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Good evening.

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It is 6 o'clock.

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I am calling to order the special board meeting of Tuesday, May 12th.

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This is Shope.

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May we get a roll call, please?

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Yes.

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Carol Fox.

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Here.

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Tom Hankins.

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Here.

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Bill Johnson.

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Here.

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Meghan Miller.

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Present.

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Joanne Ruhl.

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Present.

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Dan Schuth.

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Here.

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And Tia Johnson.

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Here.

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All members are present.

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Thank you.

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May I get approval of the agenda?

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So moved.

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Second.

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Motion by Tom Hankins, seconded by Carol Fox.

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Any discussion?

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Hearing and seeing none, all in favor?

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Aye.

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Aye.

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Aye.

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Aye.

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Any opposed?

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Motion carries unanimously.

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Mrs. Schope, is there any public comment?

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Yes, I have some both in the room and e-mails to read.

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Okay.

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Members of the public are welcome to attend all open meetings of the Board of Education.

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Individuals attending board meetings are expected to conduct themselves in a respectful and

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courteous manner that models appropriate behavior for our students.

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Individuals wishing to comment are expected to comply with the norms found on the back

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of your comment cards and in board policy 187, public participation at board meetings.

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We ask that each of you contribute to maintaining a respectful and orderly meeting and prevent

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discussing confidential matters in a public forum by following these norms for public

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comments during board meetings.

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Thank you for your participation and courtesy.

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Mrs. Schope.

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I first have Jessica with Rocio and Sarah yielding their three minutes each.

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Keeping things exciting.

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All right.

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Dear Dr. Anderson and the school board, my name is Jessica weed and here today to voice what

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is going on in this district behind the scenes in regards to dual language, to have it be

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in the public record and allow the parents to know what is going on as well.

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In addition, I am here and what comes on the heels of teachers appreciation week to express

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that I have never in my 26 years of working in this district felt so disrespected, unappreciated

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and devalued for my hard work as I have this past month in the school district.

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I've been committed to teaching in the school district to belite at Hackett for 26 years.

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In fact, I interned at Hackett in the fall semester of 2000 and have worked there ever

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since.

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I drive from the very far part of Milwaukee to come to this district and serve our students

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every day.

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I have implemented many after school reading clubs over the years with no stipend, including

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during some of the dual language years.

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I have a minor in Spanish and use that Spanish language in the classroom daily to help my

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dual language learners.

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I was rotary teacher of the month in 2013 and teacher appreciation honoree a few years

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back.

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A couple of years ago, when we started the split, which I'll talk about, I agreed to

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do kindergarten in addition to first grade as an out-of-the-box solution with our given

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DLI numbers.

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I needed to get certified for kindergarten, so I paid $400 to do months of studying online

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to take a task, asking me questions about DNA, RNA, what would the trade wins be, what

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will the climate be in this part of the world, all to get certified to teach kindergarten,

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and all to help the dual language program in addition to paying for the cost of the test

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plus the license cost to help out the DLI for kindergarten and as a whole.

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ROCO is my work wife, our co-teacher, and we are good at what we do.

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We are good teachers.

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ROCO and I both serve on the leadership team at Hackett, working on the SIP goals to get

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Hackett off the state list of schools in need of improvement.

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It is disheartening that a few decision makers in the district have decided to ignore continuous

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feedback from our strong dual language K3 team, as well as the recommendations of the board

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from the March 17 meeting that our Hackett configuration is strong and should stay intact.

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A couple of weeks ago, our K3 DLI team gave a 19 page presentation and document to a

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few decision makers after school in the district discussing our reading data and dual language,

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both at our school and the other DLI schools, and demonstrated why our split grade level

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model of dual language, though unconventional, is working at Hackett.

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We even sent follow-up data last week on Thursday to show the extreme growth this year

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with the K3 model at our school, versus the lack of as much growth with only one Spanish

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teacher teaching, all English, Spanish, math, science, social studies, all of it.

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In addition, at this meeting a few weeks ago, we were tasked with homework to try and find

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an article discussing another school in a state or nation that is doing the same configuration

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as Hackett to prove it can work.

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Shouldn't our data and feedback be proof enough?

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Be that as it may.

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I went searching for articles online trying to find this particular configuration that

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we're doing at Hackett and even called and spoke with them bilingual schools in Florida

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to try and get the proof that was needed.

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But then I got to thinking, when a scientist thinks of a new way to initiate an idea, they

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don't get discouraged because they didn't find an article telling them that their idea

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could work.

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They try their idea and if it works, great.

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There always has to be a ground zero, a place in which to start from.

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Our DOI configuration is working at Hackett in the K3 classrooms.

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If necessary, I can submit an article to an educational journal as the ground zero group

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at Hackett and it may be the K1 and 2, 3 split work, but why is that necessary?

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In coming from a place on the leadership team and working to develop a plan for our

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school for the next three years to improve our scores, why would the decision makers

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in the district be so stunned on tearing apart a program at Hackett that is in fact strong

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in favor of replacing it with people shuffling all over the district, middle school teachers

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potentially getting placed in the kindergarten and first grade classrooms?

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It is vastly into me.

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It makes no sense.

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This shows that it takes about three years to develop teacher efficacy as a new teacher.

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Even still, it typically takes one to two years for a teacher to reach their previous

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level of effectiveness after switching grade levels.

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When teachers change grades, their rate of improvement can drop by as much as 20% the

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first year.

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Data suggests it takes roughly two years in the new grade to reach full effectiveness,

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with student learning potentially suffering for about 42 to 50 days, less instruction

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than the first year in 22 days in the second year.

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This drop in effectiveness applies to both new and veteran teachers, even experienced

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teachers, need time to learn new curriculum standards and age appropriate pedagogy.

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Furthermore, the district decision makers were stunned additional data last week showing

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just how strong our K3 model was at Hackett with a split class.

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However, it was just the feeling by a couple district decision makers at the meeting that

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this configuration was worrisome.

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There was no article on their end that provided explanation that our way does not work.

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We should rely on data, not feelings.

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We are veteran teachers in the dual language program at Hackett.

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The other two teachers in 2-3 have been working for years together as well.

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We are organized.

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We are devoted to our school.

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There's not an article out there that I have found that states that the way Hackett

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is configuring DLI does not work.

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Think about schools that have to put two classes together embedded into one class.

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What is infuriating is that we were supposed to have the follow-up meeting this past last Thursday.

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We received notice about an hour or so before the meeting that it was canceled for a situation

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that needed to be addressed.

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However, no meeting was rescheduled, but rather our principal was told that the district

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team apparently made a decision without holding the meeting.

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So it makes you wonder if the second meeting that was originally scheduled was just put

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in place to make it appear that they were considering our feedback.

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It was stated if we wanted to schedule another meeting at a later date, we could seek that

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out, but that it would have to be virtual.

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What is even more interesting, but even more baffling, is now the narrative is changing

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for why the decision makers are choosing to have one Spanish teacher teaching all and

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break apart Heart Hackett's program.

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The first meeting was all about the data and thinking it would be too heavy a teaching

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mode, which it is not.

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We would argue that the other way is more of a teaching mode for a variety of reasons

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that were addressed at the March 17th Board meeting, and I can send that again.

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Plus, apparently, some decision makers had spoken to other teachers from other schools

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that they did not like the model we are doing at Hackett, but they never spoke to us.

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I've created data charts, and the latest one with the yearly growth.

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I also have created data charts and the latest one with yearly growth at Hackett using the

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current configuration at Hackett with K-3 versus a single teacher in the 4-5, and it

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makes a very compelling argument in favor of our two-teacher, two-grade split model.

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Plus, it saves the district two Spanish teachers.

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Why can't Hackett do what works for them?

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These individuals have never had anything to do with dual language until now, yet they

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are making the decisions and ignoring our feedback.

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It is really disheartening.

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Now the narrative is that they need a place to shuffle all the displaced dual language

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staff.

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How about open back up grade five?

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What about the current staff that are going to be displaced?

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I, along with my work wife, Rocio, we feel very disrespected, unappreciated, and devalued

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for the hard work and accomplishments and data that we have worked hard to achieve,

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and we do have good data.

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This complete upheaval is clearly not about the data and student achievement, although

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it should be.

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I am not sure what or why this decision was made that we found out about after a canceled

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meeting.

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This district is struggling.

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The veteran staff are one of the main pieces holding this district together.

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I am losing faith that what is stated in this district is actually going to be followed.

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The portrait of a graduate, I looked online, and says there's a commitment to our students.

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A portrait of a graduate will ensure that we provide strategic, engaging, collaborative,

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experiential learning opportunities, successful academic learning environments for each and

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every student in our district.

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We are doing that right now in the K-3 model.

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It also states, the school district of Hawaii by creating welcoming environments, nurturing

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open, trusting relationships, practicing mutual respect and engaging in proactive communication.

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Please involve the teachers in the discussions.

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It states, create a welcoming and inclusive environment for students, staff, families

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and the community, where all people are seen, heard and valued.

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Please make sure that we are seen, heard and our strengths are valued.

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Excuse me, Ms. Reed, just for a point of order, the policy is for up to one person yielding

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time.

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I'm going to let you finish because you started, but when you were introduced, I only heard

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Rosie Alberto being the, there was so much noise, I didn't hear, I only heard that there

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were two people, but if anybody else is planning on having three people or two people yield

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time to one, it's a six minute limit, which again, is a believe it or not, for government

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time, it's very generous.

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So, Mrs. Shope, if you could help us keep track of actually who's, okay, go on.

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Thanks.

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Our system, portrait of a graduate, our systems will value and appreciate and support our

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staff and professional growth needs.

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We are here today to try and ensure the success of students at Hackett School.

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As stated, there are many areas that need to be fixed at Hackett.

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The K3 model isn't one of them, but potentially could be in the future with this proposed

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Apple card upset of our school.

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The school district of Beloit will move our state report card from sales to mean expectations

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to meeting expectations.

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We already have two strong teams at Hackett for K3 working towards the school, and it

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states strategies, design systems that make high quality instruction materials, instruction

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including engagement and professional learning, the foundation of the district's teaching

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and learning experiences.

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We have a system right now in K3 at Hackett with high quality instruction, wide break

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apart the system in favor of another system that shows it is not working at Hackett.

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So, my question to Dr. Anderson, the board and the people that made this decision, Hackett

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is a school that needs to develop a three-year plan to improve their scores.

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Why are you upsetting something that isn't broken?

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That could potentially be broken by your upsetting the Apple card.

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We say we want to keep people here in the district.

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The DLI staff at Hackett and elsewhere will be shifting.

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We are committed to the district.

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When you make big shifts in grade levels, subjects, it's a real risk that we are going

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to be losing people just like we did last year when Liz was in 4K.

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She was a veteran staff member committed to DLI at Hackett, and because they ended

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4K, they said she was going to first grade at Todd, she got there, and then they're like,

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oh no, wait, it's third grade, and she just decided to leave.

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How is this any different?

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How is that any different than what we are doing now by putting middle school teachers

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potentially in kindergarten or first grade teaching both languages?

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Are we setting people up for success?

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People can and will go elsewhere.

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If I choose to stay, it will be to support the kids at Hackett, my principal, leadership

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team, and staff who will be putting in the hard work to provide the best experience for

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our students and support the growth of students.

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I have been here long enough to remember what the district used to be, and it's sad.

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Please reconsider for the sake of keeping continuity at Hackett and improving data if

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that is indeed what all this was originally about.

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Thank you.

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Thanks.

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And I have other information that is for the documents.

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If you want to leave a copy with Mrs. Shope, she'll make certain we get that.

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Thank you.

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Mrs. Shope, our next speaker, the next person I have is Emily with Gretchen yielding time.

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I'm sorry, it's been about a year since we've shifted it down to two.

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Okay.

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00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:39,160
So, good evening, everybody.

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My name is Emily Ray.

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I'm one of the school nurses at the district.

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I am a nurse and I'm also an educator.

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I am here to speak on the proposed elimination of the director of school health position

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and two registered nurse positions in the school district.

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I want to say, by saying clearly, this is not just a staffing decision, this is a student

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safety decision.

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Right now across our district, school nurses are already managing an extremely high level

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of need.

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Based on our data, we are seeing over 4,600 to 4,800 student health encounters every month.

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We administer more than 5,600 medications, respond to over 12,500 health office visits

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and calls and manage more than 2,200 diabetic related visits alone.

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On a daily basis, that's about 18 to 24 students per day in the health office.

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Even with current staffing, one nurse may already be responsible for around 1,100 to 1,300 students.

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This is an already heavy and high risk workload.

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If these cuts move forward and we are reduced to just three RNs for 10 schools, that number

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will rise even higher.

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There is no safe or realistic way to meet student needs under those conditions.

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I need to say this very clearly.

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If there are only three nurses for 10 schools, there will be times when a school does not

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have a nurse available during an emergency.

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That is not just a possibility, it's a guarantee.

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Our district serves a large population of students with complex medical needs, many

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of whom have IEPs that include required healthcare services.

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These are not optional supports.

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They are legally required and medically necessary.

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A non-licensed person cannot do the job of a nurse, only a registered nurse has a training

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licensure and clinical judgment to provide this level of care.

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A non-licensed person cannot interpret physician orders, develop or adjust care plans, manage

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diabetes safely, monitor for medication side effects, recognize seizure activity or perform

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procedures like catheterization or managing a G2.

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So I need to ask, is a secretary going to catheterize a student, is a secretary going

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to manage dislodged feeding tube, is an unlicensed staff going to make a medical decision in

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an emergency because that is exactly what this decision would force.

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When nurses are not available, students will be sent home unnecessarily because staff cannot

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safely assess them.

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Teachers, secretaries and administrators will be pulled away from their roles to try and

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fill the gap they are not trained to fill.

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Classroom time will be lost and students will either receive delayed care or wrong

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care.

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This impacts not only safety, but also learning and stability in our schools.

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Nurses are first responders in our buildings.

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We are the ones who respond to medical emergencies, guide staff, step-by-step in crisis situations,

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administer life-saving medications like EpiPen and Narcan and determine when emergency services

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are needed.

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Without adequate staffing and leadership, response times increase, confusion increases

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and risk to students increases.

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The director of school health role is not extra, it is essential.

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That position oversees medical safety across the district, ensures compliance with IEPs

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and state regulation, monitors medication errors, coordinates care across schools, trained

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staff and CPR, emergency response and overseas Medicaid building, which brings funding back

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into the district.

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If that role is eliminated, who will train staff and CPR?

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Who ensures we remain compliant with laws?

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Who oversees safety and accountability?

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The district will likely have to spend more money bringing in outside services while losing

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the expertise that currently protects students every day.

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This is not truly a cost-saving decision.

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School nurses help keep students in school instead of sending them home unnecessarily.

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We reduce emergency calls and hospital visits and bring in funding through Medicaid billing.

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Removing positions does not remove the need, it shifts costs and increase risk.

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I also want to paint a picture of what this looks like in real life.

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A nurse may be monitoring a student who is at risk of having a seizure while working with

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a health room assistant to contact a guardian.

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At the same time managing a diabetic student's care, administering scheduled daily meds, responding

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to an asthma attack and being called to another classroom for a student in distress.

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This is not hypothetical, this is a normal part of the day.

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This is skilled, licensed critical care happening in real time.

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I also want to be honest, nurses in the district could leave and earn significantly

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more money elsewhere.

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We stay because we care about the students and we believe in what we do.

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But if staffing is reduced to this level and leadership is removed, the remaining nurses

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are probably not going to stay.

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And then the district will face a much larger problem.

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The reality is simple, we are not overstaffed, we are already operating at maximum capacity.

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Cutting positions does not remove the need, it removes the safety.

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Again, we stay because we love these kids and we choose to be here because we believe in taking care of them.

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Please don't put us in a position where we can't keep them safe.

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Because you will not see the consequences of the decision in a spreadsheet.

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You will see them in real emergencies and real children when the help is not there in time.

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Thank you.

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00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:38,960
Thank you, Mr. Schop.

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00:21:40,360 --> 00:21:42,280
Next, I have Lauren.

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Karen's going to give me some time, if I can, because I don't know how fast I'm going to read the library in, you know.

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00:21:55,600 --> 00:22:01,800
Okay, my name is Lauren Burner and I've probably served the school district specifically at Gassner for the last 10 years.

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00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:06,800
I'm here to speak today about the proposed cuts to the library staff in positions in our school.

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00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:09,560
The school library is much more than a room filled with books.

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It's the heart of the learning in the school.

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00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:17,440
It's a place where students go together to read, to research, to study, to create, to grow.

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00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:24,120
Today alone an estimated 1600 students crossed the district used our libraries in some way.

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00:22:24,120 --> 00:22:34,520
Research from the American Association of School Libraries consistently shows that schools with strong library programs achieve higher test scores in reading and in math.

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00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:40,960
Students who regularly borrow and read books perform better on literacy assessments than those who do not.

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00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:49,960
This school year alone, I personally have helped students and staff check out more than 9,000 books in my building across the district school libraries.

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Have circulated 57,000 books since September.

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That's 57,000 opportunities for learning, imagination, literacy, and academic growth placed directly in the hands of our children.

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00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:05,240
The librarians do far more than just check out books.

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Today I taught 200 students, I simply did not read them a story.

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I taught dozens aligned to state standards that build literacy, responsibility, collaboration, and teamwork.

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I also helped students regulate emotions in my room.

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I provided a quite quiet testing place.

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00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:23,920
I fixed 15 Chromebook issues.

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I supervised a lunch duty.

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I continued to build meaningful relationships with our students.

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This is not unique to me.

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Every one of our dedicated library staff does this work and much more every single day.

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School libraries also provide equity and opportunity.

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Not every student has access to books, technology, and quiet study spaces at their home.

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My house isn't one of those quiet study places.

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For many students, the school library is one of those safe and welcoming places where they can receive those resources and support.

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00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:59,440
Our staff and students rely on librarians daily.

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From, I forgot my laptop, can I borrow one?

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To, I don't know why my smart board won't turn on, can you fix it?

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00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:13,040
The library staff works collaboratively with our teachers and support staff to keep the learning willingness over every day.

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The impact of school libraries is clearly not only in the research, but in the daily reality.

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Libraries are essential services that students and staff have come to depend on.

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Cutting library staff positions may save money in the short term, but long-term costs to student learning, literacy, and opportunities, and support will be far greater.

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In conclusion, the school libraries are a critical part of student success.

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We strengthen academic equality, support emotional well-being, and help school functions every single day.

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We are the tech support, we are the problem solvers, we are the literacy leaders, and yes, we are the ladies with the books.

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But more than anything, we are the beating heart of our schools.

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I urge you considering the lasting impacts that the cuts to our staff will impact on our students, staff, and communities.

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Thank you.

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00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:07,040
Thank you, Lorraine.

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00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:08,040
Michelle?

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00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:11,040
Next, I have James.

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Hello.

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My name is James.

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00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:34,040
I am co-president of the Boy Education Association, and I am here tonight to reiterate what Melissa and I talked to you about last week.

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00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:41,040
We definitely understand the tough position you are in, having cut four and a half, five plus million dollars this year and many more next year.

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As you can hear from the people in the room, there are many tough decisions that you are going to have to make.

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But we are in this budget situation for a variety of reasons.

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We have a broken public education funding system, the previous mismanagement or poor decisions in this district.

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But I think we can all agree that teachers and staff are not the cause of this budget problem.

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00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:09,040
So the BEA respectfully asks that you make the cuts as far away from the classroom as possible.

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We have many, many dedicated teachers to this district.

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00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:18,040
Please use attrition for any of the positions that you need to cut as much as possible.

379
00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:23,040
We ask that the board honors and respects staff by paying them a living wage.

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00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:26,040
We ask that the board recognize staff that have stayed.

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00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:34,040
They have chosen to stay in the community and teach them a very difficult place to teach and reward them and recognize them with longevity pay.

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00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:38,040
Tonight you are going to hear a couple of different plans being proposed.

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00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:40,040
I hope people at home have read through those plans.

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00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:44,040
They are very drastic plans, especially one of them is a very drastic plan.

385
00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:47,040
And this is regardless of a referendum.

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00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:56,040
I hope the community and I hope the school board realizes that without a past referendum in November, the plans are going to be ten times more drastic.

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00:26:56,040 --> 00:27:00,040
We have to focus on getting a referendum passed in November.

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00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:08,040
So we ask that you get through this budget and get moving on a referendum question that has to be approved within two months or three months, whatever that is.

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00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:13,040
We need a referendum question that is very focused on very specific things that we need to tell the district that we need.

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00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:18,040
We need to tell them why we need that. We need to tell them what it's going to cost, where the money is going to go.

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00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:21,040
And we also need to explain what's going to happen if that referendum does not pass.

392
00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:26,040
Because if a referendum does not pass in November, this district is going to look drastically different.

393
00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:30,040
We need to rally support in this community around passing a referendum.

394
00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:32,040
Thank you.

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00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:33,040
Thank you, James.

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00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:34,040
Mrs. Schull.

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Next, I have Stephanie.

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Good evening.

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00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:53,040
My name is Stephanie Stevens. I'm a proud product of the School District of Beloit.

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00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:58,040
It has been a privilege and honor to be a school teacher here in Beloit for twenty-five years.

401
00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:05,040
My husband and I have both graduates of Beloit Memorial, eight class of eighty-five and eighty-seven, so I'm dating myself.

402
00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:10,040
Our children are the class of twenty-eleven, thirteen, and nineteen.

403
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:15,040
We're all better people because of our educational experiences here.

404
00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:25,040
I spent twenty-two years at McNeil, teaching Spanish, ELA, career, financial literacy, and whatever else was asked me.

405
00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:29,040
Because I wanted to do what was right for children.

406
00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:33,040
After the huddle, as we called it, the home of the Lancers, closed.

407
00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:38,040
I was relocated to Merrill, which I learned a lot more.

408
00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:47,040
I have a new, huge, newfound admiration and respect for elementary teachers and staff.

409
00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:50,040
And we're spending two years at that level.

410
00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:56,040
I had the chance, though, to return to the middle school at Frusen, and this year, and I truly, that's my jam.

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00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:59,040
And I'm so happy to be back because I love that.

412
00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:05,040
Throughout my career, though, and my children's education here in Beloit, I have always did what was best for my kids,

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00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:09,040
meaning my children and my students.

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00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:15,040
Because once you're one of my babies, you're always one of my babies.

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A bag and plead with you to come up with different solutions.

416
00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:24,040
Cutting educators, parents, student service staff is not the way to go.

417
00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:30,040
You will be directly impacting children and families, many of which can't afford to be impacted anymore

418
00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:33,040
because they're already caring so much.

419
00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:38,040
Could we please take a second, third, maybe a fourth look at what ways to cut that cost

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that do not directly harm our children and our families?

421
00:29:41,040 --> 00:29:46,040
I'm afraid that if we cut teachers, parents, student services, and also sports,

422
00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:50,040
we will have even more families and staff leave the school district polite.

423
00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:53,040
Our students do not deserve less.

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00:29:53,040 --> 00:29:55,040
They deserve more.

425
00:29:55,040 --> 00:30:01,040
Our students and families, we need the teachers.

426
00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:03,040
We need the parent educators.

427
00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:04,040
We need student services.

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00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:05,040
We need the sports.

429
00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:08,040
Please, I beg you to look at things differently.

430
00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:09,040
Thank you.

431
00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:11,040
Thank you, Stephanie.

432
00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:13,040
Mrs. Shope.

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00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:15,040
That's all I have for in the room.

434
00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:17,040
So next, I just have emails.

435
00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:21,040
The first one is from Skylee.

436
00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:25,040
She's a speech language pathologist at Hackett Elementary School.

437
00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:29,040
I want to begin by acknowledging the difficult position our district faces across Wisconsin.

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School districts are being forced to make impossible choices because the current funding formula

439
00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:38,040
does not reflect the realities of educating children today.

440
00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:41,040
Costs continue to rise while resources fail to keep pace.

441
00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:47,040
And districts like ours are left trying to protect opportunities for students with fewer and fewer options.

442
00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:51,040
At the same time, we cannot remain in survival mode forever.

443
00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:57,040
While we address immediate financial pressures, we also need to think about how we move forward together as a community.

444
00:30:57,040 --> 00:31:00,040
There are no painless cuts in public education.

445
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:04,040
Every program, service, and staff position affects real children and families.

446
00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:09,040
Behind every decision is a student who depends on stability, opportunity, and support.

447
00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:12,040
That is why these conversations matter so deeply.

448
00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:15,040
In moments like this, trust becomes essential.

449
00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:21,040
Our district must continue working to prioritize transparency and communication with families and community members.

450
00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:26,040
When people do not understand why decisions are being made, misinformation fills the gap.

451
00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:33,040
Unfortunately, negative stories often spread faster than the many positive things happening in our schools every day.

452
00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:35,040
And there are positive things happening.

453
00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:37,040
Our teachers continue to innovate.

454
00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:41,040
Our students continue to make measurable growth and personal gains.

455
00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:46,040
Staff members continue showing up for children despite uncertainty and increasing demands.

456
00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:50,040
We need to tell those stories more consistently and more visibly.

457
00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:54,040
As a district, we should focus on proactive communication and community engagement.

458
00:31:54,040 --> 00:32:00,040
We should create more opportunities for dialogue, respond to misinformation factually,

459
00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:07,040
and when it occurs and continue highlighting student achievements and district successes,

460
00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:13,040
people are more likely to support public schools when they feel informed, respected and connected to them.

461
00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:18,040
This moment requires honesty about the challenges we face, but it also requires vision.

462
00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:21,040
Survival cannot be our only strategy.

463
00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:24,040
We must continue asking what kind of district we want to be in the future

464
00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:28,040
and how we preserve opportunities for students even in difficult times.

465
00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:33,040
My final message is to urge the community to band together in this moment of uncertainty,

466
00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:37,040
continue to spread positive messages and provide support to our district.

467
00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:39,040
Our teachers need you.

468
00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:41,040
Your children need you.

469
00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:42,040
Thank you.

470
00:32:48,040 --> 00:32:50,040
Next, I have one from Heather.

471
00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:54,040
I believe teacher and paracuts should be the last on the list.

472
00:32:54,040 --> 00:33:00,040
These children deserve the best and the teachers and paris are the only ones that make it happen.

473
00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:02,040
We are here for them every single day.

474
00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:06,040
We are the ones they trust and come to for whatever reason need be.

475
00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:11,040
If you take this away, it will make classroom sizes larger than they already are.

476
00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:13,040
These kids need us and they count on us.

477
00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:17,040
We all need to keep these babies in our thoughts and prayers during this

478
00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:21,040
and they should be able to come to school without worrying about if their teacher will be there or not.

479
00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:27,040
So I really hope everything that is talked about today, these two positions are the most talked about.

480
00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:34,040
Next, I have one from Brittany.

481
00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:37,040
Good evening board members and SDB staff.

482
00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:42,040
My name is Dr. Brittany Keys, physical therapist, former city of Deloitte,

483
00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:46,040
council vice president, taxpayer and Deloitte, mom of two kiddos at Todd,

484
00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:48,040
and frequent school district volunteer.

485
00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:54,040
Depending on the day, I could be on field trips or referred to as Ms. Frizzle celebrating our favorite planet Earth.

486
00:33:54,040 --> 00:34:00,040
With my sidekick Liz or Ms. Butterfly as we embrace the wonders of the monarch as it goes through metamorphosis.

487
00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:06,040
How its third generation flies to Mexico, learning about milkweed and native plants,

488
00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:10,040
supporting it along the way and watching milkweed seeds dance like fairies.

489
00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:16,040
We could be supporting and appreciating our teachers with treats, running beside our strong third grade girls at Girls on the Run,

490
00:34:16,040 --> 00:34:21,040
mowing and weeding the school garden or helping my young friends with math.

491
00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:30,040
Needless to say our educators, staff and students are amazing and they work extra in off hours so I can spend more time on a weekly basis supporting them.

492
00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:40,040
My daughter is third grade at above grade level in two languages when her parents are English speaking and very beginning Spanish learners at home.

493
00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:44,040
She writes fantastic stories and she's mastering math concepts.

494
00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:50,040
I was introduced to you in ninth grade geometry and we need more support at Todd and across the district.

495
00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:54,040
Our children have a lot of needs right now that are not being met.

496
00:34:54,040 --> 00:34:56,040
We have libraries without librarians.

497
00:34:56,040 --> 00:35:00,040
We have special ed teachers with unrealistic caseloads stepping in with zero experience.

498
00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:04,040
We have buildings without enough paraprofessionals and behavior supports.

499
00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:14,040
We have fantastic educators with classrooms that are already too full and some classrooms with too many kiddos that have more needs than are not being met.

500
00:35:14,040 --> 00:35:17,040
And our babies, our students, our teachers need support.

501
00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:19,040
These children are the future of our community.

502
00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:27,040
The City of Beloit continues to have high numbers of lead laterals and historically slow rates of addressing them.

503
00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:35,040
The City of Beloit has 95 to 100% of industry reported, not monitored hazardous air pollutants.

504
00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:42,040
The City of Beloit also has concerning levels of PM 2.5 which is reported, not monitored.

505
00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:52,040
PM 2.5 is a zero threshold pollutant that increases risk of heart disease, lung disease, cancer, diabetes as well as neurological conditions such as ADHD and autism.

506
00:35:52,040 --> 00:36:03,040
These are all environmental exposures that shouldn't be that are setting our children up for more difficult difficulties and needs even before they step through the door of our schools.

507
00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:14,040
Then we sum up the highest ACE adverse childhood event scores in the state along with one of our highest per capita rates of homelessness for any school district in Wisconsin.

508
00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:25,040
Our children and families have needs and they need support, not cuts, and certainly no cuts of staff that has become family, a constant and critical person in their lives.

509
00:36:25,040 --> 00:36:36,040
I appreciate the state and political actors focused on destroying public education, have stripped and attacked public education and funding in Wisconsin for more than 15 years.

510
00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:40,040
The position you are in is unfair. It is nearly impossible.

511
00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:42,040
Okay.

512
00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:44,040
You can email that to the board members.

513
00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:45,040
Okay.

514
00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:53,040
Next, I have one from Leah to the Beloit school district board members, administrators and community leaders.

515
00:36:53,040 --> 00:37:00,040
I'm writing today with deep concern regarding the proposal to eliminate two nursing positions in the director position within the school district of Beloit.

516
00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:03,040
This decision will not simply be budget adjustment.

517
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:09,040
It would be a direct reduction in student safety, health equity, crisis response, capability, and educational support for some of the people.

518
00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:20,040
In our community, at a time when student health needs are higher than they've ever been, reducing health care staffing in schools is not only irresponsible but dangerously short sighted.

519
00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:23,040
Our schools are no longer just places of education.

520
00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:33,040
They are frontline centers for physical health, mental health support, crisis intervention, chronic disease management, medication administration, trauma response, and family stabilization.

521
00:37:34,040 --> 00:37:48,040
School nurses are often the very first health care professionals to identify signs of serious illness, abuse, neglect, suicidal ideation, anxiety disorders, asthma attacks, diabetic emergencies, allergic reactions, infections, and behavioral health crises.

522
00:37:48,040 --> 00:37:56,040
To remove two nurses from a district already carrying enormous health care responsibilities would dramatically increase risk for students and staff alike.

523
00:37:56,040 --> 00:38:03,040
Every single day, school nurses manage students with diabetes requiring blood sugar monitoring and insulin administration.

524
00:38:03,040 --> 00:38:25,040
Severe allergies requiring emergency intervention with epinephrine, asthma attacks that can become fatal within minutes, seizure disorders, mental health emergencies, medication administration for hundreds of students, communicable disease monitoring, injury response, emergency preparedness, health documentation, and compliance requirements, coordination for families, hospitals, physicians, and social services.

525
00:38:25,040 --> 00:38:29,040
Students experiencing homelessness, trauma, hunger, or neglect.

526
00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:31,040
These are not optional services.

527
00:38:31,040 --> 00:38:33,040
These are life-preserving responsibilities.

528
00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:37,040
When nurses are spread too thin, the response time increases.

529
00:38:37,040 --> 00:38:38,040
Mistakes become more likely.

530
00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:40,040
Students fall through the cracks.

531
00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:42,040
Emergencies become harder to manage.

532
00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:47,040
Staff members who are not medically trained are forced into situations they should never be expected to handle alone.

533
00:38:48,040 --> 00:38:53,040
One nurse trying to cover multiple buildings or overwhelming student caseloads is not efficiency.

534
00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:57,040
It's a setup for burnout, delayed care, and preventable tragedy.

535
00:38:57,040 --> 00:39:00,040
And eliminating the director position would only worsen the problem.

536
00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:11,040
A district health director provides essential leadership, coordination, compliance oversight, emergency planning, policy implementation, training, public health communication, and strategic health care management.

537
00:39:11,040 --> 00:39:18,040
Without centralized leadership, nurses become fragmented, unsupported, and overwhelmed by administrative burdens that pull them away from students.

538
00:39:18,040 --> 00:39:34,040
This position is especially critical now because schools are dealing with rising student anxiety and depression, increased behavioral crisis, higher rates of chronic absenteeism tied to health issues, ongoing communicable disease concerns, increased special education medical needs.

539
00:39:35,040 --> 00:39:42,040
More medically fragile students remaining in traditional school settings, staffing shortages across health care professions nationwide.

540
00:39:42,040 --> 00:39:43,040
The reality is this.

541
00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:51,040
The health care needs in schools have increased dramatically over the last decade, cutting health care staff in response to growing needs defies logic.

542
00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:55,040
The district must ask itself what message does this send a family?

543
00:39:56,040 --> 00:39:59,040
You can pour that to the board members too.

544
00:39:59,040 --> 00:40:00,040
Okay.

545
00:40:00,040 --> 00:40:04,040
The next one is from Stephanie.

546
00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:06,040
Good evening members of the Board of Education.

547
00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:14,040
I am writing to you about the fact that longevity pay for educators is still under consideration as one of the budget cuts for the 2627 school year.

548
00:40:14,040 --> 00:40:20,040
While I understand the need to reduce our budgets in many areas, I urge you to reconsider this option.

549
00:40:20,040 --> 00:40:37,040
Our dedicated and hardworking educators are the backbone of the Blight School District, and every year we hear the school district staff, board members and public talk about how important it is to attract and retain quality educators for our schools.

550
00:40:37,040 --> 00:40:41,040
And longevity pay is a shining example of how to do just that.

551
00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:49,040
Experience matters in the classroom, and as an educator in my 41st year of teaching, I can tell you that my experience is worth that little bit of extra pay

552
00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:56,040
that the longevity bonus gives me when surrounding districts are giving their staff higher than cost of living raises each year.

553
00:40:56,040 --> 00:41:06,040
While we barely get that, longevity pay is an incentive for educators to stay in our district and can be an incentive to someone considering employment in our district in the future.

554
00:41:06,040 --> 00:41:13,040
Please keep longevity pay for educators in the budget and show us that we are valuable to the Blight students in the school district to Blight.

555
00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:17,040
Thank you.

556
00:41:17,040 --> 00:41:19,040
Next one is from Shanae.

557
00:41:19,040 --> 00:41:20,040
Good evening.

558
00:41:20,040 --> 00:41:22,040
My name is Shanae, and I'm the school counselor at Hackett.

559
00:41:22,040 --> 00:41:28,040
I'm writing tonight about my concerns about some of the proposed reductions for the 26-27 school year.

560
00:41:28,040 --> 00:41:34,040
I wholeheartedly believe any staff person who deals directly with student behavior should not be cut.

561
00:41:34,040 --> 00:41:39,040
The reduction of the Dean of Students position would create an avalanche of problems at the elementary level.

562
00:41:39,040 --> 00:41:44,040
As someone who works in the trenches with student behaviors every day, I see daily what our Dean of Students,

563
00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:47,040
Mitchell Crisman does throughout his day.

564
00:41:47,040 --> 00:41:54,040
He provides heavy support with all students from EC3 to 5th grade, Special Ed, General Ed, and DLI.

565
00:41:54,040 --> 00:41:59,040
He's always stepping up and stepping in to cover for people since we are so severely short staffed every day.

566
00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:06,040
I cannot even imagine how the rest of the admin and student services team would be able to manage the building without our Dean of Students.

567
00:42:06,040 --> 00:42:13,040
These academic goals that the district has set for our students seem so out of reach already due to the behavioral management and lack of social emotional skills

568
00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:14,040
from our students.

569
00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:23,040
The solution to our budget crisis is not reducing staff that help manage these issues so students can learn and achieve their academic goals.

570
00:42:23,040 --> 00:42:30,040
The elimination of the assistant principal position last year had a huge impact on our school, and I am sure many others.

571
00:42:30,040 --> 00:42:35,040
But Mr. Crisman stepped in as Dean of Students and provided the behavioral support that we are missing.

572
00:42:35,040 --> 00:42:42,040
He is, and I cannot stress this enough, and I don't even feel like my words adequately describe a significant asset to our team.

573
00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:49,040
Again, it feels like these reduction thoughts are coming from individuals that are simply detached from the inner workings of the schools here in Beloit.

574
00:42:49,040 --> 00:42:56,040
Student behaviors are at an all-time high to an almost unmanageable level, and they will only increase over time and quickly.

575
00:42:56,040 --> 00:43:02,040
Cutting the Dean of Students position will only lead to more behavioral problems than academic problems for our students,

576
00:43:02,040 --> 00:43:08,040
and it's highly possible that with increased behavioral issues, more loyal and competent staff will leave the school district to Beloit.

577
00:43:08,040 --> 00:43:11,040
The problems will just continue and never get better.

578
00:43:11,040 --> 00:43:18,040
I strongly suggest that the district and board agree to keep on the Dean of Students positions in both budget reduction options.

579
00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:20,040
Thank you for your time.

580
00:43:32,040 --> 00:43:34,040
The next one is from Sarah.

581
00:43:35,040 --> 00:43:39,040
My name is Sarah. I teach 4th grade at Hackett. This is my 12th year in the district.

582
00:43:39,040 --> 00:43:46,040
Although I do not live in Beloit, I choose to commute here every day because I care deeply about the students and families in this community.

583
00:43:46,040 --> 00:43:54,040
I'm passionate about educating these children despite the daily challenges we face, and I am deeply concerned about the budget shortfall and the proposed cuts being discussed.

584
00:43:54,040 --> 00:44:02,040
I ask the board district leaders, colleagues, families, and stakeholders to carefully consider the impact these decisions will have on students and staff.

585
00:44:02,040 --> 00:44:06,040
First, I question the benefits of eliminating or reducing social worker positions.

586
00:44:06,040 --> 00:44:15,040
Social workers do far more than many people realize. They support student check-in checkout systems, help create behavior intervention plans,

587
00:44:15,040 --> 00:44:18,040
manage McKinney-Vento cases, and respond during behavior crises.

588
00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:24,040
Much of their work happens behind the scenes, but their presence is essential to keeping schools functioning safely and effectively.

589
00:44:25,040 --> 00:44:35,040
I would also like clarification on what the board considers to be reasonable class sizes, especially if the district expects improved test scores, closing achievement gaps, and stronger behavior management.

590
00:44:35,040 --> 00:44:41,040
I have taught classes of both 21 and 29 students at the elementary level, and neither was easy.

591
00:44:41,040 --> 00:44:48,040
Next year, I may have close to 32 students, while our school remains under increased DPI scrutiny for academic performance.

592
00:44:48,040 --> 00:44:58,040
Managing students with varying academic levels, behavioral needs, and special education services, while also meeting benchmark expectations becomes increasingly difficult as class sizes rise.

593
00:44:58,040 --> 00:45:07,040
If arts and sports programs are reduced or eliminated across schools and grade levels, one incentives will remain to attract and retain families in this district.

594
00:45:07,040 --> 00:45:11,040
These programs are often what keeps students engaged and connected to school.

595
00:45:11,040 --> 00:45:15,040
Hackett currently has one of the highest elementary enrollments in the district.

596
00:45:15,040 --> 00:45:25,040
How is the principal is expected to effectively manage 400 to 450 students, supervised staff, address behavior concerns, and improve academic outcomes without a dean of students?

597
00:45:25,040 --> 00:45:31,040
From the perspective of those to us working directly with students every day, these decisions are difficult to understand.

598
00:45:31,040 --> 00:45:39,040
Finally, if elementary teachers lose prep time due to reduced library staffing, if the district prepared to compensate teachers for that lost time,

599
00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:41,040
libraries are not optional resources.

600
00:45:41,040 --> 00:45:49,040
If the district's goal is to move students toward success, then providing access to books, literacy support, and library services should remain a priority.

601
00:45:49,040 --> 00:45:53,040
Final words, student needs supports, not cuts.

602
00:45:59,040 --> 00:46:01,040
This next one is from Mitchell.

603
00:46:01,040 --> 00:46:03,040
He's currently the dean of students at Hackett.

604
00:46:04,040 --> 00:46:12,040
I've been working with the district for five years and decided to step out of the classroom and into a leadership role beginning with the school year when the dean position was created.

605
00:46:12,040 --> 00:46:16,040
Every year has come with challenges, but this has given me ample reason to leave the district.

606
00:46:16,040 --> 00:46:23,040
I have stuck with the district because I have a deep level of care, compassion, and dedication to our families, our students, and our staff.

607
00:46:23,040 --> 00:46:28,040
I work extra long hours, put forth more than 100% effort, and push our students to be the best it can be.

608
00:46:29,040 --> 00:46:35,040
I'm the type of staff member that would work in the district for my entire career if I was treated with fairness and respect.

609
00:46:35,040 --> 00:46:40,040
As the dean, my position is vital to the success and safety of students and staff in our buildings.

610
00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:49,040
The office constantly hears from teachers how grateful they are that the dean is able to go around and visit classrooms and deal with behavior issues that stop the rest of the classroom learning.

611
00:46:49,040 --> 00:46:54,040
We are told over and over again how important it is that students feel safe and welcome in our schools.

612
00:46:54,040 --> 00:47:00,040
If they are constantly fearful and worried about behaviors in their classrooms, then they will struggle to learn.

613
00:47:00,040 --> 00:47:07,040
Not only does having a dean help facilitate this learning, but it ensures that the principal is able to continue to run the building.

614
00:47:07,040 --> 00:47:16,040
It takes our entire office team of social workers, school site, counselor, principal, and dean to be able to handle all the behavior issues that pop up throughout the school day.

615
00:47:16,040 --> 00:47:22,040
Even with the full team, we are on the border of collapsing every single day because of how many behaviors occur on a daily basis.

616
00:47:22,040 --> 00:47:27,040
In the past, the district has used lead teachers to fill in the absence of a second administrator.

617
00:47:27,040 --> 00:47:31,040
In our current climate, we barely have enough teachers to staff our buildings fully.

618
00:47:31,040 --> 00:47:38,040
Let alone have a sub to be able to cover a class should a person be pulled to be the lead teacher and be in charge of a building.

619
00:47:38,040 --> 00:47:45,040
Pulling someone to do that job would critically hinder the ability of our staff to function in a way that would allow our students and staff to feel safe.

620
00:47:45,040 --> 00:47:51,040
In addition to being in charge of student behavior, helping with attendance and facilitating MLSS meetings and procedures,

621
00:47:51,040 --> 00:47:57,040
the dean is also the one responsible for stepping in to lead the building in the principal's absence, whatever the reason.

622
00:47:57,040 --> 00:48:04,040
Should the dean position be eliminated, not only would our behavioral issues cause further problems with student achievement and success,

623
00:48:04,040 --> 00:48:11,040
but we would lose numerous staff members who rely on a dean to be able to have smooth and success day of teaching.

624
00:48:11,040 --> 00:48:17,040
Staff at Hackett feel more supported this year than they have in years past, and should there no longer be a dean position,

625
00:48:17,040 --> 00:48:22,040
than many people would consider leaving the district due to erupting their behavior issues and severity.

626
00:48:22,040 --> 00:48:30,040
Not only do the classroom teachers rely on the dean position, but the principal relies on the dean for assistance in ensuring the building runs smoothly and safely.

627
00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:37,040
The school could simply not function without a second person to help deal with behaviors and other issues that pop up throughout the day.

628
00:48:37,040 --> 00:48:41,040
I have missed two days the entire school year due to being extremely sick,

629
00:48:41,040 --> 00:48:45,040
and even while out of the building, I was assisting with behaviors in the ways that I could from home

630
00:48:45,040 --> 00:48:49,040
in order to maintain the potential for students to have a successful day.

631
00:48:49,040 --> 00:48:54,040
When I arrived back in the building the next day, I was met with sighs of relief and comments about never being gone again,

632
00:48:54,040 --> 00:49:01,040
because of how hard it is to not have a full office team available to deal with our outpouring of interventions that happen every day.

633
00:49:01,040 --> 00:49:06,040
Thank you for taking the time to consider not eliminating such a crucial position to our district.

634
00:49:07,040 --> 00:49:10,040
And the last one I have is from Mitchell.

635
00:49:10,040 --> 00:49:17,040
To whom it may concern, I'm writing this letter about the concern of possible reduction of nurses and HRA's in the school district of Beloit.

636
00:49:17,040 --> 00:49:22,040
The health room assistant and nurses play a vital daily role in maintaining a safe learning environment.

637
00:49:22,040 --> 00:49:27,040
The removal of these positions is a matter of critical concern for student safety and well-being.

638
00:49:27,040 --> 00:49:30,040
My concerns are based on the following.

639
00:49:31,040 --> 00:49:38,040
Reduction or elimination of these roles will only reduce instructional time for teachers as they will be trying to manage medical health issues

640
00:49:38,040 --> 00:49:43,040
that they are not comfortable with and or may not be trained on.

641
00:49:43,040 --> 00:49:50,040
This could possibly delay treating several allergies, daily scheduled feedings, daily scheduled meds, seizures, and daily insulin management.

642
00:49:50,040 --> 00:49:57,040
The elementary school IAMAT has 18 scheduled medications a daily, including two feedings that are done twice daily

643
00:49:57,040 --> 00:50:03,040
and can be time consuming at times depending on the student behavior and or the equipment not working properly.

644
00:50:03,040 --> 00:50:14,040
This is not counting students that may encounter an injury emergency while at school, not feeling well or a staff member that is experiencing an emergency medical as well.

645
00:50:14,040 --> 00:50:18,040
Who will make the decision on how to prioritize students' medical needs?

646
00:50:18,040 --> 00:50:20,040
Who will be available for student IEPs?

647
00:50:20,040 --> 00:50:23,040
The amount of health conditions on students is on the rise daily.

648
00:50:24,040 --> 00:50:30,040
The Director of School Health is such a critical role as nurses do at times also reach out to her for further guidance.

649
00:50:30,040 --> 00:50:36,040
If nurses are absent for the day, the HREs reach out to the Director of School Health for further guidance if needed.

650
00:50:36,040 --> 00:50:42,040
As other nurses are so busy with their schools that they are not able to take our calls at times,

651
00:50:42,040 --> 00:50:47,040
the nurse director makes sure that all staff are in compliance with nursing standards.

652
00:50:47,040 --> 00:50:54,040
The nurse director takes care of the back-end work that is required, making sure all policies and procedures are being applied.

653
00:50:54,040 --> 00:51:00,040
She also steps in to cover schools when staff calls off or staff have to leave for an urgent matter.

654
00:51:00,040 --> 00:51:01,040
Her list goes on and on.

655
00:51:01,040 --> 00:51:06,040
I strongly urge the Board to reconsider these cuts and prioritize student and staff safety.

656
00:51:06,040 --> 00:51:09,040
The physical safety of our children should be non-negotiable.

657
00:51:09,040 --> 00:51:10,040
Thank you for your time.

658
00:51:10,040 --> 00:51:12,040
And that's all I have.

659
00:51:12,040 --> 00:51:13,040
Thank you.

660
00:51:13,040 --> 00:51:23,040
I don't have another email to read.

661
00:51:23,040 --> 00:51:30,040
I have one giving time to somebody, but that person didn't submit one to read.

662
00:51:30,040 --> 00:51:36,040
Also, if the emails are not received before 12 noon.

663
00:51:36,040 --> 00:51:37,040
Okay.

664
00:51:37,040 --> 00:51:40,040
I'm sorry.

665
00:51:40,040 --> 00:51:41,040
It's not here.

666
00:51:41,040 --> 00:51:42,040
Okay.

667
00:51:42,040 --> 00:51:45,040
Thank you, Mrs. Show.

668
00:51:45,040 --> 00:51:52,040
Our next agenda item is the budget proposals.

669
00:51:52,040 --> 00:52:06,040
And to follow up with what Mr. Holyhead said, we need to focus on getting a referendum to pass because our district does deserve more money financially.

670
00:52:07,040 --> 00:52:15,040
I don't think there is any board member up here that would disagree with that statement.

671
00:52:15,040 --> 00:52:20,040
Many people have a hard time understanding Wisconsin public school funding.

672
00:52:20,040 --> 00:52:27,040
It's an ever moving target and it's never an exact science.

673
00:52:27,040 --> 00:52:38,040
It's very, very confusing to many people because our 26, 27 school year budget starts July 1st.

674
00:52:38,040 --> 00:52:52,040
However, the budget is not finalized until the end of October when we know how many students we're going to have and how much money we are able to receive from the state.

675
00:52:52,040 --> 00:52:56,040
Between now and then there are a lot of moving variables.

676
00:52:56,040 --> 00:52:58,040
How many students are we going to have?

677
00:52:58,040 --> 00:53:01,040
How much money are we going to have?

678
00:53:01,040 --> 00:53:10,040
And what is the appetite of the public for us to be able to tax to the maximum allowable leverage?

679
00:53:10,040 --> 00:53:16,040
We know that everything that we do in the district is important.

680
00:53:16,040 --> 00:53:19,040
If it wasn't, it already would have been cut.

681
00:53:19,040 --> 00:53:32,040
And that's because we have been trying to get a referendum to pass, but we've been also having to deal with the reality of the budget shortfalls that we've had every year.

682
00:53:32,040 --> 00:53:35,040
This year is the easy year.

683
00:53:35,040 --> 00:53:45,040
And we were recently informed that our short shortfall went from 4 million to closer to 6 million.

684
00:53:45,040 --> 00:53:49,040
There are, again, it's an ever moving target.

685
00:53:49,040 --> 00:53:50,040
What plays into that?

686
00:53:50,040 --> 00:53:57,040
Cost of transportation, cost of fuel, cost of healthcare, all kinds of things.

687
00:53:57,040 --> 00:54:12,040
Now, we all learned that, or maybe not all, but yesterday we were informed that Governor Evers and Senator Voth are working on or have come up with a budget amendment for the

688
00:54:12,040 --> 00:54:18,040
biennial budget that may help benefit school districts.

689
00:54:18,040 --> 00:54:19,040
That's great.

690
00:54:19,040 --> 00:54:26,040
It has the approval of those senators, but we and the governor, but we need for it to get all the way through.

691
00:54:26,040 --> 00:54:28,040
Can we sit and wait?

692
00:54:28,040 --> 00:54:40,040
Well, we could, but then we are also holding everybody else up who may be wondering whether or not they're going to have a job going into next school year.

693
00:54:40,040 --> 00:54:47,040
The reason we have tonight's meeting is because we still need to make reductions.

694
00:54:47,040 --> 00:55:09,040
I am very hopeful that the budget will, amendment will pass, but I'm not going to risk the mental state of our employees worrying until that passes.

695
00:55:09,040 --> 00:55:22,040
And it sounds like there's already pushback from both sides of the aisle on that amendment, but we want to give you guys the most information we can up front.

696
00:55:22,040 --> 00:55:27,040
And that's really, ultimately, what we need to all be about.

697
00:55:27,040 --> 00:55:38,040
All of us sharing information, sharing information in a timely manner, and above all else, keeping our focus on what's in the best interest of life.

698
00:55:38,040 --> 00:55:41,040
The best interest of the students.

699
00:55:41,040 --> 00:55:50,040
And if you look at our DPI report cards, we're not doing real great, folks.

700
00:55:50,040 --> 00:55:58,040
I know we are all doing great things, and there are great things happening in every single classroom in every single building.

701
00:55:58,040 --> 00:56:06,040
I know because I visit the buildings, and when I go there, I see great things and things to be excited and to celebrate.

702
00:56:06,040 --> 00:56:14,040
But overall, compared to all of the other 419 districts in the state, we're not doing very good.

703
00:56:14,040 --> 00:56:16,040
And I know we can be doing better.

704
00:56:16,040 --> 00:56:25,040
I know change is hard, but I'm going to ask that we all try to chip in and make these changes together.

705
00:56:25,040 --> 00:56:35,040
And with understanding and compassion and care, and knowing that we are all doing what we need to do in the best interest of our students.

706
00:56:35,040 --> 00:56:39,040
There are a lot of difficult choices ahead.

707
00:56:39,040 --> 00:56:51,040
And I really thank all of you for being here tonight, and I thank you all for your concern and commitment to our students and to one another.

708
00:56:51,040 --> 00:56:55,040
And Mrs. Alberto, it's good to see you again.

709
00:56:55,040 --> 00:57:05,040
A couple of weeks ago, the board passed the board guidance for the 2627 budget.

710
00:57:05,040 --> 00:57:20,040
This is a document presented to the administration laying out some of the board's primary focuses that we want in this budget priorities.

711
00:57:20,040 --> 00:57:29,040
How do we place students in instructional spaces that best meet their needs with a priority of being student focused?

712
00:57:29,040 --> 00:57:34,040
One, maintain existing district to pupil ratio guidelines.

713
00:57:34,040 --> 00:57:44,040
Our guidelines, if anybody wants to know, are in policy 43.2.

714
00:57:44,040 --> 00:57:57,040
Preserve and focus on staff retention and recruitment by providing a 2.63 CPI increase for the professional staff for the upcoming budget.

715
00:57:57,040 --> 00:58:09,040
Prioritize district programs and initiatives that drive student enrollment to minimize enrollment reduced enrollment patterns for the district.

716
00:58:09,040 --> 00:58:12,040
I think that might be a typo.

717
00:58:12,040 --> 00:58:28,040
Also at our last regular board meeting, the issue of longevity paid did come up, and it was the consensus, a unanimous consensus of this board that if we need to dip into the OPEB funds that we will do that,

718
00:58:28,040 --> 00:58:39,040
it's important that we retain the talent of our long-term employees, including those that I went to 2nd grade Waterman School with.

719
00:58:39,040 --> 00:58:47,040
Dr. Anderson, I'll turn it over to you now.

720
00:58:47,040 --> 00:58:52,040
All right, thank you. First, I'm posting myself this way so I can talk to both sides.

721
00:58:52,040 --> 00:58:56,040
Before I start, first, welcome Bill and Dan.

722
00:58:56,040 --> 00:58:57,040
Thank you.

723
00:58:57,040 --> 00:59:00,040
Start smiling. You have good work in front of you.

724
00:59:00,040 --> 00:59:06,040
And then before I start, I want to give a hearty thanks to the executive cabinet for those who don't know.

725
00:59:06,040 --> 00:59:12,040
When I was hired, I told the board, I'll be happy to come, but you have to realize I have some vacations planned.

726
00:59:12,040 --> 00:59:18,040
And one was to go to Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji for a little over a month.

727
00:59:18,040 --> 00:59:25,040
So I got back on, I left on April 6th, and I got back Saturday afternoon.

728
00:59:25,040 --> 00:59:34,040
So in my absence, the executive cabinet has done an outstanding job and I couldn't be happier.

729
00:59:34,040 --> 00:59:44,040
So I want to make sure I give a call out to Dr. Malott, Ms. Elwood, Ms. Almondaris, and Mrs. Beavers, because they did,

730
00:59:44,040 --> 00:59:48,040
when I wasn't here, it didn't stop.

731
00:59:48,040 --> 00:59:52,040
They had to continue on, and of course the budget doesn't stop.

732
00:59:52,040 --> 00:59:56,040
We talked about the budget one before I left.

733
00:59:56,040 --> 01:00:03,040
Budget discussions had to continue, so they have been doing just an outstanding job and I just can't thank them enough for everything.

734
01:00:03,040 --> 01:00:10,040
They did, and each of the principals for all that they did because they were involved in the meetings also.

735
01:00:10,040 --> 01:00:12,040
Now let's get down to the realities.

736
01:00:12,040 --> 01:00:18,040
One is, when I left on vacation, we had $4.5 million to cut from a budget.

737
01:00:18,040 --> 01:00:23,040
When I got back from vacation, the number had changed to $5.7 million.

738
01:00:23,040 --> 01:00:24,040
Why the difference?

739
01:00:24,040 --> 01:00:29,040
The difference because of the health increase of 18%, we budgeted about 10.

740
01:00:29,040 --> 01:00:34,040
Increased transportation costs of about $500,000.

741
01:00:34,040 --> 01:00:40,040
So we have a larger deficit than we originally projected.

742
01:00:40,040 --> 01:00:47,040
There is no way out of the deficit without personnel cuts.

743
01:00:47,040 --> 01:00:49,040
There is no magic.

744
01:00:49,040 --> 01:00:51,040
There is nothing that I can say.

745
01:00:51,040 --> 01:00:53,040
I'm not going to create new dollars.

746
01:00:53,040 --> 01:00:56,040
I'm not expecting a lot of new dollars to come.

747
01:00:56,040 --> 01:01:02,040
There are no ways to balance the budget without personnel cuts.

748
01:01:02,040 --> 01:01:05,040
Does that mean the personnel aren't valued?

749
01:01:05,040 --> 01:01:06,040
No.

750
01:01:06,040 --> 01:01:11,040
What it simply means is when you have less students, you get less resources.

751
01:01:11,040 --> 01:01:23,040
When you have less resources and you have cut almost everything else to the bone, the only thing left is to look at staffing, which usually is about 80% of your budget is salary and fringe benefits.

752
01:01:24,040 --> 01:01:27,040
But this is an discussion about just tonight's budget.

753
01:01:27,040 --> 01:01:41,040
This is an interwoven discussion because it's tonight's budget, or next year's, which we have to balance for 5.7, and it's the 2728 budget, which is a larger fiscal cliff.

754
01:01:41,040 --> 01:01:50,040
We all know the realities that the Learning Center, the Lincoln Academy, I should say, is expanding.

755
01:01:50,040 --> 01:01:54,040
We can watch the construction from our windows.

756
01:01:54,040 --> 01:02:07,040
When that finishes for the 2728 school year, I'm led to believe that it can at that time double its size, which means it could take up to another 700 plus students from us.

757
01:02:07,040 --> 01:02:09,040
That is a reality.

758
01:02:09,040 --> 01:02:11,040
How many will take the first year?

759
01:02:11,040 --> 01:02:12,040
I don't know.

760
01:02:12,040 --> 01:02:22,040
One of the first discussions that we'll have to have is with the Lincoln Academy for how they're going to go about filling their slots.

761
01:02:22,040 --> 01:02:25,040
Are they going to fill all of their slots in the first year?

762
01:02:25,040 --> 01:02:28,040
Are they going to do it over a period of years?

763
01:02:28,040 --> 01:02:34,040
In the end, it's still going to have 700 and some student capacity that it doesn't have now.

764
01:02:34,040 --> 01:02:36,040
That is a reality.

765
01:02:36,040 --> 01:02:40,040
Another reality is that where the vast amount of those students are going to come from.

766
01:02:40,040 --> 01:02:44,040
They're going to come from Beloit because it is close.

767
01:02:44,040 --> 01:02:46,040
It is in the same town.

768
01:02:46,040 --> 01:02:48,040
That is a reality.

769
01:02:48,040 --> 01:02:50,040
What is the other reality?

770
01:02:50,040 --> 01:03:00,040
There is no person who can create a budget for you that is sustainable until we solve the problem of declining enrollment.

771
01:03:00,040 --> 01:03:02,040
We have to come up with the solution.

772
01:03:02,040 --> 01:03:04,040
Why do students leave?

773
01:03:04,040 --> 01:03:07,040
We have to fix that issue.

774
01:03:07,040 --> 01:03:13,040
If we can come to a stable population, let's say 4,000 students.

775
01:03:13,040 --> 01:03:16,040
One time we're 8,000 or about 8,000.

776
01:03:16,040 --> 01:03:19,040
Now you're about 4,500.

777
01:03:19,040 --> 01:03:21,040
My guess is 4,000.

778
01:03:21,040 --> 01:03:32,040
If you could stabilize at 4,000 and we knew that that was going to be consistent, could somebody create you a three, four, five year plan about what to do?

779
01:03:32,040 --> 01:03:34,040
The answer is yes.

780
01:03:34,040 --> 01:03:47,040
If you continue to lose 200 students a year or more, there is no budgetary solution because you're going to cut and you're going to cut and you're going to cut.

781
01:03:47,040 --> 01:03:50,040
You can't cut your way to success.

782
01:03:50,040 --> 01:03:53,040
We also have to have a referendum.

783
01:03:53,040 --> 01:03:58,040
The last referendums have not proved successful in the district.

784
01:03:58,040 --> 01:04:03,040
We have to look at what is it going to take to have a successful referendum?

785
01:04:03,040 --> 01:04:06,040
These are all interwoven.

786
01:04:06,040 --> 01:04:09,040
There is not one separate from the other.

787
01:04:09,040 --> 01:04:14,040
How do we do this?

788
01:04:14,040 --> 01:04:24,040
The first thing is we look at what is it that we need to do to construct a budget to balance it for the 26, 27 school year?

789
01:04:24,040 --> 01:04:26,040
It's going to have staff cuts.

790
01:04:26,040 --> 01:04:30,040
There's nothing I'm going to tell you that's going to take that away.

791
01:04:30,040 --> 01:04:38,040
What I can tell you is that I don't like to stay into one spot.

792
01:04:38,040 --> 01:04:43,040
I'm kind of a wanderer, but for the mic I'll do my best.

793
01:04:43,040 --> 01:04:53,040
When the referendum, and we have to have that question done by the end of August, we're going to need to state specific needs.

794
01:04:54,040 --> 01:04:57,040
I'm going to get my water.

795
01:04:57,040 --> 01:05:02,040
I'll be right back to the station break.

796
01:05:02,040 --> 01:05:05,040
You should all know that originally I was not going into education.

797
01:05:05,040 --> 01:05:11,040
I was going to be a pastor, so hopefully this is not a sermon.

798
01:05:11,040 --> 01:05:16,040
That was my original calling.

799
01:05:16,040 --> 01:05:18,040
We have to look at a referendum.

800
01:05:18,040 --> 01:05:21,040
We have to be detailed on what it is.

801
01:05:21,040 --> 01:05:27,040
If a referendum is going to pass in this community, I believe we need to say a little bit like James said.

802
01:05:27,040 --> 01:05:40,040
We need to lay out what it is exactly, what we need, what is that going to cost, and what is the impact if it fails?

803
01:05:40,040 --> 01:05:41,040
How do we start?

804
01:05:41,040 --> 01:05:48,040
I used to teach finance for a university in Wisconsin Madison, taught for about 17 years.

805
01:05:48,040 --> 01:05:50,040
I taught those classes.

806
01:05:50,040 --> 01:06:08,040
The first thing I would tell all my students would be when you construct a budget, see a human face in every dollar, because every dollar that you allocate or that you cut is going to have an impact on an individual.

807
01:06:08,040 --> 01:06:17,040
Take a look at what the impact is going to be and try to make decisions that have the least amount of negative impact possible.

808
01:06:17,040 --> 01:06:21,040
That's what we have to do for at least the upcoming.

809
01:06:21,040 --> 01:06:22,040
All right.

810
01:06:22,040 --> 01:06:27,040
What are some potential solutions?

811
01:06:27,040 --> 01:06:46,040
One is, since we're going to have to cut staff, my first take is that let's look at the positions that we have in the district that are currently either vacant or that we're going to be vacant because through attrition

812
01:06:46,040 --> 01:06:48,040
or that we have through contracted staff.

813
01:06:48,040 --> 01:07:02,040
In other words, the staff members who have dedicated their lives to this district and have done the things that we've asked them to do, what can we do to preserve those spots?

814
01:07:02,040 --> 01:07:08,040
Because I believe in protecting people, I do not believe in protecting positions.

815
01:07:08,040 --> 01:07:21,040
If we go in, we eliminate what I would call, I'll call them vacant positions for next year, we could cut 37 positions from the budget.

816
01:07:21,040 --> 01:07:31,040
37 positions from the budget are basically going to be $3,874,616.

817
01:07:31,040 --> 01:07:32,040
All right.

818
01:07:32,040 --> 01:07:33,040
It's an amount.

819
01:07:33,040 --> 01:07:36,040
Is it the 5.7 that we need?

820
01:07:36,040 --> 01:07:37,040
No.

821
01:07:37,040 --> 01:07:40,040
So then you can take a look at.

822
01:07:40,040 --> 01:07:41,040
All right.

823
01:07:41,040 --> 01:07:49,040
When we cut staff, one of the things we can take a look at in a referendum is, what can we put back in?

824
01:07:49,040 --> 01:08:03,040
In other words, if I have to cut something, I can put that back into the referendum to say, if the public values this position, then here's what the position costs.

825
01:08:03,040 --> 01:08:09,040
If you're willing to support it, then here's what's going to do to your tax bill to put it back in.

826
01:08:09,040 --> 01:08:16,040
People are going to have to see and make decisions of what it is that they truly value in the district or not.

827
01:08:16,040 --> 01:08:24,040
So in some of those positions that are vacant, where they mentioned tonight, the answer is yes.

828
01:08:24,040 --> 01:08:36,040
They were because they would be either, you know, either someone's not currently have it or someone retired or left the district, but it created a vacancy.

829
01:08:36,040 --> 01:08:39,040
We can take a look at.

830
01:08:39,040 --> 01:08:44,040
I know that the board in their goals said.

831
01:08:44,040 --> 01:08:47,040
We want to make sure we give all the staff a raise.

832
01:08:47,040 --> 01:08:48,040
All right.

833
01:08:48,040 --> 01:08:50,040
I know this part of their goals.

834
01:08:50,040 --> 01:08:55,040
However, my job is to try to create options to take a look at.

835
01:08:55,040 --> 01:08:58,040
Even options that are unpopular.

836
01:08:58,040 --> 01:09:12,040
If you were to look at a salary freeze across the board in all areas, you'd save another $1.1,253,000.

837
01:09:13,040 --> 01:09:30,040
Now, what I would leave as a caveat to that is that one of the things I think is important about selling a referendum is that people want to know that the money that they give is going to directly impact staff.

838
01:09:30,040 --> 01:09:33,040
You could put that in a referendum in November.

839
01:09:33,040 --> 01:09:42,040
If it passes, you can make the pay increase retroactive to the beginning of the year.

840
01:09:42,040 --> 01:09:45,040
But that remembers, that means it has to pass.

841
01:09:45,040 --> 01:09:46,040
All right.

842
01:09:46,040 --> 01:09:53,040
If it doesn't pass, there is no money to give a wage increase.

843
01:09:53,040 --> 01:09:59,040
But if our next referendum doesn't pass, we have a lot of other issues we have to deal with.

844
01:09:59,040 --> 01:10:09,040
Governor Eveners did have a working on some type of a compromise or a deal with the legislature.

845
01:10:09,040 --> 01:10:13,040
I am confident that something will be passed.

846
01:10:13,040 --> 01:10:28,040
We took a look on what the information that we've been provided that I think that if what is currently being discussed and voted on comes to fruition,

847
01:10:28,040 --> 01:10:37,040
which we'll know by the end of the week, I think that would bring in a minimum of $1 million to our district.

848
01:10:37,040 --> 01:10:39,040
Those are some things right away.

849
01:10:39,040 --> 01:10:49,040
So if you take those amounts of things, so if you take away our vacant staff, if you take away, if you free salaries for a year,

850
01:10:49,040 --> 01:10:59,040
if you add the additional million dollars, now you're coming close to a balanced budget.

851
01:10:59,040 --> 01:11:10,040
But that way that goes on the backs of all staff, because there is no guarantee that I can give anyone in this room that a referendum is going to pass.

852
01:11:10,040 --> 01:11:17,040
All I can tell you is that whatever the referendum is, we need to explain in detail what we're asking for.

853
01:11:17,040 --> 01:11:21,040
We need to explain in detail what they're going to get for their dollars.

854
01:11:21,040 --> 01:11:29,040
They're going to want to see what it is that they're going to get for their money that they got their money's worth.

855
01:11:29,040 --> 01:11:35,040
Most of the time I'd ask for recurring, which means a year after year, I don't think that would pass.

856
01:11:35,040 --> 01:11:41,040
I think what you're going to have to do is you're going to have to go for a non-recurring of two years at the max three.

857
01:11:41,040 --> 01:11:52,040
So if the public realizes they have the opportunity to evaluate what we're doing, and if it's a value, then we have to come back in two or three more years to ask for more money again.

858
01:11:52,040 --> 01:11:56,040
If they don't see it's a value, they're going to vote no.

859
01:11:56,040 --> 01:12:00,040
If they did see it's a value, then hopefully they'll continue to vote yes.

860
01:12:00,040 --> 01:12:04,040
That is one option to get us there.

861
01:12:04,040 --> 01:12:06,040
Now, that is not the only option.

862
01:12:06,040 --> 01:12:08,040
That is an option.

863
01:12:09,040 --> 01:12:15,040
The other option is to give the salary and fringe benefit increase, which we know that every one of the staff deserve.

864
01:12:15,040 --> 01:12:19,040
There is no doubt in my mind that that is.

865
01:12:19,040 --> 01:12:25,040
That is going to require, you know, I didn't have a call.

866
01:12:25,040 --> 01:12:35,040
I'd say I'd be allergic to stress, but then I'd be, you know, I'd be incapacitated most days.

867
01:12:36,040 --> 01:12:45,040
And I actually don't mind talking with you about this because it is important.

868
01:12:45,040 --> 01:12:50,040
So if we give all the raises, then I have to cut more positions.

869
01:12:50,040 --> 01:12:55,040
I have to cut positions that are more than what is vacant.

870
01:12:55,040 --> 01:13:04,040
We'd have to take a look at, and as I said, my executive cabinet did a tremendous job of taking a look at positions meeting with all of the building principles to look at.

871
01:13:04,040 --> 01:13:06,040
What it is that we could cut.

872
01:13:06,040 --> 01:13:13,040
So if we don't do that, we have to go back and determine what additional staffing cuts do we need to make.

873
01:13:13,040 --> 01:13:27,040
Whatever staffing cuts we make, we can then put back into a referendum to explain the cost of these programs and what it is that we believe the benefit.

874
01:13:27,040 --> 01:13:32,040
And obviously, if it fails, that means that we would not be able to put that back in.

875
01:13:32,040 --> 01:13:34,040
That's really where we're at.

876
01:13:34,040 --> 01:13:40,040
Both of the proposals lay out things for this year.

877
01:13:40,040 --> 01:13:43,040
Basically, they have two proposals.

878
01:13:43,040 --> 01:13:46,040
One is much more aggressive than the other.

879
01:13:46,040 --> 01:13:48,040
The proposals A and B evolve.

880
01:13:48,040 --> 01:13:52,040
Seeing them, we can put them up if that becomes necessary.

881
01:13:52,040 --> 01:14:00,040
Proposal A basically keeps all programs where they are now in buildings, but it reduces staff.

882
01:14:00,040 --> 01:14:02,040
Proposal B is more aggressive.

883
01:14:02,040 --> 01:14:07,040
It starts saying let's start shifting programs to different buildings.

884
01:14:07,040 --> 01:14:14,040
So in effect, you know, buildings would not, all buildings would not be used in the current fashion that they're being used.

885
01:14:14,040 --> 01:14:18,040
It is much more aggressive, it would save more money.

886
01:14:18,040 --> 01:14:25,040
But again, it causes more changes.

887
01:14:25,040 --> 01:14:39,040
I am not in favor of Proposal B to act on for next year because I don't think that we have sufficient time to really do a good job of moving programs and positions around.

888
01:14:39,040 --> 01:14:50,040
However, I think it is extremely important that we start having these discussions now because there is going to be a fiscal cliff in a year.

889
01:14:50,040 --> 01:14:53,040
I cannot repeat that enough.

890
01:14:53,040 --> 01:15:03,040
And I think we need to start having the discussions with everyone in the schools with all the staff, with all the residents that are around.

891
01:15:03,040 --> 01:15:16,040
Irregardless of whether or not they like decisions or not, I want people to know that before we make the decisions, they're going to have every opportunity to listen to why they're being made and to give their input.

892
01:15:16,040 --> 01:15:23,040
Because in a year, somebody is going to have to make some tough decisions.

893
01:15:23,040 --> 01:15:30,040
Now, announcement, announcement.

894
01:15:30,040 --> 01:15:33,040
I really want to retire.

895
01:15:34,040 --> 01:15:48,040
But the bottom line is, it's not fair to the staff or the board or the community to try to saddle this to somebody else to come in.

896
01:15:49,040 --> 01:16:07,040
So, if the board wants me, I will stay on a little longer to help you through this process so that when the big issues happen, they can fall on my shoulders rather than the shoulders of the new superintendent.

897
01:16:08,040 --> 01:16:16,040
Whoever that is, and that is going to be a big decision for the board to make and a big decision for the community.

898
01:16:16,040 --> 01:16:24,040
But it wouldn't be right or fair to try to put somebody brand new in the position to walk into this.

899
01:16:24,040 --> 01:16:29,040
So, I haven't told my wife yet.

900
01:16:30,040 --> 01:16:39,040
Fortunately, I was a lot lighter when this ring went on. I don't think it comes off very easy.

901
01:16:39,040 --> 01:16:43,040
But I just want to know that I'm not going to leave you in this alone.

902
01:16:43,040 --> 01:16:47,040
That's the bottom line. I'm not going to leave you in this alone.

903
01:16:47,040 --> 01:16:53,040
But I'm not a magician. I don't have any magic answers to how this is going to happen.

904
01:16:53,040 --> 01:17:00,040
There's no, I don't have any secret juice or smells or knowledge.

905
01:17:00,040 --> 01:17:03,040
All I can say is that we need to have a lot of discussions.

906
01:17:03,040 --> 01:17:08,040
We've talked about what committees we should form as a board.

907
01:17:08,040 --> 01:17:16,040
I think one of the first committees that really we need to take a look at, in regards to what we call it, is the committee to stop the bleeding.

908
01:17:17,040 --> 01:17:22,040
What is it? Because that is the core issue.

909
01:17:22,040 --> 01:17:26,040
We can't continue to have students leave our district.

910
01:17:26,040 --> 01:17:32,040
We need to have a stable population.

911
01:17:32,040 --> 01:17:37,040
We try to bring back some of the students that we've left, that have left us.

912
01:17:37,040 --> 01:17:41,040
If we can do that, we can set a roadmap for success.

913
01:17:41,040 --> 01:17:44,040
But that's what we have to tackle.

914
01:17:44,040 --> 01:17:49,040
We have lots of reasons why we believe that's going to happen, but I think those are the discussions.

915
01:17:49,040 --> 01:17:59,040
If we have any group, I think the group is, what are we going to do to stabilize and possibly bring back students into our district?

916
01:17:59,040 --> 01:18:07,040
When you solve that problem, the budgetary problems won't be nearly as significant.

917
01:18:08,040 --> 01:18:10,040
Now, I was talking to James today.

918
01:18:10,040 --> 01:18:15,040
James said, you know when I didn't get wrong, James, you can correct me.

919
01:18:15,040 --> 01:18:23,040
He said, you know, I was talking to my wife, and I said, what are we going to have just like a normal school year?

920
01:18:23,040 --> 01:18:25,040
You know, like just a normal year.

921
01:18:25,040 --> 01:18:36,040
You know, we just work worry about like curriculum and what we're teaching that we're not always thinking about budget cuts and program cuts and cuts and cuts.

922
01:18:36,040 --> 01:18:39,040
I think I added the cuts and cuts part.

923
01:18:39,040 --> 01:18:46,040
But the bottom line is, those days aren't going to come until we stabilize our student enrollment.

924
01:18:46,040 --> 01:18:49,040
Now let's figure out how we're going to get there.

925
01:18:49,040 --> 01:18:54,040
So, what are the decisions that the board is going to have to make?

926
01:18:54,040 --> 01:19:00,040
The big ones are, how much of a cut do we do this year for staffing?

927
01:19:00,040 --> 01:19:08,040
I am not a proponent of going into, in this case, OPEB or Fund Equity.

928
01:19:08,040 --> 01:19:10,040
I really am not.

929
01:19:10,040 --> 01:19:29,040
But the bottom line is if we go into that for a one year time period, this next year, to give us a time to put a referendum together to tell people what it is that we need and give them the opportunity to vote, that that might be beneficial for a year.

930
01:19:29,040 --> 01:19:37,040
But, you know, there are no guarantees.

931
01:19:37,040 --> 01:19:42,040
Now, there are other areas that we can take a look at making cuts.

932
01:19:42,040 --> 01:19:46,040
Or I should say, one is we talk about middle school athletics.

933
01:19:46,040 --> 01:19:52,040
Middle school athletics, if we put into Fund 80, Fund 80 is a community fund.

934
01:19:52,040 --> 01:20:01,040
If we open up our middle school athletic programs to everybody in the district, so that means the Lincoln Academy, it means Rock County Christian.

935
01:20:01,040 --> 01:20:05,040
If we open them up, then we can put that in Fund 80.

936
01:20:05,040 --> 01:20:09,040
Fund 80 means everybody's tax on it, but you don't have to go to referendum.

937
01:20:09,040 --> 01:20:11,040
That could be $80,000.

938
01:20:11,040 --> 01:20:15,040
Our district spends a great deal on legal fees.

939
01:20:15,040 --> 01:20:16,040
All right.

940
01:20:16,040 --> 01:20:22,040
I think that there's the possibility we could take a look at either hiring our own attorney.

941
01:20:22,040 --> 01:20:26,040
That would be on site, like other districts.

942
01:20:26,040 --> 01:20:29,040
Could be a potential cost savings.

943
01:20:29,040 --> 01:20:37,040
I was told that maybe we could renegotiate with our current legal provider, and there might be some savings there.

944
01:20:37,040 --> 01:20:41,040
There are other means we can start saving money.

945
01:20:42,040 --> 01:20:48,040
But I think this night was not a night that anybody had to make a decision.

946
01:20:48,040 --> 01:20:49,040
All right.

947
01:20:49,040 --> 01:20:51,040
We have another board meeting coming up.

948
01:20:51,040 --> 01:21:01,040
Now, I truly would love to have a draft budget done for the board so that they could review it and vote on it before the end of June.

949
01:21:01,040 --> 01:21:06,040
So that we could start the school year with an idea of what it's going to look like.

950
01:21:06,040 --> 01:21:12,040
The final budget's not until October, but at least it's a budget we all start with.

951
01:21:12,040 --> 01:21:16,040
So where do we go from here?

952
01:21:16,040 --> 01:21:21,040
Part of it goes, how severely do we want to make the cuts for this year?

953
01:21:21,040 --> 01:21:30,040
As we said, if we do the vacant positions and all that, and we start with that, and we do that, I think, and we do a wage freeze.

954
01:21:30,040 --> 01:21:32,040
I know that that's not part of it.

955
01:21:33,040 --> 01:21:44,040
The original discussion, I think we can get through without having to cut additional staffing positions for the next year, and we build those into a referendum.

956
01:21:44,040 --> 01:21:59,040
If we want to go with providing the salary and benefit increase, then I think we take a look at what other positions do we need to cut that are going to end up filling that void so that we can do that.

957
01:21:59,040 --> 01:22:01,040
And then we're going to have to take a look.

958
01:22:01,040 --> 01:22:08,040
Now, when I talk about attrition and vacancies, that isn't every building across the district.

959
01:22:08,040 --> 01:22:10,040
That includes COLAC.

960
01:22:10,040 --> 01:22:18,040
So if so many things that we're not, it means no way of the positions in COLAC 2 that would not be filled.

961
01:22:18,040 --> 01:22:23,040
So I guess now I'm going to open it up to questions.

962
01:22:23,040 --> 01:22:29,040
Like I said, there are two fine proposals that were worked out.

963
01:22:29,040 --> 01:22:48,040
But I think I wanted tonight to start to at least express what my thoughts and ideas are to answer questions so that I can come back with something specific to the board and to the community.

964
01:22:49,040 --> 01:22:53,040
So I guess I'm opening myself up to the swings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

965
01:22:53,040 --> 01:22:56,040
I was an English teacher.

966
01:22:56,040 --> 01:22:58,040
Thank you, Dr. Anderson.

967
01:22:58,040 --> 01:23:01,040
And you'll be pleased to know this is not being live streamed.

968
01:23:01,040 --> 01:23:07,040
So you have a few hours to let Mrs. Anderson know.

969
01:23:07,040 --> 01:23:11,040
Dan, do you have a question or comment?

970
01:23:11,040 --> 01:23:12,040
Yes.

971
01:23:12,040 --> 01:23:14,040
Thank you, President.

972
01:23:14,040 --> 01:23:19,040
So Dr. Anderson, thank you for your comments.

973
01:23:19,040 --> 01:23:26,040
And I'm certainly as one board member, very supportive of you staying as long as you'll stay.

974
01:23:26,040 --> 01:23:28,040
So we do need that continuity.

975
01:23:28,040 --> 01:23:29,040
So thank you to that.

976
01:23:29,040 --> 01:23:38,040
So I'm going to make some general comments and then get to a question at the tail end and I'll try to limit my comments throughout the evening.

977
01:23:38,040 --> 01:23:40,040
So if you bear with me here.

978
01:23:40,040 --> 01:23:45,040
So I've been thinking a lot about our friends that have rejoined our community at the Hochunk Nation.

979
01:23:45,040 --> 01:23:51,040
They have this belief that you should make decisions that span seven generations.

980
01:23:51,040 --> 01:24:00,040
And what's interesting about that is seven generations ago, we, this town was started.

981
01:24:00,040 --> 01:24:05,040
And this town already had a public school when they started the city.

982
01:24:05,040 --> 01:24:07,040
It already had a street named College Street.

983
01:24:07,040 --> 01:24:09,040
They didn't have a college yet.

984
01:24:09,040 --> 01:24:19,040
So it's, it feels in places like the school board, which I'm brand new to like Bill and places I've been in the past in public service and at the college.

985
01:24:19,040 --> 01:24:23,040
We're always making decisions for tomorrow for next month.

986
01:24:23,040 --> 01:24:29,040
And, you know, I really want to try to get out of that cycle if possible.

987
01:24:29,040 --> 01:24:35,040
Since January, I've been talking to a lot of community members across Beloit.

988
01:24:35,040 --> 01:24:41,040
And the thing that we keep coming back to is this question.

989
01:24:41,040 --> 01:24:49,040
And we may be asking the wrong question tonight instead of how much money do we have and how can we cut to get there.

990
01:24:49,040 --> 01:24:55,040
I think the question really is really, I'm going to use the title of our district slightly different.

991
01:24:55,040 --> 01:24:57,040
We call it the Beloit Public Schools.

992
01:24:57,040 --> 01:25:02,040
I think sometimes when we call it the School District of Beloit, it's this administrative thing.

993
01:25:02,040 --> 01:25:05,040
But the Beloit Public Schools, what do we want for our schools to be?

994
01:25:05,040 --> 01:25:09,040
What are the people out here want, not just the people in here?

995
01:25:09,040 --> 01:25:12,040
What do they want for our public schools?

996
01:25:12,040 --> 01:25:15,040
What should our public schools be?

997
01:25:15,040 --> 01:25:20,040
And then we have to answer the question, what will it take to do that?

998
01:25:20,040 --> 01:25:31,040
So instead of, you know, instead of being in a cutting mindset, which we've had to be, it's not a criticism for anywhere at sitting at this table in this building

999
01:25:31,040 --> 01:25:35,040
or the decisions they've made, we've had to be in that mode, right?

1000
01:25:35,040 --> 01:25:45,040
We've had 16 years through two different governors, two different parties, have not been able to deliver funding.

1001
01:25:45,040 --> 01:25:50,040
We've fallen way behind as a state. It's not just Beloit.

1002
01:25:50,040 --> 01:25:54,040
But where do we want to be for that?

1003
01:25:54,040 --> 01:26:01,040
I would like us to have a stability goal and then move towards growth.

1004
01:26:01,040 --> 01:26:06,040
So how do we make that shift from cutting, cutting, cutting to stability?

1005
01:26:06,040 --> 01:26:12,040
What James must have said to him about just a normal year, normal order of business.

1006
01:26:12,040 --> 01:26:19,040
You know, we should be thinking about is it going to rain on graduation or is it going to be too sunny or somewhere in between?

1007
01:26:19,040 --> 01:26:21,040
That's what we should be thinking about right now, right?

1008
01:26:21,040 --> 01:26:26,040
So how do we move toward the stability model and move towards growth?

1009
01:26:26,040 --> 01:26:32,040
Now, we have a lot of tools at our disposal this year.

1010
01:26:32,040 --> 01:26:39,040
We have this OPEB money that's been returned to us, collected to pay for benefits, returned to us from the state.

1011
01:26:39,040 --> 01:26:44,040
We have the new funding that is likely to pass.

1012
01:26:44,040 --> 01:26:50,040
I'm the legislative liaison for this board, and I talk to Senator Spritzer today since it's likely to pass.

1013
01:26:50,040 --> 01:26:54,040
He would like it to be better, but it's likely to pass.

1014
01:26:54,040 --> 01:27:03,040
He sent us during this meeting, sent us some estimates, so I sent that to you and Michelle and Stephanie, so they're a little bit more.

1015
01:27:03,040 --> 01:27:07,040
I know you're being conservative. They're a little bit better than that, so that's good, right?

1016
01:27:07,040 --> 01:27:10,040
So we have OPEB. We have new school funding formula.

1017
01:27:10,040 --> 01:27:12,040
We have the possibility of a referendum.

1018
01:27:12,040 --> 01:27:19,040
Remember, part of this funding package that's passed is school aids that we can't spend.

1019
01:27:19,040 --> 01:27:21,040
It just buys down taxes.

1020
01:27:21,040 --> 01:27:28,040
But if we pass a referendum, we get a little more breathing room for the taxpayers, and we put in a referendum.

1021
01:27:28,040 --> 01:27:30,040
We have those options.

1022
01:27:30,040 --> 01:27:36,040
And we, of course, have the things Dr. Anderson talked about for next year, the cliff.

1023
01:27:36,040 --> 01:27:46,040
But, again, as I've been out talking to people, I think people are ready to have a district that they want.

1024
01:27:46,040 --> 01:27:53,040
When I talk to people, sometimes they talk about the James Fitzpatrick days at Floyd Memorial.

1025
01:27:53,040 --> 01:28:00,040
Sometimes they talk about Carlton Jenkins, sometimes they talk about Rosa, Betty Lang, Mike Walls, Bill Decker.

1026
01:28:00,040 --> 01:28:08,040
There's a lot of places people go to on when they have this district, but what's the today version of that?

1027
01:28:08,040 --> 01:28:15,040
Today's version of that is six award-winning elementary schools, two incredible intermediate schools,

1028
01:28:15,040 --> 01:28:20,040
the best high school in the state, an incredible learning academy that's doing that.

1029
01:28:20,040 --> 01:28:26,040
That's the stability that people want and made up of the people and the culture.

1030
01:28:26,040 --> 01:28:32,040
So, I guess my question for you, Dr. Anderson, is what would you recommend?

1031
01:28:32,040 --> 01:28:36,040
You have a ton of experience in a number of different districts.

1032
01:28:36,040 --> 01:28:41,040
How do we start a conversation about that gets a stability and growth?

1033
01:28:41,040 --> 01:28:43,040
How do we do that?

1034
01:28:43,040 --> 01:28:51,040
I think the discussions that need to be held next year because of the fiscal cliff, I think they're interwoven.

1035
01:28:51,040 --> 01:28:59,040
I think you tell people, and what I have always believed is you need to be very...

1036
01:28:59,040 --> 01:29:03,040
People use transparency all the time, that becomes the word that doesn't have any meaning.

1037
01:29:03,040 --> 01:29:09,040
But, you have to be truly upfront and honest with people and tell them, look, here are the things that are coming.

1038
01:29:09,040 --> 01:29:14,040
But what is it that you want because there are ways to turn around?

1039
01:29:14,040 --> 01:29:18,040
Physically, a referendum is something that can turn around.

1040
01:29:18,040 --> 01:29:25,040
Now, I happen to come in in November after the 500% increase, so, of course, I got those calls right away.

1041
01:29:25,040 --> 01:29:32,040
You know, right now when we're taking a look, if we have a balanced budget and things turn out the way that we think,

1042
01:29:32,040 --> 01:29:38,040
our mill rate is going to go slightly down, which means at least when people look at their property tax bill,

1043
01:29:38,040 --> 01:29:41,040
they should see at least a negative number.

1044
01:29:41,040 --> 01:29:47,040
Now, it won't be a huge negative number, but it will be something that shows its decrease or an increase.

1045
01:29:47,040 --> 01:29:49,040
But I think you have the discussions at the same time.

1046
01:29:49,040 --> 01:29:52,040
What is it that you want this district to look like?

1047
01:29:52,040 --> 01:29:58,040
Because if we know what it is that you want, we can tell you what it's going to take to get there,

1048
01:29:58,040 --> 01:30:02,040
or what we're going to need for resources in order for that to happen.

1049
01:30:03,040 --> 01:30:10,040
And that comes with a cost, but then at least you can lay out exactly what the needs are,

1050
01:30:10,040 --> 01:30:14,040
and you do that by laying out specific what type of staff you need,

1051
01:30:14,040 --> 01:30:17,040
what type of equipment or materials, et cetera.

1052
01:30:17,040 --> 01:30:23,040
And you tell people that, and you listen to what they have to say,

1053
01:30:23,040 --> 01:30:29,040
so that when they say, here's what we would like to see, then we can have an answer.

1054
01:30:29,040 --> 01:30:34,040
We can provide what you'd like to see, but here's what it's going to take for us to get there.

1055
01:30:34,040 --> 01:30:36,040
So you have those discussions.

1056
01:30:36,040 --> 01:30:38,040
And I think we need to have a lot of discussions this year.

1057
01:30:38,040 --> 01:30:42,040
I mean, I think right away, I'm not talking about like later on,

1058
01:30:42,040 --> 01:30:48,040
I'm like talking like right away, start meeting with staff and with all of the, you know,

1059
01:30:48,040 --> 01:30:52,040
and with the students, and with the parents and community members,

1060
01:30:52,040 --> 01:30:56,040
right off the mat that I'm about, here's where we're at,

1061
01:30:56,040 --> 01:31:01,040
here's where we're likely going to be, here are going to be the impacts.

1062
01:31:01,040 --> 01:31:04,040
What is it that we can do to change?

1063
01:31:04,040 --> 01:31:10,040
Now, even if a referendum passes, a referendum doesn't give you more students,

1064
01:31:10,040 --> 01:31:14,040
and that is the thing we have to talk about the most.

1065
01:31:14,040 --> 01:31:20,040
What is it that we need to do to bring students back into the district?

1066
01:31:20,040 --> 01:31:22,040
Thank you.

1067
01:31:22,040 --> 01:31:25,040
Tom Hankins?

1068
01:31:25,040 --> 01:31:28,040
Yes, thank you, Board President.

1069
01:31:28,040 --> 01:31:34,040
Yes, I applaud what you're, everything you said, Wayne, or Dr. Wayne, just standing up there.

1070
01:31:34,040 --> 01:31:42,040
I also went to Dr. Garrison, not to, and we talked about stopping the bleeding and, you know,

1071
01:31:42,040 --> 01:31:47,040
knowing that's where the problem is that we are bleeding our students out.

1072
01:31:47,040 --> 01:31:48,040
How do we get them back?

1073
01:31:48,040 --> 01:31:52,040
And it's a huge, huge issue that needs to be dealt with.

1074
01:31:52,040 --> 01:31:59,040
And why people, why we got to get to the parents and why they are enrolling out?

1075
01:31:59,040 --> 01:32:05,040
Just a couple of pointed questions on referendum dollars, and you suggested that we,

1076
01:32:05,040 --> 01:32:10,040
or a possibility of holding off on a wage freeze.

1077
01:32:10,040 --> 01:32:17,040
But if a referendum passes, if, a huge if, then rectoactively,

1078
01:32:17,040 --> 01:32:21,040
if a referendum passes, I'm just talking about monetarily,

1079
01:32:21,040 --> 01:32:27,040
that money becomes available in January, and then are you talking about rectoactively paying back

1080
01:32:27,040 --> 01:32:30,040
to the beginning of the school year forward?

1081
01:32:30,040 --> 01:32:31,040
Yes.

1082
01:32:31,040 --> 01:32:34,040
And also, okay, that's a good answer.

1083
01:32:34,040 --> 01:32:39,040
And then also, we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow or by the end of the week with the legislature,

1084
01:32:39,040 --> 01:32:43,040
but we kind of, hopefully, we know it's going to be a positive impact.

1085
01:32:43,040 --> 01:32:47,040
And those dollars will be available in, like, a June payment,

1086
01:32:47,040 --> 01:32:51,040
or does it get stretched into 27?

1087
01:32:51,040 --> 01:32:56,040
Well, there's part of the proposal that would actually give some additional dollars

1088
01:32:56,040 --> 01:32:59,040
during this current school year.

1089
01:32:59,040 --> 01:33:03,040
So my, and Stephanie will correct me.

1090
01:33:03,040 --> 01:33:08,040
But the dollars, if that passes and we get dollars for this school year,

1091
01:33:08,040 --> 01:33:13,040
I guess it would probably come in our next payment from the state.

1092
01:33:13,040 --> 01:33:15,040
That would be my guess.

1093
01:33:15,040 --> 01:33:22,040
The monies that are allocated for the 2627 school year will get in the, you know,

1094
01:33:22,040 --> 01:33:24,040
we'll get it in the standard way.

1095
01:33:24,040 --> 01:33:25,040
We currently get our funds.

1096
01:33:25,040 --> 01:33:29,040
It'll just be the amounts will be larger.

1097
01:33:29,040 --> 01:33:34,040
So just for clarifying, and I think I've learned, just for the audience,

1098
01:33:34,040 --> 01:33:36,040
we get our payments, three payments a year.

1099
01:33:36,040 --> 01:33:38,040
Is that correct from the state in this payment?

1100
01:33:38,040 --> 01:33:41,040
Our next payment would be in June, Stephanie.

1101
01:33:41,040 --> 01:33:44,040
And then if this passes this week,

1102
01:33:44,040 --> 01:33:49,040
we could see an increase of bump in our payment for June of 26.

1103
01:34:04,040 --> 01:34:09,040
Thank you.

1104
01:34:09,040 --> 01:34:32,040
So there were a couple of different funding options

1105
01:34:32,040 --> 01:34:35,040
that the state is looking to pass.

1106
01:34:35,040 --> 01:34:39,040
The special education aid is aid payments throughout the year.

1107
01:34:39,040 --> 01:34:45,040
And the other aid, the state aid payments are equalization aid payments.

1108
01:34:45,040 --> 01:34:47,040
That payment would not be this year.

1109
01:34:47,040 --> 01:34:50,040
That would be in fiscal year 2627.

1110
01:34:50,040 --> 01:34:54,040
But that additional aid would not affect our total revenue.

1111
01:34:54,040 --> 01:35:01,040
That would just be that balance between taxpayers' payments and the equalization aid.

1112
01:35:01,040 --> 01:35:10,040
So if the legislation passes that Governor Evers and the top aides or top people are proposing

1113
01:35:10,040 --> 01:35:14,040
would not affect any monies into the district until when?

1114
01:35:14,040 --> 01:35:23,040
We would get some money for 25-26 and some, again, in 26-27 for special education aid.

1115
01:35:23,040 --> 01:35:24,040
Okay.

1116
01:35:24,040 --> 01:35:30,040
And I think Dan's forwarded a document and 500,000 for this year,

1117
01:35:30,040 --> 01:35:34,040
and about 1.7 was the estimate, but those are estimates.

1118
01:35:34,040 --> 01:35:39,040
But some would be available in both years, yes.

1119
01:35:39,040 --> 01:35:40,040
This year?

1120
01:35:40,040 --> 01:35:41,040
Yes, I'm this year.

1121
01:35:41,040 --> 01:35:45,040
Okay, thank you.

1122
01:35:45,040 --> 01:35:47,040
Thank you, Director Ellwood.

1123
01:35:47,040 --> 01:35:49,040
Megan Miller?

1124
01:35:49,040 --> 01:35:53,040
Thank you so much.

1125
01:35:53,040 --> 01:35:54,040
Okay.

1126
01:35:54,040 --> 01:35:55,040
A couple of things.

1127
01:35:55,040 --> 01:35:57,040
So let me just switch to...

1128
01:35:57,040 --> 01:35:59,040
Am I, like, echoing?

1129
01:35:59,040 --> 01:36:00,040
Here, let me...

1130
01:36:00,040 --> 01:36:01,040
No?

1131
01:36:01,040 --> 01:36:02,040
Are we good?

1132
01:36:02,040 --> 01:36:03,040
Okay, sorry about that.

1133
01:36:03,040 --> 01:36:04,040
Okay, sorry, technology.

1134
01:36:04,040 --> 01:36:08,040
Okay, a couple of things I'd written down and then a comment on the last piece there.

1135
01:36:08,040 --> 01:36:12,040
Okay, so I loved all of the comments.

1136
01:36:12,040 --> 01:36:17,040
Dan, I appreciate your thoughts about, you know, like, how do we set vision, right?

1137
01:36:17,040 --> 01:36:21,040
Because the budget is the mechanism by which we enact our vision.

1138
01:36:21,040 --> 01:36:24,040
So I'm wondering about, like, the specifics of that.

1139
01:36:24,040 --> 01:36:43,040
I think we heard last week that there was a discussion that was going to be had about establishing some kind of, like, a committee that I'm hoping includes staff, teaching staff, you know, kind of represented across the district, you know, as well as community members.

1140
01:36:44,040 --> 01:36:48,040
So one question that I'll have is, what is the status of that?

1141
01:36:48,040 --> 01:36:58,040
And Dr. Anderson, what is your vision for how to, I guess, like, uplift and, you know, coordinate and collaborate voices of different stakeholder groups.

1142
01:36:58,040 --> 01:37:12,040
So we can really specifically, like, when we talk about, like, discussions that feel sort of vague unless there's a plan for, like, what is the mechanism by which we will have those discussions and how will we hear, you know, deeply from a variety of stakeholders.

1143
01:37:12,040 --> 01:37:26,040
And I like to what you said, and so I'm going to repeat it, not only to address sort of our upcoming fiscal cliff, but also to be proactive and plan forward and, like, you know, not only stop the bleed, but, like, let's thrive and not survive.

1144
01:37:26,040 --> 01:37:28,040
I think it's something that we need to come back to.

1145
01:37:28,040 --> 01:37:32,040
So that is one question.

1146
01:37:32,040 --> 01:37:36,040
I'm going to say two more things, and then we'll be good.

1147
01:37:37,040 --> 01:37:47,040
The second comment that I have is, Dr. Anderson, in your discussion earlier, you were saying something about.

1148
01:37:47,040 --> 01:37:56,040
Sorry.

1149
01:37:57,040 --> 01:38:06,040
So I would like the strategy to be cut less now if possible, because as we've seen this week, there are a lot of things that can change.

1150
01:38:06,040 --> 01:38:11,040
And these are real students, real children and families lives in real time.

1151
01:38:11,040 --> 01:38:20,040
And on the one hand, yes, we need to be proactive and, you know, conscious of this sort of fiscal flip piece.

1152
01:38:20,040 --> 01:38:25,040
We also have to make sure that we're not excessively harming children.

1153
01:38:25,040 --> 01:38:36,040
So my preference there would be if we could please go in a direction that mitigates the amount of harm.

1154
01:38:36,040 --> 01:38:40,040
It cuts to classrooms, to students, to services right now.

1155
01:38:40,040 --> 01:38:45,040
And, you know, we don't know what the future is going to bring.

1156
01:38:46,040 --> 01:38:54,040
We can prepare for the worst hope for the best, but I'm really concerned about like the multiple crises that we have in our community now.

1157
01:38:54,040 --> 01:39:03,040
There's mental health crises. There's, of course, I don't need to elaborate because I think our public comments and not just tonight, but in previous weeks have done a really good job of that as well.

1158
01:39:03,040 --> 01:39:12,040
So I guess in addition to asking about like what specifically the plan is in your vision, Dr. Anderson, for how to kind of bring collaborators together to do some problem solving.

1159
01:39:13,040 --> 01:39:23,040
So it's not just not as, I guess, my second preference would be like, let's cut the least we can now so that we can hopefully plan for something better in the future.

1160
01:39:23,040 --> 01:39:31,040
And I guess the third thing I just want to comment on since it was brought up by Mr. Hinkins and Ms. Elwood.

1161
01:39:32,040 --> 01:39:40,040
For President Johnson, you did a really nice job in your opening comments addressing just like the complexities and kind of like the frustrating complexities of school funding.

1162
01:39:40,040 --> 01:39:44,040
And I think something that people need to remember is that this is twofold.

1163
01:39:44,040 --> 01:39:55,040
Yes, it would be absolutely a godsend to have additional aid right now for the reasons that I just said, we have to stop harm as much as we can from coming to our kids and certainly to our staff and families.

1164
01:39:56,040 --> 01:40:05,040
When the state comes out with this equalized aid stuff, it's property tax relief, which is a good thing, but that's not spendable dollars.

1165
01:40:05,040 --> 01:40:06,040
So we need both.

1166
01:40:06,040 --> 01:40:08,040
We need both property tax relief.

1167
01:40:08,040 --> 01:40:13,040
We need to stop relying on referendums, not just and believe it across the state.

1168
01:40:13,040 --> 01:40:23,040
And like we are unable to do that until the state makes a significant change and this thing that's been proposed is not that change, but also I'm very grateful for hopefully some short term relief.

1169
01:40:23,040 --> 01:40:31,040
And I just want to iterate again, Ms. Elwood was talking about special education dollars, what this has been proposed unless it's changed.

1170
01:40:31,040 --> 01:40:36,040
Dan, please don't been cracking if I'm wrong, but what's been proposed is some, some certain funding and not some sufficient.

1171
01:40:36,040 --> 01:40:40,040
And what is going to most been, is that correct?

1172
01:40:40,040 --> 01:40:42,040
Yes, it's just a some certain amount.

1173
01:40:42,040 --> 01:40:45,040
Because yeah, like below it needs it to be and not just below it.

1174
01:40:45,040 --> 01:40:53,040
Every school district needs it to be some sufficient, which means that it's responsive to the needs of the specific students in the district and not just like kind of a rate across the state.

1175
01:40:53,040 --> 01:41:01,040
So I guess to conclude my thoughts, this wasn't posted until like eight o'clock last night, I need more time to digest.

1176
01:41:01,040 --> 01:41:04,040
I have super appreciated everybody's comments.

1177
01:41:04,040 --> 01:41:10,040
Folks who are here, administrators, colleagues, I'm excited to hear more from you.

1178
01:41:11,040 --> 01:41:13,040
I want to get some kind of a group going.

1179
01:41:13,040 --> 01:41:20,040
I would like to please reduce the amount of cuts to children and services that are critical as we can for this upcoming school year.

1180
01:41:20,040 --> 01:41:24,040
And just want us to be conscious of the continued need for advocacy.

1181
01:41:24,040 --> 01:41:28,040
So thank you so much.

1182
01:41:28,040 --> 01:41:29,040
Thank you, Megan.

1183
01:41:29,040 --> 01:41:41,040
And I will direct the board members back to the board guidance for the 2627 school district employee budget that we all passed at the last regular board meeting.

1184
01:41:41,040 --> 01:41:46,040
I'm sorry, the one before that, one of these.

1185
01:41:46,040 --> 01:41:55,040
But in the final paragraph says, a district finance committee should be formed to assist in developing and reviewing the above information.

1186
01:41:55,040 --> 01:42:00,040
The committee should include stakeholders from all buildings, levels, and positions.

1187
01:42:00,040 --> 01:42:10,040
The committee should remain active through the 2627 school year to maintain a focus on the 2728 school year and predict future issues for the district.

1188
01:42:10,040 --> 01:42:14,040
And this is a well thought out plan.

1189
01:42:14,040 --> 01:42:19,040
And we are not planning on taking any actions tonight.

1190
01:42:19,040 --> 01:42:40,040
We need to have lots of discussions to make certain everybody has the opportunity to express their concerns and give suggestions because I still think that there are probably some teachers out there that have some really good ideas that perhaps just are a little bit hesitant in sharing them.

1191
01:42:40,040 --> 01:42:42,040
Dr. Anderson.

1192
01:42:42,040 --> 01:42:47,040
One, to go back to when should we start the discussions, discussions should start right away.

1193
01:42:47,040 --> 01:42:50,040
How would I plan to have those discussions?

1194
01:42:50,040 --> 01:42:56,040
One is, I think, for the larger discussion, which is what do we want the district to look like?

1195
01:42:56,040 --> 01:43:02,040
Knowledge of the fiscal cliff that's coming in referendum because really you can have all the discussions at any time.

1196
01:43:02,040 --> 01:43:05,040
I think we start having those discussions at the buildings.

1197
01:43:05,040 --> 01:43:18,040
And then we make for every school building, we have a community event in the evening so the people can come so that for every school that we have, we meet with the staff.

1198
01:43:18,040 --> 01:43:32,040
But we also then meet with the community in the evening to go through and to hear their concerns and to listen to their thoughts so that at least if people want to be informed,

1199
01:43:32,040 --> 01:43:38,040
they have the opportunity to be informed and to ask as many questions and for us to provide information.

1200
01:43:38,040 --> 01:43:43,040
So I'm not going any more vacations anyway, so I might as well be at night meetings.

1201
01:43:43,040 --> 01:43:45,040
Thank you.

1202
01:43:45,040 --> 01:43:47,040
Joanne Ruh.

1203
01:43:47,040 --> 01:43:48,040
Yes, thank you.

1204
01:43:48,040 --> 01:43:59,040
All right, so Dr. Anderson and Dan, you both talked about what makes a great district, great kids, which, yep, got that, and great teachers.

1205
01:43:59,040 --> 01:44:04,040
And when you talk to people in our community about their education in Bloitte schools, they list their teachers.

1206
01:44:04,040 --> 01:44:10,040
I started writing down the teachers that made a difference for me and like the list got really long, super duper fast.

1207
01:44:10,040 --> 01:44:16,040
Ms. Alden, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Franz, Mr. Rooker, Mr. Shicker, Mrs. Gilbertson.

1208
01:44:16,040 --> 01:44:19,040
And what did we have back in the time when we were great?

1209
01:44:19,040 --> 01:44:21,040
We had collective efficacy.

1210
01:44:21,040 --> 01:44:26,040
We had teachers that met together, that worked together, we collaborated across the river together.

1211
01:44:26,040 --> 01:44:31,040
I knew every third grade teacher in Bloitte, not just the ones in my building.

1212
01:44:31,040 --> 01:44:36,040
You get your biggest bang for your buck by investing in our teaching staff.

1213
01:44:36,040 --> 01:44:50,040
Cutting, teaching stuff like the longevity pay, not giving us a cost of living raise for teachers, that's not how we're going to keep these amazing people that we have in our buildings.

1214
01:44:50,040 --> 01:44:52,040
We need more of them.

1215
01:44:52,040 --> 01:44:54,040
We need people that stay.

1216
01:44:54,040 --> 01:44:59,040
We need support staff that allow teachers to spend their energy actually teaching the children.

1217
01:44:59,040 --> 01:45:00,040
That's why they're leaving.

1218
01:45:00,040 --> 01:45:10,040
If we want to know why we're bleeding and how to stop the bleed, we need to read our exit surveys of families and of teachers because that's where the information is right there.

1219
01:45:10,040 --> 01:45:12,040
We need to stabilize our staff.

1220
01:45:12,040 --> 01:45:13,040
We need to respect them.

1221
01:45:13,040 --> 01:45:14,040
We need to collaborate with them.

1222
01:45:14,040 --> 01:45:15,040
We need to build into them.

1223
01:45:15,040 --> 01:45:20,040
And I 100% believe in our town.

1224
01:45:20,040 --> 01:45:22,040
We used to pass referendums.

1225
01:45:22,040 --> 01:45:25,040
We used to be excited about what we were going to do next.

1226
01:45:25,040 --> 01:45:27,040
And we can do that again.

1227
01:45:27,040 --> 01:45:31,040
And I think showing that we respect our teachers is first step.

1228
01:45:31,040 --> 01:45:49,040
And so I say OPAB money to take care of our staff and make sure that we have what we need because if we keep cutting all of this, you can't cut all of these supports and keep having classrooms where people are able to learn.

1229
01:45:49,040 --> 01:45:58,040
So if we use OPAB money as a band aid for right now and then pass the referendum, I think we can be what you're talking about Dan.

1230
01:45:58,040 --> 01:46:00,040
And I believe in our kids.

1231
01:46:00,040 --> 01:46:01,040
I believe in our staff.

1232
01:46:01,040 --> 01:46:02,040
I believe in our community.

1233
01:46:02,040 --> 01:46:08,040
We just got to make this right for our community and for the kids and staff that are here.

1234
01:46:08,040 --> 01:46:12,040
Thank you, Joanne.

1235
01:46:12,040 --> 01:46:15,040
Carol Fox.

1236
01:46:16,040 --> 01:46:17,040
Okay.

1237
01:46:17,040 --> 01:46:24,040
So I'm actually kind of a little confused about where we are and where we're going.

1238
01:46:24,040 --> 01:46:29,040
I thought we had sort of a direction and now I feel like we don't.

1239
01:46:29,040 --> 01:46:31,040
I do agree with Dan.

1240
01:46:31,040 --> 01:46:37,040
We need to sit down and we want to talk about what we want for our public schools.

1241
01:46:37,040 --> 01:46:40,040
We have to include Lincoln Academy in that discussion.

1242
01:46:40,040 --> 01:46:46,040
They are a public school and they're there and they're going to be.

1243
01:46:46,040 --> 01:46:54,040
We have to figure out how we are going to coexist with them and because and the money flows between.

1244
01:46:54,040 --> 01:46:58,040
So they have to be included in this discussion.

1245
01:46:58,040 --> 01:47:00,040
I see two fiscal cliffs.

1246
01:47:00,040 --> 01:47:08,040
I see one this year, five, some million dollars on top of all the other cuts that we've made is a fiscal cliff.

1247
01:47:09,040 --> 01:47:14,040
And then we're going to hit another one when we lose another 600 students to the Lincoln Academy.

1248
01:47:14,040 --> 01:47:17,040
That's going to be huge.

1249
01:47:17,040 --> 01:47:28,040
So I do wonder about where we are in terms of these plans and where you're going to take us with these.

1250
01:47:28,040 --> 01:47:35,040
Yes, option B is more aggressive but we've got to start talking about some of that kind of stuff.

1251
01:47:35,040 --> 01:47:41,040
Are we seriously going to run a building with 150 or less students?

1252
01:47:41,040 --> 01:47:50,040
And we have cutting ham school that doesn't have a lot of stuff going on over there that would fit into the high school.

1253
01:47:50,040 --> 01:47:57,040
And we're not going to be responsible about starting to really look at some of those kinds of things.

1254
01:47:57,040 --> 01:48:07,040
I know that that might be a hard go for next year but we also have to be physically responsible about those things.

1255
01:48:07,040 --> 01:48:22,040
So even in option A, there's a lot of things in there that people are very concerned about that we aren't having the conversations about like the nurses, for instance, that's a big one.

1256
01:48:22,040 --> 01:48:23,040
That's still in there.

1257
01:48:23,040 --> 01:48:30,040
The deans are in the option A.

1258
01:48:30,040 --> 01:48:37,040
And then you bring out not doing the salary increase.

1259
01:48:37,040 --> 01:48:41,040
That's not what we started to discuss.

1260
01:48:41,040 --> 01:48:46,040
So I'm confused about really where we are in this process.

1261
01:48:46,040 --> 01:48:53,040
I thought we were sort of making progress to a plan and I feel like we've taken a couple of steps backwards.

1262
01:48:53,040 --> 01:49:01,040
So, you know, one of the things that I wanted to talk about tonight was some of these things in the plan.

1263
01:49:01,040 --> 01:49:03,040
Well, two things.

1264
01:49:03,040 --> 01:49:08,040
How does that relate to some of the things like our grants and some of those kinds of things?

1265
01:49:08,040 --> 01:49:17,040
And are there unintended consequences in some of these things that we're talking about that we haven't looked at?

1266
01:49:17,040 --> 01:49:25,040
You know, one of the ones that was the conversation that came to me was about the CTE position.

1267
01:49:25,040 --> 01:49:35,040
And the fact that those are a lot of grants that are written and bringing in money and if we don't have that position who's going to do that, who's going to bring that money in.

1268
01:49:35,040 --> 01:49:43,040
So there's a lot of pieces at play and I thought we were trying to bring some of these pieces together.

1269
01:49:43,040 --> 01:49:47,040
And frankly tonight I feel like some of us come apart.

1270
01:49:47,040 --> 01:49:49,040
And that, you know, and that might be.

1271
01:49:49,040 --> 01:49:55,040
Like I said, I have nothing but praise for the administrative team who are diligently while I was gone.

1272
01:49:55,040 --> 01:49:56,040
All right.

1273
01:49:56,040 --> 01:50:04,040
What I think my next steps are is we have a meeting on Tuesday to take the things that I've heard from the board members.

1274
01:50:04,040 --> 01:50:08,040
To take the work that's already been done and basically.

1275
01:50:08,040 --> 01:50:14,040
I mean, I know that we'd like to have a lot of conversation for this budget with people.

1276
01:50:14,040 --> 01:50:18,040
The bottom line is we're in the mid-May, so there's not that time.

1277
01:50:18,040 --> 01:50:29,040
So I think what is feasible for this first budget is to take what we've heard tonight, both from citizens' comments and the boards.

1278
01:50:29,040 --> 01:50:37,040
Take the two plans that we have and for me to construct, when I say me, it is a collective.

1279
01:50:37,040 --> 01:50:48,040
But to construct, here are several options that you can take a look at that, you know, have varying levels of how much pain they're going to cause.

1280
01:50:48,040 --> 01:50:51,040
Now, I will be clear.

1281
01:50:51,040 --> 01:50:57,040
If you have less pain one year, that just means more pain than next year.

1282
01:50:57,040 --> 01:51:05,040
And what I mean by that is if I use OPEB dollars to balance the budget, I can only use those once.

1283
01:51:05,040 --> 01:51:10,040
That means that next year there are no OPEB dollars to use.

1284
01:51:11,040 --> 01:51:18,040
If I use fund equity to balance some of them this year, you do not have that in the future.

1285
01:51:18,040 --> 01:51:25,040
So it's to take a look and provide you with three or four options to talk about.

1286
01:51:25,040 --> 01:51:31,040
I have no problem sitting to go into the buildings and talking with them about the various options.

1287
01:51:31,040 --> 01:51:36,040
My guess is I'd like to have some options for you by Tuesday, so you could have nothing else.

1288
01:51:37,040 --> 01:51:42,040
I'm going to give hypothetical, but say I bring four options to you on Tuesday.

1289
01:51:42,040 --> 01:51:47,040
And you take a look and you say, all right, Wayne, we got A, B, C, and D.

1290
01:51:47,040 --> 01:51:55,040
We literally hate C. There is no feasible in the world that we're going to pass that one, so throw that out.

1291
01:51:55,040 --> 01:52:01,040
A, E, maybe if you tweak it, we'll look at it again.

1292
01:52:02,040 --> 01:52:07,040
B and whatever the letter I didn't use, they got possibilities.

1293
01:52:07,040 --> 01:52:08,040
Could you tweak this?

1294
01:52:08,040 --> 01:52:16,040
And then I would come back with something because we have a variety of opinions on how to do it.

1295
01:52:16,040 --> 01:52:21,040
My job as a superintendent is to bring you what I think are some decent recommendations.

1296
01:52:21,040 --> 01:52:27,040
And then we start massaging it until we get something we can agree on for next year.

1297
01:52:27,040 --> 01:52:36,040
But as soon as we do next year, the next day we start the discussion on the year after that.

1298
01:52:36,040 --> 01:52:40,040
And I said the referendum discussion is a part of all those.

1299
01:52:40,040 --> 01:52:46,040
And I truly believe my heart, and I said this since the first day that I've got here,

1300
01:52:46,040 --> 01:52:51,040
is that if you're going to pass a referendum, we have to be very specific with our requests.

1301
01:52:51,040 --> 01:52:56,040
We have to tell people, we need this and it costs this.

1302
01:52:56,040 --> 01:52:59,040
So when they look down, they can simply add it up.

1303
01:52:59,040 --> 01:53:04,040
This is a total, so they know what it is they're getting.

1304
01:53:04,040 --> 01:53:13,040
And depending on what we put on that is what we need the input from, you know, not only board, the staff,

1305
01:53:13,040 --> 01:53:18,040
the principals in the community, because what is the community going to support?

1306
01:53:18,040 --> 01:53:24,040
So, you know, those discussions I think, I mean, parts that we're already putting in.

1307
01:53:24,040 --> 01:53:28,040
I mean, parts are things I think I already know that have one of the referendum,

1308
01:53:28,040 --> 01:53:32,040
but it's having those discussions so that we can have those right away.

1309
01:53:32,040 --> 01:53:37,040
But I would say for the short term between now and next Tuesday,

1310
01:53:37,040 --> 01:53:44,040
it's to come up with different recommendation scenarios as you can get to a balanced budget,

1311
01:53:44,040 --> 01:53:47,040
but here are different ways to do it.

1312
01:53:47,040 --> 01:53:51,040
I am concerned about the referendum and the referendum question,

1313
01:53:51,040 --> 01:53:57,040
partly because it's November, and it's before we hit the fiscal cliff.

1314
01:53:57,040 --> 01:54:04,040
So, I mean, I don't know how we tie in and make a referendum question that helps sustain us

1315
01:54:04,040 --> 01:54:10,040
and when we go through the fiscal cliff, because we are going to have to be closing buildings.

1316
01:54:10,040 --> 01:54:13,040
I mean, we're not going to be doing it, you know, next year.

1317
01:54:13,040 --> 01:54:18,040
We certainly will be looking at how we're going to do that next year, because we have to.

1318
01:54:18,040 --> 01:54:24,040
And so, how do we, when we deal with a referendum question about what we want for the community

1319
01:54:24,040 --> 01:54:29,040
and we don't even know what that fiscal cliff is going to look like?

1320
01:54:29,040 --> 01:54:35,040
Well, I think one, I mean, one is we already know historically, and this year is no exception,

1321
01:54:35,040 --> 01:54:39,040
that we're losing a minimum of 200 students.

1322
01:54:39,040 --> 01:54:46,040
We already know that we're doing have 200 students less unless something drastic happens over the summer.

1323
01:54:46,040 --> 01:54:54,040
We meet with the Lincoln Academy, we say, when you open this, can you tell us, you know,

1324
01:54:54,040 --> 01:55:00,040
because I'm sure they're willing to tell us, are you going to take all 700 students the first year?

1325
01:55:00,040 --> 01:55:07,040
Are you going to phase in over two or three years so we can at least then plan for whatever they're going to do,

1326
01:55:07,040 --> 01:55:14,040
we can make a guesstimate to say this is what we're looking at to happen for next year

1327
01:55:14,040 --> 01:55:17,040
for the size of the fiscal cliff.

1328
01:55:17,040 --> 01:55:20,040
And we are going to have closed buildings.

1329
01:55:20,040 --> 01:55:25,040
Yeah, and how do we work that into a referendum question, and how do we get all that done by August?

1330
01:55:25,040 --> 01:55:29,040
Because we have to have a referendum question by August.

1331
01:55:29,040 --> 01:55:37,040
So, I'm just very concerned about even, you know, how we're going to come up with a referendum question.

1332
01:55:37,040 --> 01:55:41,040
It's going to be very difficult to figure all those pieces out.

1333
01:55:41,040 --> 01:55:48,040
There's, I'm not denying that in one bit, you know, because, you know, because like I said,

1334
01:55:48,040 --> 01:55:52,040
I don't believe in asking for buckets of money, I don't think that will pass.

1335
01:55:52,040 --> 01:55:58,040
So, it's trying to create the list of what we need so we can have a total so we can put that in.

1336
01:55:58,040 --> 01:56:02,040
Now, the question itself doesn't list every position.

1337
01:56:02,040 --> 01:56:07,040
The question itself looks a little bit different, but we still need to know what the dollar amount is

1338
01:56:07,040 --> 01:56:11,040
and that part of it will depend on what we do with this budget.

1339
01:56:11,040 --> 01:56:16,040
If there are certain things we cut in this budget that we think are necessary around the district,

1340
01:56:16,040 --> 01:56:20,040
those are things you have to put in that referendum.

1341
01:56:20,040 --> 01:56:26,040
So, I mean, our timeline is short, but there's no way I can give you more time.

1342
01:56:26,040 --> 01:56:33,040
I mean, the bottom line is the deadline for a referendum is set by state law.

1343
01:56:33,040 --> 01:56:35,040
I can't change it.

1344
01:56:35,040 --> 01:56:39,040
So, it means we have now till the end of August to get that done.

1345
01:56:39,040 --> 01:56:45,040
I truly want to get a budget done as close to July 1st as possible so that when we're starting the year,

1346
01:56:45,040 --> 01:56:48,040
people know what we're starting with.

1347
01:56:48,040 --> 01:56:55,040
So, like I said, what I think that is feasible to do is to work as a group to come up with what I think

1348
01:56:55,040 --> 01:57:02,040
are some different options for how we can balance a budget that we could take a look at on Tuesday night,

1349
01:57:02,040 --> 01:57:10,040
realizing that, you know, there's going to be different degrees of support for each one.

1350
01:57:10,040 --> 01:57:13,040
All of them are going to have a reduction in staff.

1351
01:57:13,040 --> 01:57:18,040
There is no feasible way that I can bring you anything that doesn't do that.

1352
01:57:18,040 --> 01:57:25,040
But depending on how much money we use from like OPEB or other forces, I mean, that's what we'll take a look at.

1353
01:57:25,040 --> 01:57:30,040
And then it's just we need to sit down and start having meetings.

1354
01:57:30,040 --> 01:57:34,040
And we need to have the meetings where people are going to come.

1355
01:57:34,040 --> 01:57:35,040
No offense.

1356
01:57:35,040 --> 01:57:37,040
This is a great crowd.

1357
01:57:37,040 --> 01:57:42,040
I mean, I am glad and I know when we post this that we'll probably get a lot more people.

1358
01:57:42,040 --> 01:57:48,040
But the bottom line is some people just don't want to come into a school building.

1359
01:57:48,040 --> 01:57:54,040
So, we're going to have to find out what other buildings are accessible that we can go to to talk to people.

1360
01:57:54,040 --> 01:57:56,040
I don't mind talking to people.

1361
01:57:56,040 --> 01:58:05,040
I don't mind listening to the hard questions because if I don't have an answer, I simply tell people I don't have an answer.

1362
01:58:05,040 --> 01:58:07,040
But it's not that I can't get an answer.

1363
01:58:07,040 --> 01:58:13,040
When I came to this district, I said, if you're looking for someone that has all the answers, I am not the person.

1364
01:58:13,040 --> 01:58:19,040
If you're looking for someone that's willing to work with people to come up with a collective answer, I'm better at that.

1365
01:58:19,040 --> 01:58:24,040
So?

1366
01:58:24,040 --> 01:58:33,040
Yeah, I just had a question about have we any idea when the casino comes that there will be many families coming with kids?

1367
01:58:33,040 --> 01:58:35,040
Do we know anything about that?

1368
01:58:35,040 --> 01:58:43,040
My belief is that it probably won't bring a lot of families.

1369
01:58:43,040 --> 01:58:48,040
It's bringing the casino just by the nature of it work.

1370
01:58:48,040 --> 01:58:51,040
The vast majority of people are being with the service industry.

1371
01:58:51,040 --> 01:58:55,040
My guess is there will be people that are all my guests.

1372
01:58:55,040 --> 01:58:58,040
And that doesn't make it accurate in any way, shape, or form.

1373
01:58:58,040 --> 01:59:05,040
But my guess is there will be people around here already that live here that will look to get that as an opportunity.

1374
01:59:05,040 --> 01:59:08,040
There may be from other communities that they'll just drive in.

1375
01:59:08,040 --> 01:59:13,040
There will be, of course, an upper echelon, so it may bring in some.

1376
01:59:13,040 --> 01:59:19,040
But I'm not counting on the casino to bring in a lot of students.

1377
01:59:19,040 --> 01:59:27,040
And I'd also like to say, as far as longevity pay, I don't see us giving the teachers anything.

1378
01:59:27,040 --> 01:59:32,040
They were already here in that.

1379
01:59:32,040 --> 01:59:33,040
Thank you, Bill.

1380
01:59:33,040 --> 01:59:40,040
Mrs. Schop, can you project the presentation title,

1381
01:59:40,040 --> 01:59:48,040
proposed budget reductions 2026, 2027, specifically slide 13?

1382
01:59:48,040 --> 01:59:50,040
And well, you guys are getting that up.

1383
01:59:50,040 --> 01:59:53,040
I will open it up to Megan Miller.

1384
01:59:53,040 --> 01:59:55,040
Thank you so much.

1385
01:59:55,040 --> 01:59:58,040
Dr. Anderson, thank you so much for all of that.

1386
01:59:58,040 --> 02:00:01,040
You asked for some specific feedback.

1387
02:00:01,040 --> 02:00:09,040
I'm excited to go through an email and go through like columns, AB and all the things for the purposes of right now.

1388
02:00:10,040 --> 02:00:14,040
Vision is important.

1389
02:00:14,040 --> 02:00:18,040
And so I have a suggestion that you don't need to take.

1390
02:00:18,040 --> 02:00:37,040
But what I would, I think, might be helpful for Tuesday is if we could frame our different proposals around like this is one in which like these are like this is what it will cost like a classroom or a building because like I think that it's difficult sometimes.

1391
02:00:37,040 --> 02:00:39,040
Like these are really big numbers.

1392
02:00:39,040 --> 02:00:40,040
It's a lot of stuff.

1393
02:00:40,040 --> 02:00:51,040
The way I'm trying to conceptualize all this in my notes is like here's like the option with like fewest cuts to staff options with like, you know, fewest cuts to services and things like that.

1394
02:00:51,040 --> 02:00:53,040
So I just, I think like that additional language.

1395
02:00:53,040 --> 02:00:55,040
I think you've done an excellent job.

1396
02:00:55,040 --> 02:00:59,040
I think we want to continue to bring people into the conversation and build community around that.

1397
02:00:59,040 --> 02:01:02,040
So I'm, you know, putting things into that terms would be great.

1398
02:01:02,040 --> 02:01:07,040
And in the spirit of that, I would like for Tuesday, if it's possible.

1399
02:01:07,040 --> 02:01:17,040
First to clarify is so we, because we heard last week that they were going to maybe make cuts just through attrition.

1400
02:01:17,040 --> 02:01:19,040
What I'm hearing you say is that's impossible.

1401
02:01:19,040 --> 02:01:27,040
Like there are going to be people and jobs cut or or is there a scenario possible where it's just through attrition is my first question.

1402
02:01:28,040 --> 02:01:32,040
It is possible to do it just through attrition.

1403
02:01:32,040 --> 02:01:38,040
But then we're going to use other sources in order to like open.

1404
02:01:38,040 --> 02:01:49,040
So it is possible to do it to attrition vacant positions, but it will, it will cause us that we have one other one time sources of revenue.

1405
02:01:49,040 --> 02:01:50,040
Perfect.

1406
02:01:51,040 --> 02:02:00,040
Okay. And again, like my budgety brain like realizes that what I'm about to say is, is a little like, you know, unwise, I think in generally in situations.

1407
02:02:00,040 --> 02:02:05,040
But I think I think it was Ms. Horvath who sent us an email earlier and she said it really beautifully.

1408
02:02:05,040 --> 02:02:10,040
Like, you know, you don't throw the kids by the wayside to fit it, like, you know, do your family budget.

1409
02:02:10,040 --> 02:02:12,040
And I know that we're not a family.

1410
02:02:13,040 --> 02:02:17,040
But I mean, I think that that logic is stands for me.

1411
02:02:17,040 --> 02:02:31,040
And so if it's at all possible, which it sounds like it is one of seven, I would be in favor of an option that is makes use of opub to prevent any cuts to people who are currently in positions.

1412
02:02:31,040 --> 02:02:40,040
A second piece of feedback that I have based on your comments that you just made is I would love to see just at a high level because I know it's unreasonable to ask like, Hey, for next week.

1413
02:02:40,040 --> 02:02:54,040
But at a high level, I would love to see a referendum proposal that accounts for, and it might seem a bit for a fetch, but I would love to see what a referendum proposal proposal would look like that does not include closing any elementary schools.

1414
02:02:54,040 --> 02:03:06,040
We've heard for years and it's not new knowledge, but we've heard resoundingly how critical our elementary schools are to in our community elementary schools are to our to our kids to our families.

1415
02:03:07,040 --> 02:03:20,040
I live in the neighborhood by taught elementary. It is the literal heart of that neighborhood, and it provides so much more than just elementary school services to our entire neighborhood and into our families and communities.

1416
02:03:20,040 --> 02:03:27,040
So my request again, then would be if possible Tuesday or as soon as possible, like to see a high level.

1417
02:03:27,040 --> 02:03:36,040
Look at what a referendum proposal would look like that maintains are just at least our elementary schools and our neighborhood schools.

1418
02:03:36,040 --> 02:03:45,040
And something that accounts for like probably like that would get us through, I think, to Miss Carroll or to Miss Fox's point through 20, maybe to 2829.

1419
02:03:45,040 --> 02:03:53,040
I'm not necessarily saying you have to build like that many years of the question, but I'd like to see that projection because it's kind of more of that like thrive and not survive mindset.

1420
02:03:54,040 --> 02:04:02,040
So just based on what you're saying, you were going to listen to board members and like bring something back Tuesday that's more refined and I'll certainly respond to more as well.

1421
02:04:02,040 --> 02:04:06,040
Those are two things. And then my last thing is going back to Miss Fox's document.

1422
02:04:06,040 --> 02:04:15,040
One of the first priorities on there, I think it might be the first one is to maintain the services to students that are not only critical, but also maintain that enrollment.

1423
02:04:16,040 --> 02:04:21,040
And Dr. Anderson, you've done an outstanding job tonight, like really driving home that point, we have to stabilize enrollment.

1424
02:04:21,040 --> 02:04:25,040
And so I just reacting to some of the public comment we heard tonight.

1425
02:04:25,040 --> 02:04:44,040
I think we need to like highly prioritize what we are doing with DLI and making sure that we are treating staff members and the services that they provide, whether it's through a program or whatever with the utmost respect because DLI are CTE we heard about earlier as well.

1426
02:04:44,040 --> 02:04:49,040
These are critical, critical services, not like a program that we pay for it.

1427
02:04:49,040 --> 02:04:54,040
Like services that we provide that add value, not just to our kids, but to our entire community.

1428
02:04:54,040 --> 02:04:59,040
So those are my three pieces. Thank you so much.

1429
02:04:59,040 --> 02:05:05,040
Thank you. Thank you, Megan. Dr. Anderson, before you respond, it is 805.

1430
02:05:05,040 --> 02:05:09,040
Is there a motion to extend the meeting so much?

1431
02:05:09,040 --> 02:05:13,040
Second motion by Carol Fox, seconded by Tom Hankins.

1432
02:05:13,040 --> 02:05:16,040
I know, but you know what?

1433
02:05:16,040 --> 02:05:20,040
I'm a stickler for procedures and policies.

1434
02:05:20,040 --> 02:05:24,040
It saves us money to follow the policies. All in favor?

1435
02:05:24,040 --> 02:05:25,040
Aye.

1436
02:05:29,040 --> 02:05:31,040
Dr. Anderson.

1437
02:05:31,040 --> 02:05:38,040
Now, the one response to Megan is that to keep all six buildings open.

1438
02:05:38,040 --> 02:05:42,040
You have to remember, part of that is not a dollar question. Part of that is a pupil question.

1439
02:05:42,040 --> 02:05:47,040
If we don't have the bodies, you can't have the schools.

1440
02:05:47,040 --> 02:06:01,040
I mean, that's not so much a referendum question is that if we don't have the bodies to put in the seats, it doesn't make any common sense to keep that.

1441
02:06:01,040 --> 02:06:05,040
So that's why I talked about we need a stabilization.

1442
02:06:05,040 --> 02:06:15,040
If we know if we can stabilize our enrollment, then we can lay out a plan for how we can use buildings and how many buildings we need.

1443
02:06:15,040 --> 02:06:19,040
But a referendum, I shouldn't say that.

1444
02:06:19,040 --> 02:06:23,040
I was going to say a referendum does bring in students. That's not entirely true.

1445
02:06:23,040 --> 02:06:30,040
Depending on what we include in the referendum, it could include things that would bring students back.

1446
02:06:31,040 --> 02:06:33,040
Tom Hinkins.

1447
02:06:33,040 --> 02:06:36,040
Thank you. I'll be brief, kind of.

1448
02:06:36,040 --> 02:06:44,040
Ms. Fox brought up a good point that I wanted to bring back during our business operation of finance committee meeting.

1449
02:06:44,040 --> 02:06:49,040
And Carol said unintended consequences with some of these cuts.

1450
02:06:49,040 --> 02:06:58,040
And we talked about school nursing and Medicaid billing and how much dollars that revenue does bring in to the district.

1451
02:06:58,040 --> 02:07:10,040
And to not provide that, you know, if we start cutting nursing and what they do to bring in revenue for the district would be cutting your nose off despite your face.

1452
02:07:10,040 --> 02:07:20,040
And it also leads to CTE and Mr. Stenros, who brings in a ton of money to a seller program at the high school and the district.

1453
02:07:20,040 --> 02:07:27,040
And to do anything to jeopardize, we should be enhancing our CTE product and not trying to minimize it.

1454
02:07:27,040 --> 02:07:28,040
Thank you.

1455
02:07:28,040 --> 02:07:30,040
Thank you, Tom.

1456
02:07:30,040 --> 02:07:38,040
I agree with you. We shouldn't be cutting programs or positions that bring dollars in.

1457
02:07:38,040 --> 02:07:41,040
But with that, show me the receipts.

1458
02:07:41,040 --> 02:07:47,040
You know who I am. You know, I'm always going to say show me the receipts. Show me the data.

1459
02:07:47,040 --> 02:07:51,040
I need to see it. Okay. I want to trust everyone here.

1460
02:07:52,040 --> 02:08:05,040
But we need to trust, but verify this district for too long has been put in the board, put in positions where we are just supposed to take things on face value that's gotten us into a lot of trouble.

1461
02:08:05,040 --> 02:08:11,040
And I think these changes are hard. It's not comfortable, but it's accountability.

1462
02:08:11,040 --> 02:08:19,040
And this is what we need, especially if we are going to go to our public and tell them we want and need more money.

1463
02:08:20,040 --> 02:08:32,040
It's very difficult to convince people out there when we're doing so poor relative to the other districts in the state that we need more money so that we can keep doing a great job.

1464
02:08:32,040 --> 02:08:42,040
I know we're doing a great job, but we also need to have evidence that what we're doing and how we're spending the money is all on the up and up.

1465
02:08:42,040 --> 02:08:45,040
Dan Shuf.

1466
02:08:45,040 --> 02:08:46,040
Thank you.

1467
02:08:47,040 --> 02:08:56,040
Yeah. So as we put together the options both for Tuesday and as we get towards passing a budget by the 1st of July, as Dr. Anderson set out the goal.

1468
02:08:56,040 --> 02:09:11,040
You know, I think that if we're going to move towards a growth mode, we would love to see on these projections in modeling we do for the district.

1469
02:09:12,040 --> 02:09:19,040
We have this unique problem where our city is growing. The city is on a growth mode.

1470
02:09:19,040 --> 02:09:26,040
And the district has not been for lots of important reasons that are varied and deep.

1471
02:09:26,040 --> 02:09:30,040
But we haven't prioritized recruiting.

1472
02:09:30,040 --> 02:09:38,040
You know, I came from an institution I spent 14 years at Blue College and each year you don't have any students for next year.

1473
02:09:38,040 --> 02:09:50,040
You know, for freshmen, you don't have any. You start from zero and you have a funnel and you literally start talking to thousands of people until you get to the, hopefully, 300 students in your class.

1474
02:09:50,040 --> 02:10:03,040
Well, we, you know, 30 years ago, students showed up at the Beloit Public Schools and that's, they went to it and occasionally you went to, you know, OLA or Brother Dutton or something, but that was about it.

1475
02:10:03,040 --> 02:10:08,040
And that's, you know, that world's been gone for a long time.

1476
02:10:08,040 --> 02:10:18,040
And this district has had to make tough, tough decisions, but we've also not moved to the modern world of actually recruiting students.

1477
02:10:19,040 --> 02:10:26,040
I mean, we have a neighbor that just, there's, there's a child, I'll just more gender them, so I don't give them away.

1478
02:10:26,040 --> 02:10:35,040
Their child is thriving at Beloit Memorial. They went to their elementary school at Turner. They needed a bigger, you know, a bigger pond, so to speak, and they're doing great.

1479
02:10:35,040 --> 02:10:42,040
But we didn't, as a district, we just don't have any, we haven't prioritized reaching out to those parents.

1480
02:10:43,040 --> 02:10:53,040
I get Delavandarian mailings. I get Parkview mailings. I get Instagram ads from other districts. Lincoln Academy will have a robust recruitment plan.

1481
02:10:53,040 --> 02:11:01,040
Part of my growth mode is a switch in mindset that we are going to, you know, in some ways, it's not a criticism of anything we've done.

1482
02:11:01,040 --> 02:11:07,040
It's just that this may be the moment to say, you know, Megan has a lot of experience on the board.

1483
02:11:08,040 --> 02:11:15,040
Tia, you had a previous stint on the board, but it's a young board, right? We're new. You guys have, there's been change over.

1484
02:11:15,040 --> 02:11:23,040
This may be the moment to flip the switch and say, this is the moment to go ask our neighbors and friends to put a thing together.

1485
02:11:23,040 --> 02:11:34,040
But we're going to have to have the information from the great staff in the back and, and Wayne and others to make those decisions over the next, next weeks with these, with the input of the community.

1486
02:11:34,040 --> 02:11:55,040
So I would say that I agree with what people are saying that we have to make tough decisions, but the numbers that are up on the board right now, you know, there are tools to have the students that live in the city of Beloit attend these schools if we tell the story.

1487
02:11:55,040 --> 02:12:01,040
So just something I want to keep as an option.

1488
02:12:01,040 --> 02:12:04,040
Thank you. Any other board members?

1489
02:12:04,040 --> 02:12:15,040
So as I was going through this PowerPoint and thank you for putting this together, this was one of the requests out of the board guidance.

1490
02:12:15,040 --> 02:12:21,040
This is kind of a summary of a loose staffing plan.

1491
02:12:21,040 --> 02:12:25,040
I was surprised to look at some of these capacity numbers.

1492
02:12:25,040 --> 02:12:35,040
And on May 7th, Director Elwood had shared some of the energy costs in the district with the board.

1493
02:12:35,040 --> 02:12:41,040
And this was because I had a question about one of the payments for the frozen middle school.

1494
02:12:41,040 --> 02:12:45,040
And it seemed high compared to the other ones.

1495
02:12:45,040 --> 02:13:00,040
But then looking at the spreadsheet that she sent to us on the 7th and looking at these numbers and explaining why we're in the position we're in and wondering how some of these decisions were made.

1496
02:13:00,040 --> 02:13:22,040
If you look at the cost for the 24-25 fiscal year at the different operating costs of the buildings, Cunningham had over $110,000.

1497
02:13:22,040 --> 02:13:28,040
Blue Memorial was almost $380,000.

1498
02:13:28,040 --> 02:13:31,040
Robinson was $60,000.

1499
02:13:31,040 --> 02:13:41,040
And I have to say, Robinson, when I calculated the energy cost per student at each building, Robinson, nice job.

1500
02:13:41,040 --> 02:13:50,040
You guys came in at the lowest at $127 energy cost per student per year.

1501
02:13:51,040 --> 02:14:10,040
I was really perplexed and I hope that we can do some investigation as to what's going on there because their cost was $393 a year per student.

1502
02:14:10,040 --> 02:14:18,040
Now I know the building's not year-round and we still have to, but this is just across the board.

1503
02:14:18,040 --> 02:14:22,040
Blue Memorial was $336,000.

1504
02:14:22,040 --> 02:14:26,040
So Blue Memorial cost per student is still less than frozen.

1505
02:14:26,040 --> 02:14:36,040
When we are looking at buildings to close, we're going to have to look at all kinds of questions and take into consideration all kinds of things.

1506
02:14:36,040 --> 02:14:46,040
If there are buildings that are really high in the cost per student for energy or for whatever services, those are things we need to consider.

1507
02:14:46,040 --> 02:14:55,040
This one, Cunningham is over $900 a year per energy cost per student.

1508
02:14:55,040 --> 02:15:05,040
We are underutilizing some buildings and then other buildings are beyond what their functional capacity is.

1509
02:15:05,040 --> 02:15:06,040
For example, Converse.

1510
02:15:06,040 --> 02:15:13,040
We have 441 students at Converse and their functional capacity is 412.

1511
02:15:13,040 --> 02:15:26,040
So these are things that we have to take into consideration and perhaps moving some of our programs this year might help save us money next year and in the future.

1512
02:15:26,040 --> 02:15:27,040
Is it going to be fun?

1513
02:15:27,040 --> 02:15:33,040
No, but these are questions we have to come up with answers to.

1514
02:15:33,040 --> 02:15:40,040
If there are any other board questions, I will entertain a motion for adjournment.

1515
02:15:40,040 --> 02:15:41,040
So moved.

1516
02:15:41,040 --> 02:15:42,040
Second.

1517
02:15:42,040 --> 02:15:46,040
Motion by Tom Hank is seconded by Carol Fox.

1518
02:15:46,040 --> 02:15:48,040
No discussion.

1519
02:15:48,040 --> 02:15:49,040
Hearing none.

1520
02:15:49,040 --> 02:15:50,040
All in favor?

1521
02:15:50,040 --> 02:15:51,040
Aye.

1522
02:15:51,040 --> 02:15:52,040
Aye.

1523
02:15:52,040 --> 02:15:53,040
Aye.

1524
02:15:53,040 --> 02:15:54,040
Aye.

1525
02:15:54,040 --> 02:15:56,040
Motion carries unanimously.

1526
02:15:56,040 --> 02:15:58,040
We are adjourned at 815.

1527
02:15:58,040 --> 02:15:59,040
Aye.

1528
02:15:59,040 --> 02:16:00,040
Aye.

1529
02:16:00,040 --> 02:16:01,040
Aye.

1530
02:16:01,040 --> 02:16:02,040
Aye.

1531
02:16:02,040 --> 02:16:03,040
Aye.

1532
02:16:03,040 --> 02:16:04,040
Aye.

1533
02:16:04,040 --> 02:16:05,040
Aye.

1534
02:16:05,040 --> 02:16:06,040
Aye.

1535
02:16:06,040 --> 02:16:07,040
Aye.

1536
02:16:07,040 --> 02:16:08,040
Aye.

1537
02:16:08,040 --> 02:16:09,040
Aye.

1538
02:16:09,040 --> 02:16:10,040
Aye.

1539
02:16:10,040 --> 02:16:11,040
Aye.

1540
02:16:11,040 --> 02:16:12,040
Aye.

1541
02:16:12,040 --> 02:16:13,040
Aye.

1542
02:16:13,040 --> 02:16:14,040
Aye.

1543
02:16:14,040 --> 02:16:15,040
Aye.

1544
02:16:15,040 --> 02:16:16,040
Aye.

1545
02:16:16,040 --> 02:16:17,040
Aye.

1546
02:16:17,040 --> 02:16:18,040
Aye.

1547
02:16:18,040 --> 02:16:19,040
Aye.

1548
02:16:19,040 --> 02:16:20,040
Aye.

1549
02:16:20,040 --> 02:16:21,040
Aye.

1550
02:16:21,040 --> 02:16:22,040
Aye.

1551
02:16:22,040 --> 02:16:23,040
Aye.

1552
02:16:23,040 --> 02:16:24,040
Aye.