June 14, 2021 at 6:00 PM - Regular Meeting

Description:  Joan Ensign will outline and propose a process for review and summation of the end of the year parent survey results.

Description:  Dan Mallin, attorney with the Wisconsin Association of School Boards and Waunakee resident, will provide an update and overview to the Board on the Open Meetings Law and the Open Records Law.  This program will begin at 5:30 p.m. on July 12th and then the school board meeting closed session will begin at 6:30 p.m. and the regular part of the meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m.

Description:  Randy and Joan will update the Board on a meeting we attended with the leadership of the Village of Waunakee.

Description:   

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

Description:  The Board of Education provides a public listening session for the public to comment on any item related to the governance or management of the WCSD.  A copy of Board Policy 187 - Public Participation at Board Meetings is attached for your reference. Each commenter will be allowed 3 minutes.  An hour will be allowed for this item.
 

Description:  Review the minutes from the 05/19/21 and the 06/03/21 committee meetings.

Description:  Last month the Board was presented with the Employee Guidelines for each employment category.  The first month they are presented to the Board for review and feedback, and then they are brought back the next month for consideration and adoption.  This month we are bringing them back for the second reading and request your action on the guidelines, so they can be put in place for the 2021-2022 school year.  The guidelines can be found in the Extra section of Board Book.

Description:  Brian Grabarski will present the revised teacher compensation model that he has been working on with a team of staff for the past two years.  This model has been presented multiple times to the HR Committee, has been shared with the teaching staff, and webinars to present the plan and answer questions have taken place in the last few weeks.  We are seeking consideration and action by the Board, so this new process can begin being put in place for the fall with the first financial implementation of the plan for salary purposes being in 2022-2023 contract year.

Description:  Review the minutes from the 06/08/21 committee meeting.

Description:  The last COVID-19 related school data that we shared with the Medical Advisory Committee is attached.  COVID-19 numbers are very low not only in the Waunakee Area but also in the County.

Description:  Attached please find a document that was used to guide the discussion at the Medical Advisory Ad Hoc Committee.  It outlines the key decision points for face coverings, health check forms, contact tracing, quarantine, and communication/data.  

Aside form these decision points, for summer, we will still maintain our prudent cleaning practices and encourage handwashing and sanitizer by staff and students.

The decisions we are seeking on Monday night are for Summer School and summer programs.  Decisions for start of school in the Fall will be brought back for consideration in July and August.  

I recommend that the board review the Medical Advisory Committee prior to the meeting on Monday.  The link is as follows:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdmAxgT4d1U

The Center for Disease Control recommendations can be found here:  https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/summer-camps.html

Members of our Medical Advisor Ad Hoc Committee had varying opinions on whether masks should/could be mandatory or optional for grades K-6, and all felt that for students in grades 7-12 we could consider operating under a masking optional policy.  Outdoors were felt to be generally safe for students to not wear a mask.

The decisions by other school districts on the issue of mandatory or optional masking policies is varied.  Many school district in our area are maintaining masks for K-6, primarily.  Other districts have moved to a mask optional approach.  Decisions are varied across the state.

There are some public comments on this issue, too, which will be shared with the Board prior to Monday's meeting.

Description:  Attached please find the Minutes from the June 8, 2021 Budget Committee meeting.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request approval of the formal budget change process for 2020-21. The budget change document is attached. 

All budget revisions are entered into the Skyward Financial System using the Skyward Budget Revision process. The budget revisions for 20-21 include: 

* pay increases approved after the budget was adopted at the end of October
* changes in grant allocations (both Fund 10 and 27)
* changes to the State of Wisconsin Library Aid (Fund 10)
* the Athletic Department, to reflect reduced gate receipts
* removal of in-person fee, which was eliminated after the November Referendum was approved
* the November 2020 Operational Referendum funds, to reflect the proper accounting functions where the funds were spent
* to move scholarship payments from Fund 72 to Fund 21
* to reflect Ripp Park Tennis Court payments approved by the School Board in May
* Fund 41 Capital Projects Fund to reflect the transfer of HVAC and plumbing costs from Fund 41 to the November 2020 Operational Referendum funds

The Budget Committee is recommending approval of the Budget Changes on a 3-0 vote.
 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to discuss the recommendation of the Budget Committee for the topic of carryover funds for the buildings/departments. During the 2019-20 school year, buildings/departments were not allowed to carryover funds for activities that did not take place because of the school closure (i.e. transportation, spring sports, etc.). During the 2020-21 school year, many events/activities did not take place due to COVID19. At the April Budget Committee meeting, the Committee requested information from each building/department regarding potential use of carryover funds. This information was shared at the May Budget Committee meeting (see attached), and the Committee requested a recommendation on this topic from Administration for the June Budget Committee meeting. 

The average percentage of funds that was returned to the District during 2019-20 was 40%. Administration has provided examples of a 40% and 50% return as of April 30, 2021. Please note that the dollar amounts will be reduced due to expenditures for the months of May and June. Administration is recommending the 40% return option to be consistent with the prior fiscal year. The recommendation from the Budget Committee was the 40% return option as recommended by Administration. The motion passed on a 3-0 vote.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request School Board approval of the second draft of the budget for the 21-22 school year. I have attached the second draft of the budget for your review. Please note that the second draft of the budget is based on the following:
1. The $0/student increase in the per pupil categorical aid, with a $150/student increase in the revenue limit formula
2.  An increase in the percentage of State Special Education Categorical Aid to 35%
3. The personnel cost line includes a salary increase of 3.06%, a 0% increase in dental insurance rates, and a 0% increase for health insurance rates
4. The capital maintenance projects are funded from Fund 41
5. The second draft includes an increase of .315 FTE approved at the May School Board meeting, as outlined on page 13 of the document. The second draft also includes an additional position for the English Language Learner program, which will be mostly funded from transfer of service funds. 
6. The second draft includes an update on the operational referendum funds, based on the positions/costs approved by the School Board at the May School Board meeting. 
7. All of the remaining budget requests have been placed on hold at this time

The changes between the first and second draft of the budget have been highlighted in yellow, and these changes will be reviewed by the administration at the meeting. 

The third draft of the budget in July will include:
1. Grant allocations
2. Staffing updates based on additional schedule changes, reallocation proposals or new positions
3. Updates to the Community Services budget (Fund 80)
4. Updates to the New Teacher program budget (Fund 99)

The Budget Committee is recommending approval of the second draft of the budget on a 3-0 vote.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request School Board approval of the lease agreements for the 21-22 school year. I have attached the lease agreements for your review. 

The district currently has leases with the Wisconsin Youth Company (K-4 after-school program for school year), Dane County (1 office at Heritage Elementary School), and the New Teacher Project (office space at Heritage Elementary School). We are recommending approval of a summer lease for the Wisconsin Youth Company this summer.
 
The administrative recommendation is to approve all four leases at the current rates with the Wisconsin Youth Company lease changing from $2,600 to $2,700 per building as well for summer school, the Dane County lease continuing at $75 per month, and the New Teacher Project lease continuing at $300 per month. 

The Budget Committee is recommending approval of all four leases on a 3-0 motion.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request School Board approval of the attached 2021-22 Pupil Transportation Handbook. Changes are highlighted in yellow and identified on the cover page.

The handbook is distributed by the District via the building student handbooks. I am requesting approval in June so the school buildings can incorporate the Pupil Transportation Handbook into their 2021-22 student handbooks. The majority of the information in the Pupil Transportation Handbook references School Board transportation policies. The Administrative Team has been provided an opportunity to provide feedback on this handbook. No changes were recommended by the Administrative Team.

Please note: The Arboretum Village Subdivision is completely within 1.0 mile of Arboretum Elementary School, and therefore no transportation will be provided to those constructing homes in Arboretum Village. In Heritage Hills Subdivision, the majority of the subdivision is within 1.0 mile of Prairie Elementary School, except for the far southeast corner of the subdivision. I have attached a map so you can see the area circled in red that would be eligible for transportation to Prairie Elementary School. I expect that the School Board may hear concerns from the new residents in these neighborhoods regarding a lack of District-provided transportation.

Description:  Attached please find the agreement with Dane County for scholarship funds for driver education for economically disadvantaged students.  We have participated in this program in the past and it has been a success and well received.  

Description:  Attached please find a memo from Kurt Eley requesting four additional para-educator positions for the 2021-2022 school year that are directly related to IEP's for new students to our school district.  These positions will be eligible for Transfer of Service Funding, which we will apply for prior to the deadline in September.

Description:  Over the course of the last few months we have gradually reopened our schools and facilities to outside groups.  I recommend at this time that we move back to normal operations for outside groups to use our facilities, and that any protocols that we have in place for our programs be adhered to by outside groups using our facilities.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to allow for feedback and dialog related to the facility planning work we did at the Additional School Board Meeting on June 7th. 

The feedback that is particularly needed by the administrative team is a general timeline or thoughts for when you might want to consider moving forward with the next referendum to address facility needs across the district.  Attached are the timelines we presented on June 7th for your review.  

We realize that enrollment counts and updated projections cannot be completed until after school begins in the fall, however, work on other parts of the plan needs to begin this summer, particularly if there is a preferred target of meeting the April 2022 timeline.

Description:  Following NEP workshops hosted by CESA 2 in 2019-2020, we were invited to participate in a Learning for Equity Redesign Network (LERN) for 2020-2021.  We have been invited to continue our participation in the Building Equitable Learning Environments (BELE) District Network for 2021-2023. This is a two-year commitment at $35,000 per year.  Our participation in the BELE District Network would be funded through the IDEA CCEIS budget.  In 2019, the District was found under federal special education accountability to have a significant disproportionality or discrepancy in the identification of Black students for special education services. As a result the district is required to engage in continuous improvement actions and reserve 15% of IDEA Part B funds for these efforts. Tim Schell has provided additional information in the attached memo.
 

Description:  Attached please find an email from Brian Borowski highlighting the success of the WCHS Forensics team and Forensics coach Walther Stenz

Attached please find an email from Brian Borowski sharing a DPI news release naming Erin Schroeder as a finalist for a national award.

 

Description:  Attached you will find the 2020-21 Budget Status report as of May 31, 2021, and the Cash Reconciliation report for April 2021. 

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. The SSM Health Wellness Clinic Performance Report for April is not yet available.

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

Description:  Attached please find three letters that Mark Hetzel drafted regarding the state budget process and K-12 funding.  He would like your feedback on the letters and the Board's consideration for sending these letters to members of the legislature and the Governor's office.