001Um, okay. We're going to call the order call the meeting to order. It's a good start at 6:01 p.m. Um, hi everybody. >> Good evening. Uh we have consent agenda items um tonight that include the minutes from the October 6th board meeting, general fund vouchers and purchasing card transactions, certified and co-curricular staffing recommendations, and a certified staff member retirement request as listed on the agenda. Um is there anything that anyone wants to pull out of the consent agenda items? Okay, I would look for a motion. I can. Okay. Fisher Chapman. All right. Um, any discussion? All right. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Nope. Motion carries. 5 Z. And then as all the time. Um, personal personnel items that do not require a vote. Um, so next we have public
002comments. Okay, no one has registered, so we are just cruising through to theformational items. Um, first being the Greater Dayne County School Governance Consortium update. Chapman and Turniter. >> Okay. Um, so I will go ahead and start. So, uh, last week, last week, my days are all mixed up. Uh, Superintendent Turniter, Turniter and I attended the, uh, consortium meeting, um, that was held in Madison. They have this beautiful school district building that I wasn't even aware of. Um, and this was actually the first one that I had attended in person. I'd attended a couple virtually, so it was really great to kind of see how everything went down. Um, so just to kind of give you a brief overview of what we talked about, we went over >> what >> where was it held? >>
003It was held at the like education building um over on the southside near Rimrock and by Badger Rock. >> Um, >> and so it it was a great experience. Um, we had a lovely meal which is always appreciated. Um but one thing uh we went over was our 2024 2025 uh political advocacy priorities. The top one being special education reimbursement. So just to kind of give everyone a brief review um we had all requested 100% of special ed reimbursement and during the bianual budget um we received 32.4% which unfortunately fell way below um what we were hoping for. Um however we are going to see projected increases of 42% for 2025 2026 and then 20 and then 45% for 2026 to 2027. Um another thing that I think is really important to discuss um is
004that and I know we've talked about this a lot for ever maybe turning in and isn't aware state aid funding has not increased or has not changed since 2009 um which is extremely unfortunate. So a couple topics we went through as we broke into small groups. We talked about best practices in governance. Um the top one being fostering collaboration and trust between the school board and their superintendent, establishing clear goals and priorities um and developing and monitoring policies for consistent compliance. A couple things they wanted to touch upon um that really make boards truly effective are that we are um data driven, data savvy, and reflective and really asking key questions like what stories do we want to learn? What data are we missing? We went through best practices in teaching and learning um emphasizing
005continuous improvement and strengthening instructional practices. And then we really discussed communication and engagement practices. And so at the table that Aaron and I were at, um, we had the superintendent from Madison there. We had the superintendent from Verona, Oregon, uh, Aaron obviously, and then we had a couple of board members from the Oregon school district and myself. So, we kind of went around the table and just talked about various aspects that each district did in terms of uh, communication strategies. And so in various districts uh that are quite a bit larger than ours, they actually have a communications director which kind of spearheads everything. So I'm just going to go over a couple of examples. Um Mount Horb uses S'more for postboard meeting digest surveys and other strategic plan updates. Uh Verona does board of
006education recaps. They do two to three minute videos. And then they also do bim monthly podcasts and has a very cute name in loop with the soup which I thought was pretty funny. Um and another thing we talked about was social media platforms. So I know um Facebook we tend to do a lot with and then on Instagram we do a lot with our athletics in our school district. Um, but Verona really talked about how they use Instagram to reach uh the demographic of 35 plus. Since Instagram tends to target that age group more so than Facebook, they really use a lot of AI data driven analysis. Um, and then Middleton actually does host community breakfasts as a way of reaching um their residents, specifically those who don't have kids in the district, which I
007thought was really cool. So, just kind of the key takeaways from that. Um, school districts are continuing to ad advocate for adequate funding, um, emphasizing datainformed governance and really building transparent communication strategies that foster trust, clarity, and continuous improvement. So, those were all my notes from the meeting. Erin, would you like to add anything that I missed? Because you took a bunch of notes, too. So, >> yeah, it was a good time. I think the collaboration was pretty powerful. We we were at a really great table, so we were pretty well stacked. Um, and that was helpful. One of the things that I think we did discuss briefly at the end was about where do we want to focus our political advocacy moving forward? >> And tax transparency was a conversation that we talked about.
008One, making people understand their tax bill and why it looks like it does. And bringing it back to the fact that um the state has not indexed the uh amount of aid provided to uh the to the revenue cap. Um that was part of the conversation. But then the more important part I think for me was a reminder that just because you didn't get exactly what you asked for doesn't mean you stop asking for it. >> So there was progress with special ed but don't give up on that. Continue with a consistent message and continue with a message that unites the state that the legisle is less concerned what Dane County school districts think and more concerned what districts across the state are thinking because the vast majority of districts across the state are rural
009and not urban or suburban. So that was helpful. I think the the best practices for effective school boards, reviewing three of those eight that that kind of come through that lighthouse study that you may have heard of was was helpful. And I think just talking about board governance was really interesting. We're fairly unique having um an amazing board, but also a fivep person board. And so >> um that provides us some opportunities that I think others don't. Um but including data at every meeting that was a big focus. >> Yeah. So was definitely >> really robust conversation and well facilitated. >> Awesome. >> Thank you both. >> Yep. So at our table we had oh we also had Belleville uh and nuclearis the super >> they were >> yes >> I don't know >> I
010I don't know >> I'm less versed on >> yeah on hor's Very good. >> And I would love to give a shout out to our social media and communications manager, >> Angie. >> You do a wonderful job. >> Shut up. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, those are always good meetings. I feel like >> Yes, it was very valuable. Yeah, >> I think the the way they structured it led to more conversation than in previous meetings and more collaborative sharing of ideas. >> I think that's what I took the most out of it was being able to chat just with other schoolboard members um to see what works for them, what their struggles are uh and just to bond that way. I would love to see more of those events take place where like school board
011member meet and greets that kind of thing. Um because you know what we you know deal with for lack of a better word in Mark Farfarland you know other schools might have something similar that we can you know chat about work through. >> Yes. >> Yeah. I think it's interesting that a couple of the things that you two touched on are the same as what I heard in the um the WASBY regional meeting like the same state, you know, but it's >> two different things, but they're >> like, okay, we have to >> we have to focus on the same thing. So, that's cool. >> Okay. >> Did actor go. Was he a pretty active participant? >> Yeah, he was at our table. >> He was at our table. Um, and just from an overall
012like from a personality perspective, uh, he's he's very engaging and he brings a lot to the table. Uh, but he does it in a very humble way, >> which I really appreciate. That's nice. And he's very tall. >> Yeah, he's a big >> He's a tall human. Yes. And >> I used to watch his father play softball. >> Wow. >> Nice. >> Yeah. and he was one of the presenters. He presented part of the content. >> Sure. >> Regarding the advocacy >> that was his focus. >> Oh, and just a reminder, John Nolan Drive will be down to one lane >> for the next two years. We did talk about that in our meeting. One lane each way because they're building this new water feature that's supposed to be amazing. So, just remember that after
013going downtown. Okay. For the next >> Everybody will forget it at least once and find themselves in a parking lot. >> Yeah. >> With a lake view. >> Well, there are worse views. >> That could be worse. Yeah. >> All right. Anything else on that? Thank you both for going >> reporting back for us. >> Um, okay. District administrators report. >> Excellent. Uh, lots to share going around here in the district. Get to see some of our fine students from the primary school out and about uh here sharing our writing project out in nature, right? Some green time as they share their writing. So, congrats to our young authors for sharing their stories there. our next crew of safety patrol. You've seen these fine people, the first crew. This is the second crew here in
014their first week of duty. So, it's uh really popular. It's the thing to do is to be >> I don't know. I don't know how they rotate. >> That I think it was one year. >> It's a whole school year, but they take shifts. They rotate throughout. >> They do a great job. They've kept me safe many times. Here we have our seventh grade science who are are doing some learning outdoors as well. So looking at eco systems here. They are so fortunate to have such a beautiful area for them to do it in. So thanks to our teachers for connecting them with the outdoors. Of course you know about banner day at the middle school and the wacky Olympics. Just a couple of shots here. Always a fun event, fun competition. >> It is
015competitive but collaboratively competitive. So if you ever get a chance to to see it in person, it is something when you stand there and watch what everybody's doing. It's bizarre. It's definitely wacky. But the banner day is always fun. really brings together their advisories. Here you have the homecoming court. Homecoming was wonderful. I heard people had a great great time. So, congrats to the court. Some of you might have seen him in the parade as well. The indigenous studies class went to the UW campus and did the did a tour there um a guided tour. So, that was pretty powerful. From what I understand, W has done a great job providing that history to our students and to other students. This is just a couple shots from Dr. Moore's presentation, her keynote, and then she
016led the cohort through some professional development for the first of four times this year and really focused on what inclusion means. that it's more than just people being present in spaces, but being able to be their authentic self cross race, class, sexual orientation, gender, ability. So that was very powerful, wellreceived. She has a unique blend as a as a former special ed teacher of humor and practicality >> and also um vulnerability and curiosity that I think was >> pretty powerful. >> That's a good combination. >> I love the school lunch week. Our social media manager found some great pictures. >> Great shot. very enthusiastic >> and look how much lettuce >> is on right >> of my green. >> That's right. But I think those those stats are pretty great for last year. 55,000 breakfasts
017and 176,000 lunches. So some amazing meals. Whenever I get around to the schools and I see them eating hot lunch, I always remind them, thank you for feeding your brain because you can't learn much to feed your brain. All right, those are our pictures. In other news, I want to thank our crisis response teams, but especially Lauren Orango and Angie Brunette who led our crisis response teams through some activities. So about this time every year, we get together as a group and do some tabletops. So some scenarios are presented to our it's pretty much building administrative teams and student services. And then we discussed what would you do if and then some scenario and in our case ours continued to evolve. They kept adding things that were happening. >> That's realistic. >> I won't share
018the scenarios with you. They won't warm your heart. Uh but it's a pretty intense uh situation. So we hope we never have to deal with. So it's very valuable. Lot lot of lessons learned and we shared out between buildings. We had we had one common scenario to start and then we broke into buildings had different scenarios based on the developmental >> really valuable. >> I want to thank um our social workers. We had the McFarland schools equity collective meeting met focused on financial needs of our students and families and our social workers completed some um documentation to help us understand the needs that they as they see it and then two of them were actually able to attend the meeting and learn directly from the parents that were in attendance. really uh really interesting and
019valuable >> things that came out of that just about um both what the needs are and then what are the barriers to accessing those supports in our schools. So we have some action steps moving forward about simplifying the process for getting support, ensuring privacy and confidentiality and just kind of removing some of those barriers related to stigma for asking for very powerful. Uh we also I wasn't able to attend. I I had the opportunity to meet with many other people. Um but we did have the author came. I know I previewed that with you at a previous um meeting, but we had uh an author come and speak to our K5 levels and from what I heard it went really well, but I >> unfortunately wasn't able to be there. But thank you to the
020PTO for buying books for our kids as part of that process for our teachers to read to kids and our literacy coordinators and library and media staff for organizing that. We also have um participated in uh wheel or walk to school as part of a a Dayne County project with um Dne County safe routes school team and the Wisconsin bike federation. So primarily through our PE staff just organizing and promoting kids to walk and bike to school versus getting dropped off at the front door. So that was good. Some things coming up. We have of course fall conferences. It's a conference season at really all of our our buildings. Um tomorrow at 9:30 they will be cutting the ribbon at the Spartan Fuel Cafe. So, used to be the school store attached to the cafeteria
021here at the middle school. And it's a neat um collaboration um between our business and marketing team and our special education department that serve beverages to students. >> Cool. >> Um during the the like snack break >> time. So, so congrats to them. Those students are doing a great job. And then this week we also on Wednesday is unity day and that's a day where we really talk about um the uni unifying all of us to symbolize acceptance inclusion and belonging. So it's a day to wear orange if you're so inclined. We have staff development on Thursday and then Friday is a release day. So our teachers it's a conference release day. So, because they have conferences during the evening, then they have a day um to recoup. >> Um and then there's something coming
022up on October 31st, Halloween. >> Y >> So, um making sure everybody has a great time, gets out and has fun. President Fesler and I had the opportunity to participate in trunk or treat. We did >> on Saturday and saw 8,000 children, many of them dressed as minions. >> Yes. >> Is that the costume of the year? >> It seemed to be. Was that the What do you think was the most common costume? >> Um, probably Minions, but those those were also often adults. >> There were definitely adult minions. >> K-pop demon hunters were popular. >> I still don't understand them. >> I don't know. I haven't watched the movie yet. >> It's still a fair amount of Harry Potters. >> Oh, that's true. >> Spider-Man. Lots of Spider-Man. >> Um, yeah. What other ones
023were there? Um, >> a lot of a lot of Now that I think about it, there were a lot of students with their their soccer jersey. >> Yes, I think it was a soccer tournament happening. >> Yeah, I think that was very convenient. >> They were soccer players. >> One, they also had creative candy carrying things. There was a winter hat. >> Oh, >> there was pockets. >> Yeah. >> Um, and now they have like fun ones that are on a stick. It's like a hand and then you just put the candy in the hand and it falls in the bag. >> Yeah. Clever. >> It was an exciting day. >> It was really fun. I was really tired. I don't know. I mean, we haven't connected after. Were you? Because I couldn't believe how
024tired I was. >> So tired. >> My smile muscles were sore. >> So I got to put Vaseline on your teeth. Yeah. >> Oh, that's true. >> Oh, truly. >> Well, and um it was hot in the sun. >> It was legit hot. Yeah, we had melted chocolate. >> We did. >> We had to rotate our chocolate. >> Yep. >> That's smart. >> Kids Kids got kind of picky at the end. They were like, "Is it squishy?" >> Yeah. They would test them. They would pinch them to see if they were squishy or not. >> I know. I was like, "Don't waste the candy. It's >> um purple nerds. Most popular candy." Yes, nerds are back. >> Almond Joys, no one will be surprised were the least favorite. No, >> really. >> I love those.
025Those are baby roots. >> Well, you can have all the leftovers. >> Yeah, but it was really fun. There were so many businesses participated >> and really creative and clever. I didn't hear who won. >> Uh Dental did. >> Oh, okay. >> Oh, >> I saw the ranking. >> I don't think it's the first time. No, I think they won last year, too. >> Yeah, we even had one of our sports teams there at the trunk. >> Yes. >> So, that was cool. Boys volleyball. >> Yeah, it was cool. It was clever, too. Like hitting a >> game. Yeah. >> I don't know. Um >> sort of thing with volleyballs. >> That would make sense. >> We're apparently still tired. >> I know. It was It was It was fun. It was definitely that was
026gonna be my that was going to be my recognition and gratitude was for the PTO for putting it on and >> all the people who organized it because it's it was also clear that lots of people from the community come and not just like McFarland kids. >> Yes. >> So yeah, good opportunity. >> They have and they have a silent auction as part of it. So a lot of businesses donated a basket. >> Yeah. It was interesting. Someone came up to us and because we had school funding information, what what uh Megan said were adult treats um learn about your school board school funding. >> And someone came up to us as like >> I think they felt like they were catching us on the spot and said, >> "Well, yeah, did you figure out
027what to do because you didn't have any of your fund balance?" >> And nope, that's not us. >> Yeah. We just kind of looked at each other. They're like, "Wrong. >> No, that's that's not us." >> It was fun. >> They were being playful. They were being playful with us. >> Yes, they were. >> The grand opening at the the new ice arena. >> Yeah. >> I would assume you probably have already talked about it, but >> I was over there and just really impressed. >> Yeah, >> that's beautiful. >> Yes, >> that is really, really nice. >> And that was very well attended. Mhm. Yeah. You get our community events going and there beautiful day. >> Yeah, that helps. >> I think the thing about the ice arena too was how thoughtful they were
028with everything. >> That the design they were very thoughtful. >> Yes. It includes a lot more community opportunities. Y now with their So >> Yeah, that's all I got. Anybody else have anything else? >> Well, since we didn't have a student report, I will give a shout out to the football team. Yeah, >> big win against Edertton last Friday, which solidified them in the first round of playoffs this Friday >> against Whitnol High School. >> Good shout out. That's a good shout out. >> You want to go to Whit High School? >> It's supposed to be decent. >> The high school. >> No, no, no. >> The game. >> The weather. >> Oh, yeah. >> Um, but it will be televised, so I'm sure somebody will post a link on the book of Face. Oh,
029and Aley, Coach Aley celebrated his hundth win >> with that win. So, that is exciting. >> Oh, that's Yeah, that's a good one. >> Big night. >> Yeah, >> that is a big night. >> Big night for the AD. >> Congrats. >> Yeah, that's really nice. >> All right. Um Okay. Anything else? All right. Now, let's move on to our action items. Um All right. So, I believe the first one is our budget changes. um action on the 2025 2026 budget changes. Um do you have any background you want to share? >> Right away. >> Um just I was going to check for background first. There's none. It was in our package to share. >> Yeah. >> I mean it's kind of the annual >> thing. Y >> you don't have to provide some insights.
030>> All right. In bring us some insights. >> It is prior to our annual meeting. Taxes are going up a bit about 70,000 compared to where we had posted them and estimated them since basically July 1. Um that's because state aid's going down more than what July one aid estimate from DPI >> had noted. >> And uh about the only news maybe is that our independent charter uh expenses of 263,000 is dropping to 230,000 and those are funds that we tax our taxpayers for and then it is sent to the independent charter schools the other school districts that our state runs. >> So those would be my update. >> Okay, thank you. >> Well said. Yes. So, a reminder, we, you know, do the the the update or we do the the the budget that's
031adopted and then that's based on those estimates. >> Yep. And then state aid k what the first October 1st, right? >> Yep. Hot off the press >> which is following this meeting just in case anyone missed it. >> All right. So, I would look for a motion. >> I'll move to approve the budget changes for the 202526 school year as recommended by administration. >> All right. Do I have a second? All right, we've got the H's for this one. All right, any discussion? All right, all in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay, motion carries. 5 Z. All right. Next, um, action on the approval of the WIAA girls wrestling cooperative team sponsorship. >> So, this is just every two years, uh, bring this forward. We're continuing our cooperative agreement both for
032girls and boys wrestling with the Manona Grove School District. It's been a great partnership. So, we do bring this forward to the board for approval every two years. So, thank you for your consideration. >> Okay. So, we'll do um we'll have two mo two separate motions, one for each team. So, I would look for um a motion for the girls wrestling team. >> Go ahead. >> Okay. I move to approve sponsorship of the WIAA girls wrestling cooperative team for the 2026 2027 and 2027 2028 school years as recommended by administration. >> All right. Thank you. Any discussion? >> How many kids do we Anybody know how many kids McFarland has? >> Two. >> For the girls. Yep. >> And then there's 11 for the boys. >> Yep. >> Yeah. I know. I'm I'm I'm grateful
033for these co those these co-ops because it's >> gives more opportunity. >> Yep. So, >> it is. >> All right. Um, all in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? All right. Motion carries. 5 Z. >> I would look for a motion for the boys team now. school years as recommended by administration. >> I can second. >> All right. Thank you. Any discussion? All right. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? All right. Motion carries. 5-0. And then the last one is um the Weea Destinations Career Academy and Insight School of Wisconsin are requesting approval of the recommended student transfers back to their resident districts due to lack of engagement. >> I'll move to approve the WEBA destinations Career Academy and Inside School of Wisconsin recommended student transfers back
034to their residents resident districts due to a lack of engagement. the Hes again. >> I don't know why I find that so amusing, but I do. >> All right. Um, any discussion? Well, in the spirit of Tom Mooney, >> I will say uh this list is, you know, fairly short and obviously we will see it increase as the year continues. Um, we did have one first grader, uh, one fourth grader, two fifth graders, and then it moved into the high school ages. Um, so it's nice to see that those younger grades, uh, didn't have as many students. Um, so that's what I got. Thanks. I was going to do the same thing, so thank you for doing it. Um, it is it it's sad to see that there's already so many students not engaging. You
035know, probably weren't engaging from the very beginning. I'm guessing based on the time of year, but I don't know that for sure. Um, but I appreciate Wea's efforts to >> this is obviously their first experience. >> So, I'm not as concerned about that. I guess again I know something very concerned about >> well when there's when there's such a degree degree of parental >> involvement. >> Yeah. >> You never, you know, you never quite know, is it really the the youngster's fault or, >> you know, maybe he's not getting the help he needs. >> But inside school of Wisconsin, I think that's bad term is, you know, last resort. That's sort of what it is with, you know, they they're they are trying and historically as As the enrollment of wea has increased, I think
036the numbers on that list have decreased. Learning isn't for everybody. >> True. >> So sometimes they find out it's just be nice if they actually withdrew instead of >> Right. >> disappearing. >> Right. Because it could be it lack of engagement could be a for a multitude of reasons. Yeah, that's a good point, Erin. >> They do. >> Such a good job. >> True. True. Dr. Cutler's really led the led the way on that. All right. Um, okay. All in favor, please say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 5 Z. And just before I look for action on the last item, just a reminder that we have our annual meeting here at seven. And I'm looking forward to the droves of people who are going to join us. >> It's going to be a
037party. >> You never know. >> It's true. You never know. >> I think this is my 16th. >> I don't think we've ever had more than three or four. >> Well, we'll see. >> Count yourselves. So, some 10 is true. We are >> We had 10 last year, I think. >> That's true. All right. Amazing. All right. So, I would look for a motion on the last action item. >> Oh, okay. Um, what are you moving to do? >> What's your motion? >> to adjourn. Yeah. >> Yep. Okay. So, Fischer's moving to >> adjourn. >> Oh, how stole it from Huie. Oh, >> this is going to be a reckless place from here. >> Oh, snap. All right. Um, all in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? And we are adjourned at
0386:37. >> Great job. >> Wow. We came in >> uh 12 minutes.