001or until a successor is elected. All right, nominations are now open for the office of president. I'll make a nomination for Mr. Heideman. Okay, we got John as a nomination nominated by Holly or Holly. Is there a a second? I'll second. Seconded by Nate. Are there any other nominations for president? Okay, this is where it gets redundant again. Are there any nominated any other nominations for president? Okay, if there are no other nominations, I'll entertain a motion to close nominations for president. Is there a motion? I'll make the motion. All right, by Mark. I'll second. Katie, Holly, Holly, thank you. All right, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? All right, motion carried. All right, word of the the board declare John Heideman as president of the Board of Education. Hey, thank
002you. Put your name here before. Here we go. Okay, so Yep, thank you. Process, uh, if we need to do a vote if there's more than one, we'll go to the ballot. At this time, the board will proceed with the election of board vice president as required by Wisconsin law and board policy. The vice president shall serve until the next annual organizational meeting or until successor is elected. Nominations are now open for the office of vice president. I'll nominate Ms. Madden. I'll second that. Any other nominations? Are there any further nominations? Okay, we've closed. All in favor? Aye. So, you're vice president. All right, moving on to clerk. Clerk. Can I nominate? I forget. What's that? Can I nominate? You're a board member. >> Okay, perfect. I nominate Holly. I'll second. Do I Are there
003any Any other further nominations? Any further nominations? Okay, we're closing nominations. Um We need to do it official. Motion to close nominations. Okay. There'll be a motion to close nominations. I'll make a motion. Okay, second. I'll second. Okay. Or Andy, I think you had Andy, yeah. Good. Voice vote. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? You're our secretary. All right. Moving on to treasurer. I'd like to nominate Mark. Okay. I'll second that. Did you like doing it? Yeah, my handwriting's pretty good. Nominated by Holly. I got the job. Okay. Oh, you didn't Okay. There are no further further nominations. I'll make a mo- or entertain a motion to close. I'll I'll make I'll second. I'll second. All right. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All right, you're our next treasurer. Moving on. Any other items? Consent agenda.
004We should go ahead. Both of them are closed? >> Yeah. Okay, both items. Yes, please. Super. Okay. We're going to move right into new business. Okay. There's no open sign agenda. There's no consent agenda. Okay, new business. The first item is just the acceptance of the statement of the Board of Canvassers from the recent school board election that recognize John Heidemann and Jeff Kupcalson to uh take on a role as school board members. The uh noted voting tallies were over- oversaw by our business manager, um Jill Marquardt, our clerk, Holly Sweitzer, and Jamie Assor, the board secretary. Uh noted votes were John Heidemann 2,068, Jeff Kupcalson 1,864. Congratulations, gentlemen, on your appointment to the board. All right, moving on to review of recent community flooding. What do you want to do? Okay, we got to
005accept that. Okay. Sorry about that. No problem. We have a motion? I'll make a motion to accept the Board of Canvassers report. Do we have a second? All in favor? Aye. Aye. All right, moving on to B, review of recent community flooding. So, board members, thanks for being members present tonight, and uh anyone who might be watching our um board meeting this evening, we're all very aware of the recent and ongoing uh flooding that took place through our greater uh school community, and uh board members, you know, I was in constant uh, contact with you informing uh, what was happening district-wide, so on and so forth. I just want to commend uh, first of all, from our school district, uh, our administrative team that that led a process of identifying not only students, staff, families
006that were in need, communicating effectively uh, with the community, gaining resources as appropriate. Um, our classroom teachers that were able to step in and support, working with students, identifying their needs, putting them in the position to uh, have the students and families find the resources through the building level leadership that took place. Uh, just an outstanding job as we came back to school last Thursday. And uh, um, when we came back, uh, there was a lot of emotion and I think all of you know when when students and families chose to come back. And uh, this you know, note that uh, the vast majority of our school community was ready and and came back, but we definitely uh, were um, sensitive to the families and individuals that were most affected through that process of flooding
007as they recover and find their way back uh, when appropriate uh, with the resources that are in our community. Our transportation uh, department did an outstanding job helping assist picking up students throughout the district at usual spots or unusual spots based on the circumstances and the location. Mr. Marquardt, Mark Marsh, Terra Marsh, our driver team did an outstanding job coordinating with that and along with the aid of the New London Police Department and their streets division that um, allowed us to to navigate through on Thursday um, and get students to and from school appropriately. Some of you may have driven by this building uh, over the the days in which our uh, local agencies came in to to use this. Since then, every day so uh thanks of the board the district for this space
008as it really was a hub of safety and planning for our community with city hall and where they were located in proximity to the the flooding. Um they were so appreciative of being able to to lead from this environment and they were and then they were great neighbors if you will working we carried on our our daily operations and Ken and Janelle Joe and Taylor and Wade we were able to facilitate we had a lot of people in here but we were still able to maintain our our roles responsibilities and and duties within the district. Um just a strong effort of everyone giving what they could. The people in our community that supported through sandbagging and all of those measures, donations, uh supporting the teams that were here working uh just a sincere thank you.
009And our school district is just one little piece of this cog of our community uh but I'm very pleased to say that uh we responded as many others did in positive ways and we're here to continue to help that journey to you know whatever normal is for an individual we're striving to find that with them and supporting them. So Board of Education thank you for your flexibility to allow all right our local agencies to come in here and uh um support the greater community from that. Any comments or feedback um wanted to share from board members on this topic. I I'd just like to say when I was out there sandbagging I saw a lot of our administrators, staff, and students out there. Yeah. And I really just warms your heart to see the community
010and everybody come together like that. And some of the staff administrators don't even live in New London. Mhm. And they're coming in to help All right. all of us, you You and it might not even be their home that's affected, but they're there to help everybody, and it's really a heartwarming thing to see in such a terrible time. >> a lot of the high school students were there the day that I was was there. Unfortunately, my job was just to take and move the bags over to the the pallets, and finally after 45 minutes, I yelled out, "Is there somebody that's 50 years younger than me here that can actually do this job and stuff?" YOU KNOW, MY MOM WAS TRYING to move these bags. I'm like, "Mom, no. Let those kids do it." Yeah.
011Yeah, I don't think you could I don't think you could be involved in that and not get a little choked up. Right. It was uh It was it was it was emotional driving through there. You know, it really was. We got I thought we got it like very positive coverage about teamwork and spirit of community and camaraderie. They got There was definitely some good press. Yeah. And the district did did a great job reaching out to all the families and giving the resources that were available to them to help if they need help. And so, you know, it was great. Great to see. I would just say support local anytime you can. Like I just kept thinking I need some gifts and you know, our businesses downtown are going to need it, so local gift
012cards as opposed to Amazon. Good idea. Very good. City of Oneonta did an outstanding job with their local government to help facilitate that as well. Commend Chad and his team as well. The streets, the utilities, they they really had the best interest of all. And we Energies for that matter, you know, as people had some of those struggles of uh that gas utility, uh we were one of their top priorities as a district, obviously, to ensure that things came back online uh as quickly as possible. So, Mel Willis was their site coordinator, and he did a very nice job working with Mr. Mugwump and I to ensure our our well-being. I didn't come this way. Is Hatton still closed for them? I didn't take this way. Uh there's some equipment I'm but I don't know.
013There's equipment there, but I'm not 100% certain of that. I don't think I saw the signs but they've got the storage containers there yet. So it's still closed to the public? It was pretty impressive driving by Hatton when they were there at the end of the day one day and we saw the number of people that they had in town doing that work. You know, it was awesome. Yeah, they had five different units. Obviously the we energies but WPS and other private firms that were in assisting I believe over 100 units working throughout the city. So they were they were everywhere. All right, moving on. Review of Act 20. Tammy, Kristen. Hey board members, tonight we're going to do give a review update of our Act 20 and processes that since the beginning of the
014year as we've talked about you know, what we've been doing and where we're going ultimately with the full implementation of Act 20 requirements this next year during the 2026-27 year. This year was very much prepped as a process year to see where students lie, identify individual students with personal reading plans and continually strive with that goal for best results. So the team that's been leading the the charge in the sense of implementation and working and documentation is with us tonight under Tammy, Jody and Kristen. They'll be sharing their findings thus far. So I'm going to review a little bit about Act 20 because there are some new folks here and I want to make sure everybody is on the same page as far as understanding what was what it's all about. So Act 20 was
015enacted in 2023. It establishes a new state wide literacy assessment system making sure that beginning last school year and continuing on through this year we're looking to improve literacy outcomes by reforming early literacy instruction in the state of Wisconsin. It applies to all students in grades 4K through 3 and emphasizes the development of strong foundational literacy skills and that's our phonemic awareness, our our phonics, our high frequency words, things along vocabulary, thank you, things along those lines. Uh our school district is required by July 15th to submit a report and the information we're going to give you tonight is the information that's going in the report. AIMSweb testing is done in our district three times and we have done our third testing already because we need to have it done 45 days before the end
016of school year. Yes. Um and we had intended to actually give you this information at the last board meeting. There was a blizzard around the AIMSweb testing window and things are just a little off in that assessment window. So, uh we are here today to talk to you about that. So, in this we're going to highlight some of the data that we have learned and some of the things that we are continuing to do as we are in a continuous improvement cycle with our reading instruction. That's the required reporting data that we have to do by July 15th. I'm not going to read over everything there, but that's what we have to have turned in um to you and we'll give you some of that information tonight. So, um one of the things that students
017potentially get during this Act 20 and AIMSweb testing is something called a personalized reading plan. And so, in order to exit that, they have to meet different thresholds or different goals of that plan. So, some of that is a performance threshold on that AIMSweb. They have to score above the 25th percentile. Another one is we have other goals that we have written in our we call them PRPs that we also want to see our students be able to meet those goals and make sure that once they get off of a plan, we don't want to have them end back on so at a later date. So we want to make sure that they're completing those goals and that we're competent in them being able to exit a reading plan. There is some local decision some
018factors that we can also look at as far as so maybe they just tested bad on this Amesweb fluency test for some of our second and third graders. That's the big one is not necessarily um how how much you comprehend when you read but it's how many words you can get right in a minute. So knowing that we have some slower readers, we can use some of our local assessments as well to determine yeah, they didn't maybe score above the 25th percentile on this fluency test but in Iready their performing at grade level or on what we use in our reading called the Erla they're at grade level. So there's some local decision making in that and then >> And the difference not to chime in but the difference between Amesweb web is a screener
019and the way they did um described it is like this is your section of a a stadium and then your diagnostic is your seat in your row. Like you can hone in a little more Iready and the Erla um just to say okay, maybe they just aren't super fluent and a lot of the kids that don't score high with a fluency rate are maybe just a little slow to process but are just fine reading wise. And then um third grade as you know, we have that policy in place but that is where a lot of this comes into play as far as our um promotion policy and making sure our students that are on a personalized reading have met those criteria that we have that the board has set in that in that policy, and
020are for they're ready to move on and get promoted to fourth grade. So, this is where our district sits. This is similar to the data that we have to submit to the state. The report looks very similar to this chart that we have here. So, you can see across by each grade level where we were at. We have to start with where they were at in the fall and how many kids started with a personalized reading plan, then how many began. So, they didn't have one in the fall, but then they had one in the winter. And then the number of students that exited, and then the number of students that are currently after the spring testing on a personalized reading plan. And so, you can see where the district is sitting currently. I don't
021know what that last number says. I don't know. It's one under the brisk symbol. 135 135 I got to put on my glasses. So, know that some students came to us. You know, we have new enrollments from fall to winter to spring. So, some students are new to us that weren't there here with us in the fall, but now are here with us in the spring and maybe have personalized reading plan. We also had some students that have left as well. So, those numbers can change based off of enrollment. And of course, the norms change from each window. So, then this is where we look at the district. We'll go by each school, but this is district the number of students that were tested. This is the end of the year results. So, then the
022number of students that fell below the 25th is kind of the orange box. The green box is the number of students that are referred to summer school. And then really what you want to do you look at is that percentage, the round circle. And those are the percentage of students below the 25th percentile. So, looking at this information, you can kind of see where our 4K, which they do not get a personalized reading plan, we still have to test them in fall and spring, but they're kind of we kind of looked at some testing just to start to monitor some of that. But, our 4K and our third grade currently in the district um, would be the grades that we, you know, want to look at and concentrate on. So, then this is where Lincoln
023sits. So, same graph, just specifically related to Lincoln, where you can see their current third grade and their 4K again would be the area of concern. And overall as a school, they're sitting at 37%. I noticed that when I'm looking at this that for third grade, that percentage went up. That That didn't Did Did the criteria Does the criteria change quite a bit from second to third grade? That was my guess, but So, um, AIMSweb went over a whole new rehaul last summer where they re-normed everything and that's why we can't really compare last year's results to this year's results. Um, so yes, the norms have changed and yes, each fall, winter, spring that level of how many how much accuracy you have to get in fluency-wise does change each time. Okay. And who is
024responsible for that change? Like where does that originate from? That originates from the company. Like they was they were due up to re-norm their data based off of nation. It's not just Wisconsin. It was It's a nationwide company, but Wisconsin chose um, AIMSweb Plus to use for this. I feel like every year we have a moving target. It's so hard to do comparable scores. Right. Then it is. They re-norm. I'm sure it was every 10 years or something like that. So, Yeah. Right. They would do It should come around It should remain the same for next year. Yeah. They shouldn't re-norm after one. So, this is just looking at then for Lincoln the percentage of students that had a personalized reading plan from fall winter to spring in each of the different grade levels. And
025then here's Parkview's data. Um again, our biggest concern this year um has been our second grade currently sitting at that 33%. Um really concerned about what we can do to support them moving forward into next year. And then overall as a school we were sitting at 22%. So, I find that slide interesting because it Parkview is the only one that PRT in second grade with 33%. All the other schools are lower than the rest of the grades within the school. Do you know why that is? I mean, I think it's Reifield has zero that have that are below 25th percentile. I think overall what you have to think about is this is still such a small sample size. That's what I was just going to ask. What's the typical size of a class in each
026building? I know that there are two >> grade we're at 14 at Reifield. 15. 15. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, if you have 15 And uh So, how many are in third grade? So, that would be a big difference. 21 and 21 third grade, fourth grade. So, but still it's just a very small sample size. Yeah, where we're at Lincoln and Parkview we're sitting at in a grade level we're sitting anywhere from um 45 to 50-ish in a grade level. So, then I have in the class I have that. Two two classes per per grade. And when one student comes as like 10% you know, it can either skew it high or skew it low. Tell us what we need to take from this because looking at it from this side of the desk it doesn't
027It doesn't look like a positive thing yet. >> Yeah. No, I don't disagree with you. I don't disagree with you. Can we finish there's there's some summaries and some some therefores Okay. Yeah, please. Yeah, yeah. So let's just make sure we get through all the buildings. Yep. Nate as you Yeah. You guys were able to and like I said, it's it's just it's such a small sample size of students and like I said, that's where it can get you or it can make it look like hey, we're we're doing awesome, but again, 15 kids in a class and can completely change um that the current second grade we've all been with like their academic abilities. Um so you can see like third grade a little higher. Um second grade 000. So there you go. And
028then when you know, you compare Sugar Bush kind of same sometimes class sizes maybe to Reedsburg here or there. And again, it it it changes, but when you look at your 4K at 50% as of their only How many kids do you have in 4K? Eight nine. Nine. So you know, you don't have a very big sample size there. And we do have um a couple of kids that are um possibly bilingual. They haven't been um assessed in the access testing yet, but um they're just And how many language kids? Get it. Mhm. And then here's there we go. Percentage by grade level. So, when you look at those numbers, John, as you pointed out, this this isn't looking all that spectacular. And the reality is that we knew that our resource was missing phonics
029that a strong phonemic awareness and phonics element to it. So, what we have done this year is successfully implemented the first year UFLI across our K-4 classrooms. And that UFLI is going to with teacher implementation for the first year, right? That teacher implementation is going to become stronger each year that they I go through it and they understand the process. So, in the first year of implementation, they have it has made some differences as far as what we've seen as far as spelling and some other observations we're able to make in classrooms. It hasn't uh maybe transferred to our oral reading fluency, right? The reading out loud uh and the words per minute. So, that's what I can tell you about that. But, we have successfully and we're going to continue with that um across
030that K-K2 classrooms. It is a K-2 curriculum. We did a K-4 this year in order to be working with some of our students in third and fourth grade to support some of those skills that they had possibly been missing um throughout that. There are other resources we're looking at through for third grade and up for next year. We will definitely be continuing at K-2. Remind me, when did we implement UFLI? Was it at the beginning of the school year? >> Very beginning of the school year. Full implementation at the beginning of the year. >> And that was because of phonics, correct? Okay, so it's been 5 years or so, but I remember sitting in curriculum committee and they said Lucy Calkins was lacking in that, which is why we switched to ARC, but now that
031doesn't do well with phonics either. That is my understanding based on what I have seen so far, the scores that I've seen, um and when ARC was approved by the early childhood I'm really sorry. I can't remember the name of the committee from the Early literacy curriculum council. Yes, thank you. Thank you. ARC was it just approved in February with Wilson. Wilson is another fluency another phonics thing. So ARC on its own didn't pass when they was tapped with another thing that is the the kicks. It needs a support of phonics. >> And from my experience knowing we have a special educator who's been trained in Wilson. UFLI's he himself Wilson has said that Wilson and UFLI are very similar. So you think it's time to implement a whole another literacy program and we're just
032keep supplementing and supplementing instead of something that works better? the great desert of phonics in my opinion. Like it's just I think that's been my focus in classroom visits and just watching kids. Like it's so interactive. I don't want to say direct instruction cuz that gets a bad rap. >> What is this? UFLI University of Florida Literacy Institute. So what I I can tell you as those as I listened to those committees go through cuz you can you can subscribe and listen to that committee go through the resource if you'd like to. It's very exciting. I they have yet to come across a resource that there wasn't an issue with. So I'm not I don't know that there is a magic star out there. What I can tell you is that we are 4 years
033in to that resource. I am still collecting data from this year to more fully understand how that resource is working and what gaps there are. >> You don't know what year it is you know? Yes, I am. Yes, I am. So I'm not going to answer that question yet because I need to get through this school year and understand where our forward test scores and just get a full picture of that situation before we start having any more conversations around that. Do we see gaps in it? Yes. That doesn't mean at the moment that we can throw the baby out yet, okay? Because we have a structure in place, and in order to replace a structure is a it's a it's not a small task to replace a structure like that. And we have placed
034put into place U-Fly in order to support that, and we have been doing and this is all coming up in the next slides uh talking about the teacher practices. That's okay. They go along with reading the go along with best practices for reading. So, we have some high-leverage research-based um reading routines that we have been um doing professional development on this school year, and we're going to continue to do those. So, that our teachers can have those best strategies, um and we have our teams our teacher teams actually working to um make sure that vertical alignment and we aren't missing any skilled gaps as we move through the years. And now that they have been in ARC for that long. Do you feel like Very well articulated. Thank you. That makes sense. Okay. Do Are
035the educators like are they happy with it or are they happy with the holes that U-Fly plugs? I mean, I'm just curious because >> I'd say educators are very happy with the U-Fly. Okay. Yes, they're they're seeing a lot of um kids attacking multi-syllabic words just because they remember the rules. Kids like rules, and our English language doesn't always follow all the rules, but for the most part Yeah, I had a first grader um attack coincidental in my office in a pigeon book today, Don't Let the Pigeon Take a Bath, and and he was just it was it it was super cool for him to tap those like hard C soft C rules that he had learned in U-Fly. Okay. I had some feeling Oh, go ahead. I'm sorry. I had some second and third
036grade teachers tell me there are kids that are able to spell words that they weren't able to in the past have success spelling simply because they understand those rules and they've gotten to practice those rules. So, those things that you and I may have learned in a different way, they weren't getting before and we they've seen some successes. I don't know that that's going to show up right away in our testing, but I can tell you the anecdotal evidence that I'm getting from teachers um has been very positive. I'm feeling a little virus remorse being on curriculum committee back then because I really felt like and this we're not supposed to be an expert in, right? It's more But I just feel like we were explained that this was going to be the most awesome
037thing. It wasn't it $750,000? Well, but you know typically when you're implementing a program like this, isn't it Correct me if I'm wrong and Mr. Black, it's like a 3-year process. >> 3 to 5 years. >> And you start identifying these gaps during that during that time period to be able to go through and analyze a program like this over the course of a year and or less and be able to to to hit on everything, I think is a challenge and telling you hit the nail on the head where they, you know, when when that committee was identifying all the programs that qualified, they didn't find one that that that hit every hit every mark. I think it was more cuz you mentioned like 4 years, right? And then Nate mentions like when do
038we cut bait? And I'm like, I know we had SR funds, right? For right for the most part. But it was like almost a, you know, 3/4 of a million dollars. Like you hate to cut bait, I guess, is what I was saying. I think the other thing we have to be um thoughtful of, too, as elementary teachers teaching everything. Um so, currently, you know, if down the road we were going to look at a new reading curriculum, but right now we're in the process of looking at a new math curriculum, which will change things up. So, to throw all of that on teachers >> Oh, and I had No, I was just saying like just as we start thinking about and asking those questions, you know, we don't want to overstress them anymore than
039with trying to Well, and that's why I asked what they thought of the U-Fly because I guess I was just curious. And Josie's second grade teacher is here. You want to ask her? I think it's awesome. Yeah, U-Fly is great. And you guys, what do you What do you think about the slide decks? They're all put together by the University of Florida. So, there's a lot of put together for you as a teacher. But it's hands-on, it's interactive. I had a student today um he was trying to figure out the word trousers. And I looked at it and I said, "Well, what does U-Fly say?" Cuz we've been practicing that. He said, "Ow." And he figured it out. So, it's those rules that they like to hear and and know. So. This is great feedback
040for a from a program we've only been we've only implemented for this year. And that's why we went with the U-Fly cuz we were hearing from so many other districts that our district I went to go visit a student that came to us through Read 180 and I watched him participate in a U-Fly lesson and I'm like, "They're all paying attention. They're all engaged. They're all doing what they're supposed to be doing." The nice The really nice thing about that resource was it was only $75 a year, so And you got all the online stuff. Yes, we spent a lot on art, but then to be able to supplement with a nice resource. So, we're supplementing with U-Fly. Is U-Fly also its own stand-alone program? Not for Not It It It is phonics and phonemic
041awareness, but it is not reading comprehension and the vocabulary and some of those other upper skills. It's very much K-2 vocabulary. It definitely was not a huge budget thing to add that. It's a really high leverage low cost. Low cost and research-based and has so many things going for it, so Um did I answer all of your questions that you had? Yes. We were super curious. All right, that's a great website. All great questions. All great questions. Um I don't know where I was going. Yeah, that's where I was going. Okay. So, um We have a question. >> Oh, Sally, I want to go. Oh, so when we were in curriculum, um when this started, Danielle would talk about uh Ms. Sievert would talk about, you know, where kids were. You could look at it
042as an individual growth. Remember those charts that she would put up? Yeah. >> on curriculum when when you were looking at ARC. I was only on curriculum I was in it for like one one year. I don't I was super super excited about ARC. Yeah, that was it's great but because yeah It really helped your one of your kids, right? When Well, it was refreshing it was fresh and exciting and there were things so when Danielle um not just Danielle, but like when they brought it in, I just felt I was so overwhelmed by it. Um and so I asked to meet with Ms. Sievert. Cuz I didn't really fully I guess understand it. Yeah, like that was a lot. And we were still learning, too. And seeing the books, they were so refreshing and
043you know, you you >> Right. So, I don't know I was super excited about it and I'm kind of bummed like you are but I there's there's holes in it but I mean >> But I You told me it helped one of your kids. Well, I think with Payton it helped because it just seemed like she was More excited, yeah. Yeah. And that was before the U-Fly. Um like and we don't want to say overall it's not good just because there are, you know, topics that um the comprehension is strong and um I was in a second grade classroom today and they're learning about actual jobs and talking about what a dentist's role is because they're looking at occupations. I can't remember the exact like title of unit four for second grade, but I mean
044they had a letting What is it? Community helpers. COMMUNITY HELPERS. YEAH. WE TALKED ABOUT THAT. DENNIS, it has you swishing and spit. And you know what? Kids had a lot of background experience there. Um but what like you said, what you're finding is no one curriculum has it all. I mean, Appleton is supplementing with UFLI. I'm not sure what Appleton's curriculum is. I think they're Benchmark, but I don't know if that's the same. Benchmark, I think so, too. But I mean, you're seeing UFLI pop up everywhere just because They're having more luck It's just you pull that slide deck up and you hug your manual, right? You still hugging? >> Oh, I took the pages out, so I have to carry the whole thing around. Thank god. Yeah, but yeah, it's been it's been great
045to see kids apply those rules in real-life settings. So, our priorities going forward, all right, is that we are doing These are the These are the things that we are currently working on and are looking at for next year, okay? First one is that we have worked on the K-4 ELA writing and language usage work. And if you question the relevance of that, think about the connection between the reading and writing. There's a lot of research that goes into once you can write about reading. If you process through writing your reading, if you have to produce words, you're more likely to be able to read them later. All of that research goes into making sure that our writing and language usage work needs to be as fully aligned. ARC had some ARC had it in
046there, but it wasn't as explicit as we would like it. So, our teachers are working to make sure that the vertical alignment aligns with our standards, our Wisconsin state standards, and that we are purposefully writing as we move through these ARC units. Well, and I'm looking at our forward data from last year as well. Grammar was an area across the district at at the elementary that we needed to do a little bit more work in and figure out where those holes were maybe in ARC or in the writing curriculum. And so, that's why we've been spending a lot of time this year trying to fill those pieces. Um Mrs. Uh Johnson has been working on a special education ELA literacy focus. So there's some work being done within special education department to make sure all
047of our teachers who are doing intervention as special ed teachers and who are working with students have a really really strong basis in that so we can support all of our students in the best way. We have our continued implementation of U-Fly and with that comes an experience that we can grow from. I look forward to the PD that we have next year for our teachers who have had some success with U-Fly to be able to share, to have model classrooms to go into. And everyone isn't new this year, just the new teachers are new this year. So we'll have some ability to support those teachers in learning quicker. Our new staff that come to us this year will have ability to get them trained in quicker because now we have experience to talk from.
048We are going to continue our PD and best practice literacy strategies. We have had conversations with our PLCs at the elementary level to um uh get their feedback on where they would like to see some PD and that plus our observations as we have been doing classroom observations and keeping data on those are going to feed into how what kind of PD we will provide for our teachers especially in the area of literacy next year. And then the last one is that we have a goal of having our our K2 teachers trained or K3 teachers, excuse me, trained in giving the AIMSweb plus assessment. So there is something about when you actually when you have give the assessment to students, it is a one-on-one situation and you get to understand more about how that student
049is struggling and where that student is struggling. And then when you get the data, you remember the experience of giving the assessment. And then when you sit down and work with that kid in a small group or one-on-one, you have those experiences to pull from, and it becomes a richer ability as a teacher to work with that student. So, that's one of our goals is to have our K-3 staff trained in how to do that, and hopefully be able to find the time to have them be giving those assessments. So, those are the strategic priorities as response to what you're seeing, and response to what we've been seeing in classrooms. This is a question for any of the educators involved in the in the room. Would you say assessment having a getting a good understanding
050as to how a student is progressing with what we're talking about today is probably the most difficult thing that you're teaching throughout the course of the day, the week, or the month, or the the year versus say math, or or or spelling? It's not until they sit down and and take some type of a test that determines, you know, where they're at, that you get a real that that you you get a real sense. Yeah, I think with math, like when they're working out their problems, you can see where they're what where their thinking is, and where their errors might be. Where reading, if you're not there working with them and hearing what they're doing and the mistakes that cuz you're not in their head. So, that that sometimes happens more in their head, but
051when you can sit there and ask them questions, "Well, why did you read that word that way?" or "What were you thinking when you said it like this?" That really helps the educator, I think, to be able to help know where to go move next with my kid. And one-on-one is always key, you know, that that snippet of time that you have with one reader, whether it's again, ARC has the Erla, which is the independent reading level analysis, and I mean, teachers are still tapping into that because one thing that ARC takes a little more than our benchmark reading is the phonics. Um so that's a step above what we were using for um Fountas and Pinnell or Lucy Calkins to find out what kids are are needing additional assistance with um reading instruction. Any
052other questions that we can answer for you guys on this? Board members, uh you've heard the overview of where we started, progress through the year, where we currently are at as uh board recognizes summer school programming uh that will be established uh for students and you saw the recommendations that are coming forward. You know, at this point in time of the year, you know, um getting closer to year end and students and where they're landing, that's the next big thrust of of communicating effectively with students and families to say, "Hey, this is where you're at." Okay? And we want you to continually to grow those skill sets. Summer school, that opportunity of focus intention on the the reading skills, which will be designed uh to do that and that assessment at the end of it
053again for those students that are involved. And ultimately, you know, the goal to lower those numbers down. And this is really setting a strong uh indicator for us as a district as well as opportunity uh to continually to grow for desired best results. We start and uh Tana has been meticulous on the communication chain of working with families about what Act 20 is and what these benchmarks have come forward in the communication process. A year from now, when we're looking at potential students, um well, they'll be looking at summer school to remediate their skill sets and what that potentially could mean. So, uh this group, all of our elementary staff, uh admin team, and feedback from from all of our uh leaders within the building are taking this on the utmost priority list of, you
054know, we want our kids to do well. And we will continue that process and new suggestions, new ideas, new practices will always be part of good education and what we do. And if that shows itself in a way that is reasonable and supports best learning, we'll do it. You know, for us to do so. >> Can I share about summer school very quickly? >> You certainly may. All right. So, we are actually reaching out to every family of a student who our reading specialist have referred for summer school. They have gotten information through emails and through parent-teacher conferences and everybody that is not I have a list of everyone who signed up for summer school and everybody who's on the referral list and everybody who's on the referral list who's not signed up for summer
055school today or tomorrow a letter went home or is going home with them to say we'd really like your kid to sign up for summer school cuz our we have three reading specialists working this summer for summer school and we'd like to use them to the best of our ability to keep kids moving forward and we're excited to put that plan into place. Is it possible to do a semester or mid-year? I don't know how the testing cycles work with like the U-Fly like a benchmark. I know another year from now is a long ways away but does it make sense to do an update halfway through the school year next year? >> So, the Aimsweb testing happens in the fall and then the winter Aimsweb is in January. >> We did it December this
056year. We did it in December this year and then this last one is in March. So, I guess I was thinking after the winter one. So, after December you have cuz you have a starting point potentially again right in the fall. Mhm. And like where maybe I mean this is like a just a obviously a priority for everybody but I think we spent a lot of time on this topic because we are like making it one of our most important goals. Yes. Absolutely. So, after the December So, in January, we can give you an update on that. Yeah, absolutely. Cuz again, we use the AIMSweb as a screener and the I-Ready as a diagnostic, so we want to do them all kind of around the same time. >> Right. Thank you everyone for your time.
057Thank you. Thank you. All right. We will now review review on potential approval of 2026-2027 base wage increases. Board members in your topic summary, as mentioned in our previous board meeting, as presented, were the noted potential recommendations for certified staff, support staff, and administrative staff for contracts and hourly groups of our district. There's been no changes within that dollar amount as reported. Potential action tonight would allow for development of our certified staff contracts, which we send out on May 15th. The 263 of the consumer price index, which is worked through all of our various groups, and with the noted amounts within, administrative staff recommendations would come forth in a closed session recommendation at that time. Any further questions? I just had an observation because I This is my sixth year um on this topic, and
058I just think this is very, very generous with being in the private sector for 30 years, because we don't get an automatic CPI, and the range of our wages, like, there's maybe like two people where I work that make close to the high end. So, I just think it's really generous. My husband didn't get a raise for 3 years cuz the bottom line didn't justify it with the expenses. So, I just think it's nice that Joel has budgeted this and thinks we can afford it because that's not the case in a lot of workplaces. Any thoughts? >> I mean, that's why you're including the benefit part, I guess. You don't get that one. Yeah, we we really aren't getting into the the I guess my point of on this is uh when you when you
059get into the the pay ranges, that's that's pay, not paying benefits. That's >> That's just pay. That's just That's just pay. So, um And then you get what? 2 weeks vacation a year? Yeah, 2 weeks and we get one. One. Two. My son just got hired as a teacher and like his wage is attractive. I think the and then he's going to moonlight all summer and I just think it's probably I mean, it's good for him to be able to moonlight, but he'll be doing really, really well with having his 8 weeks during the summer and then Any other discussion? Looking for a motion to approve a wage increase of 2.63% certified staff group as presented. I'll make the motion. I'll second that. Need a roll call on that? Yes. Kitty Benton? Yes. Mark Grosman?
060Yes. Nick Grundy? I abstain. I'm not being certified staff. >> Heidemann? Yes. Jeff Golbranson? Yes. Holly Schweitzer? Yes. Andy Dearth? Yes. All right, I'm looking for a motion to approve a wage increase of 2.63% to support I'll make that motion. I'll second that. Roll call. Andy Dearth? Yes. Holly Schweitzer? Yes. Jeff Golbranson? Yes. Nick Grundy? Yes. John Heidemann? Yes. Mark Grosman? Yes. Katie Benton? Yes. Looking for a motion to approve up to a wage increase of 2.63% to administrative staff group as presented. I'll make that motion. I'll second it. We'll call vote on that. Holly Schroeder? Yes. Nick Reddy? Yes. Sean Edelman? Yes. Mark Grossman? Yes. Shannon Edelman or no I already got you. Annie Thorpe? Yes. Jeff Gilbertson? Yes. Katie Benton? Yes. All right. We're moving on to a review of potential approval of
061high school building envelope restoration project. Mr. Marple will introduce this project. Our facilities committee recently met and discussed the uh groundwork and framing of how this came forward. Joe. Uh as the topic summary notes for review this potential project at our facilities meeting over a week ago. This would really, if approved, identify some leaking issues that we've had in two particular spots of high school. So when you come into the main entrance at the commons, you can see all the windows that are there and then when you walk into the commons and you look at the back, the windows are also there and there's leaking that happens when it rains, there's condensation and um those are areas we're hoping to address Also, when you walk up to the high school, you can see the gym
062walls there. On both sides there, there's also windows way up top if you've never seen them that kind of face the north. There's drip spots that often run down on that wall when we get direct rain there. And then also on the northwest corner, we also get rain that comes in. So over the years we've tried to figure out if there is a more economical way to fix that issue, whether it was our maintenance team trying to caulk and replace some spots, or we've had some minor tuckpointing at the building before. We even asked our roofing contractors if it was related to our roof deck at all, but we've had the roofs taken care of in those sections. And we've also asked some door companies to take a look at it, both Tri-City and LaForce,
063just cuz we wanted to make sure that we ruled out as many of the options we're having an issue. So, last summer, we had the Garland Company take a look at it with this masonry restoration incorporated group, and they also helped us at the middle school. We were having the leaks down the main hallway there, and it was kind of the same thing. I know some of you weren't at the board at that time, but we were just we just kept chasing these leaks all the time, and they're nothing catastrophic, but you still don't want water coming into your building. So, it's just it's just never good. So, um when we presented this proposal last night or last week to our committee, we were just asking for approval of one area, the one where we're
064seeing this. When the company came out, they did give us a full budget for the entire building if we um would want to explore that at some point, but right now, we're only recommending uh potential approval for the issues that we're having at this time. Are there any other questions? They're going to do a really good job. I called them right after our facility meeting and said I need to make sure I have really good understanding of what I'll propose and ask for our board to approve, and they said, "We are going to make sure we go around all the windows, all the walls. We'll remove all the joints. we will grind down where it needs to happen, and all the sealants will be replaced, and they said, "You shouldn't be too surprised this happens
065when you get to a building that is of that age." They said that even though it doesn't feel old, there it it's just things like that will happen to a building, especially when those windows are up top. It looks really nice, but aesthetically, it can create some structural challenges at times. So, I was satisfied with them kind of re-generalizing everything that was in the proposal there, and feel like it's a it's an investment that's worth worth approving, and also it is budgeted for as well in our maintenance budget this year. Can you just touch on the budget part? Like I was thinking first of all, Ransom being um a new member, like this is budgeted from 46, right? Or like it's >> No, this is just in our normal operating >> General Okay. Okay. So,
066each year we have what's called the maintenance area location budget, and we build um our annual projects in there, and some of it does come from our referendum that was passed in 2012. That's the the high school is part of um the work being done this summer, but then we also have an overall maintenance budget that also can support these projects, whether it's at the high school, or the middle school, or any of our district properties. So, this falls within the budgeted amount of projects. All right. If you don't have any further discussion, looking for a motion to approve the restoration project at New London High School as presented. We need a roll call. Make motion. I'll second. Okay, I thought I heard you make a motion. Roll call, please. Roll call. Mike Rossman. Yes.
067Jeff Goeranson. Yes. Andy Thorson. Yes. Katie Bass? Yes. Holly Sweitzer? Yes. Nate Grundy? Yes. John Hademan? Yes. All right. I'm looking for a motion to go into closed session. We have a motion. We have the We have a motion. All those in favor say "Aye." Opposed? Sorry. Oh. Scott, you want to talk about the Board of Education high school representative? I'm sorry. Absolutely. Thank you, John. Uh board members in your topic summary, uh you'll see the result of the high school election. Alexa Cable will be our next uh school board student representative. Uh so, she will join us on our May meeting and uh remembering that the scope of the commitment of our student rep to be there for 1 month and then we'll see her again in September. Okay? So, we'll we'll welcome her
068at our May regular meeting and then bring her back in September when the school year starts. Alexa's currently a junior and uh her responses and feedbacks to the opportunity and what it means to her are in your materials for review. So. I've heard a lot of good things about her. Okay. Great to hear. So. All right. I will read all the first lit. First lit to section section 19.851c Wisconsin statutes. Board of Education will convene in closed session to discuss the continued employment of certified and support staff members over which board has jurisdiction and exercise responsibility. Pursuant to section 19.851c Wisconsin statutes, the Board of Education will convene in closed session to discuss the employment and compensation of administrative certified and support staff members over which the board has jurisdiction and exercise responsibility. Also, pursuant
069to section 19.851f Wisconsin statutes, the Board of Education will convene in closed session for the purpose of considering personal information concerning financial, medical, social, or personal histories or disciplinary data of specific persons, including students, except where paragraph B applies, which if discussed in public would likely to have is likely to have a substantial adverse effect upon the reputation of any person referred to in such histories or data. Do I have a motion to go into closed session? I'll make the motion. >> I'll second it. All right. We don't need to roll call on that, do we? Roll call on that, okay. Councilman Branson? Yes. Andy Thorn? Yes. Yeah. Holly Swenson? Yes. John Hiden? Yes. And um do it again. Kenny Benton? Yes. Mark Garrison? Yes. Nate Granny? Yes. Okay, who was that again who voted?
070I think everyone for attending. Thank you. Good night. Have some cake. You did good.