January 12, 2015 at 6:30 PM - Regular Meeting

Description:  The HR Committee met on Wednesday, January 7th for purposes of negotiations with the Waunakee Teacher's Association.  The WTA held its certification election and received strong support from the teachers to serve as their official bargaining representative.  The parties agreed to a tentative base wage agreement of 1.46% (the maximum allowed by law).  On Monday evening the committee will be asking the Board to vote on this tentative agreement.  Additionally, the committee wants to discuss Supplemental Compensation for the teachers,  particularly to determine the value of Points, to consider an increase to the co-curricular pay schedule, and options for paying staff who earn a Master's Degree or National Board Certification.  Options for each of these area will shared and discussed with the Board on Monday evening.

Description:   We have an expulsion hearing on 1-8-15 and if the paperwork is complete, I will have a recommendation for Monday evening.  If the paperwork is not ready by the time the Board meets on Monday, then we will address this item at the February Board Meeting.  Either way the timing will not impact the student or his educational program.

Description:  Included in your packet you will find the minutes from the December 8, 2014 regular meeting for your review and approval.

Description:  A motion will be necessary to approve the agenda as presented (or) with changes as recommended.

Description:  Individuals may use this time to comment on any items listed as part of the meeting agenda. A copy of Board Policy 187 —Public Participation at Board Meetings is enclosed for your reference. Past practice has allowed 30 minutes for this section of the agenda.

Description:  Lisa Herzberg and Taylor Listau are the student representatives to the Board.  They will be present at Monday's meeting to provide an update from the high school.

Description:  This section of the agenda is reserved for any comments from members of the board on meetings they attended over the last month or other informational items.

Description:  Julie Waner is the designated delegate to the WASB Assembly that reviews and votes on resolutions for the next year.  If you have feedback on the resolutions, Julie would like to hear from the Board so she can represent the district accordingly in Milwaukee in a few weeks.

Description:  We have two seats open for the Spring election which will take place on April 1, 2014.
Incumbent Peggy Hill-Breunig (Town of Westport) is seeking re-election. Wade Hansen )(Town of Vienna) will not be seeking re-election.   Mark Hetzel has submitted his paperwork and will be on the ballot for the Vienna seat.

Description:  Ellen Grunder and Gina Pagel will be present an Monday's meeting to provide an update on the work that is occurring in the World Language Department.  They will also be able to answer any questions regarding the Mandarin Chinese proposal that is part of the Curriculum Committee action items.

Description:  Connie Beth will provide the board with an update on work that is occurring in the Human Resource Department.  Her report is attached.

Description:  Since the referendum passed in November we have been working with EUA, Findorff, and their consultants to develop design options and related work for our projects.  The Intermediate School has a staff Vision Team, and many staff have been involved with the renovations and addition at Prairie and Heritage.  Chris Michaud from EUA has served as a key member of the team in leading these discussions and design work.  At Monday's Board Meeting, Chris will review some of the conceptual work that we have engaged in for the last few weeks.  Attached you will find a Power Point that we will use in presenting this update.  

Information on Prairie is not included in the Power Point, but I will be sure to have something on Monday that you can see that shows where that school is in the process, too.

Of most critical importance on Monday is to get your feedback on the design of the new Intermediate School.  We have reviewed and modified a few different options, included in the presentation.

Each Option includes some key design parameters:

1.  Presents a modern learning environment where large group and small group student instruction can occur.
2.  Creates smaller learning environments within a larger school.
3.  Allows for daylight into the school.
4.  Provides for the school to be expanded in the future and is flexible.

 Option 1 shows the first concept we discussed.  It is a very creative school, but I do not think it meets the parameters that I heard from the community in their desiring a more "conservative" school.

Option 2 and 3 are the responses from EUA to our feedback regarding the need to look at a different layouts per our perceived community expectations.  I think both of these concepts are much more inline with community expectation and they address  our parameters stated above.  

Of these options, we (administration and the visioning team) like Option 2 and want to move to the next level of planning around this design concept.

We are needing to move forward this week on the next step in the design process, in order to meet our timelines.  We value your input on these designs and seek your confirmation that we are on the right path per expectations.   

Description:  Attached you will find the 2014-15 Budget Status report as of December 31st, 2014, and the Cash Reconciliation report for November 2014. Please contact Steve Summers at ssummers@waunakee.k12.wi.us or 849-2012 if you have any questions. Thanks.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request School Board approval to attach a parcel to the Waunakee Community School District from the Lodi School District. The Lodi School Board has already approved the detachment of this property from their school district boundary. As a part of the district long range facility plan, we discovered multiple parcels that appeared to have been assigned to an incorrect school district. We were able to resolve many of the parcels by working directly with the Dane County Clerk's office, but there were two parcels that we were not able to resolve. One parcel was in the DeForest School District and one parcel was in the Lodi School District. The last step for the Lodi parcel is to request Waunakee School Board approval of the attached resolution. I have also attached a description of the parcel that is involved. Please contact Steve Summers at 608-849-2012 or ssummers@waunakee.k12.wi.us if you have any questions. Thanks for your consideration. 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request School Board approval of 2015-16 open enrollment capacity. The approval of the 2015-16 open enrollment capacity is based off the School Board open enrollment policy.   The open enrollment law was significantly changed during February of 2012. One of the changes in the law was a requirement that the School Board identify in January of each year the number of openings in each grade for open enrollment students. 

Attached you will find a document that identifies the recommended 2015-16 open enrollment capacity by grade level. The recommendation is based on the open enrollment policy which requires class sizes below the optimal level and building capacities below the maximum level prior to accepting open enrollment students. If there are regular education openings, we are then required to identify the number of special education openings as well. Please note that open enrollment capacity is different than class sizes at each grade level.   

For 15-16, I am estimating enrollment (and budget planning) based on a 78 increase in student enrollment. As a result, we have fewer open enrollment openings for 15-16 (77 openings) than we had for 14-15 (111 openings). The only openings recommended are in four-year old kindergarten, early childhood, 3rd grade, and 4th grade. 

The School Board policy states the following “Open enrollment acceptance guarantees shall be given to a nonresident student already attending school in the district or his/her sibling even if space is not available”. Because of this statement, please be aware that all nonresident students already attending Waunakee will be guaranteed acceptance and students with siblings will be guaranteed acceptance. A guaranteed acceptance does not guarantee placement in a specific elementary school as administration retains the right to assign students to an elementary school with capacity.   

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments on this agenda item. You can reach me at ssummers@waunakee.k12.wi.us or 849-2012. Thanks.

Description:  I am meeting with Peggy and Julie on January 14th to discuss the agenda for our special board meeting on January 26th.  The purpose of this meeting will serve two purposes:

1.  An opportunity for the Board to hear and learn from the administrative team about ideas that the administration is considering/discussing as we enter the budget cycle for 2015-2016.  I view this meeting as informational in nature so you know what needs we feel we should be addressing in the next year and beyond.  You will hear more ideas than we have funding to support, but I think that is ok because it starts to articulate a vision for the future.  Prioritization of these items will not have taken place as of this meeting, and I am viewing this meeting as an opportunity for the Board to be more involved/informed of conversations we are having now, as opposed to hearing about them at the end of the budget cycle.

2.  The second part of the special meeting will be set through consultation with Julie and Peggy.  The agenda may include a Board Development opportunity, or be used as a time to address other Board business.

Description:   Video Equipment--Herb Haubrich informed Steve Summers and me prior to the holidays that the video equipment in the board room is no longer creating quality video for publication of our meetings.  Herb has investigated the equipment needs and is seeking bids to upgrade it to meet our current and future needs.  

Description:  Tim Schell will not be at Monday's Board Meeting.  If you have any questions about the Curriculum Committee Minutes or the Mandarin Chinese proposal, please contact him at tschell@waunakee.k12.wi.us .

Description:  Attached please find a cover memo and related information for the middle school Mandarin Chinese proposal.  I am supportive of this proposal with the caveat that we revisit the financial impact during the budget cycle, and make a final determination at that time if there is funding to support this new offering.  

Description:  See the Closed Session notes.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request School Board approval of a resolution for inclusion under the State of Wisconsin Deferred Compensation Program. Attached please find the resolution. Last month, the School Board approved a resolution authorizing a 457(b) retirement plan. We learned that the State of Wisconsin has a specific resolution that also needs to be approved in order to participate in the state 457(b) retirement plan. The administration is requesting School Board approval of the attached resolution. Please contact Steve Summers at 608-849-2491 or ssummers@waunakee.k12.wi.us if you have any questions on this agenda item. Thanks for your time. 

Description:  No changes have been made to these policies since the first reading last month.  Action is required on Monday evening.

Description:  Attached please find a fall  legislative update from John Forester, lobbyist for the School Administrators Alliance.  I think this document does a nice job providing an overview of the status of legislation from the fall session.