August 10, 2020 at 6:00 PM - Regular Meeting

Description:  Review the minutes for the July 13, 2020 regular meeting, July27, 2020 Additional meeting, and  August 3, 2020 Additional meeting.

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:  Kyle Emmert and Ashley Taylor will provide an update on items related to the teaching staff.

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:  Attached please find the Remote Work Policy that you previously approved on July 27, 2020.  This policy is coming back to the board for consideration of "childcare needs" as a qualifying consideration for work accommodation.  The reason for this request to add childcare to the list of potential accommodation areas is the result of some staff in hard to fill staff positions being eligible for EFMLA leave.  Through a childcare accommodation we may be able to maintain a high quality hard to fill teacher and the program with they serve.

Description:  The data for student registration and staff accommodations is very fluid as of the release of Board Book.  The administration will compile the data as of the end of the day on Monday, August 10th and  bring it to the meeting to review with the Board.  This data will provide an insight into how many student will be requesting virtual learning, how many students will be needing transportation, and how many staff will be requesting accommodations.

Description:  There are two issues that we know about childcare in our community -- first, there is a need for childcare for families, and second, there is a need for childcare for some members of our staff (or we may have them take EFMLA leave).

Steve Summers, Brian Grabarski, and I met with Wisconsin Youth Company this week.  Attached is their proposal that we received late Friday morning and we are in the process of vetting it internally.  In the proposal they use the term "Waunakee Intermediate Center".  Please know that they are referring to Heritage.  Te 10 sections they are proposing is what they think they can staff and it could be one site or divided over more than one site, I believe.

Staff accommodation requests are still being reviewed and processed through the HR office, and they are not reliable enough to share in Board Book at this time.  We will have a report and update on Monday at the meeting.

In general, a question we need to answer is whether we are interested in providing childcare spots for staff in an effort to support their ability to teach without taking EFMLA leave.  The options include:

1. Allocate a certain number of spots with the Wisconsin Youth Company for staff who have gone through the accommodation process and they have no other options other than EFMLA leave.
2. Provide no district funding to the program and the cost is the responsibility of the staff member. 
3. Provide district funds to offset the in-house childcare cost, either in whole or in part, for a staff member who needs this accommodation in order to potentially avoid taking EFMLA.  Any contribution by the district for this cost would be taxable to the teacher.
   1. If they take EFMLA the cost of the sub will be about $12,000. 

On Monday we will provide you with the best data we have available for how many staff members are seeking accommodations for childcare.

Also, this childcare topic is associated with the Remote Work policy if we allow for a childcare accommodation.  For example, to also potentially avoid a teacher from taking EFMLA leave, we could provide an accommodation to teach remotely/not-on-site.

We will provide more information on Monday.
 

Description:  Attached please find a memo that outlines the dates for the start of the school year for staff and students.

Description:  Attached please find a memo that outlines the decision points that have been voted upon or discussed at previous school board meetings.  

Description:  There was a request from a Board Member for this item to be added to Monday's agenda.  We will discuss at the meeting the PPE we are providing to staff, and particularly our health office staff.

Description:  Review the minutes from the 7/21/20 meeting.

Description:  Attached please find the recommendations for the Human Growth and Development Curriculum Sequence.

Description:  Please see the following notes that were provided to the Facility Committee for the meeting on Monday, October 3rd. These notes provide a background on the three agenda items brought forward for consideration.

The purpose of this agenda item is to review capital maintenance and equipment proposals. The capital maintenance proposals are connected to the district's Fund 41, capital maintenance fund, while the equipment proposal is connected to the district's Fund 10, general fund. Deep cleaning equipment of this type cannot be funded through Fund 41. As a reminder, the Fund 41 has a balance of $2,355,329 available in 2020-21, after including the 2020-21 tax levy that will be approved in late October. The projects already approved for 2020-21 total $1,125,000, leaving $1,230,329.70 in funds available. These funds are available for the projects that are being presented this evening. In addition, the reimbursement resolution passed by the School Board last October is still valid. This means that any projects approved (including the ones already approved for 2020-21, or some of the ones already approved) can be reimbursed back to the district through a bond referendum that is approved within 18 months of paying the invoices. I would recommend exercising this reimbursement resolution, and "paying back" the district's Fund 41 for as many 2020-21 projects as the School Board is comfortable with. Each of the agenda items has attachments that provide supporting detail. We will have discussion on each item at the meeting to provide more background. Please feel free to reach out to stevesummers@waunakee.k12.wi.us if you have questions before the meeting, and I can direct your questions to the appropriate person, or gather the information you are seeking. Thanks for your time. 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request School Board approval of deep cleaning equipment. The Facility Committee reviewed this request and is recommending approval of hand held sprayers for each building. The sprayers will be used for deep cleaning buildings as well as other cleaning needs on a daily basis. The Facility Committee recommended approval on a 3-0 vote. Attached please find information on the deep cleaning equipment and the associated costs.

We have been informed that the hand held sprayers are on backorder through September 14th. As a result, Administration ordered three backpack sprayers to be available in each of the K-4 buildings for the first day of school. These backpack sprayers are in stock. Administration is still requesting School Board approval of the Facility Committee recommendation as the preference is to purchase hand held devices for deep cleaning.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request School Board approval of HVAC system enhancements. The Facility Committee reviewed this request and is recommending approval of the HVAC system enhancements for the K-4 buildings. The Facility Committee recommended approval on a 3-0 vote. Attached please find information on the HVAC system enhancements and the estimated costs that were provided to the Facility Committee. The information that was provided to the Facility Committee was a quote for the high school and estimates for additional school buildings. Electrical costs are in addition to the estimates. 

Administration requested quotes from North American Mechanical and 1901 Inc. on the three K-4 buildings. Attached please find quotes for the K-4 buildings from both vendors. The NAMI quotes total $212,215 and the 1901 Inc. quotes total $214,767.80. These quotes were received on Friday morning and John Cramer will need an opportunity to review them on Monday.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request School Board consideration of plumbing fixture enhancements. The Facility Committee reviewed this request and took no action on this agenda item. Attached please find information on the plumbing fixture enhancements and the associated costs that was presented to the Facility Committee.

Administration is requesting consideration of plumbing fixture enhancements focused on drinking water systems at the K-4 buildings. We are interested in installing touchless bottle fillers in lieu of water fountains. We have completed an estimate for touchless bottle fillers in the K-4 buildings.  The information from John Cramer is as follows:

"I am requesting 21 bubbler replacements (AES 4, HES 5, PES 12) for an estimated cost of $73,500, installation included. This is not an official quote, but an estimate based on an average of 5 recent upgrades (recessed and wall mount)  of about $3500 each."

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request approval of the fourth draft of the budget for the 20-21 school year. I have attached the fourth draft of the budget for your review. 

The changes between the third  and fourth draft of the budget include:

1. The addition of the Federal CARES Grant related to COVID19 funding.
2. An update to Fund 73 based on Financial Strategy #2 as presented on the attached document. Financial Strategy #2 frees up $587,108 in the Operational Funds 10, 27, 50 and 80. These funds will remain within the salary/benefit line at this time. Potential uses of these funds include additional staff time, additional overtime, potential childcare costs, and transportation/maintenance costs.
3. An update to Fund 10 based on Financial Strategy #3 as presented on the attached document. This dollar amount equaled $298,050. These funds have been added to the Maintenance and Technology Budgets.
4. An update to Fund 10 based on Financial Strategy #4 as presented on the attached document. This dollar amount equaled $60,000. These funds have been added to the Maintenance Budget.
5. An update to Fund 10 based on Financial Strategy #5 as presented on the attached document. This dollar amount equaled $200,000. These funds have been added to the Maintenance Budget.
6. An update to Fund 41 based on the Facility Committee recommendation to move forward with HVAC enhancements, as well as an evaluation of plumbing fixture enhancements.

I would also like to discuss Financial Strategy #1 as presented on the attached document. I will discuss this strategy in relationship to the proposed property tax levy, Fund 10 and Fund 39. I have attached the ballot language for the meeting on August 17th. I am asking Board Members to let me know if you have any question, concerns or other input regarding this ballot language. When the ballot language is finalized our bond attorney will proceed with writing the Resolutions for August 17th. I will not be present on August 17th due to a medical procedure and I would like to make sure that all Board Member questions are answered on August 10th regarding this financial strategy.

Also, the District's food service fund, Fund 50, will need a budget update based on the food service delivery model connected to the hybrid/remote educational delivery models. Taher is providing the District with a revised budget for consideration. This budget will be provided at the meeting and Board Member input on the food service delivery model is requested.

Description:  The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the US Department of Education released final regulations governing Title IX.  Because it went through the formal notice and comment process, schools are required to comply by the deadline of August 14, 2020.  The new regulations are extensively detailed and focused on more established procedures for due process purposes.  The new details and procedures are significantly different than our past district processes necessitating the new policy.

We apologize that this policy is needing to come straight to the Board, but guidance around sample policy language has only been available to us in the last week or so.  We do need and request action on this policy on Monday.  If there are changes that you would like as we move forward, we request that you approve this policy and we can bring a revised version forward at a subsequent meeting.

Description:  Be it resolved that the Board of Education for the Waunakee Community School District hereby authorizes the appointment of an independent hearing officer for the 2020-2021 school year to determine pupil expulsion from the school under State Statute 119.25 Expulsion of Pupils. Sub (2). This must be a roll call vote.

Description:  The administration has not solicited bids for the expulsion hearing officer.  The administration's recommendation is to appoint Jon Anderson, who did an excellent job serving as our hearing officer last school year, on an interim basis.  The administration further recommends that a process be implemented to solicit bids from other attorneys recommended to us by our attorney, Kirk Strang, and any other attorneys recommended by the Board or individual Board Members.  A recommendation for a hearing officer will be recommended to the Board by the October regular Board Meeting.

Description:  A motion is requested to appoint Dr. Bill Ranum as the District's Medical Advisor for the 2020-2021 school year. This must be a roll call vote.

Description:   

Description:  Attached in the "extras" section of BoardBook, please find a list of the accounts payable payments issued during the month of July 2020. 

Description:  Attached you will find the 2019-20 Budget Status report as of June 30th, 2020, and the Cash Reconciliation report for June 2020. Please note that the 2019-20 audit process entries will impact the numbers presented on the June 30th report, and the 2019-20 final numbers will not be available until the completion of the audit during the week of August 10th. 

Also attached please find the Dean/SSM wellness clinic report for June and a district financial report for the Wellness Clinic for your review. This report tracks expenditures over time beginning with the first month of the clinic. 

Description:  Attached please find a draft of the 2020 Annual Meeting Agenda. The administration is requesting approval of this agenda in order to begin the planning process for the 2020 Annual Meeting.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to provide the School Board with an annual report of fundraisers utilizing the Classmunity program. Attached please find a list of all fundraisers for the 2019-20 school year and the information that has been reported in Classmunity. Campaigns that cross over school years are highlighted in yellow. The campaign that is highlighted in blue added expenses while the other campaigns did not include expenditure data.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request School Board approval for a cash flow borrowing process. Because the district did not issue debt in 2020, we are allowed to issue our annual cash flow borrowing as a bank qualified bond issue. As a result, the borrowing is considered non taxable, which decreases interest costs. The administration is recommending hiring the financial advisor PMA to conduct the annual cash flow borrowing process. Last year, we participated in a PMA cash flow borrowing pool that included other school districts in the same borrowing situation as Waunakee. Attached please find the Financial Advisory Agreement from PMA Securities.

Here is the process for cash flow borrowing with PMA:

• An approximate $7 to $8 Million Dollar loan is taken out in October
• The loan is bank qualified, which decreases interest costs
• The financial professional seeks bids on the borrowing
• The legal opinion is provided by Quarles and Brady
• The borrowing is rated and substantial information is provided to the bidders
• The issuance cost of the borrowing is higher due to the financial advisor fees, the legal fees, and the rating fees. However, all of the districts in the pool share the issuance costs, which reduces the cost for any single district.
• Other school districts in the same borrowing situation as Waunakee can participate in the process which helps to lower the overall costs of the borrowing

In addition to the cost of issuance, the district will see interest rate savings from two sources. These two sources are a lower overall interest rate due to the rated borrowing, and the loan will be paid back in installments rather than annually.

Description:  On an annual basis the administration brings to the Board the staff handbooks for your review.  The handbooks are available for board review  in the "extras" tab of Boardbook.

These are different than than the employee guidelines that you approved last month as these address daily operations within our schools and district.