Board of Education Meeting 10/13/2025

001It's 7 o'clock and I will call this meeting to order. The board meeting for Pewwaukee School District on Monday, October 13th. I will start with roll call. Travis >> here. >> Stacy >> here. >> Ashley >> here. Matt >> here. >> Larry >> here. >> Thank you. Was the meeting properly noticed? >> Meeting was properly noticed. >> And can I get a motion to adopt the agenda as presented? >> So move. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. >> Next we'll do the pledge of allegiance. >> 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. >> Well, tonight we get a really neat spotlight tonight because we have

002Horizon School here. Um, I'm just going to ask this wonderful group of ladies to to come up to the mic, introduce yourselves, and let's get started. >> Thank you. Um, I'm Christy Johnson, principal at Horizon. And I am so lucky to have with me Lindseay Kger, third grade teacher. Katie D Katie Dirks, excuse me, instructional coach at Horizon. And Sarah Smith, fourth grade teacher. And we're here tonight because we wanted to share a little bit with you about ACT 20 and what that looks like specifically at Horizon. Um, I know that PLE has spent quite about quite a bit of time talking with you all about what ACT 20 looks like at PLE from a 4K through 2 grade lens. And we thought it would be really helpful for us to come and share with

003you what it looks like specifically since the law applies only to us at third grade, but we're doing lots of things with the law as well at fourth and fifth grade. So tonight we're going to talk to you a little bit by first again reminding you all what ACT 20 is and then talking about how it specifically impacts us. From there we're going to talk with you about some of the different professional development opportunities that we've done with our teachers including some PD pathway work, some things with Cox Campus, and then some building level professional learning that we've done. And then finally, we'll talk with you about changes we made to our curricular resource that focuses on word study. Um, we have one resource that we're using right now at third grade and then another

004we're using at fourth and fifth grade. So to start a little bit about what is act 20. This is a law that was passed by the state of Wisconsin in 2023 really with the intent to improve reading and early literacy skills in schools across the state of Wisconsin. um it requires that we utilize science aligned practices. So those are practices that are very much phonics-based um for our students in grades 4K through third grade. And essentially to sum up some of the things in the law, schools are required to administer an early literacy screener for all students in 4K through third grade. And if a student is identified as at risk on that screener, which means falling below the 25th percentile, then we're required to provide more diagnostic assessments for those students, which help us

005to identify what areas of literacy students are specifically struggling in. And from there, develop a personalized literacy plan for those students to help the student make gains in the area of reading. So, I'm going to turn it over to Katie who's going to share how this affects us at Horizon. So, as Christie mentioned before, the law only applies to third grade at Horizon as far as like what we are required by law to do, but we've been making changes at fourth and fifth grade, too. Um, one of those changes that has occurred at all grade levels at Horizon is using Ames Webb, which is that screener that's administered to all grade levels, three, four, and five. So again, if students fall below that 25th percentile, especially at third grade, we are taking a look at

006that to provide further diagnostic testing. Um, additionally, our fourth grade teachers um have students this year who previously in third grade had a reading plan. So we are still carrying out those reading plans in fourth grade during um our win time and students are receiving specialized instruction based on what their reading plan says. Um we are also making sure that you know this we're actually in the middle of our window right now for Ames web testing. So as students are falling that aren't already identified as having an area of need and literacy through an IEP through a personalized reading plan through intervention at tier 2 or tier three. Um we are identifying those students providing diagnostic assessments and we'll be creating their reading plans in the coming coming days actually. Um, additionally at third grade

007we are using a new u a new word study resource which is um an acronym called UFI from the University of Florida literacy institute. Um all teachers completed professional development um with UFly as well as science of reading practices that I'll talk about in a moment. And at fourth and fifth grade we are also utilizing a new word study resource called the 95 core phonics. Um and teachers are completing professional development in that area as well. So last year um and continuing from now into the future there we have PD pathways that are focused on the science of reading for third grade teachers. So that is an area that we've been um hitting very strongly and consistently um over our five PD days throughout the school year. Uh Cox Campus was also an online um

008but structured literacy training that third, fourth, and fifth grade literacy teachers completed over this past summer. It's a pretty intensive 30-hour course. Um, and it is backed by the dyslexia association for structured literacy pathways. Again, aligning some of those learning moments into science of reading practices. Um, we're also taking this at the building level and continuing to offer professional development opportunities throughout this school year. um during our um during professional um development days as well as staff meetings, making sure that teachers feel supported and have resources they need to carry out these literacy plans during our win time and our 1.5 small group instruction. >> Could you remind us what wind time is? I >> wind time is um and it's a time set aside at Horizon. It's a 30-minute block of time for third,

009fourth, and fifth graders where students it stands for what I need. So it's a time where students can um receive additional supports. So a lot of times students will receive literacy report or literacy supports with a intervention plan perhaps perhaps specially designed instruction through their IEP small group instruction in the areas of math um as well as other services like speech and language or occupational therapy things like that. >> Thank you. So I'm going to talk um a bit about UFFLY from the third grade lens. EUFly is a science of reading and we are really working f working on phonics. And so we go through step by step um instructions on a two-day cycle for each um topic. So the first day sound starts out with me saying different sounds where I segment sounds. So

010I might say c and the students have to be able to blend that together. The students then do their own segmenting. Um, for the if I say cat, they should be able to say c. The next part is a visual dr dr dr dr dr dr dr dr dr dr dr dr dr dr dr dr dr dr dr dr dr dr dr dr dr dr drill where I'll have visuals of like ck together and they should be able to say c or a short a says a a and be able to go through the different sounds of um different letters together. We do an auditory drill where they're able to make the sense of the auditory and be able to write their own words down. and we use a binder and inside that binder is

011either a whiteboard or their binder itself serves as that whiteboard. Then I project a plan blending board where I teach how to manipulate sounds but also make new words. So I could say if I know how to spell cat, I know I can I can change the beginning consonant to a B and now I have bat. So we take all different sounds or I might tell the students what letter do I need to do or change to make bat? So I can go between the two. And then I teach the new concept. And in the new concept we um show mouth movement and articulation of sounds that the C is in the back. If I'm showing the th VV is my tongue is actually sticking out compared to a VV where my tongue or my

012teeth are touching my lips. So really seeing the articulation of how you make sounds. Day two is reviewing that concept work that we learned the day prior and they are now have their own personalized blending boards. So in that time they have their mat where they have velcro tiles and they're actually doing the same manipulating that we modeled the day prior. Um during the time we also learn heart words where they're words we need to know know how to spell by heart. So like the word they it sounds like there's an a but it's t h e y. So we do cross mult um crossbody spelling. We do using multiensory techniques really to train our brains how to spell those words accurately. And then we reconnected text where we do spelling patterns together. Um we

013do dictation where they're able to apply what they've learned in the two days and they're able to read short dictated dictated passages where we're able to make meaning and scoop our sounds and read push our eyes and read with fluency. So, it's really the gradual release that it's like I do, we do it together and now the students are doing it. It's also hopefully transferring into their own writing. If you don't see their writing, you go back to that UFly and you can retach. So, I just left some I did a survey with the students and just said, "Why do you like phonics?" And so, here's a couple quotes um to leave you with. Um every student is eager to write why they like phonics instruction. So, it's a fun part of our day. They're

014tapping sounds and getting into learning stronger spelling. >> Oh, that's right. Sorry. So, here is an I do. So, that is the picture of the blending board that I'm using. On the far right side, you can see the words that we've built together. And then the students are now doing the we do phrase phase. And then the you do is that is their Velcro workmats that they are using. Hi, I'm going to talk to you about what we are using at fourth and fifth grade. There are some similarities in terms of um structures that take place in the multiensory piece, but the core phonics program um one thing that was really important to us is that we teach kids explicitly how to decode multi-selabic words. It was also really important to us that in that

015process they're learning prefixes, suffixes, Greek and Latin roots. So at fourth grade, the primary focus is on the prefixes, suffixes, and then Latin bases that help us to decode and understand words like transform or transforming that they come across in text. The other pieces that were important is that kids are getting um instruction in the phonics patterns. So, right now they're reviewing in my class magic e from third grade, but they also learn about our controlled vowels in those patterns. They learn about how ing and ed change the meaning of a word. So, those were all really important components. Then we talk about why why vocabulary why morphology. One of the things that is um at the forefront of our mind is that by teaching these pieces it becomes a multiplier. So they can understand

016more in their reading they can comprehend greater by knowing these parts of words and how they work together to understand new vocabulary and concepts. This is my kids that are working on morphology in some of the important routines that they take part in. One being on the far left hand side, they're sorting words based on patterns that they've learned up to this point. So, they're seeing which words fit with what they've been told or what they've learned and then which concepts are new or have they not learned before. It's also an easy check, an easy formative assessment for us to see what kids are carrying over from one day, one lesson to the next week and the next lesson. The other part, you can see a picture in the middle, is continuous text. So kids

017are looking for patterns that they've learned within continuous text that are written at fourth and fifth grade levels. A lot of the text are based on non-fiction. So kids are encountering many more words that they have to decodeed words that have um significant meaning to the text. And then on the far right hand side you can see students working with morphims and they are manipulating the prefixes, the suffixes and the roots to create new words. They're actually moving with their hands. So making it multiensory but also seeing how those parts put together create new words, new meaning. There is it looks like a lot but every day has a structure and it is very predictable. So every day starts with a warm-up. They're either um doing word chains. Lindsay described this. They write a word,

018they change one letter to make a new word. Or they're guessing a pattern. They've got a screen full of words that they're looking at and seeing what is the same about all of these words. Maybe it's that they end with ed. And so they make that generalization and then they add words to that piece. They also have something every day that has to do with comprehension, whether it's building background knowledge or responding to a prompt about the text that they're reading. um within the continuous text, they also look for the patterns that they're being taught that week and the vocabulary that they're working with. And then one of the interesting parts that has been new to me since looking at this particular program is the morphims. Teaching kids about the meanings of the morphims. One

019thing that they do as part of that is to generate words that follow the prefix or the suffix that have that piece in. They look up within a small dictionary. What is the meaning of it? And then they come up with sentences or like as a class we generate them. Sentences are words that fit with that pattern. My class also draws an image to access more areas of the brain something that they can picture. So looking at the word um the morphe strruct, we made construct as one of the words and then they drew a picture of construction to help link what those parts meant. And then at the end of each week, just like Lindsay talked about, there's sentence dictation where they apply the skills from the week and a short assessment where they

020spell words that have the patterns that they've learned so far. And ultimately our goal is to really develop these foundations so that students can transfer them to their other reading and writing work. So we are teaching these skills in isolation to explicitly and systematically make sure students are able to apply them in their own work. So um really that is our goal is to make students stronger readers and writers in their authentic tasks that are still occurring. So, these amazing teachers here, um, you see them doing learning these new explicit strategies while they're also continuing in our reading and work writing workshop models to continue to build those reading comprehension skills and their ability to convey their ideas through various genres of writing. So, it's really all-encompassing and really this is such a foundational piece

021in order to make sure students are successful in that area. >> Awesome. So, that's a lot of information. You probably heard a lot of phonics terms. some of which you might not have heard for a long time or maybe not ever. Um, so what questions do you have for us or anything that you're wondering? >> I have one. So I get like it like you use the word foundational. It's a really great foundational, but I'm curious if you have say Lindsay, you have a third grader in your room that is fully reading. Is it still helpful to them because they're they're getting more background information? Do you have to give them different enrichment exercises to do? >> Yes. I um see a difference between reading though like and then encoding. So being able to put

022that same skills into writing. So you still see fair f a r e like the overgeneralization. Being able to say air what makes that a it could be a magic e but it's also ai. >> So really going back to how to encode but also will help with the decoding. Yes. Does that make sense? >> So, one of the things we noticed too is that a lot of our um students who are a little uh further along as readers oftentimes struggle with understanding still how to spell words correctly. Um and it's something that is a skill that will transfer as they get into much more complex texts. When we think about texts that they're going to encounter in middle and high school that are going to have really high levels of vocabulary, understanding some of

023those roots and those morphological units that Sarah was referring to will help them to understand some of those words they may encounter in subjects like biology and things like that. >> Are the students enjoying those activities? Like they looked like they were pretty plugged in in your pictures and stuff like they really do. >> Good. Good. >> But I also think that's like the energy you bring to anything, right? If you're showing that you enjoy phonics. like it. >> Well, I've got to say that I've always loved phonics even when phonics wasn't cool. Um, so I'm very happy to see that this is being brought into our curriculum. Um, you know, what would would there be one piece of this that you ladies say this is like the the magic sauce? This is really going

024to help our kids achieve that higher level. >> Yeah. I think one of the things in our data that we've noticed the most at Horizon is that we had some work to do in our reading fluency scores. So, our kids, while they were able to read relatively accurately, um their fluency wasn't quite as quick as it could be, which would affect them in the down the road, especially when they come to really having to be able to read to learn. Um where we're switching from uh learning to read to using our reading skills to be able to gather more content. Um and so that reading fluency is really an important um early skill and so helping to understand some of these more um decoding based things really affects students being able to read more fluently

025in the long run. Um so our hope is that this is going to really help our readers to grow and flourish um because it was kind of a little bit of a missing piece that we didn't have in there and now they're going to really um have all the components of that reading instruction that they need. if I add something. >> Sure. >> The other thing that I think is really important for our learners is just all the multiensory components that are a part of our phonics instruction at third through fifth. Um that's the tactile, so being able to touch letters, move, manipulate things, that's auditory, being able to hear it. Um the verbal piece, the reading piece. There's a lot of brain science around how the all those components work together to help students

026learn and really retain that information. So, I think that's also a new piece that um is really helping our students, you know, whether they're at whatever level they're currently working at. Um it's helping to all students access the material. >> So, I'm curious for you guys as teachers and I think especially for you Sarah. So, knowing so kids from third grade who started this last year who are coming to you now in fourth grade, have you noticed any differences in kids this year compared to like fourth graders last year who didn't have that in third grade? We have we assess a little bit differently now, but I used in the assessment that I had used the previous year in order to try to measure where that is. And prior to this year, I had probably

02770% of my class the previous year that were still learning short short vowels magic e and hadn't accessed vowel teams yet. I would say that that's reduced to 30ome percent. >> Thank you. >> That would be like a major improvement, right? >> Yes. >> I had sort of maybe this similar kind of question because I was asking about so from the third grade to fourth grade because I mean last year were you using sort of the same tools as you're using this year? So that third grade to fourth grade that transition and then I have a similar question regarding the second grade to third grade. I mean in terms of those assessment of those students as they move from grade to grade or building to building >> what did you learn? So >> so um

028I'm trying to think the best way to kind of describe. So right now we have our third grade students using a different curriculum than our fourth and fifth grade students. Third grade started with that curriculum last year. This is the first year for fourth and fifth grade using the 95 core phonics curriculum. So, that was a piece that we researched and added in for this school year. Starting next year, third grade will also switch to 95 core phonics, but there were some kind of holes we had to help students fill in. Um, so that's why we're still using the UFly resource um because our students hadn't had some of that phonics instruction all along. So, we still really needed to lay some of those foundational pieces for them. >> Okay. And then probably the big

029$64,000 question is when will they take the state test as a third grader in terms of reading >> and how do we make sure that the students that are in the third grade are at the reading level that they need to be at in order to be successful in the third grade. Yeah, this the state test um we start administering end of March and into April and um these are all pieces that we think will help make a difference in making sure that our all all of our readers are at grade level. So um that's why we put these pieces into place and I know PLE has been doing a lot of that foundational work as well which will contribute towards our third graders by the end of that third grade year being proficient in

030reading. >> Go ahead. The other thing is we have our district assessments through that as web testing. So we have three windows of testing for that so that we're not waiting until the very end of the school year. Um so those components teachers are adjusting and are able to progress monitor with that assessment too to make sure that uh third graders specifically are making progress towards proficiency. >> And one of the things which is in the strategic planning document was a reference to the PLC's. Can you describe how the PLC's have been used or are being used relative to the third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade? So >> yeah, do you want to talk? >> Yes. >> So we get together with our team during our PLC and we look at the data, analyze where

031students are at and so during that win time what I need I actually have students from different classrooms that come to me and I retach the UFly assessments. Another my students are going in for fluency. So I have students leave my room, they go to another classroom and they're getting more of the fluency using helps. I have another other students going to a different classroom who are getting Sunday intervention. So my students are moving to different classrooms and I'm taking students from other classrooms during that win time based on what students need and we'll use our PLC time to collect that data, analyze where we're going and what's going to be taught. might be more question for Anthony, but relative to the state forward exams or tests, whatever they are, have they been changed at

032that third grade level to reflect what's now part of the new act 20 kinds of things? Is that >> Yeah, if you recall last year when we talked about the specifically the Wisconsin forward um the reading and language arts, there was they redesigned the test last year. Um so this will actually be year two with that redesign test. So some of the changes were made in alignment with what was going on with act 20, >> but that test is designed really I mean to measure the state standards and the standards haven't changed. So there's been some adjustment and the benchmarks were tweaked a little bit. I don't think they're dramatically different. >> I mean obviously the thing is the state legislature passed this law act 20 and they're going to want to see what the

033results are coming out of it. So, and again depending upon how the tests are structured or whatever it is and obviously yes our own internal district assessments are really important as we go forward with this but you know I think the goal is ultimately to make sure that the kids are at a level in terms of reading proficiency right so >> and and if you so you know when you say state assessment that Wisconsin forward assessment that does play a role in you know the state report card for example but the state also now does require the use of as web plus as a a reading greener. So those students take that in fall, winter, and spring, >> right? But it that doesn't show up in any kind of an official >> number or statistic

034or anything for the kids. >> Have you The other thing is have you from the kids standpoint but and or the parents? Have the parents noticed anything different? Anybody else noticed in terms of anything difference with the kids' reading abilities or not? So, I had conferences tonight and I saw eight children, eight families and two families spoken directly that they're impressed with the transfer into their writing. So, they're reading um they're writing notes at home and they've seen a dramatic difference just from the last year of spelling, which I think is kudos to second grade, but also what we're reinforcing here at Horizon. So, >> they won't have to use spellch check anymore. [Music] Christy, is there um for fifth graders who fourth grade I know wasn't I don't know if there was was there

035any like were they filling the gaps with any of this stuff for that grade that kind of missed out on >> stuff in the elementary level. >> So we have the UFly um which is the curriculum that third grade uses. We purchased a set of that for each of our fifth grade um ELA teachers so that they could use that in small groups so that they could identify students who were really um needing some of those additional skills and then supplement that way. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, and I I really want to commend Christy and her team because obviously there is a floor expectation of what ACT 20 asked for. Um Christine and her team have really expanded up to the fourth and fifth grade bubble with the use of the word study um

036curricular resource. And then additionally, our fourth and fifth grade teachers were not required by law to do that early literacy professional development, but all of the fourth and fifth grade teachers at Horizon did do that and complete it. I completed it as well. And my liter my literacy depth isn't as great as uh these individuals here. And it was not easy or at times enjoyable. >> Yeah, it's a very rigorous training. So >> other question relative to what you do, relative to the assessment tools that are there, what kinds of interventions do you have or available for students that are even still struggling with the reading and comprehension kinds of things? I mean, what what happens? How do you intervene in some of these cases? And how do you get the student up to that

037level then? >> Yeah. So we try to use those diagnostics to help us identify which strand of reading a child is specifically struggling. We have some things um we have a reading fluency diagnostic. We have a reading vocabulary diagnostic, a comprehension diagnostic, a spelling diagnostic. Um we have something called the RAN rapid automatized naming which helps us identify if a child has difficulty processing and recalling something quickly. So once we've identified which of those subs skills a child is having difficulty in, we're able to ident identify an intervention that will target that directly. We have a suite of some interventions that we utilize here in the school district that help us with some of those skills. Things like sande Orton Gillingham um you know some different specific interventions. We also utilize our um reading interventionists

038to help us really dig in and look at um what will help support a child who's having difficulty learning to read. >> How does this apply to special ed students? >> So, our special ed students um all participate in the um Ames web suite of assessments and then we're able to utilize some of those same diagnostics. Although a lot of our students who have IEPs in the area of reading, we've already helped to identify which specific strand of reading they're having difficulty with. And so then we have that IEP goal that targets um specifically what that child's goal is to grow in. Um so basing activities around that. >> Awesome. Any other questions? >> I would just make a comment because the board talks a lot about um rightfully so data and I know it's

039typically in the board goals about uh we want to better understand and analyze and how we use data. I've heard think you've heard that all over the place in this presentation from largecale assessments whether that be forward or the as web and identifying things like fluency as a specific issue and then you heard very explicit examples about how through uh things like the PLC model they're looking at that data and that's driving the choices that they're they're making. Um so and I also a couple of things I just want to say about this implementation. So um you know what you're seeing here is how we try to approach continuous improvement right you have an objective you create a plan you have a strategy our strategy included piloting two different resources last year that was deeply

040analyzed and a decision was made you see professional development a plan built around that uh to make sure that teachers have the training that they need to be successful with that implementation and then you see these ongoing processes that are constantly looking to improve on that and making sure so that students are getting what they need. So, I just think this whole presentation uh was a tremendous example of kind of how we approached getting better at student learning. So, great job. >> Yeah, we appreciate you. I can imagine act 20 might have been a little daunting and scary at first. I mean, I remember when we talked about here, we no one was really excited about it, but I think you guys have done amazing work and I really appreciate it. >> Thank you. >>

041Thanks for being here tonight. long day, parent conferences, a board presentation on top of teaching all day. So, uh, go home and watch the Brewers and take a nap. >> All right, that was great. Um, next up, our student board representatives have a presentation for us. All right, first board presentation of the year. >> Okay, so for our October board report, our first topic is so we did dress up days. We did them campuswide this year. Um, I think in student council we tried to do it last year or at least I know we tried for winter fest. I know that was a big conversation all of our meetings, but our dress up days were like we did our PJ day and class t-shirt. We did that every year on Monday. For Tuesday we did

042dress in bright colors. Wednesday was jersey and anything but a water bottle day. Thursday each grade dressed up as a generation. And then Friday was pirate pride. And elementary schools did crazy hair day, hat day. Um, we had powderpuff this year. Seniors won. Um, I know the freshman won homecoming as a whole, which was a little disappointing. Um, some other activities. We had our parade. I think it went pretty well. I walked for most of it until we got to that hill. I said, "I call seniority and I'm not walking up that hill." >> Yeah, we had a golf cart. The golf cart ditched us. So, we walked the hill. >> Yeah. >> Sorry about that. >> No. So, I said, "I'm not doing that." Yeah. >> Um, so our king was James Basso representing

043Best Buddies and our queen was Hannah Padilla representing girls volleyball. >> So then we had the Hope Walk in September. It was the second annual Hope Walk and it was organized by senior Julia Piper. It was hosted on September 14th and over $12,000 were raised. Um, Julia partnered along with the National Alliance of Mental Ill of Illness, also known as NAMI, um, which is a suicide prevention program. >> Um, next up we have Morgan's message, which is an an initiative started by Emma O'Harn. Um she's a sophomore and she's on the lacrosse team which I I don't know much about the lacrosse team that we have here but it is co-op with Okconawok and it's a studentled club that's purposed to kind of create um a little bit more awareness for student athletes and students

044that participate in sports but also balance school alongside that. Um, and then just a little quote from her is that I got to be a part of something bigger at our game against Arrowhead, but also saw the game as much more than just another Thursday night at Rook Stadium. So, this is what kind of inspired her to start the club. Um, she wanted to incorporate that at PWA because she saw how well it worked for Arrowhead and other schools in the area and it already has 40 students. So, I thought that was really cool to kind of see like an underassman kind of taking a lead in that way and seeing so much support from other students. Um, next up we have the Horizon N PLC night. So, it's in a family event and Mrs.

045Rooney, our elementary technology coach, is kind of the primary coordinator of it all. And students come with their families and they can participate in science, technology, engineering, art, and math stations, including things like marble mazes, coding robots, Lego challenges, build their own bubble wands, and just showings from um the first Lego League teams, which really helps students get immersed, I think, in things that kind of um might peique their interest and can help them kind of figure out um what their hobbies may be and just things that kind of guide um what they're interested in. So, um, >> and they had good turnout despite competing with a Brewer playoff game. >> It was pretty good. I was there. I saw a bunch of kids. So, for athletics and activities, we have a lot going on.

046Fall season's coming to an end. So, girls swim. Brie McMillan participated in a 100 medley relay, breaking a 20-year-old conference record. Um, and got two gold and two silver medals and won the Watertown Invitational for the second year in a row. The boys soccer team ranked fifth in conference. Um, mountain biking club Anderson won her race at the Labor Day and at the Labor Day race and was the fastest two-lap racer in Wisconsin. Hope Squad had QPR training for new members. Boys volleyball got four to one conference wins and ranked second. And girls volleyball was 5 to1 conference record ranked first. And Mia Hudson got a thousand career kills. PHS drama The Cabaret was September 9th. The fall play is Peter and the Star Catcher. in the spring musical is Matilda which was announced at

047the cabaret and girls golf dress up meet um got a clean sweep and varsity took second place at the conference championship and then for our salutes and recognitions we just have our custodian appreciation day on October 2nd they do so much for our schools and I feel like it's just so important to recognize them and thank them for all that they do and then um for the student volunteers and Mrs. Evans who helped out with homecoming. It is not an easy production to put on, but they do great every single year and I think that's a lot to be grateful for. And then our national merit finalists including Brendan Adams, Maline Chabau, a new poy, Emily Rice, and Ma Tin and they were among 16,000 semi-finalists and reaching top 1% of high schoolers nationwide. So

048that's a pretty big pretty big accomplishment out of every out of our country. So, um, and then also just guidance counselors for a smooth start to the year and helping out all the seniors with college applications. It's always really busy. Um, but they do a great job every single year. So, and then we have our learning spotlight. We have global business insight. Um they're doing currently interviews with the business owners so that when they start making their businesses later they have a bit of a basis to understand how to treat their employees and how to get customers work on sales and just creating a positive work environment. Um experiencing Wisconsin class did their projects presenting to fourth grade students of Miss Edwards. Um, and they were just presenting early Wisconsin ideas with five minute stations,

049which is a great positive thing again with our like one campus district where we can all kind of incorporate every single school um and interact with one another. And then uh serving others in sight garden in the downtown area, incorporating pumpkins into plants. So that was kind of cute and fun, I think, to kick off the fall season, but also kind of understanding how they can help with their community since the class. And Thank you. >> Great report. >> Yeah. >> Well done. >> Excellent. Any questions from anyone? >> What generation did you guys dress up as? >> I think I was supposed to be adults and I feel like that's kind of not like how am I supposed to dress up? >> That's a broad That's a broad set of choices. >> Generation. >>

050Yeah. >> Well, great report. >> Yeah, it was. Thank you. Um, next up, uh, comments from citizens. Tammy, do we have any? >> No comments from citizens. >> All right. Next is salutes and recognitions. And I'm going to prime the pump by saluting Tammy. I want to say once again, thank you. Thank you for all the work you put into decorating our homecoming parade golf cart. It looked awesome. We had an awesome time, didn't we, guys? Even though Larry left us behind. Uh, it was it was a great parade and our golf cart looked awesome. So, thanks for all your hard work, Tammy. >> Anyone else? >> So, this Brian, can you help me out with this? Or maybe you two can help me out as well. I thought it was really impressive. At the

051football game on Friday night, one of the football players sang the national anthem in front of >> Isaac Leonard. >> What's his name? >> Isaac Leonard. I just thought that that was so cool. So, we got a football player out in the field and he just sang the national anthem and it was just like that is so impressive that we have a football player who's comfortable enough to get up and hold the microphone and sing the national anthem. So, salute to Isaac. >> Yes, Isaac Leonard. He just sounds like they just finished their concert. He was just singing out there for them. So, >> okay. >> Very cool. Um, I want to commend the uh dance team for dancing with no music at the homecoming football game. That was impressive. Um, but one of my

052neighbors is on the team and she said that so the the crowd was clapping trying to give them a beat. I thought the crowd did a pretty good job, but they couldn't hear that. So they literally were hearing nothing and they did their routine and I was super impressed how they carried on and yeah >> that is impressive. I hadn't heard that that happened. So the sound system just >> their music was not on. >> Their music >> but the dance >> was spot on. >> Admin. >> I I have a couple. We last week we started we kicked off the social studies curriculum renewal process. So I just want to recognize the full teams but in particular want to recognize Paul Hman high school teacher Casey Bame seventh grade teacher um Sarah Sieros Horizon

053fourth grade teacher and then Amy Brle who is a second grade teacher. They are kind of acting as the curriculum leads for the social studies renewal process. So just want to give them a shout out. Feels [Music] like >> their drums. >> Feels like we're in the Big 10 somewhere right now. >> Yeah. >> Uh John, anything? >> I have a couple. I'm going to double dip on the Tammy. um because uh the parade stuff uh and in and alongside of uh complimenting all of you and recognizing all of you for board appreciation week, but those baskets uh you can see that that is definitely not something that I put together because it would not look anything like that. So, um but Tammy has a real flare in talent for just really doing nice things.

054The she entirely came up with a whole approach for heard our student reps talk about custodian appreciation week. um she put that whole clever uh piece together which they super appreciated um uh going around and giving those pieces out to them. So recognition Tammy for everything she does just to make things extra special for people uh in our district. Um the high school team I was a I am a recovering high school administrator and teacher. So um homecoming week is is awesome. Um, but it is it is also a just a tremendous heavy lift, especially for uh your administrative team. Um, so there's everything from your powderpuff Sunday all the way through the dance on Saturday. It's a lot of long days and nights. There's sometimes a few shenanigans that go uh on that they

055have to deal with. Um, and uh but um they got through things and it was very successful. So Brian and his team uh certainly want to recognize them as well. >> Awesome. All right, next consent agenda. Um we're accepting the minutes from previous meetings that were enclosed in your packet. Um also any correspondence that was included. Uh no gifts at this time. So can I get a motion to accept the consent agenda? >> Move to approve the consent agenda as presented. Um, >> second. >> All in favor? >> I >> Thank you. Next, business affairs. Stacy. >> Okay. Uh, so we had our meeting tonight. Um, and just a reminder, uh, for those of you not on the committee, we're in that kind of weird stage right now where we have the I don't want

056to say the wrong thing, the original, no, the preliminary, the preliminary budget. And then in our October meeting, um our next meeting in at the end of October, we'll approve the original budget. So, um John and his team have been working hard to to nail those numbers all down. Um the right now his um anticipation is the levy is going to have to be um it's going to he's anticipating about two two and a half% increase that he didn't think before, which is the first increase in seven years. I hope the community hears that. Um, our tax rate will still go down because our property values have gone up more than that. Um, we had about $2.6 million in construction payments this month. Um, and oh, equalization aid, we received about 15% um, of our

057equalization age, which the number was a little bit smaller because of the way that we manage our expenses. So, our expenses were lower. So then this year it's a lower number, but then next year it'll be a higher number. Um, so we didn't really spend a lot of time talking revenues and expenses because it's the beginning of the year and we're in this preliminary budget thing. So >> anything you want to add to that? >> At the committee level, we also uh touch base this in this one. We have a calendar of events that the committee goes through and this this meeting was to address uh debt service and what the plan is for our debt service in the district, what it looks like over the next 12 months and the impact that that has

058on the levy. We also discussed um the short-term borrowing in the district. We have gone this year, we anticipate the third year straight where we do not have to go out and issue longer term debt to meet our short-term cash flow needs throughout the year. Uh but we'll bring that through as a line of credit which will be available at the next board meeting. It will be presented to the board for approval at the next meeting. Uh and then talk uh just with a transportation update. Uh some of the information we've covered earlier this year. We're running 15 regular routes at the elementary schools. We run 13 routes at the high school. Um two parochial routes that fill in on the on the early side of the elementary routes. um and anticipating um the the

059um operations of the transportation this year to be within budget um for what we've anticipated in the year. Also, from a driver standpoint, we are we're hitting that phase of the year where startup and adjustments to routes are being made ongoing basis to balance routes out and improve the timing on them. We're also resolving a couple of uh construction areas within the routes of the district which also will improve the timing on those routes uh to get them closer to where they belong. Uh the last week, week and a half, we've been finishing relatively close within four or five minutes on a nightly basis of what we typically would have had in the previous few years for a route like. So, um hitting that point where each year you get to the beginning middle of

060October and everything kind of normalizes and you get everything balanced out and then you function pretty smoothly. So we want to keep that going. On the tax levy piece, uh the decrease in the levy or the the flatness of the levy for the last five years have been no increase in the levy or a decrease in the levy. So, um, at at a point where there's been increasing property values, significantly increasing in some years in the district, which has driven the tax rate, uh, projected to be the lowest it's been in 25 years, but that we'll address at the next meeting. >> Any questions? >> If not, I'll take a motion. >> Move to accept the business affairs report. >> Second. >> All in favor? Hi. >> Hi. >> Thank you. Next on to old

061business. Um we've had a couple of meetings now where we've talked about this personal communication device policy and we had at previous meetings um kind of walked away from the restricted brought the band forward. Although I was never really crazy about that that title. Um, and I would tell you that I really think it was good that we took an additional four weeks to really consider this because we were able to really go through all the student survey data. Then we had the teacher survey that we've been able to absorb and um I know on behalf of the school board members here um we've taken a lot of phone calls um from parents and constituents. In fact, I took my last one just late this afternoon. Um, my goal has always been that we listen

062to our community because they're the ones that vote us on this board along with just making sure that we're giving our kids the very best education. One of the things that I previously put out there to you girls was what if we had a restricted policy that we allowed for phones to be used during lunch. I want to throw that back out there. Um, I I can only speak for myself when I say that I don't I honestly don't feel comfortable doing a complete ban here. Um, I just really don't think that it's going to go over well with our student body. And I think that if we really um take the comments from the teachers that we got, we are already seeing positive change based on uh the restrictions that have come into play.

063So having said that, I want to open it up to comments from other board members on how you're feeling around this. >> So the could we get some kind of a report out about on the faculty survey? And obviously we've seen the written report, but either Brian or Mike in terms of any kind of a summary or analysis of what what is the faculty saying, staff saying about I mean the I mean it was a it was a pretty consistent pattern. So um the uh as you've seen the specific results, but the the teachers were to a very large majority very happy with the much stricter enforcement of instructional time. uh use of phones that uh student attention uh dialogue in class uh they're not wasting time u constantly enforcing that not having you know

064kids on their uh earbuds all the time that kind of thing has been very positive uh for the learning environment. They've also very consistently complimented the students uh for how the students have handled um the enforcement the stricter enforcement of that those expectations. Um and then to the flip side um it was the vast majority of teachers did not want to see further restriction. um they felt that could be counterproductive um uh with the students and um there was a lot of discussion about you know this day and age and learning to to manage that technology appropriately as young adults. Um so that was that was I think the the summary of the patterns that we saw from the faculty. There were some people that were on you know the other ends of those but

065it was it's pretty consistent. I would say it was 80 some percent were >> but essentially I mean the students told us essentially satisfied with kind of current status quo of what what was put in place at the start of the school year faculty sort of saying the same thing that the consistency or the issue was really about the consistency of the enforcement within the classroom itself and the devices there. Right. So, and again, I don't know if we've had a lot of other areas where it's been a concern. And obviously, Bren, you're saying lunch hour, but >> yeah, >> I don't know Brian if you have if I mean Brian's here. He could certainly speak to it as well if you have questions for him. >> Well, one of them I asked Brian and

066it's been my kind of thing. The numbers of students right now that have gotten the first violation and second violation Um so first violation at this point and I think we're six weeks in seven weeks in somewhere in there. Um six or seven. Okay. um 103 firsttime offenders and uh 25 uh second or third time offenders. >> And we're like what about five or six weeks into the school year and 895 students, right? So, >> yep. So, I mean, we're looking at about uh 11% of the population having a firsttime offense. Uh something I shared earlier today was um a good number of those is that window of time between um they've entered the classroom because the expectation is you put it away before you walk into the classroom. Uh they've entered the classroom but

067the bell hasn't rung yet. And so just getting used to that norm seems to be an area that is catching some kids off guard. um uh as far as um you know that's the only thing I would say is a trend that we've noticed >> is that once they cross the threshold of the door and if they have their phone out or using it that's a violation >> what happens for a first violation >> uh the phone is confiscated and at the end of the day the student can get it back. Second, >> uh, the phone is confiscated. At the end of the day, the parent has to come pick it up in order to get it back. >> And do you know out of that 25, how many of those are repeat students? >>

068Uh, the 25 are all repeat students. >> Oh, no. But I mean, are they all? >> A third time? Uh, >> third time? Yeah. >> Less than half, I would say. >> Less than how many? >> Less than half, I would say. Not we don't have I mean, I would say maybe a handful that are on that third level at this point. What what are they not getting if they're at the third level? What do they not understand about the policy? But you >> have to ask them that. I'm not entirely certain. >> They're teenagers. >> Teenagers. >> And you know, I mean, I think it's extremely low. I mean, it's extremely low. You got almost 900 kids in a building who really tend to really like to use their phones. to have 25 that

069have had to be really face a consequence more than once, you know, six weeks into a school year is very low. That's high level cooperation. But, I mean, you know, there's always rules out there and there's always people that repeat break rules. They know what the rules are. They're just trying to get away with stuff. That's going to some of that's going to happen. >> And if it's the third violation, is that the same that the parents have to come in and pick it up or what else happens? >> Uh, no. The third violation, um, we have to meet with the parents. Uh, we set a contract in place that, uh, clarifies the expectations for the student for two weeks. They have to check in their phone at the beginning of the day. They can

070pick it up at the end of the day. >> Okay. So, that really takes it away from them essentially, right? So, >> yeah. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> Assuming they don't Well, I don't get into it. Yeah, we do. Um, I just want to tell you, Brian, I'm really grateful the current policy is being followed and and enforced um and showing such positive results. We we heard that multiple times in the the staff survey, which I'm also glad that we did, which I can attribute to you guys for starting that whole process. That was a really great idea to start with the students and then carry it on to the staff. Um, as you all know, I've been clear that I'm a proponent of a complete ban. Um, but I've listened to the administrators, the

071teachers, and the parents, and I'll concede that a lunchtime allowance is acceptable. I think it makes sense. Um, I struggle with allowing them to be used in passing times. Um, some teachers have expressed concern on being able to enforce it. Do you think that will be a problem? Do you think the kids are walking down the hallway in the five minutes on their phones? Is it a thing? So, um, interestingly, as I was having a conversation with Larry today, I just pulled up, uh, security camera footage of a passing period just to kind of see what it looks like. Um, not to say that, you know, not out and about, but like scientific, it's not something I'm, you know, specifically looking at. And, um, I would say, um, you know, with a few hundred kids

072coming through, I saw less than 10 have a phone, like only a handful have a phone they were actually looking at. A just a another handful maybe had a phone in their hand. Okay, >> that was it. >> Okay. Um, I just want to point out that I I so I would advocate for the allowing the lunch time but not allowing the passing time and I know some teachers express concerns about being able to enforce that, but I think that I mean I've talked to teachers in other districts that have the complete ban and they are able to enforce it. So, would I die on that hill? No, I'm not going to die on that hill, but I do think it's possible to to have that and enforce it. Um, I think that, um, the

073other argument that I I do disagree with is somewhat preparing students for post high school. I'd argue that we're 15 years. How long do you think this has been that we've been having cell phones? Kids have been having cell phones 10, 15 years. >> Uh, yeah, at least 15. >> And I think history has shown that we failed at that. this new policy and keeping it out of the classrooms. I totally believe it's a step in the right direction. And could that be the secret sauce? Possibly. That could be the the way we succeed. Um but as I've said, I I think the complete ban is the way to go. Theoretically, um I just and to you girls, to you students, this has become an addiction and a problem. And as a parent and an

074adult, I'm trying to help you not go down a road, go down a road that will ensure your success and not hinder your chances of success. And I would hope that you know with the algorithms and everything that's going on in that phone, everybody that's in business to make money on that phone does not want your you to be in a good place. Everything is driven for money and it's about just sucking you in and giving you more and more and more of what you've looked at to make that addiction even stronger. Does that make sense? Now, is it our job to correct that? Maybe not. We're the school board. We're not your parents. Um, but that's where my concern is and that's where I just Yes, we want to open the door to each

075child's future and I want you to walk through that door with great success. So, that's where I'm coming from. But, like I said, I am totally on board with the allowing the lunchtime. Um, I think one of the teachers comments really resonated with me. and he or she said until we have more data I would keep the current policy in place and focus and focus on enforcing it with fidelity. I think that's a really great way to describe where we're at right now and I am totally on board with that. The only other thing Brian I have for you is there were a few teachers um that talked about kids that I'm assuming it was maybe paras or special ed teachers that were talking about kids that have trouble regulating um and the phone was

076a thing that did that. So my question or or suggestion is perhaps there needs to be more dialogue on other ways that that can be done with those particular students. >> Mhm. >> You know, and if if it's an allowance for those particular students, then of course we're okay with that, too. We've talked about that. There are there are times where we understand there should be allowances made. But um I just struggled with teachers saying, "Well, I they can't use their phone and now they're not regulating. That doesn't sound like a truism like it shouldn't be happening. >> Uh fair and I don't disagree with you. Um but as you indicated, we are dealing with an addiction and when you just simply take something away from someone, they go through withdrawal and they become disregulated.

077And so that aspect of how we try and get a student where we want them to be may not happen today, but there's a long-term goal to get to where we want to go. So, um yeah, there are some very unique circumstances. And I would say again, this we're these are very few students we're talking about. >> I know. and I know the team is is very good at working through that stuff. So, I have great faith in them. >> That's my two cents, peeps. So, I will um chime in and just say I agree with you wholeheartedly. I feel like I've done a lot of thinking about this and I feel like if it was my sole decision, I would also be in favor of a full ban. Um, but I also feel like

078listening to the community and the constituents and thinking what's what's a good compromise here. And to me, I agree with you. I think allowing phones during the lunchtime because I think the biggest thing that we've been hearing from people is well, kids need to check their phone for A, B, and C. So I think if it's an allowance of this is your downtime, this is when you have, you know, your 20 minutes, you know, to to check your phone to do what you need to do, but then it needs to get put away for the rest of the day. I also agree with you. I don't think that phones should be allowed during passing time. To me, that's time where it isn't downtime. It's you are now moving from one class to the next class.

079Um, so I guess that's kind of where I see it as being a compromise. I've actually taken this a step further and I've actually looked into more of the research that's been coming out with um like longitudinal studies that they've been coming out with brain development with kids and phones. And a lot of what they've looked at is looking at kids at age five or six getting phones. And they were looking at um the mental health impact on this. And kind of what they were seeing was kids who get phones a lot earlier tend to then have a lot more suicidal ideiation as they get older and get into their teenage years. So kind of what they were showing age 13 was kind of a better age to be giving kids phones, but ideally it

080was like 18. Um, and there's not a lot of studies, but there's a few. And it's looking at, you know, again, longitudinal. So these are things that they've been looking at over four, five, six. I think there was one that was maybe 10 years. Um, but I think it's worth looking at the research and the data of stuff because I do think that these things do have a great impact on kids. And I think as a school board, you know, looking at what's best for students and education and to me seeing it as being a distraction or something that's taking away from the educational setting, that's kind of again where I feel like it's a good compromise to say lunchtime is your downtime. You're not in a class. You know, if think if if kids

081can handle it appropriately at the lunchtime, put it away and move back on to the rest of their day. I guess I don't see a problem with having that be the compromise. >> Lunch hour you're okay with. >> Yeah. I think the thing is >> the the other thing too because I know I I think this was a change to the policy was keeping it um like away all day K through eight. >> Oh, >> definitely. Doing fine. >> Okay. Okay. And I didn't know if that we specifically had changed that in the policy or if that's the change like we're making that changes because previously it was eighth grade was allowed to have them at lunchtime. I believe >> so I included in your packets because at one point we had the two remember

082we had the two. >> Yeah. >> We had the restricted and we had the full away all day versions. >> But that would just be something else I would want to make sure is included. >> Yeah. So, so in that one I was just hearing this dialogue what we would So my suggestion is that if if the board and I'm again I don't want to I'm not trying to shorten your conversation but um if if the direction is ultimately you would choose to move to um if you want to res act this evening you could adopt that restricted version draft. We could strike through the language. There's um a bullet >> under under Roman numeral number one policy guidelines by grade level to Ashley's question grades 4K through 8 it states the use of personal

083communication devices is strictly prohibited on school grounds during school hours. Um, so there is no by that policy and that's currently what we're doing, right? That's the that's what you approved in the handbook last summer is what's reflected in this policy. The change um the edit that would be made for your adoption that I'm seeing is that uh then it goes grades 9 through 12 high school. It has a during instructional time. Then it has during non-instructional time. Um there is a second sentence under that bullet. Um it kind of lists Non-instructional time is defined as time during the school day prior to the start of the first class period after the conclusion of the last class period. Passing time between classes and lunchtime. I would just strike passing time between classes >> and those

084that would be struck stricken right that would be struck because that's what I'm hearing at least as the working concept that you're discussing. >> Um I could look to see if it's in there. I don't think it's in there anywhere else, but that would make that tweak and that would be then the ver a version you could take action to approve and then we could put that in place and then the only thing I would um clarify from you is what's the timeline for when you want us to implement and I don't think it would take long. I think it maybe a week or so ramp up time and maybe November, start of November or something like that. You could move >> that. I mean, I printed it out and obviously just those four words

085would essentially be taken out and then it's covered and then I whatever whatever you guys decided was >> there could even be an explicit statement, you know, that clearly states that not during passing time. But if you strike that, it would be clear that that's not part of what's not instructional time. >> There's a detail here that I guess I just want to share about the logistics of how our day schedule works. Um so when you say not passing time uh the first passing time that we have is from resource to first hour and the challenge that we have during that time is that half of the building are arriving at that time. So during arrival before resource we said it's fine if you as you're entering the building and you're getting your locker that's

086fine. So we'll have to figure out you know like how we're going to manage the juniors and seniors that are arriving for the 817 first hour start. The transition from first hour to second hour is very clean in the sense of that is a passing time and there's nothing else that would, you know, mess that up. There's the potential that someone is arriving at that time, but it would be just I mean it' again be like a handful of kids. So then we get to our transition to third hour. Our transition to third hour is to lunch. And so a third of the kids are going to be headed to the lunchroom. Um the other two/irds are going to class and then we have um a third of them coming for be lunch, leaving class,

087going down there and then going back to class. And then at the end of third hour, we have a third of them coming from lunch and everybody's going to fourth hour at that point in time. So from a management standpoint, like those two transition times include lunch and so for some portion of, you know, like and we wouldn't necessarily be able to identify um some people are going to lunch, some people are coming from lunch. So in order to implement what you're suggesting, we would have to limit it to only in the lunchroom in the atrium. Um, we would also have to make sure that when juniors and seniors arrive, as we'd set some cut off point where as soon as you start to enter the building or enter the hallways, you would not be

088able to be on your phones. So, there's going to be some ambiguity around those times. And the only real clean passing time is between first and second hour. So, I just want you to consider there are some logistics to what you're suggesting that aren't very clean. >> Not to say we can't do it, but just want you to be aware. >> I just want to I just want to say something here. So, And I'm just going to ask the board to consider just going back to the restricted use the way it was. I mean, we we went out to the community. We heard from the students. We heard from the teachers. We heard from I'm not hearing the administration saying that you want this. >> Um I'm just I'm not quite sure what problem we're

089solving by taking the >> passing time away. I'm not sure what we're what we're solving actually at this point. I'm not hearing I didn't hear that come through from anybody as like a solution or as like a middle ground. So, I'm not sure as a board what we'd be gaining by by doing that. It sounds like it's potentially a logistical nightmare trying to uh police it essentially. >> I mean, there's a way to do it. It's just >> Yeah, it's you know, I don't know how clean it will be. And so there will there will be similar to what we've done this year where we're trying to um get them used to a new norm which is you walk through the door it has to be gone before you walk through the door. So we

090don't have at the start of class teachers are saying put your phones away and having to deal with all that. Um I think that's really helped and created a very clear line that that didn't exist before. So there are ways that we can set that norm. But while we do that we're going to see a continued increase in some of these first-time offenders likely. >> So what are you really saying then Matt? I'm saying let's not touch it. I guess >> keep the language the way it is. We just leave it the way it is. >> You you do have a point because when I talked to other board presidents, that's when I was faced with the reality that if we were to strictly ban, imagine how we would police the lunch hour. You know,

091if we said you can't bring your phones out at lunch, what extra staff is going to want to stand in the atrium and make sure the kids aren't using their phones? So, that was the obvious. Give them the lunch hour. Um, but now I'll be honest, I I didn't realize that the complications that could arise with passing. I think it's just an expectation that you set. Like you said, if it's doesn't matter what time you get here, if you're even if you're coming in late, the expectation is when you're walking in the door, your phone is not out, it's put away, you're going into class, whatever it is you're doing, unless you're in the lunchroom or atrium. >> Correct. >> Yeah. >> You use the term lunch hour, but actually, how long is the lunch

092period? >> Um, lunch period is 30 minutes, more or less. >> 30 minutes, right? So, it's not an hour. So they have to go from a class, get to the lunchroom, get their food, eat their lunch, get back to the classroom. So I mean, it's sometimes minutes. And it's the passing time is really only five minutes. Five minutes out there. So >> it's also not a time that I think kids should be distracted on their phones. >> Yeah. >> It should be I'm moving from my next class, being prepared to go into my next class to learn, not thinking about a text, not thinking about That's kind of the compromise of you. You have your 30 minute lunch time, which is your downtime, your break time, check your phone, do the business you need to

093do back into learning. >> And just to provide clarification, support whichever way that you you know, it's it's your decision how you want to go here. Um, but I think to Brian's point, it would just need to be tightly defined, right? So from the start from the start of resource what time does resource start? 7:30. >> 7:30. >> Okay. So from 7:30 upon entering the building your phone needs to be put away. You are allowed the privilege of using it during lunch once you are in the lunchroom or the you know define it the atrium and the cafeteria shouldn't be out in the hallways otherwise uh transitioning. So that would give a geographic boundary that could be a stale. So if that's I'm saying if that's the direction that you want to do, that's what's

094got to be defined. There will be some transition uh to that because that's that's a change. >> And I and I think to that end, um I guess I would request that if you would like to stick with the passing time thing, you just keep it your language the way that it is and we will try to come up with that because even like the the direction that you gave has a little bit of a conflict in the sense of it's not the 7:30 bell. It's when you walk into resource. It's when you walk through the door of your first hour, your first resource >> or it's when you walk in the building. So, however, however, >> yeah. So, so if we could just work on those kinds of spec, I just need the guidance

095as to what am I trying to do, >> right? >> If that's okay, >> if we come back to Matt Match, basically you're saying just okay, we keep it as current setup with it's there and we've I think the thing is we've seen pretty good success. I mean, if we've only got these 25 some kids that are second or third violations out there, I mean, how much tighter do we want to get in terms of doing it during those five minute passing periods? And obviously with our three lunch periods as kids are going back and forth. I mean, is it the in the lunchroom or is it the time it's the time within that 30 minutes that they get to check their phone, eat their lunch, and get back to class, if you will, go

096to the bathroom if they need to. So, I just think we're trying to be nitpicky about a few minutes here and there. >> And if it's >> I I I don't disagree with you, Larry. I think this is something that I have to say because I feel strongly about it. I feel like we had this restriction out there, but it wasn't really being held strongly to. And then the board brought up the discussion of this policy and now the school is strongly upholding it. And Brian, thank you. >> Yes, >> I appreciate that. What I don't want to happen is we don't go with a ban and all of a sudden everybody goes no ban. We can let down our guard. I don't want that to happen because I think our own staff has told

097us that by us being stricter on this. We've changed the attitudes of kids and we've changed the environment in the classroom for our teachers to be able to educate our kids. So I think we've done some really good work here and I don't want us to let down on that. So whether we allow passing time or we don't for me the most important thing is the progress that we've made right that we don't let down on it and that we continue to stay strong on this because I do think it is the best for our kids. So one other just brief comment on that it relative to doing it and and I'm a really strong believer in a philosoph philosophically that the kids the teachers and the administrators here relationships between our students and our

098faculty and our staff administrative staff those need to be positive relations as much as we possibly can. So, we don't want to necessarily get into an environment where we're creating a lot of opportunities for students to be potentially caught caught, if you will, in terms of with their violation of this policy. So, and again with 25 students, it just doesn't seem like it's a major major issue of having that kind of tight restrictions in place in terms of what's there because I mean if you're here, you see how the um principles Emily and Jane Matter are out there, the teachers are out there, they generally have really really positive relationships with our students. And I don't want to see that go away with there's like, oh well, I'm going to get caught, you know, and

099so some teacher is going to have to report them if they're using their phone while they're walking in the hallway or while they're going to lunch in that 30 minute period. I mean, so the lunchtime just it just seems like it's a really kind of not necessarily philosophically what I want to have available for our students. And you guys can say that too. It's like if your teachers were catching you every single day in terms of a gotcha situation that you had your phone out and you were using it during passing time and it's like oh gotcha. So >> Travis, >> talking to quite a few parents and students, um I kind of was like Ashley and Brent that full band, but also understanding there needs to be some responsibility there for students, right? And

100I also can understand the timing of getting back to people. So I think my biggest thing is removing the distraction from the classroom, right? I think Matt made a decent point saying passway. We could we could disagree on the passing. I'd be okay with the lunch, but I'm more interested in data that we're currently right. We're a couple weeks in numbers seem pretty low because there's an enforcement, right? We are enforcing. So, if we keep with the status quo what it is now, right, we decide to put this on hold or not move forward yet, I'd like to see what the numbers are. Do they creep back up? >> Yes. And then we say we tried it, didn't work, but it say creep back. But I also cut the gray area, right? Like I don't

101want teachers to have to do that. And if it's, hey, you cross that threshold in the room. So if if it's working right, based on the numbers this year, >> that that's my main distractions from the classroom. That's that's what I want to eliminate. >> That that really makes a lot of sense, Travis. I mean, if we keep it the same, but if Brian continue to give us the numbers and I just want to give us a comparison. So, I did reach out to Katie Spidoni and she said at ASA there's 648 students there and she's had only three three violations in terms of students there that are not following the policy. So, we're putting in place in motion there. Kids are not having their phones out in sixth, seventh, eighth grade. And if Brian

102does his job here with all the teachers being consistent when you walk in the classroom, your phone had better be out of sight. they don't have them out. So, >> so with that, I mean, if we take the restricted version and then either we decide we're going to keep in or keep out, take out the passing time, those four words in there. So, >> I'm suggest I would suggest should we vote on the way it's worded right now? And I if we don't I have a feeling you and I are going to be on the losing end. But then the the board I support the board. I mean you know what I mean? >> So the restricted use version as it >> as it's worded now. >> Okay. And leave everything in as it is.

103>> What do you guys think? Go that route >> and and leave passing time between classes in there. >> Here here's the thing board. If you said it well, Travis, if we get, you know, to the end of the year here and Brian comes back and we have a discussion on this and he says, "Wow, you know, the numbers have gone down," or, "Oh, they've got we we can always reconsider this. That's always our option. But we have made great progress." And the progress is where you say it where we wanted it Travis was in the classroom. We seem to have achieved that. So do we take that win and approve it as it stands and see how it goes between now and the end of the school year. >> Couple things I'll add. So

104there in that survey, there was quite a few teachers that said that that the ear pods really helped, right? So that's still in there. that's removing another distraction that maybe was allowed a little bit. Um, smart watches seem a little bit less, but I'm sure they know that it's going to be the same thing, right, from that perspective. So, I think there has been some progress on this policy, >> even if it's in passing. Like you said, it's remove some of that distraction that we want and I think we always reserve the right to see how those numbers. I'm just speaking for myself and the parents that and students I've spoken with I mean, I also look at it from the other option of, okay, if we do change this and we move forward with

105saying, let's get even stricter for half of the year and see how it goes. Does that succeed even more? Do we have even more success and less distractions with kids? Do we see better learning? Um, I mean, I would be interested to see how that goes because then I look at it as like then you at least get a half of a year in to see how did the first half of the year go versus the second half of the year and then we come back in summer, we can re-evaluate it and say what went well, what didn't, do we want to change this? Do we want to keep it? >> Good point. >> Take you up on your offer, Stacy. So, I'm going to move to approve the personal communication devices policy 53000.15, but

106the restricted use version as Mike distributed. So, that's my motion >> with all the wording as is. >> All the wording the same as it is as distributed. So, >> I have a motion. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> I Are you counting Tammy for me? >> Okay. Um, all opposed? >> No. >> Okay. So, with that vote, we have a four for it and two against it. So, it looks like at this point we will go forward with the restricted policy as it stands right now. And we'll just ask Brian, I will call you back towards the end of the school year to give us a report on how those numbers look. And again, I just want to say thank you to you and the staff. Um,

107you've done a good job and we just want that to continue. So, Thank you. >> I just want to make it clear for those in the audience who may be watching at home because I know there was a lot of interest in this. In essence, what just happened is the board codified what's already been approved by the board in the handbook in a policy. So, that was that was what the vote just was just to make sure that that's clear. Um, and the other thing I would say for the board is, you know, we could you could do some surveying again in the spring if you want to follow up and obviously you can amend your policies whenever uh whenever you want. if you think that that's necessary. So, there's always an option to revisit

108if you feel that's warranted. >> And I want to thank this board because I think some of the best discussion and the best meetings that we've had centered around this policy. Um, so no matter the outcome, it's been good for this board to have these discussions and I want to thank each and every one of you for all that you contributed. Thank you. Next, we'll move on to new business and we have the ACT suite data presentation. I'm going to turn over to Anthony. >> Yeah, we have uh Candace joining us virtually. So, she shared a uh summary with all of you regarding the ACT suite of assessments that um is inclusive for us of eighth graders up through juniors. So, I'm going to hand things off to Candace and then I'll finish this off

109at the end. >> All right. So, we are here to talk about the ACT suite. Um the ACT suite for the Pew School District is both a local assessment and a state assessment. So for grade 8 it is a local assessment in the spring pret. And then for grades 9 and 10 in the fall it is a local assessment but in the spring it is a state assessment. And then grade nine takes the ACT in spring as well for their state assessment. It assesses students on the subjects of English reading math science and then in grade 11 writing. Additional scores are available with those subjects in the categories of English language arts which combines English, reading and writing and then STEM which combines math and science. And then for the ACT, there are two sets

110of performance levels associated with the ACT. The first set is the Wisconsin assessment performance levels. Those are the demarcators measuring students skills and knowledge um that they have performed on the ACT but are related to the Wisconsin state standards. And then there are also the ACT college and career readiness benchmarks which are provided by ACT and those assess student uh knowledge and skills on how likely they are to pass and be successful in a college class if they attend a college university. So this in 2425 in the statewide rankings for the average score, grade nine was in the top 6% of all school districts in the English language arts and in the top 4% of all Wisconsin school districts in math. Grade 10 for English language arts was in the top 2% of all school

111districts and 5% for math. And then in grade 11, English language arts, top eight% of all school districts in the state of Wisconsin and in math, the top six%. Particularly for grade 11, um that was an improvement from the 2324 school year. Just a quick look. And this was a new slide that we wanted to put in here to provide a little bit of additional information. And so if you were looking at your packet, this slide wasn't in there. Um, just looking at the grade 8 preacct percent of students that are college and career ready. So the students in this benchmark are likely to be successful, that is have a chance of passing a college class with a B or higher at 50%. Or a 70 to 75% chance of passing it with a C

112or higher. So in English and reading and math we've had a lot of stability across the subjects for the past five years and science we've been gaining in scores for 23 24 there was a dip however that was able to be reversed and you can see a strong inclining trend since 2021 in the category of science overall grade level trends um grade 8 as I just noted stable in English reading and math with science rebounding and in a general increase. Grade 9, 23, the school years of 2023 and 2025 have been somewhat stable. We did note in in the more details that the 2024 school year seemed to be much higher. And we move to grade 10, we can see that occurring again in which the current school year had higher performance than prior years.

113And it seems like this cohort is performing higher in general as they had higher grade nine performance and they will potentially have higher grade 11 performance as well. Then grade 11 scores have been somewhat stable but they did improve in the statewide rankings. And then Anthony can discuss some of those action plans that came out of those scores. >> Yeah. So, and if if you're looking at this screen down here, really both the the middle school and the high school really have the same action plans when it comes to um kind of looking at the ACT data and identifying some focus areas um for both buildings. They each have a reading specific goal and a math specific goal. And then kind of a secondary to that is they're also really focusing on the growth of

114those subgroups of students um to see growth with students that receive special education support. We have talked here uh with this group prior about through the strategic plan our focus on establishing professional learning communities and really making sure that teams of teachers are getting together to talk about instruction and to talk about teaching but more importantly to talk about is what we're doing impactful from a student learning standpoint. Um we have two year-long professional development strands for uh the first one focused specifically on our 6 through 12 um ELA teachers and really we have had some uh new teachers join us and it's been a while since we kind of reggrounded in what those really good um language arts strategies are. So that 612 math team will enga or excuse me ELA team will engage

115in that throughout the course of this year. Similarly, we're doing the same thing with math. And then, you know, I I have really liked the uh last couple times Brian has been asked a question like how many cell phone, you know, uh discipline referrals have there been and he's been able to bring his Brian does not have that memorized. I mean, he's good, but he's not that good. So, he's able to bring his computer up. We we have rolled out this year a new data management system. So, if I am a teacher and a student walks into my classroom and I and I'm just really curious to know like I'd like to know historically how the student has has performed with regards to reading with all of the assessments that we have. They very very

116easily can search that student's profile and obtain that information. Now, could they have gotten that before? Yes. But there were numerous other steps in the process. It just wasn't as clean. So, we're really looking at trying to utilize that as a tool to get teachers real time information so that they can adjust their teaching strategies to meet the needs of kids. >> Candace have some involvement in creating some of those tabulations or however it's done. >> Nope. Um the nice thing is Candace has got got to work on the back end to make sure that all of the data is because there are there is some data entry on Candace's part but generally speaking it syncs every night with our student information system uh which is has been very nice because previously for teaching and

117learning we had to use Qualrix um and there was a ton of work that Candace and Becky had to put in on the back end with that system. I have a question. >> As a non-educator, >> I struggle when we look at these results because like Candace mentioned that one cohort. So, I get like you your your ninth grade English teacher is teaching the same that's like the same curriculum every year, but she's getting a very different cohort. So it just seems really hard to make analyses based on that. >> Okay. So that is the number one reason why one of the strategic plan goals is out of teaching and learning is focused on that learner variability piece and the professional learning community piece is kind of the second step to that. Right? it is

118with the diverse students that we have which sometimes change year to year uh period to period um the days of I'm going to teach a lesson one way over and over I'm going to do it again the same way next year like it's not as effective as as it once may have been. So that I mean that I would agree with you and we have many things in place to kind of use student data to do what's best for kids based on where they're at. And a thing that I might pipe in on here is so when you're talking about these kinds of assessments, I mean there's utility in some of the detail that can be gleaned in in terms of like you heard with our spotlight on learning, right? Where they might be able

119to make an inference that this is a specific area of science or reading or mathematics that were weaker in when we get those full data reports. I think from a board level, what's uh most helpful is just from a an accountability and a monitoring standpoint, how are we doing overall with this particular assessment? It's also important to hear again how are we using that and that's where you're seeing what those action plans are. >> I do appreciate that. I agree. >> Yeah. I mean, when you look at I mean, here's here's the reality. you're gonna have when when you So, as you saw in everything, we're like literally we're in the top on the low end on on these top eight 8% to the top three 4% in the state of Wisconsin. Right. So, so

120when you look at rankings, got a little bit of stronger cohort. We're going to bump up maybe like you can see, you know, we're kind of excited that it's the junior this class. We'll see what they do. They have shown good potential. So we may have a really nice performance on this year's junior state assessment which is a key indicator on the state report card. >> So because that cohort has consistently performed a little bit higher but you're talking you know all right well we were ahead of New Berlin with that group but we were behind maybe with another group. I mean these are all high performing systems and you're going to see based on some cohorts some bouncing around. Now, you do see some that are consistently sitting at at the top of those,

121but what you're seeing as a board is that um this district continues to perform at at a high level in the state. And this is continued evidence. If if you were to see us, you know, drop, geez, we used to be in the top 10% all the time, and now we're, you know, we're lucky to stay in the top 20. That's a that's a problem. Like, what happened? And we should there should be some real analysis. If we start to see a trend of us consistently scoring much lower uh in the state, then that's something that should really flag the board to say, hey, what are we doing about this? Um, but you are going to see some of that bumping up and down with that cluster because all these districts that you see us

122always ranked with are the top performers in the state who are doing really good stuff, too. >> I just would hate if anybody would ever say, well, last year our nth graders were in the 5% and now this year they're 8%. That that >> it's a different group of kids. And it's I just don't want >> and it's really literally it's it's really very minor changes in the performance >> 100%. But >> but I mean that's but understanding that again that's where we always have to kind of keep it in perspective when you say there's 529 high schools in Wisconsin. And you know when you're looking if you go into the report you know that's that's included that gives you more detail than in the slides. Um you know you can see here on the

123Wisconsin grade 10 preture ELA we are one two three four five we're seventh out of 529 high schools. I mean right you're right at the very top of how you perform now. And that was a really good performance. Sometimes we might be in the top 20, whatever, but we're still in that top fiveish or so percent. So, you're talking about a high level of performance. Um, that said, that isn't that is not to try to send a message to you in any way that we should be real satisfied. We're always wanting to be pushing that and we always wanted to be getting better. That's why these these pieces are in front of you in terms of those priorities and those action goals. It's why the spotlight that you saw here were always because unless you're

124at 100%. Uh it's not good enough. Um because that means some kids aren't performing at the level that we want to truly open that door as far as we can for them in their future. Right? So there's always a striving to be better. The reality is is you're going to, you know, you're talking about a high level of performance relatively in the state. So that you're going to kind of see us clustered there. If we drop down uh from that quite a bit, then then that's something that we should really be able to explain to you what's going on. >> I I think the other piece that's important to recognize is um our next board meeting, you guys will see a similar presentation um on the Wisconsin forward assessment. When we look at these standardized

125assessments that you guys are are getting report outs on, yes, they play a role in what the state has determined to be the metrics that gauge the effectiveness of us as a school district. Having said that, I put much more stock as our teachers do in the assessment that occurs every single day in their classrooms. That is more valid from an instructional planning standpoint than a test that a student takes once sore twice a year. Do you evaluate like a cohort? So like you have an ex expectation. Okay. So they take the ACT that's like nth grade first time. I know the eighth grade is a thing but so nth grade and then you would hope that their next that same cohort like do you have there's an expect or a goal for what they're

126going to get each year. >> Yeah. So if you look at the way the buildings have set up their specifically the middle school and high school the way that they have set um their building goals, it specifically is also focused on growth because generally speaking we're a high performing uh district when it comes to student achievement. But what we really need to focus on is are our stu our students growing a year's worth of growth in a year's worth of time. Right? If I am high achieving but I never, you know, I have a 20% growth rate, is that success? I don't know. So, both buildings have specific goals that are focused on growth and achievement. >> Is the ACT part of it or is the ACT kind of its own beast? >> Nope. The

127ACT is part of it. So, I know Candace has worked with, you know, Brian and the high school team um many times to focus on, okay, like if I'm a student and this was my score this year, what would be my expected growth, you know, from sophomore year to to junior year? So to make sure I understand this, those specific cohort groups that might have a lower score in nth grade, we're continually looking at those cohort groups to make sure that they are making those advances even if their scores still lag other groups, but they're still making those that progress of a year's learning in a year's time. >> Right? And that's really that really goes down to the individual student level, right? So, you know, Brian may set a goal that we want 70%

128of our sophomore students to meet their growth expectation from sophomore year to junior year. And that's based on, you know, what if John were in that sophomore class, what his score, his individual score was that sophomore year. >> Yeah. And that growth piece is a really important point because you could have lower performance overall um and have done a much better job, right? So you could have a really talented group or that's always been high achieving and they might they could even underachieve but still score really high and you can have a group that's t typically been lower but you brought their growth further and you were actually far more successful with your instruction. It doesn't they might not be ranked quite as high. Um but if the growth scores are there that really shows

129that you've taken them the furthest in terms of what you've had. So you know I'll use a coaching analogy. I think I think one of the best jobs I ever did as a wrestling coach was with one of my worst teams and because they got so much better at the end of the year than they were at the start of the year. Um we got some individual su I mean the the team really improved and I think one of my worst coaching jobs was with my best team because they didn't perform well at the end of the season. So um that they had the talent but the performance wasn't to where the their potential was where the others I felt exceeded their potential. And that is why the the school report card is set up

130to take into account, you know, the percentage of students that we get to that, you know, proficient or higher, but also there's a there's growth measures that are attached as well. >> Candace, anything to add? >> Yeah, I think this year what's really important to note is that for grade 11 this year, um, the class of 2026 was predicted to have a 21.2, 2, but the high school was able to have over 64% of their students meet their projected growth or more. And so their average score actually ended up being 21.7. And so I think that really speaks to how we focus on both proficiency and benchmarks, but also getting students for to growth. And I know part of the high school's goal focused on students with an IEP. And amongst those students, 79% of

131students met their year's worth of growth. um which is very very impressive. Um and so I think making sure we continue to focus on both and then also knowing that like it does make a difference when those students are kind of pushed above and beyond that projected growth is also the results you're seeing at the end of the year. >> Yeah. So exceeding Yeah. I think generally when you start getting north of 50% right and and that growth you're doing >> correct >> because if again if you think of like percentile if everybody stays the same they remain the same same spot a year later things have went up right because you're a year you're older and those things but so exceeding that that's real good evidence of success >> just one quick comment as

132long as Candace is still on one I like the idea where you have the 25% 10% 5% that's just a nice display. Yeah. But also kind of gives us the sense of that yeah we're hanging in there right with the top five or top 5% or 10%. And then I know we had talked about as one of our board goals relative to some of the external comparisons that are out there. So we pick up on it when you do the county and or the high achieving districts that are out there too. So, I mean, it's like we're looking at kind of state, but then county, but then, okay, guys, and we're really up there looking at those high achieving districts, and where are we at? And I think we talked about it. How do we

133get get as good as some of the districts that are in that top group in those high performing? So, what are they doing? >> And we're located in, you know, our region and some in some of the Madison area spots in >> Yeah. I mean, well, right. I mean, you got the Elberts and the Arrowheads and >> So, yeah. Yeah, when you see when you look at county comparables and those rankings, I mean, you're talking about ranking against many of the best systems in the whole state. >> Lake Fish Bay is always up there, too, and stuff. So, >> any other questions? >> Thank you, Candace. >> Well done, Candace. >> Thanks, Anthony. Um, next is third Friday count, John. >> So, u, we conducted the third Friday count for this year on September 19th.

134There's two count dates in the state of Wisconsin has for all schools to report on. One is the third Friday in September. The other one is the second Friday in January. Uh the more important of the two count dates is that third Friday in September because the number from that along with the data from the previous um three years is used to determine your revenue limit for the school district. That ultimately sets about 90% of our revenues in our general fund within Pewwaukee School District. So uh that is determined that will be determined um in o on October 27th on that count date. We had anticipated a decrease of about 1.25% or about 32 students. Um this year we went down about 1.6. So about 42 students about 10 more kids than we anticipated in

135our resident full-time equivalency. We've continued a trend that of of the younger classes coming into the district being smaller as as they enter the district. And that's been consistent for this is the fourth or third straight year where we've seen that that decrease uh pretty close to what's predicted statewide. This the the prediction statewide is that we would see a decrease in enrollment over the next five years of about 7% um across the state. We're really close to that trend. Uh the one thing that um like I said in previous meetings as we look at that one and a half 1.75% reduction per year that would get us to that statewide trend. We have new housing which is not the case in many places around the state and new housing rates for students moving into

136those new houses uh tend to offset some of that decrease that you would see just from the demographics in the population. So when I say we're going to see a dip, we will see a dip until that new housing kicks in and as those get get filled with families. Um we should see a leveling off if not slower decline within the district. Um we are a declining enrollment district on the revenue limit uh which provides us an exemption of a year for a year-over-year the penalty for decreasing in enrollment. It smooths the curve on your decrease in revenues that you receive as a district. On open enrollment side, we had predicted about 346 open enrollment students coming in. That was up about five or six kids from what we had last year incoming. Um we're

137standing right now at 251. So about five more than what was predicted uh for incoming. Uh for outgoing open enrollment, uh we had 117 students last year outgoing on the third Friday. This year we have 119. So pretty stable in the in the number of students that are outgoing in the district. There are any questions? >> No, other than there was I when you mentioned the numbers, I can circulate it around. I just was looking at a um applied population laboratory studies that are out there. There's like a two-page summary talking about the declining enrollment across the entire state. So I'm going to circulate that document. a couple pages there there, but it talks exactly about that six to 7% and if they're using a fiveyear trend or a three-year trend. So, I'll I'll send

138that out to you guys. >> Thanks. All right. Uh, next we move on to the policy committee. And Ashley, I'm going to have you report out on that. Um, I did not receive any questions about any of the policies that are up for First Street. Does anybody have any questions about these policies? Just re make sure you review them. This is first read, so the next time they come up, they'll be up for approval. Personnel issues. No resignations. >> No resignations, no employments, and no leaves. >> Awesome. Um, next operations. Um, upcoming activities. Uh, Monday, October 27th is our next board meeting. Um, and it's just strictly, um, a board meeting at 7 PM. Mike will not be here. He'll be out of town that evening. Um, November 10th, uh, we do have business affairs

139at 6 followed by a regular board meeting. The 24th, um, we have a 6 pm policy committee meeting by a se followed by a 700 p.m. regular board meeting. And then December 8th, um, we have business affairs and a regular board meeting at 7. Again, Tammy's done a beautiful job of um putting out the board meeting schedule for us and the calendar. So, um make sure you um that's available at your fingertips for you. Um beyond that, uh legislative advocacy. Is there anything there, Mike? >> Um there's really not a lot right now. There's um you know there was some hope for the rehired annuitance bill. That sounds like that isn't really moving at this point. Um I know WSB had put out a notice to again reach out to our legislators again. Um I

140think it's just kind of caught up in politics for some reason. It's a really practical solution that could help an awful lot of school districts in the state that would allow districts to rehire retired annuitants um more easily and without penalty. We've definitely done our advocacy for that. Um but I don't know that that's I think in particular in the Senate that seems to be stalled. Um there are some discussions about things like consolidation u of districts. I know that's a big discuss especially considering what John's talking about and Larry had mentioned with the population um projections to be declining. That's really that would be a a big piece. Um that would be probably surprising if it had some they would get something that a governor would sign. Um, but I that's much more targeted

141at at systems with like small feeder districts into high schools or really small rural districts and about consolidating some of those. That's that's something that's being talked about a lot right now. Um, John, anything else? >> Yeah, just a few few bills that we've heard they're they're being circulated for sponsorship right now, ideas, um, but still awaiting the bill or language that would be coming out of it. So that's kind of what's going on now. >> Okay. >> Um board and superintendent goals. Um we had our goals committee meeting and then out of that um Larry worked on piecing together some goals for us and then um recently Mike, Larry, and myself sat down and um talk through the uh board goals for the year. you see him there in your attachment. Um, Larry, do

142you want to say anything to that? I think it's pretty >> as we discussed at the meeting, the goal A, goal B, little tweaks there, probably just to update it for the years. uh knowing that we'll finish the construction in the or the projects in the 2026 uh time frame, but we did add the board goal specifically related to or superintendent goal uh reviewing the transition process for those students with IEPs and 54 plans. So from a grade to grade, but also from a building to building kind of um transitions that are there and then continuing to stay on top of the numbers of um students and then kind of impacts on staffing as we go forward with that. So John, from a budget standpoint, keep us in the loop. And then the other one

143that we created was specifically some information on the um behavioral incidents as they occur in the school and in the classrooms. and then also on the buses in terms of the recording of that and there was a previous uh or report from February that addressed some of those u disciplinary or interventions that were there but wanting to make sure that we get a a handle on that and so Mike whenever that would be available or best to schedule that for would be a part of it. So that one I think is makes a lot of sense to have that and then just coincidentally when we had the report in 2025 it did address some of the attendance items there as well. Then we broke it down into the specifics for the act 20. We saw

144maybe a little sneak preview of some of the things that occurred at Horizon relative to the act 20 requirements and then some of the professional learning communities uh the model and approach being used for that uh and being a having that as part of a presentation uh doing that and then we also had the exact same thing with the math or numeracy programs that are out there. There was some talk about having some kind of legislation in Madison regarding the uh creating like an act 20 if you will but for math. I don't know if that's moving forward or not but there's things that are out there relative to that and I you know kind of shared some things with Anthony regarding some potential upcoming things that might be happening relative to math and numeracy

145kinds of things. And then the other one we had as a superintendent goal was the board uh effectiveness of board super superintendent working relationships which would include what we're going to do tonight is kind of like that midyear review and then end of year evaluations and then I I kept in there the ones that were removed so we took those out and then um essentially it's kind of like the flip of whatever Mike's goals are. So in some cases it was re uh learn about I couldn't come up with a really good way to kind of figure out how to do uh the number of behaviors. So we would receive the data on it obviously hopefully that we will learn from that but uh so a couple of those turn into a receive data and

146information on the district's progress on those uh the act 20 as well as the math components that are there and I think those really sort of target us and when Bren and I kind of talked about it with Mike I mean it really keeps us focused on the academic performance which is really kind of what we want to do with and also then the behavioral issues because we know that that can negatively affect some of the things that go on in the classroom here as well. So hopefully we've got that kind of nice balance with it and Mike is willing to work with us for another year or so in terms of keeping that moving forward. So you have any questions on it or if you feel that there's any tweaks as you know I

147mean I'm open to changes or modifications if there's anything that's there. We don't have the dates in there because usually Mike goes through and kind of slots in when those uh sessions would be most appropriate. Sometimes it may just be an update at a board meeting or uh when we're in some kind of a learning session, if you will, but he figures that out for us in terms of those things. But there anything that I missed? I mean, I had my flip charts, had the notes, u kind of like process it a little bit in terms of making sure that I picked up all of your keywords. Now, I don't tape record the meetings, just you know that. So, >> that looks good, Larry. >> Thanks, though. we move forward or want to move. >>

148Well, if um if there are no questions or concerns, I think we could take a motion to approve those goals. >> I move to approve the goals as presented. The board is supporting the goals. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> Thank you, Tammy. Do we have any citizen comments? >> No citizen comments. >> Thank you. Then um I make a motion uh to go into close session. The board of education will adjourn into close session in accordance with state statute 19.851c 851C which is to consider employment promotion compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I I sorry. Roll call. >> Travis. >> Yes. >> Stacy. >> Yes. Yes.

149>> Yes. >> All right. We're in close session >> and for the stream, we won't be coming back.