November 9, 2020 at 7:00 PM - Regular Meeting

Description: 
 

Description:   

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 school district related items. 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:  Anna Englebert and Quinn Bogost are the high school student representatives who will provide an update of events from the high school.

Description:  Kyle Emmert and Ashley Taylor, WTA representatives,  will provide an update on some of the work they are doing in the district.  

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

Description:  Attached is the Notice of the April 2021 School Board Election.  Michael Brandt's (Town of Westport/City of Middleton and Madison), and Mark Hetzel's (Town of Vienna) seats are on the ballot this spring. 

Description:  Attached is the Notification of Non-Candidacy should an incumbent choose not to run for reelection this spring.  The deadline for an incumbent to file the non-candidacy form is December 28, 2020 at 5:00 p.m.

Description:  Attached please find the referendum canvass results.

Description:  The Data Dashboard will be updated on Monday, November 9th.  The data from PHMDC and the local COVID-19 related data will be shared with the Medical Advisory Ad Hoc Committee at their meeting on Monday then with the full Board at our meeting under this agenda item.

Attached is our local data tables from November 2nd.

 

Description:  Attached please find the presentation and supporting materials that were presented to the Board at the Special School Board Meeting on November 2nd.  As a summary, that presentation outlines a pathway to bring students back to in-person hybrid instruction in grades 5-12 by the start of the second semester.  More specifically, it articulates a return date for grades 5-6 on November 30th and a return date for grades 7-12 on January 26th.

Since Monday, November 2nd, there have been a few modifications to operational aspects of this plan:

• The 5-6 grade students will return following the same start and end times at the K-4 program in order to make bus transportation work for when we return our 7-12 students.
• The 5-6 selection process for in-person or remote preferences was sent to all 5th and 6th grade parents on Thursday, November 5th and will need to be completed by Wedensday, November 11th.  This process was begun before the school board meeting on November 9th as there are some potential nuances with the logistical planning of the a.m./p.m. cohorts at the Intermediate School that necessitated as early of start in the process as possible.  
• The selection process for hybrid or remote options for grades 7-12 will take place within the next week.  We want to move forward with the 5-6 process first, and then will send the 7-12 selection survey once the Intermediate School process is complete.
• We are evaluating the process and frequency for sanitizing classrooms.  We are seeking input from the Medical Advisory Committee on this issue as our practices that we put in place at the elementary were done at a time when we knew less about the disease and surfaces, and prior to our ionization units. 
• Finally, we are seeking input from the Board on whether to continue to assess the $50 fee per students who chooses in-person instruction. 

Description: 

Attached are a number of documents from Aaron May that outline the issues pertinent to making a decision about winter sports.  We will review these documents and the high points of each with the Board on Monday. 

As a summary, the following points were included in the presentation provided to the Board on Monday, November 2nd:

The following sports are classified by PHMDC at Low, Medium, or High Risk

• Low Level Risk Winter Sports -- ski/snowboard (Cascade Mountain), boys swimming, and gymnastics
• Medium Level Risk Winter Sports -- boys and girls basketball
• High Level Risk Winter Sports -- wrestling, hockey, and group dance

Points to consider:

• Can Low Level Risk Winter Sports practice and compete -- home/away?
• Can Medium and High Level Risk Winter Sports practice and compete -- away?  
• From a contact tracing perspective, is it better to have our student-athletes participating in our programs that we oversee, or traveling with club programs of which we have no jurisdiction?  
• Space and staff limitations for practice - limited 10 individuals per court with 6-feet social distancing at all times.
• All road season?  Dane County only season?

If you have specific questions, please feel free to reach out to Aaron May with questions.  

Description:   

Description:  The minutes for this meeting will be available at the meeting.

Description:  At the October regular meeting, the Board approved moving forward with replacing the entire fieldhouse floor following the water damage from a September storm.  During that meeting, one of the Board members asked if there were any changes to the fieldhouse that should be considered while we are redoing the floor and the lines.  At the time, no proposals had been brought forward.  Since then, I was asked to attend a meeting of the two basketball coaches, volleyball coach, and members of our physical education department.  They shared with me a concept for my consideration.  After hearing their proposal, I like their ideas and am bringing them forward to the Board for review and consideration.  The plan includes:

• adding two additional drop-down curtains to the fieldhouse to increase the simultaneous teaching spaces from 2 to 3 with an additional area for a small group (such as adaptive physical education).  
• re-line the gym to reflect the curtain areas, and allow the secondary basketball and volleyball courts to be more effective by getting spectators off of the court in into the stands.
• this plan also requires moving some of the basketball goals to align with the new floor and curtain configuration.

Attached please find a diagram of this plan and projected costs for this project from two companies.   John Cramer will be available at the meeting on Monday to share this plan and the projected costs.

Description:  The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has put forth direction on applicable requirements of school district for which they have a process and are amenable to receiving waivers during the times of this pandemic.  Even though there are other waivers I may bring to the Board this year, I am requesting the Board consider a waiver of the requirements established for Educator Effectiveness (EE).  EE is the evaluation process for certified staff members -- teachers and administrators.  

With this waiver, we will proceed with important aspects of the EE process, but forego the strict formalities of the full process within the current hybrid and on-line system.

We will continue with the following staff evaluation components:

• Maintain the SLO process (School/Student Learning Objectives)
• Maintain the PPG (Professional Practice Goals)
• Maintain a process for providing feedback to their professional practice.
• Freeze each staff member's current status within the three year EE cycle.  Where they were to be this year they will remain for next year -- either formative assessment years or summative year.
• Any teacher in their first year of employment or any staff member on a plan for improvement will receive the full evaluation process.

Description:  I worked with our school district attorney, Kirk Strang, to identify and contact attorneys from the area who could serve as our Expulsion Hearing Officer.  Of the attorneys that Kirk contacted, we received two proposals.  Attached see proposals from Jon Anderson from Husch Blackwell, and Douglas Witte from Boardman and Clark. 

For your reference, Attorney Anderson has served as our Interim Expulsion Hearing Officer for the last year and has done an excellent job.

The Board requested that we review our hearing officer appointment this year, and I am bringing forward these two attorneys for your consideration.

The difference between their two proposals is that Attorney Witte proposes a range of hourly fees, and Attorney Anderson proposes a set fee for each hearing.  I have confidence that either of these individuals could serve us well. 

Description:  From Brian Borowski & Aaron May:
Congratulations to our Girls Golfers named to the Academic All-State Team: Aly Kinzel, Sydney Grimm, and Natalie Hoege! 

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

Description:  Attached you will find the 2020-21 Budget Status report as of October 31, 2020, and the Cash Reconciliation report for September 2020. 

Also attached please find the 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:  The State Education Convention is January 20-22, 2021.  You may view details on WASB website at https://www.wasb.org/meeting-and-events/convention/
This convention will be held virtually.  Participants need to register.   There is no early bird registration, or not deadline for registering, but after January 8th there is no refund.   School District's and CESA's will be provided a rebate if they register 5 or more board members & administrators.

If you are interested in attending virtually, please let Rebecca know.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Rebecca.

Description:  Attached please find a schedule of proposed dates for the Board/Staff Listening Sessions.  Rebecca will circulate the sign-up sheet on Monday at the meeting and will make sure there are no more than three Board Members at each session.