February 9, 2015 at 6:30 PM - Regular Meeting

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Description:  Included in your packet you will find the minutes from the January 12, 2015 and January 26, 2015 meetings for your review and approval.

Description:  Action should be taken to approve the agenda as presented (or) with changes as recommended.

Description:  This is the general comment section of the agenda where members of the public may comment on any item contained within the evening’s agenda.

Description:   Lisa Herzberg and Taylor Listau are the student reps for this year.

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

Description:  The Board will discuss the annual School Board Evaluation Process.  Peggy, Julie, and Randy are meeting on February 12th to process through the feedback from Board and Administration as a result of the Special School Board Meeting on January 26th.

Description:  Peggy, Julie, and Joan attended the State School Board Convention in January, along with Connie, Steve and Randy.  This agenda item will allow for any reports from attendees of this convention.

Description:  Attached please find a draft of topics that need to be discussed or areas of work that need to be accomplished by the end of June 2015, and my draft recommendation for committee assignment.  Please review for  Monday's meeting so we can begin to set direction for our committee work.  There are certain to be items that are not on this list that will require some committee action over the next few months, and this list serves as a guide for the bigger items that need attention so we keep them on our radar.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to bring the Board up to date on the process for the referndum projects.  

Attached you will find a document that summarizes the maintenance projects for the Prairie work.  You will see that items are identified as Base Bid, Pending, and Deferred.  The Base Bid items are the areas that we projected as part of the original referendum.  After reviewing the full scope of work for the Prairie addition and the maintenance Base Bid items, the project is projected to be running about $400,000 under the original budget.  As a result, we have identified $284,000 of Pending Items.  These items are our next level of priority and we will include them in our bid packages.  The Deferred Items will be considered later in the project if capacity remains for them to be considered.

Also, attached is a presentation from Chris Michaud from EUA.  Chris will be sharing and discussing with the Board the draft renderings for the Prairie Addition and the New Intermediate School.

Description:  Ryan King and members of the Science Department will be present on Monday evening to provide an update on their work within this curricular area.  They will be sharing a 5-year plan document with you Monday.  (I did not include it in Board Book because it does not format well for the ipad or as  a .pdf)  Also, Mr. King will showcase student work examples to illustrate the types of projects and concepts they are doing at the elementary level through a Launch Program pilot, this year.  Ryan is also open to answering any questions you may have about a future need for STEM Coaches at the elementary level.

Description:  Annually, you are asked at this time of the year to review and approve the course offerings for Summer School, that will be included in the Summer School Course Book to be available March.  You will notice that we have the designated fees for each course.  Remember, we can only charge a fee for non-credit courses and only if there are material/consumable costs for the class.  Sheila and Steve are also recommending no fee for classes that have minimal expense (about 5 classes), because it is more cost effective than issuing refunds for very small balances at the end of summer school.  We are required by DPI to refund unexpended materials fees per course at the end of summer school.

Description:  Attached please find a request for a utility easement for the Prairie School site from Waunakee Utilities.  Our engineers have reviewed this easement request and agree with its location and necessity.  

Description:  Attached you will find the 2014-15 Budget Status report as of January 31st, 2015, the Cash Reconciliation report for December 2014, and the 2014 referendum budget report as of January 31st, 2015. Please note that the 2014 referendum bank accounts have been added to the Cash Reconciliation Report and that you will receive a referendum budget report on a monthly basis moving forward until the projects are completed. Please contact Steve Summers at ssummers@waunakee.k12.wi.us or 849-2012 if you have any questions. Thanks.

Description:  Attached please find a request for waiver of the facility use fee.  Also, attached please find the e-mail correspondence that outlines a few key questions regarding this request.  The related policy is also attached for your reference.

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Description:  Tammy Rademacher and Rob France joined the curriculum committee to propose creating more
female focused student grouping for the PLTW Principles of Engineering class. The
goal is to increase participation by female students, and by increasing female
participation increasing overall student participation in engineering courses.

Tammy had worked with other teachers to survey students and survey results showed
a potential pool of interested female students and opportunities to communicate more
about the features of the PLTW courses.

The proposal is fiscally neutral. If numbers do not permit two sections (one section would be all female), Tammy and Rob would differentiate student groupings within a single section to provide more single gender activities. This proposal is similar in many respects to the vocal program changes approved earlier this year.

Peggy Hill-Breunig moved and Julie Waner seconded to recommend the female only section or grouping to the full Board for approval. Passed 3-0.

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Description:  The Human Resource Committee met and discussed the 2nd Shift Custodial Lead Position.  They approved this proposal 3-0 and are moving it forward for consideration by the full board.

To add a bit more context:  As you are aware we had a turn-over of staff in the high school custodial staff.  Two of three positions have been filled, and we have worked to redefine the third position, until now.  Our proposal is for this position to serve as a custodian during the 2nd shift at the HS, but also to be the "go-to" custodian on that shift for any issues that arise across the schools.  This position will also provide some supervision of staff during the 2nd shift to make sure that work is getting completed, as defined.  

Until the turn-over in staff at the HS, we had run three custodial shifts at the high school.  To better manage the staff, we have moved all of the 3rd shift staff to second shift.  This change along with a redefined approach to working together on evening events at the HS, has been successful.  The final step to improve our system in the evenings is the re-definition of this proposed position to include some supervisory duties.  Compensation for this position has been slightly adjusted to account for this additional responsibility.

Description:  During the month of May 2014, the School Board approved a three - year contract with Dean Health Systems to provide health insurance to all district staff. The contract called for a rate freeze in the first year, a 5% rate cap in the second year, and a floating rate cap for the third year based on participation in wellness assessments. The contract also required wellness services such as the creation of a Nurse Coordinator position and near site clinic. The Nurse Coordinator position should have been filled by August of 2014, but was not filled until January of 2015.

The good news is that Dean was able to hire a highly qualified Nurse Coordinator with school district experience. We are pleased to welcome Lynn Grover to the district, and look forward to beginning the process of moving forward with wellness activities for staff and their families. Please contact Steve Summers at ssummers@waunakee.k12.wi.us or 849-2012 if you have any questions. Thanks.

Description:  During the month of May 2014, the School Board approved a three - year contract with Dean Health Systems to provide health insurance to all district staff. The contract called for a rate freeze in the first year, a 5% rate cap in the second year, and a floating rate cap for the third year based on participation in wellness assessments. The contract also required wellness services such as the creation of a Nurse Coordinator position and near site clinic. The Nurse Coordinator position should have been filled by August of 2014, but was not filled until January of 2015. Dean Health Systems recognizes that the delay in hiring the Nurse Coordinator, among other delays, could jeopardize the district's opportunity to meet the wellness participation requirements in the contract.

Dean Health Systems is offering to add another 5% rate cap to our contract, and extend the contract by one year. The Insurance Committee has discussed this contract extension, and supports the concept of moving forward with accepting this offer. We appreciate the willingness of Dean to extend the contract for an additional year. Please contact Steve Summers at ssummers@waunakee.k12.wi.us or 849-2012 if you have any questions. Thanks. 

Description:  Attached in the "extras" section of Boardbook, please find a list of the accounts payable payments issued during the month of January 2015. Please contact Steve Summers at ssummers@waunakee.k12.wi.us or 849-2012 if you have any questions. Thanks.

Description:  There are two trips on the agenda this evening.  The first is a soccer request to attend an invitational tournament in Burlington, IA  in May.  This trip is within the guidelines of the of the Board Policy on trips as it involves travel to a bordering state.  

The second trip is for the 8th Grade Washington D.C. trip.  The Board approved initial planning for this trip and Mr. LaFlash has received a great deal of interest from parents per the meeting he held in January.  

On a related note, I am working with Brian Kersten (who is working with his staff) to generate a rotational plan for trips that fall within the Board Policy Guidelines and to provide the Board and advisers a draft outline on the frequency at which these trips can be considered.  

Description:  Steve and I will provide an update on Monday evening regarding the latest information related to the proposed state budget.  Attached is a repeat of the information I shared with you February 4th.  

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