3.27.23 - Board of Education Meeting

001oh boy there was no parking all right it is six o'clock I will call the regular Monday March 27th board meeting to order roll call please Phil Henkel here Kevin Jensen here Miriam Barbara here Bert Richard sure Nellie Shire Doug kuchko here Diane kozer here Don kuskey here Steve Bowman here and was a proper notice given for this meeting yes please be please be advised that public notice of this meeting is required by sections 19.84 and 65.90 of the Wisconsin statutes has been properly given such notice consisted of a notice and agenda to the official newspaper in the rice state chronotype to the Eau Claire leader and to radio stations wjmc and W aqe indicating the date time and place of the meeting such notice was given more than 24 hours prior to the meeting

002thank you it does appear that a proper notice was given for this meeting we are now at the appearance section of our meeting on the agenda and we have two uh speakers we'll start off with Abby Fisher and just to let everybody know here in the room um each speaker has a three-minute opportunity to speak to the board but the board because it's not an agenda item cannot respond and interact with the speakers so if you see that there's no interaction that's the reason because of open records and meeting laws so Abby welcome hi so my name is Abby Fisher and I live in Rice Lake uh my pronouns are she her hers I am a member of the Rice Lake Rambo Alliance a community group for lgbtqia plus individuals their families and our allies

003tonight I speak to again encourage the Board of Education to learn more about our lgbtqia plus students and community members this Friday March 31st is the international transgender day of visibility could make a significant difference in our transgender students lives by taking the time to talk with them to learn from them and then allowing what you learn and what you hear from them to inform your decisions here at board a preview of what you might hear from them here are some data the 2022 Trevor Project survey of lgbtq Youth mental health in Wisconsin found that 44 of lgbtq Youth in Wisconsin had seriously considered suicide in the previous year and that number increased to 56 percent when only considering transgender or non-binary youth the survey also found that 15 of lgbtq Youth in Wisconsin attempted

004suicide and 21 of transgender non-binary youth um had also committed had also attempted suicide and I actually know in the last two weeks we had a Rice Lake graduate Who falls into this ad category who also attempted suicide this is real and this affects our students also in that survey 74 of lgbtq Youth in Wisconsin experienced anxiety and 59 experienced depression but what do you do you really need to know about our students they're amazing they are some of the kindest funniest and most creative and most welcoming students I've had the opportunity to work with in this District our lgbtq youth are fantastic but they're also human and they're imperfect like all of us and they deserve support and acceptance as they are how can we help these youth we can help them by making

005our schools and our community more welcoming more supportive and safer in the survey only 43 percent of lgbtq Youth in Wisconsin identified school as an affirming space we can do better I asked the Board of Education to help us do better please take the time to hear our students and learn with them and to the lgbtqia lgbtqia plus students and community members I want you to know that the Rice Lake Community has not been well represented in public appearances to our Board of Education the hate and intentional misinformation previously spread by adults from this Podium does not represent what this city is or what it believes in you are supportive and supported and appreciated for who you are thank you next on the agenda is Erica spear thank you foreign yeah thank you sorry nope

006you're fine all he had to do is read it's okay there's no judgment he would spend a long day okay so I would like to speak about the elimination of a high school counselor position I'm Erica Speer one of the current school counselors at Rice Lake High School with the addition of a third counselor to the high school counseling team we started by trying to incorporate a more Universal School counseling support through homeroom activities and the academic and career planning process unfortunately many of those activities fall to the Wayside as our half to-do list which is determined by building and District needs takes more time I do want to emphasize that I understand that Administration is making decisions based on district and building responsibilities and I am not at all suggesting that these items are

007not important or necessary Mr Kowalski and I uh Mr kwalski is one of the other counselors um have both had the benefit of having worked at all three levels as school counselors we can share with you that the high school is different it's not as simple as looking solely at caseload numbers and comparing high school or middle school or Elementary rather than looking at what is developmentally appropriate for students our full District School counseling team went through the National School counseling model training and each level has made significant effort to ensure that we are aligned with the national model while also recognizing that additional responsibilities at each level is unique and different priorities and responsibilities assigned to us by Administration are critical to high school programming and must be done many of which have very

008hard deadlines my concern is that all of them fall on what will now be two school counselors the list of responsibilities is on the page that I've provided and some of the examples include testing at the high school level we have pre-act forward act PSAT ASVAB and AP scheduling Skyward management data entry DPI snapshot data online courses school summer school organizational support CTE incentive Grant youth apprenticeship program exchange students start college now early college credit program student resource changes law day calculations for graduation and credit checks with the last item I want to emphasize though that we would love to really focus on the students that need support toward working making progress for graduation rather than simply focusing on if they need a change of schedule we want to actually support those students and help

009them we meet regularly with students to walk them through the college or job application process help them with financial aid applications and scholarship applications for the past two years we've also provided multiple Saturday practice tests for the ACT because we saw that as a need for our students after all of the building level requirements are done there is not much time left to address School counseling priorities some of these include comprehensive conferencing with students and parents beyond what we're able to accomplish currently meeting with students as identified through our Mosaic assessment Universal programming for employability skills student check-ins we have many students with mental well-being needs both ongoing and situational and collaborating with students with teachers to provide lessons that incorporate School counseling topics such as believing in using abilities to their fullest to achieve

010high quality results and outcomes thank you thank you thanks all right that is our appearance section now I would entertain a motion to approve our regular session meeting minutes from Monday February 13th motion has been made is there a second oh second motion has been made and seconded any further discussion see none all in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed and the minutes have been approved next we have our consent agenda where we have our monthly budget and cash Reconciliation Report our monthly board bills we have five employment resignations and eight employment promotion has been made and seconded is there any further discussion seen none and all in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed and the consent agenda has been approved next we get to do some of the uh more enjoyable parts

011of our job and that's recognized some of our students and so we will get started with our recognition we've got a spot over here between Randy and Diane that parents can come and get nice pictures with their students standing next to the staff member that's going to be uh talking about your students and you can get some pictures and and then they'll receive an award at the end so we will get started with the Rice Lake High School see we got uh just the one yes if you if you want yeah last few months they want to take a picture or anything I am happy to introduce you all to Antonio sedalio Cardenas he is a junior at Rice Lake High School and he is brand new to us this year from Mexico started a

012school year with zero English there is a lot I could say about this young man but I'll be brief because we have a lot of people here um Antonio is a trooper it is very difficult to start the school year as an upperclassman in high school without knowing any English but he has worked incredibly hard both to learn English and to excel in his classes simultaneously he is respectful polite and kind to his peers and teachers and contributes so much positivity to Rice Lake High School I cannot tell you how hard he works and how he independently strives to learn on his own he asks all the right questions and he just knows exactly what he needs to do and he's determined to get there Antonio thank you for all of your effort and for

013being a model student [Applause] foreign [Music] next The Rice Lake Middle School we'll start with Haley thank you all right she gets a two for one here so I'm Tracy Miller I teach uh sixth grade language arts and social studies my counterpart is Josh Olin he teaches the math and science and we both have Haley in our class and we are recognizing Haley this month for her tremendous efforts this school year um she was an easy choice for nomination um Haley just brings a wonderful presence and learning enthusiasm to school each and every day her smile oh God I was hoping you're doing it uh her her smile really shows just her willingness um to perform every day and I think you know sometimes in school just as important as learning it's making others feel

014welcome and appreciated and Haley does that every day um she might not be the loudest at least at school but she's very well respected and takes her learning seriously um this kind of maturity in a student is is very much appreciated and we both see it in our classes Haley's a resilient learner no matter what level of difficulty she faces and we just look forward to ending the year with a quarter to come and seeing how far that she'll go so congratulations Haley foreign [Music] Middle School student Kiefer [Music] like me hello excuse me my name is Ali cyric and I teach seventh grade geography at Rice Lake Middle School myself along with the other seventh grade teachers would like to recognize Kiefer for his leadership and citizenship throughout the school year keeper consistently demonstrates

015the Warrior Way by being safe responsible and respectful in our school every day he is able to motivate himself to work hard independently sometimes choosing to remove himself from a distracting situation to get it done however kefir can also be very collaborative and open to working with any of his classmates he contributes to all of his classes in a positive and friendly way elevating The Learning Experience for all students furthermore keeper has the Integrity to do the right thing even when no one is watching and even when it is not the easy thing to do he truly leads by example his strong character and growth mindset are unmatched he is simply wonderful and he makes Rice Lake Middle School a great place to be thank you keeper [Applause] huh another Hill uh Hagen Elementary we'll

016start with Chloe foreign hi I'm Katie Olson and I'm a reading interventionist at Hogan and Hilltop Elementary and I nominated Chloe tonight I've had the privilege to work with Chloe at the beginning of the school year and she's such a sweetheart and works extremely hard I am recognizing Chloe for academic excellence and perseverance because she has been working so hard at her reading and writing at great games she takes on new learning and strives to get better and better each day Chloe likes to be challenged and is a wonderful example of a student who never gives up and thrives to do her very best each and every day I'm very proud of you Chloe [Music] [Applause] and we have Tyson with Hogan Elementary [Music] so I'll look at this character so Mrs Thornley was not

017able to be here tonight she was planning on it when uh way back when we had the snow day uh but unfortunately tonight she wasn't able to make it happen so I get to read what she had to say about Tyson Mrs Thornley says I am pleased to select Tyson Bush for the Board of Education student recognition award Tyson was selected for this award because he consistently models the Warrior Way in kindergarten he demonstrates responsible respectful and safe behaviors in the classroom and other areas of the school at all times Tyson has shown wonderful academic growth this year and has an enthusiasm for learning that is contagious he is a hard worker who does his best on all of his work Tyson comes into our classroom every day with a smile on his face in

018fact he has told us that his nickname at home is smiley and we can definitely see why Tyson has a positive attitude and loves challenges he's a good friend to everyone in our class and can be counted on to be helpful and kind I'm so proud of Tyson and feel fortunate to have him in her kindergarten class this year keep up the good work Tyson you are a warrior thanks [Applause] fire smiley now we'll move on to Hilltop Elementary angel so I am Valerie Woods I teach second grade okay AJ's Valerie Woods and tonight I nominated Angel Rodriguez Salinas is above and beyond to help others in and out of the classroom foreign he is kind respectful and always willing to show the Warrior Way is Angel works extremely hard in the classroom and his

019academics show it is on how great students and adults daily with a positive attitude and a smile on his face is a role model and a leader in and out of the classroom Angeles and I'm extremely proud to be his teacher yes professor [Applause] Hilltop Elementary with deacon so nice shirt on everybody that's right sharp hi I'm Miss Branham and I teach first grade at Hilltop and this is Deacon Allen um Deacon consistently follows the Warrior Way of being safe respectful responsible and kind to all he excels in all academic areas and is always looking for ways to improve when asked to help out in class or help another student he is always eager and willing to help without hesitation he continually leads by example in the classroom by following the classroom rules and expectations

020he is able to ignore distractions and stay focused on his work without reminders from an adult which at this time of the year can be pretty difficult um he has a friendly positive attitude and cooperates well with everyone in our class keep being you Deacon I'm so happy serious business he could be in the military um [Applause] all right now we have painter Elementary we'll start with Marley [Music] hi there my name is Sarah Clark and I'm a first grade teacher at tanter elementary and my student with me tonight is Marley Zuck so um I am proud to nominate Marley Zuck as the Board of Education student recognition Award winner for first grade Marley is such an Easy Choice she is kind and um she is just always her authentic self in class she's a

021natural leader and a good role model and um every day she practices the warrior way she is a constant good example of what a first grader should look like um on top of that Marley's always willing to work with any students that need additional help this young lady has a really big heart so I'm just so proud she's here um Marley also strives to do her best in academics she's already mastered a lot of our benchmarks in reading and writing and um she's a real risk taker I know she doesn't look like it but she's a risk taker when it comes to reading she pushes herself and finally Marley should just be recognized because of her citizenship skills she's often complimented it not just by myself but because of other staff members for her really

022great manners her ability to follow rules in her Dependable actions Marley loves to contribute to the cleanliness of the classroom she's the cleaner and um she loves to organize and just tidy up the classroom at the end of the day which that is huge so I am proud to present Marley with this award congratulations [Applause] that was my question clean room at home foreign and our last student recognition for this evening would be Ria Bill Larson she is also from tainter elementary all right good evening my name is Joanne Walker principal attainter and I have the honor of recognizing Maria Larson who is a kindergartner at Tinker Elementary I am reading this on behalf of Mrs shapler in her entire Kindergarten team they have nominated Ria four areas of academic Excellence leadership and citizenship so

023I'm going to read to you what Mrs sheppler wrote about Ria I am nominating Ria Larson a kindergarten student at Tanner Elementary for student of the month Ria is a joy to have in class she is kind to her peers helpful to adults and loves to learn Ria tries hard and takes her schoolwork seriously she is willing to try new things and sets a great leadership example even at six years old I feel as though there aren't enough marvelous fabulous words to describe how wonderful Rhea is she helps me with teacher jobs around the classroom which is huge in kindergarten as well and runs errands to the office that always leave me feeling thankful for such a great student although I could go on for hours I will end with this she is a shining

024example of the Warrior Way at its best always respectful responsible and safe way to go Ria Larson congratulations I love it did I miss anyone all right so congratulations to all of our recipients this evening your names will be going into a drawing at the end of the school year with all of the other winners and one lucky recipient will have a chance to receive a Chromebook and new Chromebook from this District so good luck with that and congratulations we'll take a brief moment if you would like to exit you're welcome to leave you're welcome to stay um but we will take a moment I think that we better have some discussions okay it's in here somewhere right um oh you can plug in real quick because I'm dead congratulations [Music] all right we will

025get uh back into uh the flow of the meeting we will move into our report section we'll start off with the elementary and secondary emergency relief fund the yes of three money uh updates on that yes and so I don't need to spend a lot of time here but um we are required uh by DPI too at a minimum every six months uh just have it on a board agenda and provide you a copy of our you know safe return to in-person instruction and continuity of services plan um I believe this is the last time we need to do that or we may need to have it on the agenda one more time this fall I don't remember nothing has changed from last fall when I presented this to you but if you have any

026questions about anything um please ask but again like I said this was a requirement that it's on a board agenda once every six months all right thank you any questions at this time next on the agenda we have our 23 24 preliminary Staffing report the first reading yes and so I'll start that off and again um as Mr Jensen said it is uh preliminary Staffing report and so I'll just before we get into the actual document I'll show a few pieces here um and so and it's it's really backwards we have to present a staffing report before we know our budget for the following year which is always a challenge but uh that's what we need to do in the state of Wisconsin and and so uh you know we begin our process for that

027uh just starting with some a little bit of historical data and in your in your packet I know there's a copy of our third Friday enrollment from September and our second Friday uh come from January but just as we look at you know as best we can right now our Revenue projections for next year um I just wanted to provide you with a few numbers and so from you know the last four years our student enrollment plus the summer school FTE and that student enrollment the 2149 21 44 2188 and 2221 we actually had more students than that but that's the um that's the the number that counts for FTV so for FTE and so for instance uh the reason why that number is lower than our actual student count like our third Friday count

028in September was 2177 students but just 4K students only account for six tenths of an FTE so we lose some of that and even summer school um uh we actually only get 40 percent on summer school but uh so just the numbers and we've experienced some declining enrollment over time which according to the formula this has leveled out and and that has an impact um just to uh provide a frame of reference about 1999 2000 was our largest uh ever population in the district of about 2 800 students and so I just wanted to share that with you um when we look at Revenue limit projections for next year our Revenue limit this year so other than you know other than levying for debt um the 26 million seven hundred fifteen thousand four hundred thirty

029five dollars was a combination of local property taxes and state aid and so um a little bit of a pickle we're in for next year is um and I'll talk about it it's that bottom bottom bullet as a school district declines in enrollment there's two things in the fun in the funding formula and it's just it's a spreadsheet that DPI gives you there's a whole harmless provision and there's a declining enrollment provision and so for us that's equal to about six hundred thousand dollars over over time but as your enrollment you know as we slowly Decline and then leveled out those go away and so I think give or take and there's always equal amounts in each um you know after next year there will be about 80 000 dollars left in each of those

030so not a lot but we are going to take a hit for next year and so just to provide a frame of reference if our enrollment for next year is the exact same as it was this year we're down about 476 thousand dollars if we're down 15 students it's about 418 000 and actually if we go up 10 students you wouldn't think it would be this way but it's correct we're actually down over half a million and so when we look at you know funding the last few years you know there was no additional dollars provided in the last biennium we used Esser funds but you know those go away and so we need and I had a conversation with uh with Romaine Quinn and then also sent romaine and Dave an email on these

031pieces you know we need in Rice Lake 257 dollars actually it's 256 dollars and 12 cents but just to break even to have of the same amount of Revenue as we did this year and that doesn't account for any um you know any staff increases or other physical needs or supplies and materials and so just providing that and we'll talk about these as other people come up but potential Staffing reductions positions previously funded by Esther funds and you know there may be some that go away for next year but we've also talked to people who were in those positions that they will definitely go away after next year because we will be able to invest their dollars there's most likely a sped a teacher position that a person's retiring don't plan to replace that position

032and then there's the school counselor position which will I think we'll probably have a little more discussion about with that and again these are potential Staffing reductions uh some potential Staffing additions uh we need two additional kindergarten teachers at Tanner Elementary and we have a large 4K class coming yet 4K class coming in so that's great but it is an additional cost for next year we need up to two paraprofessionals at Hilltop Elementary with Head Start not having any sections of 4K anymore they made that announcement I think in January maybe February they only had one section this year and so we had hired a halftime 4K teacher and aid for this year that was outside of the Staffing report for this year likely we're going to be monitoring it but we likely will need

033to hire a 4K teacher in Aid at Tater Elementary and then physical therapist and we'll know more prior to the next board meeting but you saw the article on the chronotype about the clubhouse the Marshfield and Club house closing and we contracted PT services with them and so we're trying to figure that out right now and we'll know more on I think after Thursday there may be another organization that may take that over and so um you know we'll know more prior to the next board meeting so we did you know put that in the Staffing report as a one way or another we need it it's just a matter of where it comes from if we have a contract with someone else or if we hire our own and so with that this uh

034draft uh Staffing report as it sits right now leaves us about three to four hundred thousand dollars in the red for next year and so and we also know we have so for instance we sat down with Marty helgeson today technology uh director and we know we have significant technology needs as well moving forward and you know buildings grounds you we know we need an PA system at high school and whether incident last week we know we need some upgrades at the middle school as well and so it's always challenging to put this together like I said especially when we don't know what's going to happen at the state level but um we'll figure that out as we go and so so with that just taking you through the packet sorry let me get out

035of that uh a little bit I'm just uh going through some of these pieces um at the administration building not recommending any any changes different than what we have right now and then as far as District staff which shows up on the next pages I did uh add in one or more by the next board meeting but that physical therapist position um it wouldn't be a full position increase because we're obviously paying for those Services right now but we're not sure what's going to happen with that um and then additionally we also have uh recommending the full-time substitute staff that we've carried the last few years um a seven or eight we have in there to continue that for next year I know uh um that's they've been pretty invaluable and at times you know

036we that doesn't meet all of our substitute uh teacher needs but uh certainly helps significantly and then in Food Service no changes as well and the packet you'll know you'll notice we need to hire a couple of Physicians yet but those are not new positions those are in addition to uh those are are currently staff positions and so then uh last uh Mr velcek to come and talk a little bit about Hogan Elementary and then Mr Pokey will be up to talk about high school foreign not really any changes there um I know we're in the process of hiring a second grade teacher with Jody Anderson's retirement uh some of the new day noon Aid positions get challenging to fill because they tend to be like a one-hour position and so we've had one that

037this year just it never got filled uh we keep it out there in case we ever find somebody that wants to fill it but was not filled and so at hoggin really no changes to the Staffing I think a lot of times we combine with the elementary folks when we present um on this stuff as well but yeah um only other somewhat new addition there well it's it's already been made but Jamie kunish is the secretary and then she also serves she's the summer school secretary as well so we had paired summer school secretary with that hog and secretary position to provide some structure there thank you Mr no good evening for the high school in the staff report summary you will see some tbds those are typically unfilled or one-year positions so at the

038high school specifically next year for teaching positions there'll be a third of a staff at .33 FT reduction based on World Language and that'll based on we'll be we'll have to share um based on sections students truly Drive the schedule at the at the high school so when we get the student selections each student signs up for 16 courses and then we work the process to staff the building appropriately with licensure we don't have as much flexibility at times because at high school they're specific to in their discipline if you look at that summary in general I know Miss Johnson will be talking about the special ed special ed AIDS and and the and the teachers there for special ed and then but overall those are the those are the staffing recommendations so for teaching

039roles it's around a 0.33 staff reduction I just wanted to have if in the link I don't know if you have a copy of the link but I know Mr dross can put it up this is just highlighting some of the a narrative and I don't expect you to go through this in depth but if you want I can answer any questions on page 26 of the Staffing report is just a little summary and kind of my narrative to the puzzle for next year I project about a 698 and this is on page 26 in if you in the hard copies if you have it okay you have it and page 26. so really the enrollment for next year is going to be about flat that's the projection there we start with the student selections

040and we really look at the tough to schedule classes and we don't have to zoom to the bottom but there there are there's 216 students that are looking to push the rigor at Rice Lake High School in a combination of classes that are usually offered only once which would be in the three term sequence or two terms or in a Singleton and based on the stats of doing the conflicts Matrix multiple times working with Bill rademaker I'm pleased to share that 213 students will be able to hit those tough course is without changing their schedule whatsoever it takes many hours to run that to get that but we start with the toughest schedules first to make that a priority as as we look at as you look at the pages on page 16 you'll see

041an example and what that is is you don't have to go there Mr dross because they'll be jumping around too much but it will show what that looks like for a schedule between first second third and fourth term in a fourth period block the only other page I wanted to highlight is really the next page um this page to Mr draw so you can just slide up one spot this just shows a two-year comparison and what you're looking at here is the combination of departments as you will see out of 700 students sign ups you'll have over 10 000 course requests so those course requests are distributed amongst those departments you will see last year's or this current year selections and versus next year's proposals those are averages and right now we're working on the

042master schedule so once we build a master schedule we'll put the students enrolling into the classes some averages will stay about the same some caps will be in place where a student thinking science class will be a 25 course cap and we might fill that section in vice versa so when you look at those class sizes over there that's an average before we place them in the true schedule but it gives us the starting point as Mr Josh shared we're a front of the process but this as we start this selection process as early as January so when our freshmen are in the building and they're freshmen they're they're basically part of the way through the year they're already looking at next year and they start to making those decisions um like so when you

043see a number of sections here so there's 18 sections in egg and just a reminder that a teacher teaches 12 sections a year uh three per term to be considered full-time so 18 sections an egg is a teacher and a half so yeah thank you Mr drost and I think what you'll see is I just tried to put a plus or minus if they're trending in a different direction I've got statistical data obviously for the last 10 years showing Trends and enrollment obviously in two years ours are Dumber at the high school be around 665. that'll be our total enrollment we have a bubble at fifth grade that we'll try and just back up for a little bit but as those bumps go through we'll be experiencing a below a 700 enrollment um as you

044can see the the numbers there and these course requests there's probably around 15 students that haven't scheduled yet and those will be fit into the Matrix when we when we make time I I don't feel I need to go Page by page but I'm just going to highlight a couple things I know in the agriculture it happens to be on the next page um one thing we did this year for next year is we happen to hire a dual licensed staff member that was Eric Brian Erickson he's a phenomenal teacher he's actually going to be teaching egg halftime and tech ed next year half time and we're able to do that obviously it was Justified over multiple years why that is so we have vet science and natural resources we're always a crosswalk and they

045also were science credit we're finding a lot of students are taking those CL those those courses for science credit we've typically had a science teacher come over and teach that which is a half FTE with Miss levick's retirement we were taking advantage of having Mr Peterson teach AP chem so Mr Peterson will be teaching AP chem for that half of a science teacher and we'll be teaching the Fab Lab by sliding Mr Erickson over into egg that left the full FTE so really we're replacing the science retirement Miss Levick with Pete Peterson teaching science and the AG teachers certified egg to switch over from Tech Edge so that posting is basically a wash that's why it's posted as a tech ed position any of the other positions that are posted that we're hiring for at

046this point we're one year one year positions nobody at this point um besides Miss Levick and uh the school counselor and the special ed physician our retirements everybody else's was on a one-year licensure that we re um reposted and we're going through the interview process now I'll be back up to talk about wow but um the summaries are there and I can answer any questions tonight or at the next meeting as well as you have a chance to look at the summary of the narratives and I would say just because we're on the high school right now let's go ahead and talk about that counselor position yeah and so with that I'll just give you a little back back information um yes uh you know Mr Shimon had let us know by the deadline um

047he was going to be retiring we did go ahead and post that position um had planned to fill that position uh we've had three school counselors you know Miss spear came up to the high school three years ago and so we've had three school counselors for the last three years just as we worked with Victor to get better projections and you know the numbers that I showed you um you know in terms of where we're going to be with budget in the fall it's going to be incredibly difficult to have uh close to a balanced budget and again it depends on what happens with the state legislature and the governor and and in terms of that piece and so um yeah we never want to make any trims anywhere but in looking at yep we

048had a retirement um you know no one had to lose their position that's why we recommended that um but yeah the position was posted I know we had at least a handful of applicants for that position but okay I mean my question is I mean was did you guys speak to the counselors and asked how it would affect you know them and their students I mean we're constantly being told about you know social emotional health you know and how you know it's going down and you know the conservative students mental well-being and we've been talking about hiring a social worker and additional social worker and have been able to and you know we're constantly hearing about discipline problems and you know high-rise and anxiety rise and having to make suicide plans for the kids and

049yet we're gonna cut this area I mean it just seems like the need for it has gone up so I guess I just I totally I feel like there's so many no I shouldn't say so many other because there's not but there's other areas that could be looked at than something that directly affects the students social emotional well-being I mean it's huge I mean in my mind I can think of a few other things that would not directly affect the students so much especially when we're seeing so such an increase and mental health yeah um no we did not talk directly with you know say Erica and Jared at the high school about that specifically um and again we're looking at it from a budgetary standpoint and trying to have minimum minimal impact on employees

050um but no we did not I'm not going to beat around the bush on that or try to say we did because we we didn't um but then in terms of some of those pieces yeah we have a lot of challenging um things you know in the last few years we had mental health therapists again can't see all students but we need that in conjunction with school-based mental health services from outside agencies I do have a school social worker as well but yeah I'm not gonna pretend that there's there's not some sort of impact or especially when you look at you know other things like you know academic and career planning or some of those things you know Mr Speaker mentioned earlier when she was talking but is there some kind of a basic ratio

051that we or is that so skewed that it isn't something that we can really yeah I mean there's there's recommendations out there um you know I I think uh the um sorry not nasp um thank you ask um you know recommends um you know one to two fifty uh if we do not replace that position next year and all the high school would be at Rough you know about one to three fifty it was going to be about 700 students uh the middle school would be at about one to three hundred I think we're about 600 students just maybe a hair under um uh container would be one two you know if you don't count 4K 375 if you look at the whole building four seven just wondering if if we're tight across the whole

052District if somehow we could spread a person oh across and help all of our counseling media it's not just the high school yeah and I know I know I would say Tanner has some additional needs as well I could ask if I asked uh Mrs Walker or I know Mrs Booth isn't here but uh um I could probably ask the other school counselors um like I know Tanner has some some other needs as well uh one second that's the collage concert coming up in 10 minutes um yeah there are needs there right I know that one I know that's difficult to do a third third or third or whatever but it just to me it seems we're a light across the board and now we're gonna really struggle um Randy you have any ideas about

053the the breakdown how much is academic and career planning versus how much is mental health in terms of dealing with students from a guidance standpoint yeah I don't I don't know if Kurt or Nate or if you wait so obviously ever it's never good they reduced staff so it's not a fun process but um you know we have two staff at the high school for many years so we have the duty list of what we're three years ago so obviously we'd have to look at that and then look at what has been added since then and then prioritize basically is the starting point um you know from Zello standpoint um I know the district uh you know as far as some of the goals the high school goal was trying to increase the student conferences

054at the sophomore grade working with parents and students and trying to increase the percentage of having those face-to-face conferences um you know the Zello and and doing some of the home rematch activities monthly is something they've tried to improve as we want throw forward but based on covid that was like year one and then two and three so it's been been about three years since we've had it but like I said I've with a hard larger number there was time we had to and that's what we'd have to go back to and start looking at that puzzle we have new staff that need to be continuing to improve their efficiency in their areas from our support staff as well so there would be secretarial things that we need to shift duties to make sure that

055our counselors would not be handling clerical tasks or things that wouldn't be decision-making Matrix things so those are that would be the work on the ground obviously moving forward and that wouldn't happen overnight that happened through the rest of the year and summer um to make sure we're doing the best we can by not saving you know taking time out of the puzzle that you see all that the licensed staff would need to do shift some stuff away yeah and that would take a collaborative process the counselors would have to be a part of that but I mean the counselors are certified counselors right and that's not something that support staff can do right what's I'm saying what's that you're talking about shifting support staff in other people certified counselor right there are some taking

056like um any tasks or entering entering things into spreadsheets or doing things that maybe the counselors have been doing just because they have been shifting that to a secretarial role where if they're managing some things that aren't necessarily a consular role and I think they would agree with that no because we're hearing so much about the decline decline Mental Health [Music] do go to the you know course guidance and academic planning but also you know for mental health needs and it's like I just don't see this an area that we want to mess around with I mean I struggle as a mom you know to see this cut you know it's so essential you know for my own kids you know for many kids I'd rather not do such a fancy football field you know

057I mean I know it's totally different but it's not to me I know but I mean it's it to me it's just I don't I would ask that you look at some other options and that's just me as a person um I just feel really strongly that this is not an area and we can I mean that's a preliminary spot but where I mean do you have if we leave this position in place what is going to get what potentially would be in uh or you'd sit down and look at I don't want to say anything now because we'd be looking at individuals I mean I do appreciate that you guys are trying to use attrition to work with the budget as opposed to letting someone go sure yeah that's nice it's just the attrition

058didn't come in a probably a ideal spot and is there a way potentially are there other things other than clerical that may be in here that could be shifted to potentially somebody at the high school that can take on more of that responsibility you know you always thanks to board support a lot of the schedule and the hard work Bill rademaker still contracted to do that that is not the counselor's role and that's the idea of that with you know your support of that as a components so Bill rademaker still does a phenomenal job of that in a lot of school districts that is a counselor's role so scheduling is typically um forever as long as I'm doing this for all Andy because this kind of ties in did either of our legislators comment on

059is there a hope of maybe some kind of financial yeah and I um you know I had a good conversation with Romaine and then like I said I appreciated his time um and actually we had a chance to talk about another number of things there was uh I know the day we talked there was a hearing about you know reading instructions state of Wisconsin so I was glad to talk with him about that as well um you know but I just I wanted them to know uh specifically where we were at just we're at a at an interesting spot in the funding formula where we're going to take a half million dollar hit next year regardless of what happens and so that you know they understood that you know say they you know give a

060per pupil uh increase it's not just you know that number times 21.75 for us and that's what Rice Lake is getting now subtract off half a million and that's what Rice Lake is getting and so um even at the you know I know the governor proposed 350 a student um increase in the first year whether we're the same or up or down it's about two hundred and four thousand dollars even with that so and again it's just we're at an interesting spot in the in the funding formula and so with that when I did talk with Romaine you know he did say well we were kind of thinking about you know using 250 as a starting point and I said okay but um you know I mean there's there's uh um conversation too about you

061know maybe doing something with special ed funding that would help tremendously our special education costs in the district right now are about 4.4 million a year we end up transferring about 3.1 million from the general fund one two there to to cover those costs that aren't you know covered by the state and so they're funded at about I think the last time we looked Victor was about 30 percent um you know if they did another 10 percent or something like that that would be outstanding uh for us we're running paraprofessionals are those run under the special ed yes yep any costs Association reimbursement got better that would help I mean because I see we have two new positions there too yep that would help across the board that would help across the yeah go ahead

062Steve well can you address the process because at one point we're filling it and we're posting it and we're interviewing yep and then all of a sudden it's gone yep I mean I think something was a failure there in regards to the communication with the board the staff I agree sure you know who's running what's going on that's me so at the bottom it falls on me so if you want to blame someone you can put that on me as we work to get a solid handle on our financials so for the following year and we worked hard to figure out where we're at um to have you know Victor's worked hard this year those of you on the board finance committee he's worked hard to provide you with detailed and up-to-date information and we

063wanted to be sure he felt good about where we were going to be for next year before we did that in the meantime yep we had posted this position and so um yeah ultimately that falls on me so I'm not going to pass I just got a quite you know is is this going to start to multiply you know we got a concert you know here that we're not filling and you know what's the future going to hold as far as you're not feeling positions or laying off people maybe we're going to be like some other districts and I hate to bring this up but maybe we should have a committee or a board look at a referendum there are a whole bunch of other things that that to me you're telling us we're not

064going to be able to afford the gym maybe some things with the pool and maintenance so although that's you know sure um the football field we got a ton of things and I'm thinking wait a minute if this is the start you know how are we going to be talking about this the next two or three years yeah well maybe we should have a committee or whatever because I don't know how to do it right talk about a referendum because other schools have done it certainly in my understanding there's a pretty good percent in Wisconsin that have passed referend yeah I think there's 80. I'm against getting rid of the counselors sure um I know there's 81 school districts going to referendum next week um and not all of for you know some are for

065building some are for Capital Improvements some are for operational or a combination for us right now it really depends on what happens with the with the budget this fall and so um if you know I know the governor proposed 350 and 650 and doing something with special education if that happens um we wouldn't need a referendum if if it's 250 and 250 and no change in special education uh we're we're going to need to do something whether that's reductions whether that's a referendum in order to maintain a balanced budget we do have a you know a solid fund balance right now but we also have improvements we we need to make throughout the district we've worked hard to be very uh diligent and prudent with how we spend money just came through an incredibly difficult

066you know two three years and so um with that it really hinges on what happens with the budget this fall and I appreciate you know that obviously that you are looking at our budget and we have done so well you know in the past and that's huge I think this just kind of came as such a surprise to me I know you know a lot of times you appreciate you you hold up two buckets right and talking about academics and then what is emotional health yeah and you know I just think it's so important especially as we've seen so many changes in our students and behavior and um you know mental health I mean we're hearing it from the community we're hearing it from the teachers you know I'm scared we're going to lose teachers

067because of this I just I was just so shocked to hear this because I thought why why this department so I'm not trying to be harsh about it I was just so shocked you know because I thought man isn't there somewhere else we can look because there just seems to be such a high need and I get what you know what you guys were trying to do is you know hey we don't have to lay someone off and hopefully get that but I just it was just kind of confused because we hear so much about the decline of mental health I didn't I didn't want to see this one go okay we've had a few uh people talk about whether there might be um duties that counselors have to do that uh take up needless

068time and uh I guess question I have it sounds like it'd be a complicated thing to do but me if I'm wrong but it seems like there are some District staff some of whom could potentially have some related responsibilities like we have a mental health coordinator mental health practitioner a social worker SEL coach we have three School psychologists and then we have the counselors I'm probably missing something so I'm wondering if a technical analysis could be done of what each one of those positions does and then kind of cross-reference get rid of the stuff that they shouldn't be doing because there are qualifications maybe things could be done more efficiently and maybe when you get done you say hey we still need an extra position but right now it seems like everything's a little bit

069of a guesstimate right yeah you know and ultimately that's what it's going to boil down to is having to kind of look at every position and really figure out how do we shift duties to whoever it might be most appropriate whether it is a school social worker picking up a little bit extra at the high school if this reduction happens um you know whether it's you know the the mental health practitioner Navigator their jobs are kind of set on some specific duties that I don't Envision them necessarily being able to pick up some of the school counselor pieces um you know they work all the way across the district in probably a little bit different capacity than what the school counselor would is there some overlap do you think not really maybe at like that

070tier three level and so the students that are at the most uh needy uh position you know and then that's where the school counselors might be making a referral to uh basically the coordinators and and then they align the services with the mental health practitioner or some outside resources um and so there is some some pieces where they work together um but to actually take over some of the duties that the school counselors are doing I don't Envision that with them um you know it could be something you know some of the Skyward pieces where we've got some secretaries that take on some of those pieces uh and obviously it's going to be working with Kurt working with school counselors working with the school Sykes and people that are in the building to really kind

071of determine where that shifting needs to happen and where it makes sense over 475 short is this helping to balance that or are we still poor 75 short with some of the recommendations you're making yeah we're still three to four short again depending on what happens with the budget this fall and so with this Hefty gone you're still short yes so if we push away yeah that's fine we want this we'll go back we're gonna it's gonna create more of a gap right and we'll we'll take it and we'll um go back and we'll reanalyze and and uh come deal with another recommendation positive thing is that the personal retirement's at the top of the pace film the new person maybe so there's a little bit there there's my little bit I mean you're gonna

072be that person maybe not changes of as I've recommended started for this year and we'll fully Implement over the next two years uh we'll be bringing uh people on the quote teacher you know pay scale and have full years and it's and I stand behind that um that does add additional money to the salary schedule uh this year or this next year and the following year but it also brings consistency across the district and something that's been a thorn on my side since I've been in this position so yeah any other questions or comments on this section okay we'll move on to our next section did you have anything else at the high school no and you'll have chance to look at if there's any questions to the narrative you don't have to take time

073tonight and I'm more happy to check touch base on next week when we do the final read or next board meeting um I do have wow two I don't know if you want me to do that now um Mr Boise obviously is the principal of the warriors on Wisconsin which is obviously um the facility just straight on the corner here for students for on-site and off-site um work um on page 17 of my narrative but um but also in uh which would be on page 42 Mr drost of the uh supplement packet there you go it'll match the narrative FTE there is staying the same as it was this year a Personnel adjustments as far as moving out we had Miss havner retire unfortunately she's retired a few times we'll be able to save her

074and get her back I said come on back we brought her back twice I don't think I could do it three times she's been an amazing addition to our team in many capacities we have tough shoes to fill so that posting is the to be determined that's LTD Ela she was also social studies certified so she had a lot of a lot of wealth and knowledge but the other Staffing Mr Thurston will be taking on Mr Davis's role there Mr Davis will be moving to the high school for the science Mr thurson's excited about that opportunity to connect with the Conservancy doing more environmental science with the students and getting them out off campus so he's excited so really in general the other to be determined off-site support is Marcel Morris she's in a one-year

075position there she's that's reposted and that's dealing with some of the students across the hall in that conference room where we have students that come and go in a more flexible environment for off-site so feel good about that Staffing proposal that we have all core areas represented students will have face-to-face instruction in addition to supplementing their hybrid learning to provide a comprehensive programming that's been successful so you can see the forecast there for numbers and that's been servicing students and and they do a phenomenal job there so and that's also got a Mr base he kind of oversees it a little bit I know the counselors as well um are helping with um Council Mr steers is also a counseling certified so oh sorry okay thank you that's all I had for the wild program

076likely I mean does that enrollment typically yeah that's a good question this counselors wouldn't I discussed that today it's adjusted based on student needs so there's there's no timeline deadline if a student comes into the district course from the Middle School coming to the high school if that's a good fit there's a process that sit down it's a conversation and we work them through the process to be um to be in the program thank you and that's just nine to twelve nine to twelve corrected sitting in or no at this point um the staff certification there's 912 and we have I know it's been a discussion um about that is inside those programmings of age appropriateness in those constraints Marcel does service off-site students she's pretty busy with staggering things out that could be an

077opportunity where there's some students could be on the off-site looking location serviced in that across the hall where they wouldn't mix um age there's a possibility there kind of right there so good question yeah we've had that question before but you know do you put seventh and 8th graders with 9th through 12th graders that's really good yeah thank you any questions thank you Randy I have a question on the student do we still and I I'm been off the board now I'm back on uh do we still do the student resource officer Andy jandro yeah yes and do we fully fund it or are we sharing with the cities now we have an agreement with the city so they're still helping with 70 30. okay yep after the events of today I've seen enough of

078that good point any oh I'm sorry uh Hilltop I had was yeah sure yeah let me talk about Hilltop container at the same time hello all right so I think um as Randy mentioned um additions that we have at the elementary level he talked about um we don't know about 4K yet and we're conservatively going with four which is what we had well actually we have five but right now the numbers dictate that we would do four sections but we anticipate with the closing of Head Start that that will go up to maybe a fifth section again at tainter we are having a 4K enrollment tonight this Thursday at tainter so hopefully just getting parents to get enrolled is a key so that we can better plan so right now in our staffing report I

079think we have four but we anticipate that to go up to you know five maybe six which they would be housed at Tanger in that third row so um and then uh kindergarten two additional sections we have a larger 4K class this year so um we would anticipate the need for um two additional kindergarten teachers at tainter fogging it is William P talked about and Hilltop will be at three uh first grade we're looking at a total of nine sections one at Hagen three at Hilltop and five it's feature um and then second grade um we're looking at again nine sections there aren't any changes across the district in second grade uh same thing with third grade um we had a retake we have two retirements one at Hilltop and one at tainter so we

080um know that that is um we're interviewing for that and then fourth grade we have no additional Staffing there is a fourth grade position that was a one-year position that will need to hire for so uh yeah sure can I get with the head start closing the 4K kids coming over how does that work with funding like we they had a contract with them uh we paid you know them so much a child um to educate they've always had two sections before so about 40 students this year they only had one section so about 20 students I think there's 18 right now because they couldn't find staff and so um with that then yes it would be um you know it's not an offset by any means but by us taking on that 4K we

081won't have you know we won't be paying Head Start anymore but then you know we need the additional Staffing so how many kids can be in the classroom at that age I mean it's not a hard cap we you know we Loosely cap our our 4K classrooms at 20. um because there's a full-time Aid in there as well but yeah I think they're all oh 19 right now give or take um and so those are half day programs with the so we have uh three morning classrooms at tainter this year two afternoon classrooms uh Hilltop daycare has a full section and then Hogan Elementary that's just as a reminder two full days a week Tuesdays and Thursdays uh it's about 15 students maybe in that 4K classroom or we looked at the numbers at Hagen

082I mean it seems like they're declining there and they have I mean yeah start talking about that if that's if we're gonna start cutting we have 10 kids in the class one full-time teacher I'm not saying I want to do it I'm just saying correct you know [Music] 10 17 13 and 15. and Hagen has grade was 17. yeah are you going to project um then also for the elementary for our special classes music art fayad so we're not recommending any changes to those areas the library media Specialists we're still just going to maintain the one across the three elementaries and then our school counselors at the elementary we're just leaving that at two for right now any questions for either of them about Hilltop retainer thank you thank you evening uh talking about The

083Rice Lake Middle School just very quickly kind of background information we typically try to staff with six home rooms when we're in that 140 145 150 range and then which gives us about 24 students in a classroom at our building for those of you that have walked through there those classrooms are pretty small and so that really is what we feel is an appropriate number for those rooms given kind of the enrollment that we have I think it's 11 more students if you want to go you know from last year but at the sixth grade level we'll be Staffing that with seven or excuse me the fifth grade will be seven sections because it is a little larger I want to say 161. we have a extremely needy uh fifth grade that's going into sixth

084grade and so we're looking at actually increasing that overall however if you look at FT ee it's exactly the same this year as it was last year it'll be the same as it is this year so that would include special education specials and core instruction so um I don't know if there's any questions but pretty pretty simple from that standpoint so any questions thank you thank you thank you don't worry yes so I'm going to talk a little bit about special education and the people's the people services that I oversee um so overall I'm recommending one reduction of a full T full ft at the high school due to retirement increasing to paraprofessionals at Hilltop reducing the two full-time health aides and potentially increasing that one physical therapist due to the closing of of the

085um Clubhouse so if you could just scroll to the high school yeah uh oh that yeah that was Middle School okay so I just want to share so how I um I took all of the current students we have um you know moved them up here took the graduates out um to determine caseloads of students and then also determine a weight Factor the weight factor is a Formula that DPI put out a long time ago um where students are weighted based on the services they need in you know how much time consuming that the student might be um it's it is subjective but um what I worked for cisa I went into a couple districts didn't know they had done the waiting did the waiting myself and then found the waiting done by previous directors

086and it was amazing how close we all were because it's a it's a rubric and so you follow the rubric the number of students with disabilities at the high school cases between 15 and 17 I would tell you're in the you know within the average range of most high schools and then um caselo weight factors should be right around that 23 to 20 six so you can see even with reduction of that one staff person we are still well within um recommended caseloads I feel very comfortable with that we could probably still have a few move-ins and still to be sitting pretty good Jenny Amos has a smaller caseload due to the fact that she does the work experience and has to get out into the community and do some job development type things and

087then Mary Kay crado you can see her weight is high even though her overall caseload is low because she works with those High needs students with some pretty significant needs but the caseloads are are pretty are pretty I I feel pretty confident that they can handle that however you never know how many kids you're gonna have and move in over the summer and if we have 17. kids move in at the high school I might come back to you and say ah we might need to hire someone Lori help me with a health assistant okay that those positions were if correct me if I'm wrong they were they were in Esser due to the pandemic during the pandemic the School nurses had to do a lot of the contact tracing and all of that reporting

088out um and so the district hired Health assistants to do more of the working with kids and handing out medications and things like that we will no longer have a health assistant at all we have two currently right um I'm recommending that we eliminate those positions they were told when they were hired it was a temporary position and they were funded under Esther funds if this is accepted we won't have a health assistance right okay but we'd still have our two full-time nurses okay and then the support staff in the offices sometimes do a lot of the medication yeah would cover up to help the system we'd go back to how it was before the pandemic okay thank you and then yeah I think that was everything so do you guys have any questions on

089oh I would do want to mention the two um paraprofessionals at Hilltop we had um I don't over the course of the year we added two um one-year professionals at Hilltop this year due to students needs that moved in we had we have four students that have some pretty significant so need for support in the classroom and by adding those two pairs we were able to meet all of those needs with those students and those students will continue none of them are moving up to the middle school and we have one more additional one coming from 4K so please think with the four they still can meet those students needs for now seems like we always add them and unfortunately not accepting open enrollment no we're not they're full these are the ones that move

090into the district so any questions other questions okay any other questions thank you do we have any other buddy anybody else yeah we've covered everything all right so this was the first reading we've uh asked for some clarification and some further review of yeah of what this looks like and uh so it'll come back to us may need to be a first reading again yeah so thank you Mom all right so with that we'll move on to the CSL 11 shared service contract yeah so you've got a copy of that in your in your packet and um recommending uh basically the same not basically recommending the same Services uh for next year as we had um this year we've trimmed that down over time uh we used to have more boxes checked but uh I

091feel this is kind of about the minimum that we use and there are some you know the three on the top that you know are automatic renewals um the first one to American Rescue plan homeless child and youth and then the comprehensive Consulting and networking services that allows a wide range of people to go to um asisa and if we paid for those events or paid for those events individual individually it would be much higher than that the same with the healthy safe respectful schools the title three El Consortium Marshall oversees that and that's uh that's a good benefit there in Lori's world the Audiology hearing impaired supporting students with disabilities Network and vision impaired an orientation and Mobility Program and then the final one is actually through cease to 10 let's see environmental health

092and safety services and with that you know anything related to Asbestos and and all the other things that go with that we don't have anyone you know certified and trained per se to be a specialist and those types of things and it ends up being um well three four thousand dollars for that but it's it ends up paying for itself so nothing new any questions Randy both the same class over or has been an increase in cost they increased those uh the sisa administration I think last year was a couple thousand dollars less other than that it's pretty much the same but those non-negotiable costs um I know the cease Administration was up 1500 to 2000. any other questions this is an action item I would entertain a motion to approve that shared service contract

093so moved second motion has been made in seconded is there any further discussion see none all in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed and that contract has been approved next we have our continuous Improvement update um so yeah I wanted to touch base on on some scorecard pieces here specifically um and with a second bigger so as we and actually I was having a conversation with Kris Kristofferson one of our school psychologists earlier today about a better and more comprehensive way to report this and so we'll Implement that but it's what we have for right now so at the elementary level we look for our screener in the fall and screener in the winter and then we'll screen one more time at the end of the year or near the end of the year

094but when we look at that a reading that reading comprehension assessment and again we're looking for at least 70 percent of our students scoring at the 40th percentile or higher and this is just a dipstick and and so whenever students take this assessment then you know there are data meetings that follow that up and we're looking at you know how to best meet student needs and so with this sorry you can see we're second third and fourth graders were in the fall and where they are now and remember that the assessment gets progressively harder as the year goes on so in in second grade you know 40 of them uh to 60 of them bought the same and third grade and then in fourth grade uh climb from 55 to 68 percent um when we

095look at math and I'm gonna I'm gonna go through this one a little quicker because uh Chris Britton uh shared a different way to look at this as well but again we want at least 70 percent of our students in this you know in this final uh colored column there and you know we take a look at that and and most are there and and some aren't quite there but working at it I did share with you this and I believe I'd share this once before um but not publicly so Chris Britton took um our forward data and um for our current grade level so I will say for instance um let's pick seventh grade here just because I'm right here um this is their data from you know these two columns are there data

096from seventh grade uh these three columns are their data from sixth grade and then these three columns are their data from fifth grade and so what we can see with this cohort of the exact same students over time in terms of sorry in terms of how they're doing in math you know they have and they have um progressed um pretty strongly and as fifth graders they were in the 60s thank you in sixth grade they were in the in the 70s and now as eighth graders they're you know in the 80s uh right now or as far as our percentage of students above that 40th percentile so again we monitor this it's it's not all about this it's okay here's where students are now let's look at individual needs and and make plans uh based

097on that and you've got at the middle school I'm sorry I'm getting ahead of myself when we look at Middle School literacy um I was going to mention Casey Bergman uh before as a literacy coach but we were on the math data when we look at where our fifth sixth seventh and 8th graders are in terms of literacy and looking at phonemic awareness looking at phonics and fluency and then in looking at that General reading we look at how they are progressing in those areas and um for the pretty much we're seeing gains you know the phonemic awareness um pretty strong in all year long the phonics and fluency uh definite gains and then the general reading um I'm saying about the same or or improving in some areas and then the you know I

098forget about the high school sorry I was going to get on to attendance uh I forgot about the high school and so we look at so we're going to look at the high school our ninth graders this is the second a year where ninth grade students have done um the reading screening and so when we look at other phonemic awareness their phonics and fluency and their General reading their progressing definitely in the in the direction where we want them to um final piece I'm going to talk about is attendance and that's something we've been uh focusing on uh very heavily I have two attendance coordinators that we hired this year in Stacia cross and Cassandra Clark and you know we you've seen this part of the data um many times before and then we had

099a rough a couple of years there in 2021 and 2122 and so when we look at Chronic absenteeism data missing 10 percent of the year or more for any reason and as we report this out at the end of the year we'll have we will also have a breakdown as far as excuse unexcused break it up a little bit more but in general happening to report significantly better than the last couple of years and you know more approaching um what we were you know prior to the pandemic and it was the high school sits right now that's some of the best numbers we've ever seen with them so that's good to see you know middle school is back in that range as well as the elementary schools so we're happy to see that and happy

100that it's making a difference and we know students need to be in school and that's the best place for them and so I'm happy to report that out and we'll be sharing this data with with parents as well I have some other information that that needs to go out to parents uh either yet this week or early next week and this will be one of the pieces that gets shared as well it's always hurt our scorecard is yeah attendance yep so yeah definitely so I'm happy to report that's headed in the right direction can I ask a question certainly um just looking at Hilltop and Canter the absentee um do you have any explanation for why tainter is very close to what it was in you know 16 through 19 but Hilltop is still still

101trending High still up there pretty high compared to what it used to be historically yeah I off the top of my head don't know I don't know if either of you have any any thoughts on that but [Music] yeah and it's something as like I said we'll continue to dive into um you know excuse and unexcused absences and and we can have a conversation with the Cassandra too as well but yeah I noticed that you know hoggin is depending on the year kind of at least down in the range but Hilltop was a little higher yet and Tanner was close to some of the old numbers but I mean we want to be even better than those percentages but yeah yeah but I don't have a great answer for you right now thank you you

102bet Randy to some of those percentages indicate that they fulfill a criteria for chronic truancy yeah but it's um ten percent so you know this was as of the first 108 days and so um you know it's 10.8 or basically 11 days if they've missed 11 days or more at when this data was pulled um you know then they were uh chronically absent but uh that could be um you know if I by state law um a parent or caregiver can pre-excuse their child for up to 10 days a year and so even though that's excused um that gets counted in here as well so um not necessarily true and truant is um on excused apps in any part of five days in a semester and so there may be students on this list or

103included in here that everything's excused but I just had a lot of excuse absences and so but they've but they've missed a lot of school who contacts the parents or Guardians who works with them that's um you know administrators are helping with that those attendance coordinators Cassandra and Stacia are doing that as well and has there been more contact with the county yeah I can uh I know Mark's not here he handles uh more of that at the high school um I know when I talked with him you and I had talked about this yeah a while ago at some point this winter and I had reached out to Mark to kind of get an update um and he said he had been having a pretty solid experiences with the county and the kids were

104at least getting to the county and and appearing in front of the judge um in turn and then you know what happens with that is is you know sometimes they may use the driver's license as a carrot or some other things or you know at the municipal level potential fine but it was having better luck you know making appearances in front of the judge in Marion County no any other questions I like the direction of those numbers of the all the numbers yeah yeah I'm good all right thank you for that report next we've got our finance committee meeting update oh yes we met March 8th a long time ago everyone was present proper notice was given we reviewed the minutes we did look at the budget for 2023 2024 which we've kind of discussed

105today and then we reviewed the swimming cool fees and we had requested them to look at some of the changing or updating the fees to uh to correspond with the increased uh open time if you will and so some of those fees have been instituted I believe and then we looked at the bills and approved them we set our next meeting for April 6th and we adjourned any questions were we supposed to do a or was that buildings and grounds were doing the forest building to grounds okay all right so with that committee with that he doesn't have his glasses on we will uh we will get into buildings and grounds we met on Thursday March 9th we went over the aquatics and Recreation Center discussion as far as the pool project and uh getting

106things ready to go out for bid so um VNS will be uh in process right now of getting the bids out for the different projects pertaining to the pool and then we talked about the Conservancy facility they're going to be the spring burning the Prairie um forget what the date was on that I wanted to do them before though before all the snow melts which may not be until June but right but they had a they had a tentative date where they'll there's a couple areas that they're going to burn off the vegetation there and help the natural vegetation regenerate itself and go that like it's supposed to so that was the uh one piece of that and then we agreed to allocate some of the acreage out there that has been Farmland we're going

107to look at planting some trees in that section of the field and then that'll allow us to um move into our next point where we would have a resolution to have that area designated as our school forest and what that does for us is that puts us available for some grants some other things working with some universities and and things as far as programming and things like that um out there and the the property that was donated by the Olsens because of some of the stipulations that came on with that and allowing not allowing us to do what harvesting and things like that from that property would not allow us to declare that area as school Forest even though it is a school Forest it it doesn't fall under all the categories of what needs

108to be and so that's why we'll be planting some trees in an area that will allow us then to classify our area out there as a school forest and and get us involved in some of those other areas so with that um we do have a resolution the resolution I believe was in the board packet um so to save on time unless you want me to I I'll forgo the whereas readings and therefore's and just look for a motion look for a motion to approve the resolution so moved motion has been made and seconded there's any further discussion it's been exciting to hear everything that's going on out there Doug wants me I'll just ask questions so we're prohibited from certain kinds of force management a new Conservancy yes yes I mean how do you

109keep a Woods going if you don't cut the large trees that are shading everything out once in a while that was Rod's wishes if for him to handle for the properties to let it grow and if you get out there and you walk through it if you're coming in off of uh uh what would it be 20 24th Avenue in the north yes on the North side there and if you come into that parking lot and walk across the field and come into the woods there on that trail that first section of woods looks a lot different it's there's more smaller growth more under vegetation growing and then as you get further into it you'll get into the larger trees and that was Rod's original area that he'd been working with a long time and

110he wants those trees to continue to just be able to grow and grow and grow and obviously as they fall down and things there's some opportunities but we're not allowed to go in and and we agreed to to that we would not cut any of those trees out any other questions all right with that all in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed and the resolution has been approved next we have the curriculum update the curriculum committee met on February 16th we uh had a update on how the curriculum uh was going as far as looking at the new Ela curriculum at the elementary level and that is a action item on our agenda for this evening I just want to say that it was really a nice opportunity to hear from our staff and

111what they were seeing with the different the different curriculum that they have tested and tried and their response on why they were recommending one versus another through their testing and uh trial process and so that's why we're coming to you with uh with a couple different breakdowns on how that you know it's not just a k through four um program it's we've got two different ones because it meets the needs of our kids better by by doing it this way so it was it was really really interesting to hear hear from our staff and I really appreciated that opportunity um so with that why don't we move into the approval of the K1 amplify curriculum and the grades two through four hmh into reading curriculum I would entertain a motion to approve those two pieces

112for the elementary Ela curriculum I'll make that motion motion has been made is there a second I'll second motion has been made and seconded is there any further discussion yep go ahead clarify the amp is amplify is uh is that um supplementary material no I looked at it today it's a Publishing Company okay yeah it's a publishing company that has a specified curriculum for those Elementary grade levels I would uh Echo Kevin in that uh there are multiple things looked at and tested and that the process was I felt very inclusive so um all the teachers kind of got a chance to talk about it look at different things and then come to a mutual agreement which was refreshing and they tested various ones yes they tested them and found out how they worked with

113the students you know tested them in this class one worked better than the other they actually had a chance to have it in the classroom and utilized it they started this fall um some some of the teachers switch sooner than others because they just realized this one was not working and so they moved on to the next one to see what that was going to look like and found wow this one's you know the one teacher made a comment that they thought looking at it on paper this one was really going to hit their needs and once they got it in the classroom it wasn't even close I'm excited to see how down the road if you start to get some progress yes interesting to follow any other questions comments all right we have a

114motion in a second all in favor signify by saying aye aye post and that curriculum has been approved we then had eighth grade social studies curriculum that is also uh an action item here that was with uh service and uh that um the eighth grade has not had a real full-fledged curriculum guidance book up there in some time and so um this will be a nice tool to add to their toolbox to to do that it's also going to change some things up through some things that's going to be moved down to fifth grade and in the history group down there and then this will be for the eighth grade [Music] so with that I would entertain a motion to approve the Savas American history for our eighth grade social studies I'll make that motion

115it has been made is there a second second motion has been made and seconded any further discussion I'd just like to say that um I spent quite some time reading through this textbook because when we approved the social studies um curriculum at the lower grades at the Elementary grades by the same company savvis I really did not like this second and third grade materials they had at those lower grades but I thought that at this eighth grade level they um Savage had done a really good job and really covered it thoroughly and I I thought it was a really exciting um curriculum that I think kids will it'll hold their attention and they'll learn something I agree and I'd like to compliment you Diane because you do study that very carefully thank you oh thank

116you any other questions or comments right we have a motion in a second all in favor signify by saying aye aye post that motion carries and then we had an update on the achievement Gap reduction and they provided the mid-year achievement Gap reduction uh report and reported the progress similar to what we saw tonight so that was uh our meeting our next meeting will be April 18th at 5 30 in the admin conference room any questions or comments all right then we will move on to the policy and legislative advocacy committee meeting update the second reading of those policies rules and Exhibits um they were in your board packet any questions or comments and again this is a second reading seeing none I would entertain a motion to approve those policies rules and Exhibits motion

117has been made to approve is there a second second was it has been made and seconded any further discussion see none all in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed and the policies have been rules and Exhibits have been approved all right upcoming meeting schedule we've got Thursday April 6th from six to nine we've got the sisa 11 meeting over in Turtle Lake and uh if you can attend that please let Colleen know so she can get get you registered and then new board member gathering on Tuesday April 18th so that's after the uh election next next week or yeah next week next Tuesday um any new uh board members that can attend that I would uh ask that you try to get signed up and uh we'll go over and spend some time at

118sisa and learn about being a new board member all right our student Reps for this evening are in uh spring Sports so they were not able to attend this evening so with that we'll go over to Mr droston his comments yeah just a few things um we kicked off uh the last time swimming lessons the last several years have only been offered during summer school and part of that was Staffing shortages um we worked with with Courtney and last Saturday she kicked off swimming lessons that weren't uh during summer school had an outstanding response 83 families 132 students signed up there's a wait list of 57 students and so we know it's something families are wanting and so just want to thank you know the worker lifeguards people teaching and Courtney for their work to

119get that going uh Middle School parent-teacher conferences tomorrow night spring sports are up and running and competing already despite the snow uh just a couple of reminders no school on Friday April 7th but we will have school on Monday April 10th and I'll communicate that parents um there's a band concert tonight at the high school that started at seven might might still be going on um and then we talked about 4K earlier but we are doing a 4K enrollment uh Pizza open house March 30th uh 4 30 to 5 30 and 5 30 to 6 30 at tainter asking families to sign up for that you can see our Facebook information or see our the information on Facebook or just call the district office and then next uh Tuesday we encourage people to get out

120and vote and School Board elections are a part of that on Tuesday and just for anybody listening or watching uh the ballot and it's a vote for four there's five people on the ballot but just the order that candidates will appear on the ballot the first one is Albert Bert Richard Douglas J kuchko Nelly Shire Don kuskey and then Jenna mitzel so it's uh people can vote for up to four out of the five that'll wrap it up all right thank you I think Mr Pahokee uh Wednesday night is the Career Tech presentation what time is that RX tomorrow so it's a CTE Presentation tomorrow night six o'clock six o'clock okay you bet where is that we've been doing a project showcase throughout end of terms and this is kind of a culminating of several

121departments coming together so that's not Wednesday night it's tomorrow night I've got it as here really fast one all right