001And we will begin with the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> I do not see any visitors or delegations who would like to address the board this evening. So we will move intoformational items and the students report. >> Okay. Uh a short one uh uh for the beginning of the year. Just wanted to stress a couple of pieces to the puzzle. Uh today was our all staff uh kickoff. Um we centered it around four themes. Um the concept of patience uh because of where we are at with our um our construction projects. Uh, I've been really proud of the work of the buildings and grounds
002department adapting and being flexible and and also all of our staff coming today. Um, and knowing that it's not exactly uh how they left it, but but being really open and flexible. So, we really appreciate that. A second theme around making sure that we're really focused on what our priorities are, which I know our board has talked a lot about what those priorities are, but while we're focused on those priorities, not losing sight of uh the the special things that we have when we work in a school. Um and then finally just welcoming our staff. So uh as a lot of you who who were there know that uh we had uh multiple presenters. Stacy provided the schoolboard welcome. We also had representatives from United Way and the Forward Foundation. And then uh Sarah Plum
003also uh gave a presentation to as a representative of our teacher group. So a really good start. And then on to all of the separate uh buildings uh and and lots of action today. Um, and each building had its own agenda uh for the rest of the day. And then there'll be district trainings uh between uh tomorrow, Tuesday through Thursday. And then we'll get started with the school year next Tuesday. Last week um I wanted to give a shout out to lots of different people who supported uh different trainings as we lead into the school year. Each year we do a training for our bus drivers. Um, and Nate and uh, as well as Todd and his team do a big push to to get good training. And what I've noticed over the years of
004that training is we've we've really zeroed in on what the feedback from our drivers is saying. They want to know more about it. And so, it's been it's been really good. A lot more dialogue than in our first few years of doing that. Substitute teacher training. We had a lot of administrators participate in that. Um, this year we had the curriculum academy opportunities for teachers. If you recall, the board um, is moving towards adding a day. This year it was a opt-in day and we had many many people participate in grades K through 12. We will get feedback uh from those who did participate to understand what elements of that curriculum academy went really well and what elements um can we pro uh uh improve upon and tweak as we move into that just being
005part of our regular calendar. And then we had also new teacher orientation which is a traditional event was really good. We actually it was kind of cool. We had a little bit smaller group this year. Um, which was nice. Which was nice. 24 teachers. Is that right, Nate? 24. Um, and and we feel really excited about that. And then also we added a pair of professional orientation this year as well. So they had a day um of onboarding and training and we felt like that was really successful. So moving into the year, we're really excited about where we're sitting. >> Um Dave. >> Yes, sir. Back of of all those things new this year were substitute teacher training. >> Nope. >> No. Nope. Bus driver training, substitute training, and the new teacher are have gone
006on for at least a few years. Okay. >> New would be our curriculum academy opportunities. That was our optin, and Mary, Beth, and Amy were took the lead on that. And then also new is our pair professional orientation. >> Nate uh took the lead on coordinating that. >> Got to beat those new pairs, too. That nice group. >> Yep. Just wanted to highlight a couple of resources that we're going to share wildly with our our stakeholders, mainly families and students. Um, as we kind of transition into a new school year, these are some things these are common questions that come up. Um, and we want to make sure we have kind of a one-stop pager that can be shared out through newsletters, shared out on social media, shared out in hard copy. And Amy and
007Mary Beth did a nice job putting this together. It shows if I'm a parent, how I would access uh my child's grade book. and there's a QR code that can get me right to there and then the steps to follow through, how I would report an absence. Um, the easiest way to do that with a QR code and some additional information about absences, also classroom information. We're making a switch this year from uh Schooly to Google Classroom. So, for parents who were engaged and used to going into Schooly, this is the information on how they would get to Google Classroom, which is what will replace Schooly this year. Nice step-by-step way to do it. Also, um, library media. Last spring and summer, we spent some time, um, upgrading our ability to, um, have parents have
008a clear understanding and have resources of the library media center, uh, materials and access to those. So, that is, uh, a one-stop way to do that by that QR code, clicking into that, there's steps uh, to follow to have parents who are interested in in accessing those, accessing them. And then the one that I always go to is calendars, right? So, what's going on tonight? So this is uh a quick easy way to where you would access on our website. So we're trying to share that wildly so people can um see them in lots of different spaces and get accustomed to or you know save it on their phone or whatever is needed. Um so yeah, we're really excited about that. Just wanted to share that with the board. >> This is a PDF or
009a brochure. >> Uh it it's all of those things. It's a PDF. We're going to do hard copy. We'll share it in newsletters and we can share it um on the website and through social medias. But the the one thing that we want is we want it to kind of be a consistent thing so it becomes a familiar. It's like, "Oh yeah, where's I throw that on the fridge." >> Um, and so people are used to it. >> It's good to have that as a poster on parent teacher conference nights. >> Yeah. >> Good idea. >> Good. Good. And then one other thing, we're we're going to have our second reading of the attendance policy and Jenny Ames as well as Zach Campbell worked really hard to uh create a website that uh is a
010a one-stop for our new our updated attendance policy. So, some of it isn't really changed and some of it has changed and we're really working to be consistent. So, we wanted a common landing space for that attendance policy. Same concept, Alan, that we could have a a place a PDF that could go into a newsletter, a PDF that could be shared out on social media. Again, helping people become familiar with uh what what our expectations are for attendance. So, we just shout out to to those that helped us get that updated. So, if the board approves it tonight, then we will we'll move into sharing that with uh secretaries and building principles and getting that out. So, wanted to share those updates with you. Any questions on any of those? That's great. Good stuff. >>
011Okay. >> Nothing else. >> That is all. >> All right. Nice. Nicely done. Thank you. All right. We will move on to action items before the board this evening. We have meeting minutes from the regular board of education meeting on July 21st. We have minutes from the school board retreat on July 28th. We have bills that have been submitted for payment as well as employment recommendations. So at this point, is there a motion to approve minutes, bills, and employment as presented? >> So moved. Second. >> Thank you, Lindsay. Thank you, Allison. >> Questions or comments? >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. >> The motion is carried. All right, we'll move on to a report for the educational program committee and Ellen. >> Okay. The education program committee met on Monday, August 11th, and
012we had um dealt with several things. One was um we had an overview of the Renaissance Charter Academyy's uh vape substance policy as well as their um GEDO2 program, which is general educational equivalency diploma. What's the O Mark >> option? Option >> option. Yes. two, which is a separate option. Both those are very interesting and both of those are related to the RCA. Um Peggy gave a Peggy Webb, the administrator there, gave a very good presentation and update on what's going on, um what the policies are, and we had a very good discussion about that. And then, um we also had a presentation from the River Falls High School staff about virtual programming and what the um school district is doing now for virtual programming. um and and the options there. Very informative, good discussion.
013And then um we also discussed the handbook for the virtual um programming that we have and um talked about that at length and that's the only thing I think tonight that takes action. So Mary Beth, you had some >> So one of the things we had talked about in that meeting was just a few changes that you wanted to see as the board wanted to see in the handbook and one was making sure we were clear on the failed or incomplete class. Incomplete classes would require payment for the parents. So um that is bolded and added in all the sections that we had noted that there would be internet assistance if needed. we would offer that. And then um distinguishing between in-person days versus electronic device days was another piece that was added. So all
014of those updates have been made as requested. Thank you. >> I will move the adoption of this uh virtual programming approval of the virtual programming student handbook. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> I will second. >> Thank you, Monica. >> Questions or comments? >> Thank you for getting those adjustments. I think that'll make it a stronger document. Anything else? All those in favor? I opposed. The motion is carried. >> Finance and facilities committee report. All right, Mike. >> As part of our triple header on August 11th, we had our finance and facilities meeting. Uh, as we've done over the last several months, we started off with a facility project update. We had some nice handouts with nice pictures. We're uh getting getting close to the end here at least for the Again, school
015is kind of the finish line. So, we're going to we're going to we're going to make it. It's going to be going to be tight, but it always is these kind of projects. It's amazing what they can get done over a, you know, 3-month period. So, um we're on track to get them completed. Um and the kids and the staff uh will be back in the schools. So, we had uh won't go through each one of them, but a lot of progress being made there. Um, next on the agenda was our uh property insurance liability uh update. We have we go through that every year. We have to renew. Uh, we had a report from WRAC and that stands for >> Wisconsin Educators Risk Management Cooperative >> which is something that we've joined somewhat recently,
016right? And they do a job they they give us kind of a an overview and how uh our rates and and how we're doing. So, um, we saw a kind of a good and a bad. We had an increase of our property, um, up 21% this year, which is not great, but we saw a pretty big decrease in our workman's comp. Uh, so the net was about a 3% increase in our insurance um, totals, which was about $42,500 or 500 $42,52 this year. So, and that was, let's see, that was it. Uh, one of the things we did talk about too for the uh, the public, we will have an open house uh, sometime the end of October, early uh, November. We're going to have an open house of our new facility at the high
017school with our new um, addition there and then our bus garage addition too. So people can keep an eye out for that and I'm sure it'll be publicized. So >> yeah, good. Thank you, Mike. All right. The third meeting on that day was the personnel committee and during that time we received a staffing update for this coming academic year. Things are really strong and ready for ready to go. So that's great. Um the director of human resources and leadership development shared his goals. So Nate shared his goals with us for the 202526 school year. So that was helpful. And then we also approved an update to the general education paraprofessional job description. There weren't wholesale changes in what they're doing, but we needed to match up this description to um the format that we use
018for our other job descriptions. Do you want to add anything? >> Um just one thing in relation to the goals that I have some new information. So my goal is focused on job satisfaction and one of the things we've been tracking and talking about has been salary and comparing that to regional comps as opposed to using comps that were demographically similar. So we've got eight schools that we're comparing to our goal was to get into the second slot by 2027 and now I've collected all of that information from the neighboring districts and we did move up into the third slot of the eight. So that was really good news. However, we have to keep in mind there are so many variables at play here that looking at salary, even if we were looking at the
019same components, for instance, we're using the salary that's listed on the salary schedule, there's so much else happening that it's not comparing apples to apples. And I gave the example of St. Croy Central, whose salary has been higher than ours in the last few years, but a they passed a really big referendum several years back for the purpose of increasing their salaries. And most recently, some of the things you don't hear about is they've had some freezing of various uh salaries for staff right now. They've had reductions going on at the building level for u supply budgets. So unless you look at all of those pieces and there just are too many to look at, it's not a apple-toapple comparison. So I just wanted to mention we're going to keep an eye on that, but
020that is not the end all beall of how a district is functioning. Um St. Croy Central is paying their staff a little bit more, but now their teachers aren't getting supplies in their classroom. They're cutting behavior interventionists and special ed paras. So they're decreasing their staffing to allow for more money for those that remain. So, it's a slippery slope to go down, something to just pay attention to as we continue to monitor. >> And am I remembering correctly that that is a non-recurring? I mean, >> that's right. They're going to have to So, at some point they are going to face a significant issue. >> That's right. Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you very much. >> We do have a motion um to approve the general education par profofessional job description as presented. Is there someone
021willing to make that motion? >> Second, Ellen. Thank you, Alan. And then Allison, any questions or comments about that? >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. The motion is carried. Um, as far as the 2526 budget for the annual meeting and the budget hearing, I'm going to turn to Lynette to walk us through that. So, thank you. >> I will. So what you have um in front of you and what we've uh provided as an attachment to the um meeting agenda actually had to revise a little bit today. Um there were two numbers on the revised version. I have highlighted the two that were revised and they are just adding the same dollar amount subtracting it from the other. So you can see that on there. Um otherwise the format that we use is
022provided from DPI. So this is their recommended format for providing a and getting approval for a budget. And so what we want to put in front of you for approval today is so that we can print this as part of our annual meeting and budget hearing um the book the meeting that's coming up in September and then we provide that uh in the newspaper. So we print that twice as well. Um, this really aligns with what we've been talking about as far as our budget since April. We've seen these kind of real high level budgets. I'm sorry, I think March we started talking about uh budget and what we were going to see. Um, we've got salaries updated in here. Uh, as much as we know, we're still gathering compensation info from staff as they
023make their selections for health insurance and um, so we're we're going to continue to update that. So this is really our somewhat preliminary budget uh for approval and then in October we come back and do sort of the what we call an original budget and then if you recall throughout the year we keep our eyes on the budget and like we did last year we often do a revised budget as um numbers sort of get finalized at near the end of the year. So anyway, this is the one we're starting with um and what will be presented at the annual meeting for uh public for the public hearing. Um I'll I'll go through uh just a few highlight a few things. If you look on the front page, uh we've got our general fund fund
02410. And if you look under the taxes, local sources is 210 for taxes. And you'll see that um an increase of that is 2.2 million. So, that's going to line up with what we have at the last on the last page of this document, which shows our levy. And if you remember that what what's pulling into there is we're adding another million dollars from our operating referendum that was approved by the taxpayers. And then uh with the state budget, there was a $325 per pupil increase. And so, we're able to add that as well to our revenue. And the reason that it's being added under taxes is because, as we'll see a little bit further down on this budget, there was no new money put in for state aid. And so that that revenue limit
025increase is all added to the >> taxpayers. So it's so continuing to shift the opportunity to support local public education to the local taxpayers. Is where would we see in here or would it be the following year that we would see the increase in special ed funding? Um, we will see that in here in here. >> Yep. And I'll I'll get to that. Yep. As we get down to 127. Good. That's one of my highlights as well. Okay. >> So, you'll see that increase there at local sources that the taxes um of the 2.2 million. And then if you go down almost to the bottom, you'll see the state source 620 and that's the state aid. And although our July one estimate shows just a slight increase, um that number doesn't actually get certified until
026October 15th. And that is the reason why we don't adopt an actual original budget until the end of October because we're still waiting for these final numbers to come in. Again, no new state money put into that pot. So, the shift is going to be kind of where we land with property values and expenditures in comparison to other districts in the state because this the pot of money is the same. It's just how districts are are, you know, are shifting within that pot of money. If that makes sense. out. Okay. Um, so that's really the highlight uh on that first page. On the second page, we have our federal sources. And if you recall, we had some discussion a couple months ago about uh some of the federal grants being frozen, our title grants. Those
027have now been unfrozen for 2526. So, we're adding those back in as revenue and we're glad to do that. Uh however discussion with my professional organization is when we look ahead to bets are off we we don't know that that's going to carry forward next year. So >> 26 >> I'm sorry 627 >> 2627. Thank you. >> I thought it already was cancelled. >> 2526 >> uh DP Wisconsin DPI has been given the allocations provided with that and provided those allocations for those title grants and so now districts are starting to see their individual district allocations for those >> but those grants have all been >> 2526 >> for 2627 >> 2627 >> to be to be seen. >> Yeah. Okay. We're being told that that's still up in the air, so we'll see. Um,
028so that's under federal sources. Uh, so that's really the revenue. Um, that that's all I have to highlight under revenue. And then if you kind of sneak down further further on that second page, uh, we get into expenditures. And that is where I'm going to highlight. Let's see if I can open this document here. you'll be able to see one of the numbers that was updated is the business administration. Uh let me just pull it up here. So the uh 250,000 um so that was reduced slightly and then added to the inner fund transfer on the next page. So that's our transfer to fund 27. the the um the line item right below that is the uh instructional service payments and that's our open enrollment out. And as we continue to see kind of those
029numbers grow and the transfer amount for open enrollment itself, we're just going to continue to see that that dollar amount, the transfer between districts um increase. So that's really fun 10. We're pres presenting a balanced budget there. Um, and then we can move on to special projects funds. Uh, this is our fund 21 or our student activity accounts. Nothing a whole lot to say about that. Lots of fundraising happens as you can see those dollar amounts in previous revenues and expenditures. We have a lot of support for a lot of those activities through fundraising and and donations. So, that's great. The next fund is our special education fund. So, this is where we can talk about um the increase in special ed funding. So, I'm going to skip down. I'm going to skip down and
030then come back up. So, if you skip to the next page under state sources, you're going to see the state aid categorical aid. So, this last year 2425, we saw about $1.8 8 million in special ed reimbursement and that's at that kind of 30% um target was 33% it actually came closer to 30%. So um with the increase we are uh budgeting a $2.6 million aid reimbursement or or special ed reimbursement. So, we're seeing over $700,000 increase, which is great. If you recall back in February, we also pro um approved new staff in special ed, and that was to provide uh the required services and necessary services for our students. So, so yes, we're seeing an increase in that. But then if we go back, we're gonna we're going to go back a page and
031you're going to see um the transfer in and that's of course going to match the expense in fund 10 that gets then transferred to fund 27 as a revenue and that's that 4.6 million. So it is a little bit less than what we transferred last year um but not significantly. >> It's still a lot. >> Still a lot. Yep. Um if we go back if if we continue on with uh fund 27 and expenses um again we have a balanced budget in there. If you go all the way to the end line for fund 27 expenses um you can see the increase there and again really just due to those uh student needs um in that program. Then we have our fund uh I'm sorry, our debt service fund which is fund 39. This is
032all of our referendum approved debt. What you'll see here is uh our debt payments are are going down and we'll see that when we uh get to the levy uh at the end of this document. We also provide sort of what our total indebt indebtedness is. um also a requirement as part of this document. So you can see our total debt just continues to um go down with those payments. And then when we look at capital projects funds, uh we have two of those funds. Fund 46 is our long-term capital projects fund, which is like our summer capital, and we've talked a little bit about that. we when we're able we can make transfers from fund 10 to fund 46 to help uh pay for those projects. The other fund we have there is our
033fund 49 and that's the referendum approved project. So that's where we're paying out um all of the invoices for all of the work that's happening uh this year. We do not have a fund 46 transfer in the budget at this point. So, we're not um kind of already planning that within. However, as we've had discussions at the end of every year, if we have a surplus, um if there are projects that we budgeted for within the budget, um Joe's budget, I shouldn't say Joe, buildings and grounds budget that don't get completed before the end of the year, then we move those funds into fund 46 so we can pay for those. So, but at this time we don't have anything budgeted for a transfer. Uh, and then if we move on to fund 50, that's
034our food service fund. So, so just a quick question. So, our total indebtedness, we have about 6162 million in debt. >> Correct. >> This year is am I reading this correctly that we're going to pay off 17.8 million of it? >> No. What's that 17.8 million? >> That is uh fund 46 and 49. So, those are the project when we got the $28 million um to pay for projects that went into fund 49. And so, now that's where we're spending paying for those projects out of. If you go up back up to 39, that's where we're paying the debt on those or the debt. >> So, how much in we have 61 million in debt. How much of that >> at the end of this year? That is what we will have for >> and
035how much of that do we pay off on an annual basis? um depends how we have our debt payment structured. Last year we made a pretty significant payment on the principal and that'll come back down a little bit. Um well you can see there it's about 5 million >> about 5 million >> because at the end of 2425 okay >> we had 66.4 million. >> Oh I see >> as a balance. >> Yep. And we did that carefully and with advice so that we weren't able to >> keep limit >> taxpayers. I think it's important for people to know that. >> Yeah. I just like to hold the big numbers to know them. >> Uh so uh fund 50 is our food service fund. Uh we're presenting and expecting a balanced budget there. And then
036also uh community service uh that's our fund 80 and that is where we have kids club and community ed communications in there. So then a lot of big numbers here when we add it all together and the total expenditures um there is about 80 million and of course that includes all of the projects that we're paying off um even this this year beginning of this year. So then the last page is um the levy proposed levy. Again this will also be uh part of the annual meeting and budget hearing and this is where you can see sort of the the what's happening between each of the funds as far as the levy goes. So that general fund levy you see going up by 2.2 million but then also you see the referendum debt service fund
037going down by almost a million about 900,000. our community service fund or fund 80 levy has been the same for about five years that 220,000. Um and so in total we have an increase um of our levy for of about 1.3 million. Anything else you want to add to that Dave that we talked about? That's all I have. >> All right. If >> there's any questions, >> at this point, is there a motion to approve the 202526 budget for the annual meeting and budget hearing? Some is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Thank you, Mike. Additional questions or or comments about this? There's a lot to take in. Okay. No. >> All those in favor? I >> opposed. The motion is carried. Thank you. And thank you, Lynette, for such careful attention to all
038of this. >> Can you remind me of when the annual still >> September 22nd is the annual meeting of budget hearing? September 22nd at the high school. >> So Mark, would you be willing to come and help us with items F and G? Absolutely. Um, similar to uh last year in the year before year before that, I'm just going to talk a little bit about some of our 66030 agreements which are shared agreements with kind of area entities which allows us to be efficient uh with taxpayer dollars um and really share some services versus having to go and and you know go out and contract um for them. Um so the first one I want to talk to talk about is a shared agreement with University of River Falls um 4K program um to basically
039hire an additional paraprofessional uh which kind of works in that uh 4K AM program um along with Nicole Larson um to provide stu uh services for some of our students with disabilities. Um that 4K center is one of our 4K centers that we co-e out of. Um so we have some students with disabilities who require some additional support. Um and so we essentially hire pair of professional split the cost with the university and allows us to kind of provide some services um at that institution. So no changes from last year the year before. Um basically we split the cost down the middle. Um and uh Amber Smith goes over there and provides some really nice uh services from for some of our youngsters with with special education needs. So I would recommend that uh the
040board would approve that agreement with the University of River Falls. >> Thank you. I'll take a motion to approve the service agreement with the University of Wisconsin River Falls. the university preschool program to share the cost of a special education paraprofessional for the 202526 school year as presented. >> Motion. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Lindsay. A second. >> Seconded. >> Thank you, Monica. Questions or comments? >> This is important. It's the way that we serve the needs of our kids and it's going to work well. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you for that. >> Yes. Um on a related uh note uh we also contract with several other re uh area school districts for a couple of different services as well. Um the first being our deaf and heart of hearing. >> I'm going to
041just take a motion on or take a vote first. I was just asking for discussion. It's fine. >> I'm so excited about this. >> Go. >> All those in favor. >> I opposed. The motion is carried and now we are going to go on to the next agreement. So thank you. You're keeping me on task. >> Yes. All right. Sorry about that. >> Um, yes, in a related manner, we also uh contract with area school districts for a couple of services as well. Um, or share some of our our staff for those services. Um, the first being our deaf and heart of hearing teacher. Um, basically most districts um in the area are to um don't have enough students with that particular need um to hire their own staff. And uh rather than maybe going
042through a CISA, which tends to be a relatively expensive, uh we've allowed us to, you know, basically hire our own teacher and then contract with area districts to provide some of their services as well. Um so this year, um is a little different in the past. Um in the past, uh we kind of shared 15% of that person with Prescott and 15 and 10% with Ellsworth. This coming year due to a few extra students in Ellsworth they've upped it to 15%. Um so this year um the deaf and heart of hearing teacher is 15% Prescott 15% Ellsworth and then 70% uh with us. Um so again I would recommend that uh we would approve that agreement. Um I've worked with Sandy and Marian. This seems to be an arrangement that's working really well for for
043us and for our students. Um so that's the the DHH program. Uh we do something similar with Project Search. Um for those of you who know, Project Search is a great program that we run out of the the the local hospital uh which really just teaches kind of vocational skills to students who uh just need that extra year to really develop some of those additional things that uh that they can um you know kind of learn and work and do some cool things on the job. Um Project Search Graduation, I know I've seen several of you there in the past. It's a wonderful, wonderful experience and a wonderful program. >> Um, and so would recommend that we continue with that as well. Um, this coming year we have five interns um that are um on
044the docket kind of down a little bit from the last year because we had seven u but five interns um one from River Falls, two from Ellsworth, one from Prescott and one from St. Croy Central. So it kind of pulls from a variety of of areas in the community in the local area um for those uh services. So again, I would recommend uh that program as well. >> Is the are the numbers down because of capacity or we just don't have students that would fit the program? >> Yeah, it's that we does a great job of of doing PR and and working for students, but there's kind of a unique type of student that really, you know, works well in the program. Um and and districts don't always have, you know, as many. So, for
045example, last year River Falls had four. This coming year we have one. So, it just kind of fluctuates a little bit. Um, but we always like to have somewhere in that five to seven range. Um, it's kind of the sweet spot as far as uh the number of kids um in the program. >> But I think what's important about that is it's due to the population of students we have, not that we're correct going to serve fewer of them. >> Absolutely. >> Good. We'll take these as two separate motions. So, is there a motion to approve the deaf and heart of hearing program 660301 agreement with Prescott and Ellsworth school districts for 2526 school year? Motion, please. So moved. >> Thank you, Monica. A second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Bo. >> Questions. >> One
046question. >> I I think just for clarity, this is our teacher. We We hire the teacher. They're on our staff. They're on our payroll. They're part of our fringe benefits, all that sort of thing. And then we contract out services to others, so they pay us. Correct. >> So that we're not they're not mult apply to multiple districts. Okay. >> Correct. Yeah. They we hire them and then contract them out to >> districts. I understood that but I thought let's get it out there so everybody >> that's for the deaf and heart of hearing as well. >> Yeah. >> So those those students they don't travel to the districts. Those students travel with our district. >> No, they >> they travel to the district. They're on our payroll but we just get reimbursed for their
04715% or whatever. >> Yep. Correct. >> It's a really good way of meeting these the needs of these kids when we can't all have an individual teacher. >> Yeah. and the the increase of the 15% down in Ellsworth that was due to his uh needs in Ellsworth, right? Does that decrease the amount of services that we're allowed to provide or that we're able to provide here in River Falls and does that match up with the needs here? I guess >> yes, that that matches up with the needs here. Um mainly because our numbers fluctuate a little as well. Okay. >> Um and so every year I work with Nancy to say, "Okay, is this doable with you? these percentages line up and and she assured me that they they they line up and and we're
048not shortch changing any students in River Falls by by giving Ellsworth a little more. >> Great. Thanks. >> We have a motion that has been moved and seconded. Any further discussion? All those in favor? >> I opposed. The motion is carried. And now is there a motion to approve the project search 66301 agreements with Ellsworth Prescott St. Inquy Central School Districts for the 2526 school year. >> So moved. >> Second, Lindsay. Thank you, Allison. Questions or comments? Mark's right. Go to graduation if you can. >> You'll be very proud of this program. All those in favor? >> I opposed. The motion is carried. >> All right. We are going to move on to um formulate the policy ad hoc committee for the 2526 school year. Uh superintendent David Bell has suggested that Lindsay serve, Allison
049serve, and I serve. Although we would be probably willing to let you serve if you really wanted to. >> Um but that's the recommendation. >> I'll get back in. >> That's the recommendation. But yes, >> I'll surprise you. I'll try. >> Everyone's well. This functions as all of our other committees that there are three voting members but everyone is welcome. >> Does that configuration sound okay to everybody? >> Is this make we officially call it ad hoc committee? >> Yep. >> That's going to be its name. >> It's a policy ad hoc committee. That's the official name. >> And ad hoc means it's a temporary. Right. >> It doesn't it's not a standing committee. >> Right. Right. >> Is there a motion to approve? >> All right. Any discussion? >> Wow. >> All those in
050favor? >> I motion is carried. >> All right. Um, you'll see on page 48, the tenative schedule for schoolboard meeting calendars. We're knitting. We're doing this because we have the triple headers this year so that we can add in this policy work. Um it it could potentially change, but is there a motion to approve that tenative 2526 school board committee calendar? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Monica. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Bo. Questions or comments? >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. The motion is carried. We do have before the board this evening the second reading of revised schoolboard policy 431 relating to school or to student attendance. We've we discussed this >> did >> in depth and now it's coming back to us for a second read without any adjustments from
051the first reading. >> I would move approval. >> All right. Thank you Allison. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you Lindsay. I really like the chart that you've made to help get the information out. It's great. >> Anything else? >> I do I have one question. Um, I was as I was rereading through this, I just want clarification >> on the way that it it works with the athletics. So, I read like, okay, if you have a dentist appointment, that could count up to half a day because it's an excused absence, but it doesn't necessarily always. or >> or if you came with if you had a dentist appointment and you had the note from the dentist, >> It would be exempt. Okay. >> That so that how that impacts athletics is different.
052>> You could still play if you had something that Okay. Thank you. That was the clarification that was >> but if you had a parent request >> on the day or the day after then that would that could potentially impact >> impact the ability to play in a game. Do we provide a document or a sheet of some sort to >> the handbook >> that you signed off on sign your kid up to so you go >> it's a link so you have to go through you have to open it up >> but >> okay >> so they they print it out take it to the doctor the doctor >> No no no you're talking we're talking about two different things I thought you were talking about how would a parent know >> no >>
053you're talking about >> I'm talking about a physical doc what do they bring back a postit note that says DBS's not a standard there's not a standard thing that they could take that says >> that the doctor signs you know as opposed to >> if you go you were you >> I was going to say my experience is often times when you go to the dentist they they will ask do you want a note to take back to school but I do think that is an important detail to make sure we're messaging out to families that we because I don't know that that's been the the consistent expectation I don't know that all of our attendance um officers are asking for those when students return and I so I think that is a a specific
054detail we want to be sure that we're pushing out to families. >> Yep. I agree because I think part of as I was rereading this there was a little bit there is a section that talks about exempt but it doesn't I was a little bit confused even reading it as to how >> how something that would maybe be an excused absence becomes exempt from some of the things and so I think that note if that was there it was not super super clear to me as I was rereading it but I do >> implementation to make sure is really clear >> and that parent communication piece to Lindsay's point um if I didn't know that my child needed that and then all of a sudden they can't play in the volleyball game because I didn't
055think to get a note or tell them to get a note, I would be pretty mad, >> you know. >> Um but >> yeah, and that's where I would circle back to when you sign your child up. >> Yeah. >> You go through, you have to click in >> and you have to click all the >> prove that you understand eligibility. If your child is eligible, you have to understand and read through. There's some concussion protocols and then you open up this handbook >> and the hand the code of conduct has all these things. >> Yeah. >> Now, to your point, is it a little buried? >> Yes. And so, could we put it front and center a little more perhaps? >> Or just even have coaches say, "Hey, like this could mess up. Yeah,
056it might be something >> like doesn't doesn't a student have to and maybe it's not on us to provide, but a student signs out like a high school kid goes signs out of the office to go to the doctor or go to the dentist. We could have a slip of paper there. They just grab and >> right on the desk there. When they sign out, grab the paper, take it, have it signed, bring it back. I mean, it's probably not on us to have to provide that, but >> I think it's a good idea to pretty easy. My experience is when my son got a pass to go to the dentist for the orthodontist, he would just take that pass, have them sign it, and then he'd bring it back and that's how they got
057the process. >> That's how he got his excused. >> I think I I I don't want to speak out of turn. I think it's pretty tight at the high school, >> right? Because the kids are having to sign >> because the kids are signing in and out. So, there's a personal responsibility component to it. When you get to the the younger ages, it's sort of implied that it's understood. Right now, now we don't have athletics issues there, but we could potentially have some attendance issues there, >> but the parents are much more engaged at that stage versus high school where a kids drive walk into the car and parent may not even >> be involved at all. You know, they set the appointment and >> y good thing we can read I'll talk to David.
058>> Just wanted some clarification as I was rereading it in prep for this meeting that that jumped out at me. >> Yeah. And since those things have to do with not the policy per se, but the way in which we are explaining it and preparing it, I think that we can still approve this. >> I feel like we can still approve the policy, I just really wanted to ask the question to make sure it was thought about. >> Yep. >> I would agree with that and I would be comfortable even moving to approve the policy with >> just having that conversation. So, >> so I'll make that motion. >> Actually, we already have that motion. >> But we did, didn't we? >> Darn. We have to vote. again discussed. >> I'm kidding. We do have
059that motion. >> Before we go, I I've got a comment too and I ask Amanda to put this up. So, I I I just want to put this just to remind us thinking of Dave's earlier comments, some of the things that we're doing now to engage parents and share information with parents. Um this is always a shared responsibility of what we're doing with them. But I want to highlight this just because this is a regular board meeting. um the second paragraph. So it's the process of of who's responsible for um students attendance here. Our policy will say quote the primary responsibility for regular student attendance of a child rests upon the child's parents or guardian. In addition, school officials have a legal responsibility to enforce student attendance. It is the intention of the district to
060work closely as possible with parents or guardians regarding student attendance. Close quote. I I want to lift that out because I think it's an important one and it's just to remind every I think it's obvious to most people. It would be obvious to most parents that certainly I got to get them out the door and make sure that they're there and look after them and all those kinds of things, but I'm not sure and right now that that's always so obvious with everybody, both the school district and the parents and families and all that. So anyway, just one more time, we're we're doing a whole bunch of stuff this year and I was really glad to see what Dave has been highlighting this year. I wanted to lift out that paragraph and mention it one
061more time. Thank you. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I opposed. The motion is carried. All right. Do we have any proposed items for future agendas? Then we are going to schedule the next meeting. You will notice that the policy ad hoc committee says potential. That's simply because when the agenda was created, the committee had not yet been seated. But now it has been seated. So that committee will meet Monday, September 8th at 6 o'clock. The educational program committee will meet Monday, September 15th at 6. Finance and facilities will meet Monday, September 15th at 7 or immediately following educational program. Personnel committee will meet Monday, September 15th at 8:00 or immediately following finance and facilities. The annual meeting and budget hearing will be Monday, September 22nd at 6 o'clock at the River Falls High
062School. The regular board meeting will be Monday, September 22nd at 7 o'clock or immediately following the annual meeting and budget hearing and we will continue our meeting at the high school who won't be coming back here. The other committee meetings are scheduled to be here at the district office. And now I need to read this, but I would like to have a motion to go into close session under Wisconsin statute section 19851F to consider the medical, social, or personal histories or disciplinary data of specific persons which if discussed in public would be likely to have a sub uh substantial adverse effect upon the reputation of any person referred to in such histories or data. specifically to discuss the 2425 school year restraint and seclusion report and pursuant to Wisconsin statute section 191G to confer with
063legal counsel for the board who was rendering oral or written advice considering a strategy to be adopted by the board with respect to litigation in which it is likely to become involved regarding a citizen complaint. Is there a motion please? >> So move. >> Thank you Lindsay. Is there a second? >> Second. Thank you, Monica. I need a roll call. >> Yes, >> Monica. Yes. >> Bo. >> Oh, you did. Allison. Yes. >> Yes. Yes. >> Mike, I'm saying yes. All right. We are going to be enclosed. Thank you everybody for being here