001Why do I feel so tired? >> we should be rolling. I've been in an insurance meeting all day, so I'm tired. All right, I'll call this meeting to order. We are in the committee portion of the meeting. We'll start with uh presentations from the athletic update presentation by Daryl as athletic director. Hey guys. So, I had uh meetings all day, but you can go to the next one. Whoever's running it, Murray, perfect. Um I just want to thank Mr. Byrne, Oliver, administrators in the room and are not in the room, and the school board for being incredibly supportive. Um a special thank you to Ronnie as this is your last year and all the years you've given. That's really impressive um and um talking with other athletic directors and with other districts, I know how
002incredibly lucky I am to work here with such an amazing board and support system. So, after the meeting, go to the next one. Um so, um in our athletic department, um we kind of adjusted from mission and vision to purpose and goals. We felt that was more fitting. Um as coaches, our our our purpose is our overarching kind of purpose, and then there's three goals. We want to develop high-character high-character individuals, prepare the kids for life beyond school, and provide them with meaningful, positive experiences. Um and this really aligns with what students and their parents have said sports are about like besides the winning, but those are the three things. We're developing things that beyond the classroom, we're providing them with a great experience, and then preparing them for beyond life, whether it be military,
003uh post-secondary school, or the workforce. And our general goal is to achieve competitive excellence while building a culture of successful on and off the field. Um we do, you know, it is a goal to win, and we do that really, really well here. So, um that is part of our goal, but that's not the ultimate purpose of our athletic department. So, um our core values and our kind of smaller goals, so we've had our core values, and with coaches' help this year, we defined those. Um so, integrity is doing the right thing regardless of whether people are watching or not. The kids have really caught on to that. Leadership was our big one we defined in August. We did an activity as coaches of what do we want good leaders to look like? And we
004came down to three things. Lead self, support others, and inspire positive change. We can ask kids to be leaders, but if they don't know what that means, they have there's nothing for them to work towards. I also use this in student council, and Ms. Emhoff has has done it as well. So, it's a pretty much 5 12 that kids are hearing this is what leadership is. You lead yourself cuz no one wants to follow someone that's cheating, that's not working hard, those type of things. We're going to support others cuz a lot of a lot of kids assume being leadership is telling people what to do. It's really not. It's supporting them. It's giving them and then we inspire that positive change. So, that's one thing we've worked on in student council as well. Um
005and then our sportsmanship is really respecting the game, the coaches, the opponents, officials, and fans. Um and kind of our our minor three goals that kind of fit under there is mental health. We've worked towards promoting positive mental health. It helps our students prioritize their mental health and wellness, which aligns with district goals. Student athlete safety is a top priority during practice, travel, competitions. We want to make sure that they're safe. And leadership, strong positive leadership is modeled, encouraged, and taught within the department. So, if you want to go on to the next one. So, I always try to give data. So, this year 61% of high school students are involved in athletics alone. It's It was 62% last year. Um in terms of athletics, this is incredibly good. If we had activities involved, we'd
006well over 90%, and that's a very strong department. In the middle school, 73% of our middle schoolers, which is fantastic. Does that include like the trap team and all those things? >> No, this is only WIAA sports. It does include dance. So, only our like WIAA approved sports. Um it does not include our And I'm happy to include and do data including our activities and clubs. Um and you know, when I've talked to people in the state, most of their data is activities cuz at least in bigger schools, most of them are activities directors. Um, and for me, I mean, I obviously work with with activities, but um, this isn't including band, choir, um, jazz band, you know, those types of things. This is athletics only. Um, and but to have numbers that high in
007athletics is really good. Um, and and again, you know the importance of this. They're less likely to drop out. They're going to have higher GPAs, test scores, less likely to use those. They're going to feel more connected mentally, or mentally, emotionally, and socially, they're just going to feel that connection because of the atmosphere of being with involved in other things instead of just coming to school during that 8:00 to, you know, 3:30 time. They're physically more active. They have higher self-confidence, higher self-worth, and we do generally see a decrease in mental health issues with those kids that are physically active. So, really good things. Um, so, here's kind of what's new. So, one thing that I've been developing this year that I'll roll out um, next year with the coaches is a mental health emergency
008action plan. And this would give the coaches and athletic trainer, it would give them tools and the steps of if a student is in mental health crisis, suicidal, depression, um, a stage of where to go for and what to do. Um, and that came from other athletic directors having that and I'm like, I think it's it aligns with our goals. It's things we want to see. Currently right now, I'm in the WADA program of distinction. Um, this was a self-volunteered torture a little bit. It's a lot of work. Um, but what it is, I put on the side. So, I'm in a cohort for 6 months. I meet with my cohort once a month, and we it's basically a very large self-evaluation of the program. So, I have to do a a whole bunch of
009things under philosophy, educational strategies, risk management, access and equity, assessment, technology, sports medicine, and innovation and creativity. And I have to show to the assessors that we are well above the average in athletic departments. Um so, I have to And some of And most of these we have in place, some of them we don't. So, I have to create documents, create plans to put into place that fit into these. Um and so, there are 10 of us in the cohort in Wisconsin. And this will prepare me for the national, which is a QPA. A QPA is a quality program assessment. It's something I hope to get our school. This is kind of like a mini of that. It will help me prepare. And that's like a year-long cohort that you do with ADs around the
010country. Um and so, this will be So, the 10 of us will be the first ADs/schools, first departments to get this award cuz it just came out. So, I applied in January. Um and um so, it's basically a giant self-assessment of our department. Um I'll share with you, you know, the results and and as it goes on, but um but all of those categories have at least five to 10 things that I have to submit. And so, every month, as a cohort, we share and it's a really great networking and we share those topics. So, here's a a great example of something that I had kind of scattered around. It was all coaches have to be CPR certified, they have to have concussion training. You know, they have certain things that they have to have.
011Well, I had a lot of pieces. Um Kyle, a co-worker who's in Waukesha West, he had amazing spreadsheet that I stole because it's just so good. And he he gave it to all of us. You know, he's like, "Use it. Make it your own." Um and it's fantastic. Like, it just made my life better in the long run. It take It takes a little while for me to set up right now. Um but it's been very informative, very um it kind of shows the shortcomings that I can make our department better in. Um so, it's been really good. So, I'll be done with that in June. It'll be my last meeting and I'll kind of share from that. Um Bound is our new scheduling platform. So, the current scheduling platform that we are on is
012called Our School. We've been using it The state of Wisconsin has been using it for years. And I wanted to share this with you Bound or Our School was bought by the company Arbiter. The WIAA chose to take a 5-year deal with Arbiter. Um it did it didn't make it the state so like the they WIAA chooses what they want. Each school district gets to choose what they want for scheduling platform. Bound does it all. Our coaches are already using it for stats. Um it has everything you could ever want related to athletics in there. Um so, basically in November every I'm going to say every school district, but really as a conference you have to move together because in our conference our conference commissioner does our conference scheduling and then we do it from
013there. You really have to have your conference in one. So, we as a Heart of the North said we really need to be on the same platform and we said because we have to change we were either going to have to change to Arbiter. We decided to shop around. We said we wanted to see other platforms, see what was the best option. Um and we had a we had Zoom meetings with both Bound and Arbiter um and Bound was the clear winner and a better program. It's actually cheaper if you offer digital ticketing as well, which we will be doing next year. We'll still offer, you know, cash ticketing at least for a while, but you know, family wants to buy family passes online and the digital ticketing really works nice when we have bigger
014tournaments like our wrestling tournaments and WIAA events because people are coming from all over and a lot of them are used to digital ticketing. Um but I share this in the fact that you might get asked why are we not going with the company that the WIAA has approved? Well, being in Athens working with the WIAA, we had a WIAA So, literally at our I was surprised today we did our district one caucus meeting. Every single school in district one has moved to Bound Now. We were the first conference that did it. Now, every school every conference has moved. The state is about 45% to 55% right now. I would be willing within the next month that it'll be about 50/50. Um and in my research and in talking with the WIAA, they chose Arbiter
015because in their role they care about officials, scheduling officials, paying officials. That is maybe 5% of what I do, if that. I'm managing three gyms. I'm managing fields. My biggest concern is making sure that it works for our district. Um Kirk and I actually both work with our school. Kirk and I will both work with Bound. So, all of our facilities run through this platform and Bound was so much more user-friendly, had so much more to offer. Um and and again, the WIAA doesn't care about managing a gym because they don't manage a gym. You know, they just care about officials. Um and so and today we actually had a Bound training in Spooner and it was amazing. It was fantastic. I felt really I was even more so happy with our decision. But, just
016wanted to share that with you in that um and so in the state of Wisconsin, it's about 50/50. The funny thing is Minnesota just had their state AD conference and a lot of their schools are moving to Bound because it truly I I I wholeheartedly believe it's a better product. I've sat down with three other conferences cuz our conference was the first conference to say we're moving to Bound at the Heart of the North. Then the Middle Border went, then the Clover Belt, then the Dunn-St. Croix. Everyone else has kind of followed suit and I had multiple ADs reach out um because I kind of pushed the charge to Bound um mostly cuz I have had a lot of friends without around the state that have already been using it and they were just so
017happy with it and the customer service. And I jokingly told Bound they need to start paying me commission for gathering more people to their company. Um but just wanted to update you on that. Um we have been and you guys just reapproved this. We've been working with GoFor for athletic training. So we had a more consistent athletic trainer for about half the year. Right now this spring GoFor has been doing a really nice job of filling events. So we've had we've three people, Leah, Alex, and Caitlin have all been filling events. Um and they also have come to generally a practice a week. The coaches been happy and been happier to have that. And then we're going to offer a virtual We've been offering a virtual athletic training service. So Alex, one of the guys
018that has been coming as an athletic trainer, he owns the company and we're doing it as a trial run for just April and May. Um what kids can do is set up a virtual appointment with him. Um particularly for rehab. So if you know, and he's here a decent amount, so he might see them for their knee. Well, he can they can set up a virtual uh meeting with him and go through some different exercises, things that they can do. Um and so having that as an option since we don't have a trainer here every single day has been nice. It's an option that kids and even our non-spring athletes, let's say a kid gets injured in the weight room, they have access to that as well. Um and and he walked me through a
019virtual and he's it's kind of crazy how much they can do. So he'll say, you know, can you move your foot this way? Can you do this? Like on the video and as an athletic trainer, he's pretty well trained in knowing if you can't move this way, I know what it is and here are some things that you can start doing. And he's going to know, hey, you need to see a doctor, those types of things. So that's kind of what's new within the athletic department. Go ahead to the next one. So in our coaches, we have amazing, amazing coaches here. Um a new coach this spring is Dan Campbell with baseball. They have their first win, 13 to 1. Um and they play at home tomorrow. Um and Dustin Vickerman, I did share him
020last year, but he was a new head coach this year. Um our coaches do um I evaluate them, which is me evaluating them and them doing a self-reflection. Um, we're working on summer contact because last year the WIA passed that summer contact is completely full for coaches minus a dead week is what we call it. So, from July 1 to July 7, um, or it starts July 7 or whatever. Um, coaches cannot have contact with their athletes. The weight room is fine. The weight room is outside of that coaching contact. Um, but one thing that the coaches and I talked about at Monday's meeting and I was very clear with them and this is one of the areas I told them I tried to be, you know, we try to make decisions together, but I
021told the coaches this is an area that I will not take your feedback on. I said I told them, I'm like, you're not having your kids three or four times a week. You are not asking of that of them. You And so, that's not fair to our kids. It's not fair to our families. And you're what you're going to do is force them to choose one sport. And that's not what we're here to do. That's not what we're about. And our coaches, most of them, again, we're very excited about that anyways. They don't want to have their athletes four days a week. And I told them the weight room doesn't count in this. And truly, if any of our kids want to be better in their sports, the weight room is going to give them
022their biggest bang for their buck, by far. Um, and so, we talked about that and how we how I manage that is I have all of our coaches put all of their summer contact days into a doc. And then, if they're kind of overloading our kids, I'm going to have this conversation and say, I need you to pull back. This is not fair for the kids. Um, and so, and so, what I try to tell them is, if you have league once a week, great. A lot of our, you know, volleyball has league once a week for a few weeks in the summer. Football has seven on seven. I said, I really you need to limit that to maybe league and then a few other days. Really looking at that 10 to 12 mark so
023that our kids are not feeling overloaded. And they're also kids. They need a life. They need the ability to do that, too. So, that's one thing that we talked about. Um in terms of coaches professional development, many of our coaches go to their clinics. I highly encourage them. It's something that we support as a district. Um one thing that I started doing this year is every two to three weeks I send them an email and it's try to be professional development focused. Um like tips and tricks, things that I've found, things that I want to remind them of. Um and for the most part our coaches are like that. They like that they have the ability to read it when they want to. I'm not bombarding them with emails every week. I try to I
024try to limit it to two a month, maybe one a month depending on if there's holidays. Um but just sharing kind of best practices and things of just reminders um with our kids. Um we've been using Sports U and again we implemented this last starting this year based on parent survey. We needed to do a better job in communication. I've heard only positive feedback. So, what Sports U is is an app and every coach has to have a team on Sports U. Um and they have and I've told my coaches, you have to allow parents and kids to be on it. I said if you want one that's just your team and then just parents, that's fine. But most of them do it all together and that's how they communicate. So, if a parent has
025a kid in three sports, they can go into Sports U and see volleyball, basketball, track. They can see all three of those. They've said it's very nice as parents to have it in one spot. And most of our coaches have gotten in the habit of, "Okay, they're at the you know, roundabout overnight. Hey, we're at the roundabout with 15 minutes from school." You know, so it's really nice communication. Um the other thing that a few of our sports programs have started to do is called Warm-up Wednesdays. This is when students lead warm-ups. Um they do some leading leadership um at our staff meetings we've tried to develop and kind of talk about some of those as well. So, that's what our coaches are doing. If you want to go to the next one. I do
026want to recognize, I'm guessing many of you saw, but our very own Joe Reger was named NFHS Section 4 Coach of the Year. Um there are seven sections in the United States. This makes him one of seven, and then it also put him in the running for national coach of the year. So, a huge honor for him and for our school district. So, awesome. Um so, with our student athletes, um we have our SALT group. So, SALT stands for Student Athlete Leadership Team. I meet with them generally every 2 weeks. You know, I'm we're meeting actually um Thursday this week, so tomorrow. Um so, we you know, there's times we're doing backpacks. We will be going to Ronald McDonald House to serve this spring. Um my kids will be helping at the Sunshine Games, which
027is uh very similar to what would be a Special Olympics track meet we're hosting here at Saint Croix Falls in May. Um and so, they're going to be doing some of that. They help with youth sports officiating. Um we go to the elementary school here. We'll start doing that when the weather gets a little bit nicer for rules and sportsmanship. And um I also connected with Rita and connected with Mrs. Balil. Um a couple of our SALT kids might be doing some lessons at um elementary Fayette with leadership type development activities and sportsmanship within them. So, we'll partner with her. In the fall, we participate in the Heart of the North Sportsmanship and Leadership Summit. We recognize our athletes of the month for integrity, sportsmanship, and leadership. Um it's really fun when I get to
028give these. Um you know, when we share them on social media, but I always make sure to tell the kids not necessarily who nominated them, but I always talk about why they were nominated and why they were given this. And it's really fun for them to see um again, non-stat lines get recognized. So, the athletes get a survey um for each season, and I changed this to doing it mid-season because then I can give coaches feedback that they can use. This has always been very helpful. The kids are very intuitive. Um and then when I talk with kids we still talk about NIL education which is name, image, and likeness. We have not come by, you know, really any violations, but we do have a couple kids that are getting free things as high school
029kids because they're able to do that now. So facilities and equipment you know, Mr. Byrne has asked us to review some of our bigger ticket items as we're looking at different things. Over this last year we've been we surveyed the soccer field this fall and between me, Mr. Byrne, and Mr. Warner we're doing the best to make improvements where we can. It's one of our weaker fields in terms of is it awful? No, but is it great? No. So we're trying to make that better, make it an improvement. I would say, you know, if I'm looking at bigger items that need improvement, our high school locker rooms / the athletic training room that whole area if and when it comes really does need an overhaul. We got showers that, you know, are off and on.
030And And does it work? Yes, but that whole space between where the officials go, where the girls are, where the training room, where the coaches rooms are, it definitely could use an improvement if and when that time comes. Another area that I really feel like could use and and mostly because it affects four sports, baseball, softball, track and field, sorry, baseball, soccer, track and field, and softball sound system, covered dugouts for soccer and JV baseball and softball, and you know, having bathrooms out there would be a a huge improvement for the area. So just want to share those are some of those long range goals that I would have for our things. I I very much know that money doesn't grow on trees and but just things that I think if we are looking to
031make bigger improvements, these would be the areas that I would target. So I'm going to go to the next one. So now kind of just what I do and and how I fit into the role. So again, every year I have to abide by WIAA and NFHS rules and compliance. I will be going to the WIAA annual meeting April, I think it's 25th, it's a Friday. We will be voting on some new meet or some new rules and I will be also speaking there on our behalf, particularly with competitive balance. Um so, yesterday or today the competitive balance committee met. I put an appeal in for our wrestling program. Our wrestling program earned enough points to move from division two to division one. Um and we are naturally a division three school by enrollment. So,
032we would if this does not get approved, we would go from being in division three to being in division one, being with the biggest schools in the state. Um it seems very inequitable. It doesn't seem like what we wanted for our schools. So, I'm speaking at the WIAA meeting and I'm asking the the committee, the WIAA, and I'm asking for them that they need to gather feedback from the membership. Cuz what the WIAA always tells us is, "Oh, the membership voted for this. They want that." Well, that's BS. We didn't know the amount of points. We didn't know the years. When we voted for this, they said that you know, you know, very common sense appeals would be approved. Well, that's also crap. They haven't approved a single appeal except for one. So, they really
033haven't taken common sense appeal and and really to me, I put in a common sense appeal for baseball. When we moved up for baseball, it was very common sense. We had nine kids graduate and all five pitchers gone. And that to me that is it that that is the definition of a class that was super successful that now graduated. And that's the things that they say, "Oh, yeah, those are the appeals that are going to pass." Nope. So, I'll be speaking on our behalf and and not complaining because I don't think that does anything, but asking them, "Please survey coaches and athletic directors on this." And the ADs and coaches I've talked all of us, you know, I won't say all of us, but it's so many have really felt that this was not the
034length of time that we wanted. You know, three year two or three years of successful bump you into a new division and that just seems completely absurd to me. Um and the other thing that I've raised is, especially in wrestling, a third of the schools will never be affected. The bigger schools, there's nowhere to put them. So naturally this rule is more biased to smaller schools, medium to smaller schools. Um so just a thing with that. Um I'm at game I obviously organize our games and manage them including athletic training, announcing, and video board. If you've been at boys basketball, I'm generally announcing for them because we just don't have them. Um and I run our video board if I don't have a student helper there. Um I've been really lucky, Oliver Clemens has been
035helping a lot with that and he does a great job. Um and this year um I've had to manage an athletic trainer. Um and that's had its ups and downs and it's it's just another person, you know, in our plate and then working with Go 4 Gold has been really really really well to work with. Um and so that's been really good. Um I spearhead our Heart of the North Sportsmanship and Leadership Summit. Um I've really kind of taking over teaching some of the leadership pillars at that. I really enjoy doing that. Um I have to do Title 9 and eligibility compliance, transfer waivers, and home school waivers as well. That takes up a good chunk of my August just checking through our eligibility. Um one thing that moving to Bound with So currently we
036do registration on RevTrack. RevTrack has been less than stellar and that's a huge understatement. Um and so I was talking with Mr. Gray today and I was like, "Can we please do athletic registration through Bound?" And he was like, "I don't see why not. RevTrack's just not hitting it." And I was like, "Oh, thank you so much." Um, so actually Jeanette and I um will do some training on that with our onboarding specialist from Bound. Um, just seeing how well um you can do eligibility and compliance through there and have everything housed in there. Um, so that'll be a huge um positive once we get that set up. It will take some work on the front end, but I think it'll be a huge time saver as we get to that. Um, so currently I
037am the vice president for WADA. Next year I will become the president-elect, so I'm moving through my term. And my role as president-elect is I will do all the mini sessions at our conference. So, and how we do that is most of our ADs come and share on something they have knowledge on. Um, so you know, we'll do different sessions. So, last year as a mini session presenter, I presented on using AI as an athletic director. I use it a lot. I use it to make my life easier. Um, like you know, one example I've used it at is this last year we had a middle school volleyball tournament and I my brain could not wrap around the brackets. And I just put in the AI and I said, "There's this many teams. I want
038to get this many games for each team." It was done in a minute. You know, just things like that that have really helped. Um, and I'm a Wisconsin delegate now for the next I was this year and I will be for the next 3 years at the national convention. So, that's voting on national rules and NFHS type things. So, there's five of us from the state of Wisconsin. Um, and this year I was on the WIAA officials committee as a representative. Um, in a couple of years I will be a you know, representative on different boards and that was very interesting to hear our officials, you know, perspective and and hear what their challenges are. We also talked a large majority about their uniforms, which I give zero craps about. But they talked for like
039an hour. They're like, "We don't really like this stripe." I'm like, "Oh my gosh. Okay." You can go to the next one. So, my role um right now teaching um you You have I have RTI I Um, right now, currently, my sports marketing and management class, um, in third quarter, um, Mr. Vickerman and I kind of co-taught. In fourth quarter, he's really taking more of the reins because he will take over that class next year. Um, I sub in the high school and for coaches as needed. Um, I just want to say a big thank you to the board, um, to allow me to adjust to kind of a same role but a new position next year. I can't thank you enough, um, because teaching and being an athletic director has been incredibly hard and
040you know, my third quarter class, you could ask them, they they'd be like, "She's on overtime." And I am, you know, the amount of times and meetings I have. And so, to be able to have the flexibility and to be able to do kind of my more focused work within the athletic director world, very thankful for. Um, in terms of education, I think that's very important to me. I have my CAA, which is a certified athletic administrator. I've taken with uh, LTI courses, which are specific to athletic directors at both Wisconsin and the national athletic director conference. Um, I work with Kirk on public relations and athletic promotion with social media and events. Um, I think that's important to get our story out and get our kids in front of our public. In terms of
041leadership and citizenship, I'm part of the backpack program, um, and help with that in different areas. I'm on the Dollars for Scholars Committee. I volunteer for We Are SCF. I always take, um, the I'll actually probably be doing the baseball game tomorrow because Chris Folk said can't make it. Chris always knows if he's gone, I can't make it. I do enjoy actually announcing. I think it's fun. Um, but I don't do it as much as I could. I am now have been working at the senior lock-in. I volunteer as a pitching coach. I just work with our softball pitchers throughout the year. It's very fun for me. And weight room supervision, I step in as needed. I just sub. Um, and just working hand-in-hand with our admin, our district office staff, transportation, our maintenance and
042our Um, all of departments are fantastic, very good to work with. Um, and then I'm working with our media. I'm I am regularly talk to our newspapers, the area newspapers, the Heart of the North Conference, and the WIAA for awards and recognition for our coaches and student athletes. And then, of course, always working to generate revenue between tickets, passes, and just overall fundraising in the department and our online school store. Um, kind of the point person for that as well. Awesome. So, I'm just really proud of what we do here in in all aspects. Um, particularly uh, in athletics. Um, I think we have top-notch coaches, game workers, officials. Um, our student athletes, I mean, I get very consistent positive feedback from other schools and other people about our kids. Um, and so, very proud
043of them and whether it be academic, athletics, activity, you know, we really are a destination district. Um, and, you know, but this type of environment doesn't maintain itself. You know, it takes time, effort, motivation, finances. Um, and I think what I'm most proud about within our department is we always have a push for improvement. I pride myself in continuing to look to get better at both myself and in our department. I know my coaches are Carol, you stop. Um, but that's something that drives me very much internally. So, I think that's it. I just want to say thank you. Um, and I know tonight you'll look at the um, the code. So, there's just a few changes highlighted in there. Um, the coaches are aware of those as well. Um, any questions that you have
044or if you have questions with the department, yeah? How are finding officials? Um, it's not easy for certain sports. I would say, um, the hardest is lower level and middle school. Varsity officials, besides soccer, soccer's incredibly hard to find. I've gotten now in year Number I know which sports are hard to find, so I ask early. And then I'm I'm able you know like soccer, I have all my I had all my varsity officials for soccer in October for next fall because that's just how hard they are to come by. Um baseball, JV really hard. And here's the example I'll use. Last night we played Unity here and Unity baseball played at home, Unity softball played here. We got done with our game, the Unity girls were home and still watched two innings of the
045baseball game. Baseball games take forever or they can. And so a lot of the officials that do both, they softball's like the same pay. Like you get done in an hour and a half versus two or two and a half hours. Um so you definitely have some guys that really love baseball, but I again I I know my local officials pretty well. I feel like I treat my I feel like we treat our officials really well. Um and then when you got to do it, I pay mileage. Um there's few games that I just have to. Um soccer is one of those. Soccer officials expect mileage just cuz they know how few and far in between um even if I do book them early. Um and then we have very very rarely, but we have
046had to adjust games, you know, if we don't have officials. And then if it's sports I'm comfortable like I've I've hopped in and officiated a few basketball games. I don't like doing that, but I will because I want our kids to play. So basketball and volleyball I have hopped in if we don't have one. Um and then I work with the Indianhead uh Indianhead and Arrowhead Officials Association especially if it's last minute. So if I have um if I have someone that calls in sick, you know, um but normally I do work a year ahead of time and I would say overall it's not I wouldn't say it's dire need, um but there are sports that are tough to come by. Um and we're in an area um when I can I pull from Minnesota
047as well. I I know Jody at Sheboygan, she's their athletic director and I'll give her a call when I need to say hey, I really can't find an official. Do you have a couple local people? So overall and I would say um actually uh Chad Schultz from the WIAA was there today. Overall, the numbers have gone up. I would say there's certain sports that are hard. Gymnastics is incredibly hard. Hockey is incredibly hard. Luckily, I don't have to do that for the Soccer is Soccer is really good in the Milwaukee and Madison area cuz they're big schools, but in the north, east, and west, it's hard to find soccer officials. Baseball is harder to find. The one I'm most worried about for the future is football. That's all of our crews are old. And I
048have not seen young guys where basketball have really has recruited a lot of younger guys and younger gals in a good way. Football has not. I haven't seen an official literally like under the age of 40, and most crews are in their 60s. So, I am quite nervous for the future of football officiating. So, but otherwise, it's been pretty good. It's a good question. Any others? Sweet. Thanks. That's all you do. Absolutely. Do you need me to stay for the athletic code? Well, it's up real quick, so I'll let you know when we're done in case there's questions. Perfect. I will be around. And then I have to go run on the treadmill. Okay, do that then. That's fine. You do whatever you need. You're good. All right, let's do the uh uh possible changes
049to the athletic code next. We'll skip the superintendent evaluation things. So, we have this that was sent out to us in our packets. Yep. So, a couple of things that we've already been discussed, which is the athletic department philosophy statement highlighted in yellow core values. That was already covered by Terrence reflected in the code. And then you get all the way to page There's just two other changes, yeah. Yep. We're on page 12. Um under quitting and changing sports, there's a phrase that's added, but must get approval from both the coach and athletic director. And under concurrent sports, there's um item B added, which is to get approval for participation in two sports in the same season. A plan must be in place using the concurrent athlete form with the athletic director. And so, that
050form is linked there as well as that language. So, that really speaks to simply communication between um in a lot of cases, the athlete, the coach, and the AD just to ensure that there's continuity of understanding of what's happening. We can get into trouble with respect to eligibility, um minimum number of practices, and those sorts of things. So, ensuring that folks are looped in and having that part there codified in the code would allow that to be something that we um can point to as the as the need, right? As the the backdrop rather than just terrorizing or like Wilson says that it's just it's based in reality. So, Did I do that justice? And we the concurrent athlete came into play this fall, um and he's fine with it. Eli Mom did soccer and
051football, and we used that concurrent form so that me and both coaches and him and his parents were just on the same page. So, what his schedule looked like was he was a primary soccer player, and then he would come with football. He only practiced with football on Wednesdays for like a half an hour. You know, and that was his And And we wanted both coaches to agree upon the stipulations before the season. Um and it did work out really quite well with that. But, I like having it just in writing and and just so that everyone's aware before we run into trouble because we agreed upon it before the season. So, that item B is the only new part to that? Cuz they you've had well, um you have item A that talks about
052bringing my athlete my athlete to participate in it. So, B is an addition. Yep. It's just kind of adding more clarity and communication proactively to that. Mhm. So, with this with that being like with two sports, will there always be like a core sport and a supplemental? They would never be equally balanced. Um it's almost impossible to be equally. Um you almost have to choose a a core or a primary and secondary. The only other sport that it you could almost have the dualness would be golf with something because golf's golf does their events during the day so often. Um and but it's and so but it's kind of working with the two sports they choose, you know. Another sport you might see it, you know, Whitney Lundgren toyed with the idea of doing softball
053and track cuz she's a good discus thrower. And her and I talked through what that might look like and and and she ultimately decided she's just going to do softball, um which is, you know, her decision. But um it's nice to just have those conversations and have an outline. Um and it's a form that I can offer those to the parents if they're thinking about it and looking at that as well. Any other questions? All right. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Thanks, Tara. Mhm. All right. We will go back to the WASB superintendent evaluation. Um the um For what? Yeah. Craig, you uh sent that out to us in an email. Correct? Um so this is something again that I saw at the or at the second half of the convention. Uh thought
054it was worthwhile. I mean it's not a lot of money but a couple of bucks. It's 395 bucks annually. So it's not super expensive. Right. So for the I think there's I think there's a lot of bang for the buck. Um think to just help us stay on task and you know different things like that. Not only for us right now but as well, succession and different things happen, whether it be another superintendent way down the road or board members and different things. Not next year, I hope. Well, that's news to me. Um you know, I I think it it helps it would help us you know, do that kind of stuff. Did you guys have a chance to look at that? What are your thoughts, comments? I like the idea that the evaluation would
055always be kept current and that we have an in-house evaluation, but we had to keep it as current as our limited knowledge is. I do like the notion that kept at the forefront of what's changing in education. Yeah. And I I did ask the question if we could modify it if we wanted to if we had something specific and it is customizable, too. Um say I don't know, say you're talking for 1 year but you needed track down or something, you could you could do that. Any other questions? So, there's general agreement that we should purchase it. Yes. Perfect. So, we'll we'll write out and get together and I'll access them. We would want wouldn't want it to start till next year for obvious reasons. So, the first question we'll have to figure out is
056when do we do that so that we have it for next year so we don't have to pay for like two years back to back or something. Oh, yeah. Cuz it might have to be like post July 1st, but we'll get those details together and I think the board president is person the person I'll think of. Pretty confident the board president is generally the one that's responsible for you know, understanding it and delineating tasks and getting all the board members and meeting with me and that kind of stuff. So, we'll figure that out kind of together, but um I did ask about the timing because they we do it at any point, but I did not think about the financial piece. You know what I mean? Yeah, cuz they said if you wanted to do
057it this spring, we could still get your evaluation and we can we'll make it work, but I didn't ask about the bills or anything like that. Well, I mean we could, I but I would guess we pay $395 right now for, you know, like April, May, June, and then have to pay $395 again next year. Yeah. So, to me it makes more sense that we consider this year good or engage in some other activity and then do that next year. Or perhaps if we purchase it in July, we can evaluate in July the previous year and then next year evaluate in June. So, we can get in a year's time get two evaluations. We do one a little bit later than usual. Yeah, I'm not sure how the timing works in terms of how that's
058But admittedly, I mean it's $400. It's not like it's Yeah. 10 grand or something. Yeah. And I'm not sure about the duration. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah. And we I mean it's not hard to whip out the new one one last time or the old one one last time. You know? Yeah. But if you want to check into it We'll ask some questions and then we'll and then let you know the best course of action. All right. We will move on. Um I will call this meeting to order. This is a regularly scheduled school board meeting. We'll start with the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge I pledge allegiance 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
059justice for all. Roll call. Matt Price. Tashina Reager. Here. Don Nolkie. Here. Ronnie Shuler. Here. Brett McCurdy. Here. All right. Uh we will I'll go I'll and the mission statement. The mission of the school district of St. Croix Falls is to provide a supportive student-centered learning environment that cultivates character, fosters academic excellence, and embraces diversity. The board meeting rules focus on the mission and vision statements of the district. Come prepared. Be respectful of others and be open and accepting of ideas. Actively participate. Avoid side conversations. And remember that board meetings are an open forum. And we don't have any public comments. So, we will move on to the personnel. I'll look for a motion to approve the resignation of Garrett Kirkcaldy, middle school middle special education teacher. I'll make that motion to approve the resignation
060of Garrett Kirkcaldy, middle school special education teacher. We have a motion by Deschene. I'll second. Seconded by Dawn. Any further discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Next, we'll move on to vote on the resignation of Rachel Nelson, fifth grade math teacher, grade six math teacher. I can make the motion to accept the resignation of Rachel Nelson, the former sixth grade math teacher. We have a motion by Dawn. I'll second. Seconded by Deschene. Any further discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. All right. Upcoming events. April 14th, we'll have the canvassers meeting here, right? And the 27th is a Monday. We'll have our next committee / board meeting. And then we'll kick back to our regular schedule in May. All right. So, discuss the rules of the
061meeting. I think we gave the gist. Oh, go ahead. Are there other activities they made like we typically talk about like Dollars for Scholars or anything like that like you know? Is that like later? Or having board members attend the graduation? Yeah, like person at those events. Yeah, we can start having those discussions. Or do we do it like next week? I don't remember when I Typically you wait one more meeting because you'll want your new board member to participate. Same with signing diplomas and those sorts of things. Sure. Thank you. And I'll give you a quick foreshadowing. I'm going to be gone on May 13th. So, we'll figure out that agenda and if I need to have someone serve in my stead, I'll do so. Otherwise, I can join remotely. I think I'll be
062gone on the 13th also. Uh-huh. Me, too. You're being reported. But there'll be more to come on that, so don't take it personally. All right. Any other questions? We have Star Big Give in April, too. It's on the 27th. When is May? We're on there. We have one more meeting before that. Is that still just online getting? Mhm. That's where all the nonprofits in our area can contribute to. Yeah. All right. So, as far as the rules, if we did a good job staying focused, well, seemed to be prepared. We got a little bit of discussion, participation, no side conversations, and we remembered that there was an open forum. All right. With that, I will uh I'll look for a motion to adjourn to executive closed session. I'll make a motion to adjourn to executive
063closed session. Motion by Rodney. Second. Seconded by Deschene. Roll call vote. Pam Brace. Deschene Reager. Yes. Don Milkey. Yes. Rodney Schuler. Yes. Brenda Curdy. Yes. All right. Thank you for coming. We are most welcome.