September 8, 2025 School Board Meeting

001All >> righty. The meeting will now come to order. Roll call. Mr. Pro here. >> M. Brunette >> here. >> Mr. Cowie >> here. >> Mr. Glanic here. >> Mr. Hirs >> here. >> Miss. Johnson. I am here. Please rise for the pledge. Led by Mr. Hirsh. >> I pledge allegiance 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. >> All right. Before I go to number two, I've already screwed up number one. Would our student representatives please introduce yourselves to the uh public and the board? >> Uh my name is Evan Croer. I'm a senior. Um here because I want to be. I don't know. [Laughter] Um, my name is Mandela Mshack. I'm also a

002senior and I guess I'm here because I like new things. >> All right, cool. >> We have one more three. >> You want three people, so they're all too qualified so I could kick one off. >> That's all right. When the other one shows up, we are going to do the same thing for them. >> Lord is the other one today. So, we're gonna they're all busy and stuff, so we thought we're rotating through all characters >> following in the footsteps of her sister. >> All right. Item two. The agenda was posted throughout the district according to schoolboard policy, published as a legal ad in the superior telegram, posted on the district web page. A meeting notice was sent to the connection for publication. the approval for the September 8th, 2025 agenda open in executive

003sessions. We will need a motion and a second. >> That's a great agenda. I make a motion to approve. >> Hit this one out of the park. >> I'll second. >> All right. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Anybody opposed? >> Right. >> Item four, the consent agenda. Uh item A, minutes from the August 11th, 2025 regular school board meeting and close session and amended 20 July 22nd, 2025 special meeting minutes. Uh any questions on any of that? Good. Item B, the treasures report, Mr. Cowie. >> All right. On the general account on August 31st, 2025, there was a balance of 6,678,9246 cents in cash and investments. receipts since the 1st of September and not included in the August 31 balance are $44,443.15 and the dispersements from tonight's September 8th board

004meeting total $124,976.15 in the flexible spending account on August 31st 2025. There was a balance of $30,98261 in cash and investments in the health reimbursement account. On August 31st, 2025, there was a balance of $7,77655 in cash and investments. Uh, and the debt service fund on August 31st, 2025, there was a balance of $674.92 in cash and investments. A detailed report on fund activity is included in the financial statements. >> Thank you, sir. Item C, payment of invoices. I would hope anybody that had uh questions reached out to our dual roll person regarding that. Item D, resignations employments. Mr. Petrol, we have two resignations. uh Savannah Tisher Nodine from Iron River and then Heather Lundine Food Service as the two resignations on this agenda. Carefully move on to employment. Please do. Uh a couple of

005new team members across the district. Rachel KD uh NES para educator. Blanca Severson second grade. Lisa Hasselgrave parah educator. Courtney Mashlin parah educator. Randy Mush, NMS PAR educator, and Amy Christensen, food service are our new employments. Then we have two internal transfers. Um Allison Hollesclaw moving over from Tiger's Den to fourth grade and then Kendra Rumman moving from secure second grade to NES second grade. Any questions on that? It's a very active August and September here. So, let's hope that that calms down slightly. >> Yes. >> Uh, with that being done, any questions on any of those items? If not, I'm going to need a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda. >> Make a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> I'll second it. >> I have a motion and a second.

006All those in favor, please say I. >> I. Anybody opposed? Motion passes. Uh item five, approval items. Uh item A, interd district transfers, Mr. Petro. So we have two interd district transfers. Um the information is in the board packet. Um do we have our 4K parent here? And then do we have our third grade parent here? There you go. So we have both parents here. Um, and they've uh provided their justification information via the the board packet. Is there anything myself or any of them can answer for you? I believe they've actually started because school has started, but this is how we've worked in the past um since the board meeting does not line up with the start of our school year. >> Did everybody get the uh the correspondence from them? >> So, the

007recommendation is to approve both So, they've started and are liking it. They like the trend. >> Oh, yeah. >> Okay. >> It's good fit. So, yeah. Nice. >> I'll make a motion to approve both uh interd district transfers. >> I'll second it. >> We have a motion and a second. Uh all those Any other discussion? Are we good? >> All those in favor, please say I. I. >> Anybody opposed? Motion passes. You're both welcome to stay if you wish, but if you want to leave, no. Uh, >> thank you very much. >> No judgment here. >> Oh, he squealled his tires. >> Uh, item B, uh, policies. The final ray, a final read on three different policies. 11:30, ethics and conflicts of interest. Uh item 3230 ethics and conflicts of interest and 4230 ethics and

008conflicts of interest. Do you have anything that you would like to speak on? >> Yeah. So these were uh tabled policies from our July meeting. Um we're bringing back now. Um we wanted to provide a little bit more information about what the definition of a relative is. So this is as it says there ethics and conflict of interest around supervision of of relatives. Um, so Wendy Study, our HR manager, worked to try to provide a I'd say a pretty accurate and useful definition for us for this policy. Um, I don't know if you want me to read it out loud. It is there for you, but uh, it's it's comprehensive in my opinion and something that would definitely cover the district as part of these policies. If we do approve it tonight, then Miss Keller

009will work with our friends from board docs and to make sure that that gets plugged into the policy and it goes on to our our websites. >> The only question I have is where does our definition live? >> So, this one will live in the policy itself. We'd add it to >> itself. Okay. >> So, that's essentially why we tabled these because we didn't know for sure. That would be the what's what's in the board or board enhancement is what would be essentially copied and pasted into the policy. >> No other discussion. I make a motion to approve these three policies as I'll second. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor please say I. >> I. >> Anybody opposed? Motion passes. We are just cooking through today. Item C, the athletic

010cooperative programs with superior. >> So this is a and Mr. Smith is with us, so I'm going to I'm going to lean heavily on him to cover this topic. >> I believe this is an annual process for us. >> Is annual requires annual renewal. Gymnastics club and the other two, the boys swimming and the girls. >> Girls hockey is every other year and ours are due. So, this is is this a renewal of obviously gymnastics for the year, but girls and boys, girls hockey, boys swimming, this is for a two-year renewal. Is there a I'm just asking if we I mean, I'm pretty sure we're going to say yes to this, but if uh we say yes, and does this then have to be approved by the Superior School District as well? And >> yes,

011>> can so can they come back say they say yes this year can they come back next year and say we want to be done with this and can they cancel that halfway through or are you good for two years >> for two years >> we're from >> upon that? Yeah, gymnastics is is annual. >> Yeah, >> just ballpark. What do you anticipate uh the participation will be? >> Uh to my knowledge, we have three at least three if not four girls that'll do gymnastics. We have three might be fourth girls hockey player. We don't have any swimmers at this time. >> Fully swimmers at this time. >> Is there a cost on this or no? >> Yes, there is. We get build from superior. They they take the total number of players from both

012athletes from both schools. They take the total cost of the program >> pro rate >> and they divide it per they get per player >> cost. >> Correct. And we as a district do cover that at this moment in time. >> Sure. >> How do they calculate the cost of the program? I mean does football include the turf we put down or with hockey and gymnastics is relatively high because you rent space to practice. >> Oh, sure. >> You buy ice to play hockey. They do gymnastics at a offsite >> facility. Okay. Breaking news. Hockey can get expensive for all involved. >> Mr. Smith, I apologize for your question. If I would have read the provided information, I would have had my answers right there in front of me. what I'm here for. >> I

013had to scroll down a little bit further like, oh, there it is right there. >> My question is probably in here also. >> Oh, there you go. >> I say it every year, but wish there was boys hockey co-ops. >> Yeah, that was that was my question. Um, if there are athletes, is there a requirement to have a place for them to play said sport or like can a school refuse to co-op for us to offer program or there's no requirement for school to take us? It is a mutual agreement. >> Okay. >> Between two schools and the key word there is mutual. So, >> I think we'd welcome some other opportunities, but at this point in time, these are the three that we have. >> Is there no girls swimming? >> Not at this

014time, though. >> Oh, all right. All right. Well, with all of that discussion, looking for a motion in a second. I'll make a motion to approve the co-op co-op agreements with Superior for gymnastics, girls hockey, and boy swimming. >> I'll second that. >> Have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Anybody opposed? Motion passes. Item D, authorization of the issuance of establishing parameters for a temporary borrowing in amount not to exceed 2.795 million pursuant to section 67.128A1 Wisconsin statutes. Mr. Petrol cutter nailed this the statute there. Thank you. >> Yeah. Um this is a pretty annual process for us. The this is what's called short-term borrowing. Um and why we have to do this is the reality is is that um cash flow for the district can

015can get very lean. Um how we're structured to get funding from the state, it comes in big chunks. Um and the reality is our bills and payroll come on a monthly basis. So, um, that inconsistency with revenue versus the consistency with bills, um, a lot requires us to to do what we call short-term borrowing to kind of cover those peaks and valleys, for lack of a better term. Um, we have worked with Ellers's Financial. This one is officially for the board's approval for me to work with them to go out to bid to make sure that we get the best or lowest interest rates on this borrowing. Of course, the lowest lower the interest rate, the less money it costs in interest. Um, I do anticipate this number will be less than what's listed here.

016Um, but we won't have the complete information until we do some third Friday count uh process where we're getting an idea as to how many students are actually walking through our doors. So, that will happen. I believe September 19th is the official count date for all students in the state of Wisconsin, all districts. Um, and then from there, the October meeting, we'll have this information and then the board will will make a decision with one caveat. The October 13th is a federal holiday. So, what we'll end up doing is bringing the information to you. You will give me the hopefully the ability to say we would like to select the lowest bid. At that point in time, I will have information on biders A, B, C, and D. Hopefully, we get a couple. Um, there's

017been some years where we've had just one. There's been some years where we've had multiple, but um the reality is that if we didn't do this, we'd have a rough time paying bills a month, which is not a good thing. Wendy Study, I always give her kudos and she loves when I do this. Um we do put this money to work. We do put it in the what we call the LGIP account, which tries to maximize our return on investment to offset the revenue or the the interest cost. So, the recommendation is to approve so that way we can consistently pay our bills monthtomonth, which I'm told is a good thing from the business manager. >> This is less than last year, is it not? >> It is. I I anticipate continuing to borrow less

018and less as we um which is a good thing that the ultimate goal is to be in the situation where we don't have to borrow any money to cover our shortfalls. Um we thankfully, this is technically my third year doing this. Um, each year has been a little bit less and a little bit less. So, my goal is to to get us to a point we're at zero. >> Any additional questions? >> I was just going to say I make a recommendation to approve the um short-term borrowing exploration. [Music] >> I have a motion and a second. And this is a roll call vote. Uh, Mr. Pros, >> yes. Miss Brunette, >> yes. >> Mr. Cowley, >> yes. >> Mr. L, >> yes. >> Mr. Hirs, >> yes. >> Miss Johnson, >> yes. And >>

019I vote yes. >> Unanimous. Don't spend it all in one place. >> Uh, item six, uh, presentation by bear with the potential tax impact. I'll let you start this one. >> I can start this one. So, um, we have, uh, spent the past few months going through what we, you know, have talked about as a district-wide facilities audit to help create a long range facility plan. So, our goal was to, you know, um get an idea of what we need to be cognizant of in our buildings, uh within our buildings and on our grounds to help our board create a long range facilities plan to ensure our our buildings continue to uh to serve our students for years to come. So through that project essentially we identified over 350 potential items that will need to

020be addressed within the next 10 to 12 years. The reality is is that the whole project if we looked at it in one big chunk which is not what I recommend doing is north of $40 million in cost. So we've worked with the engineers from and architects from Myron and ISG, our custodial staff, our administrative team to identify the most critical projects that we feel like are of immediate need and then also that ones that'll need to be addressed in the short term. So that list um going by building, some of these projects have been talked about heavily, but I just want to put them out into the world. um NES replacement of the the roof structure. It is the original roof on that building from 1997. We continue to uh do everything we can

021to limp that along, but it is due for replacement. Um we need some updated wiring to to help support the technology in our classrooms over there. Schools never tend to have enough outlets, so we need to to update that. The uh the flooring throughout the hallways is original to that building. It shows age if you've been in it. Uh tiles cracking, looking to replace that. And then the the building control system, basically all the the controls that run our HVAC system over there are are well beyond their useful life and are slated to be replaced. Those are the very very much immediate costs. some emerging costs within the next three to six years. The east driveway and west driveway are showing age. Um there's spots on the southside sidewalk panels that need replacements. Lots of

022cracking going on there. The classroom casework, carpet, tile, paint is all dated. That'd be something that we'd be looking to refresh. Um all three playgrounds, north playground, what we call the 35 playground, the south playground, what we call the K2 playground, and the early childhood playground. Um but all due for some some significant investments in restoration. All that stuff is getting aged. Um we have water booster pumps that help us circulate water between the middle school and elementary school. That's where our water comes from. They um it serves both buildings. That's getting dated. The boilers, there's three in total in that building. Those are getting closer to the end of their life. Um the AC unit which serves the middle part of the building essentially. It's a rooftop unit that's getting up there in age

023as well, original to the building. And then uh security upgrades with the key fob system is something that would be something that we see as a need there. Any questions on Northwestern Elementary? If not, I will move on to Iron River Elementary. Um I remember uh most immediate needs the the shingled portion of the gym roof uh it's the only shingled portion of that building is is due to be replaced. Number of shingles come off each year through the winter months um and need to be addressed. There's also a series of windows original to that building that are well beyond their age. Useful life. They're hard to open. Hardware's breaking in some cases the the casements are rotting out. um would be immediate needs there. Uh beyond that in the emerging category uh building control

024system similar to NES is dated needs to be replaced. The fire alarm panel in that building is very old and looking to address or needs to be addressed. The uh the HVAC system is more of an individual unit basis. It's not how they typically do things anymore. Um, when we look at how schools are built now, there's all three of our schools in terms of the middle school, NEES, and the high school have a central buildingwide HVAC system with a series of air handlers. Um, Iron River is individual classrooms dated needs to be looked at. We have a series of bathrooms that are not ADA compliant. So, if we were to address that, that would be a need. Um, and then another part of the building control system, what we call variable frequency drives, VFDs.

025They help modulate air coming into the building based off the temperatures. It helps us a lot with energy efficiency. Very very dated as well. Um that playground over there could use some TLC and then a key fob system for this building as well. You'll see that as a common need throughout our district for security purposes. the middle school um immediate cost fire alarm panel there is very dated and beyond its useful service life. This has been pretty well advertised and if you've driven in the southside sidewalk and the southside driveway need immediate attention. Um it's not just simply replacing the black top and the concrete. It's trying to figure out how to mitigate water because we are in clay country and when water sits underneath those two items in the winter time it causes a

026lot of problems as most people know. Another commonality the building control system for there is dated as well. Um some of the more emerging costs in the next three to six years for that building. Uh the westside parking lot and driveway are slated for some improvement. Um really entire sitewide there's drainage issues. There's low areas. Um it's tough to get water to get away from that building because it's clay and it's not in necessarily an elevated area. Um there's not any ramp access to the playground. We have two domestic water booster pumps in that building that move water back and forth that are very very much aging. The the tile in that building is original in most cases to the building itself back from the 70s. It served its life. A lot of the classroom

027case work um is original to 1970s when it was originally built. Um the staff lounge does not have necessary needs. There's not even a sink in that building for our teachers to wash dishes. It's something that we'd like to potentially address. There are some newer portions of the parking lot driveway area there that were replaced approximately 10ish years ago. Um some seal coating, crack sealing is needed, TLC to extend the life of that. And then another key fob system high school some uh immediate costs. The aird dryer system for a wooden metal shops is is reaching its its life expectancy. Mr. Charlie and the team and our head custodians do a great job of piecing it together. But we use that every day. If you've ever been up here and watch our students in the

028wood shop and metal shop, it is a busy area. Um the flooring for the metal shop is very dated. if you walk through there too, that could use some some TLC, no doubt. Um, the joint sealants for all the pre-cast walls. So, this is a basically a pre-cast concrete panel building, the new sections of it, for lack of a better term. Those joints are filled with caulk and eventually that weathers and needs to be pulled out and replaced. So, we're getting to the end of the life on that. The water heater to this building is original to 2008. It continues to give us some grief. We continue to put parts in it and fix it, but ultimately it's it's reaching the end of its life. There are two air conditioning units directly related to our

029server rooms that cool all the technology that runs the the internet which we all know is vital to the jobs that we do whether we like it or not. Um those two are well past their their service life. Um the camera system here is dated and something that could really use an update. Most of the technology is 10 to 12 plus years old, which for technology is very very old. And I always joke I think it has a battery. If I can get five years out of it, I feel pretty good. Um, and then this the track is in in line for a resurface and a repaint. The good news is we don't believe that we'll have to strip it and go all the way down to what would be the asphalt subgrade, but they

030can resurface it and buy another close to 20 years of life out of the track. um immediate needs for the high school emerging needs. Some of our driveways are slated for for some TLC um self driveway, entrance driveway, west parking lot repairs. The building AC unit that serves a number of areas is original to the building and getting old. And then another commonality that we see is some of those variable frequency drives throughout the building are starting to fail. Again, that's another one that helps modulate temperature um based on outside air. It does show up in energy efficiency savings for us. And then the last one there is a key fob system for this building as well as a commonality. So in in total, you know, we're looking at north of close to $18 million

031worth of potential projects here. So, um, Kevin from Kevin Mullen from Beard Financial is going to join us, um, and talk through some potential tax impact scenarios. So, Kevin, this is his area of expertise. He's worked with school districts throughout the state, probably more than you cared a number, I bet. Um, but Kevin's going to kind of sit down with us and look through some some potential information that I think the board will be wanting to hear. So, Kevin, I'm going to turn it over to you. >> Thanks, Cody. >> You can introduce yourself, too. >> Yeah, I appreciate that. And I feel like Cody kind of gave the punch line away. I'm kind of old school, but uh but I have worked with a lot of school districts especially up here recently. So recently

032I've worked with Drummond, um Southshore, Washburn, Bayfield to name a few, Northwood um because there's a fair amount of need that's being addressed presently in this area. Um, I also worked with counties and municipal governments throughout the state doing similar types of work uh, including Douglas County. And that's just to give you a sense as to some of the work that's going on generally in this uh, area. So my goal tonight really is a couple fold. one is I just want to give you like a very basic understanding and I'm sure you have a good understanding of the school formula and how um the levy works but also then talk about the debt service piece and how to communicate debt and a tax impact for debt moving forward because I think all those things fit

033together and you're in a really unique situation and I want to point that out. unique is good, but also unique can create some, you know, challenges with regard to communication. And I want to, you know, kind of frame what those things are for you so that you have a sense as to how that can impact your conversation moving forward. And I also want to keep it to about 15 or 20 minutes so you have a chance for questions and don't get totally bored. Um, so first, um, this does happen, which is great. Um, last year when you approved your budget, you approved a total tax levy for $10,396,000. Um, you're going to be going to a similar this year in October, approving a tax levy. And that tax levy consisted of three pieces. Your revenue

034limit, which is um basically uh oh, just put just put it by you. the you know teens of people online. >> Yes. [Music] >> Um that cont uh consists of three components. The revenue limit piece which the state um you know basically dictates through the legislative process what the revenue limit is is based on uh spending per student and that's capped and for you that's $6,850,000. you have a modest amount in community service of 40,000. And then separate from all of that, you have your annual payment for referendum approved debt. Um that payment in last year's budget was $3.5 million roughly. So your budget consisted of those three things for a total of 10 million 396. And so when we talk about the impacted debt, we're really looking at the change on that piece. So

035if you were to take that 10,396 and convert it into a mill rate, uh that mill rate uh breaks down to $6.77 per thousand of fair market or equalized value. Now obviously you like many communities especially in the Northwest here um have seen really large increases in fair market value. Um, so tax rate sometimes isn't the best gauge of what the impact to a taxpayer is because all that uh increase is inflationary. Your home was worth $100,000 last year, now it's worth $15. If the tax rate goes down, but the your the value of your house goes up, the impact is kind of the same. And so that's why we like to really focus on that tax levy as opposed to mill rate. But mil rate does help from a comparative standpoint for a couple

036of reasons. So um so that mill rate uh $6.77 cents again is your total budget that goes to the taxpayers divided by your equalized value of a billion536. So if you look at your tax rate uh since 2016 that's gone down. It's gone down for two major reasons. one um your revenue limit per student hasn't grown a lot as you lose students or students your enrollment stays relatively stable that has gone down aid has generally increased um but the last piece as I mentioned earlier is that fair market value has increased so all of those three things have led to kind of this general decline in the tax rate per thousand so you know you've gone from $1345 in 2016 down to $6.7 77. Also wanted to uh give you a sense as to what

037your borrowing authority is. So you as a school district can borrow up to 10% of your equalized value. And as I mentioned earlier, that amount is 1 billion536, which means that you have the technical ability through state statute to borrow 153 $154 million worth of G general obligation debt. You presently have 7 million outstanding, which gives you a remaining debt capacity of $146 million. I assume you all want to be reelected. Maybe not. But, you know, like um moving forward with all 146 would just not be reasonable. But I think it does help put into context, you know, what uh you know, is is is this borrowing amount reasonable relative to what you have outstanding. And so, you know, that's a function of growth in value, but also the fact that you've been conservative and

038aggressive with repayment of your existing debt. Um so both of those things you know have contributed to that and that's a very good position to be in. So I think one of the best uh ways to use a tax rate is to compare yourself to other communities because you know that is relatively stable. You know there's been growth in value everywhere and you know everyone is kind of facing similar challenges. So, if you look at last year and compare yourself, I use both geographic and conference peers just to get get a sense as to who might be on that list. Um, but you are, you know, smack dab in the middle, maybe to a little bit of the right of what that total tax levy rate is compared to those peers. Um, you're also very

039unique in that you have some pretty unique peers around you. Um, you know, Northwood schools is the in Northwood and Drummond are two of the lowest tax rates in the state. Um, and Southshore and Bayfield tend to be on the higher end um, just because of the way that the school funding formula works. And you're smack dab in the middle. >> The drum number probably doesn't include the reference. >> It does include the reference. It does both references. Correct. Yep. you got a lot of property value per >> that's exactly right. Yeah, >> that's why it's what it is. >> Small number of students and lots of property value. >> Um the other thing that I wanted to uh give you a sense of is the borrowing rate. And so what this chart is, um,

040it's probably the least interesting chart in a relatively uninteresting presentation, but this is a look back over the last 30 years of what a 20-year borrowing interest rate cost is for the highest rated um, credit quality of a municipal bond. So, think of it as like the the gold standard of a borrower, best credit rating for a 20-year borrowing. So if you were to look back 30 years, you know, that interest rate was uh above 6% back in 1995 and it dropped precipitously heading into 2020. And when we were in COVID, um you know, that rate was down around 1%. Just over 1%. And it, you know, as we came out of COVID and the Fed started, um, you know, increasing the Fed funds rate, we saw that interest rate go back up and we've

041kind of settled back into what is historically a relatively average interest cost for borrowing. The reason that I want to show you this is twofold. One, looking back, we're at a pretty average interest rate environment over that 30-year period of time. Not too high, not too low. It's kind of like right in the middle. Um but also when we talk about a borrowing um we've made some estimates with regard to interest cost and we've been conservative relative to what this uh 30-year historical look back looks like. So we're using conservative interest rates based on the historical reality if that makes sense. So, the biggest question that you probably have is if we were to borrow $18.9 million, what would that do to what would that impact look like to our taxpayers? And as I mentioned

042earlier, you're in a really unique situation. I mentioned that that far right hand block of the three pieces of your um budget included $3.5 million of a debt service payment. Um, it also includes a little bit of a special borrowing uh energy efficiency loan that acts and smells like referendum approved debt. So, when it's paid off, it will come off your revenue limit. So, we've included that payment in here. But, if you look at your existing debt payments, like I said, last year you had about $3.7 million scheduled for debt, and that includes your referendum approved debt service plus this energy efficiency loan. In the budget that you're preparing right now that you're probably going to approve in October, you're going to have 3.9 million roughly for that type of debt in that budget. But

043after that, the large payment for the last referendum project goes away. And so your debt service cost drops dramatically. So we've assumed that the timing of a new borrowing would begin as that debt service on your old borrowing ends. And so the first B payment would be in 2000, the budget that you create in 2026 for a payment in 27 and it would fill in the gap where your old borrowing was. What's unique about this is if you took an 18 million $18.9 million borrowing and you paid that off and kept your payments relatively constant year-over-year, the first question I had was how quickly could you pay that back without increasing your debt levy? So that answer is roughly 2032. Um, and I used an interest rate of 4.75%. So that would be a really

044quick payback for a loan that size, but it also would mean that there is no increase in terms of the budget impact year-over-year. And it seems, you know, if I were to just walk in and say, well, you could do 18.9 million for no impact, you would have shown me the door. Um, so I'm saying it now, but it's possible. And the reason is is that your payments drop after 2026. So that's one answer. Oftentimes when you go to survey like you're considering doing right now and you may have optionality in your survey questions, you know, do we want to um you know add a pool? Because I know you're not adding a pool. I'll use that as an example. Do we want to add a pool? And that pool is a $2.5 million question

045here. How would you say, you know, if 18.9 million included the pool and then we were looking at a number that didn't include the pool, what's less than zero? But I wanted to put a value to that 2.5 million project. So if you were to borrow 18.9 million over this period of time, that's no no impact. If you were to borrow $2.5 million less than that, if you look on the bottom right hand side, that impact would go down by 30 cents. So you could say using this repayment, that impact is roughly 31 cents for $2.5 million. Now, we've made a bunch of assumptions. I'm going to stop there because you probably have questions about that. I saw you take a breath. >> 31 cents per >> Per thousand or per 100 thousand? >> Per

046per well per thousand. So, um it would be 31 uh dollars per 100,000. >> Now, >> that's an important stat just so we all are aware. Yeah. You know, you're doing the math of okay, what am I what are my taxes? >> Correct. Um >> no, go ahead. >> Why six years to pay off? I know that meshes with the becoming off, but why you know these are >> sure five 30year investments. Correct. Why not pay? >> I so glad you asked that question. So if we were to borrow and the board has discretion to borrow longer, right? So you could borrow longer. So two things happen when you borrow longer. First, your interest rate and your interest costs go up because you're spreading that payment out over a longer period of time. but also

047other taxpayers who are going to be using the project. The other thing that happens is your impact goes down. So you're going you're stretching it out 10 years, your tax impact would actually go down by 76 cents per thousand. Similarly, if you were to do it over 20 years, which is the longest period of time that the state allows you to do that, interest rate goes up, interest cost goes up, tax impact goes down. So, that would be a reduction of $133. So, the reason we didn't start there is because I, you know, I have been involved in a lot of these conversations. You're going to talk with school perceptions later. It's really, really difficult to build credibility when you tell someone that they're going to borrow $18.9 million and their tax bill is going

048to go down. Um, I think it's fair to say their tax bill is not going to go up no matter how you cut the onion. You, as a board, if a referendum is successful, would have the decision in terms of how you borrow afterwards in terms of what that looks like. And certainly you could go in, you know, with your head held high and say no impact for this project. It could be less. And you as a board could decide once the referendum is approved, if it's approved, whether you borrow, you know, and keep that mil that tax impact exactly where it was, stretch it 10, stretch it 20. Um, similarly, if you borrowed, you know, two and a half million dollars less, you could pay it off even earlier than what was originally shown,

049you So you have a lot of flexibility but um Rob uh Denise from school per perceptions and Becca the three of us have talked and in terms of how to present it it's quite a dilemma right you know you don't want to just if you start here then you as a board you're kind of locked in and I think from a the standpoint of messaging in the survey no impact potentially 31 cents for a 2 and a half million dollar project and certainly that's the conversation you should have. Yes sir. So on the shorter um bone, aren't you better off because costs are I mean you could pay for things within the next six years because the money's coming in quicker whereas if the money's not coming in that quick ar all four examples, you

050would have all the money on July 1 and you could spend it right away. >> Um and you would invest it. It's just the payment each year. You know, one you're paying it off much more quickly as opposed to this one, you're paying it off over a longer period of time. But in all four scenario, >> back slides to the first option again twice. Yeah. >> Does that um Cody, you could correct me if I'm wrong here, but but and I see the the lovely Myin lady back there, but th this was a I thought, didn't didn't when we originally talked about this, this was like a three-year project to get all of the stuff that we had talked about over the next two or three years. Is that I mean am I >> so

051then it would be eight or nine months not just construction until spring >> and and everything hypothetically here we go to referendum everything here gets approved we got 19 million bucks right and and that $19 million is going to get spent over projects it's not going to happen the first year it's going to take time to get done So, if I'm correct in that, but year one, we've got $4 million worth of projects. The other go $15 million goes into a an account where Wendy's going to work her magic and we're going to end up earning back all of our money. And come on, Wendy. But, but that the the money that is I guess so now back to you. So the money that's being borrowed at an interest rate of 4 and a.5 or

0525% depending on the term you're taking into consideration 100% of those funds are not returning us anything. So if we've got $15 million as an example sitting in account earning us 3% annually >> we have a less cost impact to do >> that's right >> whatever and maybe this is now a question for you. So that 3% that I'm just gonna use 3% on $15 million is I don't know what's the math there. I'm not going to do it. But um but whatever that dollar amount is, >> does that have to get used for debt reduction or can that get used for something else? >> That's a great question. >> Take it. >> Yeah. Thanks. Um and you're thinking about it the right way. So a couple of things. Um to your last question, it

053can only be used for one of two things. It can be used for the project for which the borrowing was approved. So it's considered part of the project cost. >> So only for whatever the wording in the project is. So it can't be used for operations which is usually the most common question. >> So it can be used for that or repayment of debt service to repay this borrowing for which it was borrowed. >> So those are the two uh ways that it can be used. I would say generally what happens as you get closer to you know an answer in terms of what your project looks like. You can do a rough estimate as to when you're going to borrow and what that interest income is going to be. And let's just say to

054use a number. I'm not saying it's the number, but let's say it's $500,000 of interest income based on the draw schedule that Becca provides. Um, you could borrow 18.4. You could borrow less, $500,000 less knowing that you're going to use some interest income for that project. Um flip side is you know you can borrow the 18.9 and if there are change orders uh that come along you can use that as contingency for your project. So it's there are really two ways to look at it. >> But in the event that we take that and use it as debt service the example that you have there the $3 million of interest is probably >> not a true number because it if you're going to use it for that I would expect that number is going to

055be reduced. >> Correct. Correct. you could reduce. >> Y >> so we have essentially more capital to use toward our capital projects. >> It'd be a decision that the board would make on how do we want to invest because as I talked about we have a projection but you know you get into the roofing project all of a sudden you find out that we have this curve ball that nobody knew existed right um talking with the iron folks they try to build that in but nobody has torn apart our roof to look at it before we replace it. Um there's always curve balls that happens that the other beauty is that we could say okay we have a laundry list of items that we've talked about here plus potentially another 300 plus more down the

056road that might need to get addressed. Do we want to reinvest it into another project or do we want to put that into debt service repayment really the board will make that decision >> and that's part of what my job will be is to bring that to you and say here's option A option B where do we want to go with this? >> Yeah getting the nail on the head. There's two things we can do with it. >> Yeah, great questions. >> What's the 250 grand in debt? >> That was a great It's the energy effic >> energy efficiency loan. Yeah. And so the energy efficiency loan is a little bit it's a unique borrowing program. So the state considers it you didn't have to go to referendum for that small project. And at the

057time, the state allowed a school district to borrow for that purpose and have a special exemption on your revenue limit. So the special exemption is the $246,000 or whatever the interest principal and interest payment is each year. But when that loan is paid off, your exemption on your revenue limit goes away. So it really and always it looks, smells, and tastes exactly like a referendum bond. And so that's why we've con included it here because it's not like when it goes away you get more revenue limit authority. It just when it goes away it goes away. It >> what it is actually is the there was a $4.5 million borrowing from 20110 somewhere in that range before I got here. It's the energy efficiency exemption for the HVAC system at >> Yeah. So NES was

058very similar setup to what I remember is currently there was at that point in time and I don't believe it'll ever come back is boards could decide to borrow without voter approval. >> Yeah. >> And that's been the repayment schedule that was agreed upon by that board at that point. >> Yeah. So the other uh there's one other assumption here that I think is important that we point out. We assumed when we came up with the tax rate that um growth in value would be 1% a year. Now clearly your growth in value equalized value has been much higher than that but most of that as I said earlier was uh the vast majority of of it was inflationary. So this would be you know a close assumption for what net new construction is meaning

059you know new stuff in the community. This year I think you have 6% growth in new construction in the community. So that's why that number is significantly below what you've been experiencing. But really what I think is important is the levy, the actual dollar payments. So let me just so couple uh brief slides just in terms of you know uh what's happening throughout the state. So um there are three types of referenda uh issuing debt, non-recurring and recurring. Um you can see that you know there were a total of 264 uh questions since 2021 uh for issuing debt. Uh non-recurring operational referendum 300 and recurring operational 91 for almost you know 650 uh different questions throughout the state. um the the most successful referenda on average throughout the state during that period of time have

060been to issue debt. There have been roughly 70% of those questions approved and they're in blue. Uh the blues are the approved. Um >> I should know this, but how many districts are in the state? >> 472. >> I should know that too. 472 I think. Um, in terms of uh Maples uh referendum history going back to 2018, you can see mixed bag um issued debt in 2006 was the most recent uh approved borrowing or approved referendum. Um and you had a non-recurring. It's the only other, you know, one that wasn't for issuing debt um in uh 2018 that did not pass. terms of what some of the, you know, the people on that tax rate list have done um in your area. You can see, you know, who's gone to referendum recently and what

061the uh um success rate has been for them. And this has been since 2020. I think Spooner is the oldest one on there in terms of when they went to referenda. So uh NR is a non-recurring uh operational question and ID is issue debt and then just debt questions. is I wanted to give you a sense uh since 2015 where debt questions have been asked and when they've been successful and you can see um you know there have been uh 421 questions since 200 2015 that have been asked 71% of those have passed and you can see on this map where they've occurred. Quick update on what that timeline looks like. So, um, in even numbered years, you have the opportunity to go to to referendum technically four times. You can only go twice by

062state law. So, generally speaking, you have a springish opportunity either in February or April. Most school districts use the April referendum because that's a more highly um >> attended >> frequented attended thank you uh referendum. And then similarly in the fall you have the November and uh August opportunity. November uh hands down has been the most successful hands down close has been the most successful referendum date. um just because you know we feel like there are lots of people that show up for a November referendum. Um however spring referendums uh because you know you only have two opportunities in a calendar year to ask. Many school districts in even years like to take advantage of the spring opportunity. If their public is not supportive of the referendum, they then can fine-tune the question and come

063come back in the fall. um for you just given that you're you know you you you have this uh situation where your debt service is um stopping on your existing loan and you'd like to take advantage of that timing. Um that might be an op something to consider when you're thinking about whether to go in the spring or in the fall. Going in the spring gives you the chance to come back in the fall and still hit that same budget cycle. Does that make sense? odd number of years, you only have the spring opportunity to go to referendum. There is no fall primary or general. >> Is there still like a punishment if you don't pass a referendum or did that go away? >> Uh, so there's if you are a low revenue limit school

064district, which you're not, and you're going for an operational referendum. Um, if it doesn't pass, then uh I believe that that's still in place that you don't have the opportunity to go back for a certain period of time. Can't remember if that was changed by the legislature in this last banual budget or not. >> To my knowledge, it has not. No, we're we're about $3 over the low revenue limit either. >> The question matters if it's operational versus that issue. >> That's correct. That's correct. >> And the state budget has been set for this year and next year already. So that >> wouldn't necessarily penalize us because it's only if new money comes into the >> the formula and I cannot tell you what's going to happen two years from now. So, some additional thoughts

065um quickly, no one-sizefits-all. Obviously, you have some really unique things that are uh present in your uh conversation. Um and so, yeah, ask lots of questions, involve the community. You've done a nice facility study, make sure your board is on board and you guys are, you know, having the conversations right now. um communication is key and the other is you know every community has something that is a challenge in the community. It's the thing that you kind of talk about and walk around. um make sure you're addressing what we refer to as the elephant in the room in terms of you know the hard questions for the district because you know those are the questions that come up first and you can pretend um that you know they don't exist but for sure your first

066step outside in the referendum world that's the question that'll come up and so we just always encourage you to you know have the hard conversations often and early. So yeah, thanks for your time. Any additional questions? Yeah, thank you. Cool. Let's go twice. So, I do think it's important just for me to tag in there, you know, why are we here or why are we sitting where we're sitting? Um, the reality is is historically educational funding has not kept up with inflation. Um, this has resulted in about 90% of school districts across the state trying to ask this type of question of their local communities. That's all there is to it. um whether it's to pay for capital projects or to increase operating uh revenue for operational expenses. Um our reality is I think almost

067every surrounding district that board is us asked a question like this of their community. Um some have asked twice. Um I know from my chair um we've been able to create a balanced budget over the last couple of years, but it's been by tightening our belt in some areas. Um, it's been staff cuts. It's and and some of that is through attrition and not replacing positions. Uh, reshuffling job titles, job responsibilities. Um, revising healthcare plans. Um, that's the most recent one that was a very very large savings to the district. We've reduced transportation cost. We've revised contracts. We've tried to reduce operational spending to the maximum extent possible. And uh the reality is is that we've balanced the budget off of delaying capital projects like we've talked about and these are are big dollar amounts.

068And um I feel confident in saying that the budget that we have is is very doable, but not when we put in potentially millions of dollars of needs for our buildings that our community technically owns. And the goal of this is not to have to get to this point, but the reality is is that we don't have the funding to pay for this stuff. At least initially, we need to have um conversation with our community to see what they will or or won't support is what it boils down to. So that's why Kevin presented today to talk through some of the options that we maybe want to consider as a board. But we have tried to not get to this point. But the reality is is that the number of projects combined with the potential

069cost of each project, it's tough to figure out how to pay for it or just general operational levy. >> Thank you, Kevin. Appreciate the time. >> I guess one question. Can you can you share that slide deck with us? >> Oh, sure. Yeah, get it through. >> Yep. Thank you. >> Y please share that. >> Yeah. Thank you very much. It's a lot of information to try to retain. All right. Well, that's April. Item seven, the early literacy remediation plan. First read. >> So, I'm going to turn this over to Mr. Laravey. It's part of our act 20 statute. Um, it is a first read, so no action will be taken today. >> Tough act to follow. You know, he talks about the money and now I get to talk about state statutes. So, really

070dry tonight. Um so buried deep in the uh expectations of Wisconsin Act 20 when they passed it uh was some language about communication with families and communication with boards. Um that was a requirement but it was a requirement without really an end date. So, this is something that the Association of Wisconsin administrators at the elementary level and the Wisconsin School Board Association kind of collaborated on and came up with some ideas on how to develop a plan that could be a communication template to family members to uh boards to just say, "Hey, here's how we approach teaching reading. Here's how we assess for learning. And then here's what we do if kids are going to continue to struggle." So, I've been here before and kind of talked about what Act 20 was. This is a

071requirement that says we have to put our practice into paper. Um so um I worked throughout the course of the summer with some other districts kind of batten some ideas around put some ideas into the frameworks that were given to us and then this fall already at the end of the summer ran this through the um Northwestern Elementary School uh building leadership team. Uh Mrs. Fleming who is our reading teacher at NES, Mrs. Craig who's our uh district reading specialist and Mrs. Paul uh Paulus over at Iron River to kind of look at it from the lens of are we putting the what practices into a document that communicates to families here's how we do business. Um, and I've gotten a thumbs up from all of them. Um, a lot of good feedback from them

072about um, how it works and we're bringing it forward to you tonight just as a first reading to say, you know, from your lens, do you have any questions about it? Otherwise, when this comes back, um, it becomes a kind of a living breathing document of how do we approach reading in the school district. So again, this is just a first read for everybody, but we'll bring this back for approval in the October meeting. Um, no action needs to be taken on it at this point in time, but uh it is a procedural step that we got to take. >> Correct. Just uh to meet the requirements and hopefully if you have any questions, feel free to reach out, give me a call or shoot me an email and I can work through it. Or

073feel free to ask any of the teachers at the elementary schools because they live it um I'm kind of the paper jockey on this one. They really put the the work in the classroom. So if you have questions, feel free to ask. [Music] >> All right. >> I only have one question. The um >> this assessment platform Ames web plus. >> Yep. >> Is there a fee associated with it? >> Uh no. So good question. Um so historically in Maple we use some different platforms to look at how kids are growing. Have a paper pencil test that merged into online tests. the state of Wisconsin actually selected plus as the this is what you have to use. Um I wasn't in favor of it but that's what we were given. Um so that is in

074in pre kindergarten twice a year and then in kindergarten through uh third grade we have to use that assessment in reading only three times a year and that is a kind of like the Wisconsin photo exam or the ACT. They tell us that's what we have to use. So it just kind of trickled down. Yeah. Um, it's clunky. My own opinion is we have better tools. Um, but it it gives us measures to say if kids are growing, which is the point. And I can see where the state's coming from saying you all got to use the same thing. So that you can't say, well, you know, Maple says this, but you know, virtual says this. You know, they're just a same tool for everybody, but no fee. >> Thank you. Thank you, sir. >>

075Thank you. All right. Uh, administrative reports. Hey, projected state revenues for the 256 school year. So, I wanted to make sure that this is just part of the conversation with the board. We will work to, and I'll get to this in just a minute about the annual meeting, but um the the predicted state revenues, the what we call the equalization aid for the school district is is projected to have a 15% cut. Um, I will not have that finalized number until October 15th. But state revenue, you know, how we fund education is for us is a combination of two things. Local property tax and state revenue. And it's a it's an inverse formula. The more state aid you get, the lower your property tax level is or levy is, excuse me. Um, the less state

076aid you get, either we got to figure out a cut or we have to levy that. So, um, Kevin talked about our property values continue to rise and that is part of the formula. Um, in the very simplest terms, the more property rich you are in the eyes of the formula, the less state aid you get. Um, and I've done some work. The reality is our property values in equalized value according to the department of revenue um, have have gone up 71% in the last five years. Um, and I'm anticipating another potential 8% jump in that number in the coming would be January 2026. So, this information is just important to get out there that a cut in state aid is hard to handle. It is a formula that we don't have a lot of

077control over. Obviously, I have no control over what the Department of Revenue says our land values are. Um, we do everything we can to make sure we are maintaining as many students as we possibly can, but we are like a lot of districts, we have mostly planned out our enrollment, but we are not nearly as big as what we were 10 years ago in terms of student enrollment. Um, and then the other big part of that formula is shared costs, aka costs that we have to operate. And I know for my chair on the business side of things, we try to do everything we can to spend only what we need, but the reality is is that it costs more to do business on the school side of things as we all know too. So

078I want to at least have this as part of our report that I do anticipate a cut in state aid. I'll have the finalized number officially on October 15. Um again not anything to report on >> but just roughly based on this budget from 9.3 million down >> it's a large cut over a million dollars. >> How does how does that affect the numbers you're set up there? >> That that's somewhat baked into it but this is tough to this is tough to predict. Um, so that's something that the we'll have more information on what the local property tax levy is, but I won't officially have it until October 15th when that number gets finalized from the state. Is that math though? And and I could be wrong here, but if the state reduces it

079by we use 15%. But if the equalized value increases 15%. Is it a bush? Uh, in the eyes of the revenue limit, uh, mil rate potentially, yes, but not in the eyes of the actual tax levy. Um, as as Kevin alluded to, mill rate is a nice tool to compare district A to District B as much as we can make that apples to apples, for lack of a better term. Um, but the local tax levy is what our taxpayers care about. That's what ends up in terms of the school portion on the tax bills that we all get in in January. >> And you're putting out an article in one of the publications going to the >> This is a tough one to explain. Yes. I'm kind of waiting for the finalized numbers as opposed

080to putting projected numbers out there because I think that's really important. >> Yeah. >> Um this is one of those school funding quirks. The reality is we don't know what our revenues are until October 15th. Obviously, our fiscal year starts July 1. Um it's just the way it works. We work off of best guess information and in in my opinion I want to make sure that I'm getting real numbers out to our community so we we know what we're talking about as opposed to projected numbers. So makes sense but I do anticipate that you know as I sit here today a 10 to 15% cut at state aid which is difficult. That's all there is to it. >> Any questions on that? Otherwise I got the next one too couple. Hope to get better. >>

081Let's do item B then. Communications received. Let's hope for some good. >> Sometimes nothing's better. So I do not have any communications at this moment. >> Item C, budget hearing, annual meeting for September 22nd, 2025. 7 p.m. right here. >> Correct. So this is the as it says the annual budget meeting and budget hearing. Um it'll happen in this very room at 7 p.m. This is another annual process that we do. I will present an annual budget to our community. It is the chance for the community to attend and also provide any kind of general input that they would like as part of all of our budget. But it is it's comprehensive. It's it's all of our general fund. It's our special education fund. It's our debt service fund. It's food service. It's community service

082fund. It's it's the whole shoot and match. And I am there to present. Unfortunately, you're going to hear me talk a lot. So, I apologize because normally we kind of play it off each other as superintendent and myself, but uh I will take all speaking parts outside of the board present. >> And Jenny, could you please help us? Who are the required board members that need to be present at that? Do you remember? >> Do believe it's the president and treasurer in that. >> Yes, we usually have we we encourage all board members to attend. So, it's not a it's not a school board meeting. Um there's certain roles that people play with in that meeting, but it's not a it's not a school board. >> And it is one of those just to reiterate

083Mr. Mr. Petro Conor, it is an opportunity for the community to come be present um make motions, ask uh any questions that you want relative to the u annual meeting and budget uh related items. >> I encourage community input. >> Yeah. All right. Item D, the WASB Region One meeting on October 14th, 2025 in Ashland. This one's been on here a couple of times. Um, it is our our region one meeting. I know I think everybody maybe has been to one of these through the the WASB. Um, I know that the the registration deadline is probably approaching. So, if you wish to attend, um, historically we we get a nice school van and we all meet somewhere and those people that get car sick and want to drive themselves can. But, uh, if you are

084interested, please let Miss Keller know as soon as you possibly can so we can get you registered for that. Um, it's usually about an hourong presentation if I remember correctly. They do feed you. We would make the run down to to Ashland that evening if you can make it. And they usually do a some form of training beforehand if a person was so interested in learning more about the ins and outs of schoolboard. >> Concerned who's who's driving? Would it be you or that does make >> depends on how fast we get there? I suppos We'll draw some straws. >> Funny guy. All right. That'll be the maintenance update. I would expect that you all got them. Any questions? Then two out of D, Mr. >> Yeah, a lot of moving parts right now. Um,

085obvious a lot of it was building up to get our buildings open. Our students are here, but it's listed there. Um, it's really a lot of pre-season, first part of school year work, finalization of some of the summer maintenance projects. We we do certainly try to get all of those done before our students arrive for for everybody's sake where the contractors aren't tripping over the students and the students aren't getting interested in what the contractors are doing sometimes. Um so that's listed there. I won't read it word for word. You have it. But pretty typical stuff. Nothing out of the norm. All right. Next item. The WSB correspondence and legislative update. I'm not sure who's >> me. >> All right. So, if you feel so inclined to contact your legislators, the Assembly Committee on Local

086Government will hold an executive session, a vote to move a bill out of committee next week on Assembly Bill 196, legislation that would allow Wisconsin retirement system retirees to return to work without suspending their annuity. Um, this committee vote is a critical step to getting this bill to the Assembly floor, and there is expected to be limited floor session opportunities remaining uh this legislative session. Um, they're hoping that this bill can be used as a tool to help schools dealing with staffing challenges. Um I also included a link to um a tool that the WASB team developed um to help communicate regarding state budget um with local communities. So there the link is in the report there that you could just click on. Um it's a document designed to provide highle summaries of the budget's

087impact on local school districts because it is even for those of us who sit in this room all the time still very confusing. Um, new legislation. I won't go through all of this, but I did include it for you just so you can kind of see, um, kind of what is coming up. So, um, new legislation introduced over the summer resenting the governor's 400-year veto um, regarding the, um, $325 per pupil adjustment until 2425. Um, immunization waiverss um, regarding different immunizations for kids in schools. um the school bus safety package um which allows um for different driver um requirements based off age um equipment of school buses and audiovisisual recording devices driver's education etc. Um pre-budget legislation has a real chance of passing um the removing of impediments of of of rehiring retired workers. um

088higher education and data collection requiring boards to distribute information um amending academic excellence scholarships. Um and then a tribal relations package, student health and safety measures. Um and then there's also a list of things that are on the docket but likely won't pass. Important to watch. Um so I did include all of that information in the packet um for you to read in case you haven't had a chance to go to the WSB WASB website and >> you guys have it saved. I took everything that you gave us and read it all. >> You could have given the report. >> No. >> Do you have any more? Are you good? No. >> All right. Uh CISA 12. >> CISA 12. We did our August meeting. Um we had an update on this summer training that

089CISA 12 put on for uh school district staff and how well it was attended. It was very well attended. Um we had a presentation a data dash dashboard that has been created by CISA 12 to monitor for district for CISA 12 districts to monitor and track the implementation of services they have purchased. District personnel will be able to see which CISA staff are assigned to their district for services purchased and services funded through grants and contracts. They can see how days purchased are being utilized. information on the dashboard will be updated in real time as consultants enter their data. Um they have been contacted by DPI to create similar a similar dashboard that will track um network supports to district districts with federal identifications under ESSA every student succeeds act. Um we also got an

090update on CISA 12's five-year strategic plan. This was the completing the third year. Nick Madison shared an end of year report on strategic plan measurements and they did meet all of their third-year benchmarks. Um the final one was a facility plan that outlines some improvements and other items that CISA 12 will work on the next several years. Uh most items will be covered within their operating budget. There is CISA 12 report. Item H donations. uh busy time of year for the donations. Um we're thankful to all of these folks that help um our students ultimately. Um so thank you to Mission Covenant Church for their donations of school supplies to NES and uh various churches. There's numerous ones here, but uh that supplies school supply donations to NES. There's even unknown donors stuff that people

091drop off for school supplies in NES. Pat Hannon for the donation of backpacks to NES. Lori Ronkey for the donation of chairs to the NMS library, the Brule Lions Club for donation of school supplies to NMS, and the NMS decorating committee for the openhouse decorations. Um, I saw them. They were great. Um, also we want to give a a public thank you to the family of Terry Hendrickson for the memorial donations to the athletic department and also the family of Clyde Grubley for the donations to the football program. So that has been a maybe a new trend but something that I know Mr. Smith um definitely appreciates and it does go back to our our programs. Other than that, that is the donations report. Busy time of year. We are very very thankful for the

092for all our uh community supports. Yeah, extremely grateful. Item my reports from the Northwestern Elementary and Iron River Elementary Schools, middle school, high school, uh athletic and activities directors, special education directors. Anybody have any questions regarding any of that? Uh before I get to the next one, I would like Mr. Federal Carter to give us a bit of a reprise I think on the transportation. We we changed some stuff. I think the beginning of the year, first day or two went a little not as smooth as we had hoped, but you guys had sounds like made some changes and I think it's worth uh sharing that please. >> Yeah. So, uh we we've we've tried to adjust for lack of a better term the I'll call it the pickup schedule. Um last year to kind

093of put it in perspective, every one of our at that point in time 17 buses came to this building. This was we started at NES would pick up the middle school and then would come to the high school. Um the realities are is that all of our buses were turning left onto Highway 2 and some would go left, come here, pick up a student or two, and then go back right to the the western part of our district. Um the reality is is with most high schools that the fewest number of riders are typically at the high school level because at least usually half of our students are are licensed to drive. So we met this goes back um into last year actually about how can we try to improve busing. Our students were on

094the bus for a long period of time without ever actually going home. So we adjusted to have the middle school be the transition for the buses. Um what we had found is that we just didn't have enough time to get at right now currently running two buses to pick up the riders from the high school, get them to the middle school to make their transfers. Um the middle school ended at 3:25. The high school end at 3:25 and of course there was we haven't figured out how to get from here to the middle school in 2 seconds. Although they are efficient at getting out of this building, I would say Mr. Smith, they're ready to go, aren't they? Um, nothing about jail. >> So, we met to try to streamline this process. Um, today was

095the first day of it. I'm going to maybe lean on my administrators to help me with this, but we decided to end take five minutes off of advisory period, which doesn't impact the educational day for our students. Um, and dismissed at 3:20 at the high school in order to buy the five minutes to get the buses from here down there to get them going. Um, I believe I heard we were on the road at about 3:32. And we cleared the parking lot at 3:31. A lot of cars from the middle school all the way over to the elementary. So we cleared that by 331 within six minutes or less. And then the wheels on the bus. And because we can do that now, we get all those cars out of there so that the buses

096can leave without cars getting in front of them, turning left or right, and the wheels on the bus going at 3:42 as opposed to last weekish. So, um, we're starting to really get to where we need to be. And I want to give accolades to Art Amos and Stacy. They've been phenomenal as well. I think Mr. Smith for helping Sol from the high school side and Mr. Larry who's been riding the bus over just to make sure his little ones are transitioning over. And um, it's it's impressive to see everything happen. It's like an airport with a bunch of connecting flights happening and you've got kindergarten through 12th grade changing flights, if you will. So, um, and I I give uh credit to the teachers to all the middle school teachers who are walking their

097students out to make sure the kids aren't getting run over and the kids. I give credit to the kids. They've been doing a great job of doing what they're supposed to be doing. So, super proud of everybody. >> We have >> Is that five minutes thinking from the high school going to affect >> It won't affect hours. We've run that. Uh, Mr. Smith, I don't know if you want to chime in. It's your building, so we're good there. It's the best case scenario right now. The the amount of logistics, no pun intended, that we have to to plus our students, we have 16 what we call regular routes, three special education routes, um, and anywhere from four years old up to 18 years old potentially riding the bus. So, kudos to all of our teams,

098transportation department, bus drivers, administration, and then the teachers that are helping get those kids on those connecting flights. It is a sight to see if you ever want to come down and watch. We we roll about 150 cars through there and uh a whole number of buses. So, >> and I do that the bus drivers to them as well. They've done a phenomenal job. They they need to step down as long as the buses are off, you know, to help out. um that they they're understanding how quickly we need to move and they've just been incredible. So, and thanks Mr. Crowder for helping us problem solve so we could get home get kids home safer and get our buses on the road safer and get our families on the roads and just get that. So

099it feels really good >> and I would expect in the next week or two it's going to continue to get more efficient >> and I would then expect that the same time we're going to get students home sooner. >> That's that's the ultimate the goal, right? >> Yes. We want to we have a very large district and the unfortunate truth is that there's going to be time on buses but we're we're trying to as best as we possibly can make that ride time as short as we possibly can. So Stacy Fidal in our name is down at transportation work wonders that way. >> And I think today I heard it was already down to 15 minutes less. So a few times that each day for a month >> last year we were not leaving and

100kids weren't going home till about 3:45 from here. from here. >> Yes. >> And also the little problem so much longer. They be sitting getting on the bus at the elementary and sitting there for a long time then coming over to the next school and sitting for a long time. So get them on the bus and get >> very good. Thank you for that information. Uh student staff and community recognition. >> I don't know if we want to jump to our student reports or not. >> Well, if you want to do this this one that we've got, we'll finish with that. Let them be the highlight of our meeting here. I just didn't want to. You guys have been great. Time to shine. Um, real quick, I'm I'm gonna not take the the kudos for

101this, but I want to congratulate the area of staff. Mr. Larby is here for being a Wisconsin school of recognition. So, Mr. Larby, I'll let you. >> So, to make it official, last year, you may recall, he sent out some information that uh Iron was identified again as a school of recognition. So, the particular award that they got was one of 24 schools at the elementary level in the state. So if you think of roughly 2,000 elementary schools, that's pretty prestigious. So Iron River got the formal recognition. So I'll pass this around. Uh this will go in the office. If you happen to be over there, you can stop that and the other awards that are hanging there. Um so as Cody said, the uh the really recognition falls on the community, the families, and

102our staff at Iron River because that's based off the student growth for the 2324 school year and how much they grew during the school year is what led to that award. And like I said, being one of 24 is a pretty amazing feat. So we have a lot to be proud of. So if anybody in the audience is out there listening, if there's any of the teens still there, please stop at the elementary school and check it out and say thank you to our teachers and our amazing community out there. >> What grade was it? >> Good question. So that's actually based off of the Wisconsin forward exam. So it's those data sets. So your young man would be one of those. >> That's what I was asking. >> Yep. So since that data set

103is they came up and took the assessment in the spring of 24. Um so of course there yeah 23 24 school year. So that information then follows over and uh it shows how much the the kids have grown throughout the year and then the following year is when they get the recognitions. >> He he probably pulled them over the morning. >> Well just saying absolutely Brad knows my case. Thank you for the time to recognize it. If there's any questions, more than happy to answer. >> It's just just nice to know that they're continuing to perform, not just that level, but >> absolutely. Absolutely. And when you can hang the governor's name on the wall, that's a good thing. So, pretty cool. >> Thank you. Thank you, sir. All right. And then our uh student

104representatives, let's uh see what you got. >> All right. So, as the fall sports kick off, I'd like to fill you in some of the how the school and teams been up to. So, in volleyball, uh, they travel to the great river sprawl in is on Alaska. >> Nailed it. >> Really nervous about that word. They went 52 clinching. Is it clinching? That word really tricky for me. the bronze bracket championship and finishing ninth out of the 24th team in the event. During the on Alaska, Shelby Hustle, the volleyball captain, achieved a major milestone by recording her 10,000th career dig during this tournament, becoming one of only in one of the second players in Northwestern's program history to reach that mark. In Thursday matchup against Superior, we went up to the great effort by unlimiting

105like sorry unlimitedly fell in four sets. Um we held our group and scores in the games the score of the games sorry guys being 258 25 23 20 25 23. They will continue to practice in the next game and I'll be on the road to Amory against Clear Lake. With that, the girls golf has already up and started and they had their last meet I think last Thursday and Grace Schmidt got a 50 which is the first place and Reagan got a 54 which is I believe third. She got third place. Um and they have an infight this Thursday at their home course of Hidden Green. Um moving forward to the football team, we are off at a hot 30-0 start of the season with convincing wins over Somerset 2714, Prescott 47 and Spooner 35-7.

106None of the games have been especially close and the teams have shown being competitive and collaborative. After talking with one of the captains, Ethan Harms, he mentioned that the offensive and defensive lines have made up entirely of seniors bringing experience and cohesion into the season. He also mentioned that the field off they have been hosting team dinners uh for better chemistry with teammates. This week is our first home game and they will be taking on the SRO balls. Oh, and as for cross country, they have competed in two sorry they competed in two meets so far. One in Superior and one in Ashland. The boys teams are particularly impressive, especially amongst freshman runners. I feel like I'm gonna butcher these names. Lex Guster and Ellie earned top 20 finishes in the second meet. Posting super

107strong times, Hunter Frederickson continues to shine individually and considered a strong competitor for state qualifications. The girls team is off to a solid start and shows consistent improvement despite being a young roster. They are running competitive times and the teams is eager to prepare for their upcoming meets. That's what I have for the sports area of the school. >> All right, moving on. I've got clubs and activities for you guys. There's not much for clubs since we just started the school year, but I'll give you what I can. Last Friday, we held a uh little what's it called? presentation in the auditorium to encourage students to sign up for different things and try new things. Um, and today was actually when the club fair was hosted, which is where students can go around and sign

108up for all the various clubs. And oh, actually there's um over the summer the bass fishing team um did multiple like um competitions and things. And just recently, I think it was this past weekend, Finley Nelson and Jack Mikas went down to Lake Hammed Deu in Alexandria, Minnesota, and they competed for state. And the clubs that are held year round will be meeting at some point this month to discuss their individual agendas. FCA will kick this off with their hosting of their first morning meeting on this Friday. Additionally, um with our other activities, our drama crew has begun the productions of this year's one act. Um for the first competition piece, it's called Small Actors. Um auditions were already held and roles were cast. Rehearsals started tonight and both of the district and subject um

109district competitions are going to be held during this October. Um dates have not been yet selected, but they are working on it. Um they will also be putting on another show called Apostrophes, which will be performed alongside that during the night of one act in November on November 18th. Um, pairing with the theatrics, this year's musical, Mama Mia, was announced early in order to give the set crew more time to plan and to encourage students to join. That's all I have for you. >> Well, thank you very much. It gets easier as as you continue to do this. >> You got a lot of backlog. There's a couple months of work there. >> I had to do that report. It is an easy idea. >> Uh, and then finally, comments from the audience. Uh now

110that we've concluded the business of the board, we will end the live stream.