001Ladies and gentlemen, it is now 6:45 p.m. and a quorum of members is present. So, the meeting of the board of education of the school district of New Berlin is called to order. Please call the role. Mr. Erand >> here. >> Mr. Helmer >> here. >> Miss Kik >> here. >> Miss Peterson >> here. >> Miss Schultz >> here. >> Mr. Cidle >> here. >> Mr. Zalinski >> here. >> I would entertain a motion to recess to close session. >> I'll make a motion to move into close to adjourn to close session pursuant to section 19.851CF 851 CE and F of the Wisconsin statutes to consider approval of close session minutes and the employment performance and compensation matters pertaining to staff. >> Second. >> I have a motion by Mr. Cidle and a second by
002Miss Kik. Please call the role. >> Mr. Cidle, >> yes. >> Miss Kik, >> yes. >> Mr. Aaron, >> yes. >> Mr. Helmer, >> yes. >> Miss Peterson, >> yes. >> Miss Schultz, >> yes. >> Mr. Zinsky, >> yes. We're moving into closed session. We'll return to open session around 7 o'clock. Hello everybody. I will say I think this is actually a record. So congratulations. You made history. Joe 2011 >> we built the PAC for that. >> It is now 7:05 p.m. and we are returning from close session into open session. In recognition of the serious and important nature of our efforts here, we will join in the pledge of allegiance to the flag. For all those who are able, please rise. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and
003to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible. >> And now for those who wish to prepare for the meeting, we will have a moment of silence. This is a public meeting of the board of education. Prior to this meeting, notice was given to the public last Friday by providing the agenda to the city library. The agenda was also posted on the district website. A copy of the agenda was forwarded to the Journal Sentinel and the Walkershaw Freeman. All of which have filed requests for all public notices. This evening we are beginning with special recognition of educator educators rising future teachers senior pathway. >> Yes. I'd like to invite Jessica to come up and uh welcome our honored guests, our future leaders, our future teachers. >> Thank you so much. I'm Jessica Santiago, instructor of
004Curran's 300 Intro to Teaching Dual Enrollment Course and adviser of the Educators Rising Club for the School District of New Berlin. Tonight, I would like to recognize our school district of New Berlin seniors who are filling the teacher shortage gap by committing to pursuing a post-secary degree in education and building awareness of the teaching profession. Many of these seniors have fulfilled the teaching pathway for career and technical education honors distinction through the requirements of our dual enrollment course, field experience hours, 3.0 or above G uh GPA, and participation in uh the educators rising state and national club. I'm honored to work with such dedicated future teachers. Attending with our distinguished seniors tonight are are please stand educators rising members from all high school grade levels at both schools. The cooperating teachers from district and outside
005of district, elementary and middle schools and who could not be here tonight um but sends her regards is UWM faculty the intro to teaching instructor Angel Hessle and also our educators rising state coordinator Lee uh Leah via Luke. So, we want to thank you for your partnership with this important program for our students. Uh, seniors, when I announce your name, please come to the podium. Your certificate will be handed to you by our ed rising leader, Heidi Morero. Perfect. Ashley Babcock. Ashley has achieved the college and technical education honors graduation distinction with s successful completion of the dual enrollment currents 300 intro to teaching course. Has fulfilled field hours with Miss Rachel Clark third grade at Popular Creek and elementary. Has completed over 64 hours of field experience. Is an educators rising member in 2425
006and 2526 and a state conference attendee in both 25 and 26. This year she was an Ed Rising state conference competitor with her interactive bulletin board and she's and Ashley is attending Anderson University in South Carolina School of Education in fall to become an elementary teacher. Lucas Bushman. Lucas has achieved college and technical education honors graduation distinction with su with successful completion of dual enrollment current 300 intro to teaching course has fulfilled his field hours with Miss Carrie Bodk and second grade Orchard Lane Elementary has completed over 64 hours of field experience and is an educator's rising member in 2526 and also a state conference attendee this year in 2026. six. Drianna Finlandson, I believe, could not make it, but Drianna is an educators rising member for the last two years and a state conference
007attendee in 2025 who will be attending University um of Wisconsin Milwaukee in fall to study pre-law and become a lawyer. to which I told her that it when you're a lawyer, you're also teaching. Tessa Forester. Tessa has achieved college and technical education honors graduation distinction with successful completion of dual enrollment currents 300 intro to teaching course. Has fulfilled field hours with Miss Jennifer uh Shield sorry first grade Ronald Reagan Elementary. Has completed 56 hours of field experience. was an educators rising member in 2425 and also this school year 2526 state conference attendee in 2025. Tessa has completed a one-year internship with Innovation Station working with children from birth to three years. Is a WCTC graduate in 2026 with a degree in early childhood education and is attending Wshkosh School of Education in fall 2026 to
008become an elementary teacher with a minor in special education. Emma Garti. Emma has achieved college and technical education honors graduation distinction with successful completion of the dual enrollment current 300 intro to teaching course. Has fulfilled field hours with Miss Kira Celely and Miss Jackie Shoemaker. Completed uh she has completed 65 over 65 hours of field experience. is an educators rising member in 2526 and a state conference attendee in 2026 and she is an ed rising state conference competitor with her lesson planning for the arts with achievement of first place in state and national conference qualifier. Emma is attending the school of the art institute of Chicago in fall 2026 to become an art teacher. Lexi Crater has achieved college and technical education honors graduation distinction with successful completion of the dual enrollment course current 300
009intro to teaching has fulfilled her field hours with Miss Nancy Bowman uh first grade Popular Creek has completed 86 hours of field experience is an educator's rising member from 2425 and also 2526 and a state conference attendee both years. She is an educators rising state conference competitor in 2026 with her interactive bulletin board. In 2526, I'm sorry, this school year, she has uh completed an internship with Miss Rebecca Wilson with uh in third grade at Popular Creek Elementary. And Lexi has completed her AP research project submission on elementary teachers perception of the evolution of technology on students engagement. Lexi is attending WMadison School of Education in fall 2026 to become an elementary teacher. Congratulations. Melissa Maxi. Melissa has achieved college and technical education honors graduation distinction with successful completion of the dual enrollment course currents
010300 intro to teaching. Has fulfilled field hours with Miss Megan Noak at Kindergarten Popular Creek Elementary. has completed over 90 hours of field experience, is an educators rising member in 2425 and 2526, and a state conference attendee both years. Melissa is a WCTC graduate uh this year with a degree in early childhood education and will be attending Carol University School of Education to become an elementary teacher. Congratulations, Luke Olen. Luke has achieved college and technical educ education honors graduation distinction with successful completion of dual enrollment uh educ education concepts course has fulfilled his field hours with Miss Alyssa Wa at Holy Apostal school um studying music and has completed 65 hours of field experience. Luke is an educators rising member in 2425 and 2526 and a state conference attendee both years. Luke will be attending
011Carthage College in fall to study public relations where he will also continue being a teacher. Congratulations Mera Patrick. Mera has achieved college and technical education honors graduation distinction with successful completion of dual enrollment currents 300 intro to teaching course. Has fulfilled her field hours with Miss Nancy Bowman first grade at Popular Creek Elementary. Has completed over 80 hours of field experience. is an educator's rising member in 2526 and is attending WCTC in fall to become a substance use disorder counselor where she will continue teaching. Congratulations. Casey Spencer. Casey has successfully completed the dual enrollment course, Currents 300 Intro to Teaching, has fulfilled field hours with with Miss Paula Neprath, first grade at Paper Creek Elementary, and completed 120 hours of field experience. She is an educator's rising member in 2526 and a state conference attendee
012in 2026 and is attending University of Wisconsin Milwaukee School of Education in fall to become an elementary and special education teacher. Um, can I have one more big round of applause for our seniors and also our cooperating teachers? I want to thank the board of education and I would like to also thank the district elementary teachers and principles for your partnership with the field experience component of our intro to teaching class and to the board of education for supporting our our future teachers involvement through the class and through our district club educators rising. I would like to close today by welcoming our senior Emma Gerki to tell her statewinning and national conference qualifying competition on lesson planning for the arts. Thank you. Hi, my name is Emma and at the conference I competed in the
013lesson planning in the arts category. Um when I am a teacher I hope to teach high school. So this lesson was tailored to high schoolers. Um, and it went over how to draw a portrait while capturing the likeness of a model, which means to capture your model and what they look like as closely as possible. Um, so when we started the lesson, um, we went over basic proportions, like when you start drawing a portrait, you start with a little circle and you put a dot in the middle of the circle and then the distance from that dot to either end of the circle is how far down the jaw should be. Um, then we went over um eye size, eye proportions, the positioning of the nose, how to draw the mouth in a way that
014doesn't look too cartoony. And then I went over the models. I gave them three photos to choose from. Um, a photo of Sabrina Carpenter, a photo of Chapel Ron, and a photo of Tom Holland because I assume these are big figures in pop culture. So, what bigger way to motivate the students to draw than by giving them um people that they like to draw. Um, and we looked over defining features. What do you notice first when you see those people like big hair, um, jaw structure, big makeup? Um, as a group, we decided to draw Chapel Ran. So, we focus heavily on big hair and big makeup. And, um, unfortunately, I don't have the photos to show you today, but it did warm my heart to see that everyone included the big hair and the
015big makeup in their sketches. um actual competing included um submitting a video of my lesson to a board who viewed it and then I got to reflect on my teaching practices in front of them and they were a very sweet group of women who told me to keep teaching. So if any of you know people who are interested in being teachers, I highly recommend educators rising. I highly recommend this intro to teaching course because it gave so many incredible opportunities. Thank you so much. Thank you all. And I'd also like to especially thank Jessica Santiago uh for her efforts uh in helping coordinate this to help uh you know not only recruit individuals for such a great program as we do know we are experiencing a teacher shortage in public education. Fortunately for us um
016we've not experienced some of the some of the nuances that happen with those shortages. Uh, and one last word of advice, parents, please encourage these kids to apply to the school district of New Berlin when they're able. And so with that, for those of you that are with the educator rising folks, you're free to head out if you'd like. Thank you. Okay. Then we have privilege of the floor. Do we have anybody um this evening who wants to speak? >> No one. >> Okay. And then president's message and announcements. So I do I do have some. So before we begin our agenda for tonight, I want to take a moment to touch on our shared commitment to professional government govern excuse me governance. Um as we welcome our newest members, I believe it's helpful for
017us all and for the community we serve to revisit the protocols that keep this board's work running smoothly, legally, and transparently. So, first regarding our communication as public officials to ensure we are fully compliant with open records laws, I want to remind the board of the importance of using our official district channels for all school related business. Transparency is the cornerstone of our role. If a parent or community member reaches out to you through personal email, private text, or social media, I recommend you invite them to resend that inquiry to our official board email or through the board's Iform found on the school district website. This ensures that every community voice is part of the public record and is archived properly, protecting both the integrity of this board and the privacy of your personal forms
018of communication. And second, regarding district communication chain, um I'll be emailing you some documents that were recently shared with our new board members, and you probably received them before, but I figured it's a good time to to resend as a reminder. Um and it's regarding our our district's communication chain. So this hierarchy is designed to respect the expertise of our staff and ensure that problems are solved by the people closest to the classroom. As a board, our role is most effective and we serve as the final step in that process. We want to empower our parents and neighbors to work through the established channels starting with teachers, then principles, then administration. If after exhausting those routes, a community member feels their issue remains unresolved, that exactly that is exactly when it is appropriate for this
019board to step in. By following this path, we ensure that every concern is handled by the right person at the right time while preserving the board's ability to act as an impartial final voice when needed. Third, regarding the purpose and structure of our meetings, um it is important to remember that while our board meetings are held in public, they are not meetings with the public. This distinction is a legal necessity. As a governing body, we can only deliberate on items that have been duly posted on our agenda in advance. This ensures that the entire community is notified of what we are discussing and has the opportunity to listen or attend. Um, during the privilege of the floor, we welcome members of the public to make formal statements. However, please understand that this is not a
020Q&A session. Because we must adhere to our posted agenda, we cannot engage in a back and forth dialogue on topics in real time. Furthermore, we have a legal and ethical obligation to protect the privacy of our students and staff. specific personnel or student matters are not to be discussed in this public forum and instead should follow the communication chain I mentioned earlier. And finally, uh our commitment to personal connection. We recognize that sometimes you may want a more direct conversation. If anyone wishes to speak with us personally, um if you're at a meeting, uh the superintendent and I can remain for a few moments after the meeting adjourns, you're welcome to speak with us privately so then we can determine how to best assist you. Please understand that because the presence of a majority of
021members constitutes a quorum, the entire board cannot engage in these private discussions together because then that would be an actual official meeting and and we are not able to do that. Um we are happy to meet with you individually in this capacity to ensure your concerns are heard. By following these standards, we ensure that our work remains legally sound, respectful of individual privacy and most importantly focused on the success of our students. So, thank you all for your commitment to these principles and if any board members have questions about this, you can talk to me afterwards and any public members want to ask me about it as well. I'll be afterwards um available to discuss. So, thank you. Then we can move on to our administrative team report beginning with Orchard Lane update. >> Yes.
022So, we have very special guests here from Orchard Lane Elementary. I'd like to ask our administrators from Orchard Lane to please come up. Uh good evening everyone. Um thank you very much for having us tonight. Uh my name is Royce Sinder. I'm very honored to be the principal at Orchard Lane Elementary School and I have the privilege of uh starting off our presentation for tonight. Um so just to start off tonight, we are going to kind of speak a little bit about both our our um vision and also our mission. So um so our oh there's a clicker sorry out of practice. Um so our vision really is really centered around two things. Number one we want to make sure that our students are academically prepared for success no matter what that looks like for
023them when they leave us um after Orchard Lane. So whatever success looks like for them when they go to the next step we want to make sure that when they leave us that they are ready for whatever that step brings. Um the other piece of our vision really resol uh revolves around our core values. Our core values make us unique. Um they're not things that are unique in the school district of New Berlin, but they're certainly things that we uh make sure that we emphasize um in our in our four walls of Orchard Lane. And that is the respect, responsibility, kindness, perseverance, and integrity. Those are things that we speak about cons consistently. And it's pretty adorable when you've got like kids as young as kindergarten actually like understanding what those words mean and kind
024of what those values look like. And we celebrate that um regularly. In fact, we just had um our third quarter like all school celebration around uh recognizing those core values um in the form of a an outside dance. And if you live close enough to Orchard Lane, you might have actually heard us. So um it was definitely a good time. Uh our mission is really very similar. Uh, one of the things that that we love about Orchard Lane is that it truly is has that neighborhood school type of feel. Um, our community is extremely important to us. Um, as I feel like we are to them. Uh, so they're a part of our mission as well. So, um, our mission is to really make sure that we are providing our community um, with the with
025the citizens that are really just going to make uh, New Burlin a very special place to be. And um, those students represent us well after their years at Orchard Lane and well after their years students in New Berlin. Um this year uh we had the opportunity to really kind of dial into some very special uh school level goals. These school level goals are embedded in all of our individual team student learning objectives and they really center around the focus around our students with disabilities. So, our students with disabilities is one particular population where we've constantly kind of like tried to figure out tried to unlock um all the variables that really go into uh having this particular population really be successful within our schools. And we're going to talk a lot about what success looks
026like. Uh sometimes it's numbers and data and sometimes it's other things as well. So both on the literacy side and on the numeracy side, we've got a list of indicators that we kind of consider really like hallmarks of success. Some of those things are going to be achievement within IEP goals. Some of those are going to be success on assessments within the enacted curriculum. Some of those things are also even going to be um uh like normed assessments and things like that that all of our students participated. So, of those indicators, we want to make sure that our students are hitting at least two of those indicators in both literacy and numeracy. The numbers you see before you, the 77% um for uh numeracy and 82% for literacy, uh those would be an increase from
027um our students that u we kind of took those same indicators and kind of ran them against last year's numbers and saw that if we increase those numbers that those that's where those numbers came from. Um want to give a couple special recognitions. Um, one one special recognition, one of the things that I think makes us as a school system really uh, successful is the work that we do within the MLSS system. Like really kind of looking at how are we actually um, taking a look at how students are responding to the instruction that they're receiving? Do students do students need extra support? Do students do students need extension and enrichment? Those decisions are made regularly throughout the year. So, we get an opportunity to meet at least every six weeks with our grade level
028teams and really kind of focus in on how our students are doing. The group that you see in front of you here, this is a group of what's known as our SLAs's, our student learning assistants. Um, this particular group is usually the last to know when we make some of those decisions because they're they don't have the opportunities to sit in those team meetings with us, but then they are the first ones to work alongside our teachers to make sure that they are putting into play the plans that we come up with in those meetings. So, this particular group of individuals is extremely dynamic. um they work very well with our coaches and they work excellent alongside of our classroom teachers to make sure that during those what we call star time, those times at
02930 minutes a day when we kind of stop all of our regular like no new instruction is given, but we just focus on these groups. Um they work alongside the coaches for training and the teachers to kind of understand who they'll be working with and what those learning objectives are going to be during that that intervention time, that start time. um and they perform extremely well um with really you know quite frankly you know needy population that we have in our building. So the success that we have really can be attributed to an entire team um and includes this SLA group as well. And that SLA group includes um not just our uh student learning assistants but also um our library assistant um who does incredible work in all of our grade levels. um also
030our um e um SLA who works with English learners um and also we because we are a title one school we have the opportunity of hiring um there as well um and that's a great great use of that resource as well what what slide is this slide oh this slide this wasn't in the practice slides well anyway since since we're on this slide um want to give a special recognition to to two very incredible people um that are going to be retiring this year and uh when I first started at Orchard Lane um I was very nervous and it was it was you know it was it was a it was a big move for me and Kathy Van Himberan who's wearing the globe Earth Day is her thing um she was the very first
031person uh to came up to me and make sure that she welcomed me in a way that if you've met Kathy there's a she has a very special way about her you won't find anybody uh who has a bigger you won't find anyone who's more dedicated into making sure that students are successful, not just academically, but emotionally and socially and this they're in a very safe place. Um she's just she's just an incred incredible human being and we're going to miss her very much at Orchard Lane. Um but we're very excited about what is going to come next for her. Um and and we know that she will definitely not be a stranger. Uh the lobster that you see in the other picture, uh it's hard to tell because you know it's just mostly lobster.
032Um, but that is Julie Kater. Uh, yes. And she's with us tonight and she has probably been the most embarrassed person in the room right now. Um, but, uh, Julie Kater is the last person to ever want the spotlight on her. Um, but I'll tell you that, uh, having the opportunity to work, uh, directly with Julie Kater, um, has been probably the greatest privilege, um, in my career. Uh she is not only probably the one of the best administrators that I've ever had the opportunity to work with. Uh she's just one of the best people. Um when we first the first time I got a chance to meet her was when uh she came over at Elmwood for just a little bit and I remember we didn't we didn't have a lot of time together
033because it was just a very short amount of time and I what does a secondary person know about elementary school? Um but when I got a chance to work with her, she is made for just working with kids. um doesn't matter what age and the what she did uh for us and what she um has brought to our school uh will never be replaced. Um but between the two of these um we will definitely honor um what they've brought to us um by continuing to carry out their values. Um the things that that both of these people have brought to Orchard Lane uh will will be part of us for forever. Um they really will be. So, um, little extra special recognition for these two people that combined nearly 70 years of experience in the
034school district of New Burwin. So, um, quick, uh, celebrations for us on the literacy side. We talked a little bit about students that are reaching that level of intervention. That's a decision that is made from those those those meetings we have every six weeks. Um, I really want to give a nod to our classroom teachers that in a school of about 460 students, we only had 36 students that actually qualified for literacy intervention. That is incredible number when you consider like what what is kind of tier one what's happening in the classroom. Um what's happening there is is helping keep students you know from actually needing that level of intervention. And of the 36 13 of those students actually exited that intervention um for literacy this year. Uh 75% of our students with disabilities in
035grades K through two um have already met the required number of indicators for our school goal and we still have more testing to go. So, and they still have other things that are part of those indicators as well that we're not going to know until the very end of the year. So, those numbers are exceptional for us. On the numer side, we really want to take a look at across the district. We have great scores when it comes to automaticity and math. Like our our kids are doing very well with this. So, we really wanted to highlight students that maybe weren't necessarily at that benchmark and kind of what's been happening with those students this year. 80% of those students who were below benchmark math um in grades two through six have already increased their
036percentile. So not only have they grown kind of what is expected, but they've actually grown more um than what is expected. And that's just from fall to winter. We still have spring testing to go. And this last one is really special to us. 91% of our K1 students are above at or above benchmark as measured by the early math fast bridge. And that's not just automaticity, that's math concepts in general. Where do we need to grow? Everyone's working on things, right? So, one of the things is that we're actually working on right now. We actually just came out of a round of those meetings with grade level teams and we actually took a look before starting this last round of this fast bridge testing. We took a look at like not just our students were
037trying to grow above benchmark, but also like where what happened with the students that were at benchmark at one point and may have slipped. um because you know as being if you stay if you're a benchmark one at one point in the year and you don't necessarily grow as you're expected to grow as based on that benchmark you could slip below that. So what we're really looking at is what are the things that we can control what are the variables that we can control in this next testing round to really kind of make sure that if we if we if any of those students slipped from fall to winter how do we recapture those students and push them back into that um at or above benchmark. And then also like there's one particular assessment, this
038oral reading fluency that we have for our primary grades that really focuses on like how well students are reading kind of like on a timed piece by way for accuracy but also for speed to help help make sure that reading um you know when reading fluency was there it kind of removes that as an obstacle for comprehension. That's a really important um really important measure for us. So, we're really looking at students that if they're not quite a benchmark yet, we're having individual plans for those students to kind of figure out what skills are we trying to provide for them on a daily basis to help them get to that uh by the end of the year. >> Thanks, uh, Mr. Lindner. So, my name is uh my name is Julie Kedar and I am
039proud to have served uh the school district of New Berlin for the last 34 years. Um and then even before that I was a student through this district. So, I have a long history. It's a great district and I am extremely happy that I am ending my career here. Um but that is not what we are here for. Uh we're here to talk about Orchard Lane and the awesome things that um our teachers and our students are doing. And this next part is is really um talking about the successes that our students have had not only this last year, but even some previous years that have built up to the final successes of this year and where they are at and even more importantly where they're going. Um, so with that, I'm going to introduce
040um a couple people to start. We have um Mrs. Jen Coyle and Mrs. Deb Huberty. And I think we're going to have you come up with >> and we're going to bring up uh Mr. Julian Thompson. Would you mind standing right there? >> Thanks, Jules. Okay, you're gonna stand there. Okay, >> all right. We're gonna Can Mrs. and I >> Okay, we're gonna keep our hands off. Okay, your attention for his majesty King Julian. >> So, King Julian, a nickname we affectionately um used for Julian Thompson, is a reflection on his strong presence and positive spirit that he brings to those in Orchard Lane. Julian Thompson is a Orchard Lane fourth grader. And when I think about when he started in kindergarten, the picture looked a little different. There were little was little engagement with
041classmates, few were shared and a heavy reliance on adults. Very few um for even the smallest parts of the day. Transitions were difficult, independence was limited, and school itself could feel very overwhelming. Now we see a student who walks into school and moves through his day with independence. He transitions from place to place on his own, something that once required full support. Academically, his growth has been just as meaningful. He's now reading close to grade level, which is huge, a huge accomplishment because reading isn't easy. It takes focus, practice, and confidence. But he's put in the work. He's stuck with it. And it shows in our small groups. We've also seen seen a big shift. He's attending to tasks, staying engaged, and participating in a way that simply wasn't there before. Learning how to focus,
042how to stay with the task, and how to contribute. Those are skills that will carry him far beyond the classroom. And just as important, we've seen his personality come forward in such a positive way. He has a sense of humor and he knows how to use it appropriately. Julian is the reason that the 67 trend will never leave Orchard Lake. But in all seriousness, this may sound like a small thing, but it's not. He shows understanding of social social situations, awareness of others, and confidence in himself. He's connecting. He's engaging. He's becoming part of the community around him. What stands out most is not just one area of growth, but the whole picture. Communication, independence, academics, social skills. Every piece has moved forward. That tells us something important. This is a student who is capable,
043who is growing, and who is building the tools he needs for the future. Julian has worked to build that solid foundation. The habits are forming, the confidence is growing, and that's something worth celebrating. It's something to be proud of. And it's a result of a student who puts in the effort and is surrounded by a strong team of educators and family u members who believe, support, guide, and encourage King Julian to continue to reign with success. >> Ready? Huzzah! >> Huzzah! Thank you. >> All right. Don't forget >> can you say now introducing Mrs. >> Now entering the Mrs. Sen to 67. >> Thank you everybody for giving for 67. >> Okay. >> Thank you uh team and thank you King Julian. Um, our next uh presenters are um Mrs. Abby Senich and Mrs. Andrea
044Hilligos. And we're going to bring up a special friend of ours, Braayson. >> All right. Good evening, everyone. I'm the speech language pathologist at Orchard Lane with a case of laryngitis. Who would have thought? Um, but we are here to celebrate Mr. Braayson and all of his success over the past two years at Orchard Lane. So, Braayson joined our SDNB community as a sweet four and a half-year-old after his parents referred him to our early childhood team due to concerns with his communication skills. Results from Braayson's evaluation indicated a significantly limited phenemic inventory, so he was only producing his vowel sounds and six consonants. He demonstrated final consonant deletions in words in 100% of opportunities and initial consonant deletions in words in 52% of opportunities. Also, at that time, Braayson communicated in single words. So,
045an example of what his speech sounded like at this time at four and a half years old was saying for house, I for hive, and E for sheep. Socially, Braayson was not yet using language to initiate interactions or consistently respond to teachers and peers. He would occasionally respond when spoken to, but his responses usually provided little to no information. Although age equivalency score should be interpreted with caution, Braayson's overall expressive speech and language skills at four and a half years old, months before entering kindergarten, were comparable to those of a 12-month-old toddler. When Braayson entered kindergarten at Orchard Lane, his speech intelligibility was rated to be 33% by the speech language pathologist and only 10% by his kindergarten teacher. In other words, we could only understand him 10 to 33% of the time. Um, and
046this was without repetition, clarification questions, or relying on context clues to fill in the blanks. In other words, 67 to 90% of his communication attempts were unintelligible, making it extremely difficult to access the kindergarten curriculum and fully participate in the classroom. Braayson's kindergarten speech goals focused on imitating consonant vowel and vowel consonant words. So, say pi, say pay, say paw. at in kindergarten. He also worked on approximating functional phrases he could use with core vocabulary such as I want, I see, and I like. His accuracy during these imitation tasks was only 10%. Bracen received frequent speech and language interventions each week along with his special education programming and pre-iteracy skills. Braayson demonstrated perseverance, grit, and a positive attitude during each intervention and always left his sessions with the biggest smile. Fast forward to today, May
047of first grade. Brace speech intelligibility now ranges from 80% to 95%. He is able to accurately produce nearly all of his speech sounds in connected speech during structured tasks. He formulates sentences, participates in conversations, and formulates friendships on peer with his peer on par with his peers. His growth has been remarkable. In two years, Braayson's expressive communication skills grew from a 12-month-old's to a six-year-old's on par with his peers. I have had the privilege of being Brighton's first grade teacher and I just have said this over and over again how he has really come out of his shell this year. Um, every first day of the school week, we sit in a circle all around and share what we did over the weekend. And I always gave the opportunity to say what they did or
048just pass in case they're a little nervous. At the beginning of the year whenever we would share, Braayson would always say pass really quietly. But now you can get him telling all these stories very animated and loves to share everything that he did over the weekend and he gets the class asking him follow-up questions too. Um just this last week we have been we have our little classroom readers and um he was super excited when he was called on to read in front of the entire class. But I had the book up on the board and they also had the little readers in front of them and most of the kids were just reading, you know, on the rug in front of everybody. But he got right up, grabbed my pointer and then started reading
049in front of the entire class. and he's done this multiple times now that we've been cheering um in front of the entire class. So, that was awesome to see him do that. Yeah. Thank you team. Our next group is um Miss uh Miss Maya Jensen and Mrs. Tammy Charles. And we're going to bring up Junior in the middle. >> Right in the middle. Right in front center. >> All right. Um, we just wanted to take a few minutes to brag about Junior. Uh, because he's definitely earned it throughout this year. Um, Junior really understands what it means to work hard and he actually does it. So, even when he perceives things to be difficult, he sticks with it and keeps a positive attitude. When Junior joined us in fourth grade, he was below grade level
050in reading fluency and comprehension. He has worked really hard, right? And he's always been with a positive attitude and he met his reading goal and is now consistently performing at grade level. Uh Junior accepted support and over time uh through consistent efforts began to build something stronger. He's become more independent, willing to take risks in the classroom, um comfortable sharing his thoughts. So, if there's any questions, he'll raise his hand to answer those questions. Um, and Junior, how do you see yourself doing that in the classroom? >> Reading out loud in the class and helping my friends during class. >> And even beyond the academics, he's just a really great student. He's kind, respectful, and trustworthy. Uh, Junior's not just building skills, but he's showing us what he is capable of achieving. >> And we
051know that capable is my favorite word. >> That's true. Um he understands that effort actually pays off and we really just want to recognize how far he's come over his years at O through like the support of his educators and his family. Uh steady growth over time really does pay off. This is a really amazing but up to this point it's it's cool, right? But what's the best part? He graduated from special education and we are so proud of Junior and we cannot wait to see what is going to come for you in the next couple of years at Orchard Lane. So, congrats buddy. >> You're amazing. >> Thanks team. Uh we've got uh another group um that is um going to talk about one of our fifth graders. Tyler, could you make your way
052up here? And we have Miss McKenzie Needfeld and Mrs. Karen Jut Trunka. Good evening. I'm Mackenzie Nefeld and I teach fifth grade at Orchard Lane. >> And I'm Karen Utrunken. I'm a special education teacher at Orchard Lane. And tonight we have the privilege of introducing you to Tyler. Say hi to anyone. >> Hello guys. When Tyler walked into my classroom in the beginning of the year, he was a student who often doubted himself. School could feel overwhelming at times and tasks that may seem small to others sometimes felt really big to him. But what has stood out most about Tyler this year is not the challenges he has faced. It's the perseverance, growth, and determination he has shown every single day. Tyler has worked incredibly hard this year academically, socially, and emotionally. He has learned
053how to advocate for himself, push through frustration, and continue trying even when something is difficult, especially when bribed with pink Starburst. Um, I've watched his confidence grow tremendously. He now participates more in class discussions, takes pride in his work, and approaches challenges with the mindset of I can do this. One of the things I admire most about Tyler is that he never gives up. Even on hard days, he continues to show up and ready to try again. That kind of resilience is something that cannot always be measured on a test, but is one of the most important skills a student can develop. Tyler has also become an important part of our classroom community. He shows kindness to others, builds relationships with his classmates, and has grown into a leader in ways that have been wonderful
054to watch. At this time, Tyler is going to share a few words. >> Tyler, do you want to tell the school board what your favorite classes? >> My favorite class this year is math, >> which um to the peanut gallery is a shock because Tyler used to be allergic to math um until fifth grade. So, this is a really huge accomplishment. What is something fifth grade has taught you this year? >> Um, like not to like misbehave, I guess. >> Okay. Um, what is your favorite part of the school year so far? Everything we've done. >> Um, Bistown. >> What did you like about Bistown? >> It was fun to serve people and it felt realistic. >> Tell them what job you worked at. >> I worked at Culver's. >> At Culver's? Yes. What is
055something you're proud of this year? >> Um, I'm proud of how much I've grown in math. >> Yes. And special shout out to Miss Marchman and Mrs. Norris. I don't know where the camera is. Shout out is behind us. Yes, Miss Marchman and Mrs. Norris have been super awesome in helping Tyler make math his favorite subject this year, which is really awesome. Um, what is one thing you've learned about yourself this year? >> I've learned that I'm actually really good at math. And do you want to tell everyone what you want to be when you grow up? >> When I when I grow up, I want to be a nurse. >> Math Math will be very helpful. So, you know who this guy is over here? >> Yeah, that's our superintendent. This is our school
056board. So, not a lot of kids get to come speak in front of the school board. Is there anything you want to put a plug in for? Extra recess, snow days. These are your people to call. Nap time in school. Anything you want to ask for while you're here? should definitely put nap time in school. >> Yeah. Right. So, Tyler, I hope you know how proud of you we all are. Your growth this year has been incredible, and it's been an honor to be your teacher. Thank you for showing us what perseverance and courage look like. And thank you for allowing us to hear Tyler's story tonight. Thank you team. And we have one final group. Um we're going to call um Miss Jen's and Mrs. Charles back up uh with our special friend Amari.
057>> All right. Ready? You can even use it. I don't have it. All right. Uh this young man in front of me is Amari. And over the school year, he changed from kind of gaining our attention in not necessarily a positive way, but how were you originally gaining our attention in the classroom? >> I'll help you throwing pencils. And >> we offered to give him one to show you guys, but he didn't want to do that. >> And now you are effectively communicating your needs independently. Um, he's completing work. He's showing more confidence in ELA and in math and just in the classroom in general. >> Um, and I agree with all of that. And Amari, how are you communicating your needs now? >> Raising my hand and >> sharing answers. >> Uh, so he
058started demonstrating academic gains, but even more importantly, we saw his curiosity start to take over. He started to become more focused um during the workday, like sitting through an entire lesson, um, becoming more engaged. So raising his hand to answer questions because he's staying focused and willing to take a risk to try. >> He's taking great responsibility right in the classroom, taking ownership of his academics, his social emotional growth, just every behavior in the daytime. Um there's no more excuses at all. He knows when he's got to do something and how he's got to do it and he follows along with it. And if he doesn't, then he knows he needs his break. He communicates it and then you go ahead and take that and then he gets back to work. Um, the best part
059is though, Amari met his reading fluency goal this year and now he's working toward a comprehension goal. Um, Amari, what is comprehension? >> Understand what I mean. >> Um, and we would just love to give a big shout out to mom and grandma um, who have been such just strong partners throughout this journey and anything that we've ever uh, needed, we've been able to reach out and they've been very supportive at home as well. So they've just played a huge role so far this year in Amari's success >> and Amari is the definition of what happens when everyone is aligned, right? Including the student having the buyin family. Thank you. Uh general education staff and also special ed education staff past and present. So Amari, we couldn't be more proud of you. I know. And
060we really are super proud. And here's your little hand to the rest of it. >> Thank you. So, thank you everybody. Um, and thank you to all of our our teachers and our students and our families for being here tonight to celebrate these successes. Um as you have seen not only do we look at the numbers as far as the data is concerned and the success of our students but we look at the whole child and the success that they are experiencing whether it be the little baby steps to the big giant leaps. So we thank you very much. Um thank you Mr. Lindner. Thank you school board superintendent Garza. Have a good night. Thank you all very much for joining us. >> Thank you. >> And have a great night. Thank you. want to
061wait. >> Oh, >> you don't want to get >> superintendent update then next? >> Yeah. So, uh we'll start with uh Payton John Johnson. Actually, I I I'm noticing the flow. You got the baseball flow going for baseball season, huh? >> It's supposed to look good out of the hat. Oh, got it. It looks good, man. It looks good. >> Uh, our students have finished up their first week of AP testing and looking to have another successful week. Our English 10 honors is working on their collaboration skills through discussion and group projects for their Asian literature unit. Our Spanish 4 is preparing for their wedding ski where they act out all the vocabulary they've learned over the uh school year. AP Physics is taking a trip to Six Flags to calculate the velocity and forces
062on themselves. and AP Calculus is making a music video where they sing about the content they have learned throughout this class this year. Our clubs are wrapping up their spring with uh Eisenhower Student Union holding an end of the year sunset night for all high school students to come and have a fun end of the year. Our yearbook club is working on the finishing touches to the yearbook and getting ready to submit them for printing. Eisenhower Theater just ran a talent show last Friday where they had uh students show off their skills such as singing, playing instruments, magic in a comedy show. Change of mind national honor society and student union collaborated for a successful and wellwin uh teacher appreciation week and six Eisenhower students uh in DECA just came back from their international conference
063in Atlanta. Spring sports are also in right in the middle of their seasons right now with uh our baseball team currently being 12 and five and preparing for a big cross town rival week against West tomorrow and Wednesday. Uh I soccer is doing well with a 5-1 and2 record and coming off a big 7-0 win last week against Waka South. and Eisenhower softball team is looking to have a good uh week playing big conference opponents such as New Berlin West and Pewwaukee. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Do you have an update? >> I do not. >> Okay. All right. So then we have the consent agenda next, which includes notice in the approval of minutes of the board meeting of April 27th. Are there any items that should be pulled out for separate consideration?
064>> Do I have a motion for the consent agenda? >> So moved. Second. >> I have a motion by Mr. Helmer and a second by Mr. Cidle to approve the consent agenda as presented. Any discussion? And hearing none, all those in favor, raise your right hand. Motion passes. Onto the regular agenda. Uh first on the regular agenda is the Education Foundation of New Berlin update. >> Yeah, I'd like to uh have Julie Corduro, our executive director of the Education Foundation of New Berlin, come up. Uh this is part of uh requested uh presentation by the school board as one of the board goals specifically related to community and community partnerships. And so I'll hand it over to Julie at this time. >> Thanks Joe. I am Julie Cordderero. I am just finishing up my fourth
065year here as the director of the education foundation. In that time our mission hasn't changed but you'll see our board of directors slate uh has changed since since the last time we met. Um, I am joined tonight by Danielle Gallow, uh, one of our new board members. Um, and then also want to point out, uh, that Terresa Sebastian and Rob Brenton have both stepped up into leadership roles for us. Um, our longtime founding board members, Guy Kouliard and Chuck Stadler, um, who had been our previous president and treasurer, let us know that they will not be renewing their terms, which are up in June. Um, so we sort of stacked the deck so that we could have as much transition time, um, with the old guard before moving on. Oops. Um, I want to primarily
066start with the ways that we're supporting our schools. Our primary program continues to be our impact grant program. Since that started, we've awarded nearly $13,000 to 45 different projects in the school district. In 2026, we had 13 recipients, uh, ranging from 300 to $4,441. Our grants don't stop with the money. many have lasted for many years to come. Um I don't know if we have time for the Tina's video still to share that. We've got time. Okay, if we can share Tina's video. Uh Tina Schilling and the entire elementary um music department have received two grants. Um the one that they're going to talk about in this video is the rock band bucket drumming. I've been a music teacher for 35 years. I enjoy being a teacher. I enjoy being with the kids. I enjoy
067the rhythm of it. It's a lot of fun times, right? And you get to see kids grow over time. That's the fun thing about being a specials teacher is you don't just have them one year. You get to see them grow from K through six. And that's pretty cool. We had a resource in general music that we had had since before my arrival here. It was over 30 years old and very outdated. They're worn, just worn out. Some of the songs were not appealing to young kids and things like that. Finally, we were able to get a digital resource, which is what we have now. And it it's just made everything easier, more approachable. It's given us new avenues to become musicians. You can actually move faster and it helps a lot of kids. our
068general music team. We had worked for quite a while to get a new resource and we didn't have all the materials to teach those things like ukuleles and bucket drumming. We decided to write a grant to try to get some of this equipment for the kids. It was a team effort with um all of the elementary schools in New Berlin. It really was a great grant because it reaches so many students. There's hundreds of students in each of the schools and they can all play these instruments. Now, if we couldn't have applied for that grant, some of these programs just would not have happened. The education foundation was really such a cool thing that we could access the full resource now through ukuleles, through bucket drumming. I think it just would have taken so very
069long to get those instruments a different way. You can learn some things by reading and watching videos and things like that, but to really become a musician, you have to be able to play. You have to be able to sing. They learn how to read music. They learn how to read the symbols in music. They learn how to play themselves, but then they also learn to play as part of an an ensemble. Are they balanced? Are they staying on the beat? The more opportunities the students have to play hands-on instruments, I think the better. We want to see kids grow into their fullest potential, right? And and part of that that the arts can help with is expressing themselves, having something they enjoy doing. The arts can give them an outlet to relax or get
070hyped up or have fun with friends because they learn these skills. It's about uh really helping kids become the fullest people that they can be. Then this will be the fifth year of our uh scholarship program and award dollars continue to grow with that. This Wednesday, the Education Foundation of New Berlin board anticipates that we'll be approving awards of $18,500 for this year's seniors. The class of 2026 was another record- setting year for us. Um though I will point out they were all last minute sies. We had 110 applications which is up from 80 last year. Um but the day before I was still panicking with Kelly saying we only have 68 applications. What are we going to do? Um but thank you. Uh it was a really strong applicant pool and it's been really
071challenging um for our review committee uh to go through not just to go through all of them but to select winners because they're highly highly competitive this year. Um, something that's uniquely important about all of our scholarship programs is that we consider students pursuing both four-year, two-year, um, and trade schools. And then brand new, just this month even, um, we're launching the Build Her Scholarship, which was added in 2026. Um, that program is simultaneously focusing on awarding grants this year, but also, um, building an endowment and investment so that it continue in the future. Um, it was also important to that donor to help students um, going into the trades if they're not planning to go to trade school because they have gotten all the credentials that they need while they're in high school. Uh,
072she wanted that scholarship to be able to support them with tool purchases or what they need to launch their careers. So, we're excited to be able to offer that one this year as well. Another important aspect of our work is supporting our clubs um, and supporting our clubs in their fundraising. The toast to education is um the primary way that we do that. We just completed that event in March this year. We had over $93,000 in gross income from that event, which is record setting. I do want to point out that uh that's more than double our first year. We had $45,000 four years ago from this event. Um it's grown in large part to our sponsors. We had 32 sponsors support the event this year. Um, and special thanks to Mattiey's Catering, who was
073our presenting sponsor, and both Dillip Mechanical and Smart Technologies, who are vendors to the school district, who step up as our uh, barrel select sponsors. Um, 52 clubs uh, raised money at the event. They've raised between 50 and almost $3,000, and 19 of those clubs had over $500 in earnings. Of the $93,000, it's a fairly equal split. clubs um raised just over $28,000. It costs us just over $30,000 to throw the event. So, the Ed Foundation nets $31,000 for our programs. The Fourth of July Family Festival held here in New Berlin is another way that we utilize an event uh to support clubs with their fundraising. The beverage tent um is always popular. I encourage you to join us in the East Tent July 2nd through 4th of this year. Um, and then since it's
074been a year since I reported to you, I wanted to share our results from 2025. We had um just over $35,000 in revenue. Over $11,000 of that was shared with clubs for working their volunteer shifts, which means over $14,000 was earned by the education foundation. Parking was new to us um last year. We're offering it again this year. Um we've changed things up um particularly the earnings so that um it's more attractive hopefully to clubs to participate in that. Um the the sign up to volunteer was shared maybe two weeks ago now and we have over $9,000 available for clubs um to earn if they work. Um and then last year that event uh raised just under $30,000 in total revenue. About 2,000 was earned by volunteer clubs. So, $14,000 is what the education foundation
075got to to keep from that. And then supporting our partnership with the school district, um I am the school district's appointed representative on the New Berlin Chamber of Commerce. And with that, we had the opportunity to nominate a business of the year. Um, this year Horicon Bank was selected as the large business of the year in large part because of their partnership with the education foundation, but also the partnership that they have with the school district. Um, in October, we recognize mental health care day or world mental health day. Um, and the change of mind club at New Berlin Eisenhower celebrated with us using a minute um during the halftime of the homecoming football game happened to be that day. Um we also celebrated at the Wakau County Community Foundation with Mike Litkkey and Shannon
076Wasaki, one of the school social workers. Um their topic at that event was mental health focused. Um the four corporate sponsor logos that you're seeing on there uh working around clockwise of the pictures each helped to offer a partnership fundraiser with us in 2526. And each of those opportunities brought in more than $1,000 for us. Um, and then the final picture, um, is Ikefest, which I think I've shared with you before, is alumni from New Berlin Eisenhower from 1972 to 1992. Excuse me. They host a a fun picnic um, each September at one of the local parks um, and they've decided to pay forward any money that they raised from their raffle or just dropping money in the hat to support trades at Eisenhower giving back to their school. Um this past year they allowed
077me to bring uh Dana McLaren who you'll see in the photo. Um she received one of the 2025 grants. Um and then because of the money that they raised that event that the picture is from, both Dana um and Ben received grants this year. Uh, moving towards more direct support of the school district, I worked very closely with Matt Newman and helped to secure a $30,000 grant award from the Wisconsin Department of Justice um for digital mapping of all three of the school or all six of the school buildings. Um, that $30,000 award was the maximum available to the school district. We're also working closely on potential collaborative partnerships with the school district and peeos um looking at updating aging playgrounds. That partnership would be similar to the Orchard Lane library project that resulted in
078more than $250,000 in enhancements in 2022 2023. our booster club support. Um we also have two primary programs for that in the last 12 months through our fiscal sponsor program which is um either online donation forms or borrowing our credit card readers uh to sell hot chocolate or do raffles or whatever they want um raised more than $16,500. And then our agency fund is uh for clubs that are able to think more long term and set money aside for the future and invest it. We had uh net growth in that of over $10,000. Some of that is earnings, some of them is investing more to grow their funds. Um and then in partnership with the West PAC, we've seen significant attendance growth year-over-year as evidenced by growth in bar sales you'll see there. But we
079also believe that some of that growth is due to the availability of adult beverages at those events. We also believe that the EFNB bar at um availability at the West PAC has helped increased exposure. Events like FM106 Tribute Fest and Rock for Vets that have been held over the last few years had previously been held at places that had a bar. Um so they were able to come here because we're able to be there and support them. I've also helped the school district in applying for Enjoy New Berlin's uh room tax grant program. In the past three years, we've received more than $15,000 from that program. And then the Green Bay Packers Foundation has a three-year cycle. The last time we were eligible was in 2024, and we received a $3,000 grant to support the
080PAC season. Then in December, we hosted uh the Chamber of Commerce for their annual holiday party, bringing in the New Berlin Business Community for that event. And then coming up this Friday, uh because of our partnership, Wakaawa State Bank is the bronze sponsor for the trip in Billy's. Moving on to our financial statements. First, I'll point out the education foundation year is January to December, which is a shift from how the school district nor normally looks at financials. Um, the other disclaimer I need to put on this is our 2025 column is from our draft report, so it's not yet finalized. Um, the EFNB is in a strong financial footing and we're experiencing growth. Primarily, we look at funds either as cash or investments and then within those con categories, they're either restricted by donors
081or unrestricted. The funds in green, you'll see that the EFNB had about $145,000 in cash and $39,000 invested as of December 31st. Our restricted funds are primarily invested and they've grown to $92,000. They're restricted in the sense that donors have stated that there's a specific purpose for those funds. So, our mental health care funds that I talked about earlier is within those restricted funds. Similarly, our scholarship assets are held within the Wauaaw County Community Foundation and are an additional $117,000, bringing the education foundation's total asset to one or to $425,61 as of December 31st. Since September when I started, the Education Foundation has had an income of $1.8 million. We've had over a million dollars in program expenses. So that's our grants, scholarships, capital donations, and shared revenue with clubs. And our total long-term investment
082balance as of March 2026 uh was $278,000. Did I say I said that right? $278,000. >> Yep. Questions? >> Yeah. >> First off, wonderful job. Thank you very much for all your hard work that you've done in growing this. I know we started from a rough position and you've definitely turned it around. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Question on the parking. I noticed that the fees see or the expenses seem kind of high. Was that a first year expenses of getting into it or were >> some I wasn't reading that >> there. I can pop back to that slide. There >> parking opportunity is a shared revenue event with the city. So depending how much we earn, a percent I went too far. A percentage of that is then paid to
083the city. So I consider that expenses >> um because I can only be in one place at a time despite how much I try. Um I have to be at the bar as a licensed bartender. So we hired um Melissa Schmaltz, actually one of our uh kindergarten teachers at Ronald Reagan um is hired to be the the parking manager for the festival. So her stipen is included in that time. And then yes, we had to buy the flashlights and the vests and thing, but flashlights are not $9,700. The bulk of the expenses were the portion that we paid to the commission. >> It goes Okay. Thank you very much. >> All right. And thank you very much. >> Thank you, Julie. Oh, we don't have anything else um other than our action um from a
084discuss discussion in close session. So, do I have a motion for that? >> I move uh to approve the employment performance and compensation matters related to staff as presented. >> Second. >> I have a motion by Mr. Zalinsky and a second by Mr. Cidle to approve the employment performance and compensation manners pertaining to staff as presented. All those in favor, raise your right hand. Motion passes. Our future meetings and dates. So, our board meetings are generally held here at 7 o'clock p.m. Um, unless noted otherwise. So, our next meeting is on a Tuesday, by the way, May 26th. And then June 8th and June 22nd. Other important dates to remember, May 25th is Memorial Day. There's no school. June 12th is the last day of school. So, it's also the Eisenhower graduation in that evening
085and then the next morning is the West graduation on June 13th. I would entertain a motion. Uh oh, wait. Nope. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. Second. >> I have a motion by Mr. Helmer and a second by Mr. Cidle to adjurnn. All those in favor, raise your right hand. >> Motion passes. This meeting is adjourned.