Board of Education Meeting June 9, 2025

0017 o'clock. So, we're going to call the meeting to order. We're going to do roll call. Larry here. Matt here. Stacy here. Travis here. Mary here. Uh, was the meeting properly noticed? The meeting was properly noticed. So, Before we adopt the agenda, we are going to look to table under new business item A cooperative educational service agency contract. Yeah, we in preparing for today, we identified that there were some there were some issues with that contract. So, um we would look for a motion to amend the agenda to table that to the June 23rd meeting. I will move to table item. Let's see what it is. 8 A, Cooperative Educational Services contract for the 202526 school year until the next meeting. Yes. Okay. Second. All in favor? I I abstain the amendment. So then you

002seek a motion to adopt the amended agenda. Then I'll move to adopt the agenda as amended. Second. Favor. I I Any opposed? Oppose. stand 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. We have any salutes and recognition? I have some. Um, just to salute and recognize some of the end of year activities. We had the commencement that was on Saturday. I thought the timing was great. It looked like we had really good attendance um from the families um and it was a great um ceremony and then the ASA on the football field. Um it is just done really well I think and efficiently. Um and then the end of year event where we salute the

003retirees and just Mike is able to to summarize the year for the the staff. And I want to point out he just did an awesome job acknowledging that we're going through a dark time right now, but that the light always overcomes the darkness. And he said, "We are not ignoring it, but we are going to celebrate today all the good things that have happened this year." So it was a really great celebratory morning. So Tammy, I need you to fill in the people on those events for me, please. Thank you. Yeah, I just would like to um really in particular salute our four principles um for the work that they did. Uh just wrapping up a you know with the exception of some of the things that we're dealing with right now. A very good

004uh school year. Um just a lot of things to be really proud of. I think there's a lot of progress uh that we continue to make and I think we're fortunate to have the leadership that we do at those buildings. So, I'd just like to acknowledge our four principles for the work that they did along with their teams to to lead to a really nice finish to the year. School resource officers very much so. Anybody else? Comments from citizens? Tammy, any comments from citizens? We'll move on to the open meeting presentation. Yeah, I'd like to introduce Brian Waterman, um, one of the attorneys that we work with. And if you recall back to our planning session in February where we had our little uh retreat, um one of the items that was on uh my

005to-do list that was requested from the board at that meeting was to have a little bit more learning on open meetings law. So um I invited Brian to be here and to uh to do a little bit of a presentation to you. you have materials that uh he provided that I passed out to you and then so he'll walk through those things and then is available to questions that you have. So Brian, thanks for being here tonight. Great. Thanks Mike and uh glad to join everybody tonight. I think it's been a few years since I've uh been with the board on this topic and I like to say that you know I really oftentimes when school boards are seeing me outside of annual meetings it's usually because there's a problem or you know difficult decisions

006to be made but this is a great opportunity for me to spend some time with you guys and um you know talk about some workshop items. I do this a lot with a lot of different boards and we talk about all kinds of things um board ethics and liability and public records and that type of thing. Tonight we're going to be really focusing on open meetings. Um, and the reason I like talking about this kind of stuff is because it really empowers you as board members um to make sure that you're complying with the law, but also doing the job the best you can and uh I really, you know, respect and honor the work you guys do as board members. So, I feel like, you know, by spending that time with you and answering

007questions, you know, hopefully we're equipping you guys to do the job that you were elected to do. Um, as Mike said, I do have some materials here that are in front of you. There's about 10 pages of an outline. We're going to follow it loosely. Um feel free to stop me and ask questions. That always makes it a lot more interesting. Um real world experiences that you've had. I'll share some of mine. Um and I'll leave some time at the end for that as well. But this will also act as a bit of a resource for you. Um so that you can go back and and and take a look at it if you have questions and of course if things come up um work through Mike and I'm happy to to handle any um

008issues offline outside of this. So, we're going to start off. Um, you know, one of the reasons that open meetings is so important is because not only is it important to government transparency, um, but really in the last several years, um, you've really seen a higher level of scrutiny for school boards with regard to their open meetings. Um, some even to the point where it's been, you know, weaponized for political purposes and some just out of good faith, curiosity, and oversight by the public. And that's really the the purpose of the open meetings law is to ensure that the public has access to be able to see what their government officials are doing, what their government bodies are doing. So the two key principles are that it's accessible to the public. All meetings are accessible

009to the public and they're open to all citizens. And we'll talk a little bit about what that means, but in general, you should understand that um the public records law, I'm sorry, the open meetings law, like the public records law, has a presumption of transparency. So the legislature, not just the courts interpreting the law, but the legislature in the statutes itself has indicated that um it should be liberally construed. So when we're looking at um exceptions, for instance, we'll talk a little bit about what it takes to go into a closed session. Um that's to be narrowly construed and the presumption is one of openness. Um, and so you see some of those concepts there at the top of of the second page when we talk about the policy of accessibility and openness when we

010talk about all meetings preceded by public notice and initially convene an open session. Um, and then again um, doubts should be resolved in favor of openness. And so I want to talk a little bit about some definitions that kind of set up the discussion because when it comes to open meetings law the those definitions are really important. So we ask questions like who's subject to it? um you know the board obviously subject to the open meetings law but what about other types of things um so for instance committees or even um advisory task force might be set up all those kinds of questions um are defined in the law and um the statutory definitions can help us. So if you look there in the middle of page two when we talk about what is a

011governmental body that's subject to the open meetings law um it's really uh as it says boards commissions committees etc um that are created by constitution statute ordinance rule or order. So really you're asking when you're talking about who's covered by the open meetings law. You're talking about um what authority created the body and how did they create it. So was it by rule? Was it by order? And again, we kind of take for granted that a school board of course is subject to the open meetings law. But um there are other entities, things that task force that you might create or subunits of your body that would be included as well. That includes committees and others. Um what's a meeting? When you think about what a meeting is under the open meetings law, really you

012want to ask two questions. Um what's the purpose of the meeting and what are the numbers that you have? whether you have a quorum or not for um enough people to determine the course of action for that body. And so that's how we define a meeting there at the bottom of page two. Um spilling over onto page three, you see we talk about the number of uh members present. So one half or more a quorum is going to be considered uh presumably that you're conducting business. And that becomes important when you're talking about perhaps social events or gatherings. Um graduation is a good example, right? So if a majority of the board members show up for graduation, there's a presumption even though we know business isn't going to be conducted um there's a presumption that

013it may be. And so oftent times um school boards will have that posted that there may be a social or chance gathering that doesn't constitute a meeting um and to the extent that it does constitute a meeting um that that gathering is not going to be something where district business is conducted. Um you see that all the time at sporting events and various things where board members want to participate. Um we also talk about the concept of a negative quorum. So I mentioned that it's not just having a quorum but it's really any number of members who can control the course of the body. And so in the rare circumstance for instance that you need a supermajority vote um which once in a great while happens under certain uh topics then even that negative quorum

014that you know if it's required for twothirds of a vote um to pass something and only one-third are present that would be considered a negative quorum and you would constitute a meeting if you're there to do business on behalf of the district. when I talk about business uh on behalf of the board or within the board's jurisdiction. Yes. Could you do that again? The one-third 2/3. Sure. So, it's called a negative quorum. So, for instance, if you had a needed a super majority, which is typically two-thirds vote to pass something and instead you had one-third of the members who were going to show up at that meeting. um even though it's less than a quorum who might show up at the meeting. If what's on the agenda that evening you have enough to shut something

015down that would require a supermajority um then you would have a quorum and it would be a meeting even though you have less than a majority. I've personally never seen it happen but it's a concept in the law we talk about just in case. Got it. Uh three board me three board member meetings. Three board three member boards. What does the open meetings law do to those? Sure. So, it's the same concept. It's just applied to um whatever that body is. So, for instance, if you have committees, right? Committees that have three members. Um if you have two members who are meeting somewhere and discussing board business that's within the jurisdiction of that committee, that would be considered a meeting that needs to be posted. Right. But the the the presumption business. So if I

016pick up the phone and I'm making a phone call to one of the others on the board, I'm already dealing with a quorums uh the quorum situation. So I I've asked this before with other people in your profession and I've never gotten a good answer about that. It it seemed prohibitive to me that if you are a board of three or committee of three, according to our laws, you can't talk to each other unless you've announced it 10 days prior. Yeah. And in my opinion, uh best practice at least is that you should not. So, if you're a committee of three, um you shouldn't I would advise against picking up the phone and talking about a matter substantively, not whether something should be on the agenda or your availability for a meeting, for instance, but

017substantively. I would avoid discussions from two members of a threeperson committee. I I I I I would just push back. How does that even work if you can't talk to some one other person and you're just a committee of three? It seems like a non-starter. Nothing's going to happen. Nobody can talk to each other about the agenda. Nobody can talk to each other about what should be discussed. No. because immed it immediately becomes a a a sub an a um entity subject to open meaning laws. So I I put that back to you folks. I guess you're not in the legislature. You're just a an avatar for them. But I I I've not seen how that works. I've not seen anybody have a good explanation for how that works. And it what it has the

018effect of doing is tamping down conversation among people who should be talking to each other. We do not have that in administration where a lot of things happen. Administration can talk to each other all they want. Nobody gets a record of it. Nobody knows what's going on because there's they're not subject to the same meetings. They can talk oneon-one. They can talk five on five. But that the way it's set up and the way as I as I understand it the attorney general has made part of the record his opinion that XYZ flows from what the legislature said and I see everywhere that it is having a massive effect of nobody's talking to each other on the elected level. Thanks very much. Yeah, I mean you rais a good point in that it creates a

019challenge. Um but I think the legislature would say that's the point is that those conversations can happen but they need to h be happen at a properly noticed open session of that committee. Um things like talking about whether or not something should be put on an agenda, again non-s substantive items, or whether somebody has availability for a meeting time, those things can be discussed. Um that wouldn't be considered to be a meeting because you're not talking about a substantive matter. um as as soon as you start talking about those substantive matters, I think that's where it kicks in. But yeah, a lot of people are frustrated that they especially in the small group setting on the committee level that they can't have those conversations. And again, I think the legislature would say that's the purpose

020of it is that they don't want people who can make decisions um on a certain body making those decisions, discussing those decisions outside of a properly noticed meeting. I understand the intent, but the effect of it is quite chilling. Um the uh the attorney general's opinion on this has in writing that even the presump the appearance of a possibility that you could be talking business should be avoided because it would be uh against the open records law. So that my picking up the phone and calling another member on a three member committee that falls under his description of well that has the appearance of so again it's it's a chilling thing. I'll move on. But um I will say that again it's it's a challenge that I think you see. Um but I also think

021that um the attorney general's opinion based on the legislature speaking through the statute suggests that that that's the purpose is that we don't want to have those kind of conversations outside of the properly noticed meeting. U but that does is a good segue to a walking quorum. Like so you've probably heard the term a walking quorum. A walking quorum is essentially um a polling of various members. So while you might not have um members speaking together that are a quorum um you go personto person and ask what their opinion might be on something and if there's an agreement there by a quorum of the members you could have an illegal walk-in quorum. Um so you know again the old thought was you pick up the phone and you start talking and you ask somebody how

022they feel on an issue that's before the board and then you go to the next person and you ask that and pretty soon you have an idea of what that vote's going to look like. And the law says that's an impermissible um that's an impermissible action under the open meetings law. What gets really tricky is when you talk about um the advancement in technology with both the open meetings law and the public records law haven't caught up to technology, right? There's no there's nothing about virtual meetings. Um there's nothing about um modern technology as far as email or text messaging and what that looks like and the impact that has. So what we do is we take the concepts under the existing law that doesn't recognize those things and we apply them to technology and

023you can see at the bottom of page three here we have a little bit of a focus on that. So um you know under what circumstances might electronic communications constitute a meeting um and I think while there haven't been court cases that have given us um specific guidance we do think there's a number of elements that the courts would evaluate how basically how much does it look like a meeting right so the number of members involved is it a quorum the number of messages going back and forth does it look like a conversation is it in real time um so what's that time frame um is it you know if it's a old letter via snail mail. That's a lot different than an instant message via text where multiple people can be in a group

024text. And so that's another thing that as board members you want to be wary of and be careful when you're communicating, not just for open meetings, but also for public records issues. Um, but I think that looking at that and whether or not those communications um uh are of a conversational tone and look like a meeting even though you might not all be in the same place is an important concept. Um, public comment period. This has been kind of a hot topic lately. Um, I think it's important to note that the open meetings law permits public comment, but it doesn't require it. Um, the requirement is that the public be able to observe the business being conducted by the board, not that they be able to participate in it. Now, in reality, I don't know

025a single board, the school board in Wisconsin, that doesn't allow some form of public comment, but that often looks different. Sometimes it's limited to agenda items. Sometimes it's um you know anything that they might want to raise in a public comment period. Um sometimes you have it before uh the business of the board. Other times you have it after or even both um or with each agenda item. So it looks a lot of different things or different ways. And the reason it looks a lot of different ways is because the law has said that generally boards have some discretion as far as what that public comment period looks like. So you might have some reasonable restrictions about um time limits for instance. And there's also often times reasonable restrictions on behavior and decorum. Um so

026that for instance you don't have the right as a public commenter to be disruptive um or disorderly or um use threatening language or actions. Um those are all reasonable constraints that you can put on speech during public comment periods. What you can't do is demonstrate viewpoint consider uh viewpoint discrimination for instance. um you can't regulate people's speech based on the topic generally of their speech or um you know oftentimes even if they're um addressing particular officials or public employees and that's something we've seen a lot lately too um as people have become more emboldened coming up to the public comment podium and directing their comments at particular individuals for instance and how does the law deal with that and where can the board um uh restrain speech and my general advice to you is um

027especially presiding officers is to really be careful about restricting public speech. Um it's hard to make those on the spot calls and oftent times we've seen um uh a lot of litigation recently regarding those issues and those um restraints on free speech. So something to be careful about. One thing to note um is that the board during the public comment period, best practice is really not to engage, right? Because especially when you have a public comment period that doesn't restrict comments to just agenda items, it's important that the board then not engage because what you're doing is you might be um crossing that line into conducting public business that hasn't been noticed if it's not on the agenda. Um the attorney general has also indicated that um board members shouldn't use their position even though

028they're citizens and they have you generally have the same rights as other citizens, they shouldn't use the public comment period to raise something, raise an issue that's not on the agenda otherwise. And and that's because you as board members have the ability to influence that agenda in a way that the the members of the public other members of the public don't. And so the attorney general has indicated that would be um an improper use of your office in order to circumvent the nose requirements of the open meetings law. All right, we're going to talk a little bit about closed session on page five. Be mindful of my timing here so I don't go over. Um so close session unlike the public records law which has a balancing test and things like that where um you

029might find exceptions elsewhere. The public records law its exceptions to open meetings and the ability to go into close session is really it it's strictly defined to what's in statute. And so we talk a little bit about some of those exemptions in a moment but first let's talk about the requirements. Right. So, um it has to be agendaized just like other topics that you're going to talk about. Um there has to be an announcement of the intention to go go into close session. Um there has to be a motion and a second and a roll call vote. And that all has to follow um an explanation of what exemption you're going into close session under. And then once you get into close session after a majority vote approves it, you have to strictly stick to

030the reasons why you're in close session. And you know, this is one of the biggest uh difficulties I see for boards is that they they go into a closed session and there's these topics that they're talking about are very complicated and there's lots of overlap with other issues. And if it's not agendaized properly and you're in a closed session, um sometimes that can be uh restrictive. If you actually intended to talk about other things that were related to it, um but it's not agendaized for that. So, it's something you really want to be careful about both when you're creating the agendas um in consultation with of course the administration who puts those together um really being clear and communicating about what it is your intention is to talk about during that closed session so they

031can agendaize it appropriately and then also once you're in that closed session to make sure you you stick to that topic and things that are um closely related to it. Brian, are you saying that in our motion or like in our discussion of going into close session we have to talk about we have to knowledge what we're going to talk about or just in our agenda as long as it's listed in the agenda. Best practice is that it be part of the motion. Okay. So, you identify the exemption under which you're going and give we'll talk about it in a little a little bit here. Um give a general description and usually that'll be in your agenda already uh to say you know this is the purpose for which we're doing this. Now you don't

032have to be so specific that it jeopardizes the reason for going in. Um, so for instance, if you're talking about a specific employee matter, we'll talk about that as one of the exemptions. You don't have to identify the employee by name, right? Because that would jeopardize the very reason, the confidentiality for going into close. But but I mean, Stacey, your question is a good one, but it has to be one of the specific categories in that 19.85, you know, whatever it is, ABCD based on his information there, too. I mean, it's got to be that at least referencing that particular section of the statute. Yeah, exactly. It's got to be identified. So, let's talk about those exemptions. Um, at the bottom, page five, you see where we've got a summary of them. The first one,

033judicial or quasi judicial matters. So, that's think of that like expulsion hearings when you're operating as decision makers. Um, in that regard, um, kind of a quasi judicial arrangement um considering dismissal, dism demotion or discipline of a public employee um over which there is uh jurisdiction. Similarly, top of page six, we talk about um considering employment, promotion, compensation, or performance evaluation. The important takeaway here is that it's got to be a specific employee. Um and so oftentimes boards want to use this exemption as a way to talk about policy issues that might apply to employees in general. And the attorney general has said that that's not a proper use of that exemption. It really has to be now it can be more than one specific employee but it has to be specific employees that you're

034talking about with regard to promotion compensation performance evaluations etc. Um the next one competitive bargaining reasons um so deliberating or negotiating whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a close session. We just recently I think in February had a court of appeals decision that was very important here. Um, you know, this is often used for things like um negotiation strategy over vendor contracts or um collective bargaining with a teachers union. You know, those are the things you often see this used for. Um, the court of appeals in February issued a decision that said that again along the lines of maintaining um uh your your discussion strictly to the exemption. The court held that at least part of that discussion needs to be in open session. Before you go in, you need to explain what are the

035competitive bargaining reasons, right? So the public has an understanding of what those reasons are. So in the past where we might just say, well, anytime we're discussing anything related to a vendor contract, it's for competitive bargaining reasons. The court said, and some think this is a bit of an overreach, um, but the court said that prior to that, when you're before you vote on whether to go in close session of this exemption, that you should identify what those competitive bargaining reasons are and then stick only in your close session to discussion of those competitive bargaining reasons, not all other aspects that you might uh be discussing. So really talking about strategy, for instance, um, rather than uh, you know, general terms. Um the next one is used quite a bit potentially damaging information to reputation.

036So considering financial, medical, social, personal histories again of a specific person um that are likely to have a substantial adverse effect upon the reputation. Um, so you'll see this a lot with when we're talking about investigations, um, or other information about either members of the public or complaints that have been filed against people, um, when there's potentially damaging allegations that could do harm, um, and that hasn't yet been proven, but you want to do some initial consideration of that. And then the final one there, conferring with legal counsel. Um, important to remember, not just having legal counsel present. That's not good enough. It really has to be that the legal council is rendering oral written advice. With regard to strategy for litigation that the district is likely to or is engaged in. Now whether you're

037likely to be involved in litigation, you know, that leaves a lot of discretion there and debate over over whether or not that's the case. But the key is that you have to be talking about um strategy to be adopted by the board with regard to that litigation, not just any general topic you want to talk about with an attorney in the room. Um any questions regarding those closed session exemptions? Okay. Um reconvening into open session. So um this is an important component. You know, you can adjourn right from a closed session. You can adjourn a meeting. Um but if you need to take action, for instance, um if that's not posted in your agenda, you can't come out of close and take action within 12 hours as it says here. Um simply because what they're

038trying to legislature was trying to avoid is a circumstance where you go into closed and no one knows whether you're coming out maybe you know the board's meeting late into the night and the public just doesn't have any notice that you might come out of closed session and actually do something um that pertains to the close session matter and they have a right to notice regarding that uh that action that might be taken in open session. So an important part when we're talking about agendas. Um, a question I often get is when is it okay, if ever, to vote in close session? And the answer is under certain narrow circumstances, it might be. Um, and really the key point here is um, if you're going to vote in close session, it can't just be for

039convenience um, or um, confidentiality purposes that aren't related to the closed session itself. So, for instance, you um you know, if a board is worried about saving face on an issue or that type of thing, again, out of convenience, that's not permissible. But what is permissible are the rare circumstances when the very vote that you're taking has to do with um the reason why you're in close session in the first place and to vote in open session might jeopardize that confidentiality. So, it is permissible, but it should be used sparingly under only certain circumstances. Could you give an example? Um expulsion again is a good example. So expulsion you um not only do you deliberate in closed or executive session but then you also um take your vote uh because the reason for that confidentiality

040would be jeopardized if you went into open and voted. Yeah. Aren't aren't expulsions their open or closeness at the discretion of the expully? I I've only had expulsion hearings in close session. I've never done an open expulsion hearing and I don't believe that would be permissible. Sure. Um confidentiality. So a lot of people are surprised to learn that there's no law in the open meetings law included that says it's illegal to discuss close session matters um outside of close session. Uh, and the reason that people often don't realize that is because it's such an important principle um when it comes to closed sessions and confidentiality. And I can say that most uh boards, and I'm sure yours is no exception, have policies that require the confidentiality of closed session um discussions even if it's not

041required by law. And so, um, it's I can say from experience, nothing erodess the trust among board members faster than leaks from a closed session. Um, so even if permissible under the law, even if it weren't in violation of your policies, which it likely is, um, as it is with most boards, um, it's really detrimental to the cohesion, the credibility of of the board as a body. and um and and again nothing erodess that trust and that confidence against uh among board members faster. Um so it's an important principle that I would advise. I'd also say that there is the potential for liability if in cases when you're talking about um for instance employee situations. You know, if you're talking about an employee medical situation or you're talking about a confidential student matter that's protected

042by furpa, if you were to leak that information, there is the potential that um a third party could bring a lawsuit if that information leak somehow was damaging to them. So there is um even though it may not be illegal um there are certain circumstances under which leaking certain information outside of a board meeting a close session board meeting that is um could result in legal liability. So Brian quick question is there any sanctions in terms of if a board member does do or leak that information out? There might be under your board policy. So most boards have a policy where um that that's part of their board conduct policy and there's a mechanism involved um whether it's stated or inherently where the board can regulate its own members based on that whether that's by

043censure or you know removal from committees or other types of actions that they can take. And what does censure mean again? Um it's basically a public statement um sanctioning uh the individual for their behavior and saying we don't approve of this and this is not how we want to do business or this is in violation of our policies. Um and while you know most issues are are addressed at the ballot box um and and as elected officials you're answerable to the public in that way um there are certain tools such as censure and and other things that board members can use to regulate each other. Where does that where is that found? uh typically it' be in included in your board policies. I I don't know that off the top of my head which policy

044it's or even if it's there, but most districts have that. So beyond that, it's not in law. No, but there are certain principles that say nothing prevents a board from taking action to um regulate its own members. It's just the issue is it doesn't have a lot of teeth, right? There's no enforcement mechanism. So you can censor somebody and make that public statement. you can do a number of things that are short of that as well. Um but ultimately again those decisions are made at the ballot box by the electorate. And of course if you you had mentioned someone could bring suit. So if you were to leak something that's potentially damaging to someone um you could be face damages if someone had would bring a successful suit. That's right. Both personally and the district

045as an entity. Right. Um, so it can cause big problems. Yeah. And and not just that, but also again the trust factor and the distraction it creates. I mean, I I work with probably about 30 different school districts, most of which are in the southeastern Wisconsin area. So, one of the advantages to that is I get to see what works as a board and what makes it effective and function well functioning board. And I also see the reverse of that. Um and I can say that you know the distraction caused by infighting amongst board members for instance um regardless of the topic can really be a distraction both for the board to focus on the business that it's trying to accomplish but also for the administration who has to deal with the fallout of that

046um or the you know public complaints or or the media inquiries and all those types of things. So well functioning boards really um trust each other. The board members trust each other. They um keep a a a healthy control over the flow of information so that the board even if you disagree as board members which you often do on issues that um the information is is flowing out of the district from its official spokespersons which is the superintendent for the district and typically the board president for the board. Um and so all those things are really compo important components to a well functioning board. Um I'll skip over most of the notice requirements here because most of that applies to administration. Just understand that um you know it's important that uh public notice be given

047to the public to news media. Um there's some details here on that. Um as well as any other notice that's required by statute. Those contents of those notices, you know, time, date, place. Um the thing that usually trips up districts is the subject matter. how descriptive to be or or how general or how broad. Um and so you know the general guidance is that it has to be in a form that's reasonably likely to apprise members of the public as to the subject matter and that includes closed session. So the question before about well you know what what needs to be included or or stated um we really have to give the public an understanding if not of the details that we're going to be discussing in closed session whether it's open or closed they

048have to have some idea of um what it is the general topic that's going to be discussed. And so that's an important part and also something that's often litigated as to whether or not that description has been uh detailed enough and provides that uh that appraisal to the public. Brian, I thought relatively recently we had talked about we didn't know if it was required to post in the newspaper, but your notes say it is. So is that we still So that's interesting because this just came up um this this last week um where there was a widely issued um request went to every school district in the state um asking a a news media source, it's a online blog or something of that nature um asking to be included in the notices. And so I

049had a lot of districts come and say, "Well, what do we do about this? Do we have to follow this? Don't we?" And you know, without getting into all the legal advice, what came of that is that a lot of districts haven't been just by past practice haven't been providing notice to news media. Um, which as it says here, technically you're required to do. Um, so it says it's the the newspaper. I think it's the official newspaper or one that's uh, you know, reasonably anticipated to give notice. Um, but I can tell you from experience and and as highlighted in the last week, a lot of school districts just aren't aware of that and don't do it. So, that's an area of cleanup and improvement opportunity that I'm seeing a lot of districts say, "Okay,

050we need to do that." And it's again, it's it's a bit antiquated, right? Because like how many people pick up a newspaper anymore like they used to? Um, and the newspapers never publish it anyways. Um, I mean, they just don't publish it. And so, oh, they don't print it. Yeah. It's just in their online sometimes not even there, right? Because think about how many meetings. So the Journal Sentinel, right? Like if you're the Journal Sentinel or you're the Waka Freeman and you're getting from every single governing body there is, school boards, village boards, you know, city councils and everyone's sending those, you're not going to post all of them. You might you might look at them to say um you know what's going on here, but generally not. You take our money though. So is

051the diff because I I was certain a couple of years ago there was a change where you no longer because we used to always pay have to pay and we the freeman to do well there's there's some things that have to be so there's some things that have to be but a typical meeting so is this saying that we have to notify them but we don't have to pay them and buy space in their paper yeah I'd have to double check on that but I think that's right because I think there was a change a couple of years ago where you could like your website and and noticing in public places was sufficient. So, this would suggest to me that we have to inform the media. Um, but I remember it was a it was

052a cost savings. Um, because remember we used to have the Lake Country Reporter that went away and then did we even have a true and then it was the Freeman and this would have been a couple of years ago that I don't believe we would do that anymore because it was actually going to save us quite a bit of money because we were paying them to do it. So, I was seeing it in the check register. So, that's why I thought that we were still doing it. know on so the the class one notices that are required for budget amendments and budget adoption um have to be published. Yeah. So that's that's a great point and I do believe you're right Mike that that there's that the law was changed where yeah you don't need

053to to pay for it. Um I'm not certain of that but that sounds familiar. So when you don't get off that topic if you don't mind, Brian, when you send that those particular items you just referenced, those are published the class one notices. Yes. And we pay for those to be noticed. So well the law has changed so we'll we'll let it go which is but that's different than a just a than a regular board meeting. So there's very spec like there's different noticing requirements like for our annual meeting for example you know we have to not there's specific noticing requirements for those kinds of meetings and they have to publish that right yes so budget hearings um referendum type issues there are separate statutes that apply there and in that case yes we would

054we those are different types of notices there's several different classes of notices but we're talking just kind of run-of-the-mill um notice that that made no sense I mean, you say it and it makes absolutely no sense that people are going to send this stuff into the papers and the papers will decide whether or not to print it and your first pitch was to us was that that was required. That's goes nowhere. What would be the point of that? Well, one pitching I'm not pitching anything the wrong word, but put put forth to us. And I didn't and I didn't write the law, but what the law does require is that media be um included with the notice so that they have an awareness if they wanted to um that the media could post it if

055they wanted to. Now, what I'm saying is in practice, they generally don't unless it's one of those types of notices that's required um for us to to pay for them to have it noticed and and then they notice it. Um, but generally general meetings that we send notices for or that we're supposed to send notices for, they don't have any obligation to do that. But the point is is that the legislature said this is worthwhile so that the media has if they want to an understanding that there's going to be a meeting. They have an entitlement to that. The Walkashaw Ribbon does publish the PWA school district agenda meeting meeting notices. So Oh, did they? Oh, yeah. It's Yeah, they did when we did it. I've seen it. What's that? Mike got it for me.

056Pardon? I couldn't hear you, Mary. I I we they did. I've seen it. Oh, yeah. In column form. Yeah, it's published. When we did. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. I think I'm running short on time here, so I just want to cover uh another few topics. Um so, notice timeline just to wrap up notices. Um 24 hours prior to the commencement of the meeting in emergency cases, two hours. That's a very high bar. There's no real definition of what that emergency looks like. I would not use that unless it was an absolute uh you know threat to safety um or decision that had to be made right away um for the public for the public safety and security. Um separate notices. So you need to have separate notices for each um for each different meeting, but

057I'll get to an exception for that in a second. Um one of those exceptions is subunits of a parent body. of committees. As you can see here under F on page eight, there are certain circumstances under which when you're having a um a committee meeting that might be meeting uh attached to the parent body um under certain circumstances either during their recess or right afterwards um you have to that can be included in the same notice. Um that also applies to committee meetings that are attended by board members not assigned to that committee. This is one that I've seen come up a lot in the last couple years. Um, as board members want to have information or knowledge about what's going on at a committee meeting, even if they're not uh at that meeting or

058I'm sorry, a member of that committee, they can still show up to that meeting. Even closed sessions, they have a a right to be included. And under those circumstances, when you think there might be a a quorum of the full board that shows up, you have to be careful because that could turn into not just a committee meeting, but actually a meeting of the entire board. Under those circumstances, the attorney general has said that's a rare circumstance where it might make sense to have just one notice. You don't have to notice those separately, especially if you don't know for sure that that quorum is going to come uh to the committee. The quorum of the board is going to come to the committee meeting, but it may or there's a good likelihood of it. Um,

059and so in that circumstance, I generally say post the committee meeting and add a line at the end that says, you know, there's a potential of a quorum of the full board, but the full board won't be taking any action um or or taking any taking up any official business. I think that's good practice. Well, Brian, on that one specifically, so John, if you have four people show up at the business affairs committee, I know that we post it, but I don't know if we put that little statement at the end in terms of the quorum potentially, right? I mean, that's a specific. Yeah, it's it again, there's nothing in the law that says you have to do that, but the law does say that that could turn into two different meetings. And so, it's

060best practice to put a line like that at the end just to cover just the three the three people there. and it wouldn't count as a quorum, but if a fourth person shows up even they're sitting in the audience, it still could potentially have that statement then, right? Correct. Now, again, is it a technical violation? Maybe not because if they're not discussing something that's going to that's in front of the full board, but as a best practice, yes, I recommend doing that. And and and simply bec a lot again, a lot of this stuff is just um there's a lot of gray area or gaps in the law. And so over the years, all these attorney general's opinions that we could pour through um or you know or anecdotal um scenarios really teach us a

061lot and that's how we get to that best practice because sure if we had to argue it from a legal sense, we might be able to put up a defense, but why even get there? If you can learn a best practice from those opinions or from the anecdotal experience, you might as well implement it to even avoid the issue. I think it goes to your one of your first comments about the presumption of transparency. So, you're just wanting to always demonstrate that you're trying to be transparent and very clear as to what the purpose of the meeting is, what's going to be discussed, who's going to be in attendance, what may or may not happen at those meetings. So, statements like that, I think, just help with that presumption. Yeah. And I think that goes

062a long ways is to always keep that presumption in the forefront to say, okay, you know, this is this might be a gray area. There might be a gap in the law, but what airs on the side of transparency? Um, and when you do that, even when claims are filed, um, because as an enforcement mechanism. People can go to the AG's office, they can go to the local DA, and typically those enforcement agencies are going to look at, you know, look, was this really an attempt to circumvent the law or was this just um a gap in the law and a good naturatured or good intented um interpretation of the law. Um and I think that makes a big difference as to whether they go to prosecute that or not. Um so something to keep

063in mind. Uh the last things I want to talk about then are under uh miscellaneous. So I'll run through them quickly. um attendance and closed sessions of government body. Um I often get asked who should be in attendance. Bottom line is someone anyone who is necessary for conducting the business at hand. So that may be attorneys like myself. It may be certain staff members, members of administration who are going to help um inform the board about a certain topic or provide guidance. Uh but really whoever's necessary for the business and typically not people who aren't necessary um they should be excluded. Certainly, if someone is the subject of that of the closed session, um they might come in to answer questions, but generally um deliberation on that issue is going to exclude them. Um secret

064ballot votes, no secret ballot votes unless you're talking about your reorganization, um in which case that's permitted. Um use of equipment in open session. Um this is an important one we just saw in the news recently. um where people whether it's media or members of the public have the right to um record whether that's audio or video any open session of a meeting. Um the key is they can't be disruptive, right? So they can't set their camera up, you know, between you and me. Um they can't disrupt the board in in a manner that they can't conduct its business um or make loud noises or block the entrance or things of that nature. But otherwise um they have a right to do that. and the statute expressly states that we have to accommodate that. So

065something to keep in mind. Um I talked a little bit earlier about task force committees. Just remember that just because a committee might be um advisory in nature um or doesn't have decision making authority doesn't necessarily mean it's not subject to the open meetings law. It's a very very factecific analysis. So, if you have questions about, you know, a parent advisory, a community advisory task force, for instance, that you see a lot in a lot of districts, um, that's something you should consult with legal counsel over because we'll have to look at, you know, what, why, and how was it developed, who developed it, was it done by rule or order like we talked about earlier to the extent that it's going to be a governmental body that's subject to the open meetings law. Um,

066and then the last thing I want to talk about is just um, enforcement and penalties. So, as I mentioned, the AG's office and the DA's office are both um ways that individuals can um make file complaints, and those can either be pursued by those entities or an individual, a private citizen can pursue it as well. Um there's a stu two-year statute of limitations on that. um you fines anywhere from $25 to $300 for each violation um of knowingly attending a meeting that's not properly noticed or that's in a closed session that shouldn't be in a closed session, things like that. Um if you have a question about whether or not something has been properly noticed or you know if you should be going in close session, those are the things you consult with administration on

067um because they're going to have that access to legal counsel. they're going to have that background where we can analyze it and determine um whether or not this is something that's appropriate um and how we post it to in order for the board to be able to discuss what it needs to discuss and meet its obligations for transparency. And that's what I have for tonight. Any questions before I The only the only thing that I just want to reiterate is under your um public comment during open session you listed the you know we can't engage and we can't discuss what the the uh citizen has come to talk about because it's not on our agenda and as a board that also means we can't go off our agenda. So it, you know, it's kind of

068a frequent thing that it's um tempting to do it with open comments, but as a board, we have to stick to our agenda. Yeah. And it's really tough because in a lot of these situations, you know, you're you have to balance as elected officials your desire to be responsive to your constituents and engage with them and at the same time um you know, honor your um honor the requirements under the open meetings law that that say there's a time and a place to discuss things. Um, and that can be challenging for board members, especially when the public comments might be heated or misinformation's provided. I mean, I have seen circumstances where instead of just saying thank you for your comment, um, there is a level of engagement as far as providing information. Um, I'm not

069saying that can never be done, but best practice is to just not engage. if there's misinformation that needs to be corrected, um it can be done at a later time, either with that individual or perhaps with a public statement if it's that high-profile. Um but really, I've never seen a lot of good come from anybody trying to engage a public commenter, um in an open session. So adding to that, uh public comment if they are asking about things that are on the agenda, is that something that can be discussed by the board? So I think you're safer there. Yeah, because you're not required. I still don't advise getting into back and forth but for instance I mentioned providing information right so if someone makes a statement about something on the agenda or asks a question

070generally you wouldn't engage but there are rare rare times when uh the board president might say or administration might say I need to provide the information I'm going to answer the question the question's simple I know the answer I'm going to I'm going to answer that question um and if it's on the agenda I think you're fine because you the board is not required to stick to the order of its agenda Um, so I don't think you'd have a technical violation, but it's a slippery slope, right? I mean, as soon as you start answering questions and people will say, "Well, you answered her question. Why not mine?" And now, you know, and then you get the ball rolling with a lot of questions and it it doesn't lead down a good path, right? But I

071mean, we have wherever it is here, actually, it's over by the little chicken. I mean, so there's a check-in where we actually have a set of little guidelines in terms of for public comments and it would be addressed in terms of what we can address and not addressed during the course of the meeting. So hopefully that little brochure has that information in it. So yeah, and I don't know what you guys what your experience has been in the past, but I deal with some boards where if things are very political, um you'll get public comments that get pretty heated, pretty um you know, on the edge and even passing over the edge of good decorum and it could be tough. Um it takes a really strong hand for the presiding officer to be able to

072handle those kind of situations. Um, and again, I like to fall back on policy, on statements under the agenda, on things that have already been established. So, you try and minimize those on the spot determinations. So, the best example I always give is presiding officers shouldn't have to make determinations or shouldn't make determinations on the spot as to whether or not somebody's speech at a public comment period is defamatory. Right? I mean, that's a there are legal elements involved in that. there's a whole analysis and you start restricting speech um because you don't like that the person's attacking a public official or even a public employee um that has a very high bar for scrutiny and I think that you're going to expose yourself to substantial legal liability can public comments do you need to

073be a member of the district to you can anybody can attend but to actually make a comment you need to be a member of the district. It's a great question and it is one for a long time that I think was answered um by saying if the board wants to regulate that they can. Recently we've seen a number of uh cases all of which I'm aware have been settled but a number of cases in Wisconsin that have challenged that. Um, and I think that there is, uh, kind of a changing of the tide in interpretation of the law to say, um, you know, you need to be careful about who you exclude. And I'm not saying you can't do it. Um, most, in fact, in my experience, most districts do, right? They come up and

074they they say, uh, the person ask ask the person to state their name and their address. Um, but I think if you're going to do it, it needs to be narrowly tailored so that you capture parents, right? I What about a parent of an open enrollment student? They've got to be able to speak. They're stakeholder um arguably that they should be able to speak. Um you know what about staff members, right? Well, they have connections to the district that would all fall into that policy specifically those groups. Yeah. And so I think that's a safe that's a safe way to do it or safest way to do it is to identify who are the stakeholders and allow them to speak. I think you're going to minimize, but I had one case that did end up

075settling where you had a a journalist from another state who wanted to make online comments. Um, and um, there was dispute over whether or not the law allows you to shut somebody down or not let them comment simply because they're um, attending virtually from from elsewhere. What is the purpose of putting your name and address on these forms if not to let the board know that they are in fact able to actually ask a question? That is the purpose. Yep. That's the purpose. And so boards who require that you be a stakeholder um they typically require that you demonstrate that by coming to the podium and identifying who you are and where where you live or what your connection is to the district. Thank you. Anything else? Great. Well, it's been a pleasure joining you.

076Thanks. Thank you, Brian. Appreciate it. Thank you. All right. So, moving on, we're going to move on to the consent agenda. So, we're looking to accept minutes from previous meeting, minutes from May 19th meeting, regular meeting, policy committee meeting, as well as the business affairs meeting all on May 19th, accepting correspondence, which was in our packet, and gifts, but there was no gifts. I have a motion to accept the consent agenda. You can do it. I move to approve the consent agenda as presented. Second. All in favor? I. Any oppose? Oppose. So, we're moving on to the business affairs committee. Stacy is going to give us a report from the meeting that was held earlier. All right. Uh, we went through the financials. Um due to the time of year that we're at, the revenue

077uh stream is still at about 60% of budget. Our expenditures are at about 80%. Uh we will anticipate receiving the last of our revenue stream of $7.5 million in August with the the property taxes. Um we talked about um the capital projects and gave and John gave us a little update. I'll give a little bit of an update, John, about where we're at with things. The um phase one, the fitness center um targeted occupancy is August 4th. Uh the CTE wing August 7th. Is that right? Three days later. No, the the CTE wing uh tenative is December of 2026. Got the wrong date, Brenda. Um culinary is what date? Culinary will be ready the first week of August. Oh, I had that one right. Okay. Um and then the life skills which is the old

078culinary um early August as well. Uh John went into a discussion about some costsaving measures um highlighting kind of the the three or four top expenses that we have which is our staff expenses, our health insurance, transportation and utilities. Um and John being John and his team they are working very hard to manage all of those. Um the biggest one probably that that we're seeing the the cost savings is our self-insured insurance. Um it's performing as expected. Um we're hoping to at the end of the year have saved 1.3 to 1.5 million over the prior year for that. So that's kind of my high level summary. John, you want to add? I think you hit on hit on the big ones. That was a significant impact by revamping the insurance plan and the delivery model

079that we had for the staff this up this past year and really had a significant impact on what our projected cost were going to be for 2425 and performing as it was projected. Questions? Can we get a motion to accept the business affairs report as presented? I move to accept the business affairs report as presented. Second. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Opposed. On to the policy committee. Um so we packet it was the first reading of the following policy. So we had 6500.10 technology acceptable use 6700.01 graduation requirements, 3,200.01 purchasing and bidding, 5200.09, high school alternate education, and 3900.01 public records and property. I didn't receive any questions. Policies changes. No, those this is first read. So this is the opportunity to discuss it and if there's no questions then it moves to

080the next meeting for approval on move on to new business. Um so we have the teacher on call contract renewal which is so in your packet you have u the proposed renewal for the 2526 and 2627 school years with teachers on call. Uh they've been our provider of our substitute services back in 20 12 13 in that range. Uh we moved from employing all of the substitutes within the district to utilize a service to broaden our access to substitutes when we needed them and uh has performed has outperformed the contract that we have with them. The fill rates on our teacher group this year, this past year were over 99% and the fill rates overall over 97% for positions that we've had. We're one of the highest ones and I mentioned Colin Jacobs does a

081great job of working with teachers on call to ensure that we are an attractive place for the substitutes to come to work. Uh we work real hard at being uh welcoming and receptive to them in the buildings and helping them out and and the subs really appreciate that including some additional training on classroom management and expectations that we provide for them during the summer. So the recommendation then is to approve. The rates are the same uh that we have had in the past for the substitute contract with teachers on call. You have any questions or discussion? What are what are the rates, John? So we have our we have three different rates for substitutes. Our base rate is $125 per day. the second tier rate for for people who have had long longer serving relationships

082uh let's say was 140 and then the uh rate when you're in a long-term subbing position was $165 a day and then we pay a percentage on top of that two teachers on call to manage all the staff provide benefits provide all the other um responsibilities for the contract what is the percentage I believe it's 29% right now. I'd have to double check that. And that's 29% of what? Of their of the pay rate when Okay. Has it always been that? That's high. Yes. Uh the initial contract I believe was 24% like 10 or 11 years ago. And then the uh rate the offerings from the company were enhanced to include potential health insurance coverage and other other benefits for the staff members which then pushed that rate up. Do they work for teachers on

083call? Yes, they're employees for them. Yes. And that's it. Thanks. Any questions or discussion? I will seek a uh one more question. Sorry, Ash. They're employed by teachers on call and they're not employed by us and we're paying it looks like everything we would pay if they were employed by us. Could you dive into that a bit? depending on the on we would we would pay if they were our employees depending on the hours and the and the amount of time that they worked we would be paying in addition to the rates we would be paying for retirement uh for the district portion of retirement about 6.3% of the salary we'd be paying health insurance for them if they were employed by us and they met the thresholds of the um time of service within

084the district um plus then managing a substitute pool of two to 300 additional employees who' be adding about 60% to the number of employees that we have within the district. The the 29% includes everything except the last item except for what? By the last item, what do you mean of that? You just you just went through a number of things that if that and a number of other cost management costs. Yes. That the cost management was the last one is what I'm referring to. Okay. Yeah. It would probably have to have additional staffing allocated for sure we would have to to manage those. I mean, if you go way back, it was probably additional secretary time in every building where they have to have additional hours to come in early to make all the phone

085calls. You also have to have recruitment strategies in place to have a stable of sub substitutes. Um and also like for example, one of the things that's a benefit of going through teachers on call. So if we have teachers who retire and then want to sub sub um they're not, you know, with the current rules around the pension system. Uh we wouldn't be able to employ those uh former teachers, but they can sub because they're not our employee. They're they're teachers on call employee because they don't just they can work anywhere, but they may take assignments here. So there's a variety of of things that are really make that extra beneficial. But those are really good questions, Mary. Thank you. I will seek a motion to approve the teacher on call contract renewal as presented.

086So move. Second. All those in favor? I. All those opposed. Oppose. Thank you. Next, we're moving on to employee handbook and addendums. Um well, John, you can jump in too. I um make some comments here. You have a number of materials there. This is um always really important information um for the board and what we try to do is uh summarize just the changes that were made over previous years because obviously there's an awful lot of content in the handbooks and the agenda. Um the uh uh summary memo from Dr. Jacobs walks through those different pieces and I'll just kind of give you the nickel tour of what's in there uh for sake of conversation. Um employee main handbook. You can see there were some changes to the district technology use uh section. Um there

087are some pieces there including employee use of of email. Uh that was a component of that. Uh there are some items there on personal appearance staff dress code uh that were addressed on page 38. Um uh there are some items there under the administrator agenda uh regarding the FSA account and maximum amounts that are there that reflect the IRS limit uh teacher agenda. There were some items there of of specific note with the teacher general leave pro provision. We had talked in the past here about um a proposal that we brought forward that we shared with this board a couple of times of moving from um uh where we had 10 sick days that accumulate each year combined with two personal leave days to try to create more flexibility which is coveted by the staff.

088So, this reflects uh a move from 10 to nine sick days, but three um what are we calling them? General leave days. I think in the past we'd refer to them as paid time off days. Uh that give uh teachers more flexibility uh to be able to access time off. And there's guidelines in there that define how those may be used and how a rollover provision would be managed. Uh so that's um uh a notable uh shift that's really a benefit that I that as we've went around and talked to staff about that that was pretty popular. Um uh in addition clarifying language added to the wages on section on pages three that's into some of the extra duty supervision items there. Um and chaperoning a medical FSA maximum was that because of an IRS?

089Yeah, same FSA maximum amounts from $3,000 to $3,200 for the calendar year. So you see that in a in a number of agenda. So any employee group that that affected is in there. Um pair professional agenda includes that uh piece as well secretary as well. So those are that's kind of the the highlevel review of the changes that were made, but we're happy to take any questions that you have. I was really happy to see that change in the the PTO did so responsive to the to the staff and what they've asked for. Yeah, that flexibility is something that we hear all the time and and you know that life happens and the ability to go and handle things and um you know you don't want people in a position where they feel like they've

090got to use sick leave maybe that inappropriately or um I've I've approved quite a bit of unpaid leave uh for things and that's not the greatest situation either for staff. you know, their child's getting married and they have to take unpaid leave. Um, if they can plan ahead and roll some days over, allows for them to kind of plan for it. And I think this is a benefit that'll help with our uh retention um uh goals that we have in with workforce development. Any other questions or discussion? motion to approve the handbook and addendums as presented. So move second. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Abstain. To property and liability insurance renewal consideration and possible approval. Uh so tonight at the meeting we will take up the liability side of the insurance renewals for

091the district. Um our we have taken the property coverage back out to the market and are looking at some analysis right now of policy alternatives that are coming in and waiting for some responses. So at this point um what we do annually is we will we have we assign lines of coverage to different brokers that are available so they're not all approaching the same markets the same carriers and they will come back with a proposal for us for the policies for the year. Those policies are analyzed to make sure that there's no dramatic changes in coverages for the district. Then we make a recommendation going forward. Uh M3 has been the broker who has carried our liability lines for several years and we're recommending to move forward with a renewal with them for the policies

092which include our general liability, our employee benefits liability, violent event liability, auto liability, public officials and employment practices liability, umbrella policy liability, environmental liability, uh workers compensation, cyber liability, and identity fraud. Um in total those gross policy amounts of premium are about 255,5605 $570. Um from that we will receive a dividend. This includes a 15% dividend which is payable at the end of the policy term upon audit. So a year from now we would see that dividend of 15% of the workers compensation. Um, M3 has been, like I said, a long partner with the district and has done a done a very good job working with EMC as the primary carrier, but also other carriers as they come into the marketplace for the other lines of coverage, which are all included within your materials. Is

093there any restrictions on getting that 15% dividend of? Yeah. So what happens is um you pay the premium the estimated premium based on our estimated payrolls for the year. At the end of the year there's an audit done to figure out what the actual payrolls were and that premium is adjusted and then the dividend is payable based on that uh actual premium that or actual payrolls that were paid based on the class of workers. Are you ensuring? Go ahead, John. And the rates that you're paying are set by the state, the workers comp rates. So, so the 15% is based on So, the reason that it's determined at the end is because the amount it's based on changes actual because you because you don't you don't know the actual right now. You'd only have an

094estimated. Got it. Okay. When are you insuring what are you using the term payroll for? Are you insuring payroll? Workers comp premiums are based on a rate that's set by the state and that rate is attributable to the total payroll amount that you pay in each one of the categories under all of the categories under all of the employment categories. So you're you are ensuring payroll. Yes, standard payroll. Okay. Are you coming back to us on the property side? Property will come back on June 23rd. Thank you. Any questions or discussion? Not then I will see a motion to approve the insurance renewal with M3 per the attached summary of coverage proposal in the amount of 255,569 gross. So moved. Second. all those if I could. Sure. Before you Why do you ensure payroll? Workers

095compensation is a mandatory coverage and it's based on the amount of payroll. You're not insuring payroll. You're providing worker workers compensation. In the private sector, it's not a it's not a predetermined premium. You pay based on the payroll every time you process it. In public sector, we pay based on a rate that's established by the state and it's attributable to the payroll that you pay in each category. So the categories, general employees, the vast majority of our staff are in there. There's some categories that fall outside of general like food service, drivers, if we would have, we don't employ drivers, but they fall in a different category. Are you paying um that didn't help um payroll is the is I understand payroll and you can you can ensure payroll. You're not insuring that's not what

096you're doing. You're ensuring you're not insuring payroll that you're you are insuring the staff for workers compensation coverage in case an accident or injury occurs while they're in the course of their employment in the district. The amount that you have to pay is based on the payroll that is generated. You are ensuring the payouts that come under the umbrella of workers comp. Got it. Thank you. Thanks. And a second. And a second. So all those in favor? I I Any opposed? Abstain. On to calendar. Yeah, why not talk about calendar again? All right. So, um, uh, went back and with this one change to the 25 26 calendar, um, you know, this was kind of the one sticky issue. Again, just to kind of give the the nickel tour here. Um, elementaryaries, it's 1,50 hours.

097High school 7 through 12, it's 1,137 hours. That's the first thing you have to make sure that you're accommodating. Uh, so that's a consideration. and we know that we can't start before September 1st by state law. Those kinds of things. We have 190day work calendar for staff. We typically have 178 student contact days. All those things you kind of come together and look at the calendar uh lays out. Um and we know that it's there is uh for parents and for staff there's a strong desire to try to be out that first week of June. So, this calendar was doable without having to do anything like add extra minutes and those things, but the sticky sticking point was the return from winter break for just that Friday, January 2nd. Um, that did create an abnormally

098short uh winter break, which I would say averages about 11 days. This would have made it nine. Uh, we wouldn't have expected probably our top attendance day to be on one day um for our families coming back. So anyway, um we looked at it again. Then we worked with John's office just to recalculate all of the contact hours. We determined that we felt comfortable with the um capacity because we always want additional capacity in student hours. You do not want to be right up on that number because you never know what's going to happen. That's going to require you to close. So this would allow for about 15 extra hours uh in the calendar uh for those 7 through 12 students. We um typically do um virtual days if we do like a snow day

099for kids in the middle in the high school um to kind of preserve those because I never know even in May, June, you could have an emergency close day that would make it that could be not reasonable to try to run virtual learning. So that's why, you know, if this comes up next year and there's a snow day, why can't we just let the high school kids have a day off? It's because we're trying to preserve those hours. So at any rate, we think about all those things. We looked at it and determined that it was probably uh best to eliminate that January 2nd day. We recognized we didn't feel we had to add any instructional minutes, but we always want to make sure we maintain that 190day work calendar for staff. So, the solution

100to that and it actually really kind of works out because we have some trainings that we want to make sure we get in for the upcoming school year. We have something called parent square which will be is a new technology tool that we're going to use for parent communication that we think is going to be a real improvement but that's going to require some training for staff. We have a new data tool um that's going to empower our staff with um the ability on the user end to make more flexible use of data. Some of those things not a huge amount of training but all those things are pieces that we want to get done. So that we added a day to the teacher uh inservice which is used to be three this year would

101be four days. Any at any rate I know this was all in your memo. So long story short um we're looking for your approval to make that change of eliminating the January 2nd day. Um, so we would be at 177 instead of the typical 178 uh for students, but we still would meet hours and then add that fourth day of inservice for teachers. So, I'd be happy to take any questions otherwise I'd seek your approval. I do want to say that I very much appreciate the hard work that you put into the calendar and I know I bother you about it, but well, you know, there's a lot of parents that appreciate that just having that extra day. It's it just it's one of those fun items that seems like we can never quite get

102it perfect and you know there's always going to be someone would rather have this day than that day but I do recommend this change. I think it's definitely an improvement. So okay Mike I hate to be really repeat this out there. So, we have a published 2025 2026 calendar for families and we have this one that was attached to the meeting tonight, but in that middle section and you said, "Oh, we're going to have high school graduation on May 30th, but the document does not say May 30th in terms of high school graduation." So either of these documents are not correct and I'm reluctant to approve a document or a calendar that doesn't have that official graduation day in there. I mean unless we're going to Well, the date the date that we just Brian

103and I just talked about it this week. We are I mean dates like that we have we I mean generally what the board's always acted on is the the days we're in session through the school year. some of that content in the middle um gets adjusted from time to time without necessarily having full board action. But yes, in consideration of your vote, May 30th, which is Saturday, which would be a date like we had this year, okay, is the planned graduation date. The previous calendar had June 5th, but that again is conflicts with WIA events that we want to avoid. So, so as a part of the presentation I would say that was just a detail we forgot to change in pres providing you that. So the calendars will also conclude the parent and the

104will include a May 30th adjustment for the May 31st. Correct. Because yeah and here it's just listed and it looks like it's associated with June 5th. So you have half day last day high school commencement. So you will put in a line item for May. Yes we will. Okay. Yes we will on both calendars. Yes we will. So then I move to approve the amended contract calendar as presented. So just a quick question on that. Will will high school and ASA also be with the exception of seniors. Seniors will graduate like this year seniors were done uh the week prior. Eth grade. They'll be done May 5th. June 5th. I mean June 5th. Okay. For June 4th. Wow. They really got out early. No June is on the calendar here. Uh June 5th is the

105Yeah, but that last they'll do but they just same thing this year. They do their promotion ceremony the night before, but their last they still have items on that last day and on and the and this this year was the sixth that year would be the fifth. Yep. So just Yeah, just seniors get done early. So we have a motion. Second. Um all those in favor? I Any opposed? Abstain. I'm worried about the date change. Want to make sure it sticks. Um, moving on to personnel issues. So, we have some resations. Correct. Um, get to my item here. Yes, we had two resignations. Uh, Asa Clark, special education teachers Annie Bolan and Jessica Craft. I'd seek your approval. You just can we do both of them? You can do them together. Move to approve the

106resignation of Annie Bolan and Jessica Craft as presented. Second. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Abstain. have some employments. Correct. So, we have uh three employments. Um two are replacements. One is an addition um that was part of the staffing plan presented for adding a special education teacher at PLE. Um, Andrea Daniels is the recommendation is a hire to replace Annie Bolan, whose resignation you just approved, and Everett Harmalink, um, grade seven ELA teacher to replace Ryan Surfort, uh, who's moving off to Paris with his family. So, I would seek your approval for those three hires. Need a motion. Okay. Move to approve the hiring of Andrea Daniels, Stacy Mana, and Everett Harmalink as presented. Second. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Abstain. Operations. So upcoming activities, say June 23rd is our next

107meeting, just a regular board meeting here. And so just as a reminder, all meetings will be held here throughout the summer. Um the next meeting after that, which we have a date change from July 14th to Monday, July 21st, I'll be I'll be gone the 14th. So, I appreciate the flexibility of moving that to the 21st. Will include business affairs and policy committee meetings at 6 and board meeting at 7. Monday, August 18th, we have our annual meeting going to be in the PHS auditorium. We have a business affairs committee at 6. We have a board meeting starting at 6:30. The budget hearing will be at 7 and then the annual meeting will be at 7:30. Monday, August 18th, we have the new teacher orientation 7:30 till 9 a.m. HS Comf from 9 to 10

108in the ASA cafeteria. Monday, August 25th, welcome back breakfast in the cafeteria at 7:30 with a program to follow and then we hold for special meeting to possibly consider at 7:15. There was the July 11th through 12th WASB summer learning symposium. Um, just if anybody's interested uh in that one, just let Tammy know. She can help you if you're interested in going up to Stephven's point to attend that. Did get our board of education meeting calendar and our packets for next school year. Education evaluation survey discussion board meeting results. Yes. So this is the self-evaluation that you do in regards to the functioning of your meetings. I just have a question on this one. Given that Bren is not here, I don't know how much we want to discuss that particular topic. Yeah, you might

109want to just bring it back, put it on for the next one. That would be fine. I'm missing the next meeting. Could move it to the July meeting for that matter. If everyone will be here at the July 21st meeting when I mean whenever the next meeting you're back. I mean, whenever we're all here again. Yeah, I think it's important to everybody to be a part of it since it's a survey. So, okay, makes sense. So, we'll table that and talk to you have that, Tammy. move that to the 21st. Any legislative updates? Um, well, I think things are suddenly moving fast and furious here. Um, the we're told is that the joint finance committee plans to vote on Thursday on education related items. Um, I did reach out to Representative Nalen and Senator Hutton

110today just to see if we had one more opportunity to get on a call with either or both of them uh just to kind of hear from them um uh what they're hearing in terms of the some of the details of that. Uh we've heard some different things. um and then to be able to pres pro provide them with information as to how some of those items would impact the PWA school district so they would have that as our representatives. So, we're endeavoring to um and we've met with both of them before uh but before decisions are made with that vote, we wanted them to be able to understand how some of the things might impact us. So, things are moving pretty quickly in that regard. um if it comes to joint finance then go

111to the full group and then if they pass it presumably which they would uh would go off to the governor and then we'll see what he does with it. There were uh was that a week or two ago where they kind of broke off negotiations. So I know everybody's super surprised that um they weren't able to come to an agreement and compromise. It's a little frustrating. It's, you know, I wish it were otherwise, but that's typically how things have went in recent memory. So, but that's kind of where we're at. So, there should there could be a lot happening this week. I don't know, Larry, if you have Yeah, I know you were just up with the WASB board. Yeah, we didn't really talk a whole lot about what the budget was there, but I

112think one of the things that is coming through is I mean, I think that they heard and understood some aspects of the special education funding that again all of the groups out there have asked for and need, but now they're kind of like playing games with it. Maybe in terms of looking at it from only the high cost special education versus special education across the board. John, is that your understanding too that that's how they're potentially looking at it to increase the high cost special education funding? Yeah, the the high-c cost special education funding. There's there's a couple of different things that are coming through in the last 24 hours I've seen coming through and uh not just a focus on on special education funding as a whole, but like you said, that high-cost portion

113of there, put it into perspective, the pot of money that is allocated for special education aid reimbursement in the state is about $574 million. The pot of money allocated for high-cost special education for those high-cost um low incidence high-cost um students is about 14.5 million. So significant difference of adding to the percentage that's reimbursed on either of those there's a significant difference in the investment and the impact that would have on available resources for districts. And then the other topic that's out there too, there's a tax levy credit that they're talking about increasing that a whole lot, but that does not produce a single penny or dollar or nickel or dime for school districts to spend. It just it goes into a tax levy credit. So, but it doesn't give school districts anything, right? It

114depends what it's coupled with. Uh so in the last bianium we saw the low revenue ceiling go from 10,000 to 11,000. Okay. Increasing $1,000 in your revenue limit per pupil generates a significant tax increase. The dollars going into the levy credit are an offset to what that increase would be in your taxes. The transparency is the is the argument on all the time because the district levies the full amount. you pass a levy that's the full amount of your calculated revenue limit levy. The uh property tax levy credit is a credit that is given to the municipalities uh from state funds for education that they reduce on the property tax bill. So the district public may publish a 5% increase in your levy. In reality, majority of that increase will be offset by the increase

115in the levy credit that does not reflect on our books ever. Right. But does that also then if if how what you're explaining it though, John, so rather than take the money out of the state's general fund, it kind of puts the burden back on the local school districts to increase their tax levy rates. Right. So yeah, the levy credit is part of what used to be considered twothirds funding for schools. It's part of funding for schools, but not transparent. It doesn't doesn't appear on our ledger ever. Right. But it would I mean if we are allowed to increase our whatever it is the revenue limit that comes back to local taxpayers, right? Rather than coming out of the state's general fund which they collect all the income taxes and all that kind of fun

116stuff. So and the high cost special ed piece they're talking about would would not do much for would be negligible, right? It would be very it's it's It's going to have very little impact on school, but it's going to have very little impact on us. It would have very So, if you hear about that, well, they're going to Oh, they're doing something for special ed. Well, no, they're doing something for high cost special ed. It would be I mean, not a lot of money. You said what? 14 million versus 574 something, right? So, I mean, it's a handful maybe, right? And then you disperse whatever that percent increases across you know 400 plus systems. And so so we got fun times ahead I think in yeah we'll see what shakes up. Any comments from citizens?

117I seek a motion to Move to adjourn. Second. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Great. Thank you. Thanks everybody.