12/10/2024 Board of Education Meeting

001[Music] is [Music] I [Music] don't my information get back to me yeah okay that's probably the right way to do it so I see Mrs W I'm one of the I know I know all the territory I got [Music] youy yeah I gu at what AGM as I'm gonna be in California be as warm haven't you noticed that by now yes okay I'm good all right good evening I'm going to call this meeting to order would you please rise and join me in the pledge of aliance of alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you now the secretary call the rooll please Christopher he here pson here Matthew tips present ke Shaw

002here Matthew spaling har TR present Tony bastel here thank you all right thank you and we were aware in advance just so those of you attending are that Mr spaling would not be available for this evening's meeting he's got classes and of course it would be horrible for a member of the Board of Education in his classes so we support him fly okay uh next up we have public input before we go to public input I would like to read a brief statement last week the filing window for elected office for the spring 2025 elections began I understand this is an exciting time for candidates and for their supporters I want to remind all that public comment at Schoolboard meetings is not an appropriate venue for election year I found rampant abuse on both sides

003of the Diaz last year to be particularly egregious public comment at mpsd board meetings is not an open or public forum but a limited for that limit being to address matters over which the board exercises oversight or authority therefore commentary on why specific candidates should or should not be on the board is inappropriate under normal circumstance this board has no more authority over its composition than any other seven members of the electorate it is not fitting for candidates for the board to tell us why they should be elected nor is it appropriate to speak as to why they should not be does this mean that candidates may not address the board no absolutely not I presume one runs for Schoolboard because one has strong interest in the actions of this body you are free to

004speak like anyone else on matters of board oversight you are also free to include the fact of your candidacy when giving your name and your address please keep your website and your stump speeches for other Vues please respect this in the months to come one final note Please be aware that the five minute time conate you are under I also ask of anyone presenting to this board throughout any meeting which I find gratefully most succeed in doing I even follow such temporal restraints myself thank you now for requests to address the board the first we have from suan Moore she sent her comments so I'm not sure if she's planning on also providing them yes okay great you still need me to identify myself and give my address well you're address 106 C C thank

005you very much okay I would like to respond to a letter recent letter in the newspaper by John leeski and his letter John stated that we need serious people on the board I say no we need young energetic people with common sense not old retreads who are pushing an ideology that does not represent many parents and students in the community reminder Ally was not elected to run the school board I don't blame thatt spaly for using profanity sometimes ignorance from others push people beyond the ability to even find the right words to express and I would say lactating employes does that why do the new culture Warriors think we need a new vocabulary surely inclusivity isn't the reason for that term I have never encountered a lactating male these these people are nursing mothers do

006we let an outside organization tell us how to run our policies our employee handbook John said previous policies were removed because they were redundant or irrelevant why would a serious person call trying to increase reading scores Irrelevant in the fall of 2023 only 31% of students were reading at grade level after two quarters this number jumped to 41% many students had gone up more than that in one level this is not Irrelevant this is student progress I'll tell you what is irrelevant in my opinion the majority members on the current board I recommend that you members read Christopher ru F's book America's cultural revolution thank you thank you next we have Bentley henriksson hello I am Bley Henrickson and I am on the eighth grade the eighth grade Junior ship baseball team on behalf of

007the 200 student athletes in the shift baseball program I would like to thank the Board of Education finance and Facilities committee for bring for bringing the motion to the full board of education for financial support of the Improvement for our baseball field I would also like to thank the community sponsors who have already demonstrated support and to those who have expressed interest in helping us meet our facility goals it means a great deal to all the players from third grade through 12th grade our families this community are Alum alumni and many future ship baseball players to come this new facility will give us a safe place to train and allow us to develop as players in this F we take great pride in our performance and on and off the field we will be very

008prideful of our new field we are excited to participate at a facility that can service many different age levels Keep Us Safe get the training we need to continue to be competitive allow us to play and Implement weather and create lifelong members once again thank you for your dedication to helping student athletes like us play on a baseball field where we can be safe and a field we can be proud of thank you for your time and the opportunity to speak here today thank you an holson 454 Goodwin Rome I would like to take a moment to thank the board for their due diligence And discussing the critical maintenance needs for our school district at the November me your discussion demonstrated fiscal responsibility for our taxpayers ensuring that the $25 million referendum will not increase

009the tax Lev there was thoughtful discussion that differentiated needs and wants with respect to referendum verbage and light atam inclusion keeping critical maintenance as the focus of refer of the referendum assures that we are pursuing what must be maintained for a safe environment that is conducive to learning if not already I respectfully request that the board Andor building subcommittee pursue savings opportunities for the budgeted essential repairs examples could include focus on energy improvements for items such as Steam and gas windows and water system repairs that include multiple savings opportunities additionally it has been brought to my attention that hail damage to roofs rooftop roof rooftop HVAC units and air conditioners as well as vehicle damage to EC units may go unclaimed to insurance I appreciate that there is a cost benefit to insurance claims and

010request that these these opportunities be considered as appropriate thank you for putting the learning environment for our students to the Forefront and ensuring that regular critical and preventative maintenance remains a priority thank you thank you next we have Barber post other side of the room today bar post 825 Wilson Street I was here during the curriculum and instruction committee meeting last week and I was glad to see a districtwide code of conduct this ensures that all should be following the same protocol this is especially important in keeping everyone safe and on the same language interpretation not just doing what they redeem is appropriate communication and collaboration equals great building and District atmosphere and attainment I also have a question about testing is it impossible to have the testing word change I know when I work

011with kids and they had great fear I would use a different kind of language like I would say a safety check everybody has to do it so that took the fear out of them because they see their peers and the adults all doing the same thing it make can you make it more gamer friendly why because everyone gets anxious when they hear the word test you could use or friendly interesting words I just gave you an example for different grade levels my example for the upper grade level would be quality assurance check they and why do they need this with testing upper grades are mostly unresponsive because they already have testing fatigue they'll test it all the time they don't care they see it as a waste of their time I'm majority don't read the

012question thoroughly they just push the button to get it done or they don't show up at all they need to know the imperative importance of taking a test and why they are doing it not just for themselves at the time but for their future they need to know why it matters it is a life skill that we all need because we are always going through testing the season of caring and stearing is upon us now we also need positive patient kindness and empathy and all that we do make this week make this year make this the year to begin a lifetime of great Seasons all students deserve a community that lifts them up supports them and gives them hope to believe in themselves ensuring that their future endeavors will be built upon a solid foundation

013self-responsible making good Positive Choices wherever life takes them they need need to know and Conquer their fears in a positive way so they can have positive positive Community interaction when they get out into the adult world thank you for giving me time thank you uh next we have Don Zimmer here to speak on behalf of Jason johnon oh yeah sorry speak good evening members of the school board my name is Don Zimmer and I live at 1717 Fleetwood in manat um I'm here at the behest of manat Citizen Jason Johnston who prepared public input for tonight but was unavoidably unable to make this meeting so the words that I'm going to read are are are Jason Johnson's I am deeply concerned about the presence of promotional material from public from politically active special interest groups

014in our schools we all strive to create a conducive environment for our children to learn and grow however the constant intrusion and distracting presence of these politically charged chared non-educational materials pose a challenge for their focus and commitment to learning this is not simply a matter of unwanted distractions but a deep-seated conflict of interest within our educational system there are clear and proven instances of these special interest groups launching personal and political attacks on school board members their by creating an objectively uncomfortable environment in the workplace Public School classrooms need to be havens of Education not Battlegrounds for political and personal conflicts the presence of such materials not only negatively impacts the learning capabilities of our children but it also undermines the authority and integrity of the school board The Faculty excuse me and parents

015alike for our children to thrive and learn free from non necessitated distractions it is crucial that we remove all promotional material from politically active special interest groups in the manitok public school district I have developed a petition that I hope you will sign uh to support my cause the petition can be found on change .org and once you're there you can go to uh you can search for eliminate politically active special interest group promotions in manitok public schools that's the petition and I urge you to sign that petition sign it and support the cause help create a healthy professional and distraction free environment in our schools for the sake of our children's future and the communities they will inevitably inherit thank you for your attention thank you and Bren Meyer hi I'm Brian Meer I'm

016the vice chair of the Mano County chapter of moms for Liberty our chapter encouraged anyone who has witnessed anything going on in the school district that they think should not be going on to let us know and we would tell the community without reviewing their identity since then we have discovered photos of what is occurring inside the high school which is possibly occurring inside other schools as well these citizens don't want to deal with the pythons of society so I come speaking for the silent majority what these pictures showed are a teacher wearing shoes with the pride FL gun two library books one being the lgbtq plus history book and the other titled glbt he and Society classrooms with a pride flag on display and classroom doors with Ally stickers on on one of those

017pictures came from the mat Lincoln High School Facebook page another picture showed a magnet which has been seen in multiple classrooms that says love respect Freedom tolerance equality Pride with each word under a different shade of a rainbow what does all this really mean it means accept the lgbtq agenda or get recommended not all students are okay with this ideological agenda being pushed onto them if you keep this material in the schools you have set a president for materials from any organization to go in and put their materials in front of if you're going to have Ally stickers in classrooms then you will need moms from liity stickers right next to every sticker If you're going to have pride flages in the classrooms you will need some blue lives matter and blue stripe flages next

018to them if you're going to have brochures for nonprofits focused on our schools on the table when you walk in this room then you must be okay monster delivery brochures are put there as well what goes one way goes the other since there are Ally stickers in and around cfts that brings up one question does this mean nps's beliefs are the same as allies I hope the npsd doesn't value hate cyber bullying harassment targeting grooming cult-like Behavior anti-p parental rights using gender identity wording to force men in women's private spaces and sports want to censor student citizens and political opponents who you disagree with sexually explicit books in school libraries divisive Dei affirmative action social emotional learning kicking the can down the road of various needs changing policy to allow men to fake breastfeed their

019babies and more negative values like Ali does our community members parents students teachers administrators and staff who are not affiliated with the selectus haate group not allowed to be represented the process of reing back to the pre 2022 administrations filled with left-wing politics began after the school board starting impacted with former full-time teachers and administrators an idea I reject that they're the only people qualified to serve it is time to remove the politics from our schools and get back to educating our students thank you thank you at that exhaust the submitted request is there anybody else no one want going twice sold we will move on from thank you to all of you provided some next we move on to the consent agenda you have the consent agenda before you if there's anything that you

020would like remove from the consent agenda I will take your requests after acknowledging that I am pulling the technical corrections to policies and it was a request from Mr spalon who could not be here this evening so we'll remove that cover it later anything else anyone would like to have removed yes sir number two number two under a yes executive committee meetings yep that's okay anything else anything else I I would request that the minutes from the uh fifth facilities and finance committee meeting reflect that I was not there they indicate that I was and I was not so I would ask that that be fixed but I'm not going to I'm not going to pull it just to get that uh editorial clarification in that which one was it that's the 125 finance and

021Facilities committee meeting so if we just get that corrected I don't see a reason to pull that just to know that that would be corrected just a clarification okay anything else then I would look for a motion to accept or approve the consent agenda have a motion from Mr fips and a second from Mr Shaw all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed say nay hearing none that's accepted unanimously with the setting aside of A2 and G so we take those up immediately as I recall right so a two is the executive committee meeting minutes and you ask those before pull TI sir yeah I wanted to talk to uh them a little bit because it's kind of important uh I I just want to thank everybody for being here tonight uh the

022reason why I pulled the executive committee meeting minutes was because obviously it was about the superintendent search that'll be coming up pretty soon here and uh throughout the process I'm going to be coming from a common sense perspective they had a meeting at about 10 a.m. um I believe the date it's not really important it was during the week uh I was at work obviously uh working family had to be at work I could not be at the meeting I'm not on the executive committee however uh that meeting was at 10: a.m. during the week um and what they had spoke about is how they would like to do the superintendent search coming up uh here really quickly uh we had had to go through this in the past and the previous time uh it

023was very Democratic we had all board members uh Carrie was here at the time and we would do that process all together as a elected officials and we interviewed candidates and we voted on it and we had a lot of great discussion um and we came to a resolution on a complete vote of of confidence who we we ended up hiring at the time however this conversation in executive meeting uh there was a motion made to have uh board member tras made the motion that executive committee of the board will assume the responsibility of conducting the search so what that means ladies and gentlemen is that ask them the four members that are in power that we've just proven that they just would like to use their power to do a superintendent search will execute

024that power without three board members that are elected to the board having a voice at the table that day or that meeting or that interview at that time they did say that there's going to be obviously more committee members uh from the community involved um however that process will be done through the executive committee not through a a board as a whole and and that that to me it just doesn't make Common Sense I've heard a lot of public input that was great tonight but I'm just coming from a common sense perspective that that seems like hypocracy to me that seems like a tyrannical government that's being ran by four people and not the full board so my question is I I don't understand how you guys voted on that and we haven't talked about

025it at all since I'm bringing it up right now and and it's con concerns me because I'm just trying to speak for the community members that elected me and and if we want truth of what's going on running a School Board of almost $100 million by four people doesn't seem very d uh Democratic to me so that's my concerns and I thank everybody for listening to me at the time and I hope you tell some people to listen online or come to the meetings because that's the only way we're going to get involved in any change anything in a positive manner so that's my comments no because normally at this point you would then make a motion to accept the minutes or you could make a motion to reject the mes you make any motion

026you want but you ask for it to be told so I would like to make a motion that I don't accept the minutes okay so a motion to not accept the minutes do you have a second I'll second it I'll second thank you okay you're the second so feel free all I would just like to kind of clarify you know it was a discussion uh there were some votes the the the the passage you referred to that the board would run the whole two separate passages but we'll talk okay two separate passages the board would run the whole thing that just pertained to the administrative the administrative stuff that we talked about having a you know hiring a search for uh there wasn't full agreement on that or we talked about you know um getting

027a secretary and spending you know and set setting up setting up you know a a a work assignment that you know when when stuff comes in people have to people that people that apply got to responded to right away and there's a fair amount of hustle and clerical stuff and all that sort of thing but I think the I think the idea which I think we still want to discuss um in that in that case was that that the board the the executive committee essentially would handle handle the busy work not just handle the whole thing I mean I don't think there was any I mean honestly unless I had eaten a mushroom or something I had no idea that you know that was even implied or thought about or suggested when you're ready I'll

028read I'll just read it was during the work day 10 a.m. I'm just reading the minutes a motion was made by Mr tras at the executive committee board will assume the responsibility of conducting the superintendent search process board member Shaw seconded the motion it carried 30 see the process is the key word yes there key word and I can understand why it could be misconstrued and misunderstood but I think we need to we need to clarify that the meeting in the minutes and the other thing is is that it was a preliminary discussion which will you know the recommendation will come from the executive committee to the full board as to what you know what what the pleasure of the board is on this so then my last question would be how did that meeting

029go today because it was scheduled that you'd have a meeting today we didn't have it I know you can I didn't well it was canel so I can okay so we didn't have another meeting about to thank you for you know I couldn't make it today either but it was canceled so obviously I'm in a little bit of limbo here yeah I don't think you're the only one in a little bit of limbo um the process that that was discussed and voted on is that the executive committee was going to discuss many many options and bring it back to the full board in a full discussion before anything was ever decided upon there were many options at that committee by the three of us that we're thrown out do we get a search committee do

030we not get a search committee do we try to handle internally do we not try to handle it internally do we use WB for a search agent so many things were talked about it and the minutes you're probably right to correct did not reflect the fact that we that committee was to bring back to this entire board all sorts of options available to to look for the superintendent to do superintendent search so you're right in bringing that up could I make a an excuse me sorry yeah thank you you're right in bringing that up but we did have a process to bring that back to the full board for communication nothing was established vot yeah there was there was no criteria at all except there were solutions to be brought to you guys to vote

031on the process that was my understanding of the word process so could I make an amendment to the minutes then saying that it's uh going to be a Committee of the whole well you cannot make any sort of amendment to if I'm misreading it you cannot make any sort of amendment to minutes that you have voted to reject yeah it would be absurd for you to amend them and then reject the amendment that you put in them we take so when we get to approving them you can you can say that but I would say if you would allow me to interject for just a second here I appreciate your patience sir um I would say that that exact word process is really the key word in that statement because our meaning of process was

032what are some of the things that need to be done where will we send them so they then come to the full board for approval for example in that process looking at the job description of the superintendent and the pay range of the superintendent it was requested at that meeting be forwarded to personnel and policy to take a look at and then come to the full board for approval there was never any intent that the the executive committee and the video should be out there you can see it there was never any intent that the that the executive committee would decide things by Fiat and just go forward I understand your concerns but it's as long as there's an amendment after this gets voted on that and thank you for your patience of course I

033just like to add that I I did have a Community member reached out to me asking about the recording and then I found out that that meeting wasn't recorded So I'm not sure exactly why it wasn't recorded but you know just to Matt's point the Optics aren't great so we should really do a better job as a a board making sure that we we get everything cleaned up there I'd also like to stress the importance of the urgency in this I think that we should be you know moving more proactively on that surch and I say that you know just based off the last time we did this my understanding was that you know the earlier we start the process the earlier that we can get the best candidates and if we delay too long

034it could position us to where we might potentially miss out on good candidates so I would urge my peers on the board that we take this matter with urgency and sorry having Ben at the meeting I I didn't come out with the idea that the executive committee was going to do everything um I heard some explanation on how they might want to do it having left that meeting I have concerns kind like Tony is saying that that we need to get going on this and and and my concern is even though there are well-meaning people sitting around this table we need we may need that Professional Organization that does this that finds candidates that head hunts people to bring them in rather than if we just start advertising are we going to get the best

035candidates out there so there are those organizations wasby uh C7 I think do it there's other organizations that go a lot of that that will go out and find people that are a good match for here but then in that process the idea of the Committees community members faculty um probably students um getting together and then being part of that interview process but but I didn't feel that what happened that day um was the end and this is what we were going to do I felt that this discussion was there to have a good discussion this what you know what path do we take my concern now is as as Tony expressed that we got to get going we got to get moving on this and and who's how what's the best process to do

036that that's the next discussion we have to have and get going on Mr not not at all Germaine to the motion to reject am minutes but okay so it's yours thank you I just want to clarify because I'm reading motions and and seconds and then votes so I I don't want to convolute it with with the votes because there was one motion made to accept the executive committee making the decisions for the search and then the second motion I will read to everyone now board member tras made a motion to accept the steps as outlined and discussed in the ex executive committee meeting seconded by ke so that's a separate motion and that's why I'm saying there's the process in one and then you're saying there's a process and the second one it seems pretty

037repeated that we have two separate motions saying the same thing and I'm saying it's not saying the same thing I'm saying one of them saying the executive committee is doing the pro doing the the work completely and the other one is saying the process that they talked about about the pay and about the the search that's another motion so that's how I'm reading the minutes and that's why I rejecting thank you yeah I just I just want to say like any other committee it's simply a a recommending body that that the intentions were you know to bring it to the whole board getting what we thought about in terms of what steps need to be taken who needs to be involved etc etc we were simply we were simply preparing a recommendation it wasn't a

038power grab I mean was nobody nobody nobody nobody was was was thinking those ter well that's hows to I'm sorry I understand you are expressing your feelings that way okay sure correct me if I'm wrong but that that committee's only got three members on it y That's right so anything that committee even if the committee approv they still have to come to the full board correct yeah yeah right exactly as was said at that right and I'm sorry we not aware the recording didn't go we actually arranged ourselves so everybody would be on camera it was recorded there was no sound oh reason we can mine it or hire somebody okay any other discussion on the motion to reject the minutes my only comment would be the vote to reject is based upon the fact

039that there is a feeling that the minutes accurately reflected what happened at the meeting the irony of that statement I will leave for you to ponder on your own all those in favor of rejecting the minute signify by saying I I oppose say nay nay so the eyes raise your hands so you eyes raise your hands I reject only one oh two to reject for not to reject okay I will make a motion to amend accept accept you can make a motion to amend till you make a motion to accept I will make a motion to accept the minutes please somebody second thank you sir now are there any emotions to amend these minutes I would make a motion to amend the minutes to reflect that the committee of a whole will make the decision

040process for the next superintendent of man Public School District that would not be an amendment to the minutes that would be a completely separate motion that's what see but that that's the entailment of it because that's what they're trying to that's what is said that is the heart of the meaning of what was passed and I'm just articulating it in a more more pointed way actually it was uh all right here let me I don't know if this is what you want because I am not PR to what you really want what I will tell you is appropriate here would be to make a motion to amend the minutes to reflect that all final action will come to the full board because that is what was said at the meeting at no way at the

041meeting was it said everything will come to Committee of the whole which is what you're asking there is no Committee of Theo so that would be an appropriate any you can you can move whatever you want I'm just saying it it doesn't reflect discussed at the move at minutes and we can't I won't vote to approve minutes that include things that are palpably false yes with the committee system anything that comes out of a committee has to come to the general body so so what you're asking is going to happen anyway any decision they make has to come to the rest of us yeah so there's no reason to include that that's part of the the committee system yeah that's that's our only committee that's got three people so no no all committees have just

042got three people we have four a lot of them right yes yes well the the the the president is a voting de facto member of every committee so that's what I'm saying we have that issue of like people signing it there yeah but but also by our bylaws committees do not have authority to act they only had the authority to recommend to the full board my purpose was just to explain to the voters what's I believe it's happening so yeah okay and I hear what Matt's coming from I think just the Optics weren't great but you know rest assured that every it'll come to the full board for any action yeah the way I read it obviously it thought that yes the final decision will come to the whole board however finar down of the

043candidates which I think is actually the most important will not be done so I'm just concerned about is that what it says or that I'm I'm just reading the Motions it says that the executive committee of the board will assume the responsibility of conducting the superintendent search process that's I'm just reading what that and what that means to me is entailed because I've already went through this I kind of know how that's how I that's how I interpret I think that's a valid point you know if you phrase it that way maybe just clarifying that no one no candidates will be eliminated you know before brought of the entire board if we put a recommended before that it would it would it would uh you know it would satisfy the the objection it seems to

044me but the objections are not relevant to the minutes before you yeah that's right objections are something completely different and something that has already been explained is not going to happen and I'm just confused by everything if we advertise and you brought it up so I'm going to address it okay if we advertise this position and we get 40 applicants 40 applicants are not coming before this full board they're they're just not going to there will be a search group that the board will have an ability to be part of but you can't in a public meeting go through 40 applicants and winnow them down it's just not reasonable but every step will be presented to the board to approve or argue over which I assume we're going to do because we're actually arguing over

045minutes at this point well maybe the minutes could have been better then I guess I think that could have avoided a lot of brain damage right now but I think we're through I suffered a severe amount of brain damage just being in the me and those who were there saw the word still that is hanging up in my estimation is the process the three the members of the executive committee discussed lots of things to finalize a process will come to the full board it isn't going to be a mandate from an executive committee executive committee discussed all sorts of things I've been on four superintendent search everyone is done differently so all of those processes would be brought to the full board in a process that was discussed in our committee so that's why I

046supported if this is not understandable then the minutes can be rejected and retooled thank you that's all I ask for so so that's where we're at it's the three members of the executive committee have no we don't rule anything except to bring to the board some ideas and some suggestions as to what might the process look like there's lots of processes you guys you went through one for every one process there's three other ones sitting out there that Community School District have used the process needs to be talked about I'm all in favor of that the three of us cannot make that decision we can't say this is is what's going to happen it has to come to the board at this point question okay and what are we voting on just so that I

047know I'm asking the separ we already we already voted against we already voted rection so now we have call the question so well he made a motion this is where the minutes get yes he made a motion to add to the minutes that Committee of the whole it didn't get second yeah and then you I don't know if there was a second you you made a to accept yeah have a motion to accept the an amendment right I don't know if your Amendment got a second okay so the amendment didn't get a second so we're back to the motion to accept the minutes accept approve recognize legally you have no obligation to accept any minutes read your Robert R of order it's right in there can I just can I just clarify for a minute

048so I have this because this is where things are confusing so Matt made a motion to amend the minutes but he didn't say amend them how I did but they said I couldn't do yeah it was to amend them that Committee of the whole everything would come before Committee of the whole but he did not get a second on that motion okay yeah so we're back to the motion to accept recognize enshrine amend enshrine is just a joke please please go ahead get out there on the Twitter verse can we vote on this just please all those in favor say I I oppos say no no how many n do we have we have three ma we have three eyes the men not accepted because okay it just doesn't work that way and we move

049on that was because it's I think it was 646 and I'd like to get past the consent however also pulled from the consent agenda was technical correction to policies this um was a request that I thought was perfectly reasonable and the request was to refer the technical corrections to policies to the next meeting of the policy and Personnel committee and I will make that motion uh on behalf Mr Spalding and not myself I'll second I'll second doesn't matter fight for the second okay uh I'm not going to speak to it I just did just well I was not sure how this got on the agenda since we didn't have a meeting and we didn't forward anything to the agenda so that was a concern then I got the email from um from thatt um my

050thought was do we need to change it because Michael needs to be the official person on these policies um but talking with the the superintendent he said that it's not something that has to be done tonight so I would ask if we pull it sen it to policy and personnel and then Matt can speak to it at committeee yeah and and I would say I was not troubled to see this on the agenda because officially we have empowered our administrator to make technical changes to policies that do not affect the actual policy itself technical erections are free to be made without even coming to the board which is why I wasn't worried about it but if a member wants us to take a look at it in that committee that's why I was happy to

051move that for him or even for myself there's always time to take another look verbatim and the policy in the control of the superintendent he can do that at any time yeah thank you thank you for okay so all those in favor say I I oppose say nay hearing none those will be forwarded to the next meeting of the personel policy committee which hopefully we'll find something out about later okay moving on to our student Representatives RI for um so just a couple updates on all the fun things happening at Lincoln um so our girls and boys basketball teams hold winning records right now our gy gymnastics team started their season last weekend and they're hosting a meet on the 15th at Lincoln at 11:00 a.m. the dance team has gone to two competitions showcasing

052their routines uh boys swim hockey and wrestling are also off to a great start wrestling having multiple people make the podium at their last match then our leadership class has been hosting quite a few events so far this year we've had a cornhole tournament a p volleyball tournament and we are continuing to produce newscasts for our school and the broader Community leadership classes continuing to host events and also working with students across the district at multiple different schools at different levels and then our student Senate is actually hosting a blood drive this Friday um we've already filled all of our spots which we've never done that quickly before so was a big accomplishment for us and then tomorrow is actually the freshman orientation for the class of 2029 um so current students from leadership class

053NHS and different clubs and sports will all be there helping out as we welcome the incoming freshman and then just a quick recap of the last student Senate School Board committee meeting we met with Chris AEL beanson and ke Shaw we discussed the progress on all the building repairs highlighting some of the needs that Lincoln students were seeing at Lincoln we also discussed um middle schools and what their schedule looks like like and if there's any way we can get them to have more electives in the future and we spoke about um how to get the community to see all these great things that I'm talking about and get more people to come to our district by highlighting it and continuing to work on that so yeah that's all I have today thank you 2029

054yeah yeah you're supposed to have flying cars by then now I would just ask the board make sure you are filling in the the sheet on Sign Up Genius because what we don't want is enough people that compels us to do a bad key notice which is a notice when enough members of a body are going to be at a meeting to comprise a uh majority even though they don't intend to indu conduct any business you have to notice that they will be together so that's why I ask you all to fill that out not to skip doing that so that we can make sure we follow all the rules are committee meetings for anyone attending in the future will not be in the office conference room they'll be in the library meeting room from

055now on through the rest of the year so next time you come to a meeting we will show you where they are but just so you don't go to the wrong place and I know we have two of you signed up for isn't that tomorrow next next Tuesday Tuesday all right so thank you for those of you who signed up all right now we turn to the report of the superintendent which begins with the superintendent report I noticed this thank you um few things I just want to highlight from my written report um I had the distinct honor of attending um really a banquet uh to honor one of our employees a fifth grade teacher at Madison uh Crystal gy was honored as being nominated as uh one of the future 15 um that's put

056through the chamber um and I just wanted to extend on behalf of the district our heartfelt congratulations to her um she is in incredible young woman who is uh not only a great teacher but is very involved in our community and a passion for foster uh foster care uh and uh we're just so very proud to have one of our very own be recognized and we wish her the very best as she uh moves on to the finalist they'll announce uh the future 15 winner um at the chambers Awards in February uh which we're very excited for her um a brief update on facilities as you're aware the board uh did vote affirmatively to proceed with preparing a resolution for a January meeting uh that would place a refer referendum question on the ballot to

057seek support for borrowing $25 million to address critical maintenance needs in the district um Ken will be collaborating with corals to draft the resolution and have that before you um uh next month um um this past Friday I sent out a communication to our entire District staff uh soliciting for um staff members to join or volunteer to be part of our facilities advisory committee made up of uh staff members of the mpsd uh we will be sending out a press release in community notice uh at the end of this week to solicit volunteers for a our community-based facilities Advisory Group um at the meeting that we had in October at Washington Middle School um generated interest from the public I already have about 10 people signed up as interested parties uh to join that work

058as well uh We've set a meeting schedule for those meetings so people will know what they're signing up for um they will be monthly meetings uh beginning in January in addition to that we've met with people from school perceptions uh to take a look at doing a CommunityWide survey uh to to address the uh long-term facility questions of the district in terms of um addressing and getting and seeking Insight from our public uh around the challenges we Face involving declining enrollment uh as well as our aged facilities in the district um another thing that I'd like to highlight is that um and I did uh send this out as part of a districtwide communication on Friday as well um looking at Staffing for the 25 26 school year um one of the most important things

059we do uh in the district in terms of budgeting and forecasting for that budget um is really plan out Staffing um it makes up nearly 80% of our budget and if you'll recall um this past budget cycle um it was tight um and I provided the board in this report uh with some data that would show our student to teacher ratios uh for about the last 10 years or so um and what it would show is that um our student to teacher ratio currently is 10.79 per one and this is all professional staff it's not like we have 10 kids in a class But it includes all professional staff um whereas preco numbers in the district averaged around 14 to1 uh We've also looked at comparable data to other districts our size and we would

060find that we are in the really we're in the top eighth of of of this and so because makes up that much of our budget it's highly critical for us to get a very clear picture of where we are at with Staffing so that we can do uh the fiscally responsible thing and make sure that our staffing mirrors our enrollment as everyone well knows we are experiencing declining enrollment as our many districts in the state of Wisconsin and we want to do our due diligence to make sure that we're looking at all of the facts and all the numbers at each level in addition to that synopsis I included a detailed plan to review Staffing levels uh to prepare for next year's budget um these are included in the report it's a six step process

061um one of the things I want to make very clear to people in the district not only who work for the district but also our community members is that we are going to make sure that uh as we have conversations about possibly needing to reduce staff in the district uh we'll be very transparent open and have meetings I planning to visit uh buildings uh in January to have staff meetings to share the data that we're finding and the audit that we will do if anybody's interested in this I believe it's a six-step process that's pretty laid out in what we're going to do um please see the attached uh document in my in my report um we're excited uh just to to to look ahead a little bit um in January we'll be bringing a

062proposal to the policy and Personnel committee uh that aims to expand our elementary Sports programs to all our elementary schools to have additional opportunities for our kids we firmly believe that engaging students in sports at an early age Fosters a sense of belonging to their schools it is a factor that research consistently links to higher levels of student achievement additionally introducing Sports to more students at a younger age has the potential to strengthen participation and in intercol clastic Athletics at the high school level by broadening access and encouraging greater participation we also anticipate that this initiative will enhance our overall competitiveness in all of our athletic programs in the district for years to come we look forward to sharing more details with you on that uh we also will be featured in in a story

063that nbc26 is doing we'll be recording that tomorrow um Mr Dietrich as well as a parent representative uh and myself will be interviewed uh to highlight this proposal as we move it forward lastly I'd like to also celebrate the fact that the manitok public school district was honored by being nominated the 2024 business of the year uh by the Chamber of Commerce uh we will be accepting that nomination uh that will be celebrated on Thursday February 13 2025 at the Capitol Civic Center uh where the district will be up for that award I just encourage any board members you are certainly invited to attend that uh if you let Lori know uh to reserve a spot for you uh we'll plan on being there as a team to um accept the nomination and hope for

064the best at this time I would take any questions comments or concerns thanks Lee uh for putting this together I'm looking at that uh that Staffing yeah somewh you put together and if I read that draft right it looked like we want to optimize for about 12 12 on that student to yeah and I'm just curious you know looking at the historic data it looks like we were at one point as high is 15 U I'm not saying that's the right number but uh what are your what are your thoughts on 12 and you know just knowing that those are going to be significant percentages right that's like yeah yeah so the thought with 12 was we didn't want to go from 10.7 to 14 or 15 to one in one year um we want

065to attract and retain the best employees in in our Educational Learning Community and one thing that I'm saying in this document as part of the process is really try to try as best we can to work on any type of reductions being done uh through natural attrition like retirements and resignations and folks who choose to go work in other areas um that may be a little bit so the it's not as challenging in the in the elementary and middle levels with certifications to find positions for people who may be displaced however at the high school level it is a little bit of a concern uh because people are specialized in licensing so I used the example of and I'm not picking on I'm going to say a department just for an example purposes but let's

066just say for an example that a family and consumer science was reduced in some way um people who are teaching family and consumer science have a family and consumer science license it's not like they're teaching first grade where we say oh you taught first grade at Madison you can now teach first grade at Jefferson or third grade at Monroe uh it just is a little more sensitive so to get to the point your 12 to one gets us to a point where we're believing that we have um made progress in getting our selves back to the Staffing ratios uh that we making a step towards being at the Staffing ratios that we probably should be at in a frag you know a moderate approach to getting there as opposed to um trying to get to

06715 to one in one year and so am I thinking about this the right way if that's about 80% of our budget that's about $80 million and if we can save about 10% on Staffing would that would it be safe to assume around $8 million wallpark would be the savings we're going to um in Step One of that process um Ken is currently working on running numbers on that so by next month My Hope in the in the update of this to you we'll be letting you know exactly what FTE equals how much money uh so that You' get a very clear picture as to what we would be looking at in terms of a target of 12 to1 and what that would mean in dollars and in positions yeah I like we just don't

068have it yet gotch you I like the track and you know I think there's certainly areas that we could reallocate but that you know those budget dollars right to stuff that we talked about before like the the ongoing maintenance of our facilities for example getting them more sustainable track than what we've had so I think it's an important conversation and uh you know I think it's something we got to look at closely and thank you for bringing attention to it staing included Administration oh we will have numbers for you comparing all of our groups uh support staff professional staff this happens to be professional staff uh this these this ratio is professional staff only but we're going to collect data around all those areas to compare where we're at the other thing I will be

069able to provide for you is um taking a look at how we compare to districts our size in terms of Staffing and in the different areas as well and and and and as I've said before to others you know we don't I never want to see us on this end of it or this end of it you know getting somewhere in the middle of what is current best practice and averages in the district um is is our goal thank you yeah yes sir um thank you Mr tennis for your report uh I believe it's very transparent and uh very proactive approach to understanding where we need to get to uh to meet the needs of our students and our staff so I just want to say thank you for that information and how you articulated

070it it's it's hard to talk about that that stuff at times and I appreciate you being proactive and talking loud and transparent about it I think it's important to note too and and and I think this should be a priority in my opinion of the board is as we're looking to seek investment into our school facilities it's going to be quite important for us to show that we're very serious about taking care of those Investments uh which is why another thing that we've projected out into future budgets is increasing the amount that we spend year on our annual maintenance we found out through the process of our C uh 10 study that our district is spending far less than what the experts say we should be on the facilities that we we have and so

071Mr fips I think for us it's it's it's showing our public that we want to make sure that we're being fiscally responsible with all of our assets especially when we're going to be asking them in the future years to look at investing into our agent facilities making sure that we have the best facilities possible for educating our kids thank you yeah I'm all yep the director all right and there is the director's report if anybody has questions for directors all right good director's report I enjoy yeah all right unfinished business we have none so on to new business first up is the proposed 2025 26 District calendar here good evening everyone um to the 2526 District calendar just a few things I want to bring to your ition which I had in the memo on

072theard but um historically in man we've had 175 student contact days we've had 185.5 teacher contract days um we had nine stack development days we had five days for new teacher week we had a week long spring break uh in most recently we would out in a variety of years and you most recently we've had the Martin Luther King holiday there's no classes no session um and basically we kindy to balance the quarter so we don't have 50 student top Tech days in one and 40 the other we've pretty much done that now with all that being said I received a couple emails today relative to staff and I want to bring I'm just going to bring forward exactly what their concerns were and um I think their major concern basically is is that for

073the second second year in a row we're going to the second week in June okay now let me tell you the why behind that okay so we could we could we could finish earlier one week earlier if we didn't have a spring break I don't according to and let me tell you this that's a simple answer according to uh the executive team and the committee that I pulled together of of teachers and administrators that was a no goal don't go there uh we couldn't move staff development days from the calendar we have five in there we could move at least three or four to the beginning of the year then maybe have seven or eight right packed at the beginning year that was not advisable either our our winter break next year is a two

074week winter break many years it's maybe a week and a half we have a couple of two or three student contact days there we have zero student contact days for that whole two weeks next year in addition you're all I think you're all aware of this but we cannot start student contact days prior to September 1st so we're starting with September 1 rolling out 175 180 175 student contact days at 1855 dot do do um so it becomes uh virtually possible to make that move unless we do it one of those one of those avenues that I just mentioned so something else I did today was I went back to the calendars from from 201718 through today and it was very interesting the sequence kind of went like this three years in a row school

075was out the first week of June the next two the second week of June the next three the first week of June the next two right now the second week is year so it just seems like it depending on you know all the Christmas break Falls and few of those other pieces um it's just it's just where it's falling so so that's that's kind of where that said um we have one inment weather day in in the calendar and in these two these couple Communications that I had today uh I I want to make sure that I clarify for the board the commun that are here tonight and whoever's watching is that last year we had two incate weather days we made up one for the calendar and the board wave the other makeup one

076so just so that there's total Clarity on that topic because both both the people that emailed me did not have that clear in their minds all right that type of thing so um so that's kind of where it's at Rel to the calendar questions M um I think two of the letters that that you got and I got uh made the assertion that we have more more teacher contact days than other than than other districts around here is that true or not you know what I'm not sure whether we so for example you might have a school district that has 180 teacher contract days contract days contract days yeah um maybe so uh maybe what's what's the requirement what's GPI what do they say we have to do teacher contract days there is no requirement

077there is teacher student student contact days there is no requirement however this is this is where it's at BPI has a minimum number of hours of instruction for for elementary middle school and high school okay we meet that minimum we actually have a few excess hours in there but remember that's how we waved that in weather day last year was because we had some ex excess hours in there okay we have to maintain those some of those excess hours does that make sense but we could go 8 to six yeah we could it's a joke yeah people be at my house my thank you I think all of those board members have gotten some communication from staff members and parents is there any possible way briefly what you just explained to us could go to

078a little memo to all the staff members saying that's why the calendar looks the way it is not great deal of specificity but at least an idea so that that's why it looks the way it is I I can work on I can work on a communication just so they can answer parent questions they can answer teacher questions they can answer kid questions um because that was perfect right the the two the two teachers that emailed me I've asked I what I really wanted to do was sit down and have this conversation with them because it's kind of must me difficult to put an email let me work on a communic I think a massive communication will save you5 emails a or maybe more than world did did Mr N I apologize did the group

079that worked on this administrators and and employees did was there any looking at the winter break because that winter break we we have gone as far out as December 23rd and literally started the break on the afternoon of the 23rd um and sometimes actually having the whole 23rd as I recall um actually as as a teaching day to try to cut some off of what's happening in June was there any looking at that or no yes abely correct that was one of the options that was put out there to look at and the committee just didn't want to go there and and was there was there any Outreach to the um the union to show them this is what we're looking oh yeah okay yeah thank you four of the committee members were from the

080me okay thank you thank you okay yes sir um thank you for your efforts Mr n for the whole process I know it seems like you have to be a wizard and formulate a calendar out of this um I'm a messenger in this situation here what I want to articulate is how the macro plan the macro problem of how we assume that we're seeing these Fridays we have 10 of them that are no contact with the students um meaning uh when parents are in routines with their children and then not having a Friday H contact day at school Mondays become very very difficult because we do have a 5day work weed I believe in America yet but that's what I'm the macro problem is kind of being told to me that we need to have

081our children at instruction on Fridays as well because we're losing the routine with uh with the Mondays when we have those four day work four days uh work week and then have a long weekend it's just uh that's what's been articulated to me that Fridays just are kind of becoming a u a wof not have school and then we kind of lose that routine and and obviously um I like Fridays off as well however um I don't think I would have been as driven uh in athletics or in the workforce or in my life if I just took every Friday off and and uh you know so I'm not saying it's it's like a really really big problem I'm saying that we have 10 of them off could we somehow maybe look at the lens

082of trying to keep the Fridays in the schedule for class contact with students having the routine um in school learning yeah you said we have 10 yeah I counted July 4th is on a Friday so I understand July 4th July 4 July I counted six mat um my quick count was there's two in November there's one in January one in February one in March and that's it right is six now what we try to do is we try to take the STA development days there's five of them five six of them five six of them three are on Monday three are on Friday so we tried to split that up that type of thing to and then we have the two the two non school days of November 14th and February 13th the reason those

083are in there is because um elementary schools have parent teacher conferences I think Middle School I can't Elementry for sure and they start at like 8:00 a.m. and they drove till like 700 p.m. straight through so it's just a long day that's been historically traditional in man to have that Friday off just so you're aware why the why behind what's happening there so November you you said you had two I have three well one is uh Thanksgiving Friday right that's why I'm I'm trying to I understand that it's hard I'm saying IDE the thinking that we need to have school on Fridays is what is what's been articulated to me and then the routine with the families with students with disabilities Mondays are even harder when we don't have class on Fridays so that's just

084the I'm just the messenger like I said and I'm trying to articulate that thank you any other questions for Mr n failing to see any I will move that we approve the proposed 2025 2026 school year District calendar I second thank you I'm not going to speak to my motion I think it's been spoken any other discussion okay all those in favor signify by saying I oppose say no hearing none that is approved as recommended okay next up we have a double report out from Mr Shaw for two finance and facil meetings thank you um the first one um the no thank you BS came out of facilities committee on uh the 21st November 21st this is a program that was established or is being established by our food service program Amanda Estel and it's

085called No thank you Ben um she presented a a tremendous presentation to the to the finance and Facilities committee what this will do is take the food that the students because we have a federal lunch program Mand mandated things that have to go on this lunch um a bin available for the students that don't want that specific item like apples or crackers or cookies or whatever they may be can put it into this bin it will go to a spot in the central office in the uh building each building and the student that wants a snack on the way home can go by that that no thank you bin pick it up eat it enjoy it on the way home or do a lunch whatever is possible rather than dumping it into a waste basket

086so that program we thought was pretty unique pretty successful sounding um the motion was made by Matt fips and seconded by Tony valisha and unanimously car to present to the board for approval so are you moving that I move that we accept the proposal okay I'll second that motion any discussion by the board I'm just excited to see how this gets rolled out and uh excited to hear a report after it gets presented any challenges or modifications that need to be done we can work through those but I'm excited I was just amazed at how much paper there was to do this you know I mean it's it's a it's a belong kind of policy statement that I thought oh why don't they just put a table out put the apples on it but you

087know that's me anyone else all right then all those in favor signify by saying I I and opposed signify by saying nay hearing none that passes unanimously and that is a required step so that we can do this all right the second item I have was on the facilities committee from the December 5th meeting um at that at that meeting um it was it was asked to have again a presentation by Andy comell coach Bruce Stein Breer and coach Todd Hadler if they would come to the finance committee and talk about the uh actual donations the actual Baseball Field Complex update the fundraising and all of the intricacies that go into making this project work for the district um Mr conle shared that there were a list of 80 donors um some tremendous involvement by

088our community um some people who have already donated uh their interest in time in in monetary aspects um the potential donor is list is is growing as a commitment is growing from from people in the district that want to see this complex take place um the initial complex would be to Turf the infield and the Outfield and replace the back stop um and those are just a few things to go that would that would take place in this this development um it was also discussed that the turfield would potentially triple the youth for our almost 300 student athletes which is a phenomenal outcry of support for our baseball program and the success that our baseball program has had U the committee or the the presenters also discussed that that when it came down to that

089field that the mpsd athletes would have priority but yet it could still be used for many many community activities so it would the motion was made by Tony bastelica was that better this time sorry um for the fpsd and seconded by Matt fips to to take $900,000 from fund balance that question was raised to Mr micheller and Mr micheller indicated that that fund is available and that the the funds are available in that that fund to support this project and the motion passed three to nothing the uh from the committee so I'm making a motion to approve the borrowing of 900 the use of $900,000 from fund balance to support the baseball project second any discussion i i i my understanding is that the property has now been signed over from the city to District

090um my only question is um what process is in place to make sure we're checking with the DNR since it's Zone conservancy and I see there's cement in this plan and if you have Conservancy land my understanding is astro turf doesn't mess with a Conservancy rating but cement pavement does so through I can speak for this I did receive a phone call today uh that I got a message for that I get a chance to return from Mr Niche over at the city um the DNR has signed off on this uh now and that the they a't fully expect the deed to be filed by the end of the month um so all of the things we were waiting on in terms of you know approvals have been met okay but we still have to

091go to the DNR since it's Conservancy if we're Paving anywhere to make sure that's okay unless it's an area that's already paved like because I will keep that keep that in mind as we're talking with the contractors yeah yeah normally the guys that do this they know all the rules once they know how it's Zone they they take care of that all right yeah personally I'm not troubled about using fund balance because I do not believe it is the job of a district to tax people and then sit on the money I'm happier to see it done that way I much more concerned with another 900,000 to be quite honest with you and and I hope that the the folks involved with this understand that this upfront money is certainly far in excess of what

092we were told to expect last March and maybe the full end for the district on the totality of this project okay just have a quick comment um back when U there was a previous board was about a year ago or even a year before that when I was first on the board it it was on the understanding of if we were going to take on the responsibility of transferring ownership from the city to the mpsd there was going to be obviously Financial requirements with that so um I just want to speak back to understanding that yes there we are making that commitment as an as as a school board to invest in that infrastructure that is now owned U by the mpsd so there was going to be obviously some expenses moving forward um it

093just happens to be that we're going to be voting on it tonight to move it forward a little quicker but this was to be expected once the ownership was transferred and now it has been so thank you Mr tennis for completing that or whoever else helped as well yes sir I'm excited for the players I'm excited for the families there's 200 families in our community that play baseball and uh they built a heck of a program so congratulations to the coaches and honestly this is long overdue so I'm I'm just really happy that we have an opportunity to to do something about it tonight okay all those in favor signify by saying I opposed say nay hearing none that passes [Applause] congratulations those of you are here past your bedtime that's me K thank you

094thank you thank you my other agenda item [Music] um you don't need a reason toy thank you sir my other agenda item is The Rook quotes and I think you you received a communication from Mike but he was also there at the facilities meeting and gave us a nice presentation on the three um quotes from Lincoln High School um they came from Custom craft n Ai and craft ring Roofing um Mr Schwarz shared the crap ring quote indicating that it was the lowest bid but also could provide the best service for us the bid was $822 320 the motion was made by Mr fips to accept that Roofing it was seconded by Mr valela sorry Tony um and the motion was carried unanimously um it is now for the full board to accept that proposal

095I make a motion accepted we have a motion second we have a second from Mr Shaw they're not doing this on Thursday are they no this going to be C okay yes sir I just want to take a quick minute to kind of talk about the process I know Tony's the process guy but I just want to back up a little bit and explain the process of how this actually got done compared to how it got done two and a half two years ago and and before that so um we were able to contract and please correct mic if I'm I'm saying something wrong but we were able to contract C 10 to do the bidding process for us that means they kind of file the paperwork and then they have the open bid the

096interviews and then they ask as many biders to come and take a look at the project I believe there was about 10 people like 10 companies that came and looked at the project uh local companies um uh in the past we have had a little bit of an issue getting local contractors to bid on anything because it was done through Nexus Nexus uh I just I don't want to beat the dead horse but at the same time that that was not in the best interest I believe for the school district or for the taxpayers of this community um because now we were able to contract a service just to take care of the bidding process and then after the bidding process has been completed we have narrowed it down to the lowest bidder and now

097we have a referral uh to make an investment in Lincoln High School which is the Capstone the flagship of of our community um and I think this is an amazing time for us to understand that this this this money going towards Lincoln is securing its future uh we cannot have a facility at high quality if you don't have good good roofs on it so uh I know it's a lot of money as well however uh I'm so happy that we are having a local contractor to do this and the process was done correctly instead of having our money our tax money go out to uh Madison and Milwaukee and then hopefully come back in a in a different way getting the work done um by being a subcontractor so I just I'm happy about the

098process and I wanted to explain that it's been a while because we've gone through quite a bit of process of getting rid of the old system and implementing the new system um the air exchange sorry but the air exchange units in Lincoln High School in the pools the way that that was done was the old process Nexus had their hands in it and they got a percentage of the job job yes some local contractors got to be involved but as subcontractors uh and and it just did not I believe it did not help the bottom line of the taxpayers and get for us to get the highest value uh for our money so I just wanted to clarify the position of how this happened and uh celebrate how how this happened and to make sure

099that it's being done in a more in a more conducive efficient way for the taxpayers in man col thank you thank you anyone else wasn't the original esate on this a million bucks that was mine off the C was okay okay so we we came in we came in better than not done yet he gets the rest you get the rest no this is good JY jokey hear what Matt say all those in favor opposed hearing none that passes unanimously that's it thank you thank you sir a little over your five minutes but I'm going to be a good sport about it because I know Mr TR be a task to get through his let me get let me get my timer running sir all right okay here we go okay so the first thing

100is to approve of a course called baking baking and pastry 2 which will only which is only laying claim to an extra $500 to to actually Implement so um it seemed like a deal to us and seemed like a good subject especially this time of year and um so the there was a unanimous recommendation by the curriculum committee that had to the board to approve this prop I make a motion to approve this proposal for baking and pastry 2 have a motion we have a second any further discussion the right comment all those in favor signify by saying hi or yum just say yum okay oppos ask if they want taste testers faing un opposed that passes unanimously okay all right second issue uh the 2425 20242 District safety plan now some of you I

101think almost all of us will recall that last year we got the the full m on this one we got uh we uh we got the whole the the the whole the whole packet and this is simply a kind of a fine tuning right do you want to comment on this at all um I mean it was really laid out and two changes were made to um send the communication that was going out to Lincoln High School students and to our threat assessment process those are really the two big things that were changed between last year and this year yeah and it has to be in pretty pretty quick now doesn't it yeah so yes I I don't know what we would do but are there other questions there's only two only two modifications right

102only two two kind of Y slightly amending additions so um this is a time to trust the professional people that handle this uh is there I would recommend I would make the motion that the board approve of the the um District 200 the saf yeah yeah the district safety plan I'll G to be a fight for a second okay any other discussion I just want to uh who would if there was a parent concerned about the process where would we direct them to try to get the the actual paper copy or the digital copy so they could see it if they ever had a question they should call Central offices or go to the the the the principal at they're building we'll we'll get it to them absolutely just what they can have there are

103some things they can't have because of security right I'm I'm wondering like which part they would be interested in just transparency of a parent wanting to know where they would pick up their child if there was a evacuation that would probably go through the building principal but but we need to articulate that we need to publicize that we need to explain that more than we ever thought we should yeah we would so we would not be able to share in advance of in evacuation that location just for safety purpos that was hypothetical but thank you yeah so then there would be there's a significant communication plan that would be shared out in order to make sure that parents are well informed of that and then that communication plan is shared in that safety plan we

104have a plan everybody just be ready for the plan we have communication templates all set up ready to go in the event of an on-site nearby offsite large scale offsite evacuation to keep parents informed really every step of the way thank you and I think it's also important to note that that you you know not only are these things on paper but in January nman will lead a large scale effort in our district uh to do training on reunification so that all of our leaders in our buildings and our members of our district safety team um walk through the process to ensure that we're ready in case we ever need to be so a thanks to nman not only for doing a great job as always of putting this together but also having us practice

105these things that are very very important right I was going to say that that actually happens at buildings staff practices uh some of the places that have been set up for where we would take the the student body to be picked up by parents and you you practice who's outworking the parking lot all the parts of it well done okay so all those in favor signify by saying I and opposed say nay hearing none that is approved condu good of conduct right um You did receive the the the copies of the uh updated um Man by public school district elementary code of contuct conduct in the manock public school district secondary coded conduct um I mean this is really an advancement that you know is is is much needed uh has been kind of in

106the works I think it's you know it it really truly is a major attempt to go along with I think the the the other the what what what's your other program the reframing program that really May really truly like you know get us around the bend on un behavioral problems of the schools uh the only thing is is that I think the the code is is fine uh the only concern or reservation I might have is that the enforcement of the code is is is is is what would will make this what we want it to be so I think that principles superintendent Etc have to absolutely have to absolutely like require adherence to do whatever we approve in terms of the the the elementary code and the secondary code or it's just it's just

107paper uh but I would recommend that we uh I would recommend I would make a motion that we approve uh the the documentation on the quarter on the code of on theod Code of Conduct review um that's the motion okay and a second second yes Mr any other questions discussion it's changed a lot since we first had this a few years ago biggest changes the biggest changes are at elementary um and they it was really to make it match a kindergartener not not a 12th grader so and really I think if you went through it you would recognize that if you have a small child you don't handle them the same way true so it's we took the the same document we just went through and modified it so it's very much the same document

108just in an elementary um language now and it's very doable for principles it was very hard to treat little kids like you know seniors in high school and so um that carries comments about doing actually using it will make it much easier to use now for the alment team I think an example we used at the committee is you know calling a kindergarten Behavior disorderly conduct which is a very different you know takes a very different meaning when we're talking about a high school student who may be getting you know a criminal charge for something like that as well so I mean it just doesn't leave it to discretion I mean there I mean it's laid out here there are degrees of you know severity on Behavior Uh there are there are consequences that are

109that are clearly stated I mean I don't know what more we could do other than have have this totally implemented so we feel pretty good about enforcement and compliance that the staff I don't I don't know about that implementation yes but I think that's the key right ultimately we could make anything more great on paper but right yeah that was my point you got to have it on paper first though do we have a plan to make sure this is communicated to all parents normally parents are used to looking at and considering the code of conduct during you know first days of school pil of stuff excuse me I almost said the other word that they get so oh I didn't want to call it junk yeah Our intention is to have the we were

110waiting obviously for this approval and then we're going to have it go out um in newsletters to families um before BR before Christmas break so that they have copies we'll also put it on our website happy Christmas okay any other questions all right all those in favor signify by saying I oppose say nay hearing none that is unanimously approved okay uh fourth issue from curriculum is the quarter the a quarter one data review that is how we're doing in terms of academic achievement it's all packaged in our Focus student academic achievement um I mean this this is a you know I probably talked that or turn in the curriculum committee meeting because you know I'm I'm I'm real concerned with where we are where we're not in terms of of academic achievement for the whole

111District um but you know you gotta kind of I think we need to have a fairly fairly intense and and productive discussion about really really making much more clear what processes we want to be engaged in to get us out of being among the lowest rated schools school systems on the on the DPI on the D DPI report card but that's not what we're talking about tonight we're just talking about I don't even know if there's any action required on this one is there no we're just we just we want to review that uh and and and in reviewing uh in many many cases this this this first quarter report indicates that we are inching towards a better a better day so if there are if there are questions comments Etc um I'd have you

112address Heidi or Katie or you or me yeah don't yeah well I just wanted to comment uh thank you guys for leting back to me on that email oh you know again I just wanted to reiterate like yeah we we haven't arrived there's a lot of work to do but there's at the same time there's a lot to be proud of and I just wanted to highlight that that you know our district across the board uh if correct me if I'm wrong we saw and reading proficiency you know both based on our own internal data which by the way we never had before so now we have quarterly data to give us you know some guidance on how we're doing along the way uh the nationally Norm data U I went over that with with

113Lee earlier today uh showed us uh I believe as a district we're 6% increase in Reading proficiency and I'm told the average is about 3 five so that that's that's a positive right uh and then the state data you know obviously not quite where we we want to be at but we're we're not too far off the state right the state was like a 12.1% increase and we were at 11 and a half% so we're talking about 6 of 1% right it's not like we're miles and miles away so lots of positives that we can build off of and really I just wanted to you know give some credit to all this the team behind the scenes you know I know it's a lot of work we implemented a new curriculum there was you know

114it wasn't uh not everyone was initially on board with with it but I think overall it was a little bit bumpy and I think everyone's done a great job the fact that we've seen increases is is great uh is there more work to do like I said yeah absolutely like we need to keep pushing to get better and and raise the bar but I'm just really proud of the work that everyone's put in I'm proud of the kids uh so I feel that you know we just got to keep working and chopping wood so that's my message thank you anyone else yeah as well as want to say thank you and I want to really emphasize the process of us having you know essentially multiple ways of measuring ourselves um internally State uh and having

115real- time data in the in the review of making changes um like Tony said in the past we didn't have much to to go off of except maybe you know the state exam so I I don't I want to emphasize how we have multiple checks and balances to see that we're actually managing our our our curriculum and our implementation of it and I do not want to see that get thrown to the side in the future uh if uh if we feel that it's too mundane having multiple uh resources available to us um so I just I just want to say thank you for how you you you guys have implemented this and how we have really come uh together to to do this um and to emphasize that my last point would be elementary

116students having test participation of Almost 100% because of the structure uh really helps us get a true gauge of not tests but assessments that was a joke going back to the public input but anyway than um so I know it wasn't that good but so just being able to uh having that par ipation of the elementary is very important and we do uh need to work on our implementation of the the middle school and high school implementation of the testing uh or assessment giving uh because of participation going down so much obviously with freedom comes responsibility and maybe the way we're marketing that is going to change uh to try to have the participation go up but Elementary wise having a clear gasp uh view of what's going on and then being able to see

117and make changes so we don't have children fall through the cracks and get behind and then exacerbate those problems and then it turns into a behavior so thank you team for everything you've done and I really believe they're 100% behind the success of being able to implement uh correct reading strategies among math strategies thank you thank you I think we have some issues there's a speaker tonight that said our reading scores went up 41% yeah somebody said that we have in the past we have not done a good job of giving correct information to the public um my other question is our scores were still below the state I would like to know if we have any plans to get together with reading or with districts in the area to say how are you getting

118better spores than us our kids are not essentially different from Shaban valers Appleton Kaka is there a way to say what are you doing how are you doing this to get better results than manatar is getting I have not been an advocate of the program we use but I understand after doing a lot of reading that the K2 program is pretty effective that's what most districts use that use SFA is just the K2 program because it's phonics based the wonderful students that were at the Lincoln meeting I was at and this is why I love high school kids because they're so much smer than I ever was at that age we're talking about scheduling at the middle schools and the need to change the schedule at the middle school so kids can take electives that

119they want to take rather than being shoved in a classroom we have no idea what's going on so we need to do some evaluation of the program to get our scores to where other school districts are in the state of Wisconsin to have increases that are the state average rather than below we need to do a better job of getting the word out to the public honestly about what's going on rather than what we've done in the past we need to look at the program to say is it effective at older at higher grade levels and have we taken away some of the good things that happened in the middle school because we changed the schedule so much for kids so there's a lot to do here some things are good two of our schools

120are doing very well but we got to find a way to raise everybody even more and let's check out the area schools to see if they're doing something different that can help us there's nothing wrong with checking with other successful places and what they doing that may be better than what we're doing yeah i' just like to say that during during the committee meeting I made the you know sort of smart out remark that the data the data is the easy part the data is the easy part and that doesn't that doesn't diminish the importance of it or the the the amount of effort it takes to get it but it's it really is kind of the the the base and what we really need to do is to figure out as I tried to

121and failed to figure out why Madison School exceeded expectations and Jackson School fulfilled few expectations I mean demographically they're kind of the same I mean I there are some differences but but I don't think we quite know the answers to the questions why we're not doing better or we may know in some cases why we are in some places but I think we we really need now that we have the data to sit down use our use our best brains and to say okay can we figure this out can we figure out what the obstacles are here or what what would be a better way to approach this to to to really get us out of the seller and I I I don't know if there's anybody anybody at all that would would wouldn't want

122that I mean I I you know I I I kind of reacted to this whole thing by by immediately having a you know immediately having a you know an afternoon of depression I mean all we talked about last year and the year before that in terms of getting scores up etc etc honestly you know we did get the scores up but we didn't move the needle at all and and I thought okay so then the next thing was all right I'm going to we're going to try to figure out I'm going to just start the process and try to figure out why you know we have these discrepancies and these these these areas that are doing poorly and these areas I could say two two schools exceeded exceeded um expectations I'm really concerned about about

123about linol Lincoln High School used to be you know one of the most famous high schools in the state uh kind of Lang lering on year after year now that fulfills few expectations and I don't and and and yet that's sort of only the beginning those reactions I think we do have the brains and we do have the staff that can solve the these problems we just need we just need you know to do the right analysis get some really really really good sense of where we can go and how we can go there and then then do it but I think we really have we really have some work a few other things that I dug up that I thought would be relevant to the discussion as we consider all the information in front

124of of us I did some research uh and it it looks like if I'm reading this right manage Fox's elll population the last five years has grown four and a half times faster than the state average so that to me would present some unique challenges just in the sense of you know especially when you're looking at like reading things like that you know if you're having to learn a new language and then on top of it you know learn how to read it's just going to it's going to be harder right so I think that's something that need to keep in our minds as we you know when we're asking what are other districts doing different well we have I would argue more challenges than they with that regard Tony I just want to make

125a so the other I'm sorry I was letting him know was yours sir yeah yeah thank you uh the other point I wanted to bring up again and I'm all about accountability and measurement I think this is great that we're really digging into the numbers and you know now that we're GNA have data going forward our district I'm hopeful is going to be in a good position to make the right decisions and raise the achievement levels uh but one thing to keep in mind is that and I've asked this before at committee I'm not sure if we ever found out you know this is the first year that the uh McKinley scores counted in our overall District source and they were pretty low and as a board we had no control over what they were

126doing so I'm just saying if we're going to look at the data objectively and the information objectively I would love to know like what our data would look like if we were to back that out and I don't know if there's a way to do that with the state data but I I think it's important that people realize you know there there were changes when we're comparing the data over the previous years one of them is is that we now have a school that isn't performing uh as well as the others and that that's not helping our overall scores my guess uh the last point I wanted to make you know in addition to those two things you know overall our district population has been in Decline the last several years and I would think

127that you know a good chunk of those if not all of those are probably families that feel that their needs are for whatever reason aren't being met here and so I would think that those students will probably typically score higher so like we have a lot of variables that we have to take into account and I would just encourage us to to try to keep the view elevated and look at everything and not get so fixated on you know just one element of that but realize that we do have some unique challenges in this district and we have to collaborate and work together to solve them no I'm going to kind of go down a little bit of a Rital Heidi um if you could interject for me the correct me if I'm wrong at

128all but I kind of want to talk about I want to kind of quantify this reading okay so essentially the state has now mandated that we create a new new system of of improving our reading scores they calling it act 20 right so what what that's going to be in my synopsis is that if if a child is falling behind we're going to instead of having an individual education plan we're going to have an individual reading plan to get that student back up you know to try to find out that that that issue is there and then get them on an individual reading plan to get their their assessment or their proficiency out and what I'm trying to uh Heidi where you could help me is what we're doing with SFA now which we've been

129doing for this whole year now is are we essentially creating an individual reading plan now I know not the reporting and the basis of but I'm talking like the Hands-On with the teacher being involved the the recording process not the reporting to the state but the recording internally and then making those modifications checking to see if that students and then moving them up uh step by step with their with their course um are we already doing some aspects um not the requirements to the DPI but the internal of how we uh assess and find out if a student is not uh scoring very well and then making modifications and changes are we essentially doing that already now that we have implemented this new program no yes or do you understand what I'm saying absolutely yes

130and I would say the answer is definitely no um SFA is still a curriculum that even though kids are divided out by their ability um it's still the group's ability so teachers still have groups of 20 kids in front of them um and they're teaching them all essentially the same thing so it's close to their zone of development which is great but it's still a group of kids the personal reading plans that we have to develop for students that are below the 25th percentile on the new state screener that is very individualized so once the students have the screener and if they're below that 25th percentile then they're going to have a diagnostic some a diagnostic assessments given by the reading teachers that are going to it's kind of like you you go to your

131doctor and you find out you have you you have a like an initial test and then there's a second test of that test didn't tell you enough um so those Diagnostics are going to dig in more to the individual needs of the students and their personal reading plan will meet their needs um based on that so now I just want to I want to go into hypothetical a little bit because now when I was learning how to read which reading wasn't very easy for myself so I'll admit that personally publicly but when I was in a group of students that were kind of closer to my reading level I didn't feel so ostracized and when I had a a group of seven or eight kids or 12 or 10 I was more confident in reaching

132out and not trying to become a behavioral problem but actually learning and and so I I really like how we are grouping the students by uh ability within uh a safe environment now what I'm concerned about is if we have an individual reading plan directly towards an individual we're going to be ostra and I'm not saying this is going to happen I'm just saying this is my concerns that if we do get too far involved because I'm essentially saying we're getting the the benefits of right sizing this the the curricul or the the message to the students by what we're doing now without getting too in-depth where they become uh essentially emotionally hurt by their their shortcomings we'll say now I understand that that's obviously concern but what I'm trying to make the parallel is

133which you said I'm not doing it but I'm trying to say we are trying to meet the children where they are already and we're right sizing the information and we're chunking it which we were never doing before and if we continue to get more individual uh lesson plans how are we ever going to have a a 14 or 12 to1 ratio it's going to have to be a a two to one to to achieve that individual lesson so that's my kind of synopsis and I'm just trying to say that I think we're on the right direction however there is room to grow and I'm concerned that the state solution isn't quite the the the Cure All either I don't know that there is a cure cure all but what I'm excited about with the ACT

13420 is what we're not doing at all right now and what I don't think any school district is doing is getting that diagnostic information on so many kids like you might do that for kids that are on um under evaluation for special education that you have those more intense Diagnostics but we're now saying anybody who is at that 20 below the 25th percentile is going to get those Diagnostics and it's going to be a very big undertaking um kids will be not they will not be getting intervention oneon-one but in small groups like I would say like three to five is probably going to be the average size of our intervention group um and that's in addition to their reading so we're not taking away their reading time they not getting pulled out of the

135reading time this is during their intervention block so I think we can keep the things that you're excited about and we are adding this as an additional layer and thank you I'm just saying it's because it's getting mandated though so then now the money is going to have to be able to follow it because it's going to be mandated we were trying to be proactively solving this problem and we' made some critical steps in that process to solve it and that's why I'm trying to say thank you for all the work you guys have done and and what and what you're going to do in this process at least we're we're having ways to actually measure and we can use the mandate to help improve already U having more information and Diagnostics or even even

136more trouble when we have arise thank you I just wanted to respond to Tony's observation that uh we have a lot more a lot more kids that are trying to go to school and learn English at the same time um and and you know that would seem to make sense but you know my my look at this stuff just there's no easy hypothesis on any of this stuff there's no easy hypothesis I looked that you know dis economically disadvantaged the rates of economic disadvantages among among a a whole slew of school systems I looked at uh the number of minority minority students in in in in you know in our system and a whole lot of systems uh you know I looked at you know a lot of a lot of stuff and none of

137it offered up an easy hypothesis as to where and why manok is where it is temporarily indeed you know the one school system that had all of the big problems all of the big problems and 83% economic disadvantage ratio you know for for for kids from families uh who had many many more minority minority students than than any other school system in in the entire State and you know what I'm talking about their votes coming last too we're talking about Milwaukee that scored significantly higher than we did as a school system had quite a few schools that exceeded expectations some that didn't ex you know didn't didn't at all but but but the fact of the matter is is they outscored us on virtually every everything so I don't know I mean I don't I

138haven't I haven't yet struck upon you know the the moment of Enlightenment that tells me why we are where we are and why they're doing better than we are right there can I stay something sure I just like to say there are a lot of variables I agree with you I I was just pointing out one that I think would be incredibly challenging which is not knowing the language and trying to learn to read but you know I also just to reiterate you know yeah the state data is the state data but we aren't miles behind the state the state average increase was 12.1% our increase so we increase too we're at 11 and a half% in Reading proficiency yeah we're just talking about so yeah so just reading right and we spent a lot

139of time focusing on that and I I think that you know it'll probably take longer than one year to see the fruits of that you know pan out but it's again 6 of 1% right so it's you know it's not like we're like 50% below the state average for you know miles and miles away it's just over one half of 1% which is you know it's it's still something but I I just wanted to you know it's not like it's still increased right so I just wanted to make sure people understood like you know the reading did get better so we invested time and energy in reading and the kids in our district are reading better so that's a win okay to draw this discussion to close because there is no action on this item

140yeah I would like to say that I've beg to suspect that the whole purpose and any sort of testing is to give me yet another opportunity to brag on Madison which is not a surprise to my friends my family and people who know me that don't work at Madison school because they do a lot of great things at thats they really do I will come back to that in just a second 100% participation on testing that is absolutely because of the principal the teachers the reading coordinators and the support staff everybody works to get 100% participation on a test as somebody who's done it somebody who's been there I'm telling you that's everybody pulling together to make that work I was lucky enough to be over at Lincoln during the which one do they do

141there the act the SAT which is act is 91 act and boy you see everybody trying to make that work and that happens at the grade schools too and that's how you get 100% participation and results and I would just want to say to all the principles all the reading coordinators all the teachers all the sports staff making that work thank you thank you thank you no matter how your school did getting everybody to participate really helps us know where we're going okay um I have said literally for over two decades this district has piles of longitudinal data about teachers that are being very successful at re teachers that are being very successful at Ma but we do not generally go to those teachers and say what are you doing that year after year your

142kids make bigger advancements than other kids in this grade in this building or across the district we generally don't do that I don't know why would it be great to visit other districts it sure would it would be even greater to go visit our highly successful teachers and one acknowledge their success and two try to learn something from it okay and and the last thing I would say to anybody who's really interested in all of this stuff because this is sort of pedagogy muy muck I strongly encourage you to take the time to read a short book called interest and effort in education by the great John Dey it was only published 110 years ago and yet it lays out very clearly some of the secrets to Effective Education okay on to other business we

143have the wasby proposed 2025 resolution so I will turn that over to our I'm your representative to the delegate assembly so let me tell you how I I'm going to recommend how we do this I want to I want to represent I want to represent the views of the board in in my voting and I've already looked over this stuff and thought about it some and I I've I've written notes on what I'm inclined to vote for and not vote for but so I'm going to tell you I'm going to tell you where I stand at this point on resolution Blue Ribbon commission school funding I'll vote Yes for that unless you know you see I mean I want your I want your your insights and your you know your your your values to be

144reflected I don't want to just be the Lone Ranger so yes on that one the next way Pathway to leisure and power professionalism I have some reservations about that I'd like your advice resolution early literacy assessment for English Learners I probably am not going to vote for that as I now stand uh decoupling public and private school fund funding a definite yes from me on that one consistent standards across all Wisconsin schools yes from me on that one early childhood education funding and public private partnership I'm going to vote Yes staff mental health it's kind of vague but probably yes because I think certainly the idea is certainly the the the need is there um I'm not sure how they how they plan to you know how they would professors spend the money and and

145and meet the need um accountability and school report card standards yes for sure for me uh resolution on educational objectives as follows I would add you know along with but I probably wouldn't never get it um the ensuring College college career and work Workforce Readiness in addition to supporting the development of critical thinking and problem solving skills I would I would I would put another one in there I'd leave out the and and put a commi in between thinking and problem and and then do an and um in you know uh cultivating creativity so you know I'd probably vote for it as it is but nevertheless um the the next one is exiting resolution 3.83 treny as follows I think this needs more explanation and more work um so I don't know how to vote

146on that one funding for school me a meal debt probably not I'll probably vote no on that one um cyber security God I mean this resolution doesn't even really it's probably it you know it's it's a real threat and I think you know I mean it was something we you should take out insurance on but I don't I don't see how this resolution moves the needle at all so I probably would vote now the inter superintendent let so as you know Mr TR is the delegate that will cast the votes um I think um he's done a nice job of uh synthesizing where he's at with these uh my suggestion was going to be that if members of the board had feedback CU you'll have all these in writing that you could you could maybe

147send him a note just so that he's aware of your feelings on things uh because uh there's a good month and couple weeks before those votes are taken so uh there's some times to establish yeah 23rd 22nd thank you for serving what I would do is yeah send me send me your comments and we could we could put this on the agenda again for the first meeting in January yeah emailing suggestions and positions was how we did it last year was very efficient I would recommend continuing in that all right and we have remarks from the board president I had those at the beginning I didn't want to go back over them again so future meeting dates Mr Hansen do you have a future meeting date for personnel and policy it will be the uh

148Tuesday before our next regular meeting January 7th 3:30 okay you don't you don't want to do one before holiday week okay so January 7th thank you sir just wanted to see if there was going to be another one okay and remember the chamber Awards is coming up in February but to sign up for it is earlier than that so you need to notify superintendent's office so that we can get enough tickets for who go there's also will be uh curriculum yeah corre on the same day January 7 January 7th facilities does not need a meeting before next month I I presume that's why you met last yeah it was a presumption and with you guys that Monday okay 12:30 we'll send an email okay okay that unless somebody knows of another meeting we okay we

149have a motion to Jour we have a second wishes for best holidays all those in favor say I hearing none always hold on I will never I I have voted on an adj [Music]