McFarland School Board Meetings 2/5/2024

001yeah have for 6:31 on Monday the 5th of February 2024 I'd look for a motion to go into close session so moved thank you Tom do I have a second I'll second thank you Kate now we need a h roll call M clerk if you would yes um fesler here Mooney here um Howry yes green yes all right all right passes 4 Z okay so we will go in close session I gu I did are we going across the way good e for Open Session um at get well should we wait till 7 whatever let's wait till 7 okay turn for so we are back into Open Session we'll call the meeting back into order at 7:00 we have some consent agenda items that include the minutes of the January 8th 2024 school board meeting

002uh also have some professional staffing recommendations uh and also some co-curricular staffing recommendations uh along with some Personnel items that uh uh there's no vote necessary so I would look for a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented I can Mo that motion I'll second thank you uh all those in favor please signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries 4 Z all right then moving on our next item is let me get this open have noted any coms to Mee any thank you so so in that case we will move right along to our high school student report there's Jo oh there we are the gang is all here sure okay wow awesome okay get P up here all right wonderful high school student report this week lots of highlights been a

003bit um black Liv matter school week is this week the week of February 5th through the 9th is black school week this week is celebrated to encourage the continuation of equity efforts specifically focusing on black students in educational setting to celebrate this week B will be hosting a week of dress days and sharing black history with MHS we will also hopefully be holding a fundraiser at the end of the week hopefully siging custard to raise money for roots Ethiopia um next week is going to be Community week hosted by our student council um the week of February 13 during this week student council has partnered with various different heads at NS to spread kindness and positivity during this weeking a multitude of activities so more updates to come on that and then um um the

004Farland um high school held as annual advis night for students in eth all the way up to 12th grade at this event there were teachers representing all departments numerous businesses and postsecondary education institutions um and information asss concerning College and Career that's super awesome event picture right there incoming class of 2028 I heard that was rousing success that event went really really well awesome and then continuing on our science Bowl we had two different teams compete in the regional science Bowl in Milwaukee where they competed in a double elimination bracket against 10 other schools um the categories included biochemistry physics math earth science and energy and they had an awesome time picture to the right the next thing is that um two members of un against hav went to Verona High School on January 26

005to plan the H um the annual justify youth Summit along with other student Representatives across the county um and there we worked to decide things like the guest speakers breakout sessions and much more the event will occur in May with mobile planning sessions to come next is Multicultural Club um this month Multicultural Club will head over to seps and weisa to read books to students from 4K through fifth grade and they ALS posted multiple students from Costa Rica last week who shadowed MHS students throughout the day awesome and then recently awarded um was an award to our jwood literary Arts andology um so they were named a superior magazine in the 2023 NCT recognizing excellent in art and literary magazines realm contest um so congratulations to the Driftwood literary Arty also I believe it was

006last week or the week prior um uh many of our MHS students were selected um as an MLK young person so five MHS students were recognize 40th annual ml Junior recognition breakfast hosted by the Urban League of Greater Madison um you see a picture over there aost congratulations to all those individuals and then um the indigenous St bu Mr WS dig studies class to L to I'm gonna the name but um carando art from the host Omaha the hunk Nation Medicine office and learned about their programs in awesome and then our senior Capstone business class called Spartan headquarters held the Spartan flashback sale oh I can hear my myself sorry heard the SP held the Spartan flashback sale with donated vintage McFarland clothing a few weeks ago where they raised $465 and quick sidebar um

007this is sort of related our Deca projects um they made written projects and they did deliver them to Angie so you guys should have those at some point cool we got awesome and then a few weeks ago this is like right after the last school board meeting eight McFarland High School alumni came back and they shared their experiences about life After High School to the Junior and senior class um a wide range is represented from out of state private universities Wisconsin system schools Community pathway or Community College and straight to force pathway wow awesome now sports updates um so on January 27th partner basketball to sell t-shirts in which all proceeds to the women and sports foundation in celebration of national women and girls and schs day on feary 7th this a week um they

008raised nearly $1,000 for this Foundation allowing them to continue their work uplifting female athletes and promote gender equality Sports also this weekend um the MS dance team in a Regal comption but they a regional competition at watert jary taking third place in J events this allowed them to attend theacc state championship this past weekend where they sealed fourth place in division four P congratulations dance team last performance okay and then our boys swim team won their conference meet on Saturday and this was especially cool considering the this is the first conference meet in the better small conference so congrats to them and then also a few weeks ago our Spartan headquarters class partnered with the girls basketball team to raise money for the organization um WR love on her arm they sold t-shirts and host

009a miracle Manet and raised $231 with, 1500 going towards that organization and then as for our student and staff updates um Mr suring and Miss Thompson were our staff shout outs for the week that got put on the Spartan Schoop yeah what a great job yeah how long have you been doing the staff shoutouts has that been going on for a while yeah November like November okay feels right November what a great idea that's fantastic that that's really really good when the alumni came back to talk to the students there were eight of them that came back were there any wow items that you heard from that group that you may not have expected to hear from them one thing I thought was super interesting is um we had like a previous graduate who went

010like straight to barber school I didn't know how cool barber school was so that's that was super cool that's fun I know who that is yeah I know where he works that's fantastic anybody got anything else no no but I think you have to hire a banker to keep track of all these fundraising effort you've accumulated keep up the great work that's incredible it's it's it really says a lot about the character of our students and thanks for sharing because we've always had student reps on the board but we never were able to get such a comprehensive report from them unlike what the two of you have been doing now so thanks for all the information anybody no thank you than see you next time you all right that brings up our honored guests to

011give us a report on the community impact Grant welcome and thank you thank you thank you discuss this morning I like it I think it is feels closer okay all right you're waiting for me it's okay in case you didn't know I'm pring these are yours just make sure it is I while I was doing the thing so that the thing didn't come on and everybody go oh the feedback see getting better here we like that part see I'm sure you do yeah it's and it plus a dramatic pause for effect I think it really sets up the anticipation so I mean sets up the disappointment not in a hurry today all right well thank you everyone especially those of you viewing from home for your patience uh we are excited to be here to

012present to you our um presentation we provide to you twice a year on the update on the outstanding accomplishments from the Wisconsin partnership program Community impact Grant and we copied a few slides for you and we'll reference those later um but we'll provide some introductory um comments of course joined here um myself Aaron taret I get to be the superintendent I'm I am the district partner um along with Dr Christine prono who is our UW partner researcher and of course Dr Jeffrey Lewis who is our partner from natural Circles of support our community partner and so we're going to provide you with just a little bit of an update and uh we'll entertain your questions at the end now some of this should be um repetitive for those of you who are board members for

013those in the public this may be the first time that you're hearing about this we want to provide a nice reminder about the purpose of the Grant and um some of the unique aspects of it of course um the equity issue that is focused the focus of this work is our African-American students um them uh students reporting they don't feel a sense of belonging in our schools and the impact they feel in how uh and um the impact they feel and how and what they learn so the impact ultimately you'll be hearing this as a reference point from us is ultimately it comes to uh students ability to learn feeling a sense of belonging is certainly an important foundational component and our purpose we really want to make a longlasting systems change impact something that

014is sustainable beyond the life of this grant and we do that through our partnership and this partnership aligns very closely with our strategic plan our mission and vision of course as you know our our mission which is um displayed for you and up behind me uh meeting the me the needs of every learner every day and our vision which is uh creating an equitable and inclusive community committed to student belonging achievement and growth and I think you'll see belonging achievement in and growth integrated in throughout our presentation today so uh Dr Lewis is going to talk to you now just a reminder about the different goals of the grant so there are well first of all thank you for U allowing us to come and share with you um really excited about working with your

015District as work continues to grow and the relationships I think are really really satisfying it's been a rewarding three years so far um so these are the five uh sort of overarching goals of the of this project of the grant one is leaving mentoring circles for students students are at the heart of this they're the center of it um so that's a really a first priority but then also to empower staff leadership around this work so we you know natural circles is is a series of concentric circles so we have a circle of students and we want staff leaders and other staff than and around that and we want to empower them um engage in District W inquiry and there it's just you mean broadly that you know this is data driven both in terms

016of the data that we have from the district but also we collect data throughout this process to hear student voice to learn from what we're doing so that we can continue to modify and improve this um the development and implementation of seminars in a community of practice and that that's where we work deeply with your with your staff Equity leaders and others so that they begin to work together um around um Pro you know developing and promoting this work but also for it so it become districtwide so that from CS through the high school there's some continuity and consistency um in in our efforts and in the change we're trying to bring about and then of course we want to engage families in and the community um and I don't know Aaron you can actually

017say more about that in terms of what that looks like but clearly that's an important component it yeah so we're going to give you some updates on some of our key accomplishments and just a reminder about this is a five-year Grant a million dollars and we are at the end of year three so starting year four so as I was thinking about this you might think oh you're sort of on the downhill side of the Grant I I don't think that's a good analogy um that implies that things get easier I think the more you know um the more you want to do and accomplish there are some things that you'll be hearing though as I as I talk about these accomplishments some of these things are becoming standard operating procedure for us and the

018first of that being with uh the mentoring circles and we have continued these circles the numbers um remain consistent across grades 3 through 12 so again we have them at waisa Indian M middle school and of course here at the high school uh where where we began with mentoring circles our first school but the the big transition for us is transitioning to having District staff lead those mentoring circles so we'll be posting some co-curricular positions here uh coming up this month and and and looking to H hire people so that the uh natural Circles of support staff can help train uh the the new people in the practices we've also um already began to integrate our diversity Equity inclusion and belonging coordinator Britney Brazzle into those circles to get a sense of how they work

019and how they run so that she can provide uh support during the transition in addition to that we have built upon the work of of Dr Briggs and and and persy Brown Jr that were here and of course that's been expanded in in Britney brazel's work regarding hate speech with a staff student we recently had a community presentation which I know many of you were able to attend so feeling really good about that beginning that transition very intentionally at the beginning of year three for the district to provide leadership for the second goal the empowering a staff leadership team we've really come a long uh way from beginning with starting with more working with administrative teams and expanding that work through building Equity action teams with natural Circuit of support being very active consultants in

020that in that process um and providing a lot of support at the building level as well uh with consultation with the administrative team so that's been very important so that that work can carry on once the grant um is concluded we've also had different very carefully thoughtfully selected teacher study groups and other learning opportunities for our staff as you can see there you know about the welcoming student voices which was a collaborative teacher study group all through last school year that involves staff and students working together um and some summer work with understanding and managing resistance to racial equity which was this past summer with 20 staff members um being part of that so just very excited about that but part of it is infusing all of this work into some of the ex existing

021things that are happening I would say one of the things that's been really exciting is the the collaborative work that natural circles has uh provided to our K through2 building at conad alvan primary school and their Equity action team given that they don't have mentoring circles that work has looked a little bit different um and then also the collaborative work at the high school with the student leadership and social justice groups for the third goal engage engaging in District inquiry we're going to talk about data to some detail coming up soon but some things that have been exciting is is surveying all staff doing conducting administrative interviews and then of course all of the research that's done with the students that are are in the mentoring circles and collecting that we've also um just this

022past couple weeks have been collecting data from our students in grades 4 through 12 uh administering I think for the first time ever a comprehensive assessment survey to all students on their experiences in school that will definitely inform the Grant in our work as well we've also had the seminar sessions um for seminars since August of 2023 um for this school year we have one more coming up on March 8th so excited about that and those seminars and communities of practice is really where you provide a chance for for our Equity leaders to get together within the district collaborate learn from each other share ideas and there's always a piece of teaching either from uh Dr Lewis or Britney Brazzle that's Advanced their their experiences and then lastly continuing with the family Equity Council which

023of course you know it feels like it's always been there to me um but it was really last April that it got well underway and been meeting at least at least once a month um I initially began facilitating those and then Britney's been facil ating those ever since and they're very engaging thoughtful um productive conversations where we provide a topic and the those that attend provide some guidance some input about their experiences as as parents and what they would recommend for the district so very excited with um all of those you know efforts in you know that's a lot to accomplish in in year three the projects that the buildings are working on are very excited you know that's part of what happens in those seminars as they work on their projects and really looking

024at creating a sense of belonging uh for our students and talking about the student experience using student data as a reference point and and creating a sense of urgency with their building projects ultimately our focus is on systems work for systems change all right now we're going to move into a little bit of evaluation and and Dr Lewis is going to lead us in that yeah so I'll start by talking a little bit about the data that we collect from students as I said before students are at the heart of this this work in the student mentoring circles and natural circles generally collects three types of data from students and and these data reflect the goals that we have for the mentoring circles um we have a self-efficacy survey that helps us sort of assess

025the degree gree to which students feel a sense of agency a sense that they can act in ways that will bring about change and that's that both really individual and Collective uh efficacy are important to us um we have a support network mapping again we want to look at where and how students feel they are supported where there may be gaps in that support and what we can do to strengthen or enhance the support around them and then the third is school engagement and I have that bold just because that's become a particular Focus this year um you know you have student belonging achievement and growth for in in your um your vision and the belonging has to result in achievement and we want to make sure that we are intentional about connecting our efforts

026to help kids fill a sense of belonging with their act with their learning outcomes so we've brought some particular Focus to school engagement this year uh next last one and one of the things I we we introduced last year but that we are looking at more deeply this year is that we've tried to think about belonging as well we've sort of defined it in terms of types of participation in other words um in order for us to promote a sense of belonging that we we think will connect to success we have to look at how our our students able to participate in their learning and in your schools and so we use this model as a way to help guide that um there are these four types of of uh I call it participation it's

027it's these are sa you know um ways of creating um conditions of safety so the first is inclusion safety and that's the most basic that is you know where you feel like you're just accepted by showing up like I feel that way when I come here I don't have a sense of belonging here so much but I do have a a feeling of acceptance and I feel like if I came and enough I would build relationships such that I would build belonging and I think I can then contribute more so I think so that inclusion is like Baseline we it's hard to have other kinds of success if kids don't feel that sense of being included and accept accepted for who they are the second level though is is is is is something that we

028need to bring I think more in in attention to and be intentional about learner SA that is now that our kids feel comfortable do they also feel like it's safe to ask questions to take risks to be wrong um to ask for help and oftentimes that's where we see things break down for our students not just ours any students who's not who are not succeeding it's they're not practicing or don't feel like they can practice the behaviors necessary to be successful and so we we're bringing some attention to that and and your your Equity leaders are certainly beginning to look at that that the next kind of participation is contributor safety we know that kids want at really at almost all ages want to contribute they want to help create the world in which they're

029participating whether it be their classroom or a club or any other group so is it safe for them to take what they've learned and contribute or take their gifts and contribute we want to make sure we create those opportunities and support that and then the fourth level is Challenger safety and um that really is you get to a place where you can you can question the status quo I mean kind of if you think about a lot of the activity last year with the high school that that's what I would call challenge of safety that is it was safe enough with the adults around them who were supporting them for them to challenge the status quo it without reprisal that's a really healthy thing and that's healthy for you I'm sure as a as board

030members it's healthy for everyone in our community and and it's different at different levels of education but it's appropriate even in C PS you should be able to question things that don't make sense to you without being punished so those are the four levels of or the so I I got the four types of of participation those together will create a deeper a deep sense of belonging and connection so um next one and so I we have the school engagement tool and as you see up there if you just look at the left uh column the school engagement looks at um four areas of in for types of Engagement one is just basic acquiescence are they showing up are they following rules are they listening to you know directions and so forth they're you know

031they're there and they're participating without being a problem basically um but that's obviously not enough it's necessary but not enough the next but for me that connects to inclusion that the more inclusive you are the the more you're likely to see students acques right their behaviors are going to conform to what you're expecting because they feel comfortable um but that again that's not enough the next level in terms of Engagement is initiative you want students to take action on their own behalf and that connects a you know somewhat with that learner safety are they able to ask questions are they able to ask for help are they willing to try things out and again are we creating the conditions where they feel safe to do that so we're looking at connecting those the third type

032of Engagement is extracurricular and I would say Broad that's just doing anything both formal and informal that's beyond what's expected so it can be the kinds of things we were looking at earlier from your high school I don't know if those are high school but from your students around the clubs and different activities or it could simply be I'm in a class and I want to do additional problems I want to try something out that that's beyond what was expected but we want to see kids begin to be motivated and curious enough to try new things beyond the expectations and that's that that relates anyway to the contributor safety um again being able to make a contribution and then the last is governance obviously again I think the earlier slides or the earlier presentation by

033the students you know kind of reflects that kind of activity you not everything in there but a lot of it's around how do we um contribute to the larger Community Beyond just our our own personal welfare or our our group but we do something that s will benefit either immediately or in the future from what we do and it's not exactly the same but again it's in that Challenger safety that is are we able to look at things from a systemic perspective and have an impact that's really what that is so again this is we started looking at this last spring I believe it was or late winter and we're looking at it more deeply this year asking people to begin to look at how are our kids use this as a way to guide

034how we um evaluate or assess the degree to which kids are are able to participate in ways that are going to help them be um successful particularly again our black students or but I would say any students who are faced with any you know with a disparity who are not achieving to the degree that they are able they're capable is there another one just Ave you want to pause for a second and do questions at all or keep going along does anybody have any questions at this point not at this point go right ahead then for John all right so um I'm going to give you a little bit of a an overview of our evaluation and it was really uh great as we turned in our annual report uh just a few days ago

035actually to say that we're meeting all of our grand objectives um we did get this money uh during covid and I would put us about 6 months behind which is generally how all implementation across every Grant I work on is going right now um so it's it's a very normal thing umu but I'm really pleased to that we're moving along in all of the areas that were discussed um we mentioned that there's a number of ways that we're collecting data from the students themselves uh last year in January we did a full survey of District staff which identified um one of the top things they said was was how to address microaggressions and and um so those those that survey is being used for those sorts of things but it'll also be used as Baseline

036for um and we'll do it again in the in May of 2025 and then I want to share uh the interviews that I did um over the summer with um your administrative staff um and I just wanted to share uh these data because last time I talked about the survey so I thought it' be might be interesting for all of you to hear uh what the administration are saying about uh just a generally you know generally taking the temperature of what's going on in the district and then since we were at 2 and A2 years at that point what should we be focused on these next two and a half years but yet you know thinking about sustainability beyond the life of the grant of course um so there are a lot of words here

037and that's why um somebody had the brilliant suggestion of giving copies to you um so you can see here that um there were a number of areas that I I spoke with them about they lasted between 25 in about 45 to 50 minutes um and I did them mostly on Zoom one on one in person and and I I knew most everybody so that was that was great um but they I only took a portion of the results that I have and these results were reported back to the leadership team our leadership team in October uh basically they identified a number of positives things about um I think one thing that I'd like I'll just highlight a few of these results one being that things are happening across the district so in the PD that's

038being offered uh staff from K12 are there um so they're it's across District they're hearing the same messages um including things like how to address microaggression so everyone is getting the same information we're not lo as it as as it were um uh they talked about some of the systemic stuff strategic plan um how critical that's been a number of people noticed uh noted how um wonderful and valuable it'll be to have Britney on the staff and she's been a contributing leader within our in our working groups and with planning professional development um and with the with the students you know you could see that immediately m um and also the idea that there is the say it's not okay to not try so you need to take risks um and and that feeling of

039safety for the staff um was pointed out uh they also talked about some areas that they would like to see some continued effort on uh many of these have been addressed already like I said we had these results in October so we've been infusing a number of changes to address this um talking about um well CLR is very focused on cultur learning uh cultural I'm sorry what is see culturally learning culturally and linguistically responsive teaching learning thank you I always get the L wrong um thank you for that linguist it is but having more more explicit discussions about identity and racism um ongoing learning which of course has been a significant part of this grant um recognizing that some people are still saying things but not doing what's always best and I think um some

040of the PD recently has been focused on encouraging people to speak up and speak out about it uh draw people in um how do we know that this is working that's our one of our penultimate challenges and um yeah recognizing that many people are are trying extremely hard and are doing things but when they hear things that are still being done that are hurtful it's it's really hard so keeping the morale up to say that all of these efforts will be not in vain um so those are just some of the highlights uh there are a lot more there was a lot more said um really I think one other thing that I'd like to point out is feeling that one of the questions I asked was compared to a few years ago how do

041you feel the efforts around Deb are in the district and they said that they're markedly different um so recognizing that change has happened in that space thank you we'll close up by just talking about some things that are next and then we'll have some time for some discussion so really as I mentioned earlier you know our next steps are continuing those mentoring circles but preparing for that transition uh the leadership team we continuing train our Equity leaders looking to expand that Beyond those that have attended now to our broader staff and working collaborating together as Equity leaders administratively and with our um natural Circles of support leadership teams as well so really continuing those but then and moving into more District leadership for those groups of course we're going to continue our inquiry with a

042focus on achievement and the impact that this work has had having on student achievement as was mentioned earlier in the seminars we've got as I mentioned one more this year and then we'll be looking at our plans for the seminars uh for next year Britney really LED our last uh our seminar and so that was a a step for us with a building leader District leader providing that leadership and consultation with natural Circles of support and we'll be doing that for our next uh seminar um Dr Lewis and and Britney are will be working together and planning that along with other um the other partners and then of course lastly is continuing that work with our our uh family Equity Council one of the things that that group has identified in their work is that

043they feel the conversations are having are wonderful they feel that there's also a significant portion of of our community that is not engaging in these conversations and and they have some ideas and have shared some ideas on how we can reach out to them um including focus groups or even you know individually randomly contacting people and asking them for feedback on different things as a way to keep engaging people so they've talked at length about removing barriers to participation interestingly one of the main barriers to participation in being involved in in different events and participating in different events is parking so if you guys can just fix that especially in the winter and some of you is there isn't enough there's not enough and I'm sure you have all experienced it when you come here

044for an event yes yes yes yes Tom and I had a conversation just the other day about that uh he was being helpful with someone had some parking issues um true so so what you know in terms of what you can expect from us we're going to continue reporting to us reporting to you and ideally January but we wanted to get the other Equity report in first uh and and in June and just continue to you know hold us accountable support the work ask questions and be curious and continue to be invested you know one of the things we often do is is just admire how grateful we are for the support of the board and the community in this work without you this wouldn't be happening and and to know that you are there

045and supportive and encouraging us while also having high expectations for us is important so that's what we wanted to share so we entertain your questions and wisdom you Pro you probably don't have an answer to this question but I'll ask it anyway um so in terms of your mentoring circles and just in general natural um Circles of support do you have a percentage of how many students how many African-American students are involved in this versus how many are in the district or even families what percentage of families are involved in these programs um kind of as a percentage of African-Americans in the district yeah I we don't yet so what we have right now and I I I shared the data with Melissa about a week ago is we're going to look at the participation

046of the circle students over last year see who participated and compare with those who didn't okay just as a it's not a true experimental design it's kind of a quasi because they did choose to go to it um but that would allow me to say at that point what percentage is and what percentage is not okay so once we have those data we could share those with you and you can share them with the board I mean I think it's great I'd just love to see what kind of participation we're getting and hopefully we're seeing it grow well to your point you know at least at the high school we're aware that there are students African-American students who could use support who are not in circles so part of what we will be doing in

047the coming years sort of figure out how do we reach out to those and if if not support them in mentoring circles find other ways to get them connected to support okay yeah I would say you know it's it's when we do the invites certainly a much smaller percentage of those that are invited actually participate and there's a variety of reasons for that one of the things that that we've been committed to and I think that I would say natural Circles of support really has challenged us to do is to remove barriers to students participating so typically a club would meet before or after school and removing those kind of barriers that require additional transportation that was really an expect ation from the start uh and that certainly has helped uh with participation we have

048found that we can send as many letters and emails and all those things and it is really word of mouth so somebody says I really like this you should really do this um for the mentoring circles the nice part of what this grant has allowed us to do compared to what we were doing before the grant was before we were primarily just doing the mentoring circles I mean there was the ne uh the NTS the leadership teams which would meet but the the depth of professional development and working directly with Equity leaders and Equity teams the grant has really helped to do that and support other professional development for our staff so the model has said yes direct student work is important in the mentoring circles but the real change is much more expansive can

049I also add just a point um in the mentoring circles students who are not black attend um so that happens a lot a lot of friends ask friends to come and and it's it's a very safe space for students um and the second thing is uh all of the work that you and and Britney now will be doing has always been about belonging in inclusion broadly because we know when you change the environment for any particular population it often changes for different populations as well so it's even though that that's the Grant's Focus um the ripple effect will be positive about belonging for all sorts of kids okay um hopefully right that's our goal that's our aspiration so um but I love your question Kate I'll definitely get back to when we know the number

050speaking of the grant will there be an opportunity once this grant Runs Out less than two years now to apply for a similar Grant to continue to carry on our efforts here so I'm attending the the wpp is having an a grantee or a potential grantee um webinar on February 20th I'm going to go to just to see what they're looking for for the next rounds I'll definitely ask if you can do a renewal but if not there might be other possibilities of places we could look I think depending on what the work would look like if we decided we wanted to go forward and and continue a partnership I think there are resources out there that we could we could apply for you know collaboratively and I think our our goal throughout this from

051the grant proposal to today has been to make this work sustainable without the funds um beyond beyond the grant but that's not to say that there aren't by the end of this grant we're certainly going to have unfinished work that could use additional funding and resources that's beyond of what we're able to accomplish within our existing District resources but we're in much better shape than we were um because of the investment in the professional development for our staff and our leadership teams that you know the goal is that that sustains the work and is not dependent upon anyone group anyone partner anyone building leader so we're hopeful for that we that's our responsibility as grantees is to prepare for that but we'll find other money and and I understood that I just think if we

052can be self- sustaining and take it to the next yes that would be beneficial that's the best way to say it uh also what are recruitment of diverse staff where are we with that MH so what's the vision for that or is there an action plan so coming up on February 16th feels right is that sound right Angie um so it's a day where it is a a day where we will not have students in the building or staff actually because it's a conference release day and on that day we are bringing in a group from cisa 6 called the center for all who is going to provide a training on inclusive hiring practices to the district uh our leadership team so the focus of that with our administrative council is about looking at best

053practice best practices in recruiting recruiting and hiring um a diverse staff and looking at our existing hiring process and removing barriers that often make it um uh either an unattractive place or some hurdles that get in the way I will say in all of the work whether it's talking with these outstanding Partners or other partners when we talk about what what are the things that we need to do to make sure that we hire diverse staff the most important thing is that the district's a place where diverse staff want to work because most people don't want to be the one you know that that comes they want someone to tell them hey that's a place where where you can go and feel accepted and they're doing great things over there and you know you know

054patting myself on the back patting each other on the back patting our administrative team our our teachers on the back that is something we've really invested in I think with our time our professional development and of course um you know just even hiring that position you know for having Britney's position I think shows that we're committed to that in addition now the village has has hired an equity strategist so I think there is um we're developing a yes yes yep uh Crystal Johnson is her name I think we're getting to that point where hopefully people are talking about something's happening in McFarland where they're committed to making sure all of their students belong so that's our hope is that yes we'll get these tools that remove the barriers and will be developing a reputation as

055a place where you want to come work is there a chance that our district would try to recruit teachers away from other districts well um yes I mean we are always willing to do that what we haven't done what our district has not historically done is cold called other teachers in other districts we have not tried to poach other staff members we have had our teachers receive those calls from other districts but um you know part of it really to be honest in addition to the reputation is you know people know how competitive you are they know about your working conditions and they know what you pay you know and so as you'll see in the referendum conversation that's also a factor to be considered but i' I'd entertain the board's thoughts on how aggressive

056you would like to draw from other districts very uh then one other question before I make a comment the family Equity council is that something board members could sure attend yep it's not a private group it's a dropping group it is open um you know I think the I'm not sure when the next one is off top my head but I 21st 21st the next one's the 21st um you may be at a community informational session about the referendum on that date maybe yeah yeah but because I you know we've just heard about this yeah uh family Equity Council ice like to see what this is all about yeah I can imagine it to to Britney too cuz that could maybe even be something they could prepare for you know what questions might they want

057to ask you or discuss or let you know sure um and I just have one comment thank you very much for coming I mean I look forward to the updates every six months m okay because I know it's a huge initiative here in the district to help support kids it's important for at least me as a board number sort to keep tabs on this to see what type of progress we are making thanks for your time thank you I did have a couple um questions about um like the evaluation of the data and being able to keep a pulse on where we at are or where we're at in this work after the grant ends is that something that's in the works to as part of the making it sustainable right like in the surveys

058that we do throughout the year or you know is that what's the plan for that I know it's a couple years out but just is that on the radar yeah I think all of the evaluation tools and practices that we're implementing with the grant could be replicated um we don't have the expertise of a of a researcher right you know that can analyze the data summarize it as well um but the tools I think are there and and and I think we're developing some expertise okay and over the next two years at least with natural circles we'll be working with each site to you know not necessarily formal evaluation but like some systematic kind of feedback ways of of getting information from especially from kids yeah so there'll be obviously the the clear outcomes in

059terms of you know the achievement and other data but that belonging piece that participation piece I think we can be asking kids all along the way what their experiences are engaging how how their responses change over time yeah that's I mean that's the one I mean that's the goal right is to yeah and we won't know if it changes if we're not always checking in on that so okay great thank you and I would Echo Tom's gratitude for all the work and coming here and sharing the updates so sure this is a fun place to come it is we're here every other Monday just today true well I I think uh I just want to thank you for kind of being a part of leading us through a mindfield that we' we've never had to

060deal with before and to to have to have this grant and you folks in in a leadership role along with Britney I think in the the family Equity Group and I just I I think we're we're certainly headed in the right direction and and it's and in the past you know the hiring of um a more diverse staff is is something that since I I joined the board 12 years ago you know we've talked about every year it's not for lack of intention it's just we've never been able to figure out a way to recruit we feel comfortable about once we get folks here doing interview and seeing our place we can keep them but it's just getting them in to to to try to make an attempt to to join our district it's it's

061leadership in in things like that that I think are critically important and just thank you for being our leaders can I add one more thing please in response to that um we adding on to that because I agree with you and one of the I think you have more than you know that we're not fully taking advantage of I'm discovering you know so there there there there are staff that we work with quite closely particularly at the high school but and then within our seminars but and in our conversations they are alluding to or they're mentioning other staff who are looking for a way to have these same kinds of relationships haven't figured it out yet so I feel like we can expand you know meaningful relationships between your staff and you have very good

062staff very good teachers with some of the students who are not connected I think you can do more with what you have we need to figure that out and frankly I think as you create the kind of of uh staff culture I guess you know the school culture where staff work together in this way to address this issue that's also going to be attractive to a diverse audience coming in say oh this not see how they work together on behalf of those students who are left out so I think there's more we can do with the existing staff I'm just keep discovering these gyms I say Well they're telling me well how why isn't why aren't they in our meeting how do we get them there because that's what we're looking for well and just

063one other thing my wife and I had the opportunity to to attend Britney's uh Community uh information session and it and it was extremely heartening to hear this was more specific to hate speech and bullying sort of things but uh Britney indicated that there's a core group of students now that have really taken a hold of this thing and if they see something they're going going to say something uh she went over the three different ways that you can approach when you see or hear uh and I think she just did a wonderful job and to think that we do have students out there now uh unafraid it's a difficult thing to do it's it's like I said it's was very heartening that that entire session I have one more question um what do you

064see as relationship or partnership between Britney and the equity strategist that the village just hired maybe eron you can chime in on this also yeah that's probably a little bit more my whe house well they're just I think we're we're ahead in this respect because I think Britney understands um her job and has a vision for where she's going I think they're still on boarding that person and I think it's a new position so there there's going to be a little bit of you know orienting that will happen but ultimately where I see them is collaborating on what are your goals what are our goals where can we work together how can we be efficient how can we provide joint opportunities how can can I provide some service to the people you're working with can

065you provide some service to to ours and then you know at the lower level can I promote what you're doing can we share that with our our our staff I think you know the the village wants to hire a diverse staff too you know so what are those things that you're trying what have you learned what research have you done and that expertise um they haven't done much more than you know met each other and and you know than raved about each each other and how excited they are to get to work with each other but I do see that as really uh a great opportunity for people to collaborate and provide more maximize a resource [Music] thanks thank you thank you thank you very much okay so next we've got uh weave a board

066meeting report Mr yes thanks let me just give up my phone here thank you yeah just a quick summary of The Last board meeting uh of WEA back in January the second enrollment uh forecast is for them to have 400 4,463 students enrolled 44 we DCA and insight wow that's a butload of students the CTE equivalent equivalency with uh DCA and WEA it's the equivalent graduation policy that uh was worked on they talked about you know when students have the uh equivalency graduation uh work it's the same time allotment the same objectives in developing knowledge Concepts and skills as they would if it was a course taught in the Mor schools and then lastly other things that were discussed um was the 2223 school year audit results uh we we we approved requests for early

067graduation big initiative right now is marketing update with stride K12 Wisconsin um they think that can take them to the next level as far as enrollment and understanding uh we reviewed policy on the bloodborn pathogens and we reviewed the overall budget today and that concludes this report okay thank you all right uh State education convention conference convention uh Angie and eron and myself were all able to attend uh Mr tarer you want to start sure Jeff Mahoney was able to attend briefly the the opening the day before I guess is um the the Wisconsin Association of School of Business officers meets and then and then we jumped in um I would say you for me some of my most significant takeaways is I'm really happy to work in McFarland and we have the community support

068that we have is really special um the other thing I would say was that you know as we're going to um ask people to to vote on an operational referendum was not only are we not alone but there are many people who have gone before us been successful or gone before us and not been successful that had a lot of wisdom to share with us about what they learned through the process and that was really valuable um for me more so airm ing that we're on the right track and what we're doing and how we're going about it and the transparency that that we're addressing it and our and our planed inform the community is really well thought out and we'll be as sure as we can that we provided many opportunities for those uh

069that want to know more about that make an informed decision on April 2nd I would say those were my two biggest take yeah um I was able to get there in time to do uh the delegate assembly which is always an interesting event um this year it went very smoothly last year not so much um it a lot depends on the sort of resolutions you know that that come across and um there are some that take significantly longer than others thankfully this year that really wasn't the case I think we were out of there in an hour and a half or so this year whereas last year it was 2 and a half or three hours um nothing real Earth shattering out there I think that's probably the reason that it went quickly and I

070was able to attend two sessions in Earnest and by that I mean actually have a chair to sit in in the room where the session was going on and to be able to see and hear U the three I decided would help me in the best way uh I saw one on book and curriculum challenges and that is becoming a much bigger issue um across the entire State some are are finding many many more challenges than we have had to this point as as far as my uh memory I think think we've had two to this point and and it both of those went through our process and I I don't know that we had any complaints from anyone about the process so um the the discussion was interesting because honestly there's almost nothing out

071there that hasn't been challenged somewhere to the classics you know the catcher and the ride and you know those sorts of things uh those are on most of the lists and then they have uh people out there that their their way of well I can't it it's hard to explain the the criteria that they use but essentially in most places there really is none if you feel that there's a passage in a one passage out of an entire book that shouldn't be seen by uh students of a certain age they can go ahead and challenge you know that book so that was interesting a second was planning an operational referendum and as Aaron mentioned um there are a lot of districts out there with referendums coming up there were a lot that actually did them

072last year and had good success not you know Universal success I think I think the strategy that Aaron and Jeff are putting together in terms of um getting the information out that's the most important thing as all these other districts see it as education you can't be transparent enough um but if you think you're going to get to everybody that is unrealistic what you have to do is focus on the people that show enough interest to come to your informational events and um try to answer and or and or comment on any you know email inquiries you get keeping in mind that as a board we can't advocate for the referendum we can provide all the information that we can but but we have to remain neutral up until the the election and the other

073was um empowering with AI enhancing teaching and learning I I jogged down to that one to get there 15 minutes early and every seat in the place was full and there must have been 35 people outside the hallway I tried to do the outside and the hallway thing but I couldn't see anything really and it it was very difficult to hear um so what I've done is I'm efforting to get uh all the information and documentation from that one and I'll provide that to you you if you'd like it um otherwise it's the same as as Aaron and that's it's the same every state convention I go to and every National Convention we've got a we have a district here that's different different than most uh in in every good way imaginable um people don't

074believe you when you you tell them that you have a you don't have a confrontational relationship with your staff or the board and the administration you know and and it's not that we just you know stumbled upon this group we've always been that way you know there are hiccups along the way but um historically we just hire good people and if you hire good people and you treat them the right way and compensate them fairly they'll stay you know we've got a great history of keeping teachers here long term but I think that's becoming more and more difficult nowadays maybe than it was in the past but beyond that it's a it's a great experience um the exhibition Hall seems to be getting a little leaner as the years go by there's fewer people setting

075up their booths and uh I don't know what maybe the cause of that is but that's interesting yeah find a m that's fine with me yeah no it is I I don't enjoy that part of it particularly highlighter that's I think that's happen with the uh state reading conference also sure okay yeah Les the only other thing I would add Craig about this being a you know really good district is that we do Empower our staff also yeah you know they have to say that they have a lot to share with us you know and uh it's that collaborative partnership between Administration and teachers and and parents also that's not a given no it's it doesn't happen everywhere just automatically and just as a TI bit of information I read I can't remember where I

076read it um the majority of Voters in the United States are very satisfied with what's going on in the public schools and they don't agree necessarily with all this book Banning stuff even though it's out there a lot you know if we follow the will of the people I think it would have a different Al in many school districts we're fortunate I think that we live in the community we live in and but I think it's also the board policy that's been established when it comes to uh issues with textbooks or library books you know it's pretty clearcut yeah and that was developed by you know a joint effort with parents and teachers Administration so I think it's a pretty uh it's not pretty it's a sound policy and and the curriculum that we're currently

077working on the the health and human development that's a pretty hot topic as well I mean that's there's there's nowhere where that isn't controversial um but my moles tell me that our group is doing a slam bang job on this and we're going to we're going to come out the other end and and have a a curriculum that satisfies almost everybody that's it for me let's do our district administrator's report Mr tarnet Sir all right lots to share uh one of the things that um I didn't share last month that I I apologize for not sharing was um right before winter break there was a uh an effort organized primarily by shanon Morrison to raise money for negative lunch balances I don't think I ever addressed that to the board um you may have heard

078about it on social media um but through in a couple of days through great organization and promotion they were able to raise $2,784 and66 cents which made all of the negative lunch balances whole um so that includes people that either don't qualify for free and reduced U price meals or for whatever reason have had alart things that are not covered Beyond and what's covered through those meals so just really says a lot about our community and I I'm I'm starting to feel a little guilty with all of this and then everything that the students shared about our student our community is really providing a lot of valuable Financial Resources to do we get that out to folks I mean not to necessarily blow our horn but just to make sure it wasn't us I mean

079it was a community group right but to be but to share gratitude I just yes there's so many good things that are going on yeah so that was really exciting I do I actually have a question about that is that um when it was wonderful that I mean that's amazing um are they able to determine which negative school lunch balances are for people like where it's a chronic issue or for people like us that just forget to ref yes it's not to it's not the temporary myself included it's not the temporary flation areg balances amazing going to needs it right that amount of money can happen very very quickly yes yeah it sure can it sure can yeah this is a generous they're a generous Community if you ask yeah they are you know if

080you just have to get out there and have a good reason for needing something and that McFarland has always been very generous and I think isn't it in the next policy batch the hot lunch program yes that's what I thought I think it might might be tonight is it or is it in the next one I think it's I can't get them all separated um read it it it is uh uh a lot of things this month of course it's kindness month Black History Month Career and Technical education month so I just wanted to acknowledge um I I forgot also to share this with you I think this is actually old old data in December that I was given but we continue to lead the county in youth apprenticeship um both in terms of the

081total number and the per student uh ratio it's right around 70 students um and I think the closest districts about 50 so that says a lot um and of course many people involved with that but ESP special thank you and gratitude to Penny Thompson for her leadership we are January 26th professional development was so packed um Britney Brazzle did a kind of a speakup 2.0 where we talked about a really a strengths based approach to students and families and um building upon the positives in students and and how we view students I wasn't able to attend that but I heard wonderful things I focused on disciplinary literacy of course continued focus on early reader literacy practices and professional commun learn Learning Community collaboration so just valuable time we appreciate it families the um advising night

082which was mentioned and raring success just really gratitude to everyone involved so many people involved and student services really organizes that event and leads that event and and the positivity among the staff was just really exciting so it is a huge event it was a little overwhelming seems to get larger each year yes yeah College after college business after business I was getting recruited I just want you to know I was getting recruited by people to work there so I did turn people down there's a simple answer and all no so um so that was great um one of the things um Megan and I were just able to attend the N NHS induction ceremony so that's very exciting it wouldn't have made the cut um 33 people does that sound like the number yeah

083IND that was a lot yeah did a great job really it's just very prestigious so congratulations to those students and their families and and student Le too and student Le yes made it extra special amazing I have a few photos to share with you um some of which are just frankly not very um exciting because um yeah I mean that once again the high school just continues to dominate that so let me get that pulled up but um lots of fun things to share all right I'll just while you do that I'll just give my two cents about the advising night we've tried to go the last couple years and um you know we have a junior and he really felt that like and there were there were so many people I mean it was

084it was I'm echoing what everyone has already said but um but on the flip side there's also like our Junior felt really prepared with a lot of that information already like as a plug to the student services for students who are trying to get that information kind of throughout the year too like they're providing that information and then they're also making this huge event so it feels like they're really getting to the kids to all the kids yeah you know so that I mean it's a really I was very impressed with the event how many student services staff do we have well we have here a total in the district yeah that's a great question I would I wouldn't I'm going to have to write that down because we just we just added five right

085mhm so yeah for our four we added four um yeah you'd have to count up no that's fine give us an accurate number next time it was more more just about to do it one of the things is we want to make sure that we have all three roles in each building so a counselor a psychologist and a social worker and then some buildings have two counselors so that would be 12 and then we're in the 15ish yeah 15 yeah 16 feels about right because there's three counselors here two counselors at the middle school and Waba yeah yeah is that kind of an ongoing process I mean are we always looking for more no I mean we we can't financially support anymore um but um you know I feel like the people that we have

086are really really high quality yeah so um this is one of the things to recognize just some students in 8th grade really analyzing that I Have a Dream speech um they also analyze letter from a Birmingham Jail I just found this really interesting cuz I saw on some you know Tik Tock I think it was actually where someone was going around and interviewing people on the street to see what they knew of the I Have a Dream speech and people know very little and I just thought it was just really nice to see our students breaking it down and analyzing it Beyond just the the the thing that you see in your 5sec news clip every year some of the things that people on the street are not aware of is staggering at times it's

087not going to make you feel better about the world um the although who knows what I would do if a microphone was you know thrown on my face um had that the spelling be Josh Johnson does such a great job at the middle school organizing that seventh grade um has the champion Adriana Lee whose uh Championship word calcitonin calcitonin which of course you know is a hormone that controls the level of calcium in your blood I mean everybody knows that and how to spell it um but we'll let you keep that to yourself to save time second place finisher finisher was Emily Jong Joe in a sixth grade so excited for that um snowboard the ski snowboard trips coming back and very exciting uh saw some great pictures or many pictures online so appreciate the

088middle school for organizing that I think Fred Bartman had a big hand in that they had snow and they had snow back then susal of course I know many of you are able to attend I think uh just blown away by the quality of that performance just well done start to finish tech crew the acting huge huge cast um the whole G stage design day cleaning up the theater and that's right the mess that they had made yes deal well it's great though I mean they were they were I think everybody was there it sure appeared as though yeah well cuz then they have a party too after well in oh it was the party was Saturday night wow so they came extra you saw I think you saw the right half of this in

089the students don't want to forget about our middle schoolers who also received the MLK Al they were introduced along with a student of the month earlier this week yes Mr Bart and recognized yeah also recognized at the assembly good point um you saw this already old news but um but thank you to Louie and Val for representing the district at at the planning meeting um that's something that that was done on a day they did not have school the regional science bow you saw that before this is one of kind of always a fun picture them um you heard about the students from Costa Rica we also are having um five French students coming they're were the Costa Rican students was high school kids yeah High School y oop sorry they're right there yeah working

090with a multicultural Club so we have five French students coming for three weeks wow coming up this month actually they should be here it says the 3rd through the 24th hosted by McFarland families very exciting you saw this about the the the award here that's old news they stole it from me um you didn't see that air cooled engines unit love to see the Hands-On work our students are doing our amazing Tech program that was one thing I noticed at the State Convention one of the schools I can't remember offand who it was but their robotics class and they had their robot there that that class had built in it was pretty cool yeah really a project yeah yeah we teach robotics starting in middle school and have a robotics team now at the high

091school and the middle school um and hey there we go for national school counselor week and so excited we've got we've got eight now um so excited to add to our group and an amazing team they are of leaders it's unbelievable the resources they provide to students families and staff very grateful for them all right so those are the pictures that um I wanted to to show to you I also wanted to um make sure to just highlight a couple things and then of course if there's anything um you wanted to share uh as you know we have the listing sessions coming up and they start on Wednesday we'll have uh Wednesday evening Friday morning and then again on February 21st and March 4th we also have staff engagement sessions coming up I did want

092to just give you um for those of you that are are kind enough to join our board meeting you're getting a sneak preview of what we will be sharing at those sessions I'm not going to give you the full Spiel but I just wanted to orient the board to this so you can kind of um know what to expect coming up really what we're going to be doing is is expanding upon what was sent in the mailer which you should be getting any day now at home and build upon that and also include some of the the questions and answers that we thought were more common so we'll start off by talking about our four areas of needs with outdated funding system inadequate school funding our growing student needs and then our Rising opport operational

093costs and then we will break that down we'll talk about how common referendums are in the state of Wisconsin why that is the outdating funding formula we'll talk about when that started how it started why it started the fact that it's not going to change anytime soon we'll talk about um where where our our state has decided to invest um in education relative to other states um last the last data we have is 2021 and we were 32nd in United States um we used to be in the top five to give you a sense you can see here the revenues versus inflation um so clearly that Gap continues to widen which is why we'll be coming to the taxpayers and about how Esser funds were used these federal funds were used to uh fill that

094Gap and those funds are no longer available this chart should shows that graphically and and we'll be breaking this chart down a little bit to show how the referendum fits into these um the plan how we compare with other uh area districts in terms of our per pupil uh Revenue cap funding and talking about filling in some of that Gap you know between us and the inflation talk about growing student needs about how our teacher to student ratios are more more important than ever our student services staff are more important than ever operational costs from salaries and benefits to Transportation um everything keeps going up and if we're we're trying to keep teachers here and and keep them from going to other districts that are paying more talk about that talk about how much it's

095going to cost um the taxpayers what we're trying to accomplish with our class sizes and then um break that down a little bit more trying to keep these class sizes as they are trying to um attract and retain staff you can see here where our base pay is relative to our neighbors and you'll notice that I think everybody except for Fort ainson to my recollection that's above us has passed a referendum yes and without a referendum we're talking about we're going to have to with that amount of money we're going to have to look at cuts across the board um cutting staff increasing class sizes reducing wage and benefit packages reducing what we're paying Subs reducing facility maintenance increasing Transportation talk about the tax impact which is very important we'll break that down show what

096our mill rate has done the cost per 1,000 over the years we are at that that lowest middle one that's where we are right now at that that 793 and this forecast what the mill rate would look like moving forward property tax study we'll break that down what this is actual tax dollars and then Circle back to our needs and and then board member likely Craig will say thank you for coming so I just I just wanted I know that was quick and it wasn't meant to give you looks nice good I wanted to give you a sense of the scope of what we're planning to present uh other things coming up this week World read aloud day is Wednesday orchestra concert also at the high school is Wednesday the information session Wednesday um another

097information session at 11: at 9: at the library the 10th starts the Chinese New Year the 12th is Abraham Lincoln's um day Abraham Lincoln Day because it's Abraham Lincoln's birthday and Jackie tarit are my mother's birthday um that is not Abraham Lincoln day is a required observance Day by the state my mother's birthday is not um just the district um then we start our no I I want to play that card um that's also next week starts our community week which was referenced by our students and then the staff engagement sessions um start where we just inform the staff staff uh about the referendum um so that they if they're not able to attend the information sessions school resource officer um Appreciation Day is coming up on the 15th um that night we'll also have

098an opportunity for you to provide feedback to me with my annual evaluation during a special board meeting now we don't have any school on the conference day that's when we're having that hiring for Equity training for the administrative team President's Day board meeting so that concludes my report but if there's any other recognitions or that the board members wanted to share entertain sure I'd like to acknowledge uh Britney's speakup presentation yes we she talked about those three categories that you're talking about Craig um interrupt question educate yes I mean you're never too old to learn new things right I learned a lot of good things mhm that evening I did yes and we will be she's working on a video that she'll be sending out okay to families as well we're able to attend awesome

099uh acknowledging Joel seasman uh he presented uh a zoom presentation sponsored by the radar group which stands for Relevant alcohol and drug abuse resources it's a community group here and his topic was vaping yeah the dangers of vaping the other night yeah it was really good it was it's really good I sh that who else is there Angie for her work helping me out constantly with the some the technology whatever she does for you she does at least twice as much for me believe me well I appreciate especially when it comes to the zooming stuff you know yeah so and that's it for me okay moving along um our action items first is action on a first reading of this long long list of policies here that I'm going to choose not to not to

100read but I would look for a motion to approve these policies unless you have any individuals you'd like to pull out but we can talk about that after the motion so could I have a motion to approve these the first reading of these policies I'll make a motion to approve the first reading of these policies thank you Tom I will second thank you Kate any discussion further yes I do have several go ahead under policy 1260 in incapacity of the district administrator the very last uh second to last paragraph it talks about the board may require the district administrator to establish to its satisfaction that the district administrator is capable of resuming such duties on a full-time basis what about on a part-time basis you know where if for some reason you're out for a

101while but you ease your way back in position recommends sort of yeah easing your way in yeah I wouldn't see why that could be I just say if we included part-time then that that clarifies that yeah I can I can definitely check on that and see if there's a reason why it is written as it is of course we're not predicting anything no I know my voice doesn't sound great but policy wait can we um so I I would make one request that we go policy by policy and discuss them um just because then we can it is easier for my brain to follow yeah once we're there right um and I had one other clarification on that same policy in the second paragraph where it says the board shall fix the compensation of the

102interim District administrator yeah do that really when they say fix do they really like determine yeah determine might be a better that's what I okay that's what it felt yeah that's what I was assuming based on the context but I was like I don't I wasn't sure it's probably not broken right so we don't have to fix it well and also it didn't I mean it didn't get yeah it didn't give the right so I I'll go down this list here and if anyone has a has a particular comment or change to make just stop me uh reading 01421 electoral process yes okay go towards the bottom of the page right above where it says Declaration of non- candidacy this sentence right before that the order of names on the ballot should be determined by

103lot in the event more than one person seeks office for a representative Eric are they talk about Lottery when they say lot I think they mean throwing names in a hat and drawing one St language drawings is to a determination of like let's say an hat throwing out of a hat pulling up a hat that is the language that they use yeah that's what they and I understand that I'm just reading from the perspec Ive of the public if we want to little aware of it that's all I have for that one uh 01431 public expression of board members 01443 conflict of interest yes um so under conflict of interest letter B they talk about um not accepting an offer or anything of value what about uh tickets to an athletic event where we sit

104in the booth of a vendor does does that cover Oh you mean like it a buck game or a like that and it would be like a vendor of the school district yeah or it might be the attorney or anyone else yeah I would think that it sounds like a conflict of interest to me that is it is something of value I just that's not to say that you couldn't pay for M right and it I just want to make sure that we're in compliance with that particular one okay that's all I have for that one I mean I think it goes all the way down to a cup of coffee right technically M yeah yeah well I don't know 0 016 probably some level of yeah isn't there a level of value Common Sense

105uh 0164 meetings 01641 regular meetings wait hold on I have a question on the the first one the 164 yep okay um in notice of meetings M under a and it says posting it the notice in at least three publicly places public places likely to give notice to persons effective affected affected like what what would be the most likely like is that I guess maybe just is it 20 how many where do we how many places do we post the four or five municipalities to the six municipalities or five and then we have physical postings also at the Village of McFarland edock Public Library the um one Community Bank and then also McFarland House Cafe okay okay and our website and at all of our buildings yeah as well right I would say it's well

106covered yeah I think so okay uh 01641 regular meetings 01642 special meetings 01 65.1 notice of meetings 01652 change of regular meetings uh 1260 we've spoken about uh 1421 criminal history record check and employee self-reporting requirements 1623 Section Dada prohibition against disability disability discrimination in employment employment 16301 family and medical leave of absence FMLA 2 three four I um kind of a couple I didn't know if the 163 um yes okay I mean it would apply to both of the FMLA ones that we're going to talk about um I know that in our bizerk and cerk meetings we've kind of been talking about the definitions of qualifying people MH families or families of choice that get you qualified for that was related to S sick leave I think in our discussions at bizerk and cerk

107but um I didn't know if the definitions of the people that you're allowed to if you're doing caregiv giving under FMLA leave um if that's statutorily defined or just ensuring that we align it with what we do in our policy handbook or in our professional and support staff handbooks yeah so so it is it's federally defined and so anything that we do to be covered under FMLA in our handbooks fits that definition anything we do above and beyond that would be what's in the handbook okay thank you okay 2340 yes field and other District sponsored trips yes and this is more of of a question maybe for you Erin yeah under trip approval process I fully understand the criteria and what's required but what about is there somewhere in board policy somewhere if students are

108unable to afford field trips are there alternative funding sources for them I don't think there's anything stated I can look I don't think off the top of my head that there's anything stated in board policy yeah that talks about that but how do we I Wonder If we don't have an unofficial like no one would miss a field trip because of being unable to to pay whatever the the fee it it it would be similar to like athletic fees right and and I wonder if it should be board policy though maybe because it could be so dependent on who the teacher is or our coach you know I just feel we should be consistent across the district well I think there's there would be questions I would ask questions about what type of trip are

109we talking about because you know it's what $2,400 I think to go to that Los Angeles music trip I don't think that's something that District can absorb um so I get yeah you know certainly if it's a required school activity that would be one thing yeah I think we should differentiate that and the the other thing is is that if it is something expensive that's where the Outreach to the community comes in because we have a lot of generous folks out there if they can sponsor a particular student for a field trip I think there'd be folks out there that we will to do that we there is a on on any of the recent field trip forms that I've filled out there's always an option to include more or I'm including more to cover

110anyone who can't pay so that is on there for for any of the forms I've seen in recent years but but that's reaching school age families yeah that about you know 70% of the other community right you're saying yeah you're reaching the people that are already paying for their own child right right so it's hard to pay for somebody else at that same time just a thought I could check on that yeah certainly is it's in addition to this policy okay um I have one question for curiosity's sake in the um second section where it's extracurricular SL curricular trips in that second paragraph where it says extracurricular trips that extend to an overnight stay are considered overnight travel y other than W athletic teams participating in state tournaments SL meets why do they pull that

111out I didn't quite understand or why is that not I don't know okay um is this also statutory no no I don't think so I don't think so um didn't know what that I wonder why they would do that right like what the difference was and this has covered somewhere else I don't know yeah so that would be one thing I'd be curious about learning more about okay why is that an exception mhm in that case yeah you would almost think any any organization that makes a state competition you know at Deca or math squad or science club you know a trip to State as a trip to State regardless of that whether it's a athletic competition or another extra curricular activity yeah I mean it's it's it's really about defining what is overnight travel

112and so it might mean that it you know puts into place other requirements then for both students and I'm sure there are staff attending but I I don't know there's some regulation about what you can can't do you think yeah so I would just I would look for if there's if we can find clarification on that okay 2451 program or curriculum modifications 2521 selection of instructional materials and Equipment yes okay uh go down the bottom go up two sentences they talk about students will be responsible for replacement if they break something the next sentence doesn't make sense the cost of materials may be charged for materials using these activities beyond the basic curriculum if they decide to uh keep it wouldn't it be read better if we just said the students may be charged for

113materials used in those activities beyond the basic curriculum in which um they decided to keep them the first sentence sounded clunky how was it how is it well the first sentence okay it's that last S I mean the one you the one you'd like to change oh yeah the the cost of materials it aren't we saying students may be charged for materials used those activities beyond the basic curriculum which a student elects to participate like in shop or art activities that makes sense is it defining what the cost of materials are for like like that it could be considered a material expense under like all of the coding that happens but then we should state that in the budget or am I the only one that thinks that's confusing it wasn't when I read it

114but now that you say it I see what you're saying you read it it's you know if you take it apart but you're materials charged for materials yeah there's no well the subject is the same as the other one they can be charged for materials not charged materials for yeah materials so there's like an extra word in there that makes it confusing yeah or it could be combined with that sentence right above it too second sentence just to add on I guess I'm not convinced that it's they're talking about students being charged the cost of materials I feel like it might be a where budgetary thing but the qualifier is where the product becomes the property of the student M yeah I see it's beyond the basic curriculum yeah maybe it's more clarification sounds we

115need clarification on that one too um the cost of materials yeah that I think it I think I'm kind of where Kate is it's part of it is just about using materials Choice sounds like we it needs to be change students maybe charge the cost of materials used in those activities Beyond right yeah that makes sense yeah that's easy it's good when it reads what it means yeah okay is it that's weird 31207 employment of casual resource Personnel 3121 criminal history record check and employee self-reporting requirements 3123 Section 504 Dada prohibition against disability discrimination in employment 3139 staff discipline 343 0.01 family and medical leave of absence FMLA 4121 criminal history record check and employee self-reporting requirements 4123 Section 504 Dada prohibition against disability discrimination in employment 4139 staff discipline 5113 open enrollment program yes

116okay um page two page two of six under F uh full-time open enrollment a annual space determination under number three and I know this was s discussed last week when or back uh January 8th when we approved the Open Enrollment students and establish current enrollment numbers for open enrollment availability purposes the the board does not guarantee open enrollment approvals for any nonresident students um but we had talked about if a student gets in then their siblings get in automatically my question if I been at the board me the other night to ask it so a student is granted um open enrollment let's say nth grade so Aon does the siblings automatically get in then the way we what we voted on yes yes regardless of what the uh class enrollment is let's say that's what

117we that's what you chose yeah so so again I'm just trying to think you know about the class sizes again so regardless of class size that siing will come mhm correct yep and I think the the rationale is that we have such a limited number of available spots that allowing siblings isn't going to cause a dis disproportionate class size like there aren't that it's a small number of people that are eligible for open enrollment and then a much smaller that have siblings that are in a class that isn't El and so we're just saying we'll guarantee that again just just from my perspective adding one or two students to a classroom can be significant it can be yeah you don't have to change anything but just want with that yeah and that was and that's

118not based on the policy that's based on your vote yeah the policy and I read this a couple times yeah um because what the policy says these are the things that you may consider yes they don't say so I read it I was like but no we do guarantee but that's not what the the policy saying you may may you may set limits based on the following criteria but yes you are correct and then let's see I think that's it for me for that okay policy 5215 missing and absent children 525 before you go that was confusing at first but after spending some time on it I understood it me too it's true yeah these are basically like runaways yeah y yep I kept trying to add more I like that to it then it

119really meant I kept reading it over again I know well what the the shortest one in there yeah and for you uh viewers out there I mean what the previous policy said was that the the staff shall ensure that the child will remain in the building well how can we ensure that we can try our best we'll let them stay and we'll you know but you know there's not much we can do to keep a kid in a building that's a runaway okay 5250 program or curricular modifications 74401 video surveillance and electronic monitor yes have a question well go ahead you go first okay um the on the first page y under notification of surveillance it said it says legible and visible signs shall be placed at the main entrance to buildings um and maybe

120I'm just not observant but where do they exist in our for our buildings they should be in all the be in all the okay I stickers because I checked two of them out today today excellent in steps they're right inside the door so when you go through the second door it's right there okay the high school I think they're on the outer doors okay okay correct thank you I'm I was positive that they existed I just good question very good I know we walk in and out of the door so fast uh 8531 just oh no go ahead goad under notification of surveillance what about on school buses I know there's pending discussion about notices and all that stuff but we do have the recording on the buses yep should parents be informed of that

121somehow I know we tell them that you know we're we're recording on the buses but sure there be a little sign on the outside of each bus so parents there's a I know when you you get like something about the rules for bus riding and I don't know if it's a contract I can't remember but or at the beginning of the school year at the beginning of the school year and it details that in there it doesn't them in that yeah so so parents of children who are on the bus yeah itware again it's sort of a double standard because we have to have the posting inside a school door but not inside the school bus yet they're both informed in the same man it's probably not if they are bad idea but I mean

122I I want to double check on that to see if there is something on a bus there I don't know there may be there I mean if I was a bus driver it's a nice little deterrent it may be inside I'm not sure if it's on the outside it would I imagine it would be on the inside because it's yeah it would be on the driver I wonder if they wouldn't cuz if they're also using the buses for sport private transportation or sports like that might not be covered I I'm going to check that'll be interesting to learn well probably should be covered since it's a school sponsor if it's a school sponsored event I meant private events like if someone's renting the bus for something or you know what I mean since our buses

123aren't maybe they run all the time regardless of who yeah I regardless of who's riding that that' be a question for Nelson it'll be interesting to see what you learn yes 8531 free and reduced price meals oh that's the one I was thinking of 8 913 Section 504 dadaa prohibition against disability discrimination in employment yes have a question about that okay page three of six at the bottom of the page uh C uh the changes we've expanded the um time period for the investigation from 10 days to 60 days or from two weeks to 12 weeks what's the rationale for that I believe that seems like a long time yeah I believe that is what is that's dictated by is that statute maybe I don't know it's statute but by by um Federal guidance about

124the amount of time that you have to complete a investigation and that may seem like a long time to you I will tell you when you're conducting an investigation um over something that's comprehensive such as um these topics it does take a long time I can I can find out for sure where that comes from though it it just seems like from 10 days to 60 days is quite a jump I'm not sure how you ever got done at 10 days reference that in the oh in the summary in the summary to check here CU you're right that is a pretty significant change and then that that's just for investigation then there's another 10 days days to get back to the parent another 10 days beyond that um for the action so that's 80 days

125from day one it says what it says in the guidance about why it was it was said um to replace restrictive timelines in an investigation while noting that investigations are to be done as efficiently as practicable but allowing for a more General reasonable timeline and finally to remove reference to that's no surprise I I they can't do an investigation in t days no I wouldn't think so but what took what took him so long to change that is a big job yeah wa that is a big job okay n 9210 parent organizations 9211 District support [Music] organizations that's it that's it any fur further discussion hearing none all those in favor please signify by saying I I I oppose motion carries 4 Z approved action on recommended weeva destinations Career Academy and insight schools of

126Wisconsin statute 11848 G student transfers to resident districts at this time weave a destinations Career Academy and insight School of Wisconsin are requesting approval of recommended student transfers back to their resident districts due to lack of Engagement could I have a motion please I will make that motion Kate I can second that Megan discussion I just want to note that I think there are only six students out of this 75 uh that are in grades one through five right y that are being sent back to their school district so I I think that's an improvement I think that's another indication and reflection of what WEA is doing yep as far as uh what can they do to keep the kids from coming to us and they spent a lot of time planning and implementing a

127lot of different things I think is pay off anything else hearing none all those in favor please signify by saying I I oppose motion carries 40 and I would look for a motion to adjourn I will make that motion okay I'll second second Megan all those in favor please signify by saying I I oppose motion carries 40 and we are adjourned at 859 well done everyone thank you very much