001This one >> like does this house see that wasn't too bad There's private Friday. >> Larry, is there something going on with this system? Did you get in? >> Wow. I'm like Honey, take mine >> and I'll just >> go by paper. No, it's okay. I'll >> do mine. >> We can share. Please. >> You got this. Pocky school district board of education meeting on this Monday, June 8th. Uh, roll call. Larry >> here. >> Matt >> here. Stacy >> here. >> Myself and Ashley, Mary, and Travis are absent this evening. Was the meeting properly noticed? >> The meeting was properly noticed. >> And can I get a motion to adopt the agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. >> We'll do the pledge of allegiance. I
002pledge algiance 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. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um gosh, right away off the bat, we have salutes and recognitions. Um, I just want to say what a great uh high school graduation ceremony we had on the 30th. There's so many um people to thank, but I don't want to leave out Mr. Sevens because he is such a big part of making that whole ship run well. Um, there's um Kate Mitchell who directed the band and it was lovely. Um, then we had the uh varsity choir um by Miss Tasha um her direction, Mike um and Brian Sniff who um ran proceedings. Um I think just if I'm
003missing anyone, I apologize, but I I just specifically want to say that I thought the choir and the band just sounded beautiful. And um hey, I was just so pleased to see how many young men went into the military this year. Thought that was really great, too. Um so yeah, kudos to everyone that had anything to do with that production, but also as well um Asa Clark's, um graduation, uh beautiful ceremony. Gosh, we got out of there in record time. Those kids ran across that stage. Uh Katie, I loved your speech. It was very moving. Um very sweet. Thank you so much. So to everyone that helped put that production on as well and to board members that um were there um for both um graduations and to Ashley and Larry that helped me with
004diplomas at the high school graduation. Thank you very much. I'm done. >> All right. We have some sports teams I wanted to recognize. Um the softball team is headed to state for the first time >> Ever. That's awesome. >> Um and then we had several um students make it to state for track and several of them made it onto the podium. Um so congratulations to that team. And girls soccer is in regional sectionals. >> Sectionals. >> They want they're regional champs. >> Okay. So regional champs are going into sectionals. Um >> CH on Thursday >> and then baseball team. >> Baseball team's in sectionals. They play or tomorrow. Tomorrow. Yep. Yes. >> And we had our alumni Grant Ross play for UWM >> and they made it into the NCAA for the first time ever
005and had quite a run and he had an amazing game. >> Yep. >> So he's a senior. He's graduating. So that was super fun to to follow along with. and they'd only ever won one game I think WM at NCAAS and they they upset Auburn and they won two then they end up losing to Auburn later but >> um but yeah that was a good run. >> I'm not quite sure how the NCAA gives homefield advantage at that level but they do >> strange to me but okay >> just to add to what you uh identified Bren in terms of what's there I mean it was a saludiatoran address by Muazine validictorian address was by Shabbo and then the commencement farewell Allison Hayes they did a great job with that but I also thought it
006was special in terms of that they had a little bit of a special for in terms of memory here and then Katie helped me out with this I mean obviously the eighth grade promotion but you guys also had a recognition for >> Owen Hansen Hans >> so that was I thought special as well in terms of >> for the students that were not there but still there in the sense of their spirit >> Eli Hansw When I said it, I knew it was wrong. Sorry, Eli. >> Eli. Yep. Eli Hansen. >> That was it. Yeah, it was a great event. I If you need a copy, I picked up a few extra copies of a little brochure. It was that was actually well done and well designed as well. So, this is all produced in
007house students that talented to do. >> That's all. >> Okay. Admin, do you guys have anything? So, I have um a recognition that we received uh and the salute goes to John Stangler, Jeff Barrens, our softball and baseball programs, and the um coaches that that were involved in the decision- making for the field for the softball field out there. We were awarded a distinguished single field facility award. I shouldn't leave off our partners at Grafe Engineering who are also part of the team um for from the American Sports Builders Association for the softball diamond that was constructed out there. >> Nice. >> Actually, can I add just a tad bit to that because Sean Stangler and somebody else made a comment that I mean one of the advantages of having the turf field is that
008our players were able to get outside outdoors practicing out there you know four or five games ahead of other people. And actually that was the other thing too. I mean, if they couldn't play games on their home field, they would come and play at PWA. So, I mean, so this is like having the turf field was probably a nice nice advantage for our team. And obviously, us going to the state tournament for the first time. I have a few. All right. So, first, um, I want to recognize Melissa Schultz. She's one of our math instructional coaches at the secondary level. We are about to enter into a new phase for math curriculum renewal that will eventually make its way to the board. But part of that process is piloting different resources. So we do have
009a handful of resources that we are looking at and Melissa has just done a ton of heavy lifting when it comes to making sure we're ready for that pilot. So I want to recognize her. I also want to recognize uh Melinda Larson Horn, Colleen Rooney, Paul Barren, and Rachel Jük. We are in the process of getting organized to potentially um I think we have made the decision to move from Canvas back to Google Classroom um for for numerous reasons, but those four individuals have kind of spearheaded the organization of that, the planning. Colleen and Melinda will do some heavy lifting this summer with uh getting staff trained and ready for the start of next school year. And then uh Brian Seagull and Carrie Ralfi, I want to recognize them. I think that both of them
010are continually looking at ways to improve experiences for students and for teachers. Carrie had some ideas with some revisions to our district writing assessment. She worked with Brian and we're looking at implementing those uh next year. So, thanks Brian. >> Yeah, you guys uh took a lot of them. So, um there's a lot to recognize. We could I could go on and on about it, but just kind of a general comment about the end of year programs that happen, spring, all the field days activities, you know, uh, principles and APs getting wrapped in toilet paper like mummies on behind Asa Clark, all those kinds of things that really bring a lot of joy to students um, at the end end of the year and the community gets involved. Obviously, the grad walk is is a
011huge one of those that uh is just such a great community uh moment. So, and I don't think we can underestimate the impact of those uh kinds of traditions. We talked about that a little bit at our end of year celebration and recognizing our retirees. It was great to have a bunch of our retirees back for that program. That's always, I think, uh pretty spe special. But I also want to recognize Christy Johnson who's here because um she got to steer the ship down 1AP for the last several weeks of the school year as Lexi was out as she had her uh baby and had to manage that as well as get an entire school an entire school ready to move because literally everybody's moving as we're putting in flooring in the entire building. the
012library had to get emptied out because that's all getting renovated and because we're floor we're redoing the flooring. Christy made their really smart decision say now is the time to reorganize the hallways that really kind of never went sequentially in order ever since we moved the sixth grade up to ASA because at that time they just went into the empty hallway so that the other teachers didn't have to move but everybody's got to move anyway. So Christiey's like all right we're going to get them in order and kind of reorganize um >> uh next year. So that was a lot of heavy lifting there. uh on the end end of the year for Christie. >> One other one, >> spring sing, right? So >> that's also I mean it was a full full house for
013that, right? >> Oh yes. Yeah, that was that was a big production. It was great. >> All right, thank you everyone. Um Tammy, any citizen comments? >> Thank you. Uh consent agenda that does um include meeting minutes from the May 18th regular meeting and business affairs correspondence include in your packet. Um and also we're looking to accept the policies that were listed there in your packet. Um they've already been through first read so it's really just accepting them. So if I could get a motion to accept the consent agenda. >> Move to approve the consent agenda as presented. Second. >> All in favor? >> I thank you. All right. Next is business affairs. Stacy. >> Okay. Uh so we had our meeting tonight. We spent quite a bit of time kind of going through the
014um revenue and expense statement. Being that it's the end of the year, uh we are only at 61% of revenues collected, which may seem a little strange since we're in June. Um but that's just the way it rolls with uh the governmental funding that we get in. So by the end of the year, John estimates it'll be 99.5. Um for expenditures, um he is predicting that our insurance, our self- insurance costs will exceed budget. um open enrollment expenditures will be down related to um students that were open enrolled moving into the district and then some non-resident students moved out um and went back to their resident schools. Uh so revenues will be down, expenditures will be down a little bit. Um and the big thing of course is our special ed funding. So um we
015budgeted 41% which was a conservative budget based on what our legislator said. Um but it looks like we might receive 38,000 or excuse me 38% which is about $120,000 deficit for that um fund. Um but it's still under review. We're still going to hope and pray that >> rumor has it they have two of the three votes that they need to maybe be changing. >> That would be awesome. >> Two. So, >> there's still a chance that maybe this surplus compromising could happen which would result >> John mentioned that Marquette Law did a poll and it's vastly >> popular with the state cons north of 80%. >> Yeah. Um, okay. So, our expenditures are sitting at 80%, which also might seem weird given the time of the year, but we have last four installments of
016salary are paid on June 30th. So, that gets the teachers through the summer. Um we talked about some cost-saving um measures. Um everything from the newer flooring that we've done throughout the campus and now going into ASA to the turf um which lasted 14 years. John said it was the oldest turf in Wisconsin. Um of course the solar project which should be done by uh next Monday the 15th. Um he referenced the staffing model um with the administrators really maximizing instruction costs and minimizing non-instruction costs and then efficiencies in the bus routes. Finally, we talked about our capital projects uh which of course are largely completed um and the ones that um like are the add-ons every a bunch of them got started today. Everything's looking good. Um, we should everything should be done by
017there's possibly bleachers by the second week of September, but otherwise over the summer everything should be done. So, we are sitting well good there. Okay. Awesome. >> Um, >> all right. Uh, move to accept the business affairs report as presented. >> Second. All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. Next, we move on to new business. And first up, um, we have a field trip consideration, um, exploring France, which, um, we're looking for the spring of 2028. And, um, we have Kate and Aaron here with us tonight. >> Bonjour. >> Um, I just want to start out by, um, thanking you for approving the Japan trip. Um, I came back with the same number of people we left with, which is always the bonus. same number and the same actual people. >> Yeah, that that
018helps. Um the students had an amazing time. Um they're still talking about it or well they still were as of last week. We were there in peak cherry blossom season. >> Um which also meant lots and lots of people, lots of other tourists there. Um but it was just an amazing experience for the students. Um thinking about how they did in such a different cultural experience, different food, different language. Um I couldn't have been more proud of how they represented our community. So, >> Oh, nice. >> Um, and so we would like to now jump to our next trip because I always look ahead. So, um, Erin approached me at the beginning of this past school year about possibly doing um, a collaboration trip um, sort of opening the doors to some more history um,
019for our students and putting that in action. Um, I've always been, weird way to say it, a a fan of World War II history. I'm not sure how to say that. Um, but it it fascinates me. And so, um, we spent some time looking at a number of different, um, trips through EF, which is who I've been using, um, all along. And, uh, we came up with with this one that starts in Paris. Um, and then we end in Normandy. Um, and so we thought this would be a really great opportunity for the students to uh experience what they're learning in Aerin's class and all of the other social studies classes and take them to where all of that happened. One of the things that we liked about this tour is it's a really nice
020balance between history and sightseeing some other things because a lot of that World War II history is so heavy. Um, and we didn't want it to just be one more sad thing on the trip, but um, kind of a a learn from and also an experience. I'll turn it over to Erin if there's something he wants to say. >> I don't have much more to say other than I really appreciate um, the board and administration through my many years of always being supportive of unique opportunities for students and teachers to try new and different things. And this is something obviously as a longtime US history teacher, I've really wanted to be able to take students to particularly where D-Day took place, but uh to be able to see um some of these these sites like
021this. So um as we talked about it, as Kate mentioned, trying to balance uh World War II with maybe some other experiences too, this just seemed like the the right itinerary for what we're hoping to accomplish. Did you happen to do a survey? Like do you have do you have an interest level or is it too early like is it too early to even do that? >> We have not done a survey um just based on the past trips that I've taken. Um I think a lot of it is is how you spin it, how you propose it. But I think that um between Erin's students and his classes and and my students and the school community, I I actually don't think we'll have a problem getting a full trip. >> How many did you
022take to Japan? >> We took 34 total. >> Oh gosh. Okay. Yeah. Then I agree. I don't think it's going to be a problem. >> Yeah. >> and we can take as few as 20 >> and um that number is based on a private tour, meaning that it would just be our group. Uh when we did the Scotland and England trip back in 2018, um we were combined with two other schools uh just to fill the bus, which was was great except um being a private tour, you have wiggle room. So if we want to spend a little bit more time um in Normandy, we have that option. We're not tied to what like other schools are doing. Well, France and Normandy are on my bucket list. And I do think there is so much
023rich history there. It it is sure to be just a wonderful experience for these students. So, thank you. Really appreciate it. >> I move to approve the field trip request for the PH students to explore France in the spring of 2028 as presented. So, >> second. All in favor? >> I >> Thank you. Thank you for your work. >> Okay, before you go, in Japan, you guys had the drums there. >> Yes, the drum muscle. >> Really good, right? >> That was so cool. I was like a kid at Christmas. I couldn't tell my husband to take any more pictures and videos. You know, this is about the kids, right? Don't tell me. >> That's awesome, Kate. >> Thanks, Kate. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next, we have the Ames Web uh report
024presentation and we have Anthony and also Candace on the line um to go through that report with us. >> Yes. Before I hand it off to Candace, I just want to provide some context. For many years, we had utilized STAR, the STAR assessment as our universal screener. And the purpose of having a universal screener is that it is a district assessment that we utilize to look at trends, but most importantly to identify students that may need additional levels of support. when act uh 20 was passed and our 4K through grade three students were required to uh take the A as web plus assessment in reading. We thought that it would be wise to have one assessment. So we expanded that use of as web plus as our universal screener um up through 8th grade. So
025we have one as opposed to having one foot in AS web and one foot continued in STAR. So this is our first year of having all of our students up through eighth grade. utilize the AS web plus assessment. So I know you guys had information in your packet here, but I am going to hand it over to Candace who's with us to kind of just give an overview of the report that she had shared with you. >> So as this is the first year of Plus for the screener across the district and so as you go through some of this data, it is more limited. We just have this year's data. Um as we start to get our slides. I want to take a moment to just walk through what some of the data looks
026like. And so we look at this chart and math data. This is the percent of students at the national average. That's a bit different from our prior screeners in this performing compared to other students. Um and so these are the students above the national average when we look at forward at AC data. We're looking at benchmark data that is specific to student acquisition of so that's just something to kind of keep in mind as you go through some of this data. It does look a little bit different. It is also the reason when we get into some of our literacy data while our younger students do take classy we don't have a lot of data that is because they take the same assessment every many students both our own and across the country completes the
027assessment with 100% accuracy. What that really means though is that you get the assessment completely correct, but your percentile data would be a little off. You might only be at the 50th percentile because 50% of students all about 100%. You can't be higher than the 50% data. Just something to kind of keep in mind and why some of those levels aren't available even though they do take the level. When we dive into our math data, we can see that over 7 students were above the national average in the spring. We really do see that spring in math was better than the fall. So we kind of see a consistent trajectory upwards from fall to spring. In most cases that is also up for winter as well with the exception of grade two where they keep
028just a tiny tiny bit above in winter above spring but for the most part moving up to spring as students are out their look at some of the trends in the math assessment. There are three subjects in math number which was a relative strength for students. There's also mental computation the average one among the three and then concepts and applications and that was the more challenging And then grow right past growth there. Growth as similar to other assessments that we did. It's individualized for students according to their initial assessments they get in fall and ASO takes that initial score and then estimates based on many many other students and of where a student will grow throughout the year and estimate how much a student should grow. Um we do not use the average amount of
029growth in school district. We do look at the 65th percentile of growth and that is true across all of our moving forward and that's star as well star looking at the 65th percentile creates a slightly more rigorous expectation to ensure that we're helping students kind of reach more than that growth in a school year and kind of really pushing them a bit higher. This year over about 56% of students this year. And then lastly for some trends in our demographics overall on the map there are significant differences across groups across the district. These are largely different level across level. It's really the accumulation of those differences. Look at students struggle on the math assessment. Um, but still overall 69% of students in each grade level performed above the national average in reading. So not too
030too concerning. something but not reading also has three subtests oral or reading fluency that was the strength for the students along with reading comprehension. Those two tests do measure similar components reading reading comprehension vocabulary was a bit more challenging for students and really the area in which they struggled and not looking at growth 59.6% % of students met their growth this year. And in demographics overall, there were significant differences between demographic groups across the district with the exception of gender and the significant differ. >> Um Candace, this is Bren. Um, so I I did discuss this a little bit with um Anthony. Um, it was the reading scores that really had the outliers that, you know, kind of made me wonder a little bit because those vocabulary scores. Um, the sixth and seventh grade especially
031were um, you know, interesting, low, and yet um, reading fluency. I mean, we saw some really great huge improvement um for a number of the grades. Um but I had asked Anthony too, how significant are these vocabulary numbers when we're looking at this is the first year that we have Ames web data. And then I know too because Anthony reminded me, we have a lot of other tests that we take. So we have to look at all those scores collectively. Um do you have any kind of thoughts to add to that regarding those really outlier scores for vocabulary? >> Yeah, that's a really really good question and I was honestly a little surprised as well. I would think that the comprehens our curriculum. I do think being the first year it's really hard to tell
032whether it's an anomaly or something that's very specific we need to work on. We are intending to specifically at grades six through eight in order to look at some of the other data forward. We are going to dig a little deeper and see how the two assessments relate to one another. And I think that's really something we'll have to follow up on not just overall component forward but also the specific vocabulary section forward and examine how they relate to one another to have a little bit of a better idea for next year. >> Okay, Anthony, did the act 20, is that what it was? Act 20. Did that impact middle school language arts? No, >> it it did not. However, um granted, this is one year's worth of data. I think specifically when you look
033at vocabulary, you can see that grades three and four performed pretty well. Um I do want to commend both Christie and Katie. Um there are some things that um Christie had implemented last year at Horizon that technically were not required per act 20 but obviously we identified a gap with some areas of literacy. So um there is some explicit um instruction for phonics that is occurring um and will continue to occur at Horizon. And then Katie has worked specifically with grades six and seven to um make some adjustments so that there is a heavier focus at the middle school as well >> on phonics. >> What are your thoughts on vocabulary like >> can you guys come to the microphone? >> Can you come? Sorry ladies. >> Yeah. >> They're connect they're connected and as
034they walk up here we have had a a heavy heavy focus at the secondary level. David Zindler runs a vocabulary program. It happens every week. Um, all of the teachers work through that, but it is not it's more like memorization of definitions of words than understanding the meaning of words. >> Yeah. And I was just going to add that um really instead of it being phonics at upper grades um it's word study. So that really includes phonics, um, vocabulary, mor morphology where kids are really looking at morph themes, roots, aixes of words, thinking about how they go together. Um, so this was really our first year of full implementation at grades four and five of the phonics core program. Um, that really brought in a lot of those parts. And Katie, I know you're implementing
035Morphe magic. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, we'll be um using a program called Morphe Magic, which is from the same, it's called 95% group that Horizon is using, but we also know it's about our people, right? And so, our teachers need more training on how to um bolster their toolkit for word study. If you look at the silent reading fluency and oral reading fluency data, you'll see those higher at the middle school. and our staff was part of a PD pathway this year and they were taking those strategies and putting them directly into the classroom. Kids were having a passage, setting a timer for a minute and reading to themselves and then listening back and seeing where their errors were. That contributes to fluency, right? We don't have those tools in our toolkit right now
036at the middle school for vocabulary. However, this upcoming year we'll be working with this program and then also um Dave Zindler has kind of innovated and reinvigorated the vocabulary program to focus on word parts instead of word word holes which is that word study component. And so instead of looking at the word as a whole and memorizing it, really learning about those word parts that secondary content folks could then bring into their content areas much more seamlessly than trying to fit a word into their instruction. Right? that seems like an addon. Um, I feel really good about those pieces because that's, you know, cause for pause there with those vocabulary scores, but I feel confident that we have some plans in place to continue the work that Horizon's been doing to close some gaps and
037then continue to build that toolkit for our staff as well. >> Before we go, I have a couple questions maybe or whoever Candace, wherever you are. So on the slides three and slides eight the growth. Okay. Are we getting the growth that we should be getting? I mean it's just and definitely on the reading do we got you know the >> Candace can you talk about growth for Ames web versus other assessment measures because I I believe I believe that it's different >> and can and I don't know if she mentioned it but we did we do set a more ambitious growth goal. Candace, do you want to kind of repeat that? >> Yeah. Um, soimar whe achieve their considered meeting their goals for the year, they have to meet more than average growth. they
038have to meet the growth that approximately 65% of other students have they have to really exceed the average amount of growth to be considered meeting their growth. Um we have done that deliberately for many many years to ensure that um student growth is rigorous and not just at the average for the students that they are meeting that one year's growth in one year's time and we're exceeding that by hitting that 65% >> but Larry I can tell you you know everyone always wants to know like where do our opportunities for growth lie >> we are a high achieving district our students are high achievers where we have an opportunity for improvement. It's it is that growth piece. If you were to go and look at our school report card, our growth scores are not as
039strong as our achievement scores. So, and Mike and I have had a lot of conversations about, you know, as we get into a new strategic plan after next year about uh potentially having a heavier focus on student growth than achievement. >> If you go to slide three for your presentation, if you will. >> Larry, can I just add on to your Um, so because we are a high achieving district, because they're already high achievers, does that make it even harder for us to show that significant growth from year to year? >> Candace, do you want to talk about that? >> Yeah. So, it does not. Um, the difference really is in the amount of growth that students are making. So, if I am maybe an average student and I my growth for the year might
040be 10 points. So my score should be 110. However, if I'm if I'm a high achieving student and let's say I got a score of 200, my growth might only be one point for the entire school year because I am doing so. And so the amount of growth students are supposed to adjust for how well or how poorly they might be finding the assessment. Um so it's really something to keep in mind that the opportunity for every student to make their growth is similar across all of the students. um it's just how much growth that they're supposed to make differs by where they started out at. >> And if you think about, you know, taking a standardized assessment, but really like boiling it down to the classroom level, our high achieving students will not grow
041if we don't adjust our instructional practices in the classroom. so that we are extending the learning for the students that are are already strong and still working with those students that need the need to close the gaps. >> So if you go to the the one where you have like the percentage of students meeting annual growth for the math the math >> that is in the report. >> Yeah. So she has the slides in the report are two different files. So you're referencing the report that Yeah. Okay. Okay. So, she doesn't have You don't have actually But I thought you Okay. >> Well, she has it, but she can't put it on the screen. >> Yeah. Just tell us which pager which page are you looking at, >> Larry. Page three. >> What I'm looking
042at is >> I mean, if you pulled up a different presentation, it would be there for your different report. But, so there's the one in the grade six. >> They have an annual growth of 48.1%. It's the lowest in that group, >> sixth grade. >> So, what are we doing with that group then? >> I mean I I would say that for us to look at that one data point and make adjustments and changes would not be wise of us. Uh at the end of June we have a math ELA or we have a math data retreat and an ELA data retreat. So at that meeting we will take this data we will take the Wisconsin forward data. We will take we will take students classroom grade data and what we do is we really
043do a data dig to identify like is that one data point valid? Does it you know are there other supporting data points and we'll use that day to then talk about like maybe making some adjustments for next year um for those specific cohorts. So that gives us an opportunity to really look at the full amount of data and make an educated decision as opposed to just this this one um point in time data where a student you know took an assessment on one day >> and Larry because my mind is reading yours I looked at early on my data without the collaboration of my colleagues so the plan is yet coming but I do believe that that's an outlier based upon some other of the growth scores that we've been focusing on but then the
044question is what was the difference right because all data gives us information Um, so you know, how does this compare to our other data or our other assessments and where could there be gaps that we should potentially focus in on? >> So the other question either for the two of you or for Anthony too. So and it's not in the slide presentation, but we have the section where it had the demographic, the economic status, IEP status, race, and gender. And in the one for the um actual average, but it was like all of the dots were basically red. So not or significantly different and only one green one on particular slot >> for for math or for reading >> math or reading. Yeah. Let me >> We only had one green where it was sign
045not significantly different but >> for are we look which demographic group >> economic status yeah at the bottom of that section. Oh, he's looking at the last >> at the bottom. >> Not or significantly different. And is it significantly different positively or negatively from? >> Well, the the red dots would be >> Yeah, just kind of explain that. >> You want to explain >> those those as a tool? >> So, when we're looking at demographic groups, really any significant difference that is an issue. Um that means that there is one group of students that is performing significantly worse than another group of students. Um and whether that be like when we look at students with IEPs um if it's read typically unless there's a little note and it doesn't really happen unfortunately for students with
046IEPs. Um that means students with an IEP are performing significantly worse than students without an IEP and so they are not performing at similar levels. We move into economically disadvantaged students that would be the same. When we're looking at gender and we look at reading, that was largely okay. But when we look at math, we did see that male students were performing significantly better than female students on this assessment. I want to be very clear that that is not true across all of our assessments particularly in gender. And then when we also look at um students their identify with, we can see that there is a significant relationship performance and they identify with and that it gets a lot more complicated that one there's six different groups to compare to um and we can break
047that down further but that's just the summary data and so really a significant difference is not something we want we want all students performing at the same high level >> right but it's hard to sort out in terms of if you have you're talking gender so that's hopefully male and female right in terms of what's in there So it's not real clear whether you've got an issue with boys or girls, race, same thing in terms of because you don't tell me anything about the race racial makeup and economic status. So or IEP status, right? If they have IEPs or if they don't have IEPs. >> Well, I I that means that they do have an IEP. >> It's the people with the IEP and their lower status is below >> economic >> and the race
048is nonwhite, >> right? Yes, >> draw that summary, we can make it more detailed >> and and >> I understand what you're saying. >> But I mean, so what you want more detail than that? >> No, it's just that if you have this kind of presentation of an economic status, it's like, okay, is it >> are students that are >> that qualify that qualify for free and reduced lunch, right? they they do not perform as well as our students that do not. Our students of color do not perform as well as our student our white students and our students with IEPs according to this data here don't perform as well as our students without IEPs. Having said that, if you look at all of the assessment presentations that we do, um we do have some
049grade levels and some pockets where those gaps are closing, >> right? And again, that I mean with a little explanation with That's helpful. But if you go to gender, what do you say? Is it boys, girls? Does it flip in terms of what's there? So, >> right. You're getting a you're getting kind of a higher level summary. >> Yes. No, I understand that. But it's just in terms of these are presentations that are out there and I think that they need to be a little bit clearer in terms of how they're being presented, particularly when it deals with students of economic status, IEP, race, gender, etc. Because we open the door to each child's future here, or every child's future. be clear. >> Yep. So, can I I just for my detail, did you girls?
050>> Assumed it was girls. >> So, for my own understanding, Larry, just so I want to make for my own understanding because I want to make sure we're we're clear on what it is that you're asking for. So when you look at IEP status and economic status is the is the thing that's unclear that that meant that if it says economic status it's economically disadvantaged and for IEP status was what was unclear was that it was students with IEPs >> add that piece to it but then the gender >> is it boys >> whether it's male or female on those particular ones. So understand too when our teams look at this data they look at it in much deeper detail and when they're making those kinds of that's really good feedback and I do want
051to compliment in general uh really excellent uh questions we were drawn right to some of the same data points that you were the sixth grade uh growth score. Yeah that's one that we definitely need to dive into at 48.1%. That's not a good score. Um and so the but we when we look at data we triangulate right we try to look at multiple sources because sometimes you can get dramatically different results. So what we're talking about is it an outlier and then also um it's over time right what is the trend of of this uh you're always going to have some differentiation. You have some cohorts that are stronger than others. Uh we would go back and we'll look at the history of that cohort. Is this a cohort that was always high performing and
052boom and had a low year? That's something to pay, you know, that would require some deeper diving. So that's the questions that you were asking. Vocabulary, yes, that that stands out over those grade levels. Vocabulary went down throughout the year. Now the target goes up because it's a percentile and that percentile that target's always raising during the year. And it doesn't mean that kids vocabulary was was weaker in May than it was in September. It just means that the target raised and less of them were hitting the the target. However, um yeah, that was a trend we need to pay pay attention to. This is exactly why we look at data. I think one of the most important questions is some of what the two of you were speaking to, which is what do we
053do about this or what are we doing with this information? whether it's the word approaches to word study, um whether there's specific aspects of the math data, um built into our systems is specifically there, um there's data teams that meet in the summer. There's a data team that's specifically focused on ELA literacy uh results. There's a team that's specifically focused on mathematics because those are kind of the two primary academic areas that that really underpin so many things. So, um, coming out of that and looking at all of this analysis is where, uh, goals and and targets and strategies emerge for the year. But I think the the questions you're asking are really good. >> Any other questions? >> Thanks, Candace. >> Thank you, Candace. >> Thank you, ladies. >> Thanks, Anthony. >> Yeah, no
054problem. >> Great. >> Thanks, principles. And I really do. I I love this stuff. I eat up this data and I can't wait to see when you guys over the summer compare the different testings, you know, what we come back with. So, >> yeah, we'd be happy to make sure we include that in some reporting. >> Yeah, we're trying something a little bit different this year and Candace and and um Lena, who is our new um assistant, she took over with Becky Cook. They've kind of put together a different uh data packet this year and so far I love it. So, >> yeah, >> we'll see. >> It's great. Um, next for new business, um, we have the 2026 summer school, um, proposed handbook and, um, Beth Ingresol is here. She's our summer school principal
055and she just did a real heavy lift putting this handbook together. >> I just want to acknowledge Beth because actually kind of surprised I really didn't think about it, but we never had a summer school handbook before. We've It's technically the biggest school we have uh with what do we got about 1,200? >> Uh we're a little over 1,400 kids this year. >> 1400 I shorted you 200. Look at that. >> So 1,400 kids that participate in summer school. Um made a lot of sense to to put a a handbook uh together and Beth did a good job and she cranked it up really quickly. But um yeah, go ahead Beth. >> Yeah. Um, so the handbook honestly is just a mishmash of all of our current building handbooks. So it's taking policies and um
056pieces that were already in place for 4K through second grades handbook, PLE's, horizon, ASEAS, and the high schools. Um, and it gets meshed together uh for the variety of things that we would encounter during summer school. And then there's summer school specifics, like things specific to schedule, arrival, dismissal. Um, some of the health and wellness things cross over, but like medication, consent stuff that occurs in summer school is different than what uh they may be accomplishing during a school year. Um, we don't do a lot of the over-the-counter piece that you may see during the summer, like during school year. Um, during summer school, it's more of emergency meds. Um, other than that, we also pulled in things like dress and appearance, um, and just that knowledge base. But the big things for us that
057we wanted to focus on was the technology component in regards to personal devices and wearable tech. And so bringing that in because if we're having that held um, kids held accountable throughout the school year, we should be maintaining that into the summer school programming. Um, so that was a big piece. The policies that are in there for wearable tech are from uh, Peely and Horizons is kind of mashed together. And then we just utilized um ASA and uh the high schools essentially to kind of just maintain when devices can be um out and and used. Uh we also put into our summer school orientation which is a little bit of a side quest, but our summer school orientation for staff also includes um a review once this if this were to be approved and go
058through, we'll have that as part of our review. So our non-district staff members who are unfamiliar with these policies are familiar with them so we can manage that throughout the summer. Um and then the other pieces that were really important were the like since we have virtual learning and then credit classes like credit recovery and credit attainment is making sure the academic requirements and expectations are are clearly displayed and so families are aware of what are the expectations of students when they're completing classes for credit. They're on shortened timelines. So, our students are completing those courses in a five-week timeline versus what they'd be doing during the school year. And we just want to make sure families understand that there's an attendance policy that's to be strictly followed, that they can't be um missing a
059specific like more than the day or approval days. Um and so we have that information for families as well. So, yeah, it's kind of it in a nutshell. >> I thought it was great. >> Yeah. No, great idea. Um, Beth, before you leave the microphone, >> I just want to take this opportunity to thank you. We will be addressing it later on, but Beth has taken a principal position with the Watertown School District. And I just want to say thank you. Is that okay? >> Um, I just want to say thank you for all your hard work at PL and with summer school. Um, it's so appreciated everything you've done for our kiddos and I I just wanted to call you out and say thank you for all the hard work you've put in here
060at Pewwaukee School District. >> Yes. Thank you. >> No, I've I've learned an absolute ton and I wouldn't have been able to honestly pursue that position even without learning what I learned here. Um, and it felt good going through the interview process because it was like, "Oh, I know that." Oh, I remember pizza saying there. Oh, I remember this. And just being able to rattle off the things and then working under uh Brian Seagull for four years. Um he's a phenomenal mentor, so I was able to get a lot of knowledge base from him. Um so yeah, it's bittersweet. It was a hard decision to make. Um but yeah, I'm excited for it. >> It'll be a nice commute. >> It will be a very nice >> very close. >> Yeah. >> How big of
061a school is it that you're going to? >> Uh it'll be a 4K through fifth grade. roughly 380ish kids. Yeah, it's like a three track of grades. >> Well, we wish you all the best, Beth. >> Thank you, Beth. All right, I will take a motion to approve this handbook. >> Thank you. Thank you, Beth. >> Thanks, Beth. Um, next we have the Southeastern Wisconsin School Alliance Agreement for the um 2526 school year. Um, Mike, >> we should change that because it's for the >> It's actually for >> for the 26 27. Yeah. So, we got for the 2627 school year. Um, yeah. So, we've been a member of SWSA for a couple of decades and uh interestingly enough, we actually have the person managing the all the uh finances as CISA1 as our fiscal
062agent uh here with Sarah. Um so, uh but yes, I I think SWSA is a very helpful organization to for us to be a part of. Um uh the contract amount for the year is $3,700. in my mind the fact that uh uh that one we're part of such a significant number of districts specifically from southeast Wisconsin and we have a lobbyist because to really put into perspective I mean we are dramatically outnumbered public education is dramatically outnumbered at the state level with lobbying uh people in lobbying positions um whereas other organizations like uh private voucher um advocates, right? There is a lot of lobbyists in place there and sometimes what they're seeking uh is not always um lining up with what the goals are for public schools. So, it's just important that we have
063as much voice as we can with our legislators. And in my mind, that alone is worth this amount of money. Uh but in addition, uh we get a lot of information. Larry's always been very active and has been on the executive committee. I'm the current co-chair. I'm on my way out as co-chair, but I'll still be part of the executive committee. Um, and uh it's uh it's like I said, we have a long history with the organization and I would certainly recommend approval, but I'd be happy to answer any questions. John's also been very involved in in his time here. So, >> I can add to it too as well. I mean, a long time ago, we never really participated in a lot of advocacy activities here in the school district. wasn't that big of
064a challenge. But since maybe about 2010, 111 somewhere in there and definitely things going on in Madison, very very different climate there politically. Uh and yes indeed the Wisconsin Association of School Boards has its advocacy program and so that's a big part of it. U but so do other groups, the school administrators group, the Wazda Group, the Wasow Group. There's also a group that uh Rural Wisconsin uh school alliance, right? And they're out there. And so they offer uh just lots of different things, but within the last year or so, they've really tried to um unify the message in terms of the things special education, general education, funding, and and moving those things forward. It's a really big part of it. We're real fortunate, I think, here at our school district. We have um Blake
065and his name, Adam Nen, in terms of stuff. He's really very supportive. And then upcoming we actually have a PWA high school graduate who is Mike Roberts is his name and he's running for the seat that Rob Hutton had offered. And again for us to be able to build and maintain those connections and yes WSA covers a pretty big chunk of southeast Wisconsin uh and a lot of common common issues and common needs out there. So it's a worthwhile I believe activity and seeing what's there. We have this zelenov is her name and Madison. She's the official lobbyist advocacy person Kathy Olig does and then other people go and testify when they need to on behalf of funding and actually it was a guy I think went over and talked with folks um just as
066they were holding the special session now special education and I was seeing yes was probably ready to sign up but it was two or three v three votes 15 to 18 I think on Senate side. So it didn't that comes back that would be a huge huge and the plug is for all 421 school districts across the state because they all are facing declining enrollment they all facing increasing specialization I think it's a worthwhile effort to continue >> I would just add one thing the there's going to be a lot of change at the state legislature level and governor's office so and WSB is really helpful but that try trying to align values across 421 districts from all across the state. SWSA is much more nimble. It's I think we're at what 28 maybe school
067districts right now. Um so our ability to really respond and craft a message, but the fact that there's so much change happening that having another venue to create relationships because there's going to be people who come in and understand and it makes sense, right? Most legislators really don't know that much about schools or school finance because you know they gota they're just learning or unless they're on the education kind of based committees they might know very little about how it works. So connecting with them making sure they understand the ramifications of choices is is really important and this is this is one way in which we can help make sure our voices heard. So yes indeed Mike is stepping down as co-chair but I think he'd stay around and I believe that Matt joined from
068me. >> Matt Matt's gonna be the >> is the coming in >> co-chair. Yep. >> And Sarah might know him or not. >> Knows him a little bit. Y >> So I would like to move to approve the membership in the Southeast Wisconsin school alliance for the 2026 2027 school year as presented at a cost of $3,700. >> Second. All in favor? >> I I >> I >> thank you. Uh property and liability insurance renewal consideration. John, >> uh we've come to that time of the year in June where we we revisit property and liability insurance for the district on an annual basis. Our policies are 12 months in duration and match our fiscal year. Uh this year overall good news. Um the policies overall cost of all the policies went down by about 5%.
069Um for um the couple of policies I'd love to call out on here the rates decreased on our policy for property insurance. As you recall the last three or four years we've seen double digit increases when it came to property insurance as the cost of raw materials increased dramatically. The cost of those policies for replacement coverage also increased. Um, this year the rates decreased slightly. Uh, we offset part of that by adding on all the new construction onto our policy. So, we added on $12 million of value of new construction and about $6 million of renovation costs that were interior on the buildings. So, overall saw a uh increase in that values. Second success story that we had was dealing with was working with workers compensation. you have a very aggressive program in managing exposures
070to loss for workers compensation for for accidents uh managing uh managing the conditions within the district that could lead to accidents happening but then also if something does happen uh actively managing that with that employee to reduce the amount of loss that comes from any kind of accident or injury. Our mod factor which is used in determining what our rate's going to be dropped from 1.22 22 to 0.98 um for this renewal which resulted in a decrease of almost $20,000 to the premium cost for that policy. So overall uh decrease in premium for the for the total cost we're looking at as a net cost of $440,000 um for the our gross cost for all of the policy premiums. We do have um dividends that have been awarded each year, but dividends are not guaranteed.
071Uh and we we are renewing at a 13% projected dividend that would be determined in fall of 2027. So it comes uh after the year is over. Our current expiring dividend is 15% on the policy. And that's following some trends in the industry with lower dividends on those policies. The real goal about the goal goal of the insurance is to identify what exposures we may have in the district and where it's appropriate to to fund them through transference of the liability, transferring it to a third party with insurance rather than self-unding it. We do have some deductibles in there on the policies uh that are used to manage cost of premiums but also to retain or self-fund a portion of some of those losses that we have. Move to approve or yeah, move to approve
072the insurance renewal with M3 per the attached summary of coverage proposal in the amount of 444 $440,000 820 $882. So >> second all in favor. >> Thank you. >> John, thank you for your work. That's impressive that you were able to bring those rates down. >> Not often we see insurance going down, >> right? >> Wow. >> We'll take it. especially given the addition. >> Yes. >> Right. >> Next, we move on to personnel issues. Um we'll start with resignations. >> Yeah. You'll see we've we're busy. Um but um and recognize Colin and our principles and everybody's doing a really good job bringing in quality people. So um got some good people for a variety of reasons that are moving on. Um, Beth, you already mentioned, so I'd seek your approval of the resignations uh
073for Mike Dalt, high school math teacher, Renee Gallagher, a first grade teacher, Nicole Maruji, high school English, and Beth Ingresol, associate principal at PLE. >> So moved. >> Second. All in favor? >> I. >> And we've been hiring uh uh pretty rapidly here. So, um I've been able to interview all of uh these uh people that are being brought forward. So, I would seek your approval of Mia uh Willie, Claire Kellbull, Ella Olsen, Leah Widlars, Adam Sykes, Ava Sharpier, and Alexis Lois uh for the positions listed. So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I thank you. >> Is uh Beth still doing summer school or does she have to >> Beth will um Good question. Beth will get us through uh she'll be in that role until June 30th and then >> um
074Tyler Reid who was one of the associate principles will just kind of manage >> the ship for the last that second session. >> Okay. >> and Lisa Hearn's there. Yeah. Yeah. So, we're we're everything will be well in place at that point. So, we should be fine. >> Okay. Uh All right. Upcoming activities. Um so, our next board meeting in June is um Monday the 22nd preceded by 6 PM policy committee meeting. We have one board meeting in July. Currently, it is scheduled for Monday, July 13th, but Mike and I talked and um for several reasons, we'd like to reschedu that to the 20th, the next Monday. Mike is going to be out of town. John will be retired. That would be Sarah's first meeting. Um we're we're just looking to move it to the
07520th. Does anyone have any issues with that move? All right. >> Okay. >> We'll move that then. Um July 10th and 11th is the WASBY 2026 Summer Learning Symposium. Um I've attended this multiple times. There really is always good content, good speakers. Um I talked to Tammy today. I don't think I can make it the whole weekend, but I would like to go Friday. There is some really good content. So if you're interested in going since Steven's Point and um Tammy can get you registered for that. Tuesday, August 4th um is the AI summit again at WCTC full day. Um I have registered for that. I don't know if you have Larry. Um I know Stacy you've been to that. It's it's a really great summit. Um, and with AI, you know, being at the
076top of our list, watching the trends and so forth, it would be something that would be good to attend. So, just a reminder on that. Um, then Monday, August 17th, um, is our annual meeting. Um, it will start at six o'clock, proceed through and, um, end up with the annual meeting at 7:30 in the morning. We do have uh the new teacher orientation and that's when uh the board gets to have breakfast with our new staff. Love it. Love it. It's one of my favorite activities. Um, so those are the new up andcoming events >> and I think we have that >> as a >> just kind of held as a possible we could have a board meeting in case there's any uh late hires just to kind of clean some of those things up.
077>> Yeah, >> because that because that night um it that meeting the regular meetings are like 30 minutes so it's kind of it can take some time. Um, also the board of education meeting calendar was included in your packet. Um, I don't know if there's any comments or concerns about that schedule. >> Yeah, I looked Tammy put it together and that's really put together based on past year. She had me take a look at it. I did some tweaking and adjusting. Again, it gives us a frame for how the year looks because obviously some of the same things happen about the same time. Sometimes things will move forward or back a little bit from a month. So, obviously none of this is written in stone, but it gives you a pretty good sense of of
078kind of how the year lays out. >> Yeah. Okay. Uh legislative update. >> Um well, the I I don't know if there's any cred, you know, credence to this, but there is some stuff. We've seen it in the media um that uh you're telling me there's a chance. So, >> what was all that one in a million talking? Um >> there's always hope. >> So, at any rate, um our position um we think that the uh compromise bill that was proposed would have been really helpful. Um Stacy, you mentioned the Marquette poll came out recently that I think it's over 80% of people in Wisconsin feel that uh it should have been passed for property tax relief and for school funding being the kind of the main pieces. So there is some discussion. Um I
079think Robin Voss is out there talking about the governor's been talking about it and now I think even Devin Leah who was originally thinking it wasn't going to happen, they sound a little bit more open to it. the Democrats sound a little bit more open to having some conversation. And I'm hearing one or two of the Republican senators that had kind of went against their caucus to oppose it might be amiable to possibly supporting. Hard to say. I don't know how real that is. Maybe we'll hear more about it at the SWA. >> Yeah, hopefully we'll hear tomorrow, but it was I think just literally three votes in terms of on the >> three votes. Yeah. >> Whereas on the assembly side, it was a pretty overwhelming number of votes in favor of it. So
080that would be, you know, there's nothing's perfect. Um, but we don't usually see these kinds of opportunities come around very often. So we would um certainly be happy if something got done there. So that's I think really what's being looked at now. But we do have our last SWSA meeting of 2526 tomorrow. That one's different because it's what we refer to as a hybrid meeting that normally they're all uh virtual. This one is uh at Elm Brook School District um where people can attend in person or virtually. So I think Larry and I are you planning on being there in person? >> Yeah, I will be there. >> Yeah. So I'm as I sit here tonight, I'm planning on being there in person. So um as long as I wake up in the morning, I
081remember that there's an inerson meeting and I don't realize that at 25 after 7 like oh yeah, that's right. This was the imperson one. So, um, at any rate, that's what I have for a legislative update. >> Okay, Tammy. Any citizen comments? >> Thank you. With that, I'll take a motion to adjurnn. >> Move to adjourn. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, everybody. >> Thank you.