6.23.2025 Regular Board of Education Meeting

001Just one second, Michelle. It's not quite live yet. Okay. Okay. Go ahead. All right. Thank you all. Um I'm going to call our June regular board of education meeting to order and we will start with a resuscitation of our vision statement. Every school will be a thriving school that prepares every student to graduate from high school, college, career, and community ready. Tonight, we have a couple of remembrances and recognition of Spring Harbor, and I'm going to ask Vice President Pearson to please do those um from the auditorium. Okay. Thank you, President Nichols. Okay, we'll do the remembrances first. We'd like to ask for a moment of silence this evening for our district to recognize the passing of Orion Tree Rabby Crispo who was in the 12th grade at Shabbaz High School. Orion Tree is remembered

002as someone who was a gentle and kind soul and who enjoyed the color pink, rap, music, rock climbing, and his family. Orion Tre's passing has taken a significant toll on so many students and staff in the Shabbaz community and we remember them tonight. So, please join me in participating in a moment of silence in honor of Orion Tree. Thank you. would also like to ask for a moment of silence this evening for our district to recognize the passing of Joseph Cullen who was a former teacher and principal in the MMSD in MMS. Joseph is remembered as a wonderful teacher and a principal who was respected and well-liked by students. Joseph passing has also taken a toll on so many in the MMSD community and we remember them tonight. So, please join me in participating in

003a moment of silence to honor Joseph. Thank you. Okay. And we'll move on to the resolution recognition for Spring Harbor. Would like to recognize three Spring Harbor Middle School students, Teresa, Mai, and Eli. Is it Alyssa? Elias? Elias? Sorry. um for being part of the Spring Harbor team that won the 2025 African-American History Academic Challenge National Championship in New Orleans, Louisiana, hosted by the 100 Black Men of America this month. The board of education would like to read a resolution honoring your achievements and for representing our district in the annual competition that has continued for over 39 years. Would Spring Harbor team please come up to the stage? Come to the front and and look out to the crowd. Okay. So whereas three Spring Harbor Middle School teammates vigorously prepared for several months and won

004first place in the 39th annual 2025 African-American History Academic Challenge National Championship in New Orleans, Louisiana, hosted by the 100 Black Men of America. Whereas the African-American History Academic Challenge is an educational competition designed to encourage middle school students to study African-American history, personal contributions and sacrifices, and develop a more wholesome compassion for black excellence and pride that helps to foster a greater appreciation for African-American experience. Whereas the Spring Harbor team embodies and exemplifies the hundred black men of Madison's vision and goals by competing in and winning the national championship that further encourages peers in the Madison community to learn more about and strengthen relationships with African-American communities. Whereas the members of the 2025 Spring Harbor team are Teresa, Mai, Elias, supported and coached by eighth grade humanities teacher Sarah. Whereas, oops, on the other

005side. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Madison Metropolitan School District Board of Education recognizes and congratulates the African-American History Academic Challenge National Champions for their outstanding accomplishments and for representing their peers, their families, their school, and our district. Be it further resolved that this statement be permanently imprinted in the board of education minutes for the meeting of June 23rd, 2025. So again, the board of education congratulates each of you for your accomplishments. Your victory demonstrates your dedication to learning about the importance of African-American history by studying the contributions and sacrifices of both black women and men that have emod enabled future generations to advance in society and continue in an ongoing struggle towards achieving racially equitable communities and a racially equitable America. So, we will take a picture and then once we are done

006with that picture, um Dr. Rose from the 100 Black Men of Madison would like to say a few words. Dr. Rose, come to the podium. Good evening. Can you hear me? Okay. Um, thank you so very much for the warm reception of uh our students. I just wanted to share with you just a couple uh items that I think you might find it to be of interest. Um, it is an honor and a privilege to be in attendance as you recognize the African-American History National Champions from Spring Harbor Middle School. As you may be aware, the 2025 championship team is composed of amazing and and in intellectually gifted students, a devoted and skilled coach and a visionary and superior principle. And I don't use those words lightly. Those actually personify exactly the learning environment that

007fostered the students and their achievements. And when we say sometime something about national competition, you kind of Yeah, national whatever. For someone who is Midwestern from a small city, taller maybe than Madison, I have great joy being the socks off of those towns that are much bigger than what I grew up in. These students, they exercise their abilities against teams from Dallas, Fort Worth, from Philadelphia, from Pittsburgh. I was going to say the best of last, but I can't hold I can't hold back. New York City. I just love that one. I always got up and and just marched around the room because often times there is this Midwest subtle discrimination of oh yeah farmer yeah I got your farmer all right anyhow this was just an amazing feat and I'm not talking about just

008by the skin of their teeth or anything like that I'm talking about scores of 15 excuse me 13 to zero we're talking about wipeout situations and we're also talking about some very very difficult questions I can't say enough about the principal and the coach. Um, they're amazing. They're visionary and they're omnipresent. They are there but not visible. It's not about them. It's about the students. I don't know if you had a chance to see the video clip that was done for the students when they got back to their school. Have any of you seen that? It is off the charts. Now, we have worked with Angie Hicks when she was a principal and she won. So, she went so far as to we got in on Saturday night. She went and recruited everybody in the

009mother. They were in the lobby of the airport. When we came down the the uh uh automatic staircase, if you will, there was a load of people. You thought it was a football game or something. I said, "Wow, you'd never be able to top that." Yeah. Well, she she she did top that. Uh so much so that she comprised a situation where the school all the students of the school and the teachers they came at a certain time. The parents they in turn held everybody back until about 9:00. They walked into a full gymnasium of people that did nothing but clap, cheer, and applaud. It was off the charts. It was creative. And it's something that no one will ever forget. And we oftentimes again forget sometimes that we do different things on reward. We

010reward situations which are sometimes physical and not mental and then we wonder why things don't happen. This was one where this was all about mental. It's about tenacity. It was about academic competition. And I say to you because I know many of you at the table and the job that you try so hard to do, you're here for the long haul. You're doing things from an academic perspective. This was one that complemented what you do. It wasn't about the athletics. It was purely about the brain power and the will to achieve. And when I say that, remember our motto for the 100 black men is mentoring for a lifetime. I would say to you that Ali Mudro is an example of that because she was the representative a few years back when she was in

011school and I believe they went to Las Vegas as I recall and the next year your sister won as I recall. And so this is something that is omnipresent because of who you are as educational leader. I also want to call out the superintendent. You say, "Okay, you've knows enough." No, I'm not. No, I'm not. And you know me well enough. I could care less. But this is not about that. This is about the act. drive a claim to somebody who did the right thing for all the right reasons. We were in here for the the local competition. We started an hour and 40 minutes late. Five roles because I was around the front row was Superintendent GD. We had channel 15 here. We started an hour and 40 minutes late. Ed Murray did the

012uh interview with them. Not one time did the superintendent come up and say, "You know, we got to get this thing going." He was as cool as could possibly be. He was supportive as he could possibly be. And he did it at a time when other people were kind of uh what's going on here? What happened was that one of our students at the high school level had the only way to get here was public transportation. It was not about their own valition. This was purely about the circumstances. Everybody doesn't have two cars and somebody to drive them. We waited for that person. And if you could have been here, and I'm sure the super come before you, but he I know he being the modest guy he is, he didn't push what really went

013on. There was cheering in here like like you would never believe. You would think you were at a basketball finals game that there were people cheering in the back and people cheering in the front and they were into this. This was about those students and answering questions that were difficult questions and his stewardship said so much to me because he stayed for the entire time. We all left together and I asked him what wow this is this is great. He said I see this all the time. I see this at the school all the time and I have this shout out because I think it's incumbent to express that you're doing amazing things. You're not always patted on the head or rewarded from commentary. You hear more about what you can't do rather than what

014you can do. But at the end of the day, our children are unbelievably served because of your presence, because of your leadership, and because you in turn do the right thing. Even sometimes when no one is going to commend you all, please give yourself a round. Anyhow, I think at this point, let me sit down. Uh, and again, please know that we really appreciate this. This is possibly one of the the oldest academic competitions in our state in our state. Now, just remember Ali's only about 27, so don't go too far back on. But for the most part, this is something that we know is there, something we don't make a big thing of, but we'll only be able to do this because of you. God bless you. Thank you so much, Dr. Rose. Thank

015you, Dr. Rose. All right, I'm gonna move us now into our public input section. Um, and Vice President Pearson will actually um help call names of those who have registered to speak in person. But before we do that, um I'm going to provide the summary of the written statements that were submitted for this meeting. And there were 10 of them. Seven were in support of raising concerns regarding the culture, staff morale, and leadership at Vanheis Elementary. One was in support of including Kennedy Elementary in the community eligibility provision or C this cycle to ensure all um all MMSD community schools receive consistent meal access. One was in support of the reinstatement of Miss Nikia Wy to MMSD. One was in support of the proposal to have elementary students who attend Anana and live north of

016Shrader Road ride on an existing Toki Middle School bus which would drop them off a block from Anana Elementary School. Um for our speakers tonight um you obviously can speak on any topic of concern for three minutes. We'll have online speakers and then move to our in-person speakers. And tonight we also um can hear any comments on the preliminary budget for the 2025 2026 school year. And with that, Vice President Pearson and Jesse, I'll I'll turn it over to you for um managing the uh flow for speakers. Thank you. Thank you, President Nichols. Um for those that are speaking in um in person, please um remember that please speak clearly into the mic. You will have a timer that is green, yellow, and red. Red means that your time is up. There is also a

017timer here that will give you three minutes and and let you know. Um please try to keep um your comments within at least 3 minutes. Um and with that, we will start with our online speakers. Jesse, thank you. Our first online speaker is Rebecca Hoy. Good evening. My name is Rebecca Hoy. Um I'm speaking tonight in support of Dr. Nikaya Wley's request um to be reinstated to her former or a new position within MMUSD. Um while most of my interactions with Dr. Dr. Wy have been professional in nature. I am here this evening as a member of the public and not in any official capacity. I met Dr. Wy about three years ago when I moved to Madison with the goal of advancing opportunities for people with disabilities. I was immediately impressed with her commitment

018to inclusion and justice, her deep roots in the community, and her ability to show up joyfully and authentically in any space where she is needed. I enjoyed working with Dr. Wy as a community partner in her role on the board of dis the disability pride Madison festival where she has served for the past several years and I understand that she has been a leader in that space. This festival is the longest standing celebration of disability pride in the city of Madison and it brings together a diverse group of community members, organizations, public officials who all gather to celebrate the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. In addition, I have had the privilege of working directly with Dr. Wy in her role as the chair of the city of Madison's disability rights commission. She has

019proven to be a passionate and compassionate advocate and leader. So much so that her peers elected her as chair in two consecutive terms. This speaks to her stellar work ethic and her ability to foster relationships with other commissioners, city staff, and Madison residents. While I do not know the details of Dr. Wley's separation from MMUSD, I do understand that she possesses several advanced degrees and continues to teach and learn. I also understand that she has years of experience as an educator and I have personally heard community members speak very highly of her work while employed with the district and her undying commitment to her students. To me, she appears in all respects qualified and eager to resume her work. I can also say that having worked as an advocate for the rights of uh people

020with disabilities and employment for over 18 years before moving to Madison that people with disabilities can and do work with appropriate accommodations and supports. I also uh know that we are living in times where young people are being told and reminded of what they cannot do by people in positions of power and they are literally being told that they are tragedies. I say when people with disabilities and their medical professionals tell us what they can do, we should believe them. In closing, I ask you to consider what it means for our students to have a stellar example, a fierce and authentic advocate and educator like Dr. Wy in the classroom with them. I thank you for your time and your consideration of Dr. Wigh's request for reinstatement. You Our next online speaker is Tamar Jacobson.

021Hey. Um, I'm Tamar Jacobson, pronoun she, hers. Um, I'm here today to, um, speak on behalf of or in regard, my high regard for Dr. Nikaya Wy. Um, I've known her since, uh, she started working with the district in 2016. at the time. Um I was going through a job transition and I want to mention this is not about me but I um recently retired from this district after 32 years. So, um I feel like I have a wealth of knowledge um and examples having worked district-wide across all ages um of stellar, incredible, passionate, tenacious, present, um knowledgeable, caring, enduring staff and professionals in this district. And I've also seen as I know some people on this call here have a slew of people that in one way or another were not able to present

022their best selves to the district and those people remained and do remain within the district. Um my experiences with Dr. WY are of her being um a leader in either encouraging, supporting um or being an innovator in many of the um principles that this district holds. Inclusivity, improving disproportionality, and overidentification of scholars of color in special education. Well, Dr. WY actually came through for this district and all the families and scholars with her support and leadership in the anti-ra racist IEP project. Um and she has faced on the daily and not just for this but on the daily um she has faced resistance or just outright ignoring of this process which is in the name of um not even equalizing sounds shallow but it is the project that she has spearheaded that she has stuck

023with um and I would say that in all the years of my work in special education. Um, this is something that is also within the realm of something that was talked about decades ago, having difficult conversations or having I don't even remember what it was called. Get comfortable with uncomfortable conversations. And I'm saying all this and I know it's a lot of like here, there, and everywhere. But the point is Dr. Wy brings her authentic self. I'm not even going to speak about the degrees because we can all read a lot of acronyms. And she is passionate about taking the acronyms out of special education, making real connections within the community, real connections between families and scholars, and working towards resolution within the district and for the betterment of all. I think this district can

024do better. Thank you to our online speakers. We'll move into our in-person speakers. First will be Mary Lou Rich and next after Mary Louu will be Linda CS. People can hear me and those behind me hear me? No. might need to come closer. Get my mouth closer. Is that good? Okay. So, my name is Mary Lou Rich and uh my husband Ed and I moved to Madison in and he's here. Raise your hand, Ed. When we moved here, we bought a modest home in the Green Tree neighborhood and we had two little girls. We had uh Elizabeth who was four and Mara who was one and we later added to our family had a little boy. These three children uh all walked up the hill to Faulk School. It was three blocks. Back in those

025days they even came home for lunch which was quite unusual. The reason I tell you this story is that times have changed so much. When they went to that school, it was totally white. I think Daniel had one little black friend. His name was Odalo, and he's now a professional artist. We're very proud of Oda. So, in April, we uh went to a meeting at the library, a community meeting. And at that meeting uh the principal of Anana school spoke and she was very vivaceious and enthusiastic and we enjoyed her remarks very much. But she shared with the group that they have a really serious problem with attendance. And the main problem is that there are two really nice new apartment buildings. And these apartment buildings are on Odana Road. If you've ever gone miniature

026golfing, they're right across from Vitance. So these little kids, in order to get to school, they have to walk quite a distance and they are not far enough away in order to get bus. So along they go on Shrader Road, which is a busy artery because it accesses the belt line. They go past a quick trip where everybody's zooming in and out to get their gas and their coffee and their donuts. They go a little bit further and they are at the entrance to exact science. Now they're to the point where there's a light that is not always functional where they're supposed to cross straighter road to head to their school, Faulk School. Um they tried for a time to do something called a walking bus. They even asked for volunteers to help these little

027kids. That means I have 15 seconds. So, I guess the bottom line is I'm here to advocate for you to find a way for these kids to get safely to school. They certainly deserve it. Uh there's no hope for the future if they're not educated and they will not be educated if they are not present. Thank you, Mary Lou. Linda CS is up and Dell Underbaki is on deck. Hello. First and foremost, I want to tell you I love children. Secondly, I love Madison schools. I was a program support teacher in this district for more than 25 years and felt very fortunate to be part of a district that always made decisions in the best interest of their ch this the students. I have children that attend grandchildren that attend an elementary school and I

028live in that neighborhood. This spring I became aware of 35 students kindergarten through fifth grade who live on Shrader Road and currently walk to school which is approximately 1.2 miles from Manatana. A fair number of these students do not attend school or late to school many days of the year due to varying factors. During the past year there have been many attempts from various groups and people to help improve the attendance of these students. letters to you, the school board, neighborhood meetings, a walking school bus, and others. But none of these have solved the problem. In the end, poor attendance of these students resulted in their lack of learning, socializing, and problem solving with their peers. This year, the yearly report card displays that Anana was one of the lowest ranked schools in the district

029due in part to school absences and low scores on standardized tests. This spring, Caitlyn Sandal, the anonymous school social worker, Barbara McKini, our district older person, and I began meeting to brainstorm ideas to improve the attendance of these 35 students who are primarily African-American and Asian. The best solution that we can see is allowing these anony students to ride the middle school bus that stops right in front of their apartment building at the right time in the morning and would drop them off a half a block from their school. One morning, Barbara and I met the students at this stop. At that very bus stop, talked with them and heard about their problems walking to school in prior years. They felt that riding a bus would have helped them improve their attendance. After visiting that

030that stop, Barbara and I felt that that was a very viable option. This past year, Anna was and Anna was one of the two schools that was asked to start school an hour later than was originally planned. This was due to the district's district's busing issues. Neither the Anana nor the parents staff nor parents were given that information until the Friday before school started the following Monday. You can only imagine the chaos that drastic change created for families. Anata schools and families accommodated your request at the beginning of this past school year. Now we hope that you will help us solve our problem and resolve our best busing issue. Please find it in your hearts a willingness to offer our solution to these students and others in the future. They deserve only the best that

031we have to offer and you have the power to make that decision. Thank you. Thank you. Up is Dell Underbaki and on deck is Molly Schmidt. Tonight's report on board policy 3537 needs to acknowledge the disproportionate number of our stu students of color and students without intellectual disabilities who are prematurely being encouraged to accept diplomas without re achieving disciplinary levels of reading proficiency. Our current statistics reflect the need to enshrine literacy achievement into metrics for promotion. In 2023, 9% of fourth graders identifying as black, 22% as Hispanic, and only 15% with IEPs were prepared for fifth grade learning. Only 8% of eighth graders identifying as black, 15% as Hispanic, and 9% with IEPs were prepared for nth grade challenges. More than 90% of black graduates and 85% of Hispanic graduates earned the required credits and

032accepted diplomas without disciplinary levels of literacy. Over 90% of graduates with IEPs prematurely exited the post-secary transition plans compromised by basic and below basic reading skills. Even AI bot responses about promotion with insufficient literacy are clear and consistent. Promoting students without literacy is a short-term solution with long-term costs. As part of no king process and Junth celebrations, I listened to counterprotest voices speaking out against DEI and curriculum focused on diversity and race. This makes kids feel bad was a predictable point of justification. I've heard supporters of social promotion use this same phrase to justify their position. As you edit this policy draft, I ask you to acknowledge your bias by referencing turn of the century research that supports social promotion without mentioning current research that exposes the emotional trauma caused by promotion without literacy. I

033suggest we ask our recent graduates who cannot read how they felt about earning credits, trying to learn without being able to read. We need to listen to the voices of those suffering the consequences of this promotional bias. Please look at the dates of the research used to justify our current promotion mindset. These sources reflect a time in education before science of reading. Testimonials revealed the trauma suffered by those strapped to on track to graduation metrics without literacy. A time in history when our manufacturing and agricultural economy was able to absorb lower levels of reading ability. This is no longer our reality. The relationship between workforce development and literacy requirements has changed dramatically over the past two decades and we need to respond to these changes. In the state of Wisconsin, literacy accountability is entrusted to

034you as schoolboard members. You share the responsibility for creating literacy reinforced policies for postsecary success. Thank you. Thank you, D. Up we have Molly Schmidt and on deck Gerald Sternberg. Good evening. My name is Molly Schmidt and I'm a proud teacher at Southside Elementary School. I'm here tonight not only as a voice for our students, families, and educators, but to call for the reinstatement of our principles, Doc, uh, Miss Candace Terrell and Miss Annabelle Torres. Their removal from Southside Elementary has left our community with deep concern. Because for many of us, they were far more than principles. They were the heartbeat of a vision, one rooted in equity, excellence, and accountability for every student, every staff member, and every family connected to our school. Under their leadership, Southside was a school where joyful learning met

035high expectations, where academic rigor was never separated from care and compassion. Miss Terrell and Miss Torres understood that in order for a child to succeed in the classroom, they must first feel seen, heard, and safe. They led with an intentional focus on addressing the whole child, balancing academic instruction with social emotional support in ways that made our students feel respected, and empowered to show up as their authentic selves. They worked tirelessly to build relationships with families, not out of obligation, but out of a genuine belief in partnership. They understood that real success doesn't happen in isolation. It happens when educators and families walked together in support of our children. They cultivated spaces where families felt welcome and involved, where community voices mattered, and where our students saw leadership that reflected their lived experiences. Their commitment

036to our school was not abstract. It was evident in every decision, every program, and every conversation centered around student success. Whether preparing children to be college, career, or community ready, Miss Terrell and Miss Torres never wavered in their belief that our students could and would transcend any barriers life may cast before them. They don't just talk about equity, they lead it, and they live it. Removing leaders like Miss Terrell and Miss Torres sends a message, intended or not, that the very values that MMSD claims to stand for are negotiable. that vision, heart, and transformational leadership can be dismissed. The Southside community knows the truth. These two women are not just what our school needs. They are what our school deserves. As we move forward, I urge this board to reflect not only on the decisions

037made, but on the long-term impact they carry. Leadership matters. And when you have leaders like Miss Terrell and Miss Torres, leaders who bring both excellence and humanity, you don't remove them. You support them. You uplift them. And you build with them. Thank you, Marley, Gerald Sternberg, and Marley Sternberg on deck. Members of the school board, and Dr. Goth, I come before you to speak about the change in promotion policy proposed by the instruction workg group, namely policy 3537 on your agenda this evening as action item 8.1, which in practice will make it harder to leave a student back, otherwise known as retention. When you travel around Madison, you see the signs that state this is a school of excellence. For sure they are schools of excellence for students who are motivated and do well. But

038there are children who start school who have had a very challenging early childhood. I believe that the Madison schools are failing these children. They are overlooked and they are struggling. The MMSD statistics reveal that on average, black students continue to fare the worst by a huge margin with around 10% of students reading at grade level and in math only 5 to 10% are at grade level whereas the white students 65 to 70% read at grade level and 60% are at grade level in math. This longstanding gap is appalling and morally unacceptable. There are many white students who also are unable to read and do math at grade or do math at grade level. I have three proposed amendments to the proposed policy. One, I want to recommend the elimination of item nine on page six

039of the proposed policy, giving the team the opportunity to promote a student whose personal reading plan is not completed primarily for a lack of literacy proficiency. It makes no sense. They should be considering retention, not promotion. Two, section A under the title, on track to graduation, pages one and two, says two or more years behind their age group and basic skill levels, a student will be at risk for not graduating if at least two of the six factors are true. I submit that factor number two which says a student shall be determined to be behind two or more years behind their age group in in basic math and reading if they fall into the lowest score range on the statemandated assessment. This by itself should be sufficient for a student to be at risk for

040not graduating unless two or more criteria are required by statuto requirement. three. Number five on page six, process for making promotion decisions. Representatives from the school district will communicate long-term risks of retention to the students parent or guardian. I recommend that this provision state that representatives of the school or district communicate to the parents the risk of advancement, too. So, it reads risks of retention or advancement. Students who can't read or do math at grade level suffer from low self-esteem. They believe they are not smart. There is something the matter with them. Some suffer from depression and anxiety hoping the teacher will not call on them. The Madison School District has wronged these students and hurt their lives for the future. Thank you very much. Thank you, Gerald. Marley Sternberg is up and Nyra McCann

041is on deck. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak to the school board. I support, that was my husband, proposed amendments to the new policy. Your current and proposed policy has allowed and will allow for retention after third, fourth, and eighth grade if students are failing or doing very poorly in language arts ma and math. Yet, I can tell you now that you haven't really followed your own current policy. you have um students have not been retained for a very long time and uh even if they should have been for their own good. Uh we could tell you from experience we know very well a student who has been failing all or most subjects for a few years already. She cuts many classes, doesn't do any homework, and is falling behind more each

042year. She goes to school only to socialize. Yet there are no consequences. She has even received half credit for assignments she didn't even complete and she keeps being promoted. Having read your current policy, her parents spoke to the school principal toward the end of 8th grade. They explained she wasn't at all equipped to handle high school, giving her failing grades. Given her failing grades, some of the teachers agreed. The parents were worried that she would end up a high school dropout. The parents pleaded for them to consider retention to at least give the student an extra year to get closer to her grade level with intensive help. Even the student knew she was unprepared for high school. Yet, the principal wouldn't consider it. She cited one study claiming it was hard emotionally for kids who

043are held back. But really, which is worse? a year catching up even if the student is unhappy about it or the rest of your school years knowing you can't keep up and you graduate not ready in reading or math to live as an adult in this society. What would that do to their self-esteem long haul? So, the parents met with the school board and it was no different there. They wouldn't hear about it. They they said to the summer school and um that wasn't adequate. So, this student entered nth grade continuing to find classes. so difficult. She says they're boring and simply doesn't go. She spends more time outside class than inside. She does zero work and is failing all her subjects and now she doesn't even care anymore. But she was promoted to 10th

044grade. This never should have and and they didn't offer summer school this year either. This never should have been allowed to reach this point. The opinion of parents who know the student best needs to matter to the school board. What will the students future be? Um and and um take some time to think about your proposed policy and do you actually plan on implementing it the way it is written? Will retention actually be practiced the way it is written in your policy or will you back away from it in reality as you have done in the past? Please consider um and also there should be able to be retention after other grades besides fourth, fifth, and eighth. Um the student we're talking about represents many students who are in the same predicament as she. Please

045don't give up on any student. Even every student is worthy. Please do the right thing. Thank you very much. Thank you. Up is Nyra McCann and Marie Wa on deck. Good evening board. Uh I'm here to advocate on behalf of Dr. Nica Wy. Um I've served on the NAMI Dane County board with her. I've served as a board vice president. She's been very kind and just a loving, genuine, compassionate person to me. I just want to read um my letter that I have wrote to you on behalf of her. Dear board, thank you for taking the time to hear my letter of support for Dr. Wy. Dr. Wy has done great work in the community and I also witness her good work while working at MMSD. I'm advocating on her behalf to be provided a

046role that meets her qualifications with her values and what your values being excellence, belonging, racial equity, and social justice. a voice, focus, and creativity. I'm hoping that you honor these values within your working relationship with Dr. Wy. It is my hope that you accommodate her in a new role and represent your organization in a good way. When we listen, and here's a quote, when we listen and celebrate what is both common and different, we become wiser, more inclusive, and more better as an organization. And I just wanted to speak to the fact that earlier you were given awards for people of color of African-Americans. And I just want to say don't just write it on paper that that's your belief. Actually live it through. Actually show it through in your staff and your students that

047you believe in what this culture is bringing forward and to just bring unity within your school. Thank you. Thank you. Marie Worker is up and Pamela Fel is on deck. Good evening. My name is Marie Worka and I am a program support teacher in the department of student services. I am also a bilingual speech and language clinician. I'm here tonight to speak in support of Dr. Nikaya Wy who is seeking to be reinstated to her former or another position within MMSD. Since I became a program support teacher and began working at Doyle in 2021, I have come to know Dr. Wy professionally. I witnessed firsthand the valuable work she was doing in the area of anti-racism that has been one of MMSD's main strategic goals. She led our department in professional development that focused on

048building relationships with black families and students. I was inspired by her leadership of the anti-racist IEP committee and joined her in doing that work for three years. Dr. Wy brought together MMSD staff and community members to collaborate in our anti-racist work and it has not been the same without her. She embodies the spirit of that mission and I admire her commitment and willingness to stand up and fight for not only what she believes in but what our district believes in. Thank you. Thank you. Pamela Fel is up and Aendra Brown is on deck. There is an expression that says, "If it doesn't seem right, then it probably's not right." In April, I was notified that after Dr. Na Wy made a request for an accommodation. She was medically separated from the district. I tried hard

049to find the term medical separation. I looked in the employee handbook and among the board policies to figure out if and how this term was applicable to Dr. Wy. I found MMSD's employee separation process, but I was unable to locate the term medical separation. I then read the communication that provided the alleged rationale for Dr. Wigh's medical separation. According to a medical professional who was selected by the district and someone who didn't even know Dr. Wy at all. Allegedly, she was unable to perform with or without accommodation, a role that she has held for three years. I have seen Dr. wy in action. I've seen her work. I watched as she delivered electrifying and engaging professional development. So I was dumbfounded to hear this allegation. I have heard from seas who have said we love

050her. The professional development she provides us is outstanding. Now let's talk about what a compassionate employer does. A compassionate employer recognizes and acknowledges that everyone has bad days. A compassionate employer always makes efforts to provide equal access, opportunities, and resources for individuals who may otherwise be excluded or marginalized, such as individuals having physical or mental disabilities. If it is not possible to accommodate an employee in their regular job, a compassionate employer works with an employee and department to assess other open positions within the department. If there are no open position in a department for which the employee is qualified, a compassionate employer works with the employee to seek permanent alternative work within the organization for which the employee is qualified. And here we have MMSD. Goodbye Sonara. Adios Arita Duri to a wellrespected individual. Dr.

051Wy has been in the field of education for 26 years staunchly advocating for and supporting children. She has worked as an early childhood regular education and special education teacher as well as itinerate teacher. She has been um a PST leading professional learning and development. She's been a student service coordinator. So what type of employee does MMSD want to be? I join other supporters who have previously reached out and asked MMSD to reinstate Dr. Nikki Wy into a position she is qualified for. Thank you. Up we have Asendra Brown and on deck we have Jay Russell. Good evening members of the board. My name is Asendra Brown and I am the proud community schools resource coordinator at Southside Elementary School. This evening, I am speaking on behalf of the students, staff, and families who have experienced

052a deeply painful and unjust school year. This past year was not just difficult, it was damaging, and the damage began with the wrongful removal of our leadership. Contrary to popular belief, many of the structures, systems, and protocols that kept our school strong were not upheld after that decision. The impact was immediate and continued throughout the year. Students and families lost critical programming like Saturday school tutoring opportunities and additional supports that contributed to our growth. Misuse of budget line items were resulting in the loss of previously approved opportunities due to unavailable funding that once existed. Absence of classroom support and observations supported by admin. Fire drills marked as complete when students and staff were still in the building. On top of all of that, our staff morale plummeted. Conditions in the building worsened and support was

053minimal, if at all. At times, we were misled, shut out of decision decision-making, and left to pick up the pieces as systems crumbled around us. While a few voices were elevated and amplified in the media, our collective voices were ignored. Those who came forward with negative claims were often doing so in retaliation because they were being held accountable. That retaliation is not reflected in the findings. These same biased voices were elevated in our school space and select representation, worsening our school culture. Because this behavior has been unressed, the harm continues. The same individuals remain in the building, contributing to a toxic cycle. Our leaders are being removed while those who disrupt disrupted our school face no consequences. The findings from the district's own review did not show harm to students or staff, nor a toxic

054environment as the media falsely portrayed. And still, it hasn't been publicly stated that the complaints used to justify our leaders removal were found to be untrue. That narrative not only harmed the professional reputations of Miss Terrell and Miss Torres, but also deeply impacted the culture of our entire school community. Staff are often put in uncomfortable situations when others learn where we work, receiving unsolicited sympathy or judgment. Families in the community are being encouraged to send their children elsewhere, all based on misleading portrayals in the media. The decision to transfer our leaders was made under false pretenses, allegedly in the best interest of our school. But no one reached out to us. And even now, where is the support for those who remain in the building? Just wanting restoration and normaly brought back to our school.

055It's become clear that the support that we expected to help elevate our voices did not honestly convey our concerns and feedback to the board. Our voices continue to be dismissed unless they align with a particular particular narrative. I asked the board, who are you listening to? Who are you prioritizing in these decisions? And have you asked our students and overall school commi community how this has affected them and what we need to move forward? Because if you had, you would know this. We want our leaders back. We want the truth. We want healing. And we want our voices finally to matter. Thank you. Thank you. We have up Jay Russell and um Makia. Sorry, Price. I was gonna say Kia Price. Well, first of all, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you this

056evening. My name is Jay Russell. I am the president of the Green Tree Neighborhood Association. We call the GTNA. And the GTNA has been around for 60 years, over 60 years. And we've always supported the elementary school in the neighborhood, uh, Faulk School, Anana, now currently an Anna school. At our last two annual meetings, we had Chelsea Elliott, the principal, speak. and she told us about a situation of students north of Shrader Road who have difficulty getting to school uh traveling because of uh uh she called it a truency issue. It's a safety issue, but they've had difficulty making it to school on time. So, uh a number of residents have reached out to you via email. We've got some residents here that have already spoken, which is is great and it shows how much

057that the the neighborhood is behind uh these students and wants to find a solution. So, now we've actually got a proposal put forth that will allow these students to ride an existing school bus that takes students um to Toki Middle School. Uh I think it's a great solution. The only downside I can think of is maybe the older students wouldn't be singing the wheels on the bus go round and round with the little ones. But uh we can we can overcome that issue. Um anyway, the the middle school students uh or the the elementary students riding on the uh middle school bus would be uh would be a great solution to this issue. And speaking on behalf of the Green Tree Neighborhood Association board and the residents, I asking you to approve of this proposal

058to allow those students to ride the middle school bus. So, thank you for your consideration. Thank you. We have up Makia Price and on deck Derby. [Music] Hi, my name and I am speaking on behalf of Candace Terrell. Um, the findings did not was not true. Like y'all sabotaged her in the district uh in the media to her kids to her family that she created a very toxic environment. Um I think the district owe her public uh apology um to say that the the the findings she did not do that but you found other findings but that's what we do. Um also to leave y'all with a quote a system cannot fail those that that it was never meant to protect. That's what y'all show us that y'all are not protecting us. This is a

059leader who took that school from failing to meeting expectations. So, what kind of system do we really want? When we call out teachers to be uh she wanted the teachers to be better and to teach our kids, that's only at a 9%. And the last thing, blessed are those that are prosecuted for the sake of righteousness. That's it. Thank you. And then we have um Darby and you can say when you come up so I know. And then Lauren Morris on deck. Hello, my name is Darby Puelli. I am a teacher and MTI rep at Randall. And I was going to write this, but they said say it. So, I am here to thank on behalf of the Randall staff, board member Martha Saravo for visiting Randall at the end of the school year and

060meeting with the staff. We appreciate that greatly. Thank you. Thank you. And then we have Lauren Morris up and then Aldo Barbara M Harrington McKenna on deck and is our last final speaker. Good evening. I too am concerned about the handling of the southside and leadership. People were harmed, processes, systems and structure dismantled. So much trauma and burnout. I myself have had sleepless nights, illness and working way beyond contract and my job expectations within this process. Although the resilience in our community is admirable, so much has been mishandled, great staff lost and damaged, trust destroyed. A wise person asked me if it would have been fair to sit in with staff and still make an objective conclusion about all of this. But after much thought, I think it has been a great disservice in this

061process to not engage with staff and in some ways to alienate staff. Um, we need to do better it which in order to better understand the community, the vision, the work, the goals, the passion, especially when the space was made for others to voice their opinions um and their experiences, but we were discouraged from sharing ours. that didn't allow for a full um narrative. And furthermore, um when it comes down to such minor infractions, many that we experienced 10fold this year, how can we not give a chance to see how how that will impact staff, how it has impact staff, and what the proper next steps should be. I'm concerned that personal issues with accountability were used to fuel fire to find problems within the school and you can find problems within any school, right?

062Our systems and processes at the district and school level are not perfect and we're working through those things, right? But this was not this these decisions were not student centered. these processes not student centered when you're thinking about the progress that was made in our school and the data shows that and not allowing the space for the counter narrative. In fact, discouraging discouraging staff experience and people were scared to speak out because they weren't sure where things were, what was true, what was not. And to find out that these are the things that are the issues is really concerning. Um, and it it's been really harmful to live in a space where you're constantly having to fight for the work for the students and the against the misinformation. I'm concerned about the procedures and concerned

063about the next steps because I am an aspiring leader who has endured both micro and macroaggressions within this process and I'm not feeling safe within um my abilities to push for change and excellence and have those tough decisions and make those big strides if things can be dismantled this easily. and if we are afraid to stand for the progress that we are making as a district and making in our schools. So I too am asking for the reinstatement of the southside principles Candace Terrell and Annabel Torres. Thank you. Thank you. Our last speaker is Alder Barbara Harrington McKenna. First of all, let me say thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Barbara Harrington McKenna. I'm the older of district 20 and I'm here to represent myself and Alder Rickair who is of

064district 19 and we are here to serve Anana Elementary School. I have met with staff at Anana, heard the plea from the principal, walked part of the way or the path of the students traveling on the walking school bus. It has been well defined and well described in the letter received from the staff. Student transportation is from your policy. Student transportation on student transportation is an integral part of our education system. The Madison Metropolitan School District strives to provide safe, efficient, and economical transportation for all eligible students residing within school district boundaries under provisions of the appropriate Wisconsin state statute and board of education policy. Elementary school age students four year old kindergarten through fifth grade who live in the MSD area and who attend their area school are eligible for district provided yellow transportation

065if their pickup location residence or child care location is located more than 1 and 1/2 miles from the attendance area, elementary school, or the resident in an area identified as an unusually hazardous zone in which transportation may be offered. Bus stops are selected based on location and safety. The district goal is to whenever possible establish centrallylo community stops on safe intersection locations. Bus stops are reviewed annually to ensure that the district is implementing the safest, most efficient, and most expediious routes to possibly all students riding the bus. Bus stops are selected based on location and safety. The district's goal is to whenever possible establish centrally located bus stops at safe intersection locations, causes, consequences, and solutions. And let me stop here because I want to make sure that I get everything involved. Attendance for our

066students is a challenge. I have won some victories and I've lost some victories. But I had an opportunity to knock on the door because I am an educator. My early career was a special education teacher. I understand when doors are closed, education at least allows our children put their hand on the door and to open the door. We have the opportunity to make sure our students will at least have the opportunity to put their hand on the door to open the door. And so my ask for this body tonight is some of our students at Anana, they will win some victories and they will lose some victories, but you have the responsibility to make sure they get to the door and put their hand on the door to unlock the door. If by chance riding

067a yellow school bus allows 35 black and brown children to put their hand on the lock to open the door, I ask you to consider it. Whatever I can do to help us to get to that point, I absolutely am willing to do that because we have the responsibility of making sure that all students, black or brown or white, get the opportunity to at least put their hand on the door. Thank you for your time. Thank you. And so that concludes our public comment section and I am going to go ahead and turn this back over to our board president Nichols. Thank you, Vice President Pearson. Um, and I want to just take a moment to thank all of our speakers tonight. uh we appreciate you taking the time um either online or in person

068to come forward um and express the topics and issues that are important to you. Um we I also before we move into approval of the minutes want to just do a welcome to our student representative Claire Lee. Um thank you for joining us tonight. I wish I was there with you to smile in your face. Um, but as we get ready, um, Student Representative Claire Lee, as we get ready to do the approval of the minutes, um, you know, I'll be asking for your advisory vote and and then going on to vote. So, you feel good about that? Awesome. All right. All right. Um, so I move that the board of education approve the minutes from the regular meeting dated May 19th, 2025. Second, Maya. All right. All those in favor first. Um, Student Representative

069Claire Lee, I don't know how to I don't know how to address you yet. Um, your advisory vote. I Thank you. All those in favor? I. All right, that looks unanimous. Oh, did Nikki I'm sorry, Nikki had to step out for a second, but it is unanimous. 6. Well, yeah. Thank Yeah. Thank Thanks for your assistance with that, Vice President Pearson. All right, we'll now move into board president announcements and reports. Um, I'll get us started. Um and then Vice President Pearson, you can pick up under other acknowledgements. So, first we have congratulations in order. Um we have a lot to celebrate as we end the school year. We want to say congratulations to all of our MMSD graduates. Um and we are wishing everyone the best in whatever um paths they take next. Um

070we have some highlights. East High School's Jay Coleman who won two state titles, first place in the girls 100 meter wheel dash wheelchair and the 1600 meter run wheelchair at the Wisconsin Intercolastic Athletic Association State Track and Field Championships. uh Memorial AP macroeconomics students who came in first and second in the statewide stock market stimula simulations. Excuse me. That is Max Garduno Alva, Nathan Jessman, Ruben Pantha, Benson Yang, and Simon Rosesi. Second place winners include Adakus, Jas Kunas, Jason Lee, William Lee, and Kevin Portillo. Um, they competed against 185 other teams. The Leupold Elementary Community School resource coordinator, Cindy Diaz, who who was just named a 2025 Women of Distinction by YW.CA Madison. Um, this is amazing. It was a She received an annual award honoring women who are making lasting change in their communities

071through leadership, service, and social justice. And Edith Noriega, a bilingual resource specialist at Shank, who is the first graduate in our Grow Your Own program. Um, Edith earned an associate degree from Madison College and is now preparing to move on to the University of Wisconsin Madison to complete her bachelor's degree in elementary education. The Grow Your Own program aims to support career advancement for current employees while addressing the continued workforce need for dedicated educators um throughout our district. So, these are just great highlights um as we end this school year. And now, Vice President Pearson, I'll hand it over to you for other acknowledgements. Thank you. So, in tonight's consent agenda, the board would like to acknowledge and thank all individuals and organizations that have donated to the district, especially Unityoint Health Merit for donating

072$30,000 to provide funding for the Val Phillips Memorial High School dinner program. Unity Point Health Meridor has formally adopted this school through the Madison Public Schools Foundation adopt a school program. The University of Wisconsin's Department of Intercolgate Athletics for inclined donation of books, tickets, meal vouchers, education day tickets, and community school donations. A total value of $34,578. 1901, Inc. for its donation of an Avid Pro CNC router valued at $34,833 to support the technology and engineering programs at Val Phillips Memorial High School. And that's it for our other acknowledgements. Back to you, President Nichols. Thank you. I feel like we're on a news show tonight. Um, next up we have our superintendence report. Joe, off to you. Thank you, President Nichols, members of the board, staff, and community. Uh, what a great time of year

073for us to celebrate. We've got a few special treats, some videos to share with you tonight. But first, I want to acknowledge and thank our students, families, staff, and educators for an excellent school year. As I shared with the administrators, we accomplished a lot over the 2425 school year. Here are some highlights. We had four ribbon cutting celebrations to uh celebrate the completion of the renovation work at our four comprehensive high schools. This, of course, was made possible with our 2020 referendum. In November, we passed a historic referendum because our community voted yes to our students and to public education. We launched our early college education academy, a partnership between the Madison Metropolitan School District and Madison College. This academy is an opportunity for students interested in education or an education related field to get

074an early start and begin coursework toward this area of study while in high school. Work began on MMSD's new strategic framework which will serve as a roadmap to help guide the district. Long-range planning is an important part of making MMSD a destination school district. More than 2,50 students took a total of 4561 AP tests, making or marking a new MMSD record for the number of individual test takers and the number of AP exams administered. This marks a new MMSD record, as I mentioned, for both the number of individual test takers and the number of exams administered. Last year the numbers were 1,845 uh students completed and a combined test total of 3,83. It also reflects our ongoing efforts to expand access to accelerated learning opportunities and support academic rigor across our four comprehensive high schools.

075We launched Mad for Reading, our citywide literacy initiative, helping to engage the community in reading and helping our students. Our students, staff, and educators from across the district earned multiple awards and honors throughout the year. And here's just a few examples. Lefthaladin Memorial High Schools were honored with Jerry Awards, Wisconsin's premier celebration of high school musical theater. A Metro High educator was named teacher of the month, one of many examples of excellence in the classroom. We had 23 National Merit semi-finalists. Students from Lfallet, Memorial, and West heard top honors at the statewide career and technical student organization leadership conferences, earning 12 state championships, one international recognition, and 48 national level qualifications. An O'Keefe student won the all city national spelling bee and 120 of our students were recognized at the Urban League's MLK Junior Youth

076Awards. 85 students across the district received the Wisconsin seal of biiteracy which certifies they're achieving a high level of language proficiency in English and one or more additional languages. These examples are only a glimpse into all that has been happening at MMSD. Jesse's now going to share a brief video of many of the great things that happened at MMSD this year. [Music] Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. [Music] [Applause] [Music] trying to pack one year into one minute and 14 seconds. uh very challenging but nonetheless a great school year. So again, I want to encourage our community to visit our news and awards pages at MMSD to see all the amazing people, programs, and events at MMSD. Uh the next slide. Um making connections really important for us to understand that MMSD can only be as

077good as the connections our community has with our schools, with our students, with our staff and families. So, one of the recent initiatives that we took is touring with local realers. We hosted a group of local realators at two schools scheduled for reconstruction, Blackhawk and Gumpers and one school that was recently renovated, Belilts Memorial. Before heading to Memorial, we stopped at Gillespie uh Middle School where we enjoyed a meal provided by food services and toured the library. These tours are more than just providing information about our schools. It's a great opportunity to directly connect with a group of key stakeholders and show them what makes MMSD special and answer why MMSD. We also gave them packets that tell each of our school story, including student, staff, and program highlights. Tours like these are an important

078part of our work as we uplift MMSD as a destination school district. One of the things that I really enjoy the most about my role is spending time with our students and my dedicated visits to our schools have given me an opportunity to do that. There are also the those moments of connection outside of the scheduled school visits. Recently, at the end of the school year, I learned that a lot of our schools and students uh go on scavenger hunts throughout the city. Uh kind of a culminating activity of navigating uh city bus schedules and seeing some of the uh uh definitely uh historic marks around the city of Madison. Well, one of the groups stopped by Doyle as part of their end of the year scavenger hunt and they were full of energy and

079excitement, ready to continue their adventure. At Emerson, students helped me record a a summer message to students and staff. We met on the school playground, and while the communications crew set up, I joined our scholars on some of the playground equipment. It was a powerful reminder of how important joy and connection is to learning. And then finally, as we wrap up with Pride Graduation, uh we wrapped up the school year celebrating approximately 2,000 MMSD graduates. I can still feel it in my handshakes. Shabbaz Innovative High, Capitol East, Lafallet, Memorial, and West. Each graduation was special and unique, and I was honored to be part of this important milestone with our scholars, their families, and staff. And I think it's important for us to take a look at what some of our graduates are up to

080after high school. Jesse, if you could roll the next video. My name is Jasmina Murphy and after I graduate from Capitol High School, I will be attending Miles College in Fairfield, Alabama. Um, my name is Autumn and I'm going to be going to college in the fall for creative writing and I'm going to go to MATC and then I'm probably going to transfer. All right. Hi, my name is Jaden Hicks. Hi, my name is Catherine Arnold. Hi, I'm Beta Duna. Hi, my name is Ali Heidi. My name is Aiel Mack. My plans for next year is to attend Wshkosh where I'll be majoring in nursing. My future plans for next year are going to W lacrosse to play soccer. My plans for next year is I'm going to go to um Madison College to study

081interior design. Next year I'll be going to W. Stout for psychology. My plans for next year are to attend Howard University um in Washington DC. I'm planning to study communications with a PR and advertising um specialty, but I might transition to something more creative or something in like the humanities sector as well. My name is Brunelli Gavvara and I'm planning to major in business education at W Whitewater in the future. I'm Kevin. I plan to do some form of environmental science in the future. Most people call me Gray Montgomery Cross. Um, and I guess my future plans are going to MATC for 2 years for my prerequisite classes and then going to UWMadison or Milwaukee to study psychology and get my PhD. My name is August. Um, my future plans for after high school are

082going to MATC and studying ecology. Hi, my name is Arvina Martin and my plans for next year is I'll be attending um WMadison and majoring in psychology and then potentially adding on a double major in neurobiology. My name is Jordan Elliot and I'll be going to W Whitewater. Hi, my name is Julia Chavez and after high school I plan to go to WMadison. My name is Shada and my plans for next year are that I'm going to a 4-year university WMadison and I'm majoring in genetics and I'm adding on a double major of public health. My name is Jong Agassun and my current plans after I graduate from high school are to attend the United States Merchant Marine Academy and major in mechanical, no, naval engineering. My name is Jamie. Um, and I'll be attending

083Brown University. Hi, my name is Miam Juth Jarbo. Hello, my name is Deja Yang. My name is Jorah Gandry. My name is Checket Yang. My name is Andrew. My name is Lyanna Wis. My future plans are to attend MATC and major in criminal justice or criminology. I go to Madison College studying in business. I plan to attend Clark Atlanta University, attend WMadison with attend a major of science, and I plan on attending WMadison this fall semester. My plans for next year is to be going to Morgan State. Hi, my name is Jamaia Driver and I plan on going to W Whitewater to study neuroscience. My name is Luke Knight and um after high school I'm pursuing uh pursuing an associates degree at MATC in applied science and I'm going to be uh I'm going to

084be in the electromechanical technology program. My name is Liliana Pis and I am going to MATC for the cosmetology program. Hello, my name is Yelli Bautista and I'm going into culinary arts and business. My name is Diego Roman and my future plan is going to MATC for automotive and continuing my career at Zimmer Honda. My name is Kimmorah Homes. I'll be studying psychology at W Milwaukee. [Music] Well, thank you. Once again, congratulations to our graduates. Why is Amazon paying me $600 a just a couple bonus uh a couple bonus recognitions as well? Uh this this weekend I attended an event with the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County. CEO President Michael Johnson honored uh some former Avat students and I got to meet you know I missed a lot while I was away and

085I got to meet Matita Bojang who is a Vel Memorial graduate. She's uh the first uh Avat student to go into medical school uh where she is now in her residency here at UW um hospital. and um her story, her smile, her pride and how the community rallied around her uh was just a phenomenal experience to see uh what community means to our schools and what our schools mean to our community. So just a really incredible full circle moment uh seeing where Avats began, you know, some 15 years ago uh to the type of young people it's producing today. So really proud of that. And lastly, before I turn over to President Nichols, I can't believe I'm the first to say it. It is Blair Mosner Falam's birthday tonight and we need to we need

086to wish her a happy birthday. Happy birthday, Blair. And uh hope you had a great day, a great birthday after our meeting. Yes, happy birthday, Blair. Um thank you. Thank you, Dr. Gothther, for that. I I just watching the the videos and the photos just reminded me how you came in like last May. Um really to not officially officially start but to start your transition back in and then you just hit the ground running. And it's it's so much fun to see you out with students out in the community. um just how much you have completely given everything to the role of superintendent and just thank you for an incredible not your first first year but your year back in MMSD. Appreciate you. All right. Well, I'm going to move us now into um the

087next part of our agenda. So, first we will have a report on items that proceeded through the instruction workg group held on June 2nd, 2025, and I will have uh Chair Moldro report on that. Thank you, board president Nichols. At our last instruction workg groupoup meeting, we discussed or got an update on our multilingual programming. We also discussed and got an update on our youth our office of youth re-engagement. We visit revisited our policy 35337 promotion of all grades and our policy 4406 homeless education program. We do not have a meeting for our instruction work group in July, but the board did meet last Friday to discuss what our agenda will look like in the school year 2025 2026. Thank you. That's it for me. Thank you um Chair Maldo. It looks like our next

088work group will be on August 4th. All right. Next, we will hear a report on the items that proceeded through the operations workg group held on June 9th, 2025. And I'll turn that over to Chair Castro. Thank you. So on June 9th, we reviewed the proposed changes for the handbook. Uh we reviewed the preliminary um construction plans for upcoming uh referendum projects. And then finally, we took one last review of the uh year-to-ate uh progress on the the the budget that we will vote on tonight. Um our next meeting is August 11th, 2025 and topics are forthcoming. Thank you, Chair Castro. All right, it looks like we do have two action items that proceeded through the instruction workg group. We also have two action items that proceeded through the operations workg group, but I'll I'll

089start with our instruction workg group. Um, action items, both are policies. The first one being policy 335, I'm sorry, 3537, promotion policy. Um, and I move that the board of education approve policy 3537 promotion of all grades in accordance with the documents prepared for the June 23rd, 2025 regular meeting. The policy will be revised effective immediately. Second, Nikki Vandermillan. All right. Thank you. Is there any discussion on the updated policies? Board member Vandermillan. Yes. Um I think this is a good policy. I know we've heard a lot of comments on it. I think uh the public also needs to know that Act 20 is an unfunded mandate involving promotion. There is a reason that we needed to make changes that we needed to make. That's partial of it. But the reason I support this this

090particular policy is for the first time individuals with disabilities are specifically mentioned are specifically included and have an actual path to graduation besides just an assigned degree. So therefore for those reasons I am voting for it. Thank you. Any any others? All right. Not seeing or hearing any. Um, so we'll go with those in favor and I'll ask for Representative Lee, your advisory vote. I. All those in favor? I I All right. Uh, Mai, is that is that unanimous? That is unanimous. All right. Thank you. None opposed. All right. Uh we'll go on to the next policy. This is policy 4406, homeless education. I move that the board of education approve policy 4406, homeless education program, in accordance with the documents prepared for the June 23rd, 2025 regular meeting. The policy will be revised effective

091immediately. Second. Maya, any questions or comments on this policy? Not seeing none in the room. Right. I don't either. Thank you, uh, Vice President Pearson. All right. Representative Lee, your advisory vote. I. All those in favor? I All right, that looks like it passes unanimously. Thank you. Moving on to the items that proceeded through our operations workg group. Um, all right. This is for our preliminary budget for the 2025 2026 school year. I move that the board of education approve and adopt the 2025 2026 preliminary budget as proposed in the total amount of 796,489,800 or $489,897 or in parentheses 717,675,2 $286 net of interf fund transfers inclusive of funds 10 the general fund fund 27 special education fund fund 39/30 referendum debt service fund 41 capital maintenance fund funds 42 and 49 our capital referendum

092fund fund 50 food service fund and 80 community services fund with said proposed budget having been identified in the document entitled DPI budget adoption format in the June preliminary 2025 2026 budget book second Maya. All right. Um board member Vanderm. Yes. Um, I plan to vote for the preliminary budget, but I would like in the future a a breakdown school by school of where of what the allocations are for the next year. If this is at the wrong time, I will change that. All right. Thank you, board member Moldro. Um, I can't hear you, Board Member Moldro. My apologies. I'd like to ask a few questions um of our team in relationship to our preliminary budget and uh some of the the indicators in terms of our our fund balance and the health of our

093our financial reality as a district. Thanks for joining us Bob. Good evening. I would like to ask first it is we are getting to the end of this fiscal year. I'm sure you know what I what I know um which is where where is our our fund balance and I think it's important to remind folks who are listening to this conversation that we passed our referendum this year um but we knew that we were going to intentionally spend down some of our fund balance in order to alleviate the burden on the taxpayer locally. I am curious about where we landed in terms of fund balance. So, we're um that's correct. We're still closing out the year. We won't have the official trial balances until the 1 of August, but we've been doing the preliminary work

094in terms of final payrolls where we are with um making positions where we are with health benefits payment. And I would say at this time conservatively um although we were budgeted to use fund balance the end of the year $22 million I would expect us to be 10 million less than that closer to say 12 million for fund balance the year in terms of 2425 but again it's preliminary we won't have our trial balance statements until August 1 for our audit team. Um but I'm pretty confident in terms of the unbudgeted revenues in terms of actual expenditures being less than budgeted that um we should be I would say at least 10 million better. So 12 million instead of 22 million in the fund balance. Thank you so much for speaking to that. Can you

095tell me why you think we arrived at about 10 10 million spending about 10 million less than we thought we would? Yeah, it's it's really um it's a variety of things as we go through the year. We track it. One of them are is our vacant positions. Although we've had great improvement in terms of filling positions, we still do have um unfilled positions. Another is how we budget. We budget conservatively um in terms of employees and our health benefit costs. And so we want to make sure we always have enough uh for that. we continue to um look at that and maybe budget tighter. Um then the other thing is some unbudgeted revenues. We had a a TID closure um of a few million dollars. Um we had some focus on energy rebates that came

096in in this year which was great news. Um on the other side um we are getting less revenues from the state of Wisconsin in terms of reimbursement for special education. They were projecting about a 33% reimbursement. They're down close to 30% reimbursement. So, we're a few million dollars less than that. But all in um at this point in time, as I said, we're probably better 10 million better than what we had budgeted. So, the board recently changed our policy as it relates to fund. Our original policy um or our policy before was that we should stay between 10% and 15% of our budget in terms of fund balance. We changed that to between 12% and 18%. Currently, do you believe that we will stay within our policy? Correct. Yes. The budget for next year spends

097a little over $9 million um of our fund balance. Will that allow for us to stay within the range of our policy? Yes, it will. My last question in relationship to our our budget for next year um is is really thinking about what it means for us to to have a budget that requires us to spend down fund balance. Can you speak to our administration strategy as it relates to having a budget that will require us to spend some of our fund balance? Sure. Um, first we know the fund balance is there and and I look at it's one of our tools to use to operate the district to meet the needs of our students, our staff and our families. Number one, um, and the fact of the matter is even with voter support in

098November for both for operations and for facilities. Fundamentally, school finance in Wisconsin is set up where districts receive less than CPI and ongoing revenues, and our costs are going up more than inflation. And so, we have a structural imbalance of public school revenues compared to public school costs. And that's not going to change until the state legislature chooses to provide more support to public schools. And so we go forward with about 2% revenue increases when when our cost increases about 5%. So we have a period of a few years where we are going to use continue to use our fund balance um meet the board's policy in terms of percentage of fund balance. But we know if there's not changes, we're going to have to do what we have been doing every three or four

099years, take a look at it and say, "Okay, fundamentally, what has changed? Can we do less?" Um, or do we go to the voters under current Wisconsin law and ask to increase taxes to pay for schools? So, that's that's kind of the cycle we're in and we'll continue to monitor just like we have. Thank you very much. I appreciate your answers to my question. Board member Vandermillan. Oh, can you turn your um mic on? Thank Thank you. I want to thank you, Bob, for veterinary special ed because we're the lack of funding for that is very, very important. The reason I raise it is because one of the um legislators referred to Howard Barkad referred to um the disabled as it this past week. No child is and I wanted to formally recognize that and

100I appreciate your continuing work on this. Any other comments or questions on this first motion? All right. Seeing and hearing none. Um, Representative Lee, your advisory vote. I. All those in favor? I. All right, that passes unanimously. Thank you. There is a second motion on the budget, which I'll read now. I move that the board of education approve the preliminary tax levies by fund with the said levy approvals being one for the purpose of enabling short-term borrowing by the district during the 2025 2026 fiscal year and two subject to modifications by the board prior to November 1st 2025 in conjunction with certifying the final levy amounts based upon the then current status of the 202526 school district budget considering such alterations and amendments as may be made prior to levy certification. Fund 10. Oh, sorry.

101Fund 10 general fund $44,700,448. Fund 39/30 referendum approved debt service 49,797,262. Fund 41, Capital Expansion Fund, $5 million. Fund 80, Community Services Fund, $18,730,280 for a total tax levy of $478,227,90. All all amounts will be updated in October for final approval. I'm going to second that. All right. Thank you. All right. Any questions or comments about the actual um tax levies by fund board member or vice president Pearson? Yeah. I just wanted just to thank um Bob and his team for for putting this together and I I appreciate all the work that goes into it. Um, and I also just want to um, lift up what he mentioned about just the revenues that come to our school districts and public education and the fact that we have not been getting um, the funding. We have

102not been properly funded um, for very long time um, and that needs to change. So, let's hold our state accountable for making sure that we can continue to operate and give the best education to our children. That's it for me. Thank you. All right. Seeing no other hands, uh, Representative Lee, your advisory vote. I. All those in favor? I. All right. Looks like that passes unanimously. Thank you. All right. The next action item um is related to our employee handbook. I move that the board of education approve the proposed changes to the employee handbook as set forth in the document prepared for the regular meeting dated June 23rd, 2025 and effective July 1, 2025. Second Maya. All right. Any questions or comments related to the employee handbook revisions? or member Maldro. I'd like to direct

103a question at our superintendent and I'd like to ask Dr. Gothard to speak to the process of engaging with our staff um in order to uh create these changes to our handbook. Thank you, board member Baldro, Chair or President Nichols board. I'm going to have Jennifer Trendle come up and and talk a little bit through about how the work groups are organized, some of their meeting cadence and some of the conversations that go on. Um, of course, I'm new to this process. Uh, it was very much unlike this the last time I worked in MMSD, so a very new process for me in terms of how the handbook is organized and how those groups come together. uh from everything that uh Jennifer shared with me uh wi with others as as well um I'm told

104that this year's process went very well in terms of the group coming groups coming together uh sticking to their meeting um agendas and accomplishing quite a bit of work. I'll let Jennifer share a little bit more detail on that. Thank you Dr. Gothard. This year we had uh joint review committees which were made up of representatives from each of the bargaining units and also um from custo the custo custodian group. Um we they met independently um with each other. They had a a district representative as well as employee representatives and they went through their each addendum of the handbook and brought forward to the larger handbook committee items that they wanted to have consensus reached on. And as we went through the consensus process, we ranked those as high priority, middle priority, or low priority.

105Everything that we matched priority levels on went through to the through to the next level. We are not abandoning the things that were brought forward on the through the process but are going to take a look at those for the next year. Thank you so much. Is there anything you'd like to highlight for us in terms of this pro process of the agreements you all reached? Uh I think the process worked really well this year. Uh there was a lot of really good dialogue. We're excited to update some of the uh shift differentials for they used to be called undesirable hours. Um those hadn't been changed for um more than 20 years. Um the service bonuses are also being increased. Um, we've removed the uh improvement levels on the teacher salary. Um, we're excited about

106u doing all of those things. I really appreciate your leadership and the work that went into this and I I more so appreciate the collaborative spirit in which our administration embarked on this journey in collaboration with the folks we employ and our faculty and our staff and all of our bargaining units. So, thank you very much for the work you all did. Um, I'm excited to vote for it this evening. Thank you. And, uh, I would like to say it was a team effort. There were a lot of people who went into it and Angela Tessner um, took a lead role in this and she deserves some thanks, too. Thank you so much, Angela. Thank you, Bar Member Maldo. Any other questions or comments on this motion? All right. Board member Mosner Felm. There's a

107nitpicky little someone. Um I and it's I'm sorry it's nitpicky because it's really exciting to have this many um consensus item. Um when I when I talk to um people who work in MSD, they say this is like the best handbook year in a while. And that's really really exciting to hear because the people work have lots of lots of information that nobody else has about what needs to go on. Um but my nitpicky thing is um is on page two where it says the base um addendum a section section 1.12 the base track, level a should there be a number there? Oh, right here. Board member Moler Belam, could you share one more time where the line is exact? Yes. On page two, I see what you're saying. Um, so you go down addendum

108A, teachers, addendum A, section 1.1, salary schedule, and then in number two, it says the base shall be track, level A. And I'm wondering if there's a number that's missing there. Great. In that case, um, I move to a amend the document to include the number one space. Second. Wait, I'm sorry. To include what? The number one uh on page two. Uh, in uh I'm not sure exactly how to read it. It's um shall be track the B shall be level a so the B shall be track and my um proposal is to insert the number one in between the word track and the comma that comes after it to as has been agreed upon by all of the parties and it's just a typo here. Um, thank you for that. Thank you for catching

109that, board member Moser Felam. So, I'm understanding um from general counsel that because it's an typo and not like a meaningful change, we don't need a full motion for that. So, sorry to point it out at this moment and thank you for changing it. I withdraw the motion. Got it. So you're you're feeling like within the general motion that talks about the document prepared for the regular meeting tonight that typo can be corrected and we don't need a new motion. Right. Okay. All right. Was that was that it board member Mosner Felam? That's it for me. Okay. Thank you. Board member Saravo, I appreciate all the work that goes into doing all the handbook revisions. And while I know there's a lot of work behind the scenes, I was just wanted to suggest that the

110board have some more direct contact with the review committee. Um, so we have a little bit more awareness of the things that are being changed in the handbook. um just so we don't just get to see the things that got approved, but the things that are maybe taking a longer time to process so we have a better idea of what is going on behind the scenes. Thank you for that. If I might respond, uh President Nichols, of course, member Sarabo, um I think it'll be important for us to establish some of those guiding principles. I I think it's a fine suggestion, but I just want to make sure uh that we're managing both the uh integrity in the process that we already have outlined, but also then look for that communication tool so we can

111do this in a way together. All right. Not seeing any other hands raised for questions or comments. So, um Representative Lee, your advisory vote. I. All those in favor? I I All right, that looks like it passes unanimously. Thank you. All right, we will now move into the consent agenda. Let me get to the main motion. I move that the board of education adopt and approve all of the motions set forth in section 10 of the electronic agenda prepared for the June 23rd, 2025 regular school board meeting exactly as said motions are written. By voting affirmatively on this motion, a board member expresses his, her, or their affirmative vote on each of the motions consolidated hereby subject to any express separations that have been made by any member of the school board. Second, Maya, are

112there any separations? Yeah, I would like to separate item 10.2 and item 10.65. 10.65. Okay. 10.2 and 10.65. Any other separations? All right. Not seeing uh board member Saravo, you have one or Okay, I was looking at 10.31 and 10.8. Okay, so we have four separations 10.2, 10.8, 10.31, and 10.65. Did I hear that correctly? Okay. Then on the main motion, Representative Lee, your advisory vote. I. All right. All those in favor? I. All right. Those pass unanimously. And let me go back to our first separation. All right. 10.2. I move that the board of education approve a request for a shortened day agreement for one student. Second. All right. Board member Maldo, I know you wanted this one um separated. Yes. I have no interest in discussing any individual students shortened day. However, I

113do think that the board sees these on a regular basis. um we have been emphasizing attendance as as part of our our conversation. I am curious if the administration is prepared to provide us with an analysis of who all is um who all is having a a shortened day agreement um in our district. what the demographics look like for students who are having shortened day agreements um and an analysis of of whether or not a shortened day is serving our well. President Nichols, board member Moldro, I'd be happy to ask our team to put together the relevant data you're requesting. I can do it by year and see if there's trend history as well that we can look at. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. That's it for my questions. Thank you. It

114looked like Cindy Green might have Cindy, were you did you want to come off the microphone or did Dr. Gothur respond? No, Dr. Goth got it. Thank you, board president. All right, sounds good. All right. Thank you, board member Moldro. Um, Representative Lee, your advisory vote. I. All those in favor? I I All right. Passes unanimously. All right. Let me go down to 10.8. This one is for contract for services for operation fresh start for the 2025 2026 school year. I move that the board of education approve an expenditure in the amount of $250,000 for a contract with Operation Fresh Start Offs for the provision of diploma andor work skills instruction during the 2025 2026 school year. Second Nikki Vandermill. All right. And somebody want wanted this separated. So is there questions or comments on

115this uh motion? This is board member Saravo. I just want to separate it because I not having been on the board for a very long time, it was one of the places I got to visit early on. I really like the work that these guys are doing. and we got to hear directly from the students and I think it's just a really important program that we continue to highlight in MMSD just being able to see the kids there and the uh the work that the our educators and the other people that are doing I think should be highlighted and I was even able to see them at the capital one day. So they're doing a lot of really good work not only within the building but in the community. Thank you board member Saravo. Uh,

116bar member Vanderm. Sorry. Yes. Um, just have one quick question. This there is no change in funding from the past year for Operation Fresh Start. Correct. I'm not sure who that gets directed to, but this was that was Dr. McCrae speaking and that is an Can you repeat that again, Dr. Great. Oh, sure. Um, that is accurate. Board member Vanville, there's no um operational changes from last year. Thank you, TJ. Thank you. All right, Representative Lee, your advisory vote. I. All those in favor? I. All right. Thank you. That passes unanimously. Going to 10.31. This one is regarding Horizon High School for 2526 school year. I move that the board of education approve an expenditure of up to $155,000 for student tuition at Horizon High School for the 2526 school year using student and staff

117support general operating budget and student services grant funds. Second Nikki Vanderm. Thank you. I believe did board member Saravo, you wanted this one separated. Any questions or comments? I did want it separated and was again just another comment. This was one of the high schools I got to attend and really got to appreciate the work that they do even though they do not have large class sizes. But the students that graduate and get to use this particular program work very hard as do all the teachers that were there and I was just very honored to have attended their graduation. Awesome. Thank you. All right. Not seeing any other hands. Um, Representative Lee, your advisory vote. I. All those in favor? I. All right, that passes unanimously. And our last separation is 10.65. Let me get

118to that, which is the HR transaction report. I move that the board of education approve the June 2025 human resources transactions report items. Second. All right. And board member Maldjo, I know you wanted this one separated, so any questions or comments? Absolutely. So, I would like to ask that HR talk to us a little bit about um our vacancy rate at the end of the year this year in comparison to the past. President Nichols, board member Moldro, I'll have Jennifer Trendle come up and respond to your question. Thank you, Jennifer. Hello again. Um, so this year we ended the school year with a total of 58.22 vacancies and that was across all of the positions. It I want to highlight that 29.45 45 of that FTE was for teachers. Last year we had uh 60

119we ended the year with 61.24 teacher FTE vacant and 66.826 in all others which is about 127 for the school year. I would also like to highlight that last year we had 791 separations at this time. We have 595 this year, which sounds like a big number, but it's almost 200 less. I just want you to know how tremendously exciting that is for me. And I think that it's the the accumulation of understanding what those trends look like at the beginning and the end of the year over the course of years and what that means for our young people. We are a huge system. we're never going to have no vacancy, but to um reduce our vacancies by half in the most significant way I've seen in years is something you should be tremendously proud

120of. And I think our young people and our educators are very, very grateful for the work that you all did to get us there. Um last month we added 10 new positions. Sprung that on you. Little surprise. I am curious about what it looks like to fill those 10 roles as you also try to fill the 541 positions that um currently need to fill. And that was there there are not currently 595. Those were like the whole the whole academic or the whole this the whole fiscal year. So it's it's a rolling number. We're not, you know, going, we're not looking at having to fill that many starting on July 1st. Um, but I did want to give you a picture of the of the entire year. Um, we are working with our subservices team

121on filling those um building based sub positions. Um, they are going to be helping the rest of the talent acquisition team to make sure that we get those positions filled. Can I ask do we know kind of exactly what those positions will do and do we know exactly where they'll be at this point? Do we know what 10 schools will be getting those 10 subs? We are still looking at the data points that are going to factor into um where those substitutes are going. We will we'll share that with our senior executive leadership team and then we'll share that with the board of both our data collection and and how we're determining which schools those are before we added that 10 sub. How many subs did we already need to hire going into 2020? I'm

122sorry I didn't give a heads up about Yeah. Uh, I don't know the answer to that this evening, but we were having bill rates of over 90%. And I'd like to thank the board for um approving the bonuses for the sub teachers. I believe that that had a tremendous amount of impact on the number of subs that we were able to attract to MMSD. Thank you so much for speaking to that. I um am tremendously appreciative of the work of our administration to get us to this point in the year um and and to have a fill rate of or to have 90% in terms of our classes being covered by subs um to get to a place where we have half the vacancies we had last year overall. Um, I think that that is

123tremendous work and I also want to thank this board for the investments we've made in stabilizing our faculty and staff. I think those are strategic and intentional investments um that allowed for us to combat um some very unstable staffing and some real staffing shortages over the course of the last few years. Thank you for doing that work in partnership with us. Thank you. Thank you for asking about that. Um, board member Maldro, I I will just say, um, as a board member who voted on the on the motion that board member Vanderm brought forward around these 10 subs, my hope is that now that it's been approved, um, that as the team, the HR team is starting to look at where those uh, substitutes would go, um, they're they're also figuring out what works. um

124in in this kind of placement and if there are challenges um that they'll come back to the board and let us know um if this indeed um helps some of the schools with um I think harder harder to fill um sub placements. So, thank you for that. All right. So, um, seeing no other questions or comments on this motion, Representative Lee, your advisory vote, I. All those in favor? I I All right, that passes unanimously. All right. Um, we have other reports to the board. Um, and we'll start with City County Schools Collaborative Committee. um as a member on that committee. Um unfortunately our June 11th meeting was cancelled due to lack of quorum and um we're hoping that we will be able to meet again on July 9th. Um there are some new city

125elders that have um will be on that committee. We know that there needs to be an additional MMSD board member who joins that committee as well as a county board supervisor. And so we're hoping to meet in July just so that all of the newer members to the committee um get to meet one another and also hear about um kind of the the current state of the committee. I'll now pass it over to student senate. Student Senate does not meet over the summer, so we do not have an update. Fair enough. Um Madison School and Community Recreation Advisory Committee. Thanks. That is me. Um our committee met last on May 21st. We've got some Today is such an exciting day. It's the beginning of summer programs for MSCR. Um participants and staff brave the heat

126to kick off the summer at 12 summer semester sites and 18 summer camp programs today. Uh and July is National Parks and Recreation Month. During that month, MSCR will be partnering with Madison Parks to offer a wide variety of free community activities for all ages throughout the month to celebrate the power of parks and recreation in our community. The full schedule is available at mscr.org or and you can catch me at the 50th anniversary of the art cart at the end of July. Awesome. Thank you for member Mosner Felam. Um does the policy committee have an update? I can give a quick update. Um we um last year did we kind of planned out um January to through around now um for our policy committee standalone special meetings. Um we do not have any um

127coming up. However, we last week and last month um are working with the board to devise um a new possible way of how we kind of like come forth with policies and such. So, um, TBA, um, on our next meetings. Thank you, Vice President Pearson. Um, and I would I would say the board governance committee as a committee has not officially met, although at our most recent board retreat, um, the board heard from two organizations that help boards um, work on board governance. and we will have some um continued learning about uh those options moving forward. All right, we are now into other business and we have several items. Um so the first being the RTI strategic framework. Um I'm not am I going straight into the motion, Dr. Gothard, or did we have somebody

128from RTI with us tonight? President Nichols Kyle's with us from RTI for a brief presentation. Okay. How does that sound? We'll start there and then turn it back over to you for the motion. Okay. Sounds good. Great. Thank you, President Nichols, board members, uh members of the community. First, a huge thank you to our administrative staff who in partnership with RTI uh have us at this place to present to you u a motion for approval for the next stage of our strategic plan. We've got some work to do yet. We talked about that on on Friday, but I feel really good for what we've accomplished and most importantly, um this work has been fueled by our community uh both in those who were part of the community task force, but also uh the hundreds of

129students and staff that I was able to to meet with RAI uh this over the winter and spring uh here here in MMSD as well. So, it's been a a really inclusive opportunity for us to hear uh from what people are proud of, what they want to see us focus on, and most importantly, how people want to identify with creating uh MMSD as a destination school district. So, Dr. TJ McCrae is going to introduce uh Kyle, someone who we all know uh by now, and take us through the next steps. TJ. Yes. Good evening, board members. Um, thank you for this opportunity to speak with you tonight about the significant progress that we've made regarding our strategic framework. As you are aware, we are hoping that this plan is more than just a document, but

130we are intending for it to serve as our guide and our north star. It will serve as guide our road map for our decision making, our resource allocation, and ultimately our pursuit of long-term excellence here for every student in MMSD. Tonight, with the help of Kyle from RTI, who we partner with to do this work, we'll walk you through our journey we've undertaken to develop this framework. We'll share some key elements for your consideration, and we'll outline our next steps. We've engaged deeply with our community, staff, and students throughout this process, ensuring that this plan truly reflects our collective aspiration for here in MMSD. Um, and so with that, I'll turn over to Kyle who will walk you through these, and then after that, we'll turn it back over to our board president, Nichols. Thank

131you so much, Dr. McCrae. Good evening, board members. Uh, so excited to be here with you again this evening. I have a few slides. I don't know if uh they're being projected for you yet. I I believe that is coming. Yep. Thank you. Again, it's such a pleasure to be back with you here tonight to give you an update on the development of this uh next strategic framework and present a few uh components of this for your consideration and hopeful approval this evening. Um next slide. As has been mentioned already, I won't belabor this point too much. The purpose of a strategic framework and strategic plan really is to serve as that north star and um give that roadmap for decision- making and resource allocation and we at RTI have been so thrilled to be

132able to partner with you to help facilitate this process. Uh on the next slide we have an overall set of bullets here that really inform you of the approach we've taken to this point and at its heart it has been communitydriven. Um each word that you are being presented with this evening um has been crafted in partnership with staff and based on community input, reviewed by our steering committee, our focus groups, and through our survey. And we've had thousands of members of the community. I I want to give a special thank you to that uh members of our steering committee, a cross functional body of over 80 community members, students, staff, and parents who were all instrumental in really guiding the development of the components you're seeing tonight. um they spent so much time and

133so much effort really digging into a very difficult process. Um and we are again so grateful for their support throughout uh the last few months as we've gotten to this point. The next few slides um I'm going to be walking with you through quickly the different elements we have for your consideration. Uh now this next slide here provides an overview of all the elements the strategic framework will include upon its completion. Uh tonight we are bringing forth prime just the top three components the the vision the mission and the guiding commitments for your consideration. These will serve as the foundation of this next framework. It outlines the future that Mmsd is working toward and really describes how the district will operate as it is hoping to achieve the future included in the vision. Um the

134adoption of these elements will provide a clear direction for staff as we work with them to finalize the other components, the performance objectives, the focus areas, the strategies, and additional metrics that will really outline the more tangible actions and accountability measures that will make this plan come to life. So I'm going to share uh once again the vision, the mission, and the guiding commitments. Um and then let you know as we said, what are our clear next steps for this process? As Dr. Gothard said, we still have work to do. Um, but we are really excited about these foundational elements for you this evening that will really help set staff on the right direction as we work on those more tangible actions that come below that. So, the next slide is is the vision and

135the mission. Um, that vision statement uh that we're lifting up this evening really describes the future state of MSD. Um, is that Mmsd will be a learning community where all students are valued, challenged, supported, and inspired to reach for their dreams. Connected to that is the mission statement which really is how are we going to achieve that future. The one that was proposed this evening is MMSD creates safe and inclusive schools, delivers highquality instruction, strengthens positive relationships, and partners with families in the community to achieve student self-determination and educational excellence. Again, each of these components uh were created based on input from the community, shaped by staff, and then revised by community members and then shared again with you board members. Um so that we have really have had a truly iterative process with this.

136We've had so many versions and we are so excited that this is where we have landed for you this evening. Then the next slide includes our guiding commitments. These guiding commitments are really uh trying to bring core values to life. making these actionable statements or demonstrating what are our values, what are how are we going to go about this work, how are we going to make our decisions. Um, and the five that came through throughout this process are lead with equity, foster belonging, deliver meaningful learning, improve with purpose, and embrace our collective impact. Um, there have been small changes made to these guiding commitments based on board feedback from this recent work session. Those are outlined in the handout that's been included in your materials. The final page of that handout from us shows you

137what exact word changes were made and the rationale based on your input. Um, but all of that feedback has been incorporated here in this version here. This final slide just shares you what is what happens next. Right? With your approval of these components tonight, we can work with staff to continue to really finalize those performance objectives that serve as those key data points that we can use to evaluate our progress in achieving this vision. From there, we can then develop and and refine these focus areas, strategies, and key performance indicators that really outline our broader approach to achieving these different vision and or the vision and meeting these performance objectives we're going to be working on. And then getting into the implementation and monitoring plans. How are we making sure that as Dr. McCrae said

138that this is not just a document that sits on a shelf that really is living and defines the work that we're doing? And then we want to make sure we engage the community. They have put so much effort into this on the front end. We want to make sure we return that in kind here that they know more about how this is going to impact them, impact their students, impact their schools, and really show how this is going to drive that work for MMSD moving forward. Um, I'm happy to answer any questions you have or talk through these components. But again, thank you to staff, to the community members, to you board members as well for all of the work that you have undertaken to um help us create these drafts and really uh do

139such a great job with this process uh to this point. Excited to continue this with you um through this next few months to get that final strategic framework completed by the end of the year. Thank you so much. Um, Kyle and um, just in full disclosure, it's raining really heavily and my internet keeps saying it's unstable. So, if I happen to freeze on screen or drop off Maya, Vice President Pearson, please. Oh, she there. Okay. Um, I hope that she'll be able to carry on. Anyway, any questions, um, comments or, um, thoughts for Kyle about our strategic framework presentation tonight? I see board member Mosner felt them. Thanks, Madam President. Um, I'm really I'm really excited to to vote to approve this. Um, I have a couple of comments. I think the the first is

140uh that I really I want to appreciate the work of the whole community. Not just the people who participated in this round of gathering feedback and workshopping this stuff, but um all of the people who put their energy into responding to our superintendent search questionnaires, all of the families who have responded to our climate surveys every year. Um because all of that is also part of what um the team and RTI used to develop this. And so I want to I want to really appreciate the care that MMS as an organization has taken to solicit community voice and the care that our community has taken to continually to be willing to provide that. Um I also want to recognize that we hear the same thing and so I'm really looking forward to getting to work

141on this next um step. Uh, I also want to appreciate my fellow board members whose um comments and attention to detail on this uh really really have have I think improved it and gotten it to a really special spot. Um, I want to appreciate in particular board member Castro for um, uh, putting into the room uh, student self-determination as as important enough like really so essential to be right there in our mission statement. So, I want to call that out and appreciate that too. Um, so appreciation all around and I'm really looking forward to proving this. And the other thing is I think we really we really need it like um to be able to move together as a community towards a goal in service of our students. I I'm so ready. I'm so excited.

142So that's my commentary for today. Thank you. Um board member Castro, did I see your hand up? Yeah. Okay. Uh thank you. I'm just very thrilled and excited to see this here for final approval tonight. Um, use a old saying, it really feels like we all put our foot in it. Um, you know, we spent a lot of time going back and forth over the drafts. I know the focus groups, the community, uh, Kyle and the team from RTI put a lot of careful and thoughtful work into this. So I'm happy that we are taking this next step in terms of transforming the district. Thank you, Vice President Pearson. Yeah, I just want to also um with my fellow colleagues also give appreciation. I think um as I was part of some of the um

143like the steering committee group um and just being with so many different leaders throughout our community um and when I say leaders, not necessarily, you know, the same leaders that were always seeing coming to the table, but there were parents, there were teachers, there were principles, there were um students, there were community members. Um, and so just to see that that level of of leadership um, from our community being a part of this and really kind of like what I appreciate the most about it is that pushing back and you know really digging deep into like what folks really want to see and how we want to shape our district and the future of our children. Um, and to me that that's the most powerful thing and not just always, you know, kind of going

144with the status quo. So I I really really want to give deep appreciation to the community for um taking the time out. They were very long sessions. Um they were very um impactful sessions, but um I just want to say thank you um to the community again and I I really appreciate this. and then also to my colleagues um in in making sure that we we had our voice in this as well. But still giving um homage to those that worked on this um without you know that sometimes folks in power can scrap things and change things but really kind of standing with our community on this. So again deep appreciation and and thank thank you all. Thank you board member Saravo and again come at this from a new board member again because most

145of the time when I've participated in these types of this type of work so it's been been from a community perspective and now working on this with um the rest of my board members and our new superintendent has been really rewarding and I truly truly hope that the things that we are saying here as our vision and mission resonate with everybody in MMSD because that's what we want and I feel that from a community perspective I think we've been looking for this type of shared values for a long time. So, I'm really excited to see this be our goals and what does together mean. Thank you. Um, and I'll add as well, I remember when Dr. Gothard, you and Dr. McCrae had first talked about wanting to go um out to consider uh you know

146bringing in a consulting company that would help lead um you and us through a strategic planning process. And I I I remember the board at at that time we were we were supportive of that and also wanted to make sure that the process was very inclusive of community voice, inclusive of student voice um and that anybody who came in to our community who may not be here, may not have been from here rather um got deeply connected to the community to really understand our our city, our neighborhoods, our district. And I I have been really impressed with the number of people who participated on that steering committee. Um just the number of focus groups um just so many students and staff and um community folks being included in this. And you know, uh, like Vice

147President Pearson, um, I was able to attend a couple of the steering committee meetings and it it was really heartwarming to see that room full every time there was a meeting and people taking like the words so seriously, like what they convey, um, the values of the district and and also being honest about some of the things that we need to continue to push on and improve and um some healthy critique. So I am feeling really good about the vision and the mission and the guiding commitments and um Kyle I to you and your team I appreciate how much you've had to take in and synthesize and um kind of continue to iterate on um to get us here. But you know a lot of appreciations for for where we are tonight. So, thank you

148to everyone who's been involved. Dr. Gothard, anything else? Or or Kyle, anything else? Well, President Nichols, if I could just and members of the board, uh just quickly remind everyone that this is the portion that we've asked the board of education to approve along with our performance objectives that will come. Then it's really up to our community, you know, led by administration, of course, to begin to dig into the strategies that are going to move the vision and mission that are going to perform and uh give us feedback on how we're meeting the performance objectives. And and that work isn't done by administration alone. It's done by again deeper levels of community engagement and certainly participation in making sure that people feel a part of what we're all about in MMSD. So, it's an exciting

149time uh for us. We'll be providing updates. We'll start to familiarize the board and the community with you know the different vernacular of what we end up calling the strategic framework and you know the different nomenclature that we use so that it becomes a part of our board meetings. It becomes a part of the way we message to the community. So I thank you um board of education as well for uh guiding me and and supporting me and our administration in getting us to tonight. All right. Well, with that, hold on one moment. Okay. Sorry about that. I needed to get back to the motion. All right. With that being said, I move that the board of education approve the strategic framework, vision, mission, and guiding commitments as written in the document prepared for the

150June 23rd, 2025 regular board of education meeting. Second, Maya. Any other questions or comments? All right. Representative Lee, your advisory vote. I. All those in favor? I I All right, that looks unanimous. Thank you so much. And we look uh forward to the next phase, Kyle. All right, I'm going to move us into our next um business item. This one is on the 202526 face wages. I move that the board of education approve funding. Okay. funding a 2.95% base wage increase for the Madison Teachers, Inc. Educational Support Employees Association, Teachers Unit, Substitute Unit, and the Trades Unit for the period of July 1, 2025 and shall remain in full force and effect through June 30th, 2026. Second, Nikki Vanderm. All right. Any questions or comments on this? Board member Maldro and then board member Vandermuan.

151Yeah, I'd like to recuse myself from this vote this evening, but I greatly appreciate the work that was done to um arrive at this part of our budget. Um and I greatly appreciate the investment in our educators and our staff. Um I will not be voting because I have a conflict of interest. Thank you, board member Vandermillan. I'd like to uh thank um the uh district and my board members for agreeing to cola this year as well as steps and lanes. I think it's necessary and important and I thank you very much and I will and I strongly approve of this. Thank you board member Saravo. I'm just going to echo that as well. I think it was a really important thing showing that everyone's working together and starting things off on a positive note

152and so showing support for everyone in our district and most really importantly our educators that are out there are doing the work every day. Thank you, Vice President Pearson. Yeah, I just want to also echo the sentiment of my fellow colleagues that um just mentioned, but I also want just the state that um again that our state legislature needs to ensure that they fund public education um accurately and make sure that they give us enough money so that we can continue to um invest in our teachers, invest in our um staff, and in turn invest in our students, which then also invests in our state and our future. of our state including the Wisconsin idea. All right. I I will share the same sentiments already expressed by my fellow board colleagues. Um All right. Representative

153Lee, your advisory vote. I All right. All those in favor? I. All right, that's passes six with one recusal. All right, let's go on to the next item. Before you go on, it's um um legal counsel just wanted me to say 61 as a vote. Okay. Thank you for getting that on on the record. 61. All right. Next is an attendance boundary um motion around a new development called Midpoint Meadows. I move that the board of education assign the Midpoint Meadows attendance area to Olsen Elementary School. Second, Maya. All right. Any questions or comments about this item? uh Vice President Pearson. Yeah, it's um to the item, but it's also just also in general as we are looking um in Madison is growing and we are starting to see larger developments throughout our city. Um

154this is just one of possible many in the future that we will need to to look at. So um keep a lookout and it looks like um Superintendent Gothard may want to say something to that. Thank you, President Nichols, Vice President Pearson. Uh, tonight in the consent agenda, you also approved a contract with a a firm who's going to help us in the next two years, guide us through this process and and more so than just boundary changes, but truly understand what the patterns are for the future growth in Madison so we can be best informed to make these decisions. As it stands, this current one, uh, Assistant Superintendent Green has been working with the developer and there's holes in the ground right now and there's slabs being poured and there are soon going to

155be people living, uh, in this development. So, it happens that quickly. So, we want to try to take stock in what's happening in Madison so that we can be so we can prepare you uh, to make the best decisions possible for the future of our district. So, there's going to be a lot of different uh strands that we're going to have to bring back to the board and discuss as a community in terms of what the impacts might be. Um, it's complicated work. It's also really exciting. Uh, we're in a place where people want to be and there's nothing more that I want that I want all of us to want is people to be part of MMSD. Thank you, Dr. Gothard. All right. Not seeing any other hands for questions or comments. Um, repres

156Representative Lee, your advisory vote. I. All right. All those in favor? I. Okay, that passes unanimously. I I like seeing Ali and Blair on the same screen. Um, all right. We now have a policy. Um this is some work that we've done over the last year. Um this was going back to some of our original policies around um school being a school board member. So this is policy 1540 expectations for school board member. Um and here's the motion. I move that the board of education approve policy 1540 expectations for school board member in accordance with the documents prepared for the June 23rd 2025 regular meeting. The policy will be revised effective immediately. Second Maya. All right. Any questions or comments? Okay. Are we good? All right. I I couldn't tell board member Maldo if you

157were um I'm sorry. Maybe. Okay. Okay. Um then Representative Lee, your advisory vote. I All right. All those in favor? I I All right. Thank you. That passes unanimously. In the next one, similarly connected to um schoolboard membership, we have a job description. I move that the board of education approve the new policy job description for schoolboard member in accordance with the documents prepared for the June 23rd, 2025 regular meeting. The policy will be revised effective immediately. Second, Maya. All right. Any questions or comments? Board member Mojo, is that your hand? Yes. Thank you. Um, I do just want to acknowledge the the labor of the board and the fact that we're calling this a job description. Um, I think is is a way to to uh recognize the amount of work that this body

158puts into being here and governing our district. So I do hope um as we refine the role and as we become more clear about what all is required to do it um that we that we celebrate this labor um and that we empower board members in our recognition of that labor um both strategically and thoughtfully and well into the future. Thank you. All right. Um, Representative Lee, your advisory vote. I. All those in favor? I. All right. Looks like that passes unanimously. Also connected to school board membership. We have conflict of interest. I move that the board of education approve the new policy conflict of interest for schoolboard member uh in accordance with the documents prepared for the June 23rd 2025 regular meeting. The policy will be revised effective immediately. Second. Maya. Any questions or

159comments? All right. Not seeing any. Representative Lee, your advisory vote. I All right. All those in favor? I. All right. Thank you. That passes unanimously. All right. The next item is about our regular meeting dates for the 2526 school year. I move that the board of education approve the following Mondays for holding the regular board meetings at 6:00 p.m. over the 202526 school year. July 28th, August 25th, September 29th, October 27th, November 24th, December 15th, January 26, February 23rd, March 16th, April 27th, May 18th, June 22nd. Second, Maya. All right. Board member Vander Muan, recheck it is not in any uh major religious holiday any of those Mondays. Yes, I have checked them against our religious holidays. Thank you. All right. Um, Representative Lee, your advisory vote. I. All those in favor? I All right.

160Thank you. That passes unanimously. Um and then the next one is related to the summer 2025 meetings. I move that the board of education approve the following dates for summer 2025 meetings. July 28th, our regular board of education meeting. August 4th, instruction workg group. August 11th, operations work group. August 25th, regular board of education meeting. Second, Castro. All right. Any other questions or comments? All right. Representative Lee, your advisory vote. I. All those in favor? I. I. All right. All right, that passes unanimously. And that looks like it concludes all of our um business for tonight. I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. I saw Nikki Vanderm. I didn't hear, but I saw her mouth say so moved. Who wants to second? Nikki. Nikki. Yeah, moved. And Ali second. Beautiful. Um all those uh in favor

161of adjournment I. All right. Meeting is adjourned. Thank you all. Have a