044will be coming in to take the practice ACT. Uh, so those some of them were a little bit surprised when we pulled them down because they didn't know their parents had signed them up to take AC, which is fine. >> They thought they were getting a day off. >> They thought they were getting a day off. Um, no. It's great because there are some 10th graders that have taken it as a ninth grader, as a 10th grader, 11th grade in the fall. So, by the time they take it for real, they've taken it three times. >> Nice. >> Um, so that really helps. >> Um, we are taking it the digital form of the ACT. We did that uh the last couple years and that seemed to work pretty well. Um, it's nice. We have

045only eight students in each classroom for juniors um with a couple proctors. And there are some changes to the ACT this year. um they're highlighted in this chart that you can see what's changing. Um we are still still covering English, reading, math, science. Um but you can look at the changes and how this helps um the the students. So you can take a look at that. Um I did want to thank our our testing, we call it the dream team, our testing team that includes Elise Kernney, Nick Carl, Nick Francisco, Grant Lumpy, Matt Heran, Adria Schrader, our special ed team. Jason Marshall's name is not there, but he was also part of our team. Um especially Elise because she does this whole thing for about a month. hands called countdown to the ACT where every

046home room which is on Mondays there's something provided for our juniors just to kind of get ready. I also did want to mention also some of our um teachers Amy Jelnick has done a lot in our junior classrooms for writing and things like that to get get kids ready. So that's the ACT tomorrow. Um lot of celebrations. I know Emily covered some of these. So we did have our math meet and nor that was pretty impressive. I talked to Christy Pasy. She said it's been a really really long time where we have placed first with the students. So, um, kudos to Nora. >> Um, forensics, they did win the Capital Conference Championship, which is great. Um, and they've been competing in lots of other events. There's a link on the bottom there that you can

047take a look and it shows this uh, individual students and how they are placing at some of these forensics tournaments. Uh, mock trial did go to state this last weekend. Um, I don't mention it in here because I sent this over before then. So, congratulations. One important part about regionals was the varsity team placed first and the JB team placed second at a varsity meet. So two of our teams placed one and two, but a JB team can't go to state. So um it was great. I I think they went one and three this weekend I want to say. Um but Renee Potter said they performed really well and there's some really close scores. So congratulations to mock trial. We did have some state wrestlers, individual wrestlers that went. Um, so it was Alex Bryan

048and Brier Caves and Brier Caves placed third, which is great. We did send them off with the drum line, so I want to thank No McKay and our percussionist for walking them around the school. State powerliffters, we had a couple that um actually competed this last weekend. Um, did really well and I just found out uh today they are traveling to nationals. So Maron Daly and Trent Slender are going down to Texas and they're going to be >> in nationals for powerlifting, which I think is really really cool. So, it's in Killian, Texas on March 27th and March 28th. >> Um, we're not putting them on a bus, just so you guys know. >> No, that's nice for them. >> I think parents are just getting down there. So, that'll be cool. Um, districts, I

049I know we talked a little bit about district state ensemble. I just wanted to mention um K McCrae and No McKay and then the parents of booster club. I was there a little bit when they were setting up and I walked around for a little bit the day of. It's amazing the coordination it takes to run that. So, I was very impressed with it and they just did an awesome job. Um, we did have some signings for students, uh, our our student athletes that are going to take their skills to the next level. So, Hayden Stru Clark and Everett Clemens, congratulations to them. Hayden will be wrestling at Mercyhurst um, in Pennsylvania. And, um, Everett will be running cross country um, in Oaklair, which is cool. >> Um, visual arts classic, you can read a

050little bit about that. Our art students are doing some amazing things. um and they have advanced to state, all of them to state uh at Edwood College on April 10th. >> You can see our students of the month. Uh we did mention about FFA week and yes, Mr. Olsen did win the dance contest. Um and I don't know if you guys know this, but he got tap lessons when he was a child, so that's probably the reason why. >> Come on. >> Um no, I thought it was really cool. We we had never in my tenure at the high school, I've never seen a an assembly at the end of FFA week. And um two of the officers came to me about a month ago and said, "We want to do an assembly." And I

051said, "Yeah, we can do that." And um like Derek talked a little bit about February being kind of a lull month. It was great to have an assembly with them. Um in fact, I don't Derek doesn't know this, but we're going to invite eighth graders over next year for the end of the week assembly just because there's a lot of FFK FFA kids at the middle school as well. So you're invited next year. Um >> more competition in the dance party. Yeah, more competition in the Yes, I can get out there, too. >> Yeah. Um, and then we did have Dancing with the Stars, which was really cool. This is something new that the dance team did. So, Coach Enders, Coach Mack, and Coach Olson. I thought I envisioned them just like getting out there

052and just, you know, >> doing their moves. It was >> I don't know if you watched the video. >> I did watch it. >> Um, a lot of um >> bring the video out. >> Yeah. Well, I don't know. I don't know if they would appreciate that, >> but it was it was they definitely had a lot of lessons and worked at it for a long time. It was very impressive. So, I I wanted to include the video, so it was cool. >> Um, our leadership council is continuing to do a lot of great things. We've we've um done volleyball tournaments, so we had another one and lots of kids there. It's it's great for them to find something to do uh from 9:30 to about 11 o'clock at night after a basketball game. So,

053um I wanted to appreciate Mr. KDson, Miss Chef, and Mr. Marshall for shop running that. And then uh one of the last things is we do have a jobs fair coming up Thursday, April 16th. We have about 20 participants so far and we're looking for a few more. So our students will be able to walk through and see if they can find summer um jobs and beyond. And hopefully we'll give some of these businesses some employees. So that's coming up. And then you see our spring uh sports starter starting dates. Track and field got probably the best starting date they've ever had today. >> For sure with the weather. And then you can see all the other ones. So, and for those people out there, if your son or daughter is still interested in spring

054sports, you can reach out to the high school and definitely join us. >> There were many days where there was snow still. >> We might and there will be. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Joe. >> Yeah. >> All right. District administrator report. >> Yeah. Thank you, Heather. I just have a few things. Uh we have a high school music concert coming up uh not uh tomorrow, but a week from tomorrow. Um So, the 17th at 7 p.m. So, the high school band and choir concert. >> Um, and just a reminder, we have a school board election >> coming up as well. Uh, that's scheduled for Tuesday, April 7th. We have two candidates and they are Adam Steinberg and Sarah Ramish. Um, so please get out and vote. And we always appreciate anybody

055willing to run for the board of education. It's a large commitment uh for your community. So, we appreciate that. And then just a reminder, uh, we have spring break coming up uh, in a couple weeks. So, the district office and all offices in the the district will be closed March 23rd through March 27th. Actually, we will close Friday, March 20th at 4 p.m. and reopen in the morning of March 30th. >> What time is the band? >> 7 p.m. it starts. Thank you. Just put a reminder in the phone because one of those for a while is >> Thank you, Vince. >> You're going to hear the district talk more and more about the dreaded Rword referendum. We have already been talking about it for months and months, trying to really plan things out and

056being responsible for what our district needs, all while constantly being aware of the fact that we need to keep our community informed and feel good about supporting what our district needs. One of the many things that our district did was to really dive into what our district needs in the future. I'm not talking about this year and next. I'm talking now, in the near future, and in the decades to follow. We need to constantly be budgeting and planning for for as far out as possible while still making sure we're taking care of needs right now. We need to hear from everyone. You'll be receiving a survey in your mailbox. Please, I'm begging you to please take the time to fill it out. You can fill out the paper version from your mailbox or you can

057fill it out online by using the QR code. You should be getting this in early April. Please fill it out. I would love to have a record number of responses. I'm a competitive person and I really want our community to show up like we always do and fill out a record number of responses from one of our surveys. I know, I know, another darn school survey. But this isn't just for parents. This isn't just for students. This isn't just for our employees. This is for every single voter in our area to tell us what is important to you, what you want for our district, and where you want your tax money to go. Please, I'm pleading with you to please share your insights. As a fellow community member, I'm dying to hear what people's opinions

058are, but as a board member, we need the survey results. We need to hear from people on what is important to them. We are very aware of how important our district is to our community and of the fact that people want to know where their money is going towards and to feel good about it. Don't make me come and find you. Believe me, my husband will agree that I'm quite good in the nagging department. Changing the subject, I want to congratulate all of our students and staff for working hard and staying focused. I can't believe we're talking about summer school already, so the end of the year is coming faster than we think. Keep up the good work and enjoy the muchneeded spring break. take the time to spend with family and friends and do

059a little reset to get ready for the rest of the school year. I know it doesn't seem like it, but it will go fast, especially for our seniors and for their parents. Fall activities and sports seasons are finishing up, and not to brag or anything, actually, I will definitely brag anytime, anywhere about our district, but our students have been quite successful in their activities. I want to congratulate each and every student in all the grades that was involved in some sort of activity over the winter season. making goals, making friends, pushing yourself, and growing as a person is way more important than the actual activity itself. Please always remember that being involved is teaching you so many lessons and skills that you are not even aware of, but will contribute to success in life. And

060like always, I want to thank all staff members of our district, parents, and all community members for giving our students all the opportunities that our community has for them. If you didn't already know, I'm extremely proud to live here, and I love LOI. So, thank you. Is the survey coming, Heather, >> in April? April. Mailbox QR code. >> Can they fill it out online? >> Yes. >> Can they fill it out on paper? >> Yes. You can do it all. >> And the deadline is April 22nd. >> So, it's going to come the first part of April. >> So, when it comes to your mailbox, just fill it out and get it over with. >> When's the board going to talk about the survey? >> Tonight. >> Oh, right now. >> Yeah. >> What's the

061next agenda item? >> Yes. Actually, right now. >> Good timing. >> Yes. >> So, the survey is going to be coming in April. So yes, >> so back in January, the board approved moving forward with a community survey facil facilitated by school perception. Since that time, their administrative team been working closely with them to develop a survey um content and timeline for distribution. The survey will gather community feedback on several important topics as Heather just got done talking about including potential operational referendum, considerations around a recurring versus a non-recurring referendum. Uh a question about market analysis model related to staff compensation and then uh feedback on the work and recommendations of the community viability team did around facilities and green space. Facility and finance committee met with school perceptions during their last uh committee meeting

062to review the survey and suggested some edits. After this conversation, the committee moved the community survey the full board with a for recommendation for approval. So, take a minute just kind of walk through the survey. >> Uh the first page is just kind of an introduction. Um we have so much to be proud of, key reasons for our success and then that box right there, that gray box, say two ways to take this survey. Um when the survey actually hits your mailbox, there will be a code specific to every mailbox. Enter your code if you want to take it online. Um, if you need additional, if there's more than one adult in your um, house that wants to take this survey, you just need to reach out to the district office. We will have additional

063codes or we can send you another paper copy of the survey. And just as Heather just got done saying, that last part is that we need to hear from you and we really appreciate you taking the time to do this. Um, so the next page uh, just talks about our success, academic success, and the reasons for that, right? the support we've had in our last referendum, but the financial challenges that we have and where we are. We had a referendum passed in 2022. Uh it will expire at the end of next year. Um and we're experienced just like everybody else experiencing costs. Um and the state limits how much money we have. So to help balance our budget, these are some things that we have done. And even that we're projecting a shortfall, which is

064going to be nearly $6 million over the next five years. Um and we are not alone. uh 80 87% of the school districts in the state of Wisconsin have gone to operation referendum and we have regularly approved a referendum since 2008. So here um is the bread and butter of this survey. Uh the questions the first one would you support the school district maintaining the current level of operation referendum funding funding 5.98 million for the next five years. Um so this would not increase the district's property. You know our ask um it's the same ask we have we can't control the mill rates and things like that right when they equalize value and things like that but um and then it asked the question do we want to look at a non-recurring referendum which is

065what we have been having. So like a five-year referendum and then it goes away another five-year referendum it goes away. Or do we want to do a non-recur a recurring referendum where once you pass it it keeps going. So, we did $5.98 million in 2022. If we do another 5.98, you just want to keep that going. Um, knowing that you still could have to go to referend in the future. You just don't know what state budgets are going to do and things of that nature. Um, and then the last question, if you slide down a little farther, Mr. Potter, is about staff compensation. um indicating that we have looked at a 90% market analysis model and we would like to bring our staff up to um our certified staff up to 90% of the market

066average if you look at our neighboring school districts and a couple similar size uh conference school districts and would taxpayers be willing to support a referendum an additional amount of $675,000 to um support our staff and get them up to that market average. And what that means is we've spent time looking at uh similar positions. So if you're a middle school teacher who teaches math and you have this many years experience, this much education, we look at all these other districts, what other people are getting that who's a middle school teacher, teaches math, and has that same level of experience. What are they making? And we can gather all that information. Um so we did that for all of our positions and then said, well, what if what would it take for us to get

067everybody up to market average? and then we dropped it back. What we would take to get everybody up at least within 90% of that market average and so um because we are behind many of our neighboring staff or districts for how we compensate staff um so this would allow us to do that >> and at only 26 cents. >> Yeah. $26 per $100,000 property. So there's a cost to it, right? So absolutely. Um but one of our strategic plan pieces is uh making sure that we have a a st a great staff. So, it's a question we'd like to hear from our community. Any questions about that part? That's really the operational referendum questions. There's three of them on. They're really focused on operational referendum. >> So, that's what we have in place right now

068is an operational referendum. So, the next questions really go back into the presentation that we had um last month um when I was stuck in my office uh sick. Uh we had the community viability team come. They've spent six months uh researching our facilities and our grounds and knowing that so they put together a recommendation that they would like to get input from the community and this is in the order um that that committee put these things. So would people be willing to pay to complete each of the projects below career and technical education and really there's a short thing like what's the issue what's the solution right and again we have limited amount of text if people want to go online and look at the um community viability team's website it has the whole

069presentation on there's videos on there and things of that nature >> all the people that were involved are listed on on here as well um but it just gives you a lot more information but right in a survey we have to be really succinct. So, career and technical education and then the estimated cost of what that would be. Indoor athletics estimated cost what it would what the issue is performing arts center estimated cost and then outdoor athletics uh what it is estimated cost and yes I would support it no I wouldn't or I'm not sure and then below that is how to fund it when you start looking at the cost like would people be willing to pay $15 million over the course of um 21 years um to pay for some of those things

070up above whether pay 20 million, 25 up to 33.3, which would cover all of those things. >> And so just looking at again getting that input information back to the board to help you as a board make decisions on how to prioritize those areas. And then finally, the last section is the community viability team also talked about other areas they'd like to gather input. Maybe not, you know, not right now, but things in the future. Is the community interested in these things? because they were um things that came up in the by the community viability team. They all thought they were very important, but they had to prioritize knowing that you can't do everything at once. So, they looked at what would it cost to bring a high school put another high school gym. Modi

071is the only school in our conference that only has one gym um in their high school. We, you know, we have kids who are scheduled at night for practices late younger kids because we don't have gym space. Um so, just asking about that. Uh softball and baseball areas like looking at lights, permanent restrooms and concessions that came up a lot like there's no running water in our our any of our ball diamonds and things like that for bathrooms and concessions. Um and uh varsity softball and JB just regrading those fields like can we smooth those fields out? JB uh the JB diamond out here because um there's some swailes in it that makes it a little dangerous to play on. Uh the softball field you'd have to put some um drainage in as well because

072just flattening those work. Um and then looking at creating a a JV uh baseball facility over here and then looking at different expansions for art center. So again all that information is on our website if you want to look into more depth. Um but this is the survey and then again there's a list of all the people involved in that planning and thanking them for that. And then the last the second to last page is just kind of overall satisfaction with the district. Are you satisfied in each of the following areas? Um and then if people can explain why they made those ratings, how likely would you be recommending the district to a friend or family member a little bit lower is this really kind of less like who's responding? What's your age? Is your

073primary residence school district loi? Um which municipality you live in? Are you employee? And you have children in the district. So one of the things for that right it tells us what the different age groups are thinking people who have kids in school versus people don't have kids in school we also want to hear from our staff but we also know not all of our staff of the district so we want to hear from them but we want them also to check the box that oh I I don't have kids I don't live in the district right so we will look at that information know that information but it won't be compiled with the rest everybody else's information we also know open enrolled families will get this right so they're not paying taxes in our

074district they will get this survey um But if they they don't they're primary residents here again we will set that aside. We want to hear from them. >> Yeah. >> Um but they are not taxpayers in our district. So we want to hear from them. So that's why all that information is very important. >> Well and especially that do not live in the district that exactly explains why that's on there. >> Right. And we also have bulk mailing. So there right there's a chance um like I used to live out by Crystal Lake and I would often get school district of LOI things as well as a South P school district. at that time street, but I would get things from the eye as well. Um, so just make sure that we check those off.

075>> I didn't catch this the other day when we're at the um committee meeting, but the facility under facility planning last year the district for a committee made up of residents, taxpayers, staff, and parents. >> I don't know do people do we want to add students because there were two students on that committee. I don't know if that >> just so they know that we tried to really get all aspects I know we talked a little bit about >> I mean there's a lot of words. It's eight pages. It's a lot. Are things going to get lost? Are things going to get ignored? I mean, I just But there's so much information that >> we not need to know. and having been on the facility and finance committee the last few years, >> you know,

076we got to a point where we were stuck, >> you know, a couple years ago that that's what kind of drove this too is >> we really can't go any further until we know what, you know, what what what are people thinking? >> No. And we did talk about that a lot because it is long and we we do apologize, but we want people to be informed of where we're coming from, why we're asking these questions, you know, I would rather that than people wondering why is this even on here, you know, so it's also a veryformational survey. >> Yeah. Because it really took what the the committees were looking at and trying to work at and put it out. Yeah. And that is one of the things that school perception talk about like one

077of the other obviously getting information back is a number one priority but a survey is also very educational. >> Yes. And this one I think is a very educational survey. >> Absolutely. >> But yeah absolutely we can add students in. Okay. >> The CBT adding that one. >> I mean they and obviously that we listed the names which is great but not including a huge role. >> Yeah. >> Um and obviously us board members looked at this more way more thorough than how you're going through it. I just community to know that >> we really >> spent a lot of time in the facility finance and the board has had the opportunity to look at this >> commiserated over >> I didn't notice this until just now um paper return to any school office or

078mail it to school perceptions in slinger is there going to be a return envelope for that or is somebody going to have to >> you know with postage paid or is somebody going to have >> I have to check on that >> I guess that would be a question with I just on page one there in the sort of grade. >> I'm thinking a lot of people will probably choose to do this online. Yes. >> And I think sometimes like depending on the way the survey looks if it's laid out like a lot of them where there's a question and then you like answer that one and then it takes you to the next one it doesn't maybe feel so overwhelming like because this you're seeing Yeah. >> page after page. I mean I know

079there's verbiage in the beginning that you're going to read through but it might feel less taxing. Well, and it does say online saves postage expense. I'm assuming you don't have to pay. >> I mean, and we talked about that, you know, about sending, you know, that there are people that are going to want to >> fill out it, fill it out on paper. >> You think so? If it says it on there, though. >> Oh, yeah. No, it should definitely be the option. >> We are for sure. >> I think we think we are too. >> Okay. >> So, the people don't have to though. That's what Okay. >> I think we got right. >> And then 70% of the people will fill it out online. So, But again, a lot of our um um

080elderly population, I think of my parents, my parents would not fill this out. >> Oh, yeah. >> They will fill it out on paper. >> So, depending on the group, but that as we talked school perception, 70% >> uh will fill it out online, 30% do it on paper. >> Um but you get over 65, that number flips. >> Um typically, so >> old I know one little fill it out. He'll fill it out on paper. >> There's a lot of people doing it online. So, but but we wanted to make sure that that was one of the things we talked about, making sure that option was there for both. We didn't want that to be a barrier for someone to turn fill it in that they didn't want to go online or they just

081had to do it on paper like we want to get people. >> I also was wondering in the beginning you mentioned that if people need assistance in Spanish that they can contact Jen Morgan. I know like do we still send out the announcements that come through the um campus the ones we get like >> depends on the many of them we have them >> in m too right >> not anymore >> so is it only Spanish now okay I just wasn't sure if we needed that but >> okay >> then the last page I didn't go over that the last page is for the post office like it's pretty open so post office gets that >> so with all this I'd like to make a motion to approve the community survey as presented >> second

082>> motion by Terry Second by Adam. Any more discussion? >> As presented as presented with changes. >> Oh, as presented with adding students. >> Any more discussion? All in favor? >> I. Anyone opposed? >> Motion passes. 70. Take the survey. Take the survey. Take the survey. >> Um so just timelinewise, just so people know, um so I will meet with school perceptions tomorrow um to finalize this. it goes to their external proofer and then we'll go to the printer. Um we will this will come out shortly after spring break. April 1st it goes out to staff. April 6th it goes out it should land in mailbox. April the week of April 6 it should land in mailbox. You can't control exactly when it lands in your mailbox. Um and the reason it goes out to

083staff first is many times when someone gets a survey in their mailbox first person they ask is a staff member like hey what about this? And that way staff have had the opportunity to look at it and can answer people's questions. It's not that we want staff is more important than hearing from our community. We just want to have staff have the opportunity to see it. So if people have questions, they're much more likely to ask their classroom teacher or the educational assistant that they know versus calling the superintendent or calling a board member. So we just want to make sure that they're a resource and by giving them the survey we get ahead of time, then they're a resource. >> Thanks. Miss >> summer school. >> Yeah, I'm going to turn this over to

084Mr. Shin talk about summer school. classes. If there's anything you want to add to summer school, >> I want to take the Pinterest one. >> Oh my goodness. >> I mean, how fun are these classes? >> I think the the biggest thing is we're super thankful that we get the participation we get from staff in order to be able to run these classes. Um the collaboration along with not just our staff, but then the buildings that we we use. Um and so, yeah, we're excited about some of the offerings. We have a couple new ones. um we have some new classes, but we also have some of those consistent um classes that have been offered over and over again that students just love. Um and so a good mix of enrichment and um academic um

085yeah, we're excited about our offerings and super thankful to the staff that are choosing to allow help us be able to run this program because we can't do without them. >> And Emma Newire organizes all this. >> So Emma is summer school guru. >> She is So, Mrs. Fender and I, we're obviously supporting her in that, but she she um is amazing and does a great job um not just putting things together. So, for communication wise and connecting with families um but also with staff and um making sure we're putting them in a position to be successful as well. And then uh something that's done on this part um is also then her communication with Koban and transportation as well >> and our nurse school nurses and um there's a lot that goes into it.

086So we're super thankful >> for her job that she does. >> Any questions about any courses? >> They look great. fun. >> Right now, we're in the process, just so you all know, we're in the process of um recommended uh students who get recommended for classes, finishing up that enrollment. So, that early enrollment and then this will be opening up here quick. I think March 18th, >> March 16th. >> Thanks, Eric. >> I will make motion to approve the summer school classes as presented. >> No second. >> Motion by Sarah Ram, second by Adam. Any more discussion? >> All in favor? >> I. Anyone opposed? Motion passes 70 and compensation. >> So, the personnel committee met last week and they uh well, they met last week, but uh we started talking about compensation in February.

087Um they asked the administration to bring back costing the range of staff increases in pay from 2% to 3% as a consumer price index for the past year was 2.63. We usually start right around there. Uh that uh that's where we start when we start talking about compensation. This information was shared with both the personnel committee and the facility finance committee in February. The information was brought back to personnel committee in March to ascertain if they wanted any more information gathered prior to making a decision on compensation for next year. After discussion, the personnel committee unass 3% raise uh across the board for staff compensation for the 2627 school year. uh the committee did not specify if they wanted this increase to be given to staff in percentage raise or if they wanted a flat

088increase across staff. So that's a conversation we'll need to have here at the board level. Um and that will need to be part of the motion uh if the board acts in today. So explain the the difference between >> So a percentage raise is just what it says like when you have teachers who make you know starting salary last year is $43,000 you know up to you know 70 $80,000 and it's a percentage. So it's 3% of that and that's your raise. So um if you do a flat raise you take that 3% all put together and then divide it by an amount employees has that everybody gets the exact same amount. So the percentage overall was 3% for the district, but depending on where you are, if you're our lowest paid staff member at

089$43,000, your percentage rate is much higher than 3%. And if you're top of our pay scale, you're significantly below 3%. Um, but overall, it's still a 3% raise for the district. Is that what you're looking for, Ed? >> Yes. >> It's a little more difficult to do that with support staff, hourly employees. So typically we do them. So >> we also have to keep in our discussation the recommendation move forward by the personnel committee for the percentage or for the >> just the percentage. >> Just a percentage. >> They just did. Yeah. The 3% but they didn't decide on the flat rate or if it was going to be a percentage for all. Right. >> You discuss it at all. They didn't. >> Yes. You you didn't talk about whether it would be a a

090flat raise or a percentage raise. >> You just said 3% overall. I didn't talk. That's why I put that there like you have to make that decision today. >> Which one to do? We didn't choose one. >> Okay. >> I did in my mind. >> What was in your mind when you had% >> just turned and what we've done in the past. >> We've always done >> I thought we did a flat rate for support staff >> or am I >> That's the hard one to do at a flat rate. >> It's up to you. You can do it either way. We can make either one work. Jason's a whiz over there, so he can do anything you ask. So when I make this motion to move this forward, if I just say the 3%

091then we haven't made the decision on how it's going to be divided up. Is that correct? >> So if I would say if you're going to make it either say one or the other, say 3% as a percentage race or 3% as a flat rate across because the same would be with administrators, right? directors you look at you either they get a percentage based on their salary or you look at 3 3% is alto together and then you divide it out and then the district administrator again I as being part of this I don't make a recommendation for myself so >> we've done percentage that's what we've done in the past we've done for a very long time is there any board member here who feels strongly against the idea of percentage in favor of

092the flat rate I do I would say my what I would vote for would be as a percentage. >> So everybody just gets 3% of their salary. We're not doing the splitting up is what you were would want. >> I just want to make sure. >> I'm just asking is there any are there in order to facilitate moving this along and discussing this? Is there anybody here who feels strongly that the board should have a discussion about flat rate or do we all feel that we want to do the percentage >> because we feel we want to do the percentage. It's very easy for Teresa to make the motion. >> We can still discuss after if somebody wants to also. >> Okay. All right. I would like to make a motion. Um send to our

093full board here. Um 3% compensation increase applied as a percentage for support staff, a 3% compensation increase for professional exempt staff. uh with the first $500 of the increase being applied for PPG completion and the remainder of the compensation being applied as a percentage of staff salaries, a 3% compensation increase applied as a percentage on salaries for directors, specialists, coordinators, administrative staff, and a 2.63% compensation increase for the district administrator. A second >> motion by Teresa, second by Scott. Any more discussion? >> Is there like you want to say something? >> I was going to say I was going to second but Scott too. >> Oh, okay. I was like okay. >> It's all good. >> All right. All in favor? >> I. Anyone opposed? >> Motion passes 70. >> Thank you staff for everything

094you do and I hope you know that we would give you more. >> And so one of the things just to mention for community members, like >> these decisions are a little easier in the second year above state budget. Like last year when we were making this decision, we don't know what the district's going to get from the state budget. So last year this drags out a little longer. It's hard to project where this year we know what's in this the state budget for the next year. So it's much easier to project. So that makes this an easier decision. So some years there's a long longer conversation about it because we don't know have as much information. uh co-curricular co-curricular pay schedule. >> Yeah. So, I want to give a little background on this topic.

095So, about two years ago, one of our co-curricular programs approached the board requesting an increase in pay for their adviserss. At the time, um the board or board committee indicated it was difficult to act on the request without understanding how the activity fit with the broader co-curricular pay schedule. As a result, um the administration was directed to conduct a full review and revamp of the co-curricular compensation structure. This work was originally intended included on the balance scorecard for the 2425 school year. However, uh we had turnover in the business office um with Brent Leven and Jason comment. We were not able to complete at that time. I did not want to put that onto a new business manager. Um so we pressed pause. I let the board know we were pressing pause. U but we

096carried that item forward to this year's balance scorecard and now completed that review. The updated schedule was developed using four point four point analysis. First, um, we benchmarked pay across all schools in our athletic conference. Then we conducted a regional market comparison with nearby non-conference districts. Third, we reviewed self-reported hours worked to better understand the hourly investment involved in each activity. And fourth, we looked closely at the roles and responsibilities of each coaching and advisor position. Based on that analysis, some co-curricular stipens increased while others decreased. We also work to improve internal consistency that the pay progression between similar activities and years of experience is more aligned. If this is updated uh if this update schedule had been in place this year, the net impact would have been an additional $6,272 paid to staff overall.

097So there's money put into the system. But again, as I just mentioned, still some people um there were reduction in some areas and some areas were brought up and there was some consistency. So with all that movement, um there was an additional $6,000 put in the system. So it wasn't a money saving issue. It was more just trying to make sure there was equity across these different activities. Um and overall was really an investment into the system. Um so >> when you said it had been years and years before that was looked over. >> Oh yeah. Yeah. I don't know. It hasn't been since my time. Like things have just been added and so it was it was time. Yeah. um for us to look at it and anytime you touch something like that >>

098um right people it it's personal right and so it's a very difficult conversation one of the things that Adam reminded us of the day is like it was great to have Jason do it because Jason is new >> right he's not invested in all these people things like that he can look at it more probably a little more objective than the rest of us >> and Jason thank you that looks like a lot of work that looks like a lot of work >> so the personnel review committee reviewed this in their February meeting in a unan moved it to the full board. We didn't bring it in February. We wanted time for the administrators to meet and talk to people and it impacted them. So, those meetings were taking place at the end of last

099week. Um, right. There's a couple there's some concerns >> about that uh from staff. >> Not the first time for them to hear about it here. >> Right. So, that's why we waited and um so the board has a couple options, right? The board can approve it um as is. Uh the board could, you know, make some adjustments to it. Um or the board could decide to table it and send it back to personnel and have conversations about it. Um either way, regardless of if the board like approved, it doesn't mean that things can't be adjusted a little bit like we adjust the staff handbook. So people when they met with their building principal had concerns uh they were asked to like let their building principal know and then they share that information with myself

100and Jason will look at that. Um right to think that we got every single one of those all all those perfectly right. Right. You saw how long that is, right? >> You know that we're not arrogant enough to think that we got everything right. Right. So, we need to, you know, >> get feedback. >> Yeah. Right. And look at it and if there's anything that needs to be adjusted, we can adjust it at any time. But, um, so the board can ask questions or let me add. So, there was a the board meets four times a year with staff to go over stuff and and I've been attending those meetings and this came up in those meetings. And so there there's information that I have that you are not privy to. You have not seen

101the information and and we miss I I would arguing out on >> it just happened. >> I'm just kidding. >> I would argue we did miss a few things and so I I would like to send this back to committee to try to correct those issues and get it right the first time or get it right the second time. >> A motion to table. >> So yes, >> I will make a motion to table and send this back to the personnel committee. >> I'll second them. All right. Motion by Sarah Ramish, second by Terry. Any more discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Anyone opposed? Motion passes 70. We will table it. All right. And we have CISA CISA 5. >> Yeah. So, it is that time of year when we renew our CISA 5

102contract. So, Mr. Dr. Carl and I have reviewed the annual contract for CISA and recommended approval. Uh, it is a slight increase uh from last year um about $940 more than last year. Just some things have gone up in price. Um the initial contract came and we tweaked some things but got it down to that level. So we always take a really deep look deep dive into that and I meet with CISA and walk through that contract with them. So we recommend approval. >> Is that what the asterisks are on the right hand side of the contract on the amounts and stuff? There were a couple of them like under vision and other >> it went up. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> So there services it's projected but if we don't use them >> right.

103So if we don't use them or uh the ones that have sorry the ones that have red dots they made changes to that brought them down. >> Yeah. So they're projected right. So we could have a student move into our district >> uh at the beginning of the school year that needs a lot of services, right? So and that we don't have. So like when you're talking about cease service, we're talking like we don't have a teacher of of visually impaired. We don't have enough students for that. >> But we still have to provide that service. So >> yes, we do. >> We contract through CISA to do that. Um >> or aiology or sign language. Um you know, >> and where does career and technical education counsel? Yeah. So we work with them with

104youth apprenticeships, things like that. So they help us with the facilitation of that. So Joel Mitham comes down, meets with Conor Anderson, helps facilitate that process. Yes. >> Yes. >> And thank goodness for CEUs for small schools. >> So being on the CIA board and we talk about these kind of things and go over these things with the other schools and we use almost no services. >> I was going to say there's a lot of zeros on here which is impressive. A lot of other schools do, >> but it's nice to have that option. >> A very large C5 budget and a large bill. >> It just depends how big your school is and what you have. Like there if you don't have enough, like we have an occupational therapist, >> right? If you're small

105enough and you only need a couple days a week, then maybe go through CISA or >> like we're big enough that we need one, so we hire one. >> Great service to have. >> Yeah. >> And pool resources. I'll make a motion to approve the CS5 contract as presented. >> And I'll second that motion by Sarah Ramish, second by Terry. Uh, any more discussion? All in favor? >> I recuse. >> Okay. Um, anyone opposed? Motion passes 6. One recuse. I keep losing where I am. Policy. no policies and no gifts and donations this month. >> Yes. >> Which is actually very rare. >> It is very rare. >> I always feel like we're getting gifts and donations which is awesome. >> We're very fortunate. >> Um so our committee reports CISA 5. >> Uh we

106met mostly in close session last month to go over healthc care increases, salary increases, uh bringing people up to comps and things like that. So there's not a lot of that I can talk about. >> Sounds really fun, too. That sounds really You need to do that in two different places. >> I get to do double duty. Yes. >> Uh co-curricular. >> Okay. So, March of 2026, girls wrestling. The girls wrestling team competed in regionals on Friday, February 13th at the Wanaki High School. Yalin Campa finished the meet in fourth place and Zoe Lit finished in second. >> Jaylen Campa, my apologies. Um, boys wrestling. The boys wrestling team competed in sectionals on Saturday, February 14th. Brier Caves placed first and Alex Brinick placed second with both wrestlers advancing to the individual state tournament. On

107Saturday, February 21st, Loi hosted team sectionals. Loi won their first round against Stoton by a score of 40 to 33 and fell to eventual team state champion Evansville. I can't talk tonight. Evansville by a score of 52 to 20 in round two. Lodai lost their third duel of the day to Mount by a score of 50 to 29. At the individual state championship, Gri Brier Caves took home third place at 126 pounds. Boys basketball. The boys basketball team finished the regular season with an overall record of 15 to9 and a conference record of 4 to6. The team earned a number seven seed in the WIAA tournament. They open tournament play at a home at home against number 10 Wisconsin Dells coming away with a 766 win. This past Friday night, the team traveled to face

108number two Aquinus and came away with a 54 to 52 win. The season came to an end in the regional championship against number six Platville with the Blue Devils losing 72 to61. Boys hockey. The Navigators co-op hockey team finished the regular season with a record of 6 to8 and a conference record of 3 to9. They earned a number 12 seed in the WIAA tournament. Their season came to a close in the first round of playoffs, losing to number five on Alaska by a score of 12 and 0. Girls basketball. The girls basketball team finished the regular season with an overall record of 7 to 17 and a conference record of 3 to7. The team earned a number 10 seed in the WIAA tournament. They opened tournament play on Tuesday, February 24th against number seven Adams

109Friendship with Loi coming away with a 64 to 57 win. The season came to an end on Friday, February 27th with Loi losing number two to Wisconsin Dells by a score of 63 to 37. Powerlifting. This p past weekend, Trenton Schlendler and Marin Daly participated in the state powerlifting competition. Marin placed 14th and had a personal record for bench and deadlift. Trenton placed 22nd and also had personal records for bench and deadlift. Both students have qualified for powerlifting nationals mock trial. This past weekend, the LOI mock trial team competed in the state mock trial tournament. The team finished the tournament with a 1 to3 record. Lydia McGrath, Jade Dolms, and Harrison Keski each earned a perfect score of 10. Henry Homoth, Key Banick, and James Walsh each earned two perfect scores, and Juniper Schmidt earned

110three perfect scores. And finally, forensics. On Saturday, February 21st, the forensics team hosted the Loi tournament with Jun Juniper Schmidt ending the day as a tournament champion in Expository. The entire team has qualified for the district tournament in a few weeks. This past weekend, the team competed in the Bell Phillips Memorial Tournament, ending the day as small teams champions. Jaylen Brinick finished the day as the tournament champion in storytelling. >> Lots happening. >> Thank you. Sure. Uh OSC. >> Okay. So um OSC met on February 18th and talked about um the lottery that will be coming up. And when is the lottery, Eric? I didn't write that down. >> The 18th of >> March. Okay. um for >> enrollment closes this subject. >> Okay. So for people who wanted to get into the lottery for

111their students to get into OSC. Um and so that is a biggie right there for people who are thinking about that. And there had been some open houses and things for people to find out about OSC and more. So um OSC changed from doing their musical to doing trivia night. And we had talked about trivia before. They did very well with trivia night. They were happy with it. Many volunteers. Many I mean it was really nice to see again the families that showed up that are helpful in the regular and the volunteers in the community. Um just made it a great night. Yeah, it was even though we didn't win. >> Still was. >> My team scored higher than >> anyway. You can just keep that. You just keep that. We overthunk a few things

112is what happened. All right. So that was great. Anyway, and then um the other thing that I want to talk about is May 7th is project night and this year it is trail the trail through the eyes of a student. So again a lot of the outside the um that they will be doing a lot of ice age things. >> Said May 7th. >> May 7th. Yes. >> So that should be a lot of fun. And then the kindness calendar as uh Eric was talking about for the whole um you know elementary school made a huge difference and everybody really noticed a difference in behavioral reports went way down for February which February is a hard you know all those years of school nursing it was like February oh my gosh I should have just

113kept the count of who was in the in the office more because they were showing up. February is tough and I don't I don't have anything else. That's it. Oh, talked about magnetic literary literacy is doing well being piloted. Um let's see. So that's it. Okay. Thank you. Uh curriculum that is me again. All right. Here we go. So curriculum. So we met on uh February 25th. We had several people come to give updates. Um the first one was the K through2 science department update. Um middle school science teacher Michelle How came in gave us an update on the various schools in the district for K through five science. They're currently using mystery science which is an inquiry based curriculum. Teachers appreciate the new curriculum kits provided by the budget which ensure all necessary materials

114such as straws and string are readily available for all experiments. At the middle school level, they're in their third year of using something called op open sed um and that implementation eighth grade forward scores are trending upward and are above the state average. PLC time is being used every three weeks to focus on scientific and engineering practices specifically developing models and data interpretation at the high school level. Uh well actually they have eighth 8th through 12 so eighth into high school. The department is discussing a quote consumer chemistry or chemistry in the real world class for students who might want to focus on functional everyday chemistry applications. We had kind of a fun time discussing that at our meeting and what that could mean like if it's cooking, you know, learning about the science behind

115cooking and how that could be a way to, you know, um >> and why not to put bleach and uh ammonia together. >> Well, there you go. Yeah, that's Yeah, safety as well. Safety and science. Okay. Um there Michelle noted that middle school um is tight for 50inute open sed lessons and that K through five could always use more minutes for science and the board was also reminded that some core instruction minutes were previously reallocated to support STEM programming. Um the next report we had was the 4K through 12 steam department report with Tyler Potter. Um currently these uh the different schools the steam programs are being facilitated through um Matthew Horan excuse me and um K through two Tyler Potter is third through fifth. Mark Shyra is at the middle school and rotating facilitators

116um are working at the high school. Um there's a curriculum change. The high school is moving away from the creative learning systems which was purchased curriculum due to rising costs and quality concerns. They are building a quote homegrown curriculum that utilizes Google sites, Google cap classroom, and the AI application risk. And I recall Tyler mentioning they're about 50% done with that project. So that's pretty exciting. Next uh update we had was the school forest committee. And um Leo Olsen came to give us that update. So during Earth Week, which is April 21st through 25th, there will be a program where every single student um ages 4K through 12 will be able to plant a tree at the school forest. It's really exciting. Um he was able to um um acquire 2,000 trees for the Wisconsin

117DNR state nursery, including Bur Oak, White Oak, Sycamore, Red Maple, and Jack Pine. So each of the kids, it it sounds like quite an ordeal, quite an operation, I should say. Like every school is going to bring kids out over different days for a certain number of hours and get their shovels out and and so UW Stevens Points Leaf program is going to be there to make a video. They're going to videotape this and then turn it into a video. So that's pretty exciting. Um the collaboration for this project is supported of course by the DNR, the W Stevens Point Leaf Program, the Ice Age Trail Alliance, and the Barabou Range Preservation Association. Um there is a science club student who is designing a trail head kiosk using grant funds. Uh reclaimed wood from the

118forest harvest has been milled into boards that will be used potentially for these um for benches for the um the school forest. Notably, a 1950s graduate who planted the original trees helped mill the boards. >> And I also heard from Teresa, was it you, Teresa, that you >> I think Terry did. >> Both of you guys planted trees in the original school forest. >> Yeah. >> That's very cool. >> So it's like Full circle >> seventh grade science class summer school. >> Oh, that's so cool. >> Cool. See, there's summer school. >> Maybe they have an extra couple extras. Maybe us board members. We can plant a tree. >> There is a community that Saturday there will be a community event so community members can go out and Saturday. >> The Saturday that we >>

11925th of April, whatever that would be. >> That'd be fun. So if we all show up, we have to kind of >> not available that she's at state solen ensemble that day. >> Said no. >> So future >> getting a lot of fence. >> Future goals for the school forest committee are uh the committee aims for a formal scope and sequence where every student would receive at least one lesson at the forest annually. A statewide school forest centennial celebration is being planned for the school year. So, I'm sure we'll get more updates about that. >> The next update came through the math department. It was for K through five math curriculum. Some background is that the district has used a version of everyday math for nearly 20, excuse me, 30 years. Um, however, data has

120showed a decline in scores starting precoid leading to a a review of more modern, highly rated programs. Um after a vendor fair and Q&A sessions with other districts, the committee has narrowed its focus to ready math. Uh Nick Carl presented survey results from grade level teams regarding feedback about a possible pilot. Uh the administration is balancing teacher voice with the need for a consistent experience across the district to avoid family confusion. Uh data trends recent scores are trending upward again after the district reinforced everyday math core components and added a math fact fluency component. Next steps a formal recommendation regarding pilot parameters, professional development schedules and costs will be brought to the committee in April. Future agenda items for our next meeting which is scheduled on April 1st is K through2 literacy feedback from pilot

121participants textbook adoption requests and advanced learner updates. >> Oh s >> facility and finance >> we met last Tuesday. We went over the school perception survey which we just went over again. Um, we had a discussion about school fees which have not been raised or changed in quite some time. And so we sent that back to administration to go look at what the other schools are charging and to see if we needed to change any of ours. So we'll be seeing that in the next month or so or two months, whatever it takes. Um, and then we always have referendum on our our agenda. And we didn't we didn't talk a lot about that under that that item, but that's all we talked about. Well, awesome. Thank you. >> And policy had did not meet

122since the last board meeting. >> Personel, >> we hold space personnel. >> Um, did I skip you? I'm sorry. >> Okay. >> I skipped you way back. I'm sorry. >> Personel, it's all right. >> Trying to learn how to >> I was giving you time to get I was giving you time to get prepped, Teresa. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> So, we had um some public input. Um uh Carly Zik, the OSC advisor, talked to the committee um advocating for the board to provide increases in compensation and health insurance for staff. Um Jill Whale was also there's was several present, but those are two that spoke. um um in support of increased district contributions to health insurance premiums. We had quite the discussion on health insurance with Adam helping out there and and Jason,

123which is still very complicated, but they really were want to make sure that we keep in mind whatever we may give them for a raise, how how does that affect the offsetting of the health insurance, which we expect to rise immensely. So, I understand where they're coming from. If we give them a raise and um they're still in a negative after they pay their health insurance and it's not that helpful. Um so, we did talk about that. We talked about different plans. We didn't have any numbers yet. So, now more of the numbers are in with that 11.9% increase. Um which was in the ballpark of what you were projecting, right? Possibly even more. Um, we also approved, which I'm not sure why we have to approve the the recommendation for the $1,000 increase, um,

124which was in our consent agenda >> to the base wage. >> Base wage referendum. >> Yeah. From the referendum. Exactly. Um, we talked about the 3% increase across the board. Um, potential changes. So, the contribution method for the high deductible compared to like the regular family plan um and possibly changes to how the school pays or gives money or puts money into those high deductible accounts, which we're going to be talking a lot more about the health insurance when we have more information on it. And then The next meeting is April 7th, 2026. That was all we have. Everybody's been so busy and I did not mean to skip you. I'm sorry. Like I said, I I knew you needed more time to prep, though. That's why I did it. Uh, our next regular school

125board meeting will be Monday, April 13th at 5:30. Um, close session, 6:30, open session. Curriculum committee is Wednesday, April 1st at 4:30. Policy will be Wednesday, April 1st at 6 o'clock. Personnel will be Tuesday, April 7th at 4:30 and facility and finance will be Tuesday, April 7th at 6 o'clock. And always check our website because sometimes those things get changed. But um and I do not believe anyone we don't need to go back and close, right? Does anyone have any more questions about talked about? >> Well, we have policy. >> Yes. >> Okay. And so no closed. We already in open. >> Oh, and elections are April 7th. >> For our next board meeting. >> Before the next meeting. >> I make a motion to >> I'll second. >> Okay. Motion by Adam, second by

126Sarah Ramish. Any more discussion? All in favor? >> Anyone opposed? Motion passes 70.