001Good evening and welcome to the November 17th, 2025 regular board meeting of the Northland Pines Board of Education. At this time, will you please join me in the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Jennifer is here. Chelsea here >> and >> here. >> We are all here tonight. We have a quum. Susie, has the meeting been posted according to open meeting? >> Yes, it has. That being said, I will entertain a motion to approve the agenda. [laughter] >> I'll second that. [laughter] I'll make a motion to approve the agenda as presented. Leave the order of the meeting to the discretion of the chair. >> Okay, the motion has been made
002and seconded. All in favor, please say I. >> Motion carries for. >> All right, we'll turn over um our first item on our agenda is our presentation for therapy dog. This is the first time. This is so Thank you so much. Thank you for having us tonight. I'm going to try to do this without choking up. Um and I have been working so hard the past two years um for him to become a dog certified has been yes I'm talking about you the past two years the first year I started to bring him to the river elementary school um when he was about four to six months of age and he would spend uh one week one day a week about two hours um and so I want to thank this school especially and Mr.
003Foster for allowing that um with amazing experience our children nowadays my passion is children and of course dogs and he's been visiting assisted living um and other facilities a lady had told me speak from your heart I wrote something just speak from your heart um my passion is children and our teens today and our young people was one of those um one of those children who suffered great depression and I did go to school local here. It was Phelps. My father was in the Air Force. He retired here in 74. Um but my passion is also mental health for young people, our teenagers. And then of course dogs. My background is dog training. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the headwater search and rescue unit that was formed early 80s mid 80s. Uh the
004first search and rescue unit nationally certified um in Wisconsin. My parents got me involved and I became a dog handler with my dad. Went on many search and rescue missions. Um it was amazing experience. All of this together, I'm hoping Cheeto and other therapy dogs in this district can bring some joy, some hope, comfort to destress our children, our teens, and even you. I I was in the business I was in education, so I know that staff and administration, you go through a lot. you work so hard and um I'm advocating for all of you and um and our children especially. I had a lot more to say but I have to keep this short five minutes and one of my friends would say how are you going to do that because I love to
005talk and and share my passion. There's so much to say. I handed out my friend Laura. Thank you. Handed out the brochure. Alliance of Therapy Dogs. That is um our organization that I went with certified both of us. It's nationally. It's actually international. Um amazing organization, high standards. We took the test in September. We had visit three facilities. Um two of them were medical. He flew He just he did so well. So proud of him. A pure red lab. You can't go wrong with the lab, right? Um, and the children. I've taken so many photos um for his portfolio of the children the past two years at Eagle River. Um, now he is visiting an autistic school in Woodruff um and some other facilities, but I would like to bring him back to North Times
006now that we're ready and certified. I want the principles would like to invite principles contact me or if you'd like for him to visit a weekly basis. And another thing I um just purchased his sister Silly Sally is three months old and she will be trained as well. Same breeder, same mom and dad. He's amazing dogs. So you'll meet Silly Sally one day. Um she's amazing. She's been already working with autistic children in Woodro and some of the other facilities. That's how I train them right away. They've been there socializing. >> And yes, I told him I can't whine or groan. Um anyway, a picture can say a thousand words, but this is this is what all happened. Um in the beginning, my very last year of teaching, 25 years, I adopted a red healer.
007I was going to train to be a service dog, but he became my classroom's therapy dog. So, I had a lot of children experienced a lot of trauma, deaths, divorces. um brought Queso in and um just a quick picture, but he ended up being the classroom therapy dog. Um amazing experience, just amazing to see the power how children and dogs can interact and just calmness and joy. I could go on and on, but brochure explains everything, you know, how powerful dogs and therapy dogs can be. This was at Eagle's Nest. Uh the first year he was being trained That picture says to me it says it all. Um I saw some incredible things between Cheeto and some of the students. >> Yes, I know. And this one we had a little one come in face
008of course but Cheetah was laying down as a pup. Little one came in um put his arms around Cheeto. Says it all boy or girl was very upset. Um That that says it all, doesn't it? Um, and of course he came to Eagle Camp and the children and I I showed a video about therapy dogs and how wonderful they can be. So the kids were excited about that and Cheeto. They love Cheeto. Um, and this was one of the pictures one of the kids gave me. They drew third graders in River Elementary. They even wrote a song about Cheeto and it was adorable. Um, So maybe one day. Anyway, that is just a little bit about why I'm here. Um I just hope that I'm promoting to therapy dogs in the schools. >> I'm hopefully
009going to start a group in this area so we can have more dogs. Um right now we're we're pretty busy, aren't we? Yes, we're busy with a lot of people. And you know, he can only do about two hours a day. So that's why I got silly Sally alternate. And I'm already planning for a third. Um, believe it or not, and yes, I'm single. I should say that, but three dogs, it's a lot, right? [laughter] >> They're easier than >> I don't say. Um, but anyway, thank you again. I did have so much more to say, but if you have any questions for me, I am nervous. Um, this has been a big deal. Show you something. Someone just said, "Be yourself." Laura, would you um hand me my bag? >> When he was six
010months of age, I had this made. Oh my goodness. I'm kind of I had this made I believe on Etsy because I really thought, okay, this is it. You know, one day we're we're gonna be there. So, I had this made >> [applause] >> And you know what? He can fit into it. Right now, you can see his vest that Dr. John said he needs to lose five pounds. So, he's only two years old. So, uh we we got a little exercising to do this, but thank you. If you have any questions, um I can answer a few. >> I just want to say thank you. Um I wouldn't call you a retired educator because I truly believe you are still an educator. Um has something for us and does a fantastic job besides being
011Cheetos's handler and and taking care of Cheeto. It's been amazing to watch the journey. As she said, I think many of us have um very pleasant good tame fun dogs and think, oh, they would be good to do this, but that is not what Cheeto is. The amount of work that Gretchen has put into this and what Cheeto has worked hard to accomplish and what he is able to do is amazing. So, kudos to to both of them for making our district better and impacting kids. I mean, that's our ultimate goal is how do we support kids and you're just modeling. I think that's the other thing too is for a lot of kids, Gretchen and Cho are great role models like hey this might be something I want to do someday or how could
012I help others. We talk about preparing kids for life and what you're doing Gretchen is modeling for our kids and staff and community members. So kudos to you. Um, we definitely, I know the principles are probably going to bombard you already with emails, but uh, as much as we can work with you and not just be the person with a handout. We really appreciate it and um, huge impact in many ways in our district. So, thank you so much. Thank you so much for coming in. But if there are questions, I can let the board do that. Just want to say thank you. >> I've got one question. One comment. I have a cat named Um, but my question was, and maybe it's in the brochure, but how long is the process? There's I work
013in a different district as a special ed teacher and one of the teachers there is interested in having one of her dogs get certified. The puppy is an older dog. It's it's an adult for basic obedience, a lot of socialization. Um, and basically the ATD I' forgot older dogs doing this and being tested out you evaluation, but it's not easy. We have three tests. Anyway, yeah, I answer your question. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Right. Absolutely. >> I don't want to speak as an expert, but we've had other staff try and they have dogs that are able, >> you know, they're just, you know, it's not a every dog can do it type of thing either. So, it takes a special dog, a special trainer, a lot of work and effort. our new school counselor in
014St. Orlando also does have a dog as well. So we are trying to make roads. This has been a goal and dream of mine to add this to our ability to help kids. This is hopefully the start of show. I got one quick question just because I'm curious. Why is it only two hours a day for >> Well, therapy dogs Believe it or not, especially with children, they've taken all those emotions. They feel teenagers and children or sadness. They can feel that stress. Yeah. So, two hours. You need to read your dog like you can tell he's really stressed. [laughter] They can they can facial sign with the elderly. I've been taking him to the assisted living. This is what he is very calm. It doesn't stress him out as much. But dogs do get
015stressed. That's why you really need to alternate. Can't go every day. So answers your question. >> It's amazing. And when I take them home, I was training him at the elementary school. sleep all the way home on Easter. So it's about 30 minute drive slept when I got home exhausted like us teachers and administrators around teenagers and children. But yeah, good question. >> Thank you for bringing Cheeto into all the schools and here to show him to us and thank you for your service to children and families. That's awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you. >> [applause] >> I'll come around. >> Thank you. I like those kind of >> All right, our next item on the agenda. Um, Susie, is there anyone that wishes to speak this evening with public participation? >> No, there
016are not. >> We'll go right into board communications. Does any member have any [snorts] wish to communicate that they received from the public or um anything to each other at this time? We do have a notice of school board election April 7th 26. So we have that content is in the agenda on behalf of Eric Lane clerk attached as a notice school board election. This will be published in the vital county news edition of November 19th 2025 as a type a legal notice. It has also been mailed to all the clerks of each municipality fully or partially within the school district and it is also posted on our website. Thank you Susie. So this year would be Chris, myself and Chelsea. All right, moving on to finance committee. We did not have a finance committee
017this month meeting. Uh there are more items further on finance committee and then policy curriculum and uh personnel. Those minutes are in your Are there any questions from any member that does not serve on those not to our consent agenda? Is there excuse [clears throat] me is there any item um that any member would like removed from the consent agenda at this time knowing that we may still discuss that in that motion? All right. Not hearing any entertain a motion for the consent agenda. >> I'll make a motion to approve all items containing the consent agenda. >> Right. The motion has been made and seconded. Any discussion on any item for information? >> Yeah, I just want to point out um there's a donation from Eagle River Light and Water, which is WPPI is another
018that's the local energy co-op here for purchase of a wood miser. If you're not familiar with a wood miser, that's a Um it's a large band saw on a trailer that has ability to saw logs into lumber. So next month you're going to hear from Tim Layman and some students about building trades and also they're going to talk to you about this Woodmiser project and the dream they have and how our local businesses. So got some big surprises coming next month of some local businesses that have stepped up and hopefully we'll have even more by then. But um this was a great great start. I want to thank WPPI light and water for being part of this project and we'll share more about that in December. But we wanted to note this donation for the
019timing of that. Also, I just want to point out that the shares department SRO CSX education effectiveness and the library services. These are things that typically are done a little bit earlier in the year, but um we didn't run them through as individual items, but we should have due to the cost. They're all things that we pay for. Also note that the Education effectiveness does include a grant. They call it a grant, but it's just like kind of like other federal and state items. It's a reimbursement. So, they reimburse up to so much. So, we got over $10,000 to cover the bulk of this educator effect [snorts] bill, just so you're aware of that as well. But Harland is here as is Terra for other questions on other items. >> All right. Any other discussion
020or questions? [clears throat] Not hearing any. In favor, please say I. >> I. >> Motion carries. We'll move into our discussion and action items. We have first we have a state report and as well last last week Tuesday the state report cards are released by DPI. This is a state that that happens. Um so go through what this result cards there are annual evaluation of multiple factors that represent the performance beyond only just the achievement data. In addition to assessments, report cards are scored using multiple nonassessment based measures including attendance, chronic absenteeism, and graduation. There are four priority areas on all of the report cards. Achievement, growth, target group outcomes, and on track to graduation. I'll go through each of those a little bit more in depth as we go through this. These include multiple
021years of data averaged across multiple years for stability and more recent years are weighted more heavily. The report cards also include some non scored information including course and program data, third grade reading, and certain state and local lawations. >> All right. So, what's new for the 2425 report cards? Uh they although there are some new components, it's not nearly as extensive as last year. Remember, the discussion on some of the changes that took place. First update I will go through is updates to achievement based scoring. There are three primary areas. Thank you. Um the first is that this year we can include two years worth of achievement data. Um last year following last year's transition to updated statewide assessments, this year's report cards include both of the both last year and this year's achievement data
022and Next year with the 2526 report cards, we'll be able to include three years worth of achievement data. The report cards traditionally have been calculated. Another update is the discontinuation of the 23 24 scale adjustments. Last year, the report cards applied a scale adjustment to the achievement scores to align with the 22 23 distributions. That is no longer needed as we are in the second year of having similar assessments. biggest update was the norming change. The report card standard setting meeting was held over the summer with a panel of more than two dozen educators. And to prevent distorting the overall ratings, achievement and target growth outcomes are now normed to growth instead of achievement because growth is more stable distribution. The distortion occurs because the school each school and district differs in the proportion of
023the priority areas and that apply and the new assessments and updated test scores have shifted the achievement scores causing a bunching at one end. So that's why this alignment to growth rather than to achievement. But as a result of that our overall scores for not only the district but for the schools and the achievement scoring component cannot be compared to previous years. The individual um data used the achievement data used to calculate that can be compared because the assessment itself is the same. So for example, we can compare the number of students proficient in ELA and math over the past two years, but we can't compare the achievement score itself from last year to this year. Hoping that makes sense. So and this will be the new baseline going forward. So going um back to
024what's new on the report cards. Um low test participation used to result in points deduction from the report cards. This is no longer the case. Although that information is on participation rate is included on the report cards. Wisconsin act 20 requires the report cards to include the data on the percentage of pupils reading at grade level by the end of third grade. And this data is forformational purposes only. Wisconsin Act 12 requires the report cards to collect high with high school grades to collect statistics on certain crime violations um that occur on school property during specific times. And these rates need to be published on the school and district report cards. And again, this is forformational purposes only. And there are multiple limitations on this data as far as what to include, how to include
025it. for complete information. I have a link um that should be included in your board presentations for all the information. I would not that data was provided to you as a board if you had to review it to see it. So that's not new to you or anybody in our community that would have been at the board meeting or looked at our report card across the state now, but you did see that as a board and community. >> All right. Okay. So, one of the changes that that um the Norman committee that met this summer did was a change to the standards setting with this accountability rating category. As you can see, the standard setting um it it changed the range that is included within each of the categories. Um although we can't compare the
026labels, we can review the changes in proficiency. So, school was rated exceeds expectations and then met expectations and it changed in their in their overall score. Obviously, it can't be compared year to year for the pack for this reason and for the changes in the achievement score itself. So, we're going to take a look at Northland Pines. Any question? That's kind of a summary of some of the changes. So taking a look at Northland Pines, um the overall score is going to be the average of all of these priority weight areas that I talked about at the [snorts] beginning. Achievement, growth, target group outcomes in on track to graduation. These priority areas are weighted primarily based on a percentage of the economically disadvantaged students. That's per state statute. With 42.2% of NPSD students economically disadvantaged,
027our achievement score weighs 20.2% while our growth weighs 29.8%. Each year this is recalculated. So every year this the proportion may look a little bit different. School report cards also use priority area weights similarly calculated based on a school's economically disadvantaged. Unique school sizes however and configurations impact which priority areas are included in those elements are weighted. Taking a look at the priority areas for uh NPSD, our achievement score is 66.8, which is the same or higher than 48.2% of the districts in the state. Although I do have last year's score on it, remember that because of the norming process, we can't really compare the two from last year to this year. This Priority area summarizes ELA and math performance for all students in grades three through eight and this includes forward preaced ACT and
028DL exams. The prior this achievement priority area only includes or includes only students tested who are enrolled in the full academic year in that in our district andor the school. So if the student comes mid year, they are although they are required to take the test, they are not included in the data for that year. Currently this achievement is a two-year average. Again, next year that will be threeear average. Growth, we scored 65.1, the same or higher than 61.1% of the districts in the state. The growth measures changes in students performance over time on statewide assessments compared to similar students in the across the state based on multiple years of data. The priority area rewards schools and districts for helping students improve performance regardless of a student's achievement score. The target group outcomes the district
029scored 67.8 [snorts] the same or higher than 63.7% of the schools in the state. This group um examines multiple measures for students in the bottom cortile or the bottom 25% of performance based on the prior year's test results. And this priority area is designed to inform improvement efforts resulting in positive change for learners who need it most. On track to graduation, the district scored 88 same or higher than 56.8% of the districts in the state. This concludescludes combination of chronic absenteeism, graduation rate, third grade ELA and eighth grade math scores. Each each school uses a combination that is specific to the school's makeup. So, for example, um the high school does not include third grade ELA because they do not have a third grade in that school. It basically measures how successfully students are achieving
030educational milestones to predict postsecary readiness. Seeing that most of our did increase even though we really can't compare um some of the scores from last year because of the achievement. Um taking a look at how our district did overall, we are at 71.8 is our ranking based on our achievement scores and our priority weights which gives us exceeds expectations as a district. So um and then with the work that we did um for act 20, you guys have heard of the act 20 quite often in the last three years. Um just uh taking a look at what that looks like for our school act 20.8% of our third graders scored proficient or meeting or advanced performance on forward which is compared to 50.3 across the state. So, our third graders did significantly better than third
031graders across the state for third grade proficiency. Taking a look at how the schools across NPSD did um the schools like the district receive a score of 0 to 100 based on those priority areas and those priority priority areas differ based on the school's makeup and economic enrollment. So, a complete review of each school is in your packet, but I'm not going to be standing up here for an hour going through all of those. Um, but I would like to point out a few items. We'll be taking a look at each of our schools. Lands is our only school at NPSD that's scored using an alternate rating and that is because there are less than 20 students in that school that take the forward that are full academic year students. So they receive an alternate
032rating system and they are satisfactory progress. So our high school um is now using the traditional rating rather than the alternate rating as it has in the past due to an increase in enrollment and now [snorts] that they have more than 20 students for two years in a row that um take one of the assessments. So they are um included in a different rating. This is the first year that middle school and high school are combined report card. We had those two separate and keeping in mind that the scores include only full school students enrolled for a full academic year. Um four out of our six schools have less than 40 students in all of their grade levels that are included in these scores. So, a lot of our four out of our six schools,
033I'm excluding Land of Lakes as the alternate rating, but four out of six of our schools have a very small percentage of students that are included in their achievement scores. So, along with these snapshots, schools like ours use a lot of different other measures to um evaluate their internal performance and using real-time data. Um many schools have a local report card that they use at the whole picture of each district or each school. So, taking a look at our uh local report cards, all of them are included in your board packet. >> Why don't we just stop and pause for a second on the state one before so that board members can ask questions if you don't mind. I just want to mention a few things to to the board and to the community. One,
034I want to just mention a couple highlights too. First off, I just want to be honest with this state report card, I think, and even sitting with politicians, they are starting to understand that this has become very politicized, right? Like they want to pick a number and say this is how a parent could compare. If you just look at the numbers that are still up on the screen over there, not one of those schools were are made to be the same. In other words, how that number got there, it's not all the same numbers at every school. Create this use the same formula to get there. As Sue said, it changes every year. So, we have four elementary schools, four different school ways of getting their final number. So, I know the whole idea is
035to get a number so you can compare, but unless you dive into the 7 to 12 pages of report card data, you're not really seeing how that number was created. I'll pick I'll pick a couple. For example, you look at Land of Lakes. If you were at any of our board meetings, we talk about reading outcomes. Their report card would be off the chart. They have they have a ton of things to be positive about um and proud of and celebrate. AR doesn't tell the story. It tells a story that they are doing great things, but it doesn't tell in the same way that other schools have high numbers across our state. So, I just want to show that a little bit. I do think there's to cate like you know I'm very proud of
036this district we've gone from meet expectations to exceed expectations even though you saw it went up higher so you're at exceeding expectation that's back where we want to be we want to get better um and and we're going to get there also realize in this comparison when I say it's a lot of politics involved not every school in the state that gets taxpayer money has a score I think that's very frustrating if it's meant to be compare and shop around Let's compare us and be shop around and be fair. If all schools are going to be judged, then let's put it out there. I think when you start looking at some of this information, for example, sore high school, some people might say, well, look at that number. Well, they don't get to count graduation
037rate, which is one of their strongest attributes. One high school in our district counts graduation rate, one doesn't. Their growth rate is outstanding. It's it's one of the highlights of our district is their growth in their academic achievement of their students, you know. So, I think sometimes when you look at one number and don't take the time to dig into it, there's stuff to celebrate across here um and and really be proud of. Also, this community should understand and parents do. We give our parents all their local assessment results on an ongoing basis. If you want to know how your child can read, it isn't whether they read or not. It's how where they need to grow. They talk to outstanding educators in our district who help give them feedback. It's more accurate. It's frequent
038and it's accessible. You as a board get your annual goals in February and in July. You get updates on AGR. Sue brings in the reading programming. You know, if we're getting better or not. Um, so I don't I get a little bit upset when I see one number. You'd think I'd be saying, "Woohoo! We're great. We got exceed expectations." Yeah, I'm happy because it shows that our staff who are amazing are doing great things. But on the other side, it's a number. Um, and and it's something that we should take count for. This community deserves for us to have a high number and we're going to work to keep doing that. But also remember, it is a number. I I don't think any of us um when I walk the halls of this district holds
039themselves to a higher standard than anybody can put on themselves. Our staff holds themselves at really high accountability levels. They are working many hours. They're caring about kids. They're preparing them for life, not just that includes how to read and do math and write. That is preparing them for life, but there's so many other things. Um, but I do want to give kudos to our staff and our students because our students are the ones that have to take these tests. They have to work hard. Um, as been shared by multiple administrators in this room tonight, learning how to read is not the magic. It's not magic. It is really, really hard. I think we take it for granted, those of us that got to learn how to read and came pretty easy. There's a lot
040of kids out there that really, really struggle. But our staff works hard. They they've done training and more training to be prepared to help all kids read and we're still that is our goal and we're going to get there. But I just want to give the kudos to our staff and our students and the parents that also help and make sure that we are showing improvement and there's a lot to celebrate tonight. Um but the areas that we know we have to grow, there's not anybody in this district that doesn't realize we're not to where we want to get. But what really gets me excited is we are headed in the right direction. I'm a believer either you're going in the right direction or going the wrong. there's very little status quo in life and
041and this staff and this leadership team in front of you tonight has got us moving in the right direction. I'm really excited in where we're heading. It's taken a lot of work and a lot of effort, but we're starting to see some of those results both when we show up with our local assessment data and also here. With that being said, one of the things we've implemented because our community told us this was their mission and they told us there's more to to what our kids do. North Pines in a onetime score. Um, but before we get into that part of it, which is called the W report card, are there questions for any administrator in this room or any comments on our report cards? Sue did do um just so the audience know there
042is a summary for each which we will put in the public section after the board had a chance to look at it tonight. All the report cards are on our there's a link to it on our website and they are in the public section of our board docs tonight. Anybody would ever want hard copies, we'd be happy to get you those. We're we're happy to share them. They're public documents and we're proud of them. I encourage you to dig into them and if you want help explaining them, we'd be happy to sit down and explain them in depth. But questions from board members tonight or comments. >> I guess I'll bring up one and I don't know if I'm able to articulate this the way I want to, but I'll try with us. Um, looking
043at the high school numbers, I understand that you say it's just one key metric, it's one number and that we shouldn't get too caught up on it. But I'm going to push back and I'm going to ask you what should we look at to measure the success of S High School, not look at this one. >> Well, I would say don't look at the top number only. I would say look what got there created. I would ask are we helping kids be prepared for life? I would say are we asking the journey of these students and when when they come there Are we helping them grow academically? Because a lot of them not necessarily even from Northland Pines, but they come from us at different parts of their life and journey. A lot of them
044feel more comfortable there than coming to the high school. This is a place for a lot of students that may be not able to find success in any other place. So, they start from behind. So, if we're going to help them be prepared for life and earn a diploma, not given a diploma, but earn a diploma, they're going to have to grow a lot. And that's really what this report card says. Are they all at the level we want them to be at yet? No. Um, but the we would love for them to get there. Remember, some of these kids our staff will only get to work with for a year or two before they get the score. So remember that sore high school doesn't have probably, and we could give you the breakdown, the
045majority of these kids for the three years prior to their testing, but they're going to own that test score because that's where they took the test. So that's so in fairness if we want to break that down and have a deeper conversation about that we're willing to do that. Um I I think if you really look at the work that's being done um it it's at a high level. Um if you look at the work of the students and the staff um I've mentioned it before with all three charter schools the journey and the time they have is different. Um, in other words, you know, when a student's in this building, if you have five classes and and you're failing and you just can't get back up over that hump, the charter school can take
046that time to work with you, build those skills, and that weight of that F and zero that you can never climb back out of has a chance because you can show and demonstrate learning. In some regards, it's harder to demonstrate learning at sore and prove it than to get these in a traditional classroom. So, um yeah, remember this is also their first report card. So, in the past, you know that they're working from the first time. We actually got a letter from DPI this spring. It was in the fall or summer. Summer, I think. When did you get that one? That said we weren't even going to get a report card again. Then all of a sudden, we got a report card. So, we had conflicting emails that we had to call DPI and they're
047like, "Oh, we're sorry. That one didn't matter." It doesn't really matter because we have to take the test anyways. I mean, it's required by law to have them take the test. So, I think there's a lot of things. I wish the data if you're going to compare high schools and let's put all the stuff together and put it on there. Also, let's look at how long these kids get to be exposed to learning at Soore. Um, and if you didn't have Soore, these scores really belong to both you didn't have a sore high school. These are North and Pine students >> and in some cases they didn't even start North Pines. They might have been with us for one academic year. There's kids who come for one academic year and outstanding and raise the score
048too. So don't I don't want to judge kids that show up but the kids that maybe struggle a little more tend to show up at so high school and that's okay because it's a place that kids show great success and go on to do many things. So I do also Remember, it's a barely qualifies for a report card. So, by peer percentage, the number of kids, the smaller the number of kids, the harder it is to get a higher score. The fluctuations go up and down because if you have a group that scores high, that really helps, but then it goes back down as well. So, I do think the question you asked, I would say look at growth. Look at the bottom of what Sue shared with you for report card analysis. If you
049look at our local assessments and that shows what we're working with and showing, we're headed in the right direction. As I said earlier, Harland's here tonight, his staff, they they're owning this. They want to see better. They're happy about some of the things that they're saying is working, and that's the growth and and really showing some positives. Um, you can see we're above state level in those areas, which is not in every school district that we even have in the district. So, you might higher score at the top, but there's areas for improvement as you break it down into the grouping. If I can just add Scott, you know, if you if you look at the report card scores of many charter schools across the state, it's it's very common with charter schools that students
050picking that option, you know, may have been struggling with their education for one reason or another or, you know, they pick that option and they're a type of student that, you know, doesn't show success by the traditional measures that were being measured on here. Um, so that's one thing I want to acknowledge like And that's why I'm I'm excited by our ELA growth that our report card shows. But also look at like we have a long way to go with math. That's a particular area where many of our students come in and that's why they chose Sar High School because the way the pathways that are presented to them for math have not been working. So um you know we're trying to get them along um in math. So um but I guess one of
051the things and Scott mentioned it you know so high school you look at the numbers um you know we want to celebrate our growth but also one of the mandates and the reasons you know why we get some of the students we do is we are trying to help them get to graduation through credit recovery and the things the pathways that we have but then that mandate that the district has on us for that we're not judged on that in this report card so they actually take our graduation rate which is much higher than the rest of the state and they substitute in schoolwide attendance which I'll know too is a area of struggle. Many students come to sore high school because they've been struggling with attendance um and they find that because it's a
052self-paced environment um in an independent learning that they can achieve better in that environment um because they're not falling behind every time they miss. But sometimes that's for legitimate reasons. Sometimes it's just that's a student that their family or whatever struggles with um attendance. But um I'm not at all worried about um the fact that we have that number now because it's it's now we have a number that we can put down there and we can be judged hopefully next year by the growth that we get in that report card. So as much as it's, you know, we didn't have quite the score that we wanted to this year, I'm excited for if we can get those growth numbers to because I believe in one of the as our growth number counts as significant portion
053towards our score. So if we can get the growth numbers that we think that we can, we're going to see some significant growth on that report card score for next year. So hopefully we'll get the same questions then on the growth that's in that report card, not just the score that we had in the first year that we got. >> Well, thank you guys for both of your comments. Um, and I do appreciate Scott when you say that, you know, they are earning their diploma and that 100% graduation is an earned rate and not just a given rate. So, thank you for pointing that out. >> I got a couple questions. Um, this is kind of like drinking from a fire hose, first off. So, and you're doing a great job. So, these numbers are
054for Wisconsin. We're comparing ourselves to Wisconsin. Do we have any numbers that compare us to the rest of the country and then even globally? And is this all public schools? Do we ever look at how private schools are doing compared to how we're doing? And you may not have those numbers, but I'd be interested at some point. >> We can compare ourselves nationally with our STAR assessment and our web assessments. And we have that data. I have that data on some of the additional information that's in the board packet of the local report cards. I have that some of that information along with the report card review. some of that information because that is nationally. As far as private schools go, like Scott mentioned earlier, not all schools are assessed in the state. So, we
055were limited on the comparable schools. >> And I I get the whole numbers thing, but you have to use something, you know, you have to use something with all those other variables that we all understand from I didn't have food this morning to I didn't sleep last night to everything else, but it still helps kind of gauge how we're moving along. >> Our local assessments that we use are as star three times a year to students. Um, and there's a lot more flexibility in the administration of those assessments. So, for example, there are times that a teacher knows that the student has had no lunch or know has had trauma at home. So, we can schedule the assessment. We can look at the know that maybe they need to try again. We can't do that
056with the state exam. >> So there's so we try with the local assessments to really measure the true student whenever possible without just saying here's the day go. But we have no choice with the state. >> One of the things as I talk about Paul is when you say compare across the country Wisconsin I haven't heard the last number but like within a year or two it's been we were the third highest standard in the country. So you can Well, Wisconsin's reading proficiency is this. Well, if you say the bar is here because reading proficiency is not the same in every state. >> Sure. >> So, if Wisconsin's is here and the rest of the country is lower, we're not going to probably look as good. Yeah. We want to be there and look better
057than everybody else and that's our still our goal. We want every kid to read, but it is hard to compare apples and apples when it comes to >> I totally get that. Good questions. That's why the breakdowns, I think the summary sheets that Sue did is a great place for, you know, kind of see multiple factors. >> I did look through all this, too. It's there's just a lot of information there. >> What we're trying to move you from, and that's why you have followup and even, you know, some of the ones that may be either concerning or celebrating. Um, you know, like one of the things all our schools. We want to learn from each other. You know, I want to give, you know, E River Elementary, I mentioned, in the right direction. If
058you really look at the track record, the scores are are headed in the right direction. Kudos there to the leadership and the staff and everybody working really hard there. I think, you know, Monasur Learning Center significantly exceeds expectations. You know, is a great celebration of the hard work of that staff and those students have been working really hard to reach those kind of goals. And what can we learn from the that went on there. You know, we've had higher numbers at St. Elementary. Tony is zone and the staff is working hard there. There's nobody that's not these aren't because we're not working hard. We're we're trying to get better. You know, that's why our inservice schedules the last three years would show that. I think um you know, some of the training we brought in,
059we have coaching going on in the classrooms that need some extra support right now. Um, but we are headed. The numbers and all the other things we mentioned is other tools are showing that we're going in the right direction and we own where we got to get better. But we'd be happy to also break some of these down either policy or a future board meeting or even just with any of you as well. Questions or comments? I appreciate what every I understand you're working hard and I'm very pleased. I just just like to ask and get more information. >> Absolutely. >> Questions here and >> ask questions. I I really want to preface before Sue talks about local report cards. myself. I think Gretch and you were in director role when we started this process
060with Don, me, Ryan. We C9 did this as a whole and it's really caught on around the state. There's kind of two methods. One is portrait of graduate and then local report cards. So we as a district kind of went with the most schools in season 9 and did local report cards. Some people are like, well that's to show about your test scores and it's not at all. It's show that both things. We're not hiding from one because of the other, but what we heard from staff, we heard from business owners, co um employers, um we've heard from um graduates and our community, parents, and Harlon touched on it. Some parents would rather not have their kids assessed at all. They they're happy. They trust what's happening. They they prefer to they don't want hours
061of assessments that the state dictates. And as you see, there are some parents out and we get penalized for it. That's their choice. We support them. Um but when it came to us working together, there was some there is research behind these items. So one page is researchbased and the second page came from parent survey, staff survey and input. The board didn't see these before and shared input. We do update them. We do tweak them not just to show our good things. We leave some items on there for annual comparison so that we can see as a staff. These go out to our staff and not just the test scores. We want to see our our business community told us it's important to see how many kids are in different electives. How many service hours,
062you know, you as a board support that. Um so before we get going, I just want to preface where these came from. Um this is I think our third or fourth year we've had them and I think it's probably something in the next year or two you may consider. Is this working for us? Do we want to keep doing them? Um, as I said, I think there's some celebrations, but it is a guide of how we should get better as a district. So, with that being said, I'll turn it over and they are in public view and board docs as well and they'll be on our website. >> What I like about the local report cards is it gives you a picture of beyond just controlled by the state. Gives us our ability to be
063personalized on what we're showing, what we communicating to the public. So, um, again, it's more than just your DPI rating. Um, some highlights that I just want to put on there. Um, 85% of our first graders showed math growth in based on the STAR assessment and 96% of third graders showed reading growth improved on their reading in third grade. So, um, students passed 388 dual credit saving just barely under $125,000 in college tuition. That's not on the state, like I said. So, those kids are really excited. 7,900 hours over um of community service by our 7 through 12 graders. They just finished their community service day a couple weeks ago where all students have the opportunity to get out there and give back to their community. 95% of our elementary parents participate in school events
064whether coming to parent teacher conferences open house or there's all of our elementary have a family reading night we do have a high participation rate so taking a look at takeaways um focusing right now on the DPI report cards um we have a strong overall performance with the exceeds expectations we are above state averages on our achievement and on the on track to graduation categories. As a district, we also review that proficiency on the local assessments, the AS web, the AS web plus, excuse me, STAR and um classroom assessments. Our achievement and growth, um the number of students proficient in both ELA and math is above the state average. Our growth increased from 64.1 to 65.1. And we had gains among economically disadvantaged students and students did with disabilities. So showing the positive impact that
065we have of our high quality instructional framework and our MLSS systems, continuous improvement focus. Um the district is strengthening its teaching and learning through both building and district continuous improvement plans. We are using professional learning communities, high quality instructional frameworks, and expanding the implementation of our MLSS or multi-level systems of support, focusing on student proficiency, student engagement, and their wellbeing across all the schools. So, it's not just focusing on achievement. Um, we are definitely going to test scores as we talked about the local report cards. Um, and then on the continuous improvement, we take a look the entire student the entire and the systems that we have available at each school. The board has had goals to increase the percentage of students performing at or above grade level proficiency in ELA and math by 5%
066as measured by our state and local assessments. The board also set the goal of that NPSD will have overall student attendance of 95% or higher for all schools. So, looking at the continuous improvement. We look at the board goals. We look at our DPI report cards. We look at our local report cards and we look at um proficiency on local assessments. We look at our staff. We look at our school. We look at our programming and our community to guide our next steps. So, our continuous improvement isn't just based on one source. Each school this year has developed um its own building improvement plan that um really ties directly to our board goals and our district goals. Um so these factors that's what this slide summarizes some of the components of all of those plans.
067Um each of these plans includes collaboration and families as part of their plan. Each of the plans embrace the systems and processes that the district has been working on. Scott mentioned earlier that we have some great things, you know, that we've been working on and all of the plans embrace our current plans and current structures and to make them stronger. Um, looking at the high quality instructional framework. Um we've done science of reading for three years and we are continuing to now work on that with the same kind of focus with the instructional strategies and student supports. Um student engagement is also part of with UDL and responsive classroom that affects not just achievement but also attendance. So that's part of our high quality instructional framework. Um multi-level systems of support um is is really
068grown to be inclusive of educators. Um that there's also systems that we could put into place whether it's wind time which is what I need time at our elementaryaries eagle time at our high schools. So we've developed the systems to make success out of the NLSS process. We continue to refine the implementation of all of these things with our data review cycles, with our PLC meetings, professional development days, coaching, staffing um and collaboration. So we put all those together um to lifelong learners for our students. So this circuit report cards are just a starting point. They're not our entire story. Um we have the ongoing continuous improvement cycles at the district level, at the building level, and at department and grade levels with our um collaborative team meetings. Um and they're focusing on both state
069and local data to ensure growth for academics and students wellbeing. Um North Pine students have opportunities and supports far beyond a single test scoring preparing each learner for life. Any questions as we put all of these data elements together and try to come up with an improvement plan and all of our initiatives which collaboratively are um just continually getting better. It's definely be challenging when they change everything from year to year or you can't compare or changing the board exam or changing the metrics for as comparing. Yes, you're still doing these things but you can't compare it to last year. got to be frustrating. But thank you um Sue and everyone all administrators and staff for um for all the information. So as Paul said, it's a lot to absorb but a lot of good
070things out there. Does anybody else have any questions for next time? Thank you. >> Moving on. Our next item item on the agenda is the first review of the school calendar. >> Yeah, it's hard to believe, but uh as we wrap up, bless you. >> As we're wrapping up tier or trimester one, we're already talking about next year's calendar. So, in front of you is first draft. This is typically been our process. Always some key points to remember. You know, basically the school calendar should meet the needs of having these outcomes be higher. How do we meet the needs of all students? Also, how do we attract and retain high quality staff? How do we meet the needs of our community is also important. For example, things like cranberry fest. How do we be a
071good partner with common PDA and some other things. Also, we do know our community is having a spring break and travel and things like that. So, you have um If you remember in committee there were more choices. Uh based on your feedback we've already produced that. So also the big topic with staff over the last prior years has been we would like more built-in snow days so that if we have a snow day we have a snow day not digital learning. This year we have one built in. If you notice on your far right column of your calendar comparisons option one in front of you tonight is basically the same exact calendar as last year. We gain one day. So you have two snow days, remember? And I'll talk about later in the agenda about
072our upcoming break that you approve this year, which is kind of rare to have a two week break next year and follow years. You won't have it again until that cycles back. Option two is the consideration of removing the February inservice date. One of the things now that we've had this calendar for a few years has been discussion of are we becoming too choppy? like the flow of the school year like days of learning could be um positively impacted and the flow could it be more positive? Um is that February inservice day the day that maybe would be better off having a day of learning and having a climate weather day built in in case we needed it. Option three is something I kind of foreshadowed in previous years. Um the consideration of adding five
073minutes to the 712 building. So the elementaryaries would still have the same amount of day. State law requires us to do exact amount of minutes over and 712 is much higher than the elementary. So it works out because the buses are parked over there for over closer to seven minutes. So, by the time they pull over, park, and get loaded, we' just be dismissing. Dan and I lived this um in a previous year where we had to make up snow days. And Josh Tilly, who was here at the time, talked about it, too. It's kind of a nice perk because kids didn't have time to visit. They had to get their goodbyes in and get out the door and get on the bus and get moving. Also, remember that would speed up so elementary would
074be on the bus a little bit less, too. So, there's some pros to it besides building and snow days. You could do a combination of things. You could add two days and keep this February in service. Um you could um you know add days off. I wouldn't recommend that. I didn't put that in front of you. Um but just know that the typical next step is for me unless tonight you tell me something not to share out. But otherwise I will take these options to our staff for two 7:30 listening sessions. Tony has made himself available for those two mornings. So he'll be part of that conversation since this will be the calendar he leads next year. So he's been part of this process as well. So we'll be having we do that virtually. So
075no teacher needs to miss anything. There's conflict. So we do them on different days. So we try to get and also I just send an email. People can email me their feedback too and they can stop me in the hallway and share as well. So, but if nothing if the board wants to give me any feedback, but then we'll take it to staff and then run it back through the committees with that feedback. I'll share what they have to say. >> Thoughts? I don't have any I don't have any questions. I'd just be curious to know if you could provide feedback on how those listening sessions end up on teacher feedback for uh in service um continuous training things such as like what CISA does and the two weeks before school. curious to see. >>
076One of the things that one of the tricky parts of these calendars, why we do them so fast and one, our community wants and parents ask for them because they're booking trips and so on. But to your point, Chris, one of the biggest things that came out of last year's listening session was to do an inservice day after the day of parent conferences because, you know, it's a late night on a Thursday and then you want to get up and and still have a good day of learning, but you're not prepping a lesson, right? So, we haven't got to experience that because it's happening in the spring. So, some of the impacts that they recommended that are in this year's calendar, we haven't got to try, but we'll leave they're still in there for next
077year, too. So, but yeah, I'll share with the committees all the feedback. I'll type it up and have it for members. >> We would have that before. >> Policy will be close. Well, I knew that. So, I picked >> was the first one. Tony, >> you have the first date. What was the first date? >> No, for our first listening session. I know the second one is policy. >> I tried to get one before. I'll check I'll give it to the full board. >> I'll have it for the finance. We'll have both of them done for finance and personal but then we can just create some sharf conversations I've had with a very very small sample size from the district talking about stuff for next school year already I guess the feedback I'm seeing is
078leaning towards option two so I would be curious um much larger sample size from the district to see what what are what matters to the staff and what considerations they bring forward. staff get that email they can participate or email. I was interrupting Tony because I was saying on both of them I think what's highlighted for the October 30th date is different than what it's listed as >> 30th. Next is administrative reports. Is there any that our administrators and directors would like to highlight other than their um extensive reports? >> The only thing I'll add is our our one act is performing at the state festival on Friday Steven's point. So they send off it's Thursday afternoon because they're leaving before 6 on Friday morning. So it'll been a pretty quiet send off on Friday.
079So >> few more people on Thursday. >> Few more people Thursday afternoon 320. but they'll be able to walk the halls with our staff and students in the hallway and make a big deal out of it. So, we don't want to get uh like we're always happy, but this has become kind of an annual event that we've made this far. So, but still a really big deal and so I was talking to Jeff the other day after school getting ready for practice or after the student performance which is probably their hardest performing their peers are but uh I was just saying to him I said you and your A couple previous people have really set a bar of excellence. We just assume this is the way it should be. But when you go to these
080festivals, it's not the way it is. You see a very different quality and you see not everybody moves on. It's not like, oh, everybody goes to sleep. It is, you know, cutthroat of your performance. He said one of the judges didn't like the plot, so he got they got ready to roll down. And that's first time in a while that they've really been kind of giving some pretty critical feedback. They've feedback how to improve, but this one did vote him to move on. That's the first time that's happened in a long time. So, does make a difference and you do have to. And this was a very young group. They turned over a lot of award-winning actors and actresses. So, these and I also think it's really hard to sustain this whether it's sports or
081performances like this. You just assume all the other people got all these awards, we're going to get them. Well, they didn't they don't realize how hard these students have to work to earn this and the staff that supports them. So kudos to them as well for that. I also want to give a shout out to Dr. Marine and Mr. Lynn and their staff. Um you know it's great as a superintendent when the phone rings and you answer it and you're not sure what it's going to be. Um to get multiple calls on the day of service learning um literally multiple single um senior citizens who's like I had no idea what I was going to do um with my yard and my house and I just you know one of them had just lost a
082spouse. and they're like, "I've never worked with so many nicer kids and adults." And I I they were literally in tears talking to me and we had some give a generous donation to the school. Um, and that we don't do any of it. But I think people I got asked by the newspaper, our school newspaper about it, the history of it. I I think not only is it giving back to our community, which is something those interactions that our kids have with these adults is great. It is modeling and Some of them end up going back and doing it on their own outside of their school, you know, through the church or boy scouts or whatever and or just do it on the good neighbors, right? That's what community needs is good neighbors. So, kudos.
083Um, you know, doesn't have to be. And the other thing, and it's pointed out often, is that relationship between student and adult on these days goes throughout the year. Like that's something to look back. They kid each other about, hey, remember when we broke the rake candle, blah blah blah. You know, they lunch. They break eat lunch together. They do things and it's just a really powerful day that I got multiple feedback that nobody had to give me, but they took the time to call and send a note and thank you letters. So, kudos to our staff and their students for that day. And Dr. Marine and the group that led that as well. >> The weather was nice. >> They did a good job. >> Um, winter concert one. There is a concert tonight.
084It's a composition concert. So, it's one of the more fun concerts of the year. Not that they're all that fun, but this is one where students write their own music. If you came to the very young composers, um this is one where the high school band does this as well. Um I had a very proud parent, as you should be, of a recent graduate who's out at the Coast Guard Academy who came through our band program and was recognized as one of our one of our very outstanding young adults and also performers. But is actually performing a jazz combo for the uh for his academy. And one of the things is a lot of the people he plays with never had to do any improv. They just were very classically trained jazz. And he got
085picked because he's so so he's been teaching and he sent something to Mr. Man to say like what you have set me up for is pretty incredible. So he got to play I don't know if you saw um Northwestern played somebody field this weekend. >> Fenway. >> Who? >> Fenway. Fenway. >> Yeah. >> Oh, that dad told me Wrigley, but Fenway. Um, no, it was Wrigley because the Cubs mascot was there. Positive, >> but maybe it was Fenway. You could be Wriggley. Um, but he got to play in front of like generals and coronals and all that and then got to attend and march out on the at that event. So he's had some just incredible experiences thanks to our music program and all the things teachers here that prepared him academically to get that
086appointment at academy and also that our winter concert series kicks off hard to believe December 4th at 2 o'clock with their elementaryaries and then there's some great band choir [snorts] concerts coming out every year big highlights including concerts at all our elementaryaries coming up as well which is something that's kind of back to doing that We used to kind of leave the outline buildings to spring fling and now we've gone back to small elementary concerts out at the outline buildings. And then also just wanted to talk about upcoming schedule for a second as we already talked about calendar. Um just remember um we have Thanksgiving. I know I get asked quite often, don't you take off for the whole week for deer hunting? And we don't. Um our survey and past experience tells us a
087lot of families count on us having school that week. Um, our attendance is actually really good that very fairly good that week. It's not even down a lot. So, we do have school Monday, Tuesday. Uh, we do give off Wednesday for travel and and being out in the woods for those that do hunt. We wish them good luck and safe. And then December, we do have an inservice day. You know, we didn't have one in November and we haven't had one since mid-occtober. So, a chance to kind of regroup, also do some learning. Some staff have given us input on some things they would like to see in that date. So especially at the 712, they're working on that already. And then also in elementary, there's some continuation of things that were meant to be
088focused on all year long. And then we try to give at least a half a day where they have time to work on the things they need to. Then we have our two week Christmas break starting on the 22nd of December. That was something we kind of conversation around with staff last year and we're going to give it a whirl and see how two weeks goes. Uh we know a lot of our families that's a long stretch, but we we don't do it very often. And uh feedback was this is a good time for some of those that do take trips maybe on on cycles really a great year to travel maybe a little further than you normally would because you have two weeks. Um and it's hard to believe um also we're ending trimester
089one already. Um a third of the year is going to be over at Thanksgiving. So it's a pretty big pretty big step and to think that we're already getting there. So here we go. It's a great time of year, but a very busy and active one. Fall sports also or winter sports. Fall sports are over. Winter sports start, all practices are now going. Boys basketball started today. Girls and hockey, girls basketball and hockey. Boys and girls started last week. So we're off and running already. And here we go. We have games coming up. Battle of the paddle is a fundraiser for the food pantry. Three legs and pines have started this tradition. girls the same night paddle your name goes on the paddle if you win and instead of a mission they give we ask
090for food donations so we split it between the three lakes and the violet food pantry so kind of a fun and great night to do something like that and support our community and come out and see that's on Tuesday of Thanksgiving week so and hockeyy's off and running as well so that >> all right will now uh go into close session. Thank you everyone for being here this evening and I hope everybody has a nice Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving. All right. I will make a motion to convene in close session in accordance with chapter 19 subsection 4 of the state statutes to discuss an appeal of student code violation in accordance with exemptions as noted in section 19.85 subsection 1 and F. Noting that the board may take action in closeard. Yes. Jennifer. Yes. Yes. >>
091Yes. >> Thank you everybody. stretches.