May 8, 2023 at 6:00 PM - Regular Meeting

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 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:  Members of the WTA will provide an update to the Board from the Teachers.

Description:  Kaden Cerdena and Isabelle Hahn are the student representative from the high school and will be present to report to the board on what is occurring at the high school.

Description:  Attached please find correspondence from CESA2 regarding the delegate convention on June 20th.

Description:  Brian Grabarski, Director of Human Resources, will update the Board and community on the next steps in the Superintendent Search Process.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to provide an update on Village of Waunakee TID #3. Tim Semmann from the Village of Waunakee will attend the meeting and share information on the attachment. Tim will also review the process for closing TID #3.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request of office personnel in both school and district offices to consider closing public access to offices on Fridays for the last two weeks of June through the first two weeks of August.  

These weeks are a historically very low to non-existent volume of public visitors.  Administration would not have any adjustments to their work calendars.  Administrative Assistants would continue to be paid only for hours worked.  Administrative Assistants could adjust their weekly summer schedules with the permission of their supervisors to maintain their hours or continue to work as normally scheduled.  The HR committee is recommending approval along with the flexibility of custodial/maintenance staff. 

Description:  Attached please find the policy summary grids for the policies being considered by the Board on Monday night.  These working documents provide background on the policy review process used by the policy committee for the policies that are being recommended to the Board for consideration.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request school board approval of the structural steel install bids. Attached please find a bid summary and a document identifying the scope of work.The facility committee is recommending approval of the bid from Badgerland on a 3-0 motion. 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request approval of the furniture vendor. The Facility Committee previously recommended approving the furniture selection process proposal from EUA. The School Board approved this proposal and EUA has been working through the vendor selection process. A request for quote was submitted to seven furniture vendors. These furniture vendors were selected jointly between the district and EUA. We received six responses, and these responses were jointly evaluated by the district and EUA. Based on the evaluations, three vendors were interviewed on Thursday, April 6th. These vendors are Demco, Duet, and Atmosphere. The building level administrative staff completed the process of evaluating vendors through site visits/reference checks. The administration is recommending approval of the furniture vendor, Atmosphere. In the extras section, please find the request for proposal response from Atmosphere. 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request approval of the 2023-24 capital maintenance projects. The Budget and Facility Committees reviewed this topic previously, and indicated a preference to fund annual capital maintenance projects from Fund 49 (referendum fund), while building up an annual capital maintenance fund in Fund 10 (general fund). Previously, all annual capital maintenance projects were funded through Fund 41. 

Administration shared information with the Facility Committee last month regarding high priority HVAC projects and annual capital maintenance projects. Several of the capital maintenance projects were still awaiting quotes, so the Facility Committee decided to recommend the HS elevator project and the TLF roof project for approval at the April 10th School Board meeting. 

The Facility Committee requested that administration consolidate all projects lists into a single, comprehensive list for easier tracking. Attached please find our work in this area. The project summary page provides a high level overview of the budget information, projects approved to date, pending projects, and projects that administration is requesting review by the Facility Committee this month. Please know that there is a much larger project list that has not been included that identifies all of the long-term capital maintenance projects, and this larger project list will continue to be prioritized throughout the timeframe of this referendum project. 

For the May 8th School Board meeting,  administration is requesting approval of the projects with quotes on this list, which totals $1,476,365. The $1,476,365 includes HVAC projects of $1,015,000 and $461,365 of annual capital maintenance projects. The total 2023-24 annual capital maintenance projects (including the 2 projects approved last month) would be $517,000 of the typical $525,000 annual expenditure for capital maintenance projects. 

Also attached you will find supporting information on the HVAC projects. These three HVAC projects are the highest priority HVAC related projects from the long-term capital maintenance plan. Tha facility committee is recommending approval of the attached projects on a 3-0 motion. 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request approval of the process for use of contingency funds. The existing School Board policy on Purchasing Approvals (https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1651837029/waunakeek12wius/viyrjwvjlsmyd6ohde6b/6721PurchasingApprovals080718c.pdf) provides Superintendent approval authority for expenses between $10,000 and  $24,999 and School Board approval for expenses required at $25,000 and above. There are exceptions to the policy, but this is the general requirement. 

Administration is requesting a discussion regarding the approval process for the use of the contingency funds during the project. The approval process could follow existing School Board policy, or the approval process could be modified with another process. Here is an example:
$1 to $49,999 Superintendent Approval (or Designee)
$50,000 to $99,000 Facility Committee Approval 
$100,000 + School Board Approval

The facility committee is requesting approval on a 3-0 motion. 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request approval of the first draft of the budget for the 23-24 school year. Attached the first draft of the budget, the food service budget proposal, and the special education memo. Please note that the first draft of the budget is based on the following:
1. The $0/student increase in the per pupil categorical aid, with a $200/student increase in the revenue limit formula
2. An increase in the percentage of State Special Education Categorical Aid to 32.5% (from 30%)
3. The personnel cost line includes an inflationary salary increase of 7.5%, implementation of the teacher and classified staff compensation systems, a 0% increase in dental insurance rates, and a 3% increase for health insurance rates.
4. The capital maintenance projects are funded from Fund 49
5. The first draft includes an increase of 10 FTE, as outlined on page 13 of the document.
6. The debt service fund includes the new debt issued for the $175 million referendum.
7. All of the remaining budget requests have been placed on hold at this time.

The second draft of the budget in June will include:
1. Grant allocations, if available
2. Staffing updates based on additional schedule changes, reallocation proposals or new positions
3. Updates to the Food Service budget (Fund 50), and other budgets as a result of School Board approved student fees
4. Updates to the gift fund (Fund 21)
5. Updates to the community service fund (Fund 80)
6. Updates to building/department revenue accounts and corresponding expense accounts

Administration would like to discuss property tax levy goals for the fall of 2023. The first draft of the budget is developed with the concept of a property tax increase of 3% that is connected to a corresponding net new construction increase of 3%. This approach would keep a consistent school property tax rate for existing property tax payers. We will learn about the net new construction increase information during the month of August. The budget committee is recommending approval on a 3-0 motion.

The budget committee also recommended approval of the special education positions, the fund 50 food service budget, and the fund 80 community education budget. The special education memo outlines the position requests and includes a description of the funding approaches being utilized. The business office works collaboratively with the special education department to maximize resources between federal, state, and local sources. The position of special education coordinator would be new to the district. Attached please find a job description for this position. If you have questions specific to the new positions, please reach out to Tiffany Loken at tiffanyloken@waunakee.k12.wi.us

 

Description:  Attached please find the proposed student fees for the 2023-2024 school year. Please note that the school fee for the high school has increased in conjunction with the elimination of the transcript fee. There is a new fee at the high school connected to course approved curriculum. The food service fee increases are in response to the significant increases in food costs and for labor associated with the food service program. The budget committee is recommending approval on a 3-0 motion. 

Description:  On Monday night, the administration along with district partners from EUA will provide an update on the work of the New Middle School Visioning Committee.  Part of this report will illustrate the DRAFT floorplan for the New Middle School, which we are excited to share with the Board and hear your feedback.  See attached.

Since this is a large middle school, one of the concepts we are embracing, which was part of our long-range plan from 2013, is to create smaller learning environments within the larger school.  We will illustrate that part of the plan when we present it to you on Monday.

Description:  Jeff Kenas, Middle School Principal, will be in attendance at Monday's Board Meeting to share with you his assessment of and desire to reimagine the daily instructional schedule at the middle school.  This presentation will be for informational purposes and to serve as a preamble to work that we will be undertaking this summer and next year.

Description:  The Calendar Committee met on May 1st and reviewed the calendar for the 2024-2025 school year.  Please see attached.

Description:  Attached in the "extras" section of BoardBook, please find a list of the accounts payable payments issued during the month of April 2023.

Description:  Attached you will find the 2022-23 Budget Status report as of April 30th, 2023 and the Cash Reconciliation report for March 2023.

Description:  Randy Guttenberg can answer any questions regarding this request.  The high school administration is supportive of approval of this student to attend Waunakee Community High School for the 2023-2024 school year.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is for the Board to approve the allocation of the dollars out of this scholarship fund, per the agreement with the donors of these awards.

Description:  Pride Pump Donation  - Meffert Oil $1000
Kathie Wagner in Memory of Ken Wagner - $100 to SFAF
Calvin Kruschek - $500 to SFAF

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request school board action on the open enrollment applications received for the 2023-2024 school year. As a reminder, state law requires the school board to identify the number of available open enrollment spaces at the January 2023 meeting. Attached please find a memorandum regarding these applications, a list of applications into our district, and a list of applications out of our district. The student lists are not available for public view. We are recommending approval of all of the open enrollment out applications and the recommendations for the open enrollment in requests are aligned with the school board decision from January 2023.