001Mhm. >> Good evening and welcome to the regular board meeting of the North Pines Board of Education, Monday, May 18th, 2026. Will you please join me I pledge allegiance to the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Um we'll do a roll call. Eric Blake? I'm here. Mickey Christian? Here. Becky Horton? Here. Jennifer Payne is here. Holly Vick? Here. And Christopher Christian is here. Here. And Chelsea is absent this evening. She's not feeling well. Um all right, we do have a quorum. Susie, has the meeting been posted according to open meeting laws? Yes, it has. Thank you. That being said, I will entertain a motion to approve the agenda. I'll make a motion
002to approve the agenda as presented and leave the order of the meeting to the discretion of the chair. I'll second. Motion has been made and seconded. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All right, motion carries. Um Susie, are there any members of the public that wish to speak this evening? There are not. Okay. We'll move on to board communications. Does any board member have anything that they wish to communicate with one another? Not hearing any. Also, for our committees, is there any one that has a question for the other members of committees that you do not sit on? Otherwise, every agenda or I excuse me, the minutes are in the board packet. Not hearing any. We'll move on to the consent agenda. Is there any uh board members that would like to remove any
003item from the consent agenda? Not hearing any. I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. I'll make a motion to approve all items contained in the consent agenda. Second. All right, the motion has been made and seconded. Any discussion or information? Yeah, I just want to run through real quick here, but uh Harlan is here He did share in finance getting laptops. If the world does not understand that with these huge data centers and AI, they're consuming all the RAM and other device hardware that we need for laptops and even some of your home devices. So, as you see things go up in cost, um keep that in mind as uh but thankfully, that's where [snorts] long-term budgeting, planning, and uh Harland has done a good job and worked with Tara and I
004to make sure that puts our district in a spot where we're able to get things, but um try to be strategic in the pricing. You will see a lot of renewals tonight for contracts. Just reminder, it is noted they're for 26-27. Next month in June we'll bring you a budget that looks ahead to July. Remember, our fiscal year is July 1 forward, so we do bring you It's kind of always an odd piece, right? Like you're approving this stuff and you haven't approved the budget yet. But, know that these are not These are non-negotiables. You have to have um a student information system, a fiscal or financial software. These are non-negotiables. You need to have them. So, um that's why we get them taken care of now and we will not be any bills till
005after July 1 with those as we move forward. So, um the renewal for W A A is in here. That's something that came out after policy, so just FYI, that's why we didn't bring it to policy, but again, kind of a have to if we're going to compete and and and be in the W A A. So, um Also, remember this is second review and went through committees twice. Your meeting dates are all in here and then finally, we did go over a pretty um simple, but you know, I always make sure we update from all purposes policies, but I just want to make sure there's any questions on any of those items that we'd be happy to further. And Harland is here tonight as is Tara who uh worked on a a of these
006items. Are there any other discussion or any questions? Not hearing any. All in favor please say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. All right, we'll move on to our discussion and action items. First, regarding substitute guest teachers. I'll make a motion to approve increasing guest teacher pay from $155 to $157.50 per day and further to increase guest support staff pay from $16 an hour to $16.50 per hour, all to be effective beginning with the 2026-2027 school year. Is that good? All right, any discussion? We do We do We do review where we are with others. Um it felt like something increase was appropriate, but we do feel we're very competitive. Pay is important. Remember, we also give bonuses for the amount of days worked. If you meet thresholds, you get an end-of-year bonus statement, which
007will be coming out soon. Um we also do provide free coffee and lunch. So, there is a free lunch in the world if you want to substitute paraprofessional, secretary, or teacher, we have that opportunity and that's actually been hit. But, I want to give kudos. This pay is important, but what brings back subs that you asked about their pay um is our front office staff and our admin that work with those and greet them. Um without them, I hear frequently from them that those are the reason we're successful is the classrooms are well prepared and ready, but then they're greeted with a smile, get the questions answered, and they're ready to go. So, kudos to our front office and admin team that works directly with these subs of all different roles cuz without them and
008and we have days without them, they're more challenging and and um your administrative team is filling in a lot of those spots as well, but this is a way to try to keep getting more if people get involved to help us all. All right. Any other discussion? Not hearing any. All in favor, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. All right. The next is approving coach and advisor stipends. I'll make a motion to approve the coaches and advisors stipends for 2026-2027 pursuant to proposal presented by administration. I'll second. All right. The motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? Yes. So, the proposal in front of you is something we've looked at in different ways. We've got feedback from advisors and coaches over the years. Mr. Ziah and I and I would also say
009anyone prior to him, Mr. Chilly, Mr. Margolowski, we've always looked at how do we compensate coaches. When do we do it? And advisors. So, like 1 or 2% raise on $1,000 just doesn't a very big raise and we don't think everybody needs a raise every year, but at some point when do you do it? How do you do it? We implemented a model based on years of experience in the coaching role based on feedback from staff who were coaches and advisors and our coaches advisors who are not staff, they also had chance to give us input. We tried that for a couple years and I will say it was very clunky and challenging. It was kind of people maxed out after 5 years and then there was like, well, well, now what's my next raise?
010So, the system didn't allow for long-term change. It was kind of it helped, but then it was like, okay, now we're back to square one again and and really people had to know what year they were. Our office kept track and then there'd be discrepancies. Well, I left for a year and came back, does that count? So, we basically scrapped that. Nobody went backwards. Everybody stayed at the pay, but Mr. Ziah had and he's out working events tonight, so that's why he's not here, but um he looked at bunch of different models. He came back. He was an advocate for his coaches and advisors. And one of the things I want to do is try to set you up for long-term success without having to go in there and say, "Do we give a 1%,
0112%, 3%?" Whatever. So, the model we've seen other places, we debated this last time and went with the other model, but we felt like it was time to bring this one back is what's in front of you tonight would include some raises but [snorts] when you add up all the advisors and coaches, which you can see is a very lengthy list, it's just over $19,000 added to the budget. That's with the raises. But, what we did is tied it to starting teacher or starting certified staff pay. So, this we didn't raise that this year, so it's 47,500. I would say we ask you to consider changing every 2 to 3 years that based on market, based on other factors. Well, the next time you do, you won't have to look at coaches and advisors, it'll
012automatically go up when you make that change. So, it kind of meets some some other criteria um about when you would look at a change, you know, inflation, CPI, other factors. Um you can always individually change something. You could change the percentage um if you wanted to give a certain coach, but I will say it's not as simple as you look. I think that's the other factor in this. We have to be in compliance with Title IX. You know, we have to make sure our coaches that coach female sports and male sports are treated equally, which is understandable and should be. We have to look at season length. We have to look at number of athletes. Um there are some unique positions. So, when we do this, we also review and make sure we're kind
013of in compliance with all those other factors. So, what you see tonight is um where we have done that. We've reviewed, we've actually raised some. Um, we've tried to stay within the process that was previously done. Um, so what you see in front of you is some raises for most staff, if not all, um, except for some of those that already were getting their five-year bonuses. Some of these will be a smaller raise to them cuz they already maxed out, but now they have a path forward. Right now, you keep the system, they're froze. So this gives the path forward and they should get some raise based on this number. So, but that is what you have in front of you tonight. So it's not only an increase, it's also how we do this moving
014forward, which should make your lives easier, but more importantly, um, I think give credit to those advisors and coaches that spend lots of hours with their our student athletes and our performers that really, when you figure out how much they make an hour, it's pretty minuscule. Questions? What is As Scott said, those advisors and coaches definitely spend more hours than they're making pay for, but it's nice that we can do that for them. All right, all in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. All right, next would be the approval of revisions to the 2026-2027 employee handbook. I'll make a motion to approve the the revisions to the 2026-2027 employee handbook as presented. I'll second. All right, motion has been made and seconded. Any discussion? Sorry. Second. Seconded. Any opposed? Yes. And do
015you have any other questions on pretty straightforward? All right, not hearing any. All in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next is, uh, motion to I'll make the motion to approve accepting the reading grant from the Department of Public Instruction in the amount of $120,000 and to authorize and direct district administrator to affect to sign the contract and implement the grant as presented. Second. Motion has been made and seconded. Any discussion or information? I can give some background knowledge on that. So, um as you know, Act 20 was that science of reading law that was passed a couple years ago by the state and with that law came some things like personalized reading plans that we have to implement for students in kindergarten through third grade along with all the staff being
016trained in science of reading and amongst other things. Um but one of the things that also included was uh grant money that would go to paying the literacy coaches across the state. So, the state is looking at 54 coaches that they're going to be giving uh 54 schools that they're going to give coaching grants to. So, we decided to apply for St. Germain Elementary School and Eagle River Elementary School um back in the spring. So, it was Brooke, Gretchen, and Emily, Sue, and I all got together and wrote that the grants for both of the schools. We did not write for Land O' Lakes or the Montessori Learning Center because their scores were too good, which is a good problem to have. Um so, their scores were too good where they wouldn't have been able
017to qualify for the grants um at all. So, we applied for the other two schools and we found out about a month ago that we that received that grant, which is very exciting. So, actually Gretchen and I were on a call today with DPI um just to get some more information about it. The way it's and it's and also throw some ideas about what we would want in that contract for this grant as well, too. Um what we've been awarded is up to $120,000. It's a 0.5 FTE for St. Germain and 0.5 FTE for Eagle River Elementary School, which is basically a half-time course for each of the schools. But we wanted some flexibility in it as well, too. So, that's where we met with DPI as well, too. Um for example, Eagle River's got
018more staff and students than St. Germain. So, one of the things we wanted is could we have this grant shifted to maybe 75% at Eagle River and 25% at St. Germain? And they said it's what you want us to be working on. Two, there isn't some other hidden cost later on that can come up. Tony's done a great job. We've had deep discussions on what that could be. He's asked a lot of great questions and worked with his team, but know that you are approving this because it is part of the grant as well. So and there are going to be some some paperwork and other challenges that any grant that has from a legislative uh place will have will make for a lot to work with. Nothing that should be too overwhelming. All right.
019Without any further discussion, all in favor, please say "Aye." Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. And the last action item is the revision to policy 6320, purchasing. I'll make a motion to approve revising policy 6320, purchasing, to change the dollar amount from $10,000 to $20,000. Second. All right. The motion has been made and seconded. Any other Any other discussion? Information. Shared in multiple committees, both policy and finance, that you know, this has not been changed for a very long time. It would Dave gave a couple examples of things that he would buy. We're not trying to not be transparent. You'd still see all the purchases. We'll still bring purchases forward. It just will speed up some of the efficiencies. Um for example, one of the things you approved tonight was like $10,120. You know, did it
020have to be on the agenda tonight? No. Um it was a mix between grants and and local funds. So, uh a small grant. So, I just We just feel like in 2019, this came up at one of our GNC superintendent meetings. Tara's talked about with her group. We are very low in comparison to any other district. Some of them are very are much, much higher. We're not looking to We're just looking for efficiencies to kind of match the inflation over over long periods of time and and really just keep us efficient and operating at a high level. But, um you know, it's the trust you have in both me, Tara, and now Tony, as well, that I don't have any worries, but I think it'd be efficiency and help the district office and us as
021an organization. All right. Any other discussion? Not hearing any, all in favor, please say "Aye." Aye. Motion. Motion carries. All right. Administrative reports. Is there any administrator that would like to share any or highlight anything other than what is stated there um reports for us this evening? I did share in my report, but on on May 1st, we recognized uh Ann Perry with a School Forest Leadership Award. Um there's a picture in the bottom of my report from We went out to School Forest with our high school. She was presented with that award. It's from LEAF, which is the organization that provides um current School Forest curriculum across the state. So, she was recognized for her leadership with our School Forest. She's been there since the beginning, but also continues to work through our high
022school and our students to maintain trails in the School Forest, to continue to develop curriculum and learning opportunities in the School Forest. She's helped several of our students develop um things like tree identification and other activities that can be done in the School Forest. So, it's kind of like our students working through Ann to continue that development. So, um just something that she's really passionate about, but also helps our district, you know, continue to grow and provide opportunities outdoors. Awesome. All right. And then anything else? Thank you for your reports and winding down to the end of the school year. Um there's also our school resource officers monthly reports in the your packet as well. All right. Now, we'll move on to Scott's administrative report. Yeah, I will mention cuz you just mentioned SRO. I
023had the opportunity uh to attend the Vilas County Emergency Management Law Enforcement Community Meeting today. Uh so, got to highlight the great work of our SROs, thank them for our partnership, and also share that we are working towards I say we cuz I look over at Tony. Um that will also come out of my pocket here soon. Uh but, I'm really proud of what we've done as a county. Um We meet three, four times a year with law enforcement and with schools, including Lac du Flambeau, even though they don't get a zero, they are coming and working together. So, we are doing a reunification drill/training, more of a training this time around with a vision of a large-scale drill with emergency management, like local fire departments on that common PD day next year. Next year's
024not our day to have common PD as far as a full full one session, everybody come one place, that'll be the following year. But, we thought why not take advantage of that day where all, including we are inviting Three Lakes and Rhinelander to this as well, but the idea would be we would have staff trained that if something need to be reunified North Lakeland or Three Lakes or Phelps, we would send staff. If we had that, they would send staff. So, we're I'm really excited. I think it's some great work. Josh and Tony will take the ball from here. They've both been partners from as we've talked about this and attended, so. But, it was nice to attend, lots of comments and appreciation. I think it's been a great working relationship. And, Mr. Burket would
025love for me to bring you to see me. So, we'll leave that to them for the day for telling you. Um, just wanted to I was hoping to First thing on my list tonight, I was hoping to share with you Tara and I were pretty excited. We're looking forward to coming to finance. We wanted another $140,000 this year and $400,000 next year of local taxpayer's dollars that went to Madison would be coming back both directly to help student learning and also more money for their taxes. Unfortunately, on Wednesday, all that went up in smoke and we are no longer getting any of that money. So, I've read a couple news stories Friday and today saying there's an outside hope they can still do something. I I'm not holding on any hope to that. They had
026a chance. They really could have sent the message. It's not perfect. I get that and I know there's concerns. I've read some of the deep whys behind the concerns, but you know, it directly was your taxpayer dollars for our community coming back to help our students. And would help our taxpayers, too. So, so it's very disappointing. And I think everybody agrees it needs to get done. It's just that that politics getting in the way. And I'll leave it at that. Um, the next thing on my list is we got a notification last week on Wednesday. Um, I was in a all superintendent meeting. DPI was speaking. Apparently, and we were one of those schools, we did not call DPI, but when ACT scores came out, Dan and I talked and and and Harland and there's
027disappointment. Like, boy, we're kind of low. Like, it's not who our kids typically are. Kind of odd. But apparently enough districts around Wisconsin felt that way. They called DPI and said, "Are you Anybody else complaining?" Well, sometimes it takes enough phone calls. Well, pretty soon DPI contacted ACT and said, "Hey, we're having this." And all of a sudden they realized that they've made some mistake. They're not 100% sure yet. Um, but kind of think about this from a standpoint of you as a parent. Your child is applying for college. They get the free score from us. Oh, I didn't do so good. I better sign up and pay ACT to take it again. Well, technically their score wasn't It could be accurate. It can't go down at all. It can go up, which is nonsense.
028Cuz if it's wrong, it was wrong. I get what they're trying to do by not going backwards, but it is very frustrating. So, they sent a letter actually right away. Wasn't a not a really great letter. So, we took that. Um, Sue and Harland and Dan took on leadership and and got a letter. Um, Sue got us a really nice letter to get out to parents. Then the each high school got that out. We're waiting for more information at this point, but it really, as much as we talk about state report card and testing, it does start drawing into question how accurate is all this stuff. And do we have faith in the system? I want to be very clear, this is not a DPI issue. This is us paying a company millions and millions
029of dollars to do something right and accurate, and it's not being done. So, when the trail of money goes with state testing, keep that in mind. Um so, we'll wait and see a little bit more, and a lot of work went into taking the ACT, and now, even when it comes back, are we going to have faith that it was accurate and done right? So, it's too bad. But, it it it is what we have to do. So, we'll keep you updated as things happen. Um one of the high many great concerts have taken place this spring. We have the middle school band concert to go, and also, um on Wednesday night, it's a fundraiser for music boosters, but it's also just a really fun night. Highly encourage you, if you're looking for some great
030entertainment, the cabaret concert, um get to see some kids really kind of let loose a little bit, try some different things. Um uh Kate and Bethany do a fantastic job. Um just encourage you to get a chance, if you can, 6:00 p.m. in the commons. Um lots of great music, and also some great prizes that you can win. And and food that Nikki Garrison's preparing, and I'll I'll be selling it. >> [laughter] >> What's on Wednesday? Yes, this Wednesday. Yes. Um a couple of really big events I'm really excited. Um one that impacts all of or many of you, somebody who sat in the chair next to me during my early years. Um but, we are four inductees into the North Pines Alumni Hall of Fame. Um kind of when we do this, we We
031of get pretty excited when there's kind of a connection or weave and these four have been I think one not only near the same graduation date but also three of the four remained in the community or came back to the community. So, David Webber will be inducted. Greg and Darren Grenband they are individuals we're not doing this brothers like we did with the Mayor boys and then Craig Marion will also be. So, if you didn't know Craig distinguished military career but also his dad was a long time tech ed teacher here so somebody I worked with very closely my early years and so excited to have this group it's a amazing group. Like I said David not for many reasons to be inducted but played a huge role in this district as alumni super proud
032of his district and where he's from and gave giving back all the time and being on this board and board president as well. So, that's 10:00 in the auditorium. We'd love to have you there. It's as many we have lots of seats. Um Erica has really has been part of that and helps with that process and committee so grateful for her being part of that as well. And then and at 1:00 is graduation. Both Mr. Lusink and Dr. Marine have shared they do have enough kids to have graduation. We're excited lots of work goes into that our school counselors um our custodial staff Mr. Lusink and his tech team just a lot of extra hands on deck to make that ceremony special for not only those students but for their families and guests. Cuz that
033Dan and I both have given pretty similar speeches to the seniors that it is your day you've earned this but on the other side it's really about the people in the audience. It's a one hour of your time that it's your last time as a North Hopkins class that everybody will be together but take a second to look around because you wouldn't be in those chairs if it wasn't for the staff and that's 4K through 12 for parents, family members, neighbors, those special people, maybe employers, all kinds of people that have made a difference in these kids' lives, and we're super proud of them. I got interviewed for radio today, and one of the questions I get every year is you know, are they all the same, these classes? And absolutely not. I we still
034choose to hand-sign diplomas, and for me, it's really the story of each one of those kids, and every class and every kid has has a story. It's not always been an easy or positive story the whole time, but there's a whole bunch of staff and community members that got them to where they are today. So, really excited for graduation. Again, one last thing, kudos to Carrie and her team at Land O'Lakes. All three schools run run club. It's been snowing and cold and wet. And then, Carrie decided to have a day of, you know, upper 70s. Let's really get the kids to sw- No, but ran one of the amazing event. Her and her team ran up there. Thank you. Kudos to you and your staff. Kudos to all the volunteers throughout the whole year
035that to see kids set goals, maybe some kids some movement that never would have gotten movement, be around positive adults. We have parents who volunteer, we have staff. Just a great been a great tradition at Northland Pines. So, your all your elementary team was up there, supporting, cheering. Mr. Zire ran as well with his daughter. So, he was there in a different role, and next year he'll be there in a in his new role as well, but kudos to Jeff Jansen also helped out with that quite a bit, too. So, just want to give congratulations to all the students that ran, and then everybody that played a role, and Carrie and the team. So. It's It's such a cool event, and I had a parent come in for lunch in the games wearing his Sharks.
036Thanks. And I said, "Do you have a child?" And he said he has a six six-year-old. And I think that I know all three of mine ran in the that, and Molly's going to be 22. So, that is a testament to that dedication from the teachers and staff and coaches and the in in the whole idea to begin with and the idea of mission you know, mission possible and how even though after it was Journey's Marathon wasn't going on anymore, that you still continued it and just did it in a different way. And I think alternating the schools too was great cuz then people can see our different campuses and just what a positive event so it's awesome. A lot of lot of great stories. Emily ran and ran again. Lots of staff kind of
037mentor and support some maybe some that aren't as confident and then need that little extra push at the end during their run. I do that from the seat of a UTV, so it's a lot easier. Little guilt builds up over the race of like, "You can do this." And I'm So, uh Somebody had to do it. Okay, but kudos to the team and Carrie, great job. And those of you that ran and came up and supported our athletes and just a really fun day as you said. It's a great tradition and each course is so different in good ways too, you know. It's awesome. All right. Not hearing any other or not having any other items on our agenda other than our closed session, thank you all for being here this evening and I will
038make the motion to convene in closed session pursuant to Wisconsin Statute 19.85 subsection one and C to consider government government employment, promotion, compensation, or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the government body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility. Specifically, one to discuss support staff compensation for the 2026-2027 school year as related to evaluations of performance. Two, to discuss the issue of the supervisor contract and compensation for 2016-2017 for the position of activities director. Three to discuss the resolutions of certified staff as related to the liquidated damages. And four to discuss a salary correction to a certified staff member's salary. And I will take a second. I'll second. And I will do a roll call. Erica Levine. Yes. Nick Zeigler. Yes. Becky Erdy. Yes. Jennifer Payne is yes. Um Holly Levine. Yes. And Chris
039Petrikas. Yes. And we are closed. Thank you. That's 4 to 2 there, Susie.