001All right, we've established the quorum. Everybody's present. Let's move right along to pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, moving right into the consent agenda. We are going to exclude E and F, and I'm looking for a motion to accept A through D. I'll make a motion to do that on one, correct? I'll second it. All in favor? Aye. All right, motion approved. Moving right into the monthly celebrations. This is Scott. Okay. I think we'll go ahead and welcome everyone to our May regular meeting. Yeah, our monthly celebrations are recognizing two students who are from Lincoln Elementary, Parkview Elementary, Victor Miller Elementary, Shrewsbury Elementary, and Indian
002Meadow Middle School. Congratulations again for displaying the mobile character traits which we all strive to exemplify on a daily basis within our schools. And congratulations to both not only students, but families, parents, guardians supporting that behavior and those character traits throughout. The events uh and district calendar on the the next page there. Um as I shared at our last meeting in April, May is uh full of opportunities uh for the members to take in. Last night we had our middle school uh band choir or band concert in 7th and 8th grades. Mr. Richard did an outstanding job. Uh several opportunities are taking our fine arts programming as well as our co-curricular events that are rounding out the month of May. Please note board members, our special meeting will be recognized on May 26th on the
003Tuesday with graduation on the 27th. We'll talk about that a little later as well. Any questions on our calendar? Okay, hearing none, moving on to my monthly report. Uh this time of the year we already recognize our individuals that are retirees from our district. We all go through here. We have resignations that that come forward and in the month of January our certified staff submitted the early retirement notices as well. And since then, some long-time paraprofessionals that have supported us at the high school. So, let's Mr. Pratt, congratulations to Melissa Anderson, Tom Gorky, Linda Gregory, Judy Giddens, Ann Pinch, Carrie Nemeth, Robin Sternhagen, Becky Winkler, and Cindy Wolford for your efforts in and out of the classroom supporting thousands of students with hundreds of years of experience and supporting the school district. Well done and
004well done to all. Over our B212 extra degree of effort, we recognize this month high school social studies teacher Matt Brian Matthew. Recently, we all attended the elementary Chamber of Commerce annual awards. Several years ago, the chamber started recognizing an educator school personnel of the year. And individuals were nominated from chamber members from around our community and greater area and Mr. Matthew was selected as the 2026 candidate. So, congratulations to Mr. Matthew. Well done and it was very uh say I very appreciative that many of the presenters and speakers and that were being recognized, some of them had Mr. Matthew in class and recognized what a great teacher he was uh for them at that point in time and the continued uh reflections that they had uh Mr. Matthew's ability to influence in positive ways.
005So, congratulations. Uh end of the year celebrations and accomplishments, I touched base on that with uh some of our calendar and events that are going on. Um but not only with the uh co-curricular and events that take place of outside activities, whether it be club organization, athletics, um our end of year accomplishments and celebrations is truly a reflection of this year's, you know, our academics and in what we've been striving to do from September 1 through the end of our school year, our mission is success for all students and we all know that that looks different and how how that is perceived individually or as a school district as a whole. And uh our students have done a a very nice job this year as well as all staff and our family support and greater
006community through but I would say a bit of an adversity, you know, this past year uh that we didn't see coming. Most recently was some of our uh unexpected high water that we had within our community. But uh day in day out, our students, staff, and community was ready to take on the challenges and they all should be complimented for an exceptional year and uh most certainly our senior graduating class is will recognize later on. We appreciate them and what they've accomplished. Last week was teacher staff appreciation week. Uh as well as board members, can't forget that email. Uh we dearly appreciate our teaching staff, our support staff, and all individuals that are school leaders within our school community. Uh individual buildings, central office recognized uh staff throughout during that week of appreciation. Uh it
007was with uh, special moments to say thank you and uh, know that uh, they are making the difference within our students' lives every day and congratulations to all of our teacher staff and uh, support staff individuals within our district. Any feedback questions for me? Okay, thank you. Let's go Joe. I'm ready now. Okay, good evening board members. I have one short topic on my director's report this week, but it's an important topic where last week was uh, illegal passing of a school bus survey that our bus drivers take part in through the Wisconsin School Bus Association. They take any uh, illegal passing of a school bus in that week and report it through a statewide survey to try to accumulate data to be able to share with any party that we need to know and
008try to make changes of any individuals passing school buses. So, over the years they've tried to change fines that are in place for any motorist that would do so. They've tried to improve um, the way school buses stop with the ambers. The gist of all of this is it's really important to um, take notice when you're a motorist and you're going uh, by school buses in the morning or at night or at any time that a bus is stopping to be sure that everyone is safe. Um, each year after this survey happens, uh, both the School Bus Association and the the state put together the totals and I would share them uh, in the past with you as a board. Um, just to continue to create uh, notice around safety in our buses. So, I
009wanted to share that. It happens just about every day here in New London. Our drivers do a great job of redoing in to the bus garage so they can start that report process and then when they come back they finish their report and then we pass it on to the appropriate authorities if we can. That's also why we have cameras on our buses and we do have one bus with a stop arm camera as well just to try to reinforce that safety that is necessary around transportation. Do any of you have any questions about that survey? Thank you. Thanks, Joe. All right. We will be moving into pupil services, Sarah Johnson. Good evening, everyone. So, if you please bring your seat tonight. I'm excited to share with you that last week we finished our first
010district-wide special education round table meeting. So, where I had I I ended up meeting separately cuz some of the folks it worked for them to meet later in the day after work and some of them it worked better to meet during the day. So, we did kind of two combination meetings, but it was a chance to re- to meet really um you know, with parents and hear directly from them and we had just some really great conversations and they they have lots to share. So, lots of celebrations and some things I would say that are hopes for the future as well and just wanted to highlight and share the themes that came from the conversation. First of all, they have a strong interest in expanding social opportunities for their children. In particular, some of their
011students who have a more difficult time making connections with other children and making those happen outside of the school day. So, that was of interest and so there was a lot of talk about creating experiences, maybe increased opportunities for co-curricular opportunities where they can participate or athletics, community-based offerings. I was sharing with them how I had visited the new library and I had heard about the after-school things that were being planned and in those amazing spaces. So, I think some of those things are already emerging and happening, but those are an area of um uh that they hope to continue, you know, to see some growth in for their children. Um another area that they talked quite a bit about was communication and just how much they appreciate hearing from the school and the district
012and in particular when their children aren't able to tell a whole lot about what happened during the school day, they appreciate when the school staff can relay some more details about the day so that they can still kind of fill in the gaps and have those conversations with their children at home. So, that's something that they um very much appreciate. And um and they brought up additionally, well, what are we doing to um retain and recruit high-quality staff? And I said, well, I'm glad you asked. I have plenty to share with you. So, we talked quite a bit about that and um they within that they said they shared real appreciation for the folks that we have and just want to make sure that we continue to do everything we can to make it um
013you know, a positive work environment for everyone and um responds to the needs of students and staff and um and keep, you know, growing and bringing in great people. So, I said, we're on it. So. And then um they I kind of how how I said, it just was a lot of um conversation and definitely they um have a need, I think, for building more parent connection and um within themselves and networking. So, that's something um I look that is going to continue and I, you know, when we originally scheduled it was going to maybe be I think it was quarterly or maybe every other month and when we were leaving I was trying to wrap up conversation for a little while and I said well we you know thinking about the next time we
014meet and they um were like oh next month and then somebody was like well I think we should just get to it you know in two weeks. I was thought whoa okay. So they really are I think that they really enjoyed that opportunity to connect with each other and just find ways that they can work together and create more for our kids. Not even that it was so much you know it it involves the school but also just them kind of uniting and creating opportunities. So it was a great opportunity. I look forward to more of that. Um and then I have two you know lots of great celebrations of special folks in our district and always looking forward to May because our speech language pathologists that is the month that we celebrate speech language
015and hearing month and um as you know we think the world of our SLPs we call them our speech language pathologists and in our district we have um we have three individuals in you know district that work and then we have two virtual therapists but um Stephanie Bucksell, Lacey Rogers, Kay Kregeric and Kirsten Curtis and Talia Barago. Um so we are really appreciative of everything they do and I know everybody feels like they learn from them when they're around them and learn how to help to support the communication of our students. So hats off to them and I couldn't help I couldn't resist the opportunity to mention that if you know again when we think about great careers for our our young ones that um they were thinking about college and maybe a little bit
016beyond, a speech language pathology is a great career. So, uh yeah, so they would love to talk more about that for anyone who's thinking about a great career path. And finally, a school nurse day was last week Wednesday, and of course Jenny Penn is our school nurse, and we have amazing health aids as well, and we just want to acknowledge them. They are taking care of all of our students and being healthy and making sure all the things happen exactly as they should so that um things go off without a hitch. So, um that's what I have for you. Any questions or Okay, thank you. Yes, thank you. Thank you, Pamela. You're welcome. Good evening, board. Um first thing I want to talk to you about is just give you some updates on the same
017curriculum movement that's happening within the district. The K-5 math resource selection team has >> [clears throat] >> chosen two resources that they're going to pilot next year. So, they're going to pilot envision and illustrative. This team of uh seven teachers um each are going to be piloting something within their classroom, uh whether one of those two uh throughout the entire year so we can gather data and see how those um opportunities uh help our students. And we're going to be encouraging our other teachers, K-5, to be visiting those classrooms to see how those curriculums work. So, that is in process um starting with next year, two pilots happening for that math resource. >> [clears throat and cough] >> Excuse me. Our current uh 4K teachers uh met and actually a future 4K teacher also met
018uh just about a couple weeks ago to start digging into three cheers for pre-K. So, the curriculum that you guys uh took a look at and and um approved, they have now started digging into and we We got another meeting this Friday to start setting up some of those structures and get things ready to go so they are ready to roll as the school year begins next year. And then the last thing I'd like to let you know is that we've developed a 5-12 ELA leadership team. We have concentrated on K-4 literacy and ELA pretty strongly over the last couple of years and this team is taking a look at vertical alignment from 5 through fifth grade through 12th grade to see where we can find those gaps and what we can do in order
019to strengthen our instruction even more within those secondary levels. So that team will start [clears throat] up this summer. We're going to meet and have some conversations about some best practices for professional learning and vertical alignment collaboration collaboration amongst that team. So as a curriculum updates, testing updates, we were very grateful for the one-week extension that the state of Wisconsin offered our district and every district in the state in order to complete testing. We had 84% of our testing done before we went on our flood emergency days off and we needed a couple more days in order to get everything done with everybody in the right mindset. So we were able to complete all of our testing, our forward testing was done. Our DLM testing was all done and pre-ACT got all wrapped up. So
020we were able to successfully complete that. Pre-ACT results should be returned by May 13th. At the moment, that is the data I have. DLM and forward test results are going to be back by June 2nd. That date got pushed out a week because we got done testing a week later. So that data will be in to us by that point and of course it's embargoed until Is it September or August? October. Sometime Is it October even? Way out, way out. So that's information we'll get out to you as soon as we can. ACCESS scores were made available, excuse me, to the [clears throat] school district on April 27th. We can't show those results. They are looking pretty good, but families have received those ACCESS testing results. Remember, ACCESS testing is our testing to help us
021gauge where English language learners are in their journey to learning English. Okay? Then the next thing on the agenda is that Lincoln was recognized by the DPI as a high impact school. So, they will list release a list of schools >> [clears throat] >> once a year. And Lincoln Elementary was recognized as a high impact school, which means that they is a school that serves is a title one school, so that means has a full like full title one throughout the building. Serves a percentage of economically disadvantaged students that achieve above average compared to other schools that are like them. So, in in when you're comparing apples to apples, they did some really nice work in order to keep that momentum going for Lincoln Elementary. So, that that was all based on last year's test
022scores. So, that's stuff that you heard about in October of this year. That would be the information they were basing that on, >> [clears throat and cough] >> not on this year's yet. Any questions on any of that before I move into my instructional insights? All right. So, tonight's instructional insights are the Wisconsin math practice standards. There were two sets of standards that the math resource selection team, the K5 team, did some really deep and heavy professional learning around. One was the Wisconsin math standards, the ones that we're going to get right here, and the other were the National Councils of Teachers of Mathematics standards. But these are teacher driven standards and these are student standards. So, I wanted to share with you a portion of those standards just so you understand some of the
023lens through which we are looking at our new resources as we are judging which ones are going to be best for our kids. Then the standards are listed on your in your packet. [clears throat] I'm not going to read them aloud to you, but it has a lot to do with making sure our kids are using tools, that they're talking to each other about math, that they have the chance to problem solve, and that they're not simply just memorizing math facts, but applying things and working through math in a way that is applicable to the real world out there. My favorite one of all these standards is actually attends to precision. Uh, because I don't know if you've ever had a kid in [clears throat] your world who sat down and did their math as
024fast as they possibly could because they wanted to be done with it, but at no point did they like go back and just one time check to make sure they got 7 * 8 correct, right? Or they paid attention to where that decimal point is brought down in the rows, right? It's that attending to precision that we as adults know that if you miss a decimal point, that's going to affect you later. So, uh, that's just one that I like to highlight because we, um, we have to have those high expectations for our kids in math to attend to precision because it's a real life skill outside of the math classroom. Um, our math teachers have been using these practices. We've been using these professional learning, and we will continue as we look for our
025new resource. Okay, bye. Any questions on anything? Okay, thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. Alexa Cable, our new student representative to the board. The board members, uh, Alexa is joining us today. That will be getting them preparing, uh, in advance, uh, keeping up dates of the recent, uh, student elections, and Alexa serves as the uh, uh, the next board rep. Super excited to bring her on board, and this is just a reminder, she'll join us for one month, and then we'll see her in September. Okay, we're going to give her the summer off. Uh, so tonight, uh, Alexa will will introduce herself, and, uh, as we welcome her. Um, so my name is Alexa, and I'm currently a junior at Ronan High School. Um, a little bit about myself is that I've had a 4.0
026GPA, and I've taken five advanced placement classes, and I did four this year. I've done language, um, calculus, um, chemistry, government, and US history. And some extracurricular activities I've done is National Honor Society and I'll be president next year. I've done jazz band and I play piano and I've played for 10 years. Um, and I also do math league and I'm extremely grateful to have this opportunity, um, to represent my school and I hope to keep everyone updated on the achievements at New London High School. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. All right, Joey, back up. Okay, um, vouchers for the month, there's three I want to highlight and just talk about the reporting mechanism on that itself. The three vouchers I highlighted CDW student Chromebook purchases, so those are for our freshman, fifth graders,
027and then elementary set for next year. We talked about that purchase at our instructional committee that we had a couple months ago. HJ Martinez for B119 flooring, that was done over spring break, but that was a project we approved. Savvas Learning is for K materials, that was also discussed at the board and we also received those items. Talking about the vouchers a little bit, we just converted over to cumulative from our Skyward SMS. I haven't been able to figure out how to sort the vouchers in alphabetical order like I did in the past from highest to lowest. So, I just highlighted them in yellow just so you could see the ones that I do. The second piece of it that you could see in the description box that I highlighted on the first page, it
028has conversion in a lot of them and that's the conversion from back and forth from SMS to cumulative that we have now. I'm trying to get that field to uh, look like it did with your last vouchers where it gives you just a little bit more information than just who the vendor was. So, we're working with Skyward to make that happen. So, hopeful that when we have our voucher period in June, I mean, I can give some more details to you. But, if you have any questions on any of them, just let me know, and I can give you more details. Uh receipt side of things, uh we received our common school fund aid um as one of the uh receipts. Remember, common school funds purchase our library resources. You have to use that revenue
029to purchase what goes into our school libraries across the district. And then, we also got some property tax receipts from the lottery credits from our municipalities. And then, there was one legal expense that I highlighted for the month from Buck & Buck recent. Do any of you have any questions on any of the vouchers that I can answer for you? Is there I hear me none. Uh looking for motion to approve expenditures in the amount of $2,985,715.94 as per the list of May 7th, 2026. I'll make a motion. Second. I'll second that. Any seconds? Uh need a roll call on that. Shannon Hagen. Yes. Andy Garth. Yes. Holly Schweitzer. Yes. Jeff Gehrig-Maddison. Yes. Pete Grady. Yes. Mark Grosvenor. Yes. Keith Rennie. Yes. Receipts, you record receipts from the receipt register of May 7th, 2026 in
030the amount of $1,062,712.24. Um no more further financial recap. All right. No unfinished business, moving into new business. Um Scott, do you want to go ahead and Yeah, let me start with that. So, Board of Education Committee structure and assignments within the uh your topic summary and board materials. This is typically the time where those assignments are recognized so we can get into committee meetings and set forth on the various topics. What you see in front was last year's appointee a couple of the topics there. And little turnover in that this is the time where Mr. Heideman would recognize the the committees as deemed appropriate to move forward. So, there's any discussion from Mr. Heideman and or feedback. If if this is okay with everybody Mark had asked to be on the instructional committee. I
031see no issue with that. And Jeff, if it's okay with you, I was going to put you on policy and on the connections. If that works for you. I'm good with that. Okay. Um the next Is open. Open. I have a question with connections. So is it how many there's how many people Mark as Mark said Mark is still going to stay on there and Andy. We've had two, we've had three. Yeah, we'll do three. Do you want me to be in it? Um four is the quorum. We're only four. Sorry. Okay, no worries. I was just curious. Okay. I mean if you want to switch with somebody on something else, give me a call. That's fine with me. Oh, I was just if you I'll take your spot if you want. Sure. I mean
032cuz I I volunteered to be on three committees this cuz we always have to have somebody on three. Right. And so I I I I've never had to do three. It's always a freshman thing. I'll swap with you or I'll take that from you. Sure. Okay, that's fine. So sorry, that was Holly for connections. Connections. Connections, thank you. Yeah. Anybody want to be on Wasatch big delegate? Okay. Can we all do that Holly? >> [laughter] >> I would gladly pass that torch. But what I thought you wanted that. I thought we were going to keep you on the hook. Yeah. Yeah? I thought we'd hear something different from somebody for the LAST 6 YEARS. HONESTLY, I THINK that would be an excellent experience for Jeff to experience. No. That would really You want a freshman
033assignment? Yes. What are What are the requirements again? >> [laughter] >> Yeah, I don't have those qualifications. You have a hard seat. It's And you You just go to the convention, right? If you make it to January with your job, then you're off the hook. Then you're off the hook. You've got a fishing trip planned out. Okay. I'm standing in for you. Sorry, buddy. You're You get to keep it. What What did you have to do? Just go to the convention, right? Yeah. And bring our ideas to the floor. And then they always get shot down. Usually. Yes. More for the big school. Yeah. It's kind of like a day excursion into things that don't work. Yeah. Write me in pencil for a possible maybe Okay. >> thinking about it for next time. >> have
034time for next year. We have time for that. We'll work on it. Yeah. It's It's not that bad. I I told him that. It's only frustrating but entertaining. I mean, it's it it it it's interesting at times because you do get to hear what other districts are thinking, you know, and because, you know, people can get up and speak at any, you know, what um when there's a subject that they're interested in. I mean, they don't limit the number of people I can get up and talk, either they're pro or against it. Um Um And there are districts that give very get up give very great compelling reasons for and against. And then there's districts that they're very predictable. If it doesn't benefit them, Mhm. it's bad. That's just how they approach it. I mean,
035what it is in a nut in a nutshell Districts around the state can submit policies to be debated at the state school board convention and there's usually what like 15 or something like that. How many were there this year? Maybe Yeah. >> Yeah. 20 to 25 maybe even. Yep. And so then we as a group we decide how we would want our delegate to vote. And then there's a delegate from every school district all of CESA. So there's over 250. And then it gets debated on the floor and then it gets it gets voted on. And you hope that it works its way up the food chain to eventually make it to the Right. And it's and it's just recommend it's just it's recommendations for the WASB, the school board um Wisconsin Association State School
036Boards for them to go and lobby for that. >> You know, so And don't get me wrong. There's years they've done a very good job Mhm. in running the meeting and keeping everything on track and then there's years where the wheels kind of fell off, but Yeah. It's it's entertaining I I think. It's it's a good experience. And this year I think the the average was probably three amendments per policy. Okay. And one it was like I'm just keeping my paddle down cuz I have no idea what I'm voting on. That does get out of hand sometimes. It gets It's like what are we even changing at this point? Well, we can we can revisit that at a later date. There's no There's no mind modulating. There's there's no hurry. I just wanted to get
037the word in right away. We should have stirred the pot. So you're looking for a spot? Well, we'll we'll debate that between Jeff and you for the for that prime spot. >> So what do you miss out on at that time like when other reps would be at certain breakout sessions? Yeah, it's during the it's during the time of the It's your afternoon. Yeah. It's it's it's an afternoon on the second day of the convention. So. All right, moving on. Review of potential approval Let's make a motion on that. All right. Okay. We approve the committee assignments. Yeah. Okay. Just like Scott said it. Do I have a I'll make the motion to approve the committee assignments Okay. As presented. Do I have a second? I'll I'll second it. All in favor? I. I. Motion
038passes. All right, review of potential approval of professional educators receiving 26-27 employment contracts. Okay, board members, within your materials there's a slate of candidates of our certified staff. There's one one error that was part of that during my report I recognized Linda Gregory. All right, Linda Gregory is not a part of this next year's slate. She is retired and will be retiring at the end of the year. Outside of that, we look for a potential motion to recognize the educators to invite educators for the 26-27 academic year. All right. Do we have a motion? I'll make the motion. Second? I'll second. All in favor? I. I. Motion passes. Review of graduation ceremony. Okay. Um Annually the recommendation of the graduating class comes forward for the board to uh to approve and and consider. Um Mr.
039Schuster is with us tonight as well as in your topic summary, we have a list of our graduating seniors. All of you should have received communication about the upcoming graduation ceremony and the board's participation. All are welcome to attend, be part of, and participate in the uh the program as it's a celebration of what we're all about, of our graduating the senior class. Mr. Schuster, I'll just put you on the spot. Any uh highlights that you'd like to share or directives about prior two for board members? Yeah, a lot of the information is in that uh communication letter that highlights the senior awards night beforehand. It's a big event for our seniors. Um a lot of outside speakers come in and give the kids a lot of advice about their school experience. Kids come from
040all ranks, all walks. Kids going into this, going into that. So, you're invited to attend that and then graduation itself on the 27th. You arrive at 5:15 south side, which is door nine. Um 5:15, a little bit early. Doors open at 5:00 for everybody else. Um if you want a ticket for anybody else, just let us know. But, you can call the high school and we can get you a ticket for anybody else who you want to come. Is everyone planning on going? Yes. Yes. It's a great night, for sure. It will be It will be good. I don't want to wear my uniform this year. Well, I wore the purple the first year and I never heard the end of it. And nobody told me to wear red. I wore purple. Wear polka dots.
041People wear polka dots. I'm just saying red Red was Red. Red. Black or white I think so. At least it's not red and then You did either. Looking for a motion to grant approval of the 20 2026 graduating seniors pending fulfillment of all graduation requirements. >> Yep. Do I have that motion? I'll make the motion. I'll second it. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Motion approved. Uh letter A that we just went over. Yep. From that perspective. Moving into F, Wisconsin Early Literacy Coaching Program Grant. Pamela. This is very exciting news. I'm very excited about this. Like, this makes me so excited for what we have been given. Um I worked um in January with uh Lincoln staff um to uh fill out a grant for the Wisconsin Early Literacy Coaching Program, which would uh grant
042us a instructional coach just around literacy for that building. You could apply by building to this grant. You couldn't apply by district, so we applied by Lincoln Elementary. Uh we pulled in the data. Um they helped me tell the story of it, and we sent it off. And just about a week and a half ago, we received our grant of a half-time literacy coach. So, for the next 2 years, we have the opportunity, with no cost to the district, to bring in someone whose entire job is to work with our teachers and their practices around literacy in order to keep improving the literacy practices and literacy outcomes for Lincoln Elementary. And I couldn't tell you how I couldn't be more excited about this opportunity for that building, which has some momentum going, um and can
043use um some some support all at the same time. Um they've been through a bunch this year, so I want to make sure they feel supported, and this is going to be a really great opportunity for them. Um the DPI uh you know, gives us money to pay this person, so there's also rules that go along with it. So, when we report out, we talk about it. We'll need to make sure we're referencing that grant program, and every time they do. But there's also learning opportunities that come along with this for our district. So, the building administrator for Lincoln will get some professional development along with it. I will plan on taking along with some professional development, and our reading specialist also in that building will uh be able to take along in lots of
044practices. It's my goal that we take some of those practices and some of the coaching that we're doing there, and we are able to build our literacy program in other buildings, also. So, I hope to ride alongside that coach as they're doing this work. Questions? Very good. Cool. Yep. Great. Yeah. Great. Awesome. Thank you. Preliminary review of 2026-27 school fees. Joe. Well, board members, just to to set the table here for the discussion that will be starting. Annually, the board looks at our fee structure for students and families throughout the academic year. And again, we're starting that process. Note that tonight is just discussion only. We're not looking for formal action. If there are questions that come forward or things that we want Mr. Markwardt or myself to look into, we certainly can. Ideally, we
045would have board recognition perhaps at the end of the month or early June because this is a document that we have to produce and publicize within our back-to-school materials, okay, when we get ready for the next academic year. Thank you, Mr. Black. Uh tonight's topic summary looks very similar to prior years along with the rate chart that is in your board packet. The draft recommendations do revolve around food service. There are some reasons why those recommendations are coming forward. One of them, if we're going in order of how it looks on your packet, food service is first, and it's also um in red in your topic summary where we have the exhibit of the rate sheet. The first one, where it lists extra milk, this year, the state has changed the way they are administering
046the Wisconsin school day milk program, where if you do not collect enough revenues from the students who are participating in milk break, they will require us to transfer funds from our general fund to cover the difference. So, their their rationale behind that is the Wisconsin school day milk program as a state program and it's not supposed to be supported by any other revenues inside of fund 50, which is our food service operations. So, that is the recommendation based upon that. If the board decides not to approve the increase from 35 to 50 cents a milk, that's that's okay, that's your choice as a board to be able to do that. However, then we didn't have enough revenues from the students in comparison to our expenditures, we would have to make a transfer fund 10 to
047fund 50 to cover that difference. I will say that the cost of milk is higher than the 35 cents that is now we've just had it at between 30 and 35 cents for several years. So, it's not out of line to have the increase even if it wasn't a part of the Wisconsin school day milk program's requirements. So, I do feel like the recommendation that we have in there at 50 cents a milk carton is in line with what we would be charged to operate that program. The second component revolves around our breakfast cost for our students at the elementary and middle school level and then the other ones revolve around our lunch bowl that the elementary, middle, and high school programs as well. The reason for those recommendations is the cost of food has
048increased significantly over the last couple years and in order to be able to have a self-supporting food service program, we want to be able to >> [clears throat] >> keep pace with those expenditures that are inside program [clears throat] for our paid students. Free students still don't pay for their meals unless they get a second meal and reduced students are still paying the 30 or 40 cents depending on if it's breakfast or lunch. If we would compare our prices to neighboring school districts, I would say for the most part we are on the low end of our cost per meals. And the reason why we have not increased the cost is because we have been exempt from the price equity tool for the last several years. The price equity tool is what is funneled through
049the USDA USDA's requirements for the cost of meal charges, and if you have a positive fund balance in fund 50, you can be exempt from them, and we have [clears throat] a positive fund balance in fund 50. But what happens if you don't keep pace with the rate of we'll use the word inflation because it makes more sense. If you don't keep pace with that increase, you just fall further and further behind, and if you would deplete your fund balance in fund 50, then you could have a drastic increase as a requirement, because our lunch prices have been pretty stable for for several years, we've had a couple year freeze with our lunch prices, and then last year we just went up um I think it was a nickel or 10 cents or two schools.
050So, that is the recommendation for tonight uh as discussion. If you feel like you want us to look at some additional information, as Mr. Black said, we can definitely do that. The rest of the fees we have as unchanged for the next school year as a recommendation. Joe, when do we review our provider for our meals? We can do that whenever the board decides. We did go with a new >> [clears throat] >> RFP a couple years ago, and um we were going to talk about it at our last facility meeting as well, but we just kind of ran out of topic time that day. Okay. So, this would be this amount would be regardless of whatever company we're with is what you're saying? >> Yes. Okay. What are your or I've always been a
051supporter of our current service troubles, right? Um, but I've I've had some issues lately just not not from my own family, but just hearing from other people and then I went to I went to the um, families breakfast families and I was uh, 90% of the food that my family had on their plates went in the trash. And I was not happy. So, I was just a little I guess irritated and I expressed concern to John about it. He said, "Okay, we'll pick it up." So. We'll be we'll be talking on that subject soon. Yep. So, we'll be coming up. All right. I was saying cookies, these peas, noodles, and milk is very reasonable. It's still amazing. Very inexpensive breakfasts, lunches. Right. You know, 50 cents for a carton of milk, you can't even get
052black coffee for less than three bucks. You know, I paid two bucks last night at Culver's for our Listen, it's very reasonable. Then he dumped it all over me. Oh, no. It's reasonable. It's reasonable. It depends on the price. It's reasonable, but not really reasonable. For the sake of what's being served, what's what's being Not disagreeing with that. I'm not saying that. I agree we need to look at it again and see what the service is providing. I was just And it's not the cost of the food that is >> Right. That is very That is very It is very reasonable. Well, we're obviously not done talking on this subject, but we're going to table this for a future meeting and we will get to it. Um, moving to H, review of potential approval of
053the school newspaper. The board members annually board practice. It is that you have a local newspaper, which is part of your community, it's recognized that it is recognized through approval of the official newspaper of the school district. Press Star currently represents our school community. And we will put a motion to approve that. Do we have that motion? So moved. Do we have a second? I'll second it. All in favor? Aye. Motion passes. Moving on to H. Actually, I review and potential approval of open enrollment applications. Scott and Jody. So, board members, within the the topic summary recognizes the official closure of open enrollment within the annual process that takes place throughout the state of Wisconsin in public education. Closed on April 30th. During that time, families throughout the state can apply upwards to three school
054districts for potential enrollment to other districts. And it's I'll say a lottery sometimes in how families are representing where they might go. Some do fulfill and follow through. Some do not. Just as a reminder, our official student count where we're able to establish actual numbers is that third Friday count in September. So, the numbers presented are are preliminary, but state statute has it that the board recognize through non-resident open enrollment application action tonight. And then the district will process through them accordingly to address those individual needs. Any questions? Okay. Thank you. Good. In regards to that, can you speak to how some of those open enrollment requests touch the special ed piece? Sure. If individuals they can apply. All individuals can apply and they can apply if they have uh special ed IEPs that are
055in and then at that time we'll determine whether or not the appropriate nest of our district can support that. The board action recently stated that we would not acknowledge open enrollments in with IEPs within that. So, if there is potential consideration or acknowledgement of that uh we would have to have very detailed discussion but the board action recently is that we're we're full. Well, it's been that way for a couple years. Yeah. Yeah, it's not new. Right. So, I guess pending a line by line discussion on any open enrollment with within special ed, I guess we're looking for a motion to approve. I'll make that motion. Is there a second? I'll second it. All in favor. Aye. >> Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. All right. We're reviewing Oh, we passed that. Sorry. J, reviewing
056potential approval of official district depositories and individuals authorized to invest district funds. Okay, this is again an annual item that the board has on its agenda this about this time of the year. This is the board's chance to review and potentially approve the depositories for district funds. First State Bank, as I mentioned, is our general operating account which has most of our accounts for the school district. We do have some funds from the State of Wisconsin Local Government Investment Pool or as we always call LGIP. That's a place that some of our funds are as well. And the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley is where our new last funds are through our scholarship fund. And Midwest Institutional Trust is the holding mechanism for our open funds that we have in the district. That hasn't
057changed. That's been there for several years. American Deposit Management Company has some of our fund $46 from long-term capital improvement fund. Fox Communities Credit Union has the Racing for Education account. WISC Investment Series Cooperative, or also as we call WISC, has some more of our fund $46 uh funds there. So, that's two institutions that hold those funds. That helps maximize the ability to have investment options that are in the highest uh CD rates on the on the market. And then Wolf River Community Bank was opened a couple years ago when we started the uh fitness center fund raising project also this year. It was our line of credit institution as well. So, that's why it's listed up there uh as a bank. Any questions? All right. Looking for a motion to approve the official school
058depositories and the individuals who are authorized to invest district funds as presented. I'll make the motion. Do we second? I'll second. Okay, roll call. Jeff Bohl Branson? Yes. Andy Thorpe? Yes. Holly Schwartz? >> Yes. John Haden? I'm abstaining. Nick Grady? Yes. Katie Benton? Um I have to abstain because several of these are my radio station's clients. Mark Grossman? Yes. All right. Motion passes. Moving to the report on law conference 2026 school board summit. Andy, if you want to start that off. I'm actually going to pass to Chris to start first. He's got the juicier of the topics All right. that he wanted to share. Thank you. It's good to be back. I'll try to overcome my shyness about speaking in public here to get this report to you. Well, do what you can. Yeah. Andy
059and I attended eight different sessions and we each picked two to talk to talk to you about. We're going to take less than 5 minutes each to do that and I'm hitting the start button on my timer right now. I'm just going to stay here. Don't worry. I was going to hold you to it. Big talk. If I don't get to everything, I'll I can find another way to get the information, but um uh the first one that I would like to report to you on is a topic that's been hot here in this district, but it's hot across the state. It's class um classroom management, it's classroom disrupt disruptions, physical assaults uh on on staff and other students and um tools to take care of that. I sent you all a video that shows
060the universal problem um and maybe begins to talk about why we're experiencing that in Wisconsin. Um and I also sent a copy of that to Scott and to Sarah to to review. Um but the uh the the the seminar went into things you can do about it. Okay. And it was given by three people with pretty good credentials. Daniel Buck, who's a research fellow at American Enterprise Institute and has a long history of classroom teaching and um uh and is a principal um in uh districts throughout the state including uh Green Bay area public school schools um and he's graduate of University of Wisconsin-Madison. And Ryan Staley, director of research uh for Defending Education. He is uh he is um uh he's a third generation educator with 15 years of experience in public and private
061uh schools and um also 25 years as a coach um at the high school and college level. And the third person is the staff member Lauren Lauren Buro who's the education staff member for Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty. Um so um the uh the main issue that they hit on is that um physical violence and classroom disruption such as a meltdown in which there's uh abusive language it it they also believe that is a form of violence, abusive language towards other students or staff members that getting control of those is paramount. And um uh the most important thing all three of these have to say is that even if that bad behavior is a manifestation of the person's disability the the uh importance of maintaining classroom order and the importance of um protecting the
062safety of other students and staff and protecting the learning environment for the other students is paramount over that. And there's not been legal cases um at least in Wisconsin that have that have stated uh you can't uh throw relatively equal um consequences uh when students repeatedly do that. That's a a very important thing and that's something that we weren't getting from the education that WSB was having on the topic. Going back to the first one I attended in 20 2018. But these folks have the information. They have the state laws quoted that give the school board the ability to set the rules. And the rules become paramount when you're dealing with this violent behavior or disruptive abusive behaviors. So this is this is uh This this was the substance of that. Andy and I both
063attended that one. There were breakout sessions, but we both wanted to attend that because of how important it was. So there's my uh thing. I'm going to stop at this point. Um and I will disseminate other information at a later point. And I do have some handouts for you as Andy begins to give his. All right. Andy, if you want. Yeah, this is my second time. I went last year before I was on the board and this year being on the board, it's more legal based than just what what we went through approving receipts to Van Reason. It's like we looked just went to it with a different angle, but um couple of of the legal bites that they were hitting on were parental rights. They were referencing the near valley case. I forget the
064state, but it was the changing of pronouns and and names for without parental consent. And like basically why I'm bringing that up is there's parents that are filing lawsuits that they're also claiming damages, too. So, it's more of avoiding those costs, basically. And also touched a lot on race. It that it's never permitted to be used in education. And it's again tied to money, Title VI, which is federal funding. Um You know, like as far as hiring, promoting, discipline. And policies for racial balancing. Um the other one that I found really interesting it was uh another breakout session on EdTech and the use of technology. It was presented by Nicole Runyan, who's a psychologist that worked with children. She didn't really state the age ranges, but she just basically broke down the parts of the
065brain, how the brain develops, and just how da- really damaging it is the amount of screen time cuz we're seeing it everywhere, you know, like can't hardly drive down the street and see a kid on a bike with a phone, and it's like what do we want, you know? Right. Yeah, um Uh >> Did they say anything about people going back to pencil and paper in places? Cuz I've been kind of reading on that. >> She touched on that on how the scores definitely changed with computer to paper, how Is something with your connection with like >> Right. moving your hand and seeing it? >> There's a There's a good one of Ted's podcast addressed that really really good. But she was she was talking about the overstimulation from the screen. Just looking [clears throat]
066at these screens, your blood's your brain's being flooded with the dopamine which triggers the amygdala which triggers your fight or flight. And when you're just sitting and you're in that fight or flight mode like at at a resting state, it's just forget how she was speaking to it, but just how unhealthy it is that I decompress from that. It was just I I got it got into it so much that I I bought a book and started reading that cuz it's just I I see it with my own kid and not being able to separate having that echolalia where you repeat shows and whatnot. And I I'm glad to see like when I go to Lincoln that we have postings where you have QR codes if your kid's on Facebook, if your kid's playing Minecraft,
067like how damaging it is. Just kind of just educating kids or pick parents to kind of gauge what you're how much you're allowing your child to use it. Perfect sense. I see Sam smiling back there. This kind of We were touched on We were touched on a couple weeks ago. Yeah. Yeah, a couple of weeks ago. If any of you are interested in listening to that podcast that Katie and I were referring to, just email me. I'll send you the link because I think it You actually might have sent that out. Did you? I might have. I thought you previously sent that. It would have been probably 6 weeks ago or something. >> It was 6 weeks ago. This this this uh neuroscientist is he's on usually like twice a year. Yeah, you sent one.
068I'm just saying it'd be beneficial to send it to all of us again, I think. Okay. Yeah. Please. Yeah, cuz I've got them all. Sure. Thank you. Not that there is any motion we're going to take up or anything on that. Yeah, I think many of those subjects are going to be revisiting. Any other discussion? I guess we're going to move to get a motion to go into closed session. I'll read the first one. Pursuant to section 19.851c Wisconsin statute, Board of Education will convene in closed session to discuss the continued employment of certified support staff members over which the Board has jurisdiction and exercises responsibility. Pursuant to section 19.851c Wisconsin statutes, Board of Education will convene in closed session to discuss the employment and compensation of administrative, certified, and support staff members over which
069the Board has jurisdiction and exercises responsibility. And closed session for number two. Okay. Yeah. Um pursuant to section 19.851c Wisconsin statute, the Board of Education will convene in closed session to interview candidates for the intermediate middle school associate principal position. All right. Do I have a motion? I'll make that motion. Second it. Second. Uh all in favor? Aye. >> Aye. Roll call. Roll call. Roll call. Roll call. Mike Grosman? Yes. Sandy Ciganek? Yes. Kitty Benton? Yes. Nate Brandy? Yes. John Hageman? Yes. Holly Shwitzer? Yes. Sandy Thorsen? Yes. Jeff Jorgensen? Yes. All right. We are in closed session.