8.28.23 Regular Board of Education Meeting

001foreign patients stakeholders to address the ways in which nature nature-based play spaces and green School yards are being dismantled and three in support of the expansion of the pine program I believe we have two registered speakers online and then we'll go to our in-person speakers our first online speaker hang on our first online speaker is Ray Mendez thanks hi everyone thanks um for your service to our district I appreciate that um I'm speaking to support the buying proposal you'll be voting on this evening over the last couple of years I've been informally collecting as much data as I could can on how the programmer has impacted the pilot schools and quickly his his instead of giving you all the research I did I'll just read a quote that I think sums up um the general

002feeling of most people or everyone who took it and here's the quote from an OT an occupational therapist I feel like the valuable principles of the pine program could and should be implemented across a building and the district but to do so there would need to be scheduled time within the workday when all staff can be meeting together I appreciated the opportunity to take part in Pine this year and look forward to completing the executive functioning module this summer when I have more time which just kind of showed me that you know she's she took the time to from her summer to take the program because she liked it um subsequently Pine worked with uh mmsd staff including Nancy who gave them substantial feedback um based on our specific needs that I believe they responded

003to and I think that applying uh Pine to uh Elementary School will make a positive difference in the short and long run I think besides helping all our kids it'll help alleviate some of the pressure I hope that's built up by the shortage of special education teachers thanks thank you our next speaker is Mary Jo Walters oh hi uh I'm a parent uh my kids are at East can you hear me yes we can okay good um I I'm just reiterating what I've started in conversation via email to the board and the district one of the district deputies and also the East High Principal Mickey Smith uh anyway uh I'm kind of amazed you know at this point here it is 2023 and I have been opposed since 2020 uh 2015 to any brainwashing of

004the children regarding gender ideology you know I didn't have those fancy words in 2015 but I knew enough to take my kid out of the class that was pushing it um another parent did the same so you know this parent took the child out for the whole rest of the school year um because they didn't want their child brainwashed and um I don't think they or I ever imagined what would come in the way that it came in terms of a top-down approach to pushing uh ridiculous ideas like being born in the wrong body which I think is the most ridiculous idea I can't believe we're such suckers that we went along with that anyway we did everybody went along with it and uh the whole Community was silenced on even uttering anything against the

005idea that you could be born in the wrong body and the schools became this cradle this place with the help of Human Rights Campaign and welcoming schools to push the idea that you would care about your pronouns or somebody else's pronouns you know just ridiculous ridiculous 20 23 and we're still dealing with this I want an opt-out option where my children's teachers do not push this agenda on them by asking anything about pronouns at the beginning of the school year I want it to be not an option that the teacher can ask any of the children but let alone my children what their anything pronoun would have to do with the school questions um lastly an opt-out for all surveys all surveys and I know this is an option because at the state level I

006mean you can fill out a form and opt out of taking tests so I don't see what the difficulty is in opting out from these surveys which are just horrific training grounds uh you know I saw the results and it's like are you sis or are you whatever you know like teaching children these terms you know that maybe they've heard about a little bit but now it's just in the school um so I'm so sick of it anyway I'm gonna hang up now but I do appreciate uh the help that I'm gonna get I hope on this um because it's interesting that there's no app no app option which also also really shows the tap down on this you know the pretend that it's a grassroot is a lie um this is a top-down uh

007agenda um so I'm disappointed and uh I'm sorry I had to even speak to you today I have other things to do okay thank you all right thanks your time's up good okay um we will now move to our in-person speakers our first speaker is Martha serravo and then on Duck will be Kate Solomon and if I mispronounce your names please correct when you come up sorry about that hi board members thank you for letting us come here today for today's meeting my name is Martha ceravo I'm here on behalf of mantel Mamas and Disability Advocates as well um two things because I knew this this Podium was going to be something I have to address too I'm here to speak on support for the pine program which is a program for inclusion and neurodiversity

008education do they believe that they want every educator to have the tools that they need to support every child we believe in that every single day I know we all want that for all the kids and it's something that we want to we want to stop siloing our teachers we want special education teachers in general education general education teachers to feel that they can lean on each other and understand every child in the classroom with something that gives them some toolkits in order to have those kinds of conversations and be able to navigate kids better and also so parents don't feel that they have only one classroom teacher then understand the needs of their kids the other thing I'm just going to bring up as long as I'm up here is that it is very

009difficult to be at this podium I was glad that they put a little spot here we're always looking at access in schools I love visiting schools and bringing a little bit of things to their attention going straight down on an angle like this makes all blood rush to my feet and then if I didn't have breaks on I would be run into the podium so I am easily available via The madtown Mamas an email that we all know each other by I appreciate the board for talking about Pine today Nancy has done a lot of work with the data that we now have with the schools that they have um so any questions or if you guys would like to connect with any of the parents that have seen some of the really good Support

010options that can happen because of this program mantel moms can be reached out to for any of those I love the conversation that it reaches when it goes between Educators and parents it brings such positivity into those conversations and this is one of those reasons where I appreciate being coming to come here and to say things like these so thank you very much nothing thank you okay you can say okay thank you okay all right next we'll have Kate I think it's Salama and then uh Del underbaki good evening my name is Kate salame that's how you pronounce it and I'm a parent to three children two of whom attend Anana Elementary and mmsd I'm a nature play Advocate and an educator and I have been involved with many local organizations over the years including

011Old Brook botanical gardens Forest School hike at baby Tinker Garden naturing in Madison and Aldo Leopold nature preschool I am also recently certified as a certified playground safety inspector through the National Parks and Recreation Association as such I'm familiar with the cpsc and ASTM guidelines relevant to public playgrounds and while there are not currently national standards related to Nature play spaces specifically the industry standard when assessing the safety of non-standard Play Elements has been to apply common sense and understanding of Child Development and healthy risk-taking in young children and a risk benefit analysis factoring in the possibility of injury probability of injury and consequences if an injury occurs my kids and I have visited and played at many nature playscapes over the years and Lakeview Elementary has been one of our favorites we love going

012to Nature play areas because the kids play when they're there is generally longer deeper more collaborative imaginative and kids and offers kids of any age a way to play that suits their developmental abilities and interests in a way that traditional playgrounds do not I know there has been a concern over safety and risks at lakeview's Outdoor Learning environment and some other schools as a parent and a facilitator I can share my own experience that I have seen many children of varying ages and abilities play and explore in such environments with very few injuries but that's just my perspective and I know that you need data if you look at data and literature on playground injuries time and again the number one cause on cause of injuries on playgrounds is Falls from Heights like 80 percent

013and very often the extent of the injuries is due to either children using the playground equipment in ways that it was not intended to be used because the kids are trying to create a bigger challenge for themselves such as standing on top of an enclosed slide or crawling along the top of monkey bars or because the other reason is because the impact attenuating surface was not deep enough meaning that there was not enough mulch below the playground equipment well data on injury rates at nature playgrounds versus traditional playgrounds are limited there is growing evidence that natural playgrounds are safer than traditional playground equipment and in fact many of the much of the data suggests that there is generally overall other health benefits studies from Texas Canada and Australia state oh my gosh um in conclusion

014can I say that um I would like the board to consider convening a task force so that we all have common language expectations and understanding regarding outdoor play environments thank you for all you do and I have um can I leave you guys with some studies is that allowed thank you thank you Kate Dell underbocky and then after Dell will have CJ Rouse a disproportionate number of students of color and students without intellectual disabilities are leaving their Elementary learning experience without proficient levels of reading children living with low literacy are more likely to get bad grades have more school absences and display behavioral issues poor literacy creates feelings of incompetence lowest self-esteem and in isolation disruptive and uncooperative behaviors result in consequences reflected in levels one through four of our Behavior education framework in 2022

015only 68 percent of our white fourth grade students achieve proficient levels of reading less than 15 percent of fourth grade Hispanic and students with disabilities were reading at the proficient level only nine percent of our black fourth graders were promoted to fifth grade without reading proficiency tonight as you listen to the recommended updates to the elementary Behavior education plan I ask that you consider connecting the dots between poor literacy and interfering behaviors research clearly identifies low reading skills and it illiteracy is not only possible but probable root causes for disruptive and uncooperative behaviors a part of The Proposal includes district-wide options for fifth grade students being promoted to sixth grade what kinds of supports are in place for students who are exiting Elementary School with basic and Below basic reading skills how do we expect

016them to read to learn before they have learned to read over the summer I took some time for my community outreach and spent it reviewing statutes and research I wanted to learn more about what the words on paper say about accountability for literacy when I talk with community and legislative leaders I hear frustration assumptions and finger pointing businesses businesses communities and families Point towards the schools schools Point towards District leadership District leadership points towards legislative leaders Point towards their political opponents policies but Kick the Can towards local control the words on paper shines the local control Spotlight on you as the Board of Education as representatives of local control you have the responsibility to craft and Implement promotion graduation and intervention policies to ensure a free and appropriate public education for all students we state

017that our behavioral education plan is driven by the word education literacy drives education our behavioral education intervention needs to be grounded in literacy as the essential element in our graduation promotion and intervention policies thank you Dell CJ Rouse and then James discussion sorry good evening and thank you board for letting me speak tonight tonight I wanted to speak in support of consent agenda item 1011 which is the expansion of the program for inclusion and neurodiversity education I spent some time this morning meeting with the executive director of pine Laura and Lauren Williams just to get a better feel for what this program might entail and coming off a year as a long-term sub a over at lvm elementary I really struggled to try to get access to training and information and education that to me

018felt I needed to Be an Effective special education assistant both for advancing the goals and needs of the students but also for being aware of medical and safety needs so I was really excited to see that this extended to all staff in the building which I felt at that time would have included me but also extending to staff such as food service front desk or janitorial staff who although aren't normally tasked with those roles spend a lot of time building rapport with students or at least acting as key points throughout the day where our students were able to regulate and to work with that staff who I sure would love to be a part of those students continued goals throughout their education I'm also excited to hear that it includes access to office hours and

019meetings that again I was not able to hold or host myself so to be able to meet with somebody to discuss up-to-date practice accurate information and what I was really excited about was that it is a lived experience Based training here we get to hear from the words and the training and the education from those who are directly living this experience that we're trying to uplift instead of trying to sift through materials YouTube videos and any bit of information I could gather online or from a library and then trying to understand if this is relevant or not um so I would encourage you to support the expansion as it would include my own school which now I'm getting to move in as a permanent sea at lvm as well as 32 other elementary schools so

020thank you for your consideration tonight thank you okay we have I think it's Jane Kirsten or cursed I'm not exactly sure I apologize for the mispronunciation and then after James we'll have Susan Hobart I apologize for my forehand writing hello my name is James Kirsten I am the physical education teacher and green team leader at Lakeview Elementary and I come to speak to you today on our outdoor education program you've gotten some emails from people about our outdoor education program and it's really a core value of Lakeview we have three main core values I like we are a community school we are a Hmong Bilingual School and we are a school that takes learning Outdoors we make the taking learning Outdoors is very integral into Lakeview we like to really get our kids outside to

021explore and learn in nature as well as in the classroom we want to get them outside of the Four Walls of the classroom into nature to see that there are alternative ways of learning instead of just sitting underneath the fluorescent lights of a classroom um this summer we had my principal not um thrown a big fit had my principal not stood up for one of our Three core values of taking learning outside we would have lost a significant part of our Outdoor Classroom probably more than half of our seating would have gotten removed from our Outdoor Classroom had my principal not stood up and said something about it the district has now since my principal said something and said no I don't think this is right please step back please take some time um the

022district has come to the table they've worked with us they have tried to problem solve but over the course of this whole thing we found out that it's happening at other schools in Lakeview is not the only one and so are there other schools in the district that things are being removed from taken away from and no one's there to say anything about it it's part of the core values as part of the wellness program for the district it's in your wellness program that we um to have access to outdoor education and I ask that the board come together and put together a task force or ask for a task force so we can everyone can come together and be on the same page with the same policies with the same understanding of what's going

023on instead of just coming in and removing things without telling anybody without coming in and doing something without having um common understanding of why something's happened I still have never been provided with a district policy as to why my whole playground has no more seating so my students are going to show up on Friday in kindergarten and there's going to be no place for them to have their shoe tied we will go sit on the steps now to side their shoes there's not no seating for them right now on our playground and so we have to scramble I will be scrambling probably later this week to figure out how to bring back some benches and seating for them so please please please please help us put together task force so we can have common language

024thank you Susan um Hobart and then I believe it's Ari Megan hello my friends hi I'm Susie Hobart was a teacher at Lakeview retired from Lakeview and this University retired from MSD and when I heard what happened well first you've all got my emails so you know I've been communicating with you but I have to tell you back in 2012 I was a classroom teacher and I was talking to one of her parents who worked at the DPI I'm not a DPI worked at DNR and I said I wish we could take our kids outside for Science and he said to me he said well do you know that Lakeview has one of the largest Oak savannas in the city of Madison and didn't want to act like I knew what he was talking about

025it wasn't Savannah Georgia it was like okay Savannah I said well tell me more about it I didn't even know when an oak Savannah was at that point but it surrounds Lakeview school so it was the beginning of taking the kids outside with this person from the DNR and talking about landforms in the landform later that fall I was at lunch with a group of student senators and we were planning what our actions were going to be for the school year when a parent came in all excited and said MSD has a new Grant mmsd has a new grant program and that they would love to apply for it because it's going to help us expand our small school garden so we did apply for it the Madison Community Foundation announced a 350 000 Grant

026to mmsd to begin something called The Grow Coalition Grassroots Outdoors Wonder grow Coalition so we did apply we were accepted and the Coalition organizations were mmsd the Community Action Coalition UW Groundswell and we went on to work with 15 elementary schools and middle schools in the city of Madison that were part of mmsd to Foster garden and Outdoor Learning design installation professional development it was all happening I look back at that time and I think this was Eco Serendipity it was starting to happen there was a national Trend to take kids outside and mmsd was on board and the local Foundation was funding it well since that time the grow program did end mmsd continued Staffing for a while and we continued people are still out there doing what they're doing but times have changed

027we've gone through two superintendents three acting superintendents a lot of the staff are gone I look at the faces today on the school board it's a very different school board than I came to back in 2016 with information about our Outdoor Classroom so I think that this recent miscommunication is a wake-up call it's a wake-up call to see what the district had previously done how do we bring that back how do we bring the district into this process and I think a couple other people have already said a task force made up of the stakeholders would be a great way to go and it's my hope as a former teacher at for mmsd a former mmsd parent and now a grandparent of MSD students that we can do that thank you come on up thank

028you well that's Ari Ari next up will be after our Earl Carlson good evening everyone I am Ari Makin I am a resident of the north side of Madison um a proud of MSD graduate and uh very busy uncle and an advocate for youth um I'm gonna tell you my full job um I'm here today to talk more about the Lakeview Outdoor Learning Classroom and all the joys it has in this community um I have of a crazy amount of nieces and nephews and we do a lot of fun things outside of my time at work and one of them is to go to Lakeview and play in their outdoor playground my godson who is he is five he loves the outdoor playground he enjoys it it is his safe place he can be as

029wild and as free as he wants to be he can all right he catch me here I already tag me here um and that is just one of the many joys I find right um seeing this young black boy enjoy nature and how it plays out for him um I'm coming here because as other members of the community have shared that when we have gone back onto like a few grounds we've noticed that things are disappearing um things that were made by Nature Made with the in the partnership with community staff and students um things that have created memories that have taught student saw Innovation building working hard teaching students about nature teaching families about the preservation of nature um and it's disheartening to see it's disheartening to be a part of a community that

030is taking things away from what is a safe place for many students family members and residents on the north side um many of you don't understand this or maybe you do the north side is a Hidden Gem in medicine it is a very special place to be it is a place where there's a lot of love even if you don't necessarily see right when you get there neighbors helping neighbors and Lakeview being a place a pillar for nature and Equity around nature and learning um I'm here to ask that the district really um Works in partnership with Lakeview and other schools like it that have Outdoor Learning spaces and outdoor um playgrounds that um teach more about nature and preservation and develop task force and any other sorts of group that can help monitor the

031safety and the build of an outdoor playground or Outdoor Learning Center and that is up thank you all right we'll have Carol Carlson come up and then we have um I think it's Michaela [Music] sorry I'm messing it up good evening my name is Carol Carlson and I am the co-founder and executive director of Music con Brio music home Brio is committed to offering high quality music lessons at an affordable graduated tuition schedule to a diverse mix of Madison area students forming an inclusive and supportive Community to build students self-esteem and pride in their talents I am here tonight to ask for your help when my partner Amber dolphin and I founded music home Brio back in 2011. it was at the specific invitation and request of Emerson Elementary School's then principal Karen Kepler who

032later went on to become the director of operations for the entire District principal Kepler dreamed of a community music program that would break down the boundaries of access especially transportation and cost faced by many Emerson students as well as bring music of all types to all types of students we were immediately on board and music Umbria was born the financial model of the program especially our ability to guarantee that no student would ever be turned away due to financial need was predicated on free use of Emerson space music umbrio has spent the past 12 years supporting and enriching the Emerson Community we have taught hundreds of students and provided free in-school performances by 19 different local bands and ensembles ranging from Bach dancing and dynamite Society to the Rock Soul r b band The periodicals

033to salsa band chodanga agosa I'm very proud that no student has ever been turned away from music embryo due to financial need and we have always offered a sliding fee scale to anyone who needs it at any time music embryo is deeply committed to our students and we are especially invested in providing high quality Arts education to Madison's black and brown students since the black lives matter protests in 2020 we've been working on decolonizing our curriculum engaging black and brown performers board members and teachers and giving voice to black and brown families in our community recently we were told that there has been a change in mmsd's interpretation of the facility's use policy and that we would no longer be eligible for an exemption granted by the invitation and oversight of the Emerson principle unless

034we make major structural changes this new rental cost will be unsustainable given our long history and deep roots in the Emerson Community this loss would be tragic given the number of students we serve who can only participate because of our on-site location at Emerson this loss would be truly devastating numerous Studies have shown that students with an arts-rich background are likely are more likely to grow up to be civically engaged than those without it's now more important than ever to provide an Arts Rich childhood for the neediest members of our communities which are so often its black and brown children music Cumbria was actively addressing these challenges to diversify and decolonize the cultural and educational offerings in Madison therefore I am here to ask the board for an exemption to the mmsd facilities use rental

035policy in fact I am hopeful that a new level of partnership can be forged not only between music umbrio and Emerson but between music embryo and the entire District it is our Dream to one day provide the opportunities currently available at Emerson to students throughout Madison thank you very much for your time and consideration hello my name is miria Barrera and I am a newly graduate from LaFollette High School I started music from Rio in 2012 a year after music cumbrio was started when I moved from Texas to Wisconsin I was able to learn how to play the violin and after three of my siblings saw how much I enjoyed every lesson they decided to join music embryo as well Brianna and the piano Elias and the piano and Sophia in the violin my family

036and I have always been drawn to music my family was sadly one of the ones who were struggling financially at some point and Miss Carol has has also said um she never turned us away especially having four students enrolled in the program even driving across town all the way to Emerson for lessons became a struggle she kindly offered her home which was three to five minutes away from where we lived her dedication to teach the art of Music encouraged me to continue in my school orchestra in middle school and in high school and a summer program in Dubuque everything I was able to learn through the lessons Brianna and I were able to teach to two wonderful little girls playing the violin and the piano I remember every little detail taught by Miss Carol herself

037and now I use that as my Foundation of my class I found I look forward to teaching more students who have the same love for music as me and my family and I know that I can I could always reach out to miss Carol for any tips and questions that I may have Brianna and I use our skills at our church Brianna as a Pianist and me as the worship leader as a worship leader I use those music skills and directed into my singing I am hopeful that the board grants music from Brio's rent exemption so that other students like me can have the same opportunity as me thank you thank you okay we have Emily Foster Hill and then following Emily is Martha netzel netzloff and then our last speaker will be Floyd Rose

038good evening thank you so much for your time my name is Emily fosterhill I am an mmsd Alum I attended Thoreau Glenn Stevens Gillespie and Val Phillips and my time at Thoreau definitely an outdoor environment impacted my Lifelong Love of nature before I became an early childhood special education teacher with mmsd I also was wearing a hat as an environmental educator and I worked as a field educator at questford elementary school today you'll have a packet in front of each of you with 26 letters that were put together by Crestwood Scholars current Scholars recent graduates in middle school high school college young adults current parents past parents and experts in the field of outdoor education and I'm going to call attention to a few of these today but before I do I just want to

039point out that these were all put together by the community and for the community and none of them are from teachers none of them are from the leadership there they have a tremendous amount of impact and support for their outdoor education spaces but we want to highlight some of the voices today and the concerns of these students in relation to what could happen to their outdoor education program and what it means to them a few of the themes in these letters I want to highlight for you include not only the safety of the space but the equitability of providing outdoor access to Nature in the first place not all children may have that one of the eight-year-olds underlined that in his letter another one or multiple students highlighted the benefits of nutrition being able to

040try new foods parents highlighted that as well with their robust gardening program and a lot of them highlighted a lifelong love not only of learning but how it's impacted their work they have gone into college into programs involving environmental engineering the care for the planet the care for their Community I mean it's their heart-wrenching I'm just going to be honest with you I was crying reading through these thinking these children think that they are losing this space they love the teachers the parents that have been here and doing this work for over 20 years are losing this space they love this was a space that we were able to mend through covid and making virtual Connections in the outdoor space I have students that I knew the last two years that said oh I recognize

041you two years ago from zoom and you helped me go out in the garden and we did it we had outdoor education through zoom and through doing this and so it's amazing what this community has there and I personally just want to say when the impact it had on me as an educator being there I want to quickly highlight a couple of things one is it already has been mentioned that mmsd's new wellness policy includes outdoor education the Wisconsin DPI also has a taking education Outdoors toolkit which was put together a few years ago and includes a lot of safety standards that could be utilized by the task force and last but not least I just want to say thank you again for your time please take some time looking through these others I didn't

042have a chance to go through them but there also are some very clear guidelines and suggestions of how to amend some of the student safety and planning and equitability of like the garden shed and specifics in here so I don't need to go into that but I wanted to give this to you so that you all have it and you all have time to look through it thank you to Emily Martha and then um Dr Floyd Rose hi I'm Martha netzloff I'm a first grade teacher a classroom teacher last two years at Lakeview and I'm going to be a cc teacher this year at Lithia um I wanted to start by I'm here for the natural Outdoor Classroom stuff and I thought it would be useful to you to know how a classroom teacher uses

043those spaces I want to start by telling you that I am not a nature person I was born in Racine Wisconsin and I'm very Urban like City I nature is not my thing but when I became a teacher at Lakeview and I saw all the different spaces and the different ways it could be used here are some of the ways that I use it for science um we make observations we go outside we write and we draw pictures lots of kids start the year with ah what is that and becomes like oh what is that um our science curriculum actually has some outdoor tie-ins with like the sky and different times of the year we um my class did raised monarch butterflies and we talked about plants and went and looked for the wild milkweed

044that grows all around there um so science our literacy curriculum the El curriculum for first grade has units on tools and skies and birds and one of the tool things we did was like what could you use as a tool like how could you use a stick as a tool how could you use like tools don't have to be something that somebody gives you you can find a tool um make a tool that kind of leads me into what we do with like social things um play somebody else mentioned the play being able to be more imaginative with play like how can we what what could this structure be like Let's Pretend We're living out here or those kinds of things we did um read-alouds in there's a little play structure out there we did

045re-alouds regardless of the weather because there's ways to sit out there and then like oh it's cold so we're reading this story of this cold people that are huddled in there um we did writing with descriptions we took notes we read stories um we did some work with talking about a lot about Native Americans um and talking about things that they might have used when the ho Chung people had this land first um we also talk with just social skills um the Buddy benches and the benches that they were talking about that have been removed we use those a lot as like how can you be a friend and make a friend and when you need a friend um also for children like myself I am a person with a disability and having a place

046in nature to sit down that's a natural a natural seat um was really cool um I'm sorry I have just a couple more things we talk about mindfulness Focus listening skills uh leave nothing take nothing stewards of the earth using things multiple things using nature to to keep reusing reusing um teamwork um cleaning up after ourselves compassion for living things um the bigger risk I think rather than like these scary logs that we have is why don't we have air conditioning um in the classrooms and that I think I got them off so uh I appreciate that very much um it's really important to to always everyone always wants to know and we have class outside and the answer should always be sure thank you Martha all right we'll have our last speaker uh Dr

047Floyd Rose if I say good evening will the clock start that I won't say good evening so forget about the clock starting there a blessing and an honor to be here I've sent an email to every one of you asking if you would recognize this amazing group of uh Youth and my purpose was not about our organization it was about your organization for the many many years you talk very much you preach you work hard towards Excellence I thought it might be rewarding to you to see Excellence this is a group of young people of the mass metropolitan school district who have done some things that I don't think anybody has done they are national champions in a stock market exercise the junior investment program sponsored by one of our partners Wells Fargo this team

048and there's a couple more that were involved involved in activity where they competed for 10 weeks against teams from around the United States and being and egotist as I am I'm very pleased and I've got great joy of how we beat Houston we beat New York we be Detroit we beat Chicago we beat everybody there was nobody standing and we led the nation for five solid weeks then the top five teams got invited to Las Vegas board member mujo knows something about that because when she was at East High School she represented 100 black men in Las Vegas for the African-American history academic Challenge and the next year after she graduated her sister got involved in the activity and there is Legacy here and I'm trying to send everybody a message on the board but

049let me allow even though we may go over and I apologize somewhat to everybody who we do I'd like you to hear from each one of them please give a brief comment about your experience uh hi my name is uh Pierre Nichols my Las Vegas experience was amazing I got to compete against a bunch of Scholars and we gracefully came out with the win and that's it um my name is Robin Myers I graduated this year and I just want to thank you guys and I want to thank the 100 black men for the experience it was amazing and I truly learned a lot hello my name is Jesse lenia I am a senior at LaFollette High School and I would like to say thank you to the 100 black men of Madison it was

050a huge opportunity um participating in the hundred black men um I really enjoyed working on my peers and it was just a nice experience thank you hello my name is Sadiq banamasi and I'm a rising senior at the Phillips Memorial High School and I just want to thank the 100 black men for this experience it was such a great experience I had so much fun being able to learn more about financial literacy stuff like this are not really taught in our schools so being able to be the 100 black men of Madison providing this opportunity and being able to play the stock market game stock market gaming company against other teams was such a blessing thank you the other students say that they want to start their own account so they are learning early about

051financial Liberty so once they get to be our way they will see financial institute okay I know I'm taking time but it's going to get better trust me just hang with me I can I can I can make this work uh we have three amazing coaches Bob when or come all right let's come on with you Bob come over here say something come on I know I know Dr Rose I just wanted you to know I'm sorry to interrupt um as soon as we get through public comment we're gonna approve the minutes from the last meeting and then we're actually gonna do some recognition um of the students so I don't know if you knew that but I wanted you to know that we are plenty to actually recognize you under um the board president's

052announcements no I thought you knew no I said you were being assertive you were like I made the assumption that we were going to gangster our way in here no matter what so no no no nobody said anything listen you made you made a request we knew how important it was to acknowledge the students and so we have a little write-up and um well if you wanted to acknowledge your coaches really quickly that's great and then um but we'll get on so that we can get you all up on stage for a photo hey thanks for having us and I'm looking forward to this recognition it's not about us it's all about the young people here they're amazing bunch of kids and I do hope next year we can get some more from your school

053thank you very much for this accommodation I'm Bob Nguyen I work with a hundred black men and also have a non-profit that's specifically dedicated to investment education it's climbed stands for communities learning to invest and mobilize for business we are based in Wisconsin in Madison and the website is crimeusa.org we really want to normalize investing so that Sadiq is not the exception that he is actually the rule and the normal process of growing up we are learning about the capital markets where wealth is created thank you thank you very much I have worked with these students since they were eighth grade I want you to know it's important that you have these individuals like 100 black men and other people being chaperones and being other kinds of things but these kids have an early age

054they have known me so this is why working as a sponsor or as an advisor for this hundred men stock market game we were able to do that they listen once you get them very early thank you foreign thank you to all of our speakers tonight and if um the students and members of 100 black men can just kind of hold on we're going to be right with you in just a moment all right we're now going to move on excuse me for approval of the minute I move that the Board of Education approved the minutes from the regular meeting dated July 24th 2023. second all right um any corrections to the minutes other questions okay Talia your advisory vote all those in favor sorry bye thank you Talia all right all those in favor

055of approving the minutes from July 24th all right that passes seven zero now we're moving on to the board president's announcements and reports so celebrating our students congratulations to six mmsd Scholars and their coaches who were part of the Junior y'all can come on down like it's the Price Is Right okay um who were part of the junior investment financial literacy team of the 100 black men of Madison this outstanding team was named national champions of the Wells Fargo Junior investment program during the 2023 National Convention of the 100 black men of America in Las Vegas Nevada over a rigorous period of 10 weeks the Madison team competed against 140 teams Nationwide our Madison team qualified as one of five who were able to compete in head-to-head competition at the National Convention in June their

056teams were judged by their comprehension and grasp of financial areas such as equity and debt Capital markets stock analysis and Investments I'm going to acknowledge each student um please come on up we are also going to have you all come up on stage for a photo so we have Sadiq bhadamasi Robin Myers Messiah Tompkins parine Buchanan Pierre Nichols and Jesse lenya congratulations for everybody in the back wait before a little bit more for me the other people in the back and forth for me that's just everybody yeah I'm gonna have you come to the middle and can you guys like yeah yeah I love it back there you go right there yep all right boom boom boom boom all right uh if I could just quickly uh say this yeah okay all right uh number

057one uh you are uh involved with a uh military person because this time next month this young lady will be a United States Marine now for all of you uh board members I want you to be close to all of the students because they may need you to help them when I say this by the grace of God our strategic partner Wells Fargo on the oh I should ask what are the uh what what's the requirement for absentee when you know you're gonna be asking what who do you take that to when you know you're not going to be in school school off as well if you would let the school office know because Again by the grace of God and Wells Fargo those four young people actually five that you see and one will

058not be able to make it are going to be flown to New York all expensive paid hotel and 24th 25th and 26th of October and they will attend the New York Stock Market and and I and I and you know this is this is about as good as when Dr Hicks was running uh Wright Middle School this is the kind of stuff we used to get all the time I I don't know what happened but but that's another story um I just want to say sincerely that you know we talk a lot about excellence and we bypass sometimes those things are right in front of us because of the energy that you put forth towards achievement and and rigor a lot of kids do catch it and a lot of kids a lot more than

059a lot of people want to think God bless you thank you all thank you hold on all right thank you all for that we're going to con we're going to continue with our um board president announcements and I'm gonna have vice president Pearson Now read a couple of the announcements thank you celebrating our schools the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction recognized Madison west and Val Phillips Memorial High School with advanced placement Pacesetter award for their High participation and achievement on advanced placement AP exams both schools ranked in the level 2 award section with 20 percent of students taking the AP exam and 65 percent of those students earning a score of three or above the Pacesetter Awards use data from the 2021-2022 school year which showed that of the state's 410 high schools that offer

060AP courses West and Memorial are two of the only 142 to earn the award in the 2023-2020 sorry 2022 2023 school year 1079 students across all mmsd high schools earned a score of three or higher on an AP exam congratulations to those students in those schools you aren't lying about the celebrations today celebrating our staff the mmsd Board of Education would like to welcome new and returning staff to the 2023-2024 school year we appreciate your dedication and love for public education thank you for helping to create a community where everyone is welcome belongs and thrives thank you all right and the search for uh this is related to our superintendent search the search for mmsd's next superintendent continues excuse me right now we are in the community engagement period and encourage everyone in our community

061to complete the leadership profile survey we want to ensure our next superintendent best represents our priorities and needs therefore we need to hear what you care about most for the future of our district the survey is available on the mmsd website in English Spanish and hmong additionally our search firm um all my Advisory Group will be in the district from October 2nd through the 4th and they will be holding Community focus groups at LaFollette and memorial high schools as well as the Holtzman Learning Center more information will be shared in our upcoming District newsletters and on the mmsd website and I'm going to turn it over to our superintendent for announcements and reports thank you board president Nichols and board members I also want to thank our public speakers for sharing their thoughts with us

062tonight we value hearing from all of you and we appreciate your comments so I'd like to begin my remarks tonight by sharing a brief video that highlights what is at the center of everything that we're doing this school year thank you [Music] thank you Jesse that video highlights our theme for the year which is kids first we have had a lot of positive energy around that as we have started the year and it's incredibly important that we honor the assets that our students bring we have the privilege and responsibility to give our students opportunities to learn and grow using evidence-based practices and creating spaces where they can be the best that they can be it's what we believe in and it's what we're going to be talking about a lot this year so tonight I'm

063pleased to introduce a new format for our superintendent's report which is different than the reports and the work that we do during an instructional work group or an operational work group where there is more discussion and feedback time so these superintendent reports will be more about informing the community and the board of all the great work that we have going on so every month we want to take a moment to ensure that we are lifting and recognizing the voices from within our district those voices of staff students and Community Partners it's important that we lift these voices that truly demonstrate what it means to put kids first and Define excellence also I'll provide monthly an update on the 2020 referendum projects as well as other acknowledgments from the district so tonight I'm excited for our

064first recognition which will be presented by um car Electra Stanford our assistant superintendent of school leadership good evening aboard president Nichols and board members it is my pleasure tonight to present the first 23-24 kids first superintendent recognition of excellent certificate to Mr Ari Davis an alumni of our district attending Lincoln Elementary right middle go ahead and get it out okay and graduating from Madison West High School R.A Davis is no stranger to mmsd his mother Andrea Davis was a dedicated member of the mmsd family for over 25 years we had the pleasure of hearing from Ari during the Leadership Institute this year in which he spoke to District leaders about the importance of Role Models relationships education and his journey to becoming a teacher in mmsd Ari shared that during his time as a student

065he was nurtured by staff to be a leader he also shared the impact that staff and family played in shaping his education and career beginning his second year as a physical education teacher at Leopold Elementary School he says that he wants to pour into young people by bringing out their leadership skills and Excellence just as past Educators did for him when he was a student he believes education should be a gateway to opportunity and works to show our students to believe in themselves each and every day he exemplifies what an excellent educator is and does Ari we are proud of you proud of the work that you are doing and proud that you chose mmsd as your home please give a round of applause as we ask all right he's already up here to come

066forward to receive the kids first superintendent recognition of excellent certificate thank you Ari for being an example of what it means to truly put kids first our second recognition tonight is for project search is a national and international transition program to train students with IEPs and barriers to employment to obtain necessary job skills which lead to employment mmsd had the first project search in Wisconsin it is a collaboration between mmsd UW hospital and Veterans Memorial Hospital in Madison and state Vocational Rehabilitation agencies students complete an internship where they experience several 10-week rotations to learn about different career paths in the classroom and then directly apply job skills at a career location like the hospital this year 11 interns completed the program and graduated from Project search earlier this month I had the pleasure of being

067a keynote speaker and these students inspired me beyond words Dr Nancy mulfenter and Jason pentecoff please come to the stage to accept the kids first superintendent recognition of Excellence certificate for project search all right thank you board members for allowing us to share this recognition tonight and now I'd like to transition to provide some updates and highlights so at mmsd we have a continued commitment to literacy literacy skills are the foundation for learning in all subjects and in December of 2020 I had the privilege of serving as the co-chair of our early literacy and Beyond task force with the University of Wisconsin-Madison I'm proud to say that mmsd has used those task force recommendations as a road map to improve literacy outcomes across our district in the spring of 2022 our Board of Education made

068a historic investment in adopting two Elementary level curricular resources one for our English classrooms and one for our Spanish DLI classrooms this is a big deal it is actually a career moment for lots of us to work in a district where these kinds of resources are purchased and implemented in classrooms meanwhile we continue literacy professional development around the science of reading and I believe that we are light years ahead of other districts Across the Nation when it comes to our work in the area of literacy and research-based best practices thanks to the board's approval we are also investing in new Middle School literacy and bi-literacy materials with the adoption of new curricular resources as well acquiring literacy skills during this crucial Middle School stage of development is fundamental for our academic success and personal growth

069of students in middle school students continue to read richer and more complex texts as they prepare for the academic challenges of high school by focusing on literacy instruction in middle school and really at any age Educators can ensure that students have the tools that they need to access and analyze information to think critically and to express themselves effectively we're really excited this year to continue this literacy work at our Middle School level next slide thank you a little bit about 4K expansion this is also part of our early literacy and Beyond work as our community's approval of the 2020 referendum we expanded our full Day 4k program for the 2023-24 school year at reach Dane headstarts Emerson and Henderson Elementary Schools we have moved from half day to full day programming and we added another

070full day section at Kennedy Elementary School our full Day 4k provides access to high quality Early Learning experiences for families with students from marginalized backgrounds including students with low socioeconomic status this program is critical for our homeless or transition education families and students of color 64 of our population of full Day 4k programming are students of color we want to provide our students and families with every opportunity to thrive and we know brain research tells us that early intervention is important because this is the time to build those connections in the brain and this is the time to get after that Gap not Chase it but to get after it early and our own map research Madison education partnership with UW Madison has lots of data to support implementation of 4K programming and full Day

0714k programming we now offers 35 full Day 4k sections across the district thanks to your approval and thanks to our voters in the 2020 referendum four of those sections are bilingual and six of them are in our community Early Learning Centers to invest in staff around 4K programming our summer Institute was held for all Educators who work with children birth to age five so just a focus on that that early stage of life this conference of freeze is free of charge and brought in the Madison Early Learning Community for two days of professional learning around literacy the importance of play and culturally relevant practices and a roots and wings Grant funded this conference so the next shout out tonight is to the Madison reading project we want to thank them for their efforts to uplift

072literacy throughout our community lots of our Educators were able to pick up new books this was actually a focus of one of the news um a television news story this week and teachers got to add to their own classroom libraries thanks to the books for educators program in addition many of our students get new books thanks to their mobile book giving service which makes stops at our schools throughout the district so thank you Madison reading project for supporting our kids and our community the next shout out for us is our DPI Advanced learning Grant we are grateful to the organizations that choose Madison to invest in and we want to thank the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction particularly the gifted and talented division for awarding mmsd with a sixty thousand sixty five thousand dollar Grant

073to support Advanced learning specifically through Services through the Hmong dance language culture and traditions work at Lakeview Elementary school during the year so we just want to shout out to DPI for this focused work through our Advanced learning Department finally again I'd like to welcome officially our students our teachers our staff and our families to a new school year there is nothing more exciting than this time of year we have missed everyone over the summer and all of us are looking forward to a great year of learning so that concludes my report um board president Nichols I will turn it over to you thank you for the time superintendent Cliff said thank you so much the there's just been a lot of Joy um as we have started the school year and this board meeting

074kind of bringing some of that joy in really appreciate um you bringing in the kind of the focus on how our budget has translated to like real impact in the classroom with our curriculum adoption and thinking about our 4K expansion um and just all the good things that are going to happen for students and Scholars in our district so thank you so much um for helping us to start the school year on such a positive note all right I'm gonna move us through our agenda next we have a report on the items that proceeded through the instruction work group and I'm going to turn that over to uh member Muldrow thank you board president Nichols we had a robust conversation about the behavior education plan and we'll be voting on shifts to the behavior education

075plan this evening we also talked about the scope and sequence of our work group over the course of the next year huge shout out to Cindy green and TJ McRae for bringing together our our agenda really really thoughtfully um moving forward we will not be having our instruction work group next week um because of the holiday so it will either be on September 11th or September 18th but it'll be a slight adjustment to our normal Cadence thank you board member Muldrow we next have a report on items that proceeded through the operations where group held on August 14th and I'll pass it over to board member Castro thank you so much um we got some vital data from our finance team regarding our fund our fun 10 balance update and summer 23 counts which are

076key variables in our budget we also received an update regarding our new Transportation provider first student had a robust conversation regarding the district's commitment to sustainability and actions we can take to realize our goal and finally we had a conversation regarding uh this scope and sequence of conversations over the next uh several months our next meeting will either be on September 11th or on September 18th where we will have a review of a policy we will review or anticipate our third Friday September count the last variable which determines our budget another update on cash flow short term borrowing and then we will continue to receive on how we are coming through and holding our word on referendum projects so thank you thank you board member Castro okay we've had one action item that proceeded through

077the instruction work group held on August 7th 2023 and that is related to the elementary Behavior education plan um board colleagues there are two motions so we're going to handle each motion um independent okay so the person motion I move that the Board of Education approved that all references to out-of-school suspension and expulsion be removed from the elementary Behavior education plan as referenced in the document prepared for this meeting second thank you discussion uh board member Muldrow my understanding in our last meeting is that their exemption that our Administration wanted us to make around kind of extenuating circumstances related to Fifth and fourth grade the motion you just read would not allow for such an exemption uh can I ask folks what they would do without the ability to intervene with suspension um in those

078instances thank you although you say that one more time I just want to make sure I heard you correctly so the first motion that was read would eliminate the option person which is consistent with the moratorium on suspension at the elementary school level my understanding for the presentation you gave us during the work group was that you wanted a specific exemption for extreme Behavior at the fifth and fourth grade level where we need to pass the motion that board president Nichols just spoke to that exemption uh is not included correct okay go ahead Lily why don't you take it um yes thank you board member Muldrow um so the I think the first motion that's before you is memorializing the moratorium um the second motion that will be before you is referencing that exception to

079the moratorium that you just spoke of does that yes so we're right to vote in favor of this motion and not vote in favor of the next motion and I do think it's complicated to have these two motions together because one I undermines the other um what would you do in the instances of extreme Behavior or what did you do last year in the instances of extreme Behavior without the ability to utilize suspension okay thank you yes um so if the if the board were to approve the first motion but not the second then there would not be an option for out of school suspension or expulsion um at the elementary Level under any circumstances the exception that I think we spoke about at the work group is possession of an actual firearm because that

080is dictated by state law but taking that aside then schools would be doing the same thing that they have been since the moratorium was put in place which is troubleshooting with student services staff to to support the student for whatever the need is that is I identified yes is there any data that you have that would verify that suspension was a more effective tool when it was available than the tools used last year when suspension was not available so there as I think we spoke about in the last several months surrounding the conversations at elementary for suspensions and expulsions we know that the data does not support that suspensions themselves change student behavior in the future I think what we brought before the board a few weeks ago was our best thinking surrounding ways in

081which to support the student if there is and a large need and extraordinary need that's being expressed Express expressed by their behavior to allow for a multi-step process to make sure that this is an exceptional situation and that the student the need that the student is expressing or maybe expressing that that planning period is necessary in order to plan for that Student Success moving forward so I guess I'll just state that I am planning to vote for the first motion and not the second Motion in part because when we talked about this last month it was highlighted that the group of students the very small group of students that would be eligible for suspension per this exemption um would be majority young people of color and would be majority young people with disabilities um and

082and for that reason I think that suspension is not the appropriate intervention I do hope that we are exploring best practice and most effective interventions my understanding isn't that suspension doesn't impact student behavior my understanding is that suspension negatively impacts student behavior that student Behavior gets increasingly worse when students no longer see themselves as part of the community um and so for those reasons and others um I will I will not be voting for The exemption and I appreciate your explanation of what we have used in terms of behavior intervention in the app sense of suspension thank you remember vandermeulen after seven years I'd figure out how to turn on a microphone I still have maybe one of them anyway I happen to agree with my colleague Ali I'm also voting for the first not

083for the second but I have one caution and one warning we need to make sure that they're as my board member Loris stated earlier at one of the meetings we need to make sure there are enough resources for the teachers if we are going to do this because what's going to happen otherwise is the amount of seclusion of restraint is going to go up in the amount of the timeout room is going to basically be a de facto segregation and a separation and neither of which I want to see so I know how I plan to vote I'm just saying I want to make to cautiously watch it to make sure that doesn't happen and that teachers are given enough support in those situations any other discussion all right all those in favor of approving

084all references to out of school suspension and expulsion being removed from the elementary Behavior education plan all those in favor Talia your advisory vote hi okay um all those in favor aye aye all right that passes seven zero let's move to the second motion I move that the Board of Education approve a approved to allow for any exceptions to the elementary Behavior education plan which would allow for the possibility of out of school suspension for fourth and fifth grade students in extenuating circumstances second for the sake of discussion okay it's been seconded um discussion all right seeing none um all those in favor of this motion to allow for an exception to the elementary Behavior education plan for fourth and fifth graders um say I Talia your advisory vote nay thank you all those in

085favor all those opposed all right that's seven zero okay [Music] um we had no action items that proceeded through the operations work group so we're going to move on to the main consent I moved that the Board of Education adopt and approve all of the Motions set forth in section 10 of the electronic agenda prepared for the August 28 2023 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 all right any separations board member Van Der meulen yes I'd like separate 10.10 10.11 10.19 and 10.25 okay uh board member Mojo I'd like to separate

08610.29 .29 thank you board member 10.13 10.22 10.22 okay oh bar member module no we did not okay and 10.31 okay all right then all those in favor of approving the consent memo as um read aloud uh Talia your advisory vote all right all right all those in favor aye okay that path is seven zero all right let's go to our separations first one is 10.10 correct just let me get to my notes sorry okay I'm going to read the motion first all right I moved at the Board of Education approve an expenditure in the amount of fifty thousand six hundred and seventy five dollars for the purchase of Campus workflow Suite from Infinite Campus using funding from the 2023-24 district technical services division budget second all right discussion yes I pulled because as someone

087who's lost approximately 45 IDs in a year and lost 37 keys in the semester I'm not sure how effective A system that requires someone to carry their ID is going to work when we're dealing with teenagers when I as a college student couldn't even keep track of it kids brains are still developing it takes them longer to remember things and I don't want to discourage children from coming to school because oh I forgot my ID so therefore I can't I won't be marked off on the thing I don't want that my second problem with this is we have a welcoming system we have a welcome center and we have our classroom teachers I don't think we need to have a fifty thousand dollar system to make sure that our students are in the building we

088need to make sure they're in the in a welcoming environment that makes them want to go to class not just to walk in the building and walk out again and so for those Reasons I'm voting again okay so um you stated your point of view do you but no questions for the staff to okay got it uh board member semkin so I actually do have a comment and then a question on this okay um since my son just graduated from high school and he was often marked absent when he was actually in class and I don't know if people couldn't see him or what was going on um but to me this seemed like maybe this would have been a solution to that um I guess I am curious if we could have somebody come

089up and just talk about what the if there would be any sort of um punishment or any any sort of recourse if if students aren't bringing their ID would there be any sort of negative consequence to that is the term I want to use there our assistant superintendent for uh teaching and learning Cindy green will a question board member simkin thank you very much good evening I think this will address your question and it might also address uh board member Vander Mullins coming can you hear me okay okay um so students are able to manually enter their ID number they're also able to scan their ID as well and or have a scanner do it so there's multiple ways for students to do it so there will be no penalty if a student does not

090have their ID on it if needed someone could also look up their ID number for that what the campus workflow is doing is creating efficiencies for us around attendance taking and who is in the building and who may not be in the building so currently it will enter directly into our Infinite Campus through our welcome centers it will also allow for teachers to not have to hand enter attendance for every class period we're starting this at the high school level first if you know teachers usually teach five sections they have to take attendance for every single one of those sections for all of their students sometimes they do miss that this process us will do the automatic entry for you so it's creating efficiencies and it's also creating accuracy of when that student is actually

091showing up not just into the school building but in their classrooms as well this is something that infinite campuses had access to for quite some time so we're really excited to actually buy this add-on to begin to take full advantage of what they have and to create efficiencies for our staff and accuracy for students does that answer your question so it does and actually so based on my experience as a parent that actually sounds like an improvement on so thank you 100 thank you um board member Mosner feltham thanks um from my experience as a high school I have I have dreamed of something something like this and was in an mmsd high school and we adopted something similar for the hallway passing period um and I have because I am um an anxious worrying

092person I have often been like oh my gosh if there's an emergency and I didn't take attendance yet so I think this sounds really really exciting and I'm looking forward to voting to hear the things you're dreaming about thank you thank you board member Castro thank you yeah um yeah it just reminds me of some conversations I had with social workers last year on speaking uh to board member simpkin and most nerfeldoms and Cindy's comments regarding this um in that you know there were a lot of students who slipped through the cracks and there were some students who were erroneously marked as truant in school because of miscommunication interpersonal issues the list goes on a lot of things and so it's nice to have something standardized um than just you know kind of word or

093word of mouth or something like that so I can see this being helpful yeah we will be doing just I just add to what uh board member Castro said we will be doing kind of a phased implementation because there are scanners that are included with this but eventually this is something that could be available across all of our schools so I just wanted to mention that and thank you right uh board member Van Der meulen then board member Pearson and then we'll come back to Port member Muldrow so my question is just clarification um Cindy you mentioned that you are starting it at the high schools but um our memo says middle and high school um so when are you guys looking to implement the High School portion or sorry the Middle School portion I

094I'm so I didn't wanted to talk across I do not think we're doing middle school until next school year but I'll let yeah taking a a phased approach starting in our welcome centers our student services areas and our lmcs in our high schools and doing a slow and purposeful rollout in that way um it's very important to remember that this is a tool to a technical tool to support attendance that we're very excited about but we also have an obligation to have engaging classrooms and places where kids want to be in the in the classroom and learning so we want to be really cognizant about just rolling this out too quickly and not remembering the importance of our Universal strategies for attendance so high school this year really study learn understand and then we will

095look into middle school for next school year so then for the estimates uh it's going to be fifty thousand dollars every year um so the 50 000 now we are requesting or you're requesting today um when you say middle and high school but it will only be high school are we anticipating increases in that fee um and if not or if we are what kind of savings can we have since we're only implementing it in our our high schools great question wonderful thank you so it's a it's a flat fee regardless right because it's a campus workflow for our entire system so it isn't parsed out by just for for high school middle school so it's the fee for the entire District that we will be purchasing so you won't see an increased fee in

096it what we want to do is be able to do a phased approach because it requires uh the use of scanners and other tools as well and we wanted to be thoughtful about when those components come into the schools so are we looking for another agendum item that later that will actually come to the technical pieces of that or is this all included in this it's all included not the other things are yeah that's all included okay thank you and my uh Social Work team just uh let me know that that we can use the um software already in our 4K to Middle School settings the hardware is what we're implementing in our high school so just um there's a lot of capabilities with that but the hardware where there's the scanning is what we

097are looking at what we're implementing systemically in our high schools this year yeah I think I'm done yeah board member Muldrow thanks for president Nichols I want to ask about the financial aspects of this as well particularly why is this an investment we want to make right now and looking at next year's budget uh what are the implications in terms of our ability to scale this uh investment sorry I should assume but uh thank you board member Muldrow for the question the price does not change so it is software that is part of Infinite Campus which is our student information system and it's an add-on to increase both efficiencies and additional tools so it won't be an additional cost as we continue to figure out how to maximize the use of it across classrooms so

098our investment in this original 50 000 will be the only investment we see even as we do it at the middle school level and expand our utilization correct the technical components that Dr Esser spoke about in terms of potential scanners and uses of that would be additional pieces that we have to purchase those are a very affordable cost you can even buy them on Amazon but that would not necessarily be something that wouldn't be able to already be absorbed within our department budgets thank you you're welcome any further discussion okay all right all of those in favor okay or member of Vander Millen so the cost that you were approaching or voting on tonight is essentially a software cost because it's a part of Infinite Campus which is our student information system so so that

099essentially is part of software yes correct correct it's a district flat fee all right all those in favor of approving this expenditure for the infinite campus workflow Suite Talia uh your advisory vote sorry y'all hi all right all those in favor aye and all those opposed all right that passes six one thank you all right let's move on to 10.11 all right let me read the motion oh okay I move that the Board of Education approve an expenditure in the amount of 183 thousand dollars for a pine annual membership for all schools listed on the attached list Contracting with New York University steinhardt School of culture education and human developments program for inclusion and neurodiversity education using funding from the fiscal year 24 idea low through budget second Nikki vandermeal all right discussion yes I

100pulled this not to criticize it but to praise it this is probably one of the best programs one I've seen in quite a while on autism education two unlike most special education programs it does not segregate kit in fact it teaches everyone the difference on how autism works and how people learn best so technically it's actually beneficial for everyone I'm strongly part of it and I'm thankful that we did the pilot last year and I'm very impressed with it and I am happy to vote for it and just thank you for bringing it thank you board member Muldrow did I see your hand uh I want to thank the members of the community who spoke in support of pine this evening I want to ask about this will be I think the third time that

101I have um approved and a in our budget um funding towards Pine um and I'm curious how long we've been working with pine and what our data shows in terms of why we want to expand our investment in Pine um I greatly appreciate kind of the more holistic approach to all staff um but I am curious about what the results of that training have been in the schools where we've already done it thank you very much for um having this discussion and board member Muldrow for asking the question so thus far we began a very small pilot with pine two school years ago in the 2021-22 school year with just two connected elementary schools uh one of our 4K through two and then three through five schools and so then we expanded to five schools

102in the last school year continuing with those two elementary schools and um adding Hamilton Spring Harbor and West High School Hamilton and Spring Harbor being middle schools so our data at those schools is both quantitative and qualitative so we have evidence that demonstrates that our students with an IEP were included more last year and the year before at the schools that had Pine we also have uh qualitative data from our staff I know that the Mad Town mamas who had representation here tonight did some interviews I've also done some interviews with staff who expressed that it increased their understanding of working with our neurodiverse students and also helped because all staff had access to the modules and the professional learning which is rare it's rare to have a program that speaks to all staff in

103a school versus just certain sets of staff and so that's one of the reasons why um and as one of our public speakers mentioned behind um this year after two years of asking them came back to us with a price point that was actually we are able to expand to all elementary schools across the district making this a more Equitable Equitable opportunity their prior price point would not have allowed us to do that so it was really helpful to have them come to a reasonable agreement with us on what that would cost I appreciate the negotiation that went into that um I also appreciate what you emphasized as outcomes however I want to lean in specifically to outcomes that are uh academic for our students with IEPs so have we seen significant academic gains for

104our students with IEPs at the schools that have time specifically our students with autism so I am all for inclusion I want students to be learning among other students however that learning has to be high quality um and individualized to the needs of each specific student so were we able to achieve greater learning outcomes by utilizing time so in looking at that data it's difficult to say with the five schools that were pilots last year because those were the schools that tended to have higher academic achievement outcomes for students with an IEP and students specifically who are served under the category of autism prior to having time so my my belief is that we're going to have better data when we've expanded across the district in terms of academic outcomes so our academic outcomes at

105those five schools tend to be stronger um but that was also the case prior to the time Nancy I didn't expect to ask you this question why would we pilot Pine at schools that already have better outcomes for students with IEPs and students autism sure so for those of you who um were with us in the summer of 2021 um we had specific requests to have pine at particular schools to work with specific students and then the expansion wound up being the logical expansion being in that feeder pattern where those particular students would be which was one of the things that felt very inequitable to me and so I wasn't I didn't feel good about moving forward with pine if we couldn't expand to allow the opportunity for staff and Scholars across the district I

106think what you just spoke to made me a greater supporter of having mine at all of our elementary schools and also um is challenging to hear in part because those specific requests um speak to privilege in and of itself right like who gets to advocate for their students and so the fact that a school that is already providing greater support is able to have even greater support um is is a challenging thing to to hear and I think that it's something we want to pay attention to and think about uh strategically moving forward um however I I greatly appreciate the opportunity to expand this programming to all of our schools and I do recognize the inequity um that it created to have it within a specific feeder pattern absolutely I I have seen in my

107career that that type of advocacy feels inequitable to start with but then does wind up benefiting or or a larger majority as long as as a school district we pay attention to that and don't allow it to stay in those Lanes any additional questions for me thank you um board vice president Pearson thank you um I'm excited for the expansion as well and thank you Ali for bringing up the questions because mine were definitely in line with what um she somewhat already asked I guess my question then would be right now the expansion would add the 32 elementary schools and then continue with the two middle schools so um Spring Harbor in Hamilton and still West High School when are we looking then to expand to the rest of the high schools in including the

108other middle schools as well so that everyone can have the opportunity that's a great question my hope is that at this time or even prior to this time next year maybe even over the summer next year that we'll be able to bring forth a proposal continuing to work with pine um the negotiation around their price points okay yeah I think it's going to be really important as we go into next year's school budget in October or after October um to know kind of what we are looking at to expand and how much we're looking at to um expand I think this is an awesome program I think we all supported it early so um I'm looking forward to that proposal to expand it based on what you already mentioned and inequities that it has caused

109so far thank you board member Pearson thank you any further discussion okay the motion is to approve the expenditure for the expansion of pine Talia your advice advisory vote all right thank you all those in favor I thank you that passes 7-0 all right moving on to 10.13 okay um I move that the Board of Education approve an expenditure in the amount of 89 000 and 50 dollars for the we start day care to support parenting students and their infants from the 2023-24 capitol high and teaching and learning office budget second all right uh board member simkin so I pulled this because I need to recuse myself got it thank you so much um any other discussion on this item all right um for the approval of this expenditure Talia your advisory vote I all

110those in favor aye that's six and then um did we do it as what I'm saying or okay thanks six zero I'm getting there I didn't have that I had 10.19 is the next one tree care okay all right 10.19 I move that the Board of Education approve an expenditure in the amount of one hundred thousand dollars for tree care and removal services of savitree tree care services using funding from the fiscal year 24. Building Services maintenance budget second Mickey Vanderbilt all right discussion yes I pulled this because I have a bunch of questions namely as outdoor education has become an interesting topic period wise I'm curious what trees are going to be removed will the community and School Board know before the removal on which trees are removed how often will the true will

111other items regarding the trees such as stumps be removed and will the school principal be made aware on the tree removal ahead of time so looks like we have um staff's Wetland who can answer thank you yes good evening board members and Community we are currently going through a process of evaluating our uh three uh portfolio in the districts and based on that recommendation we'll be in a drawing action plan in order to support the school from a Safety and Security standpoint we currently have a lot of trees that are dying or dead that need to be removed and constantly through uh the late latest stores that we've seen in the last few months uh after each story we have to go back and remove trees which is normal if we maintain our trees but

112currently we are assessing this and we are trying to make a plan of how we are going to remove trees that needs to be removed and we are also working on a plan how we are going to success these trees in the last three years we have planted over 353s in an alliance with Urban 3 Alliance which is something to be proud of and we will continue to to be planting as we remove the trees that needs to be removed but currently I think we have a very significant risk in the school district with trees that I have not been maintained and we need to catch up on this that's why we are ordering a study and therefore that study will be utilized to um to be addressing the the Hazardous needs of the school

113as far as giving heads up to each School sites we are planning to provide the heads up to each school before we do that we are we are planning to to do the tree removal and tree trimmings in a safely manner we usually notify the school and the staff at each site we want to make sure that there's no uh visitors callers or staff around the work sites we want to make sure that we don't affect any power building sort of uh any of our staff or visitors Vehicles as well so there's quite a bit that goes behind that process we do share the information ahead of time I think this may be uh related to The Outdoor spaces which is a totally different aspect the outdoor spaces that have been you know recently addressed

114with our risk management and making our school sites safer but the three uh operation currently is in needs of evaluation analysis and a follow-up most of the follow-up ends because uh with 750 acres of land in the district and so many trees we have quite a bit of risk around our buildings you want to make sure that our scores are safe so this is a safety concern for the most part of this time I have one additional actually chair I would ask that the speed table until after the board has seen a plan regarding which trees are the pre-removal on how the schools will be notified formally on the tree removal I think the Board needs to see a plan before we can just approve this sum of money for tree removal when we're not

115quite sure exactly how many have to be removed why or what plan they're in there's already been a large number of communication errors and and many of the many of the outdoor issues I just think it would be a smart move to put a more to put to table this and then put a moratorium about removal until we could get a task force set up and I add one thing I'm sorry I didn't mean to drop them I put the wreck in or the consent in um so we had an assessment of all the trees done in the school district five years ago we have 450 ash trees that are dead or dying so most of the work on this consent is worked off that assessment that Urban Tree Alliance did for us in 2018

116so so far we've removed maybe 200 and we have another 300 or go 300 that have to be removed um so mere mere Elementary has 25 um dead or dying ash trees that are a pretty big safety concern that we need to address timely and I can share with you the Urban Tree Alliance report from 2018 the assessment that spelling was talking about was us renewing that plan with Urban Tree Alliance and Urban Tree Management that would be helpful that concludes my question thank you um board member simkin so I'm also thinking the timing of this is a little unfortunate given um the concerns that have been brought forward from the community and from the schools around um our nature-based um Outdoors place in classrooms and so I am wondering if any of these trees

117have been identified in those outdoor classrooms or intentional outdoor Place spaces and if so what is the plan to collaborate with the schools to ensure that there is intentionality around um taking down or perhaps treating trees if they can be treated certainly uh so I think uh based on what uh Nigeria was uh kind enough to share we are we are trying to address really the problem that already exists this is not a new problem this doesn't surface uh today uh to to our plate uh we would like to be able to address the biggest hazards in the districts right now uh namely the ash trees that's uh have been identified a long time ago and uh we are treating some of our trees and some of them are already beyond that uh treating option

118already currently within our parking lots in farm world we actually have a tree that's that needs to go uh and it is not a top priority because it's not around school building right it can only affect a few vehicles uh where we're looking at the dead Street in a parking lot but when these uh trees are close to our buildings and uh affect our sidewalks in our close proximage to our scores I think it's a very important that we address the safety concerns first and we will be happy to share each individual tree that's planned to be cut down out but if we are not allowed to address the safety needs we really don't have a way to support the school district from a safety perspective because I have dealt with tricks that fall on

119students and kill students and it's not very pleasant and and maybe it is my personal approach to it but uh I think when it comes to safety we need to rely on the professionals to do the assessment and identify which trees needs to be removed which needs to be trimmed in which we can continue to treat which we have been doing all along and I think here we are not talking about Outdoor Classroom spaces we are talking about trees that endanger the community and the scholar so that's what you're saying so right now and this is not all of it with the hundred thousand we are seeking this will not get us to the Finish Line I want to make sure that we understand that that we are taking a step approach to which we

120need to address the worst of the worst and they will come back with more as we are already developing our plans and reassessing the The District 3 portfolio I think we should think twice before we put hit the brakes on a sense manual because the safety of our scores is the top priority for Building Services you want to be able to do a to to do a follow-up action let's see if you can say that you can actually have right and and I guess I'm not saying it in order to put the brakes on because well what I'm talking about is I am thinking about these really intentional intentionally created outdoor um learning environments we will be very happy of Building Services to continue the collaboration the conversational door around outdoor classrooms I think we

121need to look at them from the aspect of uh of safety as well this has nothing to do with the Trees of course but we also need to have a maintenance plans for the outdoor class roads because currently the uh we haven't really removed any other classrooms but but you know a few benches a few stairs that are in this repair that endanger the community so we want to make sure that when we are expanding our operations we have the funds in the means of supporting this because uh a lot of a lot of the the community input on outdoor spaces is related to neglected outdoor facilities is what it really is and uh we are here to help and support but we also have very limited resources to do so and I I certainly

122agree that we need to do this in collaboration to make a really solid plans for sustainable maintenance and operation of the Outdoor Classroom spaces which which should have been in place to begin with but for some reason I thought many of our school sites uh the CAC and the maintenance he has derailed and that has led to deterioration which leads to the needs to remove some of them deteriorated uh various benches or uh or its um natural playgrounds we just need to make sure that our uh saved for uh for the visitors and schools for the visitors and Scholars in our schools are are thought about and not just Implement something then we neglect over 10 years and then it becomes unusable and in dangerous the safety of students so we might have really different

123perspectives on that so I don't think I want to go down that hole right now but I think I want to stick with talking about removal of trees um I'm going to assume that there's probably some dead or dying trees in the vicinity of those those classrooms those Outdoor Learning environments and I just want to make sure that there is going to be a plan in place to to communicate really intentionally with the the school around the removal of trees near or in those those classrooms because of the situations that are occurring right now Laura yeah board member can I take that one please um I think what we've learned and what we've heard over the last couple of weeks around the conversations with the outdoor classrooms that we can do better in communicating with

124our schools and our principals and our staff around um how to have outdoor classrooms that are safe that we support and that we will communicate with schools around should there be any maintenance that's required or any Replacements that need to happen I think there's anything we've learned in the last couple of weeks is that we can do better at communicating with that I do I hear you svetlin um believe I just had two trees taken down and it was a thousand dollars so I hear I I see the cost and we certainly right if there is a dead or rotted tree that is near us that could be in a storm you know a storm like we just had a couple of months ago could take out a side of a school part of the

125roof we want to be thoughtful about that but what I hear you saying spetlin is a commitment to working with schools around if there is any removal right it's kind of a big deal I've seen the equipment that comes in like we just want to be sure people know but I just want to acknowledge timing isn't great on this um but I also think it is a chance for us to have a renewed commitment to being better communicators about it so I just want to acknowledge that and I'm I also know that with the ash trees that you mentioned I know there is a concerted effort across the state because the emerald ash borer is um very invasive so I do know that we have an obligation to make sure that that doesn't spread School

126properties as well so I'll just thank you for that um board member Mosner feltham did you oh you took your hand down um board member of vandermeulen no I'm glad I can't believe I keep forgetting um um one other thing I'm glad we're going to collaborate with the school can we also make sure the board put updates on this issue I think we can absolutely make sure that the board gets updates around our outdoor classrooms are looking if there's been any impact to them I don't know that you want an update on every tree that comes down but I do think you're going to want an update on if there are any impacts and how we're taking care of our outdoor classrooms and I think that can happen through what we've talked about with the

127task force Nikki you've made it um well that could work get it clear that could work that that's something that they want to see so I think that could come today that could work nothing further all right thank you any any other discussion on this one all right so for the approval of this expenditure Talia your advisory vote hi all right all those in favor I um all right that's six all those opposed one thank you that passes six one all right we're moving on now to 10.2 foreign all right I move that the Board of Education approved and expenditure in the amount of forty one thousand dollars forty one thousand nine hundred and twenty dollars for the services of pra and Building Services to organize the archive and floor plan records safely efficiently and

128in compliance with the state and local building administrative codes using funds from the fiscal year 24 Building Services maintenance budget second discussion uh board member simcan yes hi I pulled this because I I just wanted to have a full understanding of the scope of what is covered under this expense and um that's that's I guess the first part of it so could you please go ahead and just articulate what that 41 000 covers So currently in the second floor of uh Building Center it's it's an attic it's not a second floor but in the Attic we hold the archive of districts these are all of the facilities records uh including the Deeds for uh for our properties if you will uh including all of our plants floor plans floor plans from the 60s the original

129blueprints actually uh however the structure is consistently overloaded and we also have about three quarters of the Iraq space underutilized it's not finished at all so what we would like to do is uh we would like to expand our storage because our handbook continues to grow and as we digitize it we bring more items to the archive upstairs and we would like to utilize our finished space and we also would like to uh bring up to quote our current storage because we're currently not in compliance for the fire code story of the paper upstairs without Fire Protection so so we we would like to uh utilize our space more efficiently but in order to do that you need to do structural analysis of what is possible and then the next phase will be coming in

130front of the board um hopefully next spring after we draw those plans and after we beat these projects out that will follow up with the implementation phase of the project okay so um I guess the second piece is is more of a comment so I saw that there was a request for waiver so this didn't go into a request for proposal or request for quote and I to me forty one thousand dollars to create a just a an assessment of of that space appears to be a pretty high amount and I would actually like to see a quote go out to see if we can get a more competitive bid for that expense um and so I would vote no and and ask to go back and he did I cannot speak to the bidding

131process so in 2022 we actually beat out our architectural engineering Consulting Services unfortunately we don't have a science contract so that's why we have been using the waiver ever since we have been working with our legal department and with laserfish who is the developer of our contracts manager software in order to uh develop a package for mmsd that will allow us to manage this contract because we are uh we are about to enter into a multi-vendor contracts with pra and then we have a few other vendors that will be on part of that country but the reason why we don't have these signs as of last year is because our software could handle it and we're in the process of finalizing this we actually had a meeting with laserfish last week to to revamp that

132process or to get uh rolling on it but uh yes pra have been brought to us through a competitive bid process along with you along with them I believe we had a few other vendors I can't recall how many of them OPN is another one Zimmerman is all of the work that we do with these vendors through that RFP process we are using a waiver right now because we don't have a contract which we are hoping in the next couple of months we will have one sign okay yeah it's it that seems like a lot of money for the scope of work that that you're asking for and so is it possible I guess I'd ask that to our our general counsel is this a situation in which we can get a we can bid

133for this type of work is there anything that disallows that to happen so yes this is something that could go out for a bit is that your question yeah that was my question okay so I would say the rest of the board out I plan to vote no to this because I think it's an awful lot of money and I'd like to see some levels some other Quotes come on okay any further discussion board member Mosner feltham sure um thank you I guess uh what I'm looking forward to seeing is the long range facilities plan so that um this type of request can can contextualize within a a broader or not more important this is what we're thinking but um a more complete and Facilities plan that that also supports our long range generally right

134so that'll be like a long-rangement for our facilities which should be excellent and a long-range vision for how we progress as educational Institution um that's not a question response really to what members thank you any further discussion on this memo for member Muldrow anytime that I see that we have requested a waiver to not go out to bid um I wonder about our capacity to get bids and I wonder if that um is is something we need to take into consideration so I guess I would direct that question first at our superintendent in terms of our our process around when a waiver is appropriate and when it isn't um as well as our capacity to field bids and make sure that we're getting the most competitive deal for the taxpayer um in terms of process

135um it looks to me I kind of just clarify svetland it looks to me like there was an RFP done last summer is that correct um in the summer of 20 I just want to clarify sort of the actuals here so you the process was followed for an RFP in 2223 for architectural and Engineering Services so it was posted you said in August and closed um at the end of August so I mean the RFP process right you gener you generate your list of questions what you want from a vendor you get bids to come back and you select the one based on your rubric that you believe best meets the needs of the project that's a general process I think I'm right about that um so is this particular project under that RFP like

136is that why you didn't do another one correct yes so um in the summer of 20 like not even in the summer in the spring of uh 2022 as I explored what I'm dealing with in my department that I overtook now we found out that uh we have a lot of contractual gaps so where we identified what are these we came up with at least 37 I believe we still have 33 rfps to go out we just don't have the bandwidth to support them right now but we have been punching through this so another RFP that we send out in 22 or some environmental services we are about to award the contracts but it's again A year later because uh the software that we are using to manage the contrast couldn't allow us to do

137that but we do have this now in place and we are working towards that we also procured the moving services that's another piece that comes frequently uh you know up for discussion specifically for the referendum but we do moves outside of the referendum as well so that's another rfp.3 service we still have another 33 line items for writing rfps and we are hoping that as construction season slow down maybe the end of 24 we will be able actually to go after them because the RFP process is quite lengthy and it involves uh multi-state stakeholder engagements unfortunately uh the department same USD are required to write their own rfps and our department is here being quite busy with some managing all the Construction and building all of the construction as well which are our priorities so

138uh we certainly could beat this job out I do not expect that we will get a lower number actually expected this would be a higher number but we certainly can do this exercise to do that and the other aspect is this will uh just slow the whole process three to four months and it will put more stress on our team and they are able to certainly can go through this process if we go through this process we'll create also a precedent that's where we are not picking back of our own rfps that we are riding with the intent that's uh that we save time and that are operating more efficiently so I won't be surprised if this comes back again and again if we Immaculate a president and again we will be very happy to

139beat this out I have all the confidence but we are making a really good selection for the school district from a time and efficiency standpoint and if we need to beat it out we certainly will be happy but it won't happen until probably about late winter or spring because our pipeline is just full right now but but you can certainly look into this at a later date I greatly appreciate the level of detail in Canada you just brought to the conversation and I I want to thank you for privileging that uh there is a a desire to go to bed on a variety of fronts at this current moment particularly in relationship to our construction projects um that being said I think what you highlighted is very reassuring in terms of that this went out

140to RFP we're working with a group we established a relationship with um last year and that for me uh builds my content confidence towards boating in favor um and not delaying this this process however you think um however cumbersome going to bid is uh it is it is a necessary verification process in terms of being able to explain a competitive rate um taxpayer and so I I think board member simpkin for her for her comments um and thank you for your explanation both superintendent uh kiss dad and you spend thank you um board members simkin and maldro and interim superintendent Chris that I think we're good so all those um ready to approve the what was that yeah I'm getting ready to to approve the um expenditure Talia your advisory vote nay all right all

141those in favor aye well okay that's five um all those opposed two all right that that still passes five two okay we are moving on to 10.25 board member module I think you might have pulled this one do you want me to oh you did okay I just wanted to make sure she was here all right I move that the Board of Education approve an expenditure in the amount of 749 871.66 for the purchase of Titan LED materials and supplies to allow Building Services to continue the process of reducing the carbon footprint of the district and all of its operations while delivering a significant amount of savings to the utilities using funds from sr2 and the fiscal year 24 Building Services maintenance budget second Nikki vandermeal all right discussion yes um I brought this because

142one like Blair earlier stated I'd like to see a log rage facilities plan entirely before I can make a decision such as this secondly as much as I'd love to make our carbon footprint smaller having to possibly do it twice after we find out the log range facility plan if it doesn't work with it would end up making it even more making it even harder on our carbon footbed because we'd have to do it over again and so for those Reasons I'm voting no but I could understand why others might support thank you any other discussion on this item all right sing none uh the motion is to approve this expenditure Talia your advisory vote I right all those in favor aye all right um all those opposed two okay so we had Laura not

143present so that's five two and one absent I mean 4-2 thank you for correcting four two and one not present all right um 10.29 [Music] I move that the Board of Education accept a grant in the amount of sixty five thousand dollars from the Department of Instruction gifted and talented Department to support Advanced learning Performing Arts identification and serve through Hmong dance language culture and tradition second right uh discussion or member Muldrow so I wanted to pull this to one recognize um how meaningful this is to among students to see their Heritage celebrated in our schools in the Arts and through language I also want to extend um an incredible amount of gratitude to our director of advanced learning Dr Alexander for um highlighting and emphasizing dance um I've asked a lot over the years

144what we're doing for young people in terms of the Performing Arts uh this is one of the first times I've seen dance highlighted and invested in by our district I am moved and Incredibly grateful for this investment thank you y'all that's it for my comment very nice very nice um any other discussion all right um okay hold on the motion was to approve the grant or I'm sorry to accept the Grant and the amount of sixty five thousand dollars Talia your advisory both hi all right thank you all those who approve all those in favor I'm sorry of approving I am getting tired y'all okay that is six of us correct yep six uh all right all right 10.31 the human resources transaction report I move that the Board of Education approved that August 2023

145Human Resources transaction report 1 through 78. second uh board member Mall drop I wanted to pull this as an expression of appreciation towards our human resources department for Fitness started this year and doing making some really serious progress on filling vacancies um I emphasized our conversation in the last board retreat at our last regular board meeting I want to acknowledge that my my questions were answered thoroughly and thoughtfully and continue to be answered thoroughly and thoughtfully and I want to ask our superintendent to kind of explain what our HR report means about the first few days of school and what Staffing will look like for our young people sure so actually our Deputy TJ McRae was working with our human resources lead um Jennifer trundle and you will be getting a refreshed HR report um

146this week and it's going to give you greater comparisons over time so you can see the progress it will also give you um just different information that tells a different story in some of our hard to fill areas such as cross-categoricals such as bilingual we also will have some information for the board about what we're doing about some of these unfilled vacancies that still exist um Dr mulfenter and um Cindy green have given us some information particularly about those shortage areas and you'll get a chance to see in some detailed areas what the bits and pieces of some of our other staff members would those vacancies and fill rates are looking like so we are hopeful that the next report gives you um just a different take on the information and the realization that this

147is a rolling way of hiring right we're just going to keep moving on this and keep bringing staff members in while also acknowledging there are still some shortage areas and we still have some work to do but I Just Want to Thank You board member Muldrow for acknowledging the work that is happening in HR I know they are working hard every day and Jennifer is getting her team together every single day so um we hope that the new report um gives you some greater insights into where we're at if folks are listening to this conversation and are curious about the Public's access to report the board will be provided with how can the Community Access this updated report so Jesse help me with this um so that goes in the board update correct yes it's

148part of the weekly update to the board which comes to the board um each week and then the week after is when the community can have access to it and it is posted to the board's web page at mmsd.org board great so it is available it is a public document a week after it's released thank you so much that's it for what I wanted to highlight size and thank you the both Dr McRae and our team in HR for getting us an updated report and all the work that's going into Staffing our schools thank you board member module board member yeah I just want to um thanks though thank the whole HR team as well and want to highlight um a Dynamic that has maybe gone underreported or we haven't quite acknowledged quite enough in

149my opinion is that over the past five six years looking at the HR reports you know we have made steady consistent sustained progress on uh diversifying our staff we have uh we're we're reaching new highs every year in terms of percent of our teachers that are teachers of color which is something that has kind of flown under the radar but I just wanted to highlight great all right let's move on to um what was that oh yeah you're right okay all right all those all those in favor um Talia of approving the human resources transaction report your advisory vote I thank you all right all those in favor aye all right 7-0 thank you okay other reports to the board City of Madison education committee we are still working on a new date and so

150the committee did not meet in August um and we have a poll out right now for September that concludes City of Madison student Senate our first meeting for the upcoming year will be on September 27th and the focus will be engaging new members and focusing on Outreach thank you Talia um Madison School and community recreation advisory committee thank you madam president um mscr West Heather open house on August 9th over 300 community members attended and I enjoyed sample courses tours music and refreshments the mscr staff really appreciated support from the board from the superintendent and from other senior leaders who attended the open house fall programs start next week more than 1900 participants are registered for fall classes at the new mscr West and the next advisory committee meeting will be September 20th thank you

151board member mother policy committee um we met uh last week and started crafting the plan um of how we may be um reviewing some of the policies um we thought that it'd be important that we start out first with uh 13.13 point no 1301 which is just our policy on policies um and really start to dive deep on that um we will be meeting with Neola again soon and we have um crafted a possible plan for us that includes um bringing back 1301 in our operations work group on the 18th and then looking at it again at our board with treat on the 22nd and hopefully voting for it in September we believe that this is the Prelude to all of the policy work that we are going to be engaging with um or engaging

152um but we had to get that that policy together first because that drives all of the work um for us and we have worked with Neola to um look at some of the policies that we have to get done and start like comparing the two of like our policies Neola and kind of merging that work um what I will say is that um at our Retreat hopefully that will have a robust conversation about which plan because we have started crafting that plan um which plan that we want to move forward with in reviewing our policies that will match with any of the redlining that we will be doing with that um that is it saving do you want to add anything okay thank you board governance committee board member something or governance committee continues to

153explore options for a facilitator to support the process of our development of board governance policies and procedures the Aspen group has now removed themselves from consideration however we are exploring some other leads at this time thank you board member some good all right we have other business lots of kids tonight all right [Music] um vice president Pearson is our representative so most of the Motions tonight are to direct her to vote in favor um so let's start with the first one tid I move that the Board of Education Direct Maya Pearson as the representative on the city of Madison joint review board to vote in favor on the 2023 project plan then to bid number 45 Capital Square West as set forth in the documents prepared for the regular Board of Education meeting dated August

15428 2023. second thank you board member Muldrow any discussion Talia your advisory vote hi all those in favor I said that uh six okay let's make that a seven seven zero thank you all right tip number 50. I move that the Board of Education Direct Maya Pearson as the representative on the city of Madison joint review board to vote in favor on the 2023 project plan amendment to tid number 50 State and Lake as set forth and the documents prepared for the regular Board of Education meeting dated August 28 2023. can I get a second second thank you board member Muldrow any discussion Talia your advisory vote I all those in favor aye 7-0 thank you tid 52 I move that the Board of Education Direct my appearance as the representative on the city of

155Madison joint review board to vote in favor on the 2023 project plan amendment to tid number 52 East Washington and Stoughton Road as set forth the documents prepared for the regular Board of Education meeting dated August 28 2023. second oh it's a race who wants to go board member Castro or board member Muldrow board member Castro for the second all right any discussion Talia your advisory vote aye thank you all those in favor I thank you passes 7-0 I move that the Board of Education Direct Maya Pearson as the representative on the city of Madison joint review board to vote in favor on the 2023 project plan amendment to tid number 53 East Wilson as set forth in the documents prepared for the regular Board of Education meeting dated August 28 2023. second yes all

156right any discussion Talia your advisory vote bye thank you all those in favor I 7-0 thank you tip number 54. I move that the Board of Education Direct Maya Pearson as a representative on the city of Madison joint review board to vote in favor on the 2023 project plan amendment to tid number 54. Pennsylvania Avenue has set forth in documents prepared for the regular Board of Education meeting dated August 28 2023. second board member Muldrow discussion all right Talia your advisory vote aye all those in favor aye thank you 7-0 all right TIN number 10 from the City of Fitchburg I move that the Board of Education Direct Maya Pearson as the Board of Education representative to the Joint tax incremental Finance board to vote in support of the project plan for the amendment of

157tax incremental District Number 10 referred to as the district as set forth in the documents prepared for the regular meeting dated August 28 2023. thank you Bard member of Vander Milan for the second any discussion Talia your advisory vote hi all those in favor aye thank you all right the last tip number for tonight to number 16. also from the City of Fitchburg I move that the Board of Education Direct Maya Pearson as the Board of Education representative to the Joint tax incremental Finance board to vote in support of the project plan for the creation of tax incremental District number 16 also referred to as the district as set forth in the documents prepared for the regular meeting dated August 28 2023. thank you board member Castro any discussion Talia your advisory vote all right

158all those in favor aye thank you we have no other business I will entertain a motion to adjourn thank you all right all those in favor of a German I oh Talia your advisory vote on a journey thank you everybody else I thank you good night oh sorry I already adjourned what is that oh yeah Sanctuary space for non-binary and trans students I didn't realize I will yeah I would say it's a revolution revolution or on the basis in Denver and Denver as well I think yeah I'm glad we're gonna do that it's like a nice response I think you should read it