03112026 Regular BOE Meeting

001All right. On the con, as far as the consent agenda, I'm looking at A through E. Um that we can handle that way. Um if I could get a motion. >> I'll make a motion for that. >> Okay. I'll second. >> Oh, okay. All in all in favor? I >> I post. Motion passes. F and G we need to handle in close session. Um, moving right into monthly celebrations. [clears throat] >> All right. Is there a part for open comment? Is there no open? >> Uh, looks like there's people. >> We didn't have any anyone get paperwork for >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> All right. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, moving right into monthly celebrations. >> Thank you, Mr. Hamman. And good evening and welcome to our March regular meeting. Uh ready or not, we're

002marching on through. Uh our celebrations uh for the month of March, excuse me, the month of February recognize students at our elementary and our intermediate middle school. Our bulldog character traits with reflecting self-discipline, caring, cooperation, respect, responsibility, diversity, fairness, trustworthiness, and citizenship. Congratulations to all of our students as we recognize monthly for your nominations by your classroom teachers and others within your individual buildings. when you exemplify the bulldog character traits bulldog the district calendar and events that are coming up month of March where all kinds of activity to take in here uh obviously tonight with our March regular board meeting um recommendation over the weekend if you have looking for something to do our isms pops concert will be taking place at the intermediate middle school at 6 o'clock this is one of their major

003fundraisers to support our um middle school band program, scholarships, recognitions within uh just a great event. Uh they come in and see our um intermediate middle school age students perform with their skill sets. Uh March 17th is the ACT. I'll talk about that a little bit later in my uh superintendent report, but 11th graders will be taking that at the high school on the 17th. The 18th is the big day at the high school uh both uh during and after that day. Uh we have our senior exit interviews that start out the morning and then with our postsecondary FAR that coincides and continues on through the midm morning as well that evening we have as we reported out last month his way events the community engagement event that will be taking place with uh Mr.

004Lens and his uh discussion for the community. On the 20th, we have a professional learning day which our certified staff will partake in as continuation preparing for best practice for our district. And we're at the end of the first, excuse me, the third quarter on the 23rd of March. That's when we'll meet again for a special board meeting. And then noting our u spring break >> the 23rd or the 25th. >> I'm sorry, the 25th. I meant the 25th there. The 25th. And then our spring brackets recognize March 30th through April 3rd. And then April, this some brief highlights. Our two scheduled meetings on the 7th. The school board elections will take place on the 7th. Regular board ad meeting on the 8th and then the special board meeting on the 22nd. There's many other

005things happening within. So stay tuned to our Facebook page, social media, andor announcements that are coming out from individual schools. Hey Scott, how many uh how many exhibitors do we have registered? Do we know for postsecondary fair? >> Mr. Bon, would you like to share? >> Um we had 95 when Riley was on the air on Tuesday and we had another HPY talking about it and you said they're up to 100 today, right? >> Yeah, that's correct. >> Yeah. So, compliments and thank you to to Katie Battton and her employer that uh created the spot as a public service message announcement which uh Riley, were you the sole presenter or did you have somebody with? >> Yeah, just me. >> We just said well we just did a phone call to save travel time but

006like when um Mr. Rambo and Mr. Spindler were in, right? >> They wanted to come in person and it comes with like extra social media, but we have to offer a certain amount of community connections >> each month like Gratus on things going on. And I wanted to take advantage of promoting New Hunton for uh it's a lot of businesses. >> Can can we share that on our social media the conversation? >> Yeah, it's just an audio link. I just sent it today, but yeah, >> maybe >> it's a speaker link. It's just doesn't come with any video. Yep. >> So, Mr. B, thank you to your employer as well uh for thinking of us and you thinking of us and the opportunity which Mr. Shler in the high school is able to share which

007will take place on into my report uh for the month of March uh the V212 extra degree of effort. U I know some of you are able to attend the the recent spring play almost made outstanding production uh as we know things of that nature just don't happen. It is a ton of practice and leadership uh from the director all the way down to all hands that are involved with a production. So recognizing our performers, our stage hands working behind the scenes, lighting management, set design and staff included, Molly Brown, our director, and staff that help support the construction of various items and then our parent and family support that um was there to support our students as well. Well done. And uh just to just to build on that for a second this past

008Monday, uh Mr. Sloma and we had our winter co-curricular um recognition award and he mentioned this um and how our kids are so diversified in in everything from the point to the musical to the spring co to the winter co-curriculars and truly what type of a person that takes to to be engaged in all those elements. So well done by all students uh and staff that were involved with that. Uh ACT boot camp junior class junior class prep we mentioned this uh at one of our sessions here earlier [cough and clears throat] but on the 16th of February but approximately 70 juniors participate in that boot camp training. Uh the idea and concept is the preparation helps reduce test anxiety confidence allows for students to approach the assessment clear understanding and expectations took place in

009our high school auditorium. As I mentioned earlier, the assessment day for our junior class is on March 17th. And I want to thank all of our high school staff and individuals that are supporting our students and in prep for that um key assessment uh which is a strong reflection of their career readiness and college opportunity readiness if they seem that is appropriate within their future endeavors. As I mentioned earlier in the calendar, the spring election is on April 7th. The general election will take place. We have two seats that are available on our board with the uh Mr. Martinson is stepping away from his role with it. We'll have one open seat and Mr. Haidman will continue to run. So, we have two candidates running for two seats. I think I know who the winners

010are going to be. Um but uh that'll ever get out to everyone to vote and do your civic duty and uh support the voting process on April 7th. Any questions for me? I'll still be around if you miss me, guys. >> Thank you, Chris. Thank you. >> I I uh I just wanted to go while it's still on your report, go back to the um postsecondary chair. I meant to say this then. Is that all right? >> Yes. >> Uh this, you know, since I've been on the board in 2016, this has expanded tremendously under the leadership of Brian York. it it expanded to a lot more companies, apprenticeship programs. Um, it was always strong for colleges and and the services, but it didn't it didn't have a lot in [clears throat] the in the

011technical area. And it's just expanded tremendously. And I just run into so many kids that got their first job by by meeting somebody at that that deal and they may not have done that. they may not have ended up and I just uh and and our two co-leaders have very aly done a great job to continue that tradition. So I just >> uh one of my customers Valley Custom Fence said he found his best summer help ever at in London. Um it was like nine years ago and then hired the brother and he's like you guys have a really good good thing going on. >> Awesome. Awesome. >> All right. Thank you. >> Nothing further. We're moving on to business services. Joe. [clears throat] >> Okay. Good evening, board members. I just have one topic

012in the director report tonight, and it's about school breakfast week, which was last week. Um, you could I would always encourage families if you're running short on time in the morning. Sending kids to breakfast in the morning. It's a relatively inexpensive opportunity for families. We all who have children know that sometimes rushing to get them on the bus or somebody didn't get up or this week with daylight savings times, people don't want to get out of the bus, but you want to get students ready for for the day by having a meal in them and encourage them to use that opportunity. We do have um participation in our program but um always share that option with anybody especially when time is always valuable for anybody in the morning. But I just wanted to highlight that

013we have breakfast every day in our school which just about everybody knows but if you hear people running into time issues or just want something different our school breakfast program does a great job. >> Thank you. Moving on to pupil services. Sarah Johnson. >> Good evening. Um well, it's our uh time to highlight last week. So um last week was also the national um school social worker week. And um you may have remembered from my interview, I love school social workers. They're my um best friends. And Aaron Marsh is no exception. And we are so lucky to have Aaron Marsh and school social workers. She um does so many things that most people probably don't even know. She's very busy doing many of the things behind the scenes, but um supporting our students, families, staff,

014making connections and um just helping to support where, you know, maybe um a connection to a resource is needed or just being persistent, being an advocate for someone or um and just being a listening ear, a connection for someone. So, our school social worker um can sometimes help to, you know, um point out something that others in the um district maybe wouldn't be aware of and help us so that we can make a greater impact in the lives of students. So, they really offer valuable perspective. So, if you see Aaron Marsh, be sure to let her know how much you appreciate the work she does for us. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. teaching and learning services. Tamala McCartney. >> Hello everyone. I get to talk about state testing. This is exciting. State

015testing uh window begins very soon. So it will happen that we have our NA um ACT coming up on March 17th and that will be our first big state testing session that we have and then after spring break those testing sessions will pop in through the elementary school. So, just a reminder, we have our ACT. We have our ninth and tth graders taking the preacct secure. We have the Wisconsin board exam for third through 8th grade. Remember, everybody takes the ELA in math, but the um fifth grade and no, I'm sorry, the fourth grade and the eighth grade also take science and social studies, excuse me. >> [cough] >> And then along with that um some of our students um who are uh for whom the DLM is a better fit will be taking the

016DM. So in take instead of taking the forward they take that DM test and then while it's not technically state testing it's one of those end of the year tests that comes up last are our AP tests that happen at the high school. So there's a little graph in in the notes for you if you'd like and the information is also on our website if anyone wants to take a look. Everybody's been receiving communication from Jacqueline Schmer or Josh Mainine or elementary building principles about this testing. So, thanks to everybody who gets their kids ready in the morning with the good breakfast so that they can do well on those tests. Any questions on testing? >> What's DLM? [clears throat] >> Dynamic learning maps. >> Maps. >> Okay. >> It is a test for um

017students who want to explain just a little bit better. >> Yep. students who [clears throat] are learning on the alternate assess um standards. So, >> okay. >> Grades three through 12. >> Yep. >> So, like my little sister Mary did that >> having soon as she started talking about it's like, "Okay, now I know what it is." >> Yep. >> We're just not good with acronyms. >> I know. And we just pepper them all over the place. So, we do. >> All right. Great. Um then, of course, my instructional insights for today. I want to talk to you about something called instructional look for. We are really good at collecting student data, right? We can test kids all we want and collect lots of information about what students are able to do. And one of

018the things that uh we've been working with this year um admin team and I have working [clears throat] on is um establishing what are called look fors. So when we go into a classroom and we are observing the teacher and we are taking a look at what's happening in the classroom, we're looking for some very careful things that we would like to be seeing happening in that classroom and then actually quantifying what we're seeing so that we can make decisions about professional development going forward and how that might affect our students um as we make those plans. So, I wanted to share with you that we have been um really collecting some of that information this year to see how we can use it and how we need to adjust it or change what we're

019looking for going forward. Um especially with our ARC curriculum and our UFly, our reading curriculum. We've had some very specific look fors to be stepping into there. And we have also been looking at it with our math um curriculum with our um increasing student discourse in math classrooms and having students use math vocabulary and do some very real world problem solving. So instructional look force is a new term I wanted to hand you um and that is something that our um administrators are have been using this year in order to help gain and collect information about what's happening in classrooms. Any questions? >> Thank you. >> Charles, >> good evening board. Uh students have been our students at the high school have been very busy recently and will continue this trend throughout the month of

020March to start. Winter sports awards was held on Monday and 19 student athletes received an allconerence award through their participation in a winter sport. and wrestling. They had five wrestlers compete at the state tournament where Will Christopher became the undefeated state champion while also setting the single season school record for wins as well as a career record for wins for New London. And he is going to wrestle this Sunday for the King of Wisconsin match where he wrestles the division one state champion for the 138 pound weight class. And then while it's not through the school, Logan Grundy, he had a very successful state meet, state swim meet at the end of February and he will be going to Florida next week to swim at nationals where he will be facing college competition. So good

021luck to him for that. And then also for sports, spring sports has already started with track starting on Monday. And then baseball, softball, girls soccer, lacrosse, boys golf, and trap shooting are all starting this month as well. And then on the academic side of things, uh freshman or 57 freshman students earned a freshman academic award for their uh high achieving standards in the first semester. So highlighting their strong start to their high school journey. Um so a majority of the or a lot of freshmen were able to receive that award. And then for music, Solen ensemble was held at Hortonville at the end of February. And many events from band and choir are moving on to the state competition which will be at W Green Bay on May 2nd. And then show choir wrapped up

022their competitive season in Jamesville this past Saturday and they made finals in every competition this year. So congratulations to them and they will have one final home show on May 18th at the high school in the auditorium. And then the band will be participating in the annual St. Patrick's Day parade in New London. So I uh whatever that this Saturday 21st Well, so the Milan High School band will be uh performing an Irish song for whoever comes out to that parade. >> And then the talent show is uh happening once again at the high school and this is being led by Mr. Thompson and this will take place during IE on March 27th. So students are able to sign up for the talent show, music displays, um tell jokes, whatever they want to do for

023other students that would like to support their classmates and their talents. Uh and then the ACT is also next week along with practice AP test for sophomores and seniors. So good luck to all students who are taking practice test or the ACT and um hopefully that they get a good night rest before and feel ready for the test the day of. And then as Mr. Black mentioned the post-secary fair is also next week Wednesday and this allows students to meet with potential employers post-secary education institutions and learn more about their interests. So just a lot of students go in maybe not knowing what they want to do but when they walk out they talked with a lot of people and might have a better idea of their future. So I think that it's a very

024good thing that the high school has the postsecary fair. And then also next week, Wednesday is senior exit interviews and this fulfills the graduation require a graduation requirement for um seniors. So uh good luck to all seniors if they are nervous or worried about what the interview process may look like. But Mrs. Bile has been very supportive throughout this process. So thank you to her. And then it's just been a very busy month with students making a push before a week of spring break and then getting ready for the final weeks of the school year. So, good luck to everyone in the month of March. >> Can you repeat the shower community night event in the calendar? >> Um, May 18th at the high school. I'm not sure. >> 6 or Okay. >> Uh, 6:30

025somewhere around there. It It'll be later at night. >> Okay. >> So, I believe that's uh or that is a Monday. >> Yep. So, >> and then that just the show choir puts on their show and then >> Yeah, it's open to the community, I think. Right. Yeah. And the middle schools there, too. >> Yeah. And then the seniors do a song afterwards, I believe, as well. So, >> is will Christopher moving on to college to Russell? Do you know? >> He um has offers. Uh I'm not exactly sure. Okay. >> Or he hasn't decided yet. Where? >> Yeah, we just talked to him. He's got a couple that he's looking at right now. >> So, >> that's cool. I knew he had a good year. I didn't realize he broke school records. >> Yeah.

026And he was undefeated, too. So, >> yeah, that's cool. >> But he definitely put in a lot of work and deserve it. So, >> what's that he's wrestling in this weekend? >> Yeah. So, it's not um like through the WIA, but it's a called the King of Wisconsin, >> and it's just the division one and division two state champions for all the weight classes wrestle each other. >> Okay. >> And that'll be streamed as well. Correct. >> So, it's like a state all-star game kind of thing. >> Pretty much. Yeah. So, but it's um not through WIA. It's just something new that he's doing and hopefully he's able to take over King of Wisconsin. So, >> cool. >> Well, thanks. >> So, moving on to vouchers and receipts. >> Okay. The one voucher I highlighted

027for the month is RGM Construction. We are getting really close to finalizing that project out at the stadium and we are on target to open the concession back space in April. Talking with Mr. It's all about the date that uh we have events out there and the good weather willing here. We're going to be able to turn that water on and keep um doing everything we need to to open that up for our community when we host our events that are there. There's still some logistical things that need to happen in order some countertops, things like that just to get the space ready to go. But we're really excited to open it up for our community and just highlighting the voucher for that because we're getting very close to the end of our obligations to

028RGM construction for that project. Uh then I I wanted to just note one note on the property tax receipts. It says $330,89052. That's actually 3,33,800. >> That's right. I thought they looked like a small number. >> And it comes from the February um checks that we get from municipalities for the individuals who pay their installment by the end of January. >> So that will take us into June until we get our next equalization. Do you have a date for um Wonderlick to come and finish the plumbing? Like are we booked on his calendar? >> The plumbing is done. He just to come and turn everything's hooked up. He just is going to come turn the water on when we're sure that there's no freezing that's going to damage anything. Um >> month or two we

029should be good. >> Well, it's every time you think the weather is going to change like Monday this week, then we're going to get a >> a dose of snow this weekend. So, we'll turn it on where we don't damage any of the new things that we have in there. >> Was the building insulated? I don't remember. >> No. No. >> No questions. Um, looking for a motion. Well, first approve expenditures in the amount of uh 1,219,964,000 or $64.50 as per the list of March 5th, 2026. Um, looking for a motion. >> Make the motion. >> Have a second. >> Second. >> All in favor? Call >> Andy B. >> Yes. >> Uh, Chris Martinson, >> yes. >> John, >> yes. >> Nate Randy, >> yes. >> Gross. >> Yes. >> Ken, >> yes. For

030receipts, record receipts from the receipt register of March 5th, 2026 in the amount of 4 million29,581.91. No unfinished business. Moving on to new business. Uh grant writer update with the city of New London, New London Area Chamber of Commerce and School District of New London. Scott. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Board members. I'm excited to present Payton Laneir, our shared grant writer between the three entities of which Mr. Heindman had noted about a year ago. Uh we were processing through identifying Payton to to take on the opportunity to support all three entities and really utilize her skill set to to support us with with grants. you know, grant writing, grant uh seeking is something that we all, hey, we should be doing that, we should be doing that. And uh this avenue has really allowed

031us to explore at a higher level with with expertise that Payton brings to the table. And so tonight, I invited uh Payton [clears throat] to come in and share what the the last year almost year has been. And this is a presentation if I'm not mistaken, you presented at the chamber or excuse me, the uh the council as well, >> correct? economic development council with the city and then the chamber board of directors as well. So, you're my third presentation and then that'll wrap up 2025. >> There we go. So, I'm going to bring this up for uh uh the board and guests to uh take in and then um Pton, I'm going to give the floor to you and >> Perfect. >> Let's talk. >> Yes. So, I'm Payton Len here. As Scott said,

032I am the uh grant writer under the New London Area Chamber Foundation in partnership with the school district and the city of New London as well. Um, and I'll talk about the area, the New London Area Foundation Chamber, how that um came about. And we'll kind of get into 2025 grant writing. We'll get into the role. We'll get into um what are our goals, themes for 2026 in terms of grant writing as well. And then I'll have time for question and answers as well. But um my name is Payton. I am healing my vocal cords from whatever strain has been going around that my children gifted me two weeks ago. So I apologize if it goes in and out. Um it's actually sounded really good today whereas on last night I was on a volleyball

033court and I could not talk at all. So I'm really I'm really happy with this result right now. Um but we'll get into what is grant writing, what is the foundation, um what are we doing and then just kind of highlight some of those 2025 goals um and awards that we received together for grant writing. So we'll go into the next slide. This is my favorite slide of my whole presentation. It kind of just shares what is grant writing because it's a very in 2025 I would say it was a trendy word honestly between corporations, businesses, nonprofits. Everybody knew or wanted a grant writer at that point because of the funding landscape that the federal funding was in and then also nonprofits were in too. So grant writing is essentially writing for charitable activities and

034securing funding sustainable funding for either it could be for a foundation could be for nonprofit typically it's for nonprofit or some type of taxfree taxexempt entity organization such as a school district certain local governments obviously as well. Um, there's one infographic up there that says how long does it take to write a grant application and it's pretty spot-on depending on what your application, your project or proposal you're writing on, who your grant writer is, and then obviously like the required amount of work and like applications like attachments, resources, different things. The first one up there is a foundation grant. That would be something for like Waka Area Foundation, Fox Communities, Maryland W Marilyn Taylor Wool Cheese Foundation, 10 to 20 hours um for one application. I would say with the Marilyn Taylor, that one was

035pretty close with in-person interviews, writing that was somewhere around that 10 10 to 15 hour cuz um and then that paid off with the award. So, the time that you invest in researching, developing that relationship, writing, crafting, and kind of just getting that in-depth grant application, um, that kind of that lines up pretty good for the time to write the proposal. State grants going after DPI, going after different, um, state organizations. That's anywhere from could be 40 to 50, 20 to 50. It really just depends again on how much the state wants. the more higher you climb at the federal grant level, those can go from anywhere from 100 to 150 hours just to write one application. I looked at um a DNR application I was going to work with and write with the city

036on, but they honestly it was a repeat grant, so um they they I didn't need to write too much, but I could see spending 50 hours on a DNR application. It was 187 pages long for the application itself um with all DNR stuff, and that's just pretty typical. um for state organization grants. There's also up there grant management life cycles. So there's not just writing and securing the grant. There's the research portion. There's developing funding relationships. There's evaluation of the grant award. Was this aligning with the funer? Did this align with our program? You know, what were those smart goals? Were those achievable? Closing out the grant. There's kind of pre pre-grant award. There's a phase where you are awarded and then implementation, project management, and then there's postawward, kind of a lot of evaluation,

037closing out, making sure you know what's the next step, sustainability goals that way. Um, and then the last infographic there is types of different grants. There's all kinds of areas that you can write on. Arts and culture, education, environmental, foundation, just kind of different areas um that you can research and you can write for. So, just kind offormational there. The New London Area Chamber Foundation is made up of the three organizations that you see below. The school district, the chamber itself, and then the city of New London. So that makes up the New London Area Chamber Foundation. Um the function of that foundation is to pursue grant funding for and charitable activities to promote community development of New London area and sustainable lasting impact in the community. So every grant request that comes in, every

038project, um those three entities and myself, we all sit down, we review them, we we evaluate based on impact, sustainability, you know, does this match with our foundation bylaws, the things that we want to put our foundation on. So it really is evaluated. It's very indepth. We research um if it's achievable, if it's sustainable, is it a one-time off or is it maybe a multi-year? We kind of just look at that. So that foundation committee comes together and we really did good work in 2025 doing that and we'll continue to build for that in 2026. That foundation has uh three to four different focus areas where we put all of our goals and where we look. So, tourism growth, making sure that we are attracting marketing events, bringing in different businesses out of um community

039revenue, kind of just working on local commerce, supporting businesses that way. Then there's quality of life improvements. That's our community projects, sustainable projects, you know, making sure New London is a great place to work, live, and play. And then economic and workforce development. Those workforce is under economic development. So, it's kind of goes hand in hand, but kind of building off of what you guys were talking about with your post-secary fair, you know, making sure we have pipelines programs. We're partnering with businesses to support trade, support the pipeline for what's cradle to career type of pipeline programs, different um business attraction, retention, housing developments. That's all under economic development. So, just kind of those are our focus areas. That's where what that's how we align with what grant applications we go after. Then the fun

040stuff, the favorite slide. This is 2025's um impact. So we I wrote on seven applications, five were awarded. We had a 70% success rate in obtaining a grant award in 2025. Um I started on Cinco de Mayo, which I love because I love tacos. So we went to El Tequila College. So thank you. That was amazing. Um, supporting local again. But by October, uh, October 5th, um, I was $5,000 away from the goal that we set for this position. In the first year, we were we set the goal of just six obtaining $60,000 in grant grants, awards. Um, and we were $5,000 away. So, that was really cool. By October, we were meeting that goal. We closed out 2025 with six community projects supported and over $101,000 awarded. in that May to December 2025. Some

041of the awards I'm highlighting for [clears throat] you guys tonight is um the first one, the biggest one is Lincoln Elementary, the playground redevelopment. That was really awesome to write on. I loved it personally. Um and then also I got to put in, you know, I got I went to the school I think I went twice for sure. um once to see the playground for the initial and just kind of do a diff like initial interviews and meetings. And the second time I went and I got to meet with kindergarters, I got to meet with special education classrooms, those those students that you know it does directly impact those students when they don't have a playground that's equipped right for that program. So I put that into my grant application. Um that was the biggest

042award that was $50,000 through Marilyn Taylor Walt Cheese Foundation under the community foundation of Fox Cities. So that was our largest in 2025. Um Wisconsin emergency management cyber security that was for city of New London their IT department for um employee multifactor cyber security enhancements and making sure that was all up to regulation at this point for cyber security. And then summer kickoff was a chamber grant award we were awarded as well. And then 2026 talking about now talking about the future. It's been busy. It's busy season for grant writers right now. Um until basically April that first weekend in April um right actually spring break. It lines up really nicely. Um it's busy season. So we're writing we have deadlines a lot of deadlines for March 31st and April 1st as well. So we

043are writing lots. [clears throat] What are we writing on? Uh placemaking, that's a big one for economic development. That's a big grant award that's just kind of it's been around, but it's really being highlighted and pushed right now for 2026. Making sure you create spaces in your community that are gathering spaces, third, you know, kind of like a third space for your residents. They work, they go home. Where's that community gathering space? Where do families come after the workday? Where do your high school, your, you know, your young adults 18 to 25, where do they hang out? Where can they all go and enjoy? So, placem, business retention, attraction, um, supporting small businesses, creating that, um, avenue, widening that avenue a little bit more, partnering with corporations that we do have. We do have some

044national corporations in New London area. We also have some good midsize and then local, too. So just creating maybe expanding out those partnerships and relationships with funders as well. Destination parks, that's a big one. And then um kind of under the different areas I'm writing on the under economic development, one should say workforce, the one to the right where it's all school related, that should say workforce, sorry. But the first one that says economic development, hometown grant, uh, vibrant spaces I'm working on right now, just different community space enhancements, um, tourism growth, that's kind of your Wisconsin Department of Tourism, um, creating and promoting attractions for New London for people to come into our community and, um, create destinations that will have a ripple revenue effect. And then where it says economic development again that

045should say workforce development but kind of just those you know fab lab fast forward grants just different partnerships for the cradle to career pipeline educational. So that is our 2026 priorities very wide very fast and furious. And that is my favorite picture of New London. It's on the Wolf River. It's the only one on the internet that I can really find that that actually looks like New London. Um and then that is my information as well. So, if you have any questions, any comments, um I'll [clears throat] be happy to answer that. Now, >> I'm familiar with the Maryland Wolf. >> Perfect. Okay. >> Um grant I'm involved in two nonprofits that we benefited a lot of money from from that >> and I'm happy to hear that we were able to use some of

046that. >> Yeah. >> With Lincoln. Can you give us an idea of what the parameters are for that grant? Because what I understand about it is it's got a very limited geographical area that can apply for it. >> Yeah. >> And we're we're pretty much it. >> Yeah. New London and Fremont was what I pretty much picked out when I was researching where she had the factory and then where she was from and family roots. Yeah. >> So, uh looking at our district and other are there other areas that you could see us tapping into that that grant? And maybe you can't answer that question today, but maybe at some point do a little bit of research on it >> that we could get out to our our building principles. >> So if there's some

047type of a need somewhere in the district that we could apply for that one of those grants. >> Um >> for like a very wide general usage just to benefit New London because that's what Yeah, hers was. Yeah, >> that's what hers is for the most part. Yeah, >> there are two foundations I know that are coming on live. Um there is the New London area or New London Area Foundation. They made some small grants this year. That report just went out or [clears throat] the media release just went out through the they're under the Fox Cities um community foundation. It's just New London area. Just New London Foundation, not New London area. Um they made some grants. So very similar. It's just got to benefit and impact New London residents. Um, and then there

048is one coming through that I think it's going to come through Waka area or Waka County Community Foundation. So, yes, but I I can be in touch and I can I can give those updates to the Scott and the board too. >> That'd be great. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Just like to say I know that we had administrative staff trying to write some of these grants in the past and I can't believe the amount of hours they would have to put into it. 40 hours for a state grant >> and expecting administrative staff to be able to do that. So, Teachers I think teachers do their own work. >> Teachers work in their own. Yeah. Absolutely. So do the are the grants proposed to you by the district and >> both open. So both

049ways. So I can go I can say hey um I've sent Yeah, we have that communication where I've said hey this is out there. Um does this align with anything? Is this sustainable? Um do we have an area need? And then I've have teachers come to me or um uh principles anybody. And Scott says, "Hey, this is open. we receive this, can we make this align and then send this to the committee to review. So yeah, both ways >> and that's how I feel best practices are for grand writing. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Moving on to pupil services department plan. >> Board members. Uh Sarah [clears throat] Johnson is going to take the next several minutes and and take you through uh people services department plan. Uh early on when Sarah

050was on boarded we and I talked about um evaluating you know looking at pondering wonderings opportunities and uh and and bringing forth kind of a state of people services from from her perspective now that she's been with us a little over than six months within. So, that's the intent and I won't steal the thunder that Mr. Johnson will be talking about there, but there is a copy at at your workstation as well of what I'll put up on the screen for you to check out as well. So, Sarah. >> All right. Good. Okay. Well, um I'll tell you that um I feel like since I've been at New London, um I almost have felt like I'm um traveling a little bit that I just have been in this immersive experience and I'm just constantly learning

051and um taking everything in, you know, while I've been here and it's been very um all these experiences I'm just constantly filtering through things and um learning from different people and observing and uh obviously doing at the same time too. But um always, you know, Scott let me know right away that um when we first met, we had um created like a 90-day plan. And that was one of the things was to craft a people services department plan really knowing that it was important for um me and for you to know like well what is the current status and what would be big priorities for us moving forward. So I thought well that's right up my alley. I look forward to being able to do that and I'm happy to be here tonight to share

052that with you. So um uh so thinking about um the people services department sometimes people say like oh the director of people services like what do you do and I always think that's it's kind of even hard to even answer that question because it is so encompassing it really does touch almost um all parts of the district and so as I described for you the people service services department. It is such an essential part of the entire district. And um when I think about our mission, success for all students, I just grab hold of that all of the time. and um those words for all students. I think that that is so much the work that that I help I'm so blessed to be able to be a part of because it is looking for

053all of those students, student groups, all of those barriers that might be preventing um students from being a part of the all right. That's that's a large piece of what um we do in people's services and um our department like we make sure that they student all students are supported and able to access their education and um to make meaningful progress. So that's what we do and and um and our team the folks that are a part of the people services department of course that is the special you know the entire special ed departments that's a big group of individuals and then also pupil services which is also includes school social worker um school nurse our school psychologists um you know we also the bilingual bicultural team as well so it's a it's a big

054group the people services So, um I kind of to describe for you how I've like how do Sarah, how are you able to describe the current status and how are you able to um determine like what would be goals for the department? Um I've done a lot of observing of the processes and the functions and just the happenings internal to our district as I've been here. That's one of the things that I've done and um observing how parts of our district, how we interact with and articulate with different um agencies, organizations um outside of our district like um Hayden and um the county and other um providers that help to support our students um when they're outside of school or when they're inside of school. So how we interact with them looking at data. So

055enjoy the data and looking at trends in the data or just looking at current um data um or has how it's changed over time and then listening to stakeholders which of course everyone here um stu and listening to students um student voice has been very impactful in my short time here and um students staff our staff have been very open about um their experiences in the district where they think that we could potentially um grow. The things we're doing well as well um families um and other community members. And then also as I started like putting the plan together, which is just a very enjoyable thing to do to put the thoughts into words and then put them to paper and um now to share them with you um was able to also share them

056with many members of our people's services department to make sure like how's this sounding? Am I getting there? Is it resonating? What what am I missing? And um what is sounding like it's right? So, um kind of have gone through that process with them, shared with our admin team, and and here it is for you at this point. Sound good? >> All right, let's keep going. All right. So, um the plan itself is aligned with the um key performance indicators of course and I'm not going to share the entire thing with you tonight, but we'll focus on the learning and achievement pillar and um at our later meeting in March and then also our special meeting in April. That's when I'll you know through these three meetings I'll I'll give you all of it and

057um the report card kind of pillar many of these of the pieces of the plan will impact our report card but I don't like call that um pillar out specifically because it it's kind of embedded within the other pillars. Um so so um if you um oh want to go back uh I think one slide. There we go. So, the current snapshot, I just wanted to describe what I would say for you is the people services department. Um, how obviously we're this integral part of the district and that we are made up of these incredibly committed professionals. Um the entire department is very committed to the students and staff and and to the community and something these are all very salient pieces of the department the individuals that work in the department and work that

058they do just people that have a very strong work ethic. I think that is um you know very noticeable about them and that is reflected in our I think our broader New London community. That's something that you don't necessarily see everywhere, but you do see that in London and I see that in the people services department and the people services department. The individuals within that group demonstrate a very genuine desire and a capacity to provide the very best for the students and the families that they serve. and that educators, I mean, from even before day one, always asking for clarity and wanting more information, want to make sure that they're doing things um, you know, the right way or looking to make sure is this best practice? Can I do it better? How can I

059do it more? How can I make a better bigger impact for students? They want to deepen their knowledge and their skills and they really have voiced very much wanting to make meaningful change like right from day one. And that's exceptional because sometimes you go to places and and or in some pockets people are like just don't change anything. And that is not um true of the people services department um not that they just are desperate for change but they just want to um continuously improve, right? they just want to do des desperately want to do better for um students and families. Uh so building on that commitment, this is kind of where we're at. Um I would say that our focus is on providing the clear direction that people are looking for and having the

060um guidance from our office to be accessible so that they easily know where resources are for them and that we'll have sustainable processes so that even if I wasn't in my position or Molly wasn't my, you know, alongside me that the things we have in place that they live on, right? that they can still keep doing these things. Um that we're using data to make our decisions here and that's what's driving our continuous improvement, that we are closing achievement gaps for our um target groups and ensuring success for all of our student populations. How's that sound? We did it. >> Okay. All right. So, now we'll go on to um I kind of have three areas within the learning and achievement um pillar that we have some goals for. And I could really speak um

061let me check my time here. Okay. I'm um I could speak for quite a while and I could tell you a whole lot of strengths and and I could make a whole lot of goals. So, I want you to be sure to know like there's lots of goals. There's so many things that we're working on. There's so many things that we've already achieved and accomplished, but just want to um give you a sense for some of the strengths that are already happening in this area and then some of the identified um um goals or the plan. Okay. And also plenty of time for you to ask questions or provide feedback to. So um within the learning and achievement pillar in the area of high quality instruction, some of the identified strengths are that oh like

062Tamila referenced before like we've got really great universal and tiered screening and assessment. So lots of um data there related to um how kids some of the things that kids know are able to do. And we also a strength here is that we have just really high expectations for all which is excellent to have and um also a commitment to instructional time. We've not kind of lacks on that. We are very committed to instructional time. So for instance if a teacher happens to be out you know there is an awareness of oh somebody's not getting their IEP minutes. You know what are we going to do? How are we going to make up those minutes? How is that going to be delivered? So that's really important and um that's great that that's already in place

063for us. So um building on those strengths um two um big pieces of the plan are number one um you know I I will tell you that our special education teachers I want you to know they are phenomenal teachers. They are very good teachers and we do have some pockets where we are you know we definitely will we are hiring for you know next year we'll continue to bring on some new people. Um they are great special education teachers. They are not trained for the most part trained to be reading teachers. That's not what they went to school to be and that's not what they have taught them to be when they go through their training. Usually they might have um it's not even a full class in in teaching someone how to be a

064to to learn how to read. That's just not what they do. And so interestingly, I mean, most students that are um getting services from a special education teacher, most of them are there because they have a need for instruction and reading. And um so our teachers are doing a phenomenal job in using all the skills that they have. And um they have received um training before in reading, right? But are they um as trained or as specialized as they could be or we would like them to be? Um no, they aren't. But that is the plan is to build them up even more so that they really have can feel that they are um deeply trained and um deeply knowledgeable because there's they're you know when you think about our classroom teachers and they're doing

065you know uni universal instruction and they're doing a excellent job of that and then we have our tiered instruction and special education. Those are students that are, you know, they've gone through the different tiers and done the other types of instruction and they've not been able to keep up, you know, that pace and so they are quite a bit behind where those expectations are for that um grade level. And so it takes it takes a lot, right? It's not these if it was easy, it'd be done. That's what I how I think about that. And so um it takes a lot. It's not just like, oh, here follow this little recipe book. It's monitoring, it's changing things, it's changing the environment. Um, it could be a whole host of different things, but we're gonna focus

066on making sure that they [clears throat] have deep knowledge and skills and learning. And we're partnering up with um CES to make this happen. So, our all of our special ed teachers are going to participate in this more robust literacy training to deepen their knowledge so that they can be the highest or provide the highest quality um instruction for our students who have the biggest need in the area of literacy. So, really excited about that. They are very excited about that. So, um that's a really great opportunity for us to take advantage of that. In fact, on this upcoming um professional learning day, they're going to have their first day of that. So, a full day training um for them, it's going to be kind of broken into two different groups. Kind of the early

067childhood through grade four group and then the five fifth grade through 12 because they're kind of a little bit different. So, we're excited about that. And then also a um oh, they've just asked for this right from the very beginning. They wanted they didn't use these words but they wanted what I would say is like a student inter intervention matching system. So they want something that can help to guide them to know well what's the very best um intervention or um instructional strategy that I should use with this particular student in this particular circumstance because we have a lot you know there's a lot of different things that they could use to target a certain skill but what is the best which thing is going to um provide the most likely chances that a student

068will make those gains. [clears throat] So, um we're using the um resources that we have and working with CISA as well and our staff and we're going to have um a kind of more like defined student intervention matching system. So, very excited to be able to deliver on that. So, we should have that I would hope by um you know probably by this fall certainly by December. So, all right. So the second area under learning and achievement is increased outcomes for students and strengths there are that um we have as a district u made emerging progress in closing achievement gaps um for some of the target groups on the last report card that was apparent. Um also the recent um we received the transition grant provide which we got that van um for the transition

069program uh for students. So that was very exciting to have received that and then also a strength is that we have two providers of school-based mental health um that's happening in our schools right now which is very impactful. Aaron Marsh, school social worker, helps to organize both of those and make them happen for students. And um those are, you know, that's another area of strength that we have um that impact outcomes for students. [clears throat] And um as far as the plan goes there um we have uh established the bulldog wellness team which is the pupil services team pretty much plus um all of our u principles and um directors um that we are have been working on establishing consistency and kind of continuity focusing on the mental wellness system that we have districtwide. So

070um across all of our buildings and we have been I think we've had three big meetings this year kind of estabs assessment and establishing a plan uh moving forward. So excited about that work and that will continue for us. Um another piece of the plan is to complete a needs assessment for our transition program. So we have a van. It's going to take us places, but we also need we haven't really done a needs assessment and determined priorities for that and we need to to build that up some more. So, that is another goal for us. and um our in educational assistants are fantastic and um doing an excellent job, but we need more time for our um most of the time it's our special education teachers but other certified staff in the district to

071um connect with them to collaborate to make sure that they're giving them what they need to support students and then also time for us to help build them up to um develop them. So um because we to build their capacity, they're only even more able to help to support students. So that is another goal. And then also looking at um opportunities that we have to um uh uh for our youngest learners, right? Our three-year-olds and four-year-olds. what can we do creatively to maybe change things up a bit or provide novel experiences so that they can be even better prepared on the first day of kindergarten. So are there some different things for families, different things and opportunities for our students maybe who are receiving special education services or for our just our students who aren't

072receiving special education services. So, got some thoughts and ideas there to explore, but that's another priority for us. All right, last area is my favorite, IEPs, consistent knowledge of IEP content and compliance. Um, so strengths there, boy, our staff, they are fast learners and they really um were wanting a lot of feedback on IEPs and um they're getting it. So, um, so they're doing great with that. We established what we call the pupil services landing page on our website so that staff can really quickly and easily go to this place and then they they have access to resources that that they might need when they're um writing an IEP or just any other kind of um special education related information. And then um and I actually have to um sometime I modify my delivery of

073that information. So they even get videos of me occasionally. So it's good times. Um and then also um all of our LEA represent or you know the district representatives at IEP meetings, they all were trained this year and that was um that was great too. And I think that I understood people felt like well prepared for I look at them nodding their heads. Yes, they're all felt very well prepared to do that and I hope y All right. So our plan um first would be for oh all of our special ed team or team nobody has been formally um trained before in the college career ready um IEP process. So we're doing it. where they're going to get next a day of um development this fall during not during the regular inservice time, but in

074addition, they're all going to go through that training. So, that that'll be fantastic. And um then another thing, we're integrating some of our IEP software with our um just regular student [clears throat] information system so that humans don't have to do so much of that. So, it'll just be more seamless and accurate information. So really um glad about that. And then one thing that's a bit of a challenge um in our department is just that I don't nec I don't have like a network of direct connection to all of our staff. If I want to communicate with everyone, I really do have to almost directly communicate with everyone. So you know that we have our guiding coalition in um the district. Um, and so I'm we're going to have a um special education building leaders.

075And so like I'll have for special education, we'll have someone at each of the buildings um designated and then I can meet with them once a month and they can bring information to me and I can um send information to them and then they can disseminate that to their buildings and and they can also bring it back to me. So excited about that. actually be a little more um efficient, I think, and um and good there. So, well, hey, there you go. That's um that's the first chunk of the people services. That's the biggest one. I promise. The other ones will will be more brief, but um do you have any thoughts or feedback or questions for me? >> Yes. >> Yeah, Sarah. Um, one of the things in respect to the last uh, part

076of the report, um, the one of the most consistent um, complaints over the last five years that some of us on the board, if not all of us, have gotten um, complaints about in respect to um, in respect to uh, IEPs and that sort of thing is that um, there's a a perception sometimes that there's a double standard in terms of um consequences for bad behaviors such as violent behavior towards staff and other students, violent verbal uh assaults, meltdowns, etc. [clears throat] that um kids that have an IEP are u I'm not saying it's I'm just saying that's the perception that the same consequences are not issued and we've struggled with that over [clears throat] the years with complaints and u uh and then uh you know from our conversation I know you are working

077on that to make to change that perception that We are um uh doing things to to ensure that there is um a change in that or at least a change in the perception of [clears throat] that and how it's done. And then uh a secondary correlary to that is [clears throat] teacher protection. Um that's another type of complaint that we've got is had over the years. I'm not saying barrels and barrels of them, but where there have been um teacher injuries or teacher assaults or teachers aids assault assaulted in the classroom or somewhere else on the school and um uh how you know what is our response to that in terms of [clears throat] student consequences etc. Um, and um, there there is a a bill in the legislature that has passed both houses. I

078believe it's to the governor, but he's not sure if he's going to sign it called the Teacher Protection Act. was started by our senator from this area, Senator Rachel Gaba, but she's got a lot obviously got a lot of support that [clears throat] would give more classroom tools to the teacher for better discipline and it came as a result of these types of statewide complaints that there's a double standard here. Can you speak to that and anything you can tell us about things that are being done to uh maybe take away some of those complaints future and currently? >> Yeah. Well, um I can tell you that I am going to talk about um safety um I think that's in my second third. So, um in two weeks so I can maybe get into that

079more deeply then. [clears throat] >> Um and then also just kind of more broadly that um in in special education, right, the individualized, you know, education program, um there's a lot of things. It's very individualized. And so to speak to that like in the the broad swaths, you know, it's hard to um respond to that, but I know that you're kind of wondering about more broadly here since I've been in the district and how things are maybe going. Is that kind of what you're wondering in that regard? >> If we're making any progress on reducing [clears throat] >> Yeah. >> Uh you know, maybe as as a district, we can give teachers more tools. Are we doing anything in that [clears throat] respect? One one of the tools in the law that has been passed

080but not signed yet is for instance a teacher could suspend a student for up to two days without the approval of their principal or or the administration. Um, and it it gives a tool to a teacher that that says, you know, I'm I'm worried about this student. I think I think needs more consequence than what the uh, you know, what the current rules allow me to do. Well, I guess what I would say um about that, like my impressions of where we're at with students who have some kind of bigger things going on within our in school environment that are impacting their learning and that of others, which I think is what you're referring to, >> right? Um, I'll tell you, I'm engaged in that work every day, you know, beginning of the day to

081the end of the day, and I can't say for sure that I know other people's perception of how that is going, but I um so we'll have to get some feedback from them on it. I can tell you that um those situations I would be surprised if um now or even at the end of the year if people did not say that they could not see that. Um, I was not and the people services department was not very actively engaged in every single one of those situations and working diligently with IEP teams to make sure that those that students were supported, those individual students and that the learning environment was preserved for the other students and um and that also that they would not that I believe that staff also would know that it is

082important to me. I'm just going to speak about people services department because I lead it, but that um that their well-being is absolutely important to me. I think that people would know that that that is true through a variety of ways. And so, um, I think that they can t will be able to say that that's true. Like as you were referring to their perception, but to be able to say like specifically about these particular things, I I I really can't speak to that at this time, but um I um maybe I can I'll think about that some more and see if I can have some more um points for you when I address that in a couple weeks. How's that sound? >> Okay. I were I don't think were you with us yet when

083we had the meeting when the senators came because I remember her talking about that. >> Yeah. No, she wasn't >> and she Okay. Cuz she we had the meeting I think at the library that this time of the year last year was >> it was March last year before the >> because basically what the senator was saying was she had a lot of teacher complaints about this and they felt like they were um not empowered. Right. >> Yeah. Um, so it'd probably be interesting to follow that bill and we could probably learn a lot. >> Yeah, it's likely to get vetoed by by the governor, but um if it hasn't already, but uh the fact that it was overwhelmingly passed in both houses is uh something that shows there is it's not just our district

084that hears this plate. It's you know, she was hearing him as she told us from around the state. Well, you know, I would just say it's complex and I would I hope that there's a place where we can find that we can um because those two things are are a little bit competing, right? Like I think the teacher rights or is that what it's called? Teacher >> teacher protection act the primary thing is to protect the safety of not just our teacher but the other students in the building. So that is a is a little bit um takes away from rights of students with um that are protected with special education. That's just where it comes at. It true like those are competing things. And so I really do think that when we use the

085IEP process and we're actively in engaged in that and um not just letting things happen, right, and we're helping kids to get into the right space so that we are preserving the learning environment so that teachers aren't in a place where they feel like they are unsafe or that they their voice isn't being heard. Um and also at the same time we're you we are honoring kids rights you know that have um special education I think that we can move you know through that and both you know simultaneously both things can happen I guess that's my my hope about that but I just say to me my my perspectives may be a little different but it is complex >> well as an example where if if a uh teacher sure was hurt and had to,

086as a hypothetical example, seek >> uh treatment uh at an emergency room. There's a perception that if it was not a student with an IEP, he would be severely punished with a long suspension. I don't know, but um and possibly even expulsion. Whereas uh uh there there has been a charge in the past that the person gets uh if it's somebody with an IEP, they get a timeout and they're back in the room. And that that is something that does not is, you know, in other words, yes, every student has rights, but you know, your rights end where the other person's nose begins. You know, that's the That's a tough one. >> It's a tough one because kids, some of these kids with IEPs, if you suspend them, what does that mean to them? I

087don't >> It may not mean anything to them, you know? >> Yeah. But it's it's about safety of the other person. >> I understand. I understand. >> Well, to continue that discussion the next time we we have this talk. >> Um And then further I we can move on. >> Thank you. >> All right. Reviewing potential approval of start college now early college credit program request. >> So board members, this is a process that we look at uh twice annually. Uh within your board packet are three requests for three [clears throat] different students on various classes. And just a re a quick refresh, these are classes that are um college credit eligibility while a student is in the high school setting, grades 11 and 12, and successfully completed at grade 10, meeting all academic and

088disciplinary requirements. [clears throat] The classes that are referenced uh on the forms are classes that do not exist within our course catalog and are deemed as an opportunity. In many most cases, if not all, students have exceeded all of the course offerings that are similar in nature to the request that's brought forward. I do have to apologize on the proposed motion that says to the fall the motion to approve the 2027 fall semester. It should be the 2026. Obviously, it's the 2627 the school year, >> but we're looking for potential recommendation uh for the fall of 2026. Any questions? Hearing no questions. Looking for a motion. >> I do have a question. >> Oh, you do? Okay. >> Yeah. Is there like do we have a set budget that um is set aside like I'm

089assuming each of these are whatever credit hour they go find the >> Right. >> I mean, and what does that vary like from any year? >> It does vary from year to year. So, we'll average or create a budget based on past. >> Okay. you know uh you [snorts] know by a district we have to support this. So if a style comes forward with it we have to create that opportunity if we feel that it does not meet the criteria where we have a light class in district. So upwards of 18 credits per individual if there is a student that were able to uh and there's many students that have and uh for students and families that is a great resource entering in as a second semester freshman and in some cases with other dual

090credit classes going in as a sophomore level. So yes, but it's based on previous years and um anticipation of what we might have. What I am proud is of our dual credits and our classes that we do have where often it's hey we do have that you know and that type of thing but there are some that find their way to that. Mark anything I'm missing on your thought process. >> No nothing. These have always been a part of school district budgets in some shape or form or name. So what we do is exactly like Mr. Black said we budget for them in our 430,000 function series. So it's the same type of thing as open enrollment where you have students getting education differently than on-site. So in that area we always budget for those

091opportunities that were required to if the students apply and actually we we have to end up paying for that expense. >> Does this fall in line of like the budget parameter you were kind of thinking in a year because I know we've had more. I just was curious. >> John, are you open to a motion? >> Yeah, I'm >> I'd be glad to make that motion. I think anytime we can support kids getting college credits while they're still here, >> it's a second. >> I'll second. >> Uh, do we need a roll call? >> All in favor? >> No dollars listed. Okay. >> All in favor? >> Opposed? Motion passes. Moving on. Review and potential approval of 4K curriculum resources. McCartney. >> So, Mrs. McCartney will review past action recommendations from our instructional committee and

092report some exciting updates for our youngest learners. >> Yes. So, our 4K team um at the very beginning of the year talked to to me about the resources that they've had around and um have had for about 10 years in that 4K um realm. and those resources are updated and uh really lack the literacy framework that we require in order to make sure that our kiddos are more ready for that kindergarten which is now at a little bit higher level as far as that literacy goes. So that team of teachers actually worked throughout this school year to identify, analyze, and select um a resource that they think will actually make a big difference for our kids, provide consistency across our 4K program and uh be a guide for them in making sure that they can

093both um teach and assess our 4K students in a way that is meaningful, especially with moving forward into that kindergarten. The resource that they chose was three cheers for prek. It is from the Sabbath learning company. If you recognize that name, they were also the company that um the high school English curriculum is from from last year. The my perspectives um Savis this three chairs for prek is a theme-based um unit just like the one that the um 4K had in the previous years. And it is play-based curriculum, which is really important at that 4K level because they will learn more from playing with something than they will sitting down and doing a worksheet um at any point when you are four years old. It's also skill-based and very steeped in quality children's literature. And

094the um curriculum that we're or um we're looking to order actually comes with a ton of that literature for the students to be interacting with, for the teacher to be interacting with and digital platforms for not the kids to be using. We're not getting them onto a Chromebook, but for like the stories to be available to them um through video or through online screens so that they can be reading along and playing with the letters and the words as they're working through those literacy skills and those math skills. Um it is has lots of opportunities for differentiation. Most of it is available also in Spanish. So we can work with our EL families um and support them in that way. It has very strong family communication tools. So letters that already exist that our teachers

095can use and then they can edit them and make sure that they are consistent with what's happening in New London and reflect what's happening in our buildings. It is um also according to the teachers because they are the experts very well laid out right they did a lot of analysis of our resources they pass them around and this one was laid out in a way that allowed for them to not only teach what's in there but have a little flexibility when there's a holiday or when there is something happening in our building like it is Veterans Day and we're talking about that and we want to bring something in um from that idea I did contact uh another school that is teaching ing this um I talked to Rosendale Elementary School. I talked to their

096um principal and asked about how it was going there. They actually are a full day 4K and they really really appreciated it. The thing they highlighted about this resource was it's social it's the portion of it. So the socio or saying the word social emotional learning um that is embedded within the curriculum and they said that using this has helped their program a ton with that. Um, so the program is uh able to be paced for either a half day like our program is currently or if we wanted to ever expand, we could go to a full day and it would still work for that. So any change that we would make in our program isn't something that we would have to purchase a new resource for at that point. Um, if you take a

097look at the cost, you can see the structure there. What we're looking at is a six-year comprehensive package [cough] and that is all the teacher resources, all of the digital access that teachers would need. Um and then also that program activation and training. So this pro this um SAVS or offers a um implementation training which is like that very beginning stuff that we could do at the end of this school year if we wanted to. We could do it over the summer if we wanted to in order to get our teachers into the materials. And then once teachers have been in and working with it for about a month or a month and a half, maybe around the October PD day, um they will offer another day's worth of training for the teachers to ask

098questions because you sometimes you have to be really into something in order to be able to ask those nuanced um questions about a resource. Um, and the only other thing that I want to add in there is that with a new resource coming into our 4K classrooms, those 4K classrooms have four-year-olds in them, and four-year-olds are hard on things, right? They they they explore everything in their hands, which means sometimes there's things that need to be replaced and are in rough shape. So when we bring in a new resource, we will also be taking a look at resources in those classrooms, the objects, the manipulatives to make sure that what we've got there uh will do best for the resource and best for the kids and see if we need to make any shifts at

099that point. Yeah, I just had an interesting point when you had said um the digital elements are for the instructor and not so much the kids because my mom's a retired teacher and she had just emailed me this article and it said schools in Sweden are abandoning screens and digital teaching to return to traditional teaching with a lot of pen and paper because it helped the retention and you know like you're paying attention and not >> right >> so I found that interesting and I was going to actually send this article to the curriculum committee staff just >> but I'm Sure you're the expert on on that. So >> they were very adamant that we're not putting 4K 4K in front of computers. This ex it exists like within the framework that we are getting.

100You could put kids in front of a computer. That is nowhere anywhere in what our 4K teachers value or what they want to be happening for our students. So the digital side of it is really about access for teachers to make sure that they can display things and that family communication tools. >> Yeah. And this was all I mean I think it wasn't just 4K like the article references. >> Absolutely. Yeah. >> I found that you that you had pointed that out. >> I went to u a couple of presentations at the state schoolboard convention just on this >> and the theme that was coming out of that is 4K in kindergarten is all about play. >> Yeah. And the expectation that was created 20 years ago that they should be able to do arithmetic

101when they're in kindergarten >> is flying has got to fly out the window because that's not how they learn. And I've been watching our three-year-old grandson. We just had him for 4 days. And the way he learned to count, [clears throat] he took a very strong interest in clocks. And I'm talking about a clock like that, an analog clock when he was very little. By the time he was two, he had no problem counting to 10 because we have two clocks in our house and his parents have a clock in their house that chimes on the hour. And so he got into that chiming. That's how he learned how to how to count to 10. And now he can he can count to 25, you know. And I just look at stuff like that that

102that's that's how they learn at that age. to to sit and do a worksheet or to have somebody talk at him for an hour. I mean, I can't talk at him for 15 minutes. >> He wants to go back to his car, you know. So, that's exciting stuff. >> Did you attend that one? Was that this year or last year? >> It was this year. >> And then um uh Ted Nitsky did a did a podcast on it within the last last few weeks. >> I remember you sharing that one. Yeah. >> Yeah. and uh his mother was a kindergarten teacher and he he had her come into uh a current kindergarten class and she about flipped out about what the kids were not allowed to do. You know, where are the building blocks, you

103know, where are the where the where's the chalk, where's the colors and and and that. And so that was might have forwarded that one. >> Y >> any other questions I can answer? They are very excited. Looks like a >> good program. We got >> Thank you. >> So looking for a motion to approve three cheers for prek curriculum by SAS Learning Company in the amount of $25,57410. >> I'll make that motion. >> I'll second. >> All right. Uh, Chris Martinson, >> yes. >> Andy Thor, >> yes. >> Katie Battton, >> yes. >> Mark, >> yes. >> Nate, [snorts] >> yes. >> John, >> yes. >> Okay. Show review and potential approval of summer flooring projects. >> Okay. Okay. At our December uh facilities meeting, we talked about our third phase of flooring at the

104high school. And that's our recommendation tonight to continue that phasing in where we would have the room that we call B119, which many of you have been into as getting new flooring, and then also our band room. Those are the next priorities that we've identified to recommend tonight. Also talked to our high school leadership team. They agree as well. We still have more flooring work to do each year the next couple years, but this is still accomplishing their phase goals. Any questions? >> I like the timeline. >> Any other questions? Looking for a motion to approve project with HK Martin as presented. That's going to be a roll call. I'll >> make a motion. I'll second it. Ny, >> yes. >> Chris Martinson, >> yes. >> John Haidman, >> yes. >> Andy Thor, >> yes.

105>> Katie Bat, yes. Yes. Mark Gross. >> Yes. >> All right. I'll read them sections first. Pursuant to section 19.851. A51C Wisconsin statutes. The board of education will convene in close session to discuss the continued employment of certified support and co-curricular staff members over which the board has jurisdiction and exercise the responsibility person to section 19.851C Wisconsin statute. The board of education will convene in close session to discuss the employment and compensation of administrative, certified, support, and co-curricular staff members over which the board has jurisdiction and exercise the responsibility. First, section 19.851F 851F Wisconsin statutes. The board of education will commute in close 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

106public would likely have a substantial adverse effect on the reputation of any person referred to in such histories or data and as well as person to section 19.851A 851A and F as well as 120.131C Wisconsin statutes. The board of education will convene in close session for the purpose of a student expulsion proceeding. >> I move we go into close session for the reasons stipulated by the president. >> All in favor? >> Roll call. >> Gen. >> Yes. >> John Hamman. >> Yes. Chris. >> Yes. Any else? Uh, Andy B. >> Yes. >> Katy B. >> Yes. >> It is 7:29.