001might not be good for >> we're live. >> All right. >> I do that just for you. >> The meeting will now come to order. Uh roll call. Mr. Propes >> here. >> Miss Brunette >> here. >> Mr. Cowie >> here. Mr. Guanick here. >> Mr. Hirsh here. >> Miss Johnson. >> I am here. Please rise for the pledge led by Mr. Hirs. I pledge algiance 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. >> Uh the agenda was posted throughout the district according to schoolboard policy, published as a legal ad in the superior telegram and posted on the district web page. A meeting notice was sent to the connection for publication. Item three, approval of
002the November 10th, 2025 agenda. Um, looking for a motion and a second to do so. >> Make a uh a motion to approve the agenda. >> Second. [clears throat] >> Cats. All those in favor, please say I. I. >> Anybody opposed? Motion passes. Item four, the consent agenda. Item A, the October 13, 2025 regular school board meeting minutes. Anybody got anything they want to talk about there? Good. Item B, the treasures report. Mr. Cowie, please. Of course. Just got my eyes dilated. [laughter] Give me a dip here. city. >> On October 31st, 2025, there was a balance of $4,219,37 and0 cents in cash investments in the general account. Receipts receipts since the 1st of November and not included in the October 31st balance are $73,73123 and the dispersement from tonight's November 10th board meeting total
003$85,32820. In the flexible spending account on October 31st, 2025, there's a balance of $29,3455 in cash and investments. In the health reimbursement account on October 31st, 2025, there was a balance of $7,217.96 in cash and investments. The debt service fund on October 31st, 2025 was a balance of $675 in cash and investments. A detailed report on fund activity is included in the financial statements. >> Thank you, sir. Item C, payments of invoices. Um, I would assume you have gotten those, overlooked those. Any questions? You have brought those to our business manager. Uh, item D, resignations, employments, or retirements. >> We uh have a couple uh resignations. Christy Essen, NHS breakfast cook. Um, and then new employees. Uh, Dorene Martin, NES Kitchen, and Felicia Cather, NES part-time PAR educator. are the staff shuffles that we'd like
004to approve tonight. >> All right. Anybody have any questions on any of that at this time? >> So, Dorine will backfill for Christy. >> Um, we got a sub in there at the moment. We had an opening at the NES kitchen right now. So, that's where she's going to start. >> Okay. >> So, >> Oh, I see. NHS. >> NHS. >> Yep. That's the case. I am looking for a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda. >> Make a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> I'll second it. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say I. >> Anybody opposed? Motion passes. Item five, the ACT and Wisconsin forward exam results. Mr. Fetchelott. >> Um, yep. We are uh this is an annual process for us, Mr. Larabe
005as our district-wide assessment coordinator. He's going to kind of give us a 10,000 foot view of some of the test results that we have from our Wisconsin forward exams um and ACT tests. So, just as a reminder, Wisconsin forward exam is 3 through 8 3 through 8 and 10. And ACT, as you remember, uh is just the junior year. Uh the preacct secure is also out there for 9th and tth graders, anyone that's connected to students at that age. Um, but that goes into our state report card a little bit differently and I'll actually get to talk about state report cards next month. Um, so I can't share a lot of that information right now because there's still quote unquote on parode. Um, but if we can kind of look at the performances for these
006individual tests as a catalyst going into the state report card, what I can share is we continue to do really well in April and it goes back to some of the practices that I'm going to talk about when we uh look at data today. So um thousand foot view as Kar had alluded to. Uh the report cards go all the way back to 1516. Uh and the forward exam going back to um that time frame as well. And those are the grades uh and the focus areas and when they are tested on them. Um I'm not going to talk about science or social studies just out of respect for time. A lot of our work right now is focused on ELA at the elementary level. So I'll focus more on that and then also with
007mathematics. Um, but if anybody has questions on science or social studies, I got some uh questions from staff. Um, I can certainly give you that information as well. Or for anybody that's watching for our viewer this evening, if you have any questions, reach out to me or I can also share this presentation because I know sometimes it's hard to see the presentation uh when you're watching online. So, um, with that, uh, one of the big pieces, um, is I always try to say, well, if we have the numbers, what are we going to do with the numbers? So, uh, if we have the data, well, let's use the data. Um, so a bigger part of the summertime, uh, and early into the fall, uh, myself, Mrs. Craig, uh, Mr. Smith, Miss Land Lander, and, uh,
008Mrs. Neielson, we all sit down and we start digging into, well, where are we at? What have we done? What's our trajectory? Where are we seeing goods? Uh, and where are we seeing needs? And we use that to then start to plan for professional development. Um, or to st uh start to look at what our curriculum is or what our processes are for reviewing curriculum. So that's a little bit about how we use the data. Um so I'm going to start at the elementary level um looking at Iron River and NES. And if we put both schools together um because we obviously try to educate all of the elementary kids in the same manner um you can see that uh the graphs for whatever reason DPI has upside down in my opinion. So the highest
009performers are on the bottom in the we'll say light blue. Um followed by those that are meeting the expectations in the darker blue. The yellow is students that are approaching and then on the top uh those are the students that are developing their skills yet. Um don't know why they do it that way but they have for years. So I think it just kind of stays that way. Um I like to highlight where it says all students and then the percentages because you can see numbers to percentages. Um and what you can see is for you know say there's 20 kids in a classroom we'd be looking at about two kids that are not yet uh developing their skills. So we again try to go back to well where are we numbers wise so that
010we can look at well are we moving it how are we doing with the uh student body as a whole. Um so other important note is uh you look at the elementary stuff when we think about the state report card and what our districts are compared to what they do is they look at what they call a a value added process which means if you have students that perform in the advanced criteria they get a point and a half for every test performance. If they meet the expectation or in the dark blue they get a full point. If they are uh approaching and they don't quite have the skill all the way they get a half a point. And if they're developing that skill, they don't get any points. And why that's important is if
011we look at how schools stack up, you have to have more kids that are advance advanced or overperforming and less kids that are underperforming. So it becomes a numbers game to a little bit. And again, we obviously look at all kids. Um, and that's where our practices for like tiger time at the elementary school or Mrs. Craig, they have their win time, which is our differentiation time where we can focus on growing kids. So, we take these numbers and bring it right back down to the classroom and work with our teachers. Uh, breaking it out just by NES. You can kind of see the uh talking points there where we are at percentage-wise, which is about the same as the district average. And then at NES, obviously smaller population, but you can see there's higher
012representation for ELA on the top end than at the bottom end. So, we continue to do really well at both elementary schools. Um, I get often get the question, well, how do we stack up to everybody else? So, I know this is a ton board members, you have it in your packet. Um, I can share this publicly. I've shared with our staff already. This is schools in the heart of the north conference. And then by grade, how do we stack up? So, uh, if you look at all of the students that took the forward exam in third, fourth, and fifth grade, that percentage is on the right hand side. Or you can look by grade level. Um, reminder that NA, those are districts that have fifth grade at the middle school level. So, their state
013report cards based off of third grade and fourth grade only. And then fifth grade goes up to the middle schooler. >> What What is the percent? Explain what that number is. >> Sure. Uh so, uh I'll pick on Maple. So, for all students, uh in English language arts, we have 62.8% of all of the kids that took the forward exam that met the expectations. They were either uh advanced or meeting the expectations. Good questions. May May I ask what is meeting from a and maybe this isn't my brain works ABCD. >> Yep. That's a common question. So I would say that's meeting is the C to A range. Kids that are meeting the expectation they're not needing additional supports. >> Okay. >> Y good question. >> Moving on in the math world. Um in in
014Maple we historically have done better in math and uh in reading at the elementary school. you'll see it's starting to even out a little bit because we are seeing some good growth in our reading side which again goes back to a couple of years ago we bought into a new resource and with the professional development around act 20 we're starting to see that that trend uh taking over so you can see kind of the number breakdown breaking it up by schools NES we're around 20% at the top end and then Iron uh historically has done really well in mathematics uh again to have 33% % 32% at the top end is is pretty remarkable. And then this is the heart of the north breakdown. You can see uh going back to the question about percentages,
015we're slightly lower uh in math this year. Um but that's we've seen an uptick in our reading which is good. So now we want to obviously shift over to math and continue to grow there. Moving over to the middle school. Um, I know this is Craig was uh very excited when we got their uh performance uh information. I've already sat with their teams as well. Uh, English language arts, you can see a large percentage of those students that are meeting the expectations or scoring as as advanced and you can see kind of the heart of the north breakdown. Uh if you recall last year, I think we shared at this meeting, maybe the report card meeting, uh one of the focuses with uh the middle school last year was they were doing site visits, working
016with other school district to look at their curriculum and look at their instructional practices and they did some on-site visits at those schools. Um one of the things that they brought back this year was the successes of that and how they've used that in the classroom. So um Mrs. Craig's team is working really hard. And switching over to mathematics, you can see the again the continued strong performance there. And you can see they they top the charts when it comes to mathematics, which is a testament to Mrs. Craig's team. >> Besides Mrs. Teal, I'm trying to remember the other math teachers over there. >> Uh, so >> Mr. Mr. >> Mr. Olsen in sixth grade, >> Mr. Owen, >> Mr. Rock. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I feel like there's one more in there. >> There's the
017data to show it, too. >> Yep. Yeah. If you if you go back, they are I mean that's a it's a good good group of schools uh to represent the heart of the north and they're at the top of that list. So, kudos to that team. >> I think Mr. Owen's part of that. He's got one section of that, >> I think. So, there you go. You got three. >> Yeah, absolutely. and and not to overlook our special ed teachers at the middle school because I can disagregate some of this data and I've shared that with Allison and her team and we really moved the needle in the special ed last couple years. So a shout out to them. Uh going to the ACT. So again remember the ACT is just for our juniors. Um
018so the composite score um I often get the question of year to year. Um our composite score is stayed pretty consistent in years prior. Um, you have the subtests like English, uh, math, reading, those numbers are kind of hard to see. I apologize for that. Science, and then STEM. >> So, what I heard you say is if you were to trend that year-over-year, we're typically right around 19 something. >> Yep, we're right right around there. Um, I have it in one of the next slides coming up. um question that I expected to get if anybody's thinking why is uh writing uh 6.3 where all the others are in the teens. Yeah. Um writing is a different scale. So usually when I throw that one up people like wait a minute why do we tank in
019writing? Writing is only through uh 2 through 12. So 12 would be your best possible score. Um so I believe that's a 6.3 up there. So about 50%. >> Keep us guessing. >> I get the question of why. I don't know. >> I'm sure the person who came up with it needs to keep his jobs. >> Uh there's one that was probably a non-conformist. It couldn't go to a 36 scale. Um so on the ACT side for ELA, you can see the breakdown how we compare to the state. Uh we're right around the state average with that. Here's the uh ELA historical. So this is the percentile, not necessarily the um the composite score. Uh but I can pull that number if anybody wants I can shoot it to you. So you can see percentile
020wise we have kind of trended somewhere around that 40th. So you can see right now we're at 39.4 with last year's uh juniors. Moving into the math world um you can see performance is slightly higher than the state which is always nice. Um we have a little bit more in the middle ground if you will for the students that are meeting the expectation. And then their historical data, you can see we dipped a little bit following the pandemic, but we've come back and kind of maintained that this year. So, and then the heart of the north comparison, just like I did with elementary schools, middle school, um, we kind of see where we fall in terms of our neighbors, and it's it's much more level, if you will, on the ACT side. You could see
021with the middle school math, you had all the way from 70 down to 30. Um, elementaryaries we see big differences as well, but the the uh ACT for the high school is pretty stable in the heart and life. >> Quick question. Yeah, penalties. >> Um, if they retake the test, would would that be reflected? >> Yeah, we did. So, on the state data side, if you if you will, if a student takes it tomorrow, it'll update within that system. So, good question. >> And we do I can't speak to how many, but I do know we've had some that have retaken it over the years. Yeah, makes a big difference. >> Yep. I switched it over to math if you want to see the heart of the north comparison. As I said, much more stable.
022There's a couple outliers [cough] pretty [clears throat] consistent. And then again, just closing before I open up to any last questions is really looking at what is it that we're doing with it. Um, again, at the elementary level, um, we've utilized Mrs. Walsh as a train the trainer type program. Um so she has gone and been trained as uh somebody trained in the keys to reading uh training which met the state's criteria and then we reduce our [clears throat] PD days to focus on how are we teaching reading. It's been a a very big success for us. We pair that with weekly um PLC's where we talk about what's coming up for those classes and kind of how are we teaching and as a whole because I get to sit through kindergarten all the way
023through fifth grade. So six different meetings a week. Um, it's nice to hear those common conversations because I can leave kindergarten where we're talking about what what's a sentence look like and then walk down to fifth grade and they're having a little more complex conversation but the same conversation. So, it's a it's been a good PD experience. Uh, at the middle school um as I shared uh Mrs. Craig has worked with her team to look at, well, how are we taking our instructional standards and how are we looking at how our kids are doing and then what can we do to improve on that. Um, the site visits was a big part last year. I know this year they're digging into the standards and looking at what their resources are and then also looking at
024some of our our neighboring districts and what they're using. And at the high school, um, I know Mr. Smith's not here, but I have talked with Brian a lot and worked with some of the teachers to look at taking the ACT data and looking at our at risk students going into that from the preACT secure and looking at well, how can we support them before they take the ACT this year. So, we're trying to take the data and apply it to what is it that we can do to to help our students to grow. So, with that, I'll end my side and feel free to answer any questions. Um, you mentioned so I [clears throat] think I asked this last year and you guys you had said earlier that you had visited other schools to
025see what they were doing. Uh, did you find out yet what St. Croy Falls is doing? >> They just made me mad. You want me to shut the microphone off before I answer? >> No. >> So, St. Cray Falls is uh dear to my heart. My family graduated from there. I know some of the teachers down there, so I know the inside track. And they have some really strong instructional leaders in that district. They have a curriculum director that is very able to just focus on that instead of having shared hats. Um they happen to have instructional coaches at the elementary level as well. If you look at some of the things that they're achieving, it's because they have people that unfortunately for budgetary reasons we have not been able to have. So that's my
026honest opinion. >> So those of us who don't live in the educational world, can you tell me in broadstrokes what an instructional coach does? >> So an instructional coach is kind of like a hitting coach, whe it's a baseball or softball player. Uh so it's somebody that will come in and say, "Okay, here's what's working, but here's what we can do different, and here's a resource, here's a standard, but here's what I'm seeing in the classroom. So, let's work on how we can make sure every kid is getting more out of that instruction. And it's a teacher who teaches teachers, like a play coach or free throw coach. >> I mean, part of the thing is that you you look at the elementary and middle school of St. Croy Falls and they're >> whooping everybody.
027>> But once you got to the ACT at the high school level, it it drops off. Now, I have varying opinions on current >> correct >> ACT um stuff. However, seeing that drop off, it how about like from a curriculum point of view? Where are do they have a significant significantly different curriculum than some of these other districts including ourselves to be able to help achieve that as well? >> So, four years ago, I would would have said yes. Um, so I'll speak mainly to the academic world at elementary. Um, so four years ago, yes, they were doing things in the science-based reading world. They were using some programs that were different than what we were using. Now, at 20 has changed that. Um, in the math world, we're in the in the same realm.
028Um, but they had, I would say, a a combination of factors. So, having people that are in instructional leadership roles that are able to help with that, coaching their teachers, having a curriculum director that is able to work specifically with curriculum, having those other people to be able to help, though, all those things being in place for multiple years has created the success that they're having. Um, now that act 20 has changed, everybody's basically said, "Okay, you have to use one of these six uh DPI approved programs." So, that's narrowed. Um, I know what we approve or we purchased one of those six programs um not the program that they're using, but that is something we can certainly look at going down the road. >> Well, and I'm certainly not saying that they have all
029the answers. It's just based off of a spreadsheet with some test scores, it tells me that they're doing something right. And that's more than one year, correct? Being able to see that. >> Correct. And I I like that you pointed at, well, if the elementary and the middle school are doing these, well, I'm going to suspect that their ACT scores are going to go up. Those kids coming through the elementary because if I go back and pull their data at the elementary five years ago, it did not look like that. So, because that's the fun stuff I get to do. What they've got right now is success. They are, you know, generating success at the elementary that is helping success at the middle school. And they're all on the same page moving up. So I
030would suspect that their ACT scores are going to go up in the coming years. >> Yeah, you look their ninth grade was like 65. >> Yeah, I saw that. Ninth grade, 10th grade. >> Yeah, their junior >> junior year. Okay. >> Yeah, but I do know myself obviously I've talked to their district. Mrs. Craig has reached out to them recently too as well to try to learn from our neighbor what's working, how can we get better. >> All good questions. >> Anyone else? I know not everybody gets as excited about it, but this is on my side. This is the proof of like why are we doing what we're doing and we have really good success, but anybody that's read good to great, sometimes you got to do things differently to get to great. >>
031I think we have a good recipe. >> Can I ask one more? >> Yeah. >> Question. Do they ever cross reference this data with um student demographics, homelessness rates? >> Correct. Yeah. So one of the So there's a huge spreadsheet that I can get from the state where then you can go in and you can look for just comparable districts based off of so economic status or student disability population all those things. So like when we look at state report cards when I come next month I can say well in the state of Wisconsin I can look but I maybe I want to cast a a broader net. I can look at how districts that are comparable within 5% of free reduced um how they perform compared to us. [cough and clears throat] I did
032that for Dr. P a couple years ago and it's again going back to we do really well. Um we're if you if you narrow that search to kind of our demographic then we do really well. But in order to get to great what can we do next? >> So if you want I can send you that stuff too. >> Yeah. >> It's kind of fun to play around with. I'd be interested to see that. >> Yes, >> I can. And next month when I come, um, I can have that ready and send it to you guys ahead of time. It's just a big long spreadsheet. I hide a bunch of cells so it's not so confusing. >> You can get in the data rabbit hole very easily. >> Well, sometimes I got to hide in
033order to get down that hole. All right. Well, if you think of other things, shoot me an email or give me a call and I can certainly get it for you. >> Appreciate it. Thank you for that. Mr. Larby, thanks to our staff. this, you guys heard, we're trying to operationalize some of this data. There's some good data there, but we're not um resting on the laurels and and just saying it's okay. We want to continue to push and get better. We know we can improve. So, thank you to them. Thank you. Thank you. Uh item six, approval items. Uh item A, requests for overnight trips uh for Mr. Smith, director of athletics and activities for a plethora of things. If you look at those [laughter] uh he has a lovely two oh it's a
034onepage document um for uh boys varsity basketball to attend the holiday tournament at how do you say that >> high uh high school in lacrosse on December 29th and 30th of 2025. And based off of that, it looks like the parents booster and activity funds will cover the expenses of hotels and meals. And the district as historically will cover the entry fee and the transportation. Uh the wrestling team to travel Wisconsin Dells. I think I said that wrong. I'm sorry. You're right. The boys basketball parents and activity funds will cover the I did. All right. uh wrestling team to travel to Wisconsin Dells uh December 12 and 13 also to travel to Tom to Tomahawk on the 18th. Rinellander on the 19th I believe that is also district covers the entry fee and transportation but
035the parents and booster club and activities will cover the hotels and meals. Um [clears throat] >> common thing >> yeah wrestling team to attend Northern Badger tournament at River Falls on December 27th and 9th. Same thing. junior and senior members of the dance team to attend the dance leadership conference in Wisconsin Dwell Dells November 14th through 16th. I thought that was the same thing covered by dancers if I remember reading and dance team to attend the regional competition at DC Everest High School January 23rd and if I recall that is funded by the district because it is a state competition and that is how we operate. >> Yep. [cough] So, with that all being said, anybody have any questions for Mr. Smith, who's not here, [laughter] but Miss Lander is Mr. Smith and Miss Lander
036met together and she is more than willing to answer any questions that you may have, but we're trying to get them all done in one fell swoop here because it's cleaner and easier. And we are getting into winter sports season very, very quickly. I think basketball, girls basketball started today, didn't it? >> Correct. I'll make a motion to approve the old matrix requested by Mr. [clears throat] >> Second. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Anybody opposed? That passes. Thank you very much. Item B, a request from Mrs. Jenny Rayo uh and the DECA students to attend the DECA sports management event December 15th through 17th, 2025. Hello everybody. I'm Jenny. Um, and this is our president, Lauren Weda. Um, familiar face for you. [laughter]
037So, we appreciate Lauren being here. I know she requested something last month. Um, we are here again with another request. Um, I'll let you. >> Okay. So, our DECA students have an incredible opportunity available to them um, in our Wisconsin DECA sports and entertainment marketing conference in December. So we have many students who compete in sports and entertainment marketing categories and our different levels of competition and we have several more who are interested in this field as a career. Uh we are seeking approval for a small group of students nine students [cough] to attend this educational opportunity in Oshkosh Wisconsin. As the conference is a bit of a commute for us we would like to drive down the day before and we will leave the morning after the conference. If possible, we would like to
038use this opportunity to tour the Wclair or and and slash or W a Oshkos OSH. As such, we need to secure three four rooms depending on students for the event for two evenings. Um so in the packet that you received, you should have gotten all of the details um of costs and everything associated with it. Um, we are paying for this conference through fundraising, through um, sponsorships, and also through a small student fee that kids will pay for the conference that I talked about with our officers here just a couple weeks ago. Um, specifically, I want to say thank you to some of our sponsors who help make these opportunities affordable to kids. Um, we have Sign Gypsies, Fraction LLC, Marovich Law, North Bay Trading Company, Northwood Tech, Peterson Wooding, The Other Place, Deep Lake
039Lodge, Security State Bank, and Culver's. Um, so we're very thankful for them so that we can provide as many opportunities for kids as possible. Um, and now we'll open it up if you have any questions. Um, we're going to see the Wisconsin Herd, which is a Milwaukee Buck affiliate. Um, last year they tried to like go with the Bucks and even this year they were trying as well, which is unfortunately the dates weren't meshing. So that is what we will be doing this year. So, so yeah, my question is that you in what you've written here, it says you're going to pay for the conference through the accounts that you fundraised for and then you have the breakdown of all of it. Is that just to give us the information as to how it is?
040>> Yep. >> Okay. Sounds like a good time. What I was curious about is the involvement or kind of from the um who's hosting it or who's who's who are you expecting to hear from I guess or who are we looking forward to really hearing from? >> Yeah. So, Wisconsin DECA puts the event on and then they bring industry speakers. So, yeah, that's what I'm curious about. >> Yep. So, in the past um we've been to Lambo Field quite a bit. That's typically where we go. Um and so, for example, like we've heard the director and the Packers marketing team, their social media. We've heard from Brown County's like director of public relations that will come in. We also normally have a lot of coaches that work in the industry. So, we typically have a
041pro coach from hockey, football, basketball, baseball, you know, depending on the makeup. So, it's a really um good experience for our kids to meet industry professionals. I myself was marketing intern for a baseball team. So, for me, this is very much up my alley. Um and the kids really seem to enjoy it. We have a lot of kids that compete in sports marketing. It's a very popular event um individually and as a team um so we have a lot of interest in this particular activity as well. [clears throat] >> If there is no other questions I would entertain a motion and a second for them. >> Make a motion to approve the DECA team to travel. >> I would second that. >> Have a motion and a second. All those in favor please say I.
042>> I. >> Anybody opposed? have yourself a wonderful time. >> Thank you. >> Item C, the superintendent services and contract determination. This is me. Um you guys uh should have received a um a sheet that's well it has the three people that we had reached out to to get uh quotes from to help us with the superintendent search based on what we discussed as far as finding and hiring a third party service to do that which I believe was August. Is that when we decided that? >> I think so. Right. Yep. So, uh, timing is now of, um, the way chips are going to fall is that we do this now. Um, and then whomever we choose is going to help us over the next, uh, month or two or three to go through the
043process, help us with all that. Um, [clears throat] do you all have that sheet up in front of you showing the the three different? >> So, I don't know. Did Did they get the whole packet of all of these? Okay. So there was about 150 pages of [laughter] all of this. Um Ca2 uh Maya and I were part of this last time. Personally, I thought they did a really nice job. They're local. They have a vested interest in what we're doing. Um they all of these have a clause where if it doesn't work out that they'll help you with. I think CISA 12 is two years. If it doesn't uh Oh, >> if they leave, they get fired, whatever, for whatever reason after if it happens prior to two years, they'll help you conduct a
044search again. U for either no or little to no cost. Uh CISA 12 is free. Carl was here for um two years and a month. little pause. Um, [snorts] Hazard Young, uh, these other two are not local. Uh, and when I say local, I mean C12 is out of Ashland, but, uh, Hazard Young, you can see that $16,500 plus travel. Um, so we're anywhere from, you know, 16 to $19,000 if a person were to go with them. That is a legal outfit, legal firm that does that. WASB uh also 12,970 um is the not to exceed. It could come in at less than that, but all of these [clears throat] firms do background checks. They vet them. They help with the interview process. They help with the whole thing. Um I don't know if you
045want to end up saying anything based on what our experience was with uh CIA. >> Yeah, I mean CISA 12 was I was happy with it. Obviously, Dr. medicine has a very invested interest in our district. So, and other employees there that helped us. So, >> when we did this when we did the search for Mr. Morren, I was very hesitant and of wanting to spend any type of funds to help find a superintendent initially. Uh after we went through the process, it was in my opinion um I would say it was money well spent. It was it was worth the vetting process, the background process, the helping with the interview process. Um I'm not sure the interview process with uh the other two services are going to bring in um I mean I would
046assume that the CIA 12 is going to continue to do a very similar process that they've done historically but they brought in u community members and staff members uh with the second round of interviews as well to help give the board um a perspective ive outside of us and if I were you part of that Mrs. Heidle so um I'm not going to put you on the spot but if there is anything you wanted to say regarding that process I would I would entertain that. >> Well I think obviously having staff community I mean that type of involvement I think is is very very important. Um, and so that part of the process I don't have anything to compare it to. >> Nor do I, >> you know, but but that part I thought um
047one thing. So, because you don't have the whole thing, it it was a lot of I'm going to say the the packets that we received from um the other two there was some poppet circumstance isn't the right word, but there were [laughter] there were multiple pages of how great we are and and all this. Yeah. And >> I'm not sure I mean personally I'm not sure I need that. I just want somebody to tell me like it is and do a nice job for us for a reasonable rate. Um I'm not advocating for one over the other. Um >> I think CSA 12 is hired to last in our CE last I don't know they've been part of like last five or six superintendents maybe more. >> They've done a lot. I know >> Drummond
048Southshore they've >> seems like they're always doing one. >> Guess the two questions I have are is there any reason to believe that besides CISA are the other services going to be able to offer more value for some reason? Or you might think of it like are they going to be able to reach a different audience that CISA wouldn't be able to or be able to find candidates that CISA wouldn't be able to for example we have any reason to believe that? >> Oh I'm guessing like we can is like the what everybody uses they're doing that anyways isn't it? >> I I do think uh Dr. Madison had had he's been around a long time. He knows a lot of people within the state um understands how the process works because I don't think
049CISA was doing superintendent searches until he >> became correct >> became the kudra there of CISA 12 but um he's he's pretty well respected throughout the state I would say um as far as being able to gather information. Do I think that some of the other two could could offer equal services or maybe have some um potential for I guess a maybe a more thorough vetting process. I would not be surprised if perhaps that's the case, but I don't think it's enough to say that that it's it's going to help change my mind, I guess, if you will. You said you had two questions. >> I asked two questions. >> What was they were kind of [laughter] It was It was do they have added value and then do they have like a different reach
050or do they >> Oh, that's right. >> Are they going to have visibility to different candidates? Right. >> I don't think that Hazard Young uh was were they an Illinois >> company? I don't think they were based out of Wisconsin if I recall. >> Illinois. Arlington Heights, Illinois. >> Interesting. >> So, [clears throat] does anybody have any additional questions? I mean, you have what's in front of you, but uh if if you were wanting to go through and read all of the stuff that they uh presented, um I I I'd certainly give that to you, but it's it's a lot of reading, so I I didn't want to necessarily burden you with that. So if we go with CISA 12 and they're not able to find a superintendent with the search, then they support us
051through the next year and then will they do another search [sighs and gasps] or >> so I think the way that it worked last time was that um part part of what um Dr. Madison had explained was I want to get this out and I think uh open up is it we can is that what you call or whatever the administrative side is but um go through get our applicants [clears throat] um if we wouldn't have any applicants they would run it again um after the new year I think um he understood some of the dates and and how to to acquire some of that because I think is Wendy, you might be able to answer this. Is it February what when administrative contracts have to be presented? >> 15 of February. So that's part
052of the reason that going through December and um if if December doesn't bring applications to us, you do it again in probably January. You still have the opportunity to hire prior to um school being open. Okay. >> Do we have a I imagine a contract with this would be similar to what we had last there is a written contract, right? There is a written contract and it has a they were um I think they had a list of expectations that they would provide for us. Um what our expectations of them that they're going to provide for us the clauses as far as two years and uh the financial impacts of all of that stuff. >> Yeah. I think she had a good experience last time. I mean, I would think that that would make sense
053to go and see again, you know, and and and again, I'm not I'm not advocating for or against anybody, but um the the situation that we were in in August as a district, um you know, I reached out to Nick to ask a handful of questions. He did I I I thought he really did the district a solid in in stepping up and helping us navigate those few weeks that we needed to try to deal with. Um and I had reached out to him during that process because of the experience we had with the hiring of that process back when we were looking for Carl. So, um, I would I would say from a personal level, he's a he's a person to be trusted. I think he's got not just our district, but the entire
054CISA district in in his best interest. So, he's not I mean, I I do know when we went through the uh process to to find Mr. Morren uh we had a whole I don't remember how many applications we had seen there were the first the first round there was 10 or 12 I thought and as we sat through it he was like yeah you should probably you know being honest with you this one looks good but you should probably not look at this one you should this one looks but you might want to give this one an opportunity that kind of a thing from his I guess his knowledge his experience him being able to call other superintendent to ask just questions to be able to get an answer. And that I'm not sure you're
055going to get from the other two proposals that I guess that personal connection, I guess, if you will, or that personal relationship that's already been built. >> Does it include like a year mentoring or something? >> I thought it did the last one. I guess I don't recall. Um >> remember, but it was something >> it was some You're Wendy's nodding her head. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> That's I mean that's all it's there are some value added stuff that happens afterwards. So >> guess I make a motion that we go with season 12 for the hiring of our new superintendent. >> I'd second that. We have a motion and a second. Because we're spending some money. We have to do a roll call vote. So we'll start over here. Miss Johnson, >> yes. >> Mr.
056Hirs, >> yes. >> Mr. Proster, >> yes. >> Mrs. Brunette, >> Mr. Cowley, >> yes. >> Mr. Glanic, >> yep. >> And I also vote yes. >> That motion passes. So now we get to start that process. Um I guess I will keep you all ab breast as to what the uh next situate or next process is after whether it's me or Jenny or Mr. Felter reach out to CSA and let them know >> can for the next meeting can request kind of a this is the schedule. >> I would expect we can have that. Sure. And you know this is what that process is going to look like over the next several months. >> Sure. >> Then you know I think that's fair to everybody. >> I know Jenny likes those dates, right? [laughter]
057>> It is going when things are due by right. >> Hiring a new superintendent is going to require additional dates outside of schoolboard meetings. Just so you know your extremely high compensation package will [laughter] help compensate you for that. All right, moving on. Item seven, the administrative reports. A, communications received. Mr. Petrol. >> Uh, none for this month. >> All right. >> Item B, school board election notice and schedule. I'll give you this one, too. >> Do you want to tackle this one, Miss? You want me to? So, well, I can tackle it. So, three of you are up for re-election. You know which three you are. [laughter] It's on. Um, Mr. Hirsh, Mr. Bette, Mr. Cowie are up for reelection. Um, there is the notice in there for you folks. So, the election is
058going to be April 7th, 2026. Um, if we have enough people, there will be a primary election on February 17th, 2026 to narrow that pool. So if needed um the next big date that for the incumbents um that there's a deadline of December 26th for incumbents to file notice of non candidacy. That is by the December 26 at 5:00 pm. I'm going to go out on a limb here Jenny and say that you would appreciate if it was before December 26th. >> Very much so. [laughter] So, so those of you who are incumbents um have the would behoove Jenny to let her know before the 26th of December, but officially you have till the 26th of December to make a decision if you do not want to run or not. So, other than that, that's
059just anformational piece of this meeting. So, any questions on that? All right. Item C, financial aid certification, certification, certification and tax levy for the 20 25 26 years. Mr. Fetchelocker. Um, so I've chatted with shared information, uh, have put it in our newsletter. Um, our tax levy is increasing. Uh you guys have all heard me talk about this since when we first got the equalization aid estimate uh back in July one. So the total tax levy increase sits at 15.8%. Um and that's due to changes in the revenue limit formula and ultimately a decrease of almost $1.2 million or 15% in state equalization aid. Um, and as you've heard me talk before, um, the more state equalization aid you get, the lower your property tax levy is and vice versa. So, um, this is directly
060related to two main factors, uh, declining enrollment and increased property values. Um, we do what we can to decrease our costs. Um, but this is a statewide pool and ultimately district A gets more money, district B gets less money and that's the teeter totter of this. So, this is a not the news that we wanted to hear, but it's the reality that we have. Uh, historically, our state provided about 60% of the ingredients to run our district and the local taxpayer provided about 40% of our ingredients. Um, that's flipped pretty close to on its head. It's about going to be about 55% local property tax, 45% state aid. So, um that the tax levy will likely result in increased property taxes. And it's important for me to note, as you guys have heard me hopefully
061now as a broken record, indicate that that does not mean more money for the district. It simply backfills the the hole, the 15% hole that the state used to kick in. So, um the total mill rate is up 5.6%. Um, this does not mean across the board they're always going to see a 15% increase. Uh, equalization aid is divied up amongst our municipalities and those percentages do change as determined by the department of revenue. So, municipality A might see a 1% increase in their property values and municipality B might see a 20% increase and that's how it's divvied up. So, um, that is finalized that that work is done. uh Miss Kelly and myself sent out um the information to all of the local municipalities. So that is your report. That is what we have
062today. >> Quick question. So just so I understand, the state has x amount of money that they give out no matter what. I mean, so you said one district gets more, another one gets less. Yep. >> That's >> okay. We're it's it's a what we call some specific pot of money. It's here's the pot. Here's the pieces of the pie that get to be down. So >> So even if like every district needed I mean was in need for whatever reason that's some are going to get it and some are not. >> And our state legislature with this last budget for the first time I think in 14 years did not put any additional money into the equalization aid pot for lack of a better term. Um, it's the same as what it was for
063the last two cycles or last two years, excuse me, last budget cycle. Um, why that is, I don't know. I'm not a part of those conversations, but >> this is there's no inflation or anything. >> This is where we sit. Yeah. Our total budget is up less than about 1%. So, it's not like this is a huge budget increase of anything like that. We look at the total numbers, >> which in today's terms, 1% is probably pretty good. Most of us would take that. I think on a personal level, if you just say stuff cost us 1% more, I'd like that. That's usually not the case. So, we are trying to do everything we can to keep the tax levy as flat as we possibly can from year to year, but this was a a
064curveball. We're one of 70 plus% of districts across the state that saw some kind of decrease and in turn roughly 30% of the districts saw some kind of increase. Most years were pretty flat. you know, one, two, 3% one way or the other. This year was really difficult because we're one of maybe 10 districts that received a decrease that we had or a little bit more. So, it is um Cody there in this letter to the clerks, you have a sentence, the debt service levy increased by 5.3% due to a changing amortization schedule. So this is the last big, you know, the last payments for our our our big mortgage. So those try to stay somewhat stagnant for the most part, but they do somewhat increase a little bit from year to year. >> So
065there's the debt service payment that we've known to pay for the 2008 referendum. There's a few other short-term borrowings. One is the energy efficiency for uh the HVAC system at the U elementary school. Um there's a WRSE funding. That's a long conversation that happened well before I was ever here. Um, but that is the grand scheme of things. 5% on $3 million is not small by any stretch of the imagination, but that's where that's coming from. >> Okay. Any other questions I can answer for anybody? There's no nothing in terms of motions. It's just a report. So, there's my Yeah. Uh, item D, the maintenance report. I would assume that you all opened that, read that. C, can you explain to me though the uh swap out basketball hoops from lower gym to upper gym?
066>> What's that all about? >> Um, new rims. >> We got new rims done at the lower gym. Mr. Mour, um, before this happened, actually, they were here in the spring, but we we had new hoops. Uh, ordered the ones that were in the lower gym or the upper gym were getting very old. They might have been 25 plus years old. So we looked at them and decided that we'll put the new ones in the competition gym and the ones from the competition gym will go up to the old gym and the ones that are left. I don't believe they went anywhere else. We did ask our custodians and our other buildings aka the middle school um Iron River and NES if they needed them. Um and I don't think they did. So we did
067leave one or two around as fair and see what happened. But >> is it the whole mechanism? The whole >> Yeah, >> they both shooting match. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, the breakaway rims and all that good stuff. So, >> the whole shooting match. >> If you look in the gym, the the nets are very white right now. >> Rims are a little tight. >> Oh, [laughter] no. >> Somebody better get out there. >> Get the wrench out. >> Yeah, they head custodian installed them probably about a week and a half ago, I believe. So they're they're fresh. >> Some lowscoring basketball games [laughter] >> rebounding. >> Is is there an update on the hot water? >> Yes, we uh we continue to battle the hot water heater. We have a hopefully a part gets here.
068There's essentially the the motherboard that runs the whole thing is is the next cause here. So this is a project that will come back. As you guys have alluded to and heard me talk about, we don't have any redundancy in this building, which is a problem. Um, anything can break and when that particular thing breaks, we don't have hot water. Um, so I'm working with a couple local providers to get some quotes on not, we believe, we've had two different people come in to look at it. We believe the one that we have once we get this part should run, fingers crossed, uninterrupted. But we still want to make sure we have an assurance plan. So that is something that we're not necessarily an emergency repair per se, but something that maybe is a long-term
069plan where we bring some quotes into the board and say, "This is what this, you know, provider A is offering. This is what provider B is offering." Um, we want to make sure we do it right. So, >> seems like the AC in here is still working pretty good. [laughter] >> Did you see here the uh >> very easy this time? >> Improve temperature at Principal Smith's office. not sweating them anymore. His office is not sweaty, that's for sure. There's two exterior walls. I think they saved on a little insulation in that one. [laughter] All kinds of fun there. >> Anything else or are we good? >> Not on my end. Any other questions we can answer? We did light up all the boilers. Knock on the wood. They all fired. So, we are making
070heat. So, >> that is good. >> All right. >> That time of year. >> Item E donations. Mr. petrol patter. >> Yeah, we got a couple donations here. Um, we want to thank Kin Kids in late and Bagman. They made a donation of $500 to each building uh guidance department. So, that's used as our guidance counselors kind of see fit. Pitella, I know there's no lack of need. So, we thank Ken for that. Um, Kate Holtzman donated pumpkins for all students at irres. Thank you, Kate. That's a few uh Kelsey and Dustin Halverson for IR snack donations. Uh Darren Msau for a handmade wooden puzzle board that went to the NES guidance department. I don't know if you want to say anything on that, but that's >> you know just like magic. I mentioned it.
071It appeared in my office shortly afterward. >> We thank Darren and the Mizar family. uh Andy and Amy Mack for a large donation of food to supplement their backpack program. Uh the Mission Covenant Church donated a large amount of winter jackets, boots, hats, and gloves for many, many students. Um Costas um donated $1,000 to the NHS student council. Uh those of you that remember, they had a food truck here for our homecoming festivities and they donated all the money back to the student council. So very, very Very, very nice donation there. Um, thank you. Thank you. Uh, Greymont LLC donated $500 to Tiger Manufacturing and Rachel Zawiki donated five gently used compression shirts to the special education department. Those are our donations and we thank all of our donors. Yeah, that's uh that's quite the
072list. It's it's good. Um, I'm glad to see that that's happening and I'm extremely grateful. It's a great community. Uh, item F, the WASB correspondents and legislative report. >> Yes. Um, on October 31st, Governor Tony Ivers signed into law 82, now known as 2025 Wisconsin Act 42. bill generally restricts cell phone and personal device usage during instructional time by requiring school boards to adopt policies. The bill grants a number of exceptions to the restrictions, including for perceived emergencies if people's healthcare or IEP 504 plan or if a teacher deems it necessary for educational purposes. Um, last week the Assembly Committee on Education held a public hearing on bills making it easier for students to be eligible for voucher programs, uh, student discipline and an overhaul of math instruction based on act 20. um based [clears
073throat] on the act 20 overhaul of literacy instruction. It also added that there is no funding attached. Um these bills are not expected to pass this legislative session, but they will be lots of discussion and hopefully shaped for the future. >> Thank you. I would like to say um the cell phone thing uh you didn't you didn't say it, but that has to be a policy in place by July 1st of 2026. Uh, I have had a couple people reach out to me um wondering how soon we're going to adapt a policy. And I uh it's it's my um my feeling. I kind of want to see what WB does um to come up with some legal jargon as to making sure that we don't put a policy in place that we have to recant
074and then do something again. Um, I am happy to see that on a personal level. I, uh, interested to see how we're going to be able to implement that and do everything and come up with a policy that I think is right for everybody. Um, so just FYI, that's kind of where my >> it doesn't surprise me that the schools that I've noticed have had such policies and been pleased I think with the results. >> Is that correct? you know just from a district perspective I um you know the the push has always been onetoone technology from a computer aspect co happened and we were able to achieve that um everybody sat in front of a screen and the longer we go you start to see u pull back happening I believe at the elementary
075school level co there's Chromebooks are not going home >> no [laughter] >> I think at the middle school level two. They're not going >> um not sixth grade with the trend going to potentially seventh and eighth grade next year. So, um it's I I think again on a personal level, I don't have any data in front of me, but I think the push to have all that happen and then seeing maybe some effects of that and it being pulled back. Um, I think this is just another one of those things to uh hopefully focus on education and not instant Google tweet face. The pendulum is coming back a little bit. We will have we've had some additional conversations administratively. We will continue to have those. But I do agree that we let the legal beagle
076folks write some policy for us. Neiola is our policy provider. They're very well aware of this. I don't know, Miss Keller if they've said anything about policy yet. the law is still really fresh >> and [clears throat] we do have the ability to change. You know, you said Neiola, right? >> Yeah. So, I know I know >> Yeah. There has been a couple of different instances where we've seen a policy and we've it's only happened a handful of times since I've been on the board, but we have made some alterations to certain policies. So, we do have the ability to do that. >> Uh C12 report. >> Yeah. Um we did have virtual meeting on October 21st. Um got some update. Uh facility work is in progress. Wallpaper removal and painting are underway. Roof work
077will be the next project as approved by the border control previously that's on the new CISA building in Ashland. Um moral report Olivia Dachel presented on the youth apprenticeship program. The program had 175 students complete the program last year. That brought additional funding to participating districts. This year, there are 141 students currently enrolled with 116 employers engaged in youth apprenticeship programs. These numbers are typically seen later in the year. Some improvements to communication processes has helped students get involved sooner. This is help this is helping build the local workforce. Um, sure to update update staff evaluation process for CC12 staff. The process designed to help every staff person improve no matter what their role. Um, and the board approved agency administrator goals for the 2526 school year. >> Very good. Thank you, sir. Uh, item
078H, uh, student staff and community recognition, Mr. Petrol. Um, we just finished up first quarter, so we just want to recognize all of our new hires that have joined us. Um, and we we have various, you know, various people, teachers, support staff, um, cooks, custodians, bus drivers. So, we just want to give a moment to recognize them. Um, you get that first quarter in, you really start to try to settle into the new gig. And, and the reality is is that we wouldn't be able to do it without new people every year. So, that is our recognition this month. Very good. Uh the my my computer agenda and my paper agenda are not the same. So I apologize if it looks like I uh screwed these last two up. But uh item H I I
079should say reports from Northwestern Elementary, Iron River, uh Elementary, Northwestern Middle, High School, athletics and activities director, special education, um all that. I would hope that you went through that. They are nice to read. So again, lot of reading. And then finally, our student board representatives. >> I I'll go first. Okay. So for clubs, um they've been somewhat busy recently with FFA having a leadership mission impact. Um FFA is leaving on Thursday and Friday overnight. They will have they just had a volunteer work last Saturday. Um they had a few kids go down and pick buckthornne at Camp Nebagaman. That's in Lake. Um um with Thanksgiving coming up, FCCLA is having their annual Thanksgiving basket. I believe it's their 20th year they've been doing this. Yeah. Um they're also letting people buy a $10 turkey
080feather that shows you donated. It goes on a big turkey in the common area. For drama one act there, um they just came back from Oaklair. Can never say that. um for competition. Um they made it to state. Um we're not sure where, oh well, I'm not sure where State's going to be right now, but I do know they're leaving the 21st and the 22nd of November. Um they're having their one act performance November 18th. Um they'll be performing Small Actors and the play Apostrophes. >> Um for DECA, they're having an ELC is it competition or >> Conference. Okay. I didn't know. Leaving on Sunday, coming back Monday evening. I believe it's not all but it's um is it all the officers or >> uh yeah, most our officer team will be going down the
081line. >> Um that's all we have for clubs right now. >> And then as for sports, we're kind of in the in between stage right now where most of the fall sports are done um and some of the winter um sports have started. So, the girls volleyball team wrapped up their season in Baron. Uh, this was the regional championship game. Um, and the last time they made it to this level was 2020, so overall pretty successful season. Um, and Shelby Hustle was selected to compete in the volleyball border battle, which is basically they select certain um, players, seniors from Wisconsin teams all over the state or all over the hard norm. and then they also do the same in Minnesota and they play each other. Um, so that'll be tomorrow night at 5:30. The cross
082country team wrapped up their season with Sophie Navaro competing at the state competition and she took tw uh 10th overall for girls. The football team continues their season and will take on Stratford for a state qualifying game. They defeated Grantsburg this last Friday in a 44 to6 win. And winter sports have kicked off. So, girls hockey, uh, which we co-op with Superior with, begins today. U Michaela Gisler is a senior captain and she was sharing her excitement for the season and saying there's a rush of underassman joining the team this year and that she's excited to see this new dynamic in play. Along with girls basketball starting today, they have many returners, so it should be interesting to see how they perform without their two seniors that kind of held the team together last year.
083Um, and the dance team also starts their season today with evening practices to comply with the continuing of fall sports. [clears throat] The dance team has had a lot of success um, in the past years with going to states um, the past six years in a row and they're looking to continue that this year and that's all I have for sports. >> Awesome. >> Thank you very much. >> That being said, we're going to go to the final item here, comments from the audience. Uh now that we have concluded the business of the board,