February 12, 2024 at 6:00 PM - Regular Meeting

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Description:  If time allows before 7:00 p.m., the Board may use this time for Board Development, scheduling meetings, or other logistics/operational matters.

Description:  The following message was sent to all staff regarding the Board's upcoming listening sessions:
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Dear staff,

The Waunakee Community School District Board of Education will again be conducting staff listening/learning sessions at each of the buildings in the district.  The calendar for these dates is included with this invitation to participate at any location for these sessions.

The BOE wants to hear any of your concerns, but to best utilize the entire school network, we want to encourage the most effective channel of communication for positive change.  We hope a direct building/department concern has first been shared with the specific building or department administrator.  Change most frequently needs to start there, with the BOE coming in as approval of the solution or modification of practices as needed.

To best serve you and your ideas at these listening sessions, we will take notes and will share the information with appropriate administration. We will end the process by circling back to each building with the original notes and any follow-up action which has occurred since the listening session.  Improvements in our district are a shared responsibility, and we hope these discussions help lead to a continued increase in employee satisfaction and student achievement.

Each year the BOE and Administration set priorities for the school year.  We are open to any concerns you want to share, but the following priorities may be good discussion topics for the upcoming listening/learning session.

1.  By the spring of 2025, WCSD state assessment scores will be at or above the District’s 2019 results.

2.  Prioritize efforts to enhance staff recruitment and retention.

3.  Establish a budget reflective of district priorities and school board budget parameters.

As you think about the topics, it might be helpful to consider; what is working well, where could we see improvement, and what actions should the BOE consider to meet these priorities.

Thank you for all you do for the children in our district.  We hope to see you at one of the following listening/learning sessions.

Sincerely,

Joan Ensign, BOE President 

Description:  Attached please find the Protocol for Student Listening Sessions that was discussed by the DEI Committee.  Tim Schell is working with the student groups at the high school to organize and secure dates for these meetings.

Description:  Randy Guttenberg will provide an update on the Superintendent Transition Process, timeline, and his discussions with Dr. Brown.

Description:  Action should be taken 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:  Victoria Raemisch and Kendall Haviland are the high school student representatives and will provide an update on activities from the high school.

Description:  Members of the WTA will provide an update from the teachers.

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

Description:  Members of the Board who attended the State School Board Convention will be provided an opportunity to share information from the conference.

Description:  The evaluation meeting has been scheduled for April 9, 2024 @ 5:30PM. All tools will be shared with the Board by the end of February.  Please have the evaluation tools completed and turned into Rebecca by March 15, 2024

Description:  Todd Schmidt and Kristin Runge from the Village of Waunakee will provide an update from the Village and specifically share information on the Kilkenny West Development.  Todd and Kristin are also available to answer any questions that Board Members may have related to the Village of Waunakee.

Description:  Attached please find information on a new course at the high school, Heritage Bilingual Environmental Science.  The course is the second in the sequence that begins with Bilingual Biology and was originally envisioned during our planning for the bilingual program at the high school.  Although this proposal is coming later than we would normally plan, with the specific targeted audience, the high school believes there will be no problems incorporating it into our scheduling process this year.  This course has been reviewed by the Curriculum Committee and is being recommended to the full Board for approval.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request approval of the 2024-25 Budget Planning Process. This budget projection assumes the following:
-Enrollment changes per the 5-year average enrollment projection model
-School finance system continues with $325/student increase in the revenue limit formula
-Non-recurring operational referendums that total $8.127 million continuing past 2024-25. You can add $8.127 million to the deficit for each year past 2024-25 if you assume the non-recurring operational referendums do not continue.
-Expenditures increase at a CPI level for salary plus compensation systems, health insurance increases at 5%, transportation and utilities increase at 5%
-ESSER funding is removed

The five-year budget projection provides an initial look at the deficits that are created because of the difference between revenues increasing at $325 per student and inflationary increases in expenditures. 

In the document you will also find information on expenditure areas such as overall fund 10/27 expenditures, salary, benefits, and utilities and then how Waunakee compares to our Dane County comparable districts in those expenditure areas. There is also a FTE change vs enrollment change chart. The budget committee is recommending approval on a 3-0 motion. 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to review a draft of the community survey. The district has been working with School Perceptions to design a survey that will gather community feedback to provide feedback on both the superintendent transition and district finances. The survey will be sent out in early April. Attached please also find a document that shows 4 different potential referendum options relating to the financial portion of the survey.  Administration will be seeking feedback on the financial portion of the survey as well as the referendum options.

Description:  The administration will review these two policies with the Board per questions that arose at the January Board Meeting.

Description:  Attached please find the summary spreadsheet for the policies that will be reviewed at the February Board Meeting.  These policies have been reviewed by the administration and the policy committee chair prior to movement to the committee for consideration. The Policy Committee is recommending them to the full Board on a 3-0 vote.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request approval moving quotes for the Heritage Elementary move. We have attached quotes from two vendors. Dan Carter, John Cramer, and John Gillis have been involved in reviewing the facilities for both vendors. The quote from SFI, a Waunakee-based business, is a lower cost option overall compared to Coakley. The SFI facility is located in Waunakee. The facility committee is recommending approval of the SFI quote.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request approval of custodial maintenance equipment purchases for the new Heritage Elementary. Attached please find a list developed by John Cramer. Please note that John has researched robotic equipment and has determined that the return on investment is not a fit at this time for Heritage. The facility committee is recommending approval on 3-0 motion. 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request approval of the abatement bids for the demolition of the existing Heritage Elementary. Vogel is working with EMC, the district's environmental consultant, to incorporate abatement of environmental materials prior to the demolition of the facility. Demolition proposals will be brought forward in March. The facility committee made a motion to approve Robinsin Brothers. 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to review the planning process for the high school referendum work. Attached please find a presentation that was developed jointly by EUA and Vogel. The presentation was reviewed with the facility committee. All board members are welcome view the committee presentation and discussion. The intent is not to repeat this presentation at the board meeting. The action item coming from the presentation is presented next. 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda is to request approval of the high school flooring replacement that is a part of the high school remodeling work. The flooring has to be ordered now to be able to be installed this summer. The facility committee approved a not-to-exceed amount of $1,000,000 for this project on a 2-0 motion, with final approval required from the Superintendent. 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request approval of district wide maintenance projects. Attached please find an updated capital maintenance projects prioritization list, along with supporting information. John Cramer, Scott Bauer, and Steve Summers have met with each building principal and Nick Conrad to develop comprehensive capital maintenance projects for the February facility committee meeting.This month's requests are related to projects that can be completed in the summer of 2024. The facility committee is recommending on a 2-0 motion with the exception of the middle school solar project. The facility committee is also recommending on a 2-0 motion the softball field project on a not-to-exceed $325,000 amount with final approval from the Superintendent. Attached please find the budget for this project. Administration is also reviewing the Intermediate School graphics replacement quote. 

All board members are welcome to view the facility committee meeting if interested. A large portion of the meeting was focused on capital maintenance planning for February, March, and future years. Administration welcomes any questions or comments on this topic. 

Description:  Members of the EUA staff will be at Monday's Board Meeting to share the interior plans for the new Middle School.

Description:  Jeff Kenas, principal at the Middle School, will be present at Monday's Board Meeting to provide an update and follow-up on the proposed changes to the Middle School Instructional Schedule for the 2024-2025 school year.  They will have a presentation ready for the Board Meeting, but it is not included in the BoardBook materials.   I recommend this proposal to the Board and ask for support by endorsing this plan to begin in the fall.

Description:  Attached in the "extras" section of BoardBook, please find a list of the accounts payable payments issued during the month of January 2024. Please feel free to reach out to Allie Dye at alexandradye@waunakee.k12.wi.us if you have any questions.

Description:  Attached you will find the Budget Status report as of January 31, 2024 and the Cash Reconciliation report for December 2023.

Description:  The safety log report is required to be presented and approved by the Board per the safety grants that we received.  It tracks the requisite drills that we need to perform in the school buildings.

Description:  Attached please find information regarding the Second Friday in January Student Count. The first attachment provides the grade by grade information and the second attachment compares September student counts to January student counts. 

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