January 10, 2022 at 6:00 PM - Regular Meeting

Description:  Board President, Joan Ensign, will lead a discussion about the outcomes from the listening sessions held with staff this fall.

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 topic. A copy of Board Policy 187 —Public Participation at Board Meetings is enclosed for your reference. Each speaker will be allowed 3 minutes to speak for a total of  30 minutes.  .  Emailed comments will be shared and reviewed by all the board members but will not be read out loud.

Description:  Marissa Loether and Isabella Hahn are the high school student representatives who will provide an update of events from the high school.

Description:  Representatives of the WTA 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:  Please find the WASB Resolutions for 2022 at the attached link, that will be discussed at the Delegate Assembly in a few weeks at the State Education Convention in Milwaukee.  Joan Ensign is our delegate this year.  Please review the resolutions and you can provide feedback to them on Monday night, or at a time prior to the convention.
https://wasb.org/resolutions-to-be-considered-at-2022-wasb-delegate-assembly-now-posted-online/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=resolutions-to-be-considered-at-2022-wasb-delegate-assembly-now-posted-online
 

Description:  Attached is a copy of the memo sent to the municipality & county clerks for candidates for the 2022 spring elections.
 
All candidacy paperwork needed to be turned in by 5:00 p.m. on January 4, 2022. The Candidates for the Spring 2022 Election are: 

Town of Dane/Springfield:
Judith Engebretson

Village of Waunakee Seats:
Jack Heinemann
David Boetcher
Katie Dotzler

Also attached is the Exemption from Filing Campaign Finance Reports.  ALL board members must sign this annually in January.  Even if you are running in the spring election, you still need to sign this to cover your time as a board member from January 2022 - election day.  Please complete this form and return to Rebecca on Monday night.

Description:  As a guide, the timeline that the Board has used for the past few years is as follows:
* School Perceptions Survey (hard copy in folder) and Open-ended Questions (attached) due by February BOE meeting.
* Superintendent Eval & Priorities Eval given out at the February BOE meeting and returned by the end of March.
* If necessary, after the March BOE meeting, individual reminders will be sent to each BOE member sharing what still needs to turn in by the end of March.

 

Description:  At the December BOE Meeting, it was discussed and determined that our next Community Engagement Meeting would take place on Monday, January 31st, and the topic would be Facility Planning Related to a Fall 2022 Referendum.

After the December Meeting, President Joan Ensign received feedback from a Board Member that maybe we should consider changing the focus of the January 31st meeting to be on School Safety.

The administration is seeking clarification on what topic the Board would like to address so we can begin putting together the program for the 31st.

Description:  The administration will present to the Board the most recent data regarding Covid in our community/school district. We will bring this data to the meeting on Monday so the most current data is presented to the Board and community.

Attached please find the current Order from Public Health Madison and Dane County that is in place until February 1, 2022.

In the absence of an Order from PHMDC, the School Board decision from November is still in place.  That decision, absent from an Order from PHMDC, allows for masks to be optional in all school facilities for all grade levels.

The administration will also review with the Board any further guidance provided by PHMDC related to school protocols etc. 

Description:  The HR Committee advanced two retirement-related items to the full Board for their consideration for employees age-eligible for retirement.  The first item is an additional contribution to teacher's post-employment benefits, roughly equivalent to two years of the cost of insurance.  The goal is to pull potential retirees from the next two years into the end of the 21/22 school year and this is a one-time offering.

The second item for the Board's consideration is a contribution to the retirement package for hourly employees, based on their years of service.  This item will both serve as a retirement incentive for those with more than 10 years of service but also, a retention tool to get employees to receive the full amount.  This offering is to continue beyond the 21/22 school year.

Please feel free to see the last two month's of HR Committee meeting agendas if you are interested in more information on this topic. 

Description:  Attached please find the 200 series policies as reviewed, updated, and recommended by the Policy Committee.

Also attached is an Excel spreadsheet that outlines the review by the Wisconsin Association of School Boards regarding the 200 series.  The administration and the Committee used this document as a guide for reviewing and revising this section of policy.

The Board may use this agenda item as a First Reading with action being taken on this series of polices at the February Board Meeting, or if the Board is satisfied with the presentation of these policies as written, action could take place on Monday.

Description:  Attached please find Policy 187 -- Public Comment Periods During Board Meetings.  The Board reviewed this policy at their December Board Meeting and asked the administration to bring back two options in January for how to conduct public comments.  The two options are highlighted in yellow, and in general, differ in whether comments each month need to pertain to an item on the agenda for the given meeting, or if comments can be on any topic germane to the operations of the school district, whether on the agenda or not.

The current policy allows for comments on any topic, whether it is on the agenda or not.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request School Board approval of 2022-2023 open enrollment capacity. Attached are the calculations for both regular and special education, by grade level. Administration is required to provide the calculated open enrollment openings as attached, and the School Board may opt to modify the calculations. 

The recommendations for the 2022-2023 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. In addition, the open enrollment law was changed during the 2015-17 state budget process. We are now required to separately calculate the number of special education openings, and districts are not allowed to deny open enrollment to special education students based on undue financial burdens.

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.

Attached please find a spreadsheet with structures outlining the number of sections and potential openings at each grade level and within special education. Based on feedback from the Budget Committee Meeting, one option to consider is approving the open enrollment capacity for each grade level as highlighted in yellow. This is a hybrid scenario between Scenario 1 and Scenario 3. Scenario 1 is based on the September 2021 enrollment counts and Scenario 3 is based on an estimated increase in enrollment for the 2022-2023 school year.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to review an update to the district's long range facility planning process. This update has been completed by Mark Roffers. Mark has worked as a long-range planning consultant for the district since the 2004 referendum which resulted in the construction of Arboretum Elementary School. Attached, please find a PowerPoint presentation. We are not planning to review the entire scope of this presentation as Mark will focus on the major take-aways of this presentation. Mark will be talking through slides 33-50 for the most part, but you are certainly welcome to ask questions about any of the other slides. This discussion is not focused on facility planning options, but rather the information behind the need for the facility planning process (student enrollment projections and existing facility capacities). This report (and the next agenda item) work together for the next steps in the referendum planning process, which is the development of a community survey and option refinement. 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to review an example financing plan for a November 2022 referendum. This example financing plan has been put together by PMA. PMA is the district's financial advisor and they were selected during the 2014 referendum through a request for proposal process. At a high level, a capitol referendum question for $75 million combined with an operational referendum for $6 million will result in no increase in the tax rate for the district. The board members on the facility committee requested additional scenarios and information from PMA. This information will be shared as soon as PMA has completed the work.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to review the 2020-21 audit report. Please recall this is the first year of receiving an audit report from Wipfli as our prior audit firm decided to discontinue services for public school auditing.

Attached please find the audit report as well as the required School Board Communication report. Please note the auditors' recommendation on pages 4-5 to conduct a "cyber security assessment". The Budget Committee has requested Administration to prepare a request for proposal to bring back to the committee for a future meeting.

 

Description: 

Description:  Wisconsin High School Forensic Association

Description:  Attached in the "extras" section of BoardBook, please find a list of the accounts payable payments issued during the month of December 2021.

Description:  Attached you will find the 2021-22 Budget Status report as of December 31st, 2021, and the Cash Reconciliation report for November 2021.

Please contact Steve Summers at stevesummers@waunakee.k12.wi.us if you have questions on any of these reports.

Description:  Innovation Center Donation (Heinemann) - $1000.00
Athletic Department Donation (Meffert Oil) - $1000.00

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