October 13, 2014 at 6:30 PM - Regular Meeting

Description:  Included in your packet you will find the minutes from the September 8, 2014 regular meeting for your review and approval.

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 items listed as part of the meeting agenda. 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:  Lisa Herzberg and Taylor Listau are the high school student council representatives this year.

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

Description:  Tim Mommaerts will provide an update on the At-Risk Program.  A handout will be provided at the meeting and Tim will provide a verbal report.  

Description:  Members of the staff from Prairie Elementary School will be present at the Board Meeting to discuss and showcase the garden that they developed at their school that was funded through a grant from Sustain Dane and the Madison Community Foundation and made possible by many volunteer hours.  A link to their presentation is provided:  

http://prezi.com/7yd3kvkebmb7/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Description:   

Description:  Kit Dailey from EUA and I will share an update on the communication efforts for the November 4th referendum.  We will also discuss the events for the coming weeks and where we need assistance.  We also want to solicit your input on whether we should send another post-card mailing that reminds people to vote on November 4th.

Upcoming Events:
October 14th -- School Tour at Heritage/Intermediate 10:45 a.m.--noon
October 14th -- Vienna Town Hall Meeting 7:00 p.m.
October 15th -- Westport Town Hall Meeting 6:30 p.m.
October 15th -- Lions Club Meeting (Rex's) 7:00 p.m.
October 16th -- Westbridge/Meadowbrook Meeting (Meadowbrook Community Center) 6:30 p.m.
October 21st -- Information Night (Heritage) 6:30-8:00 p.m.
October 23rd -- Information Night (Prairie) 6:30-8:00 p.m.
October 27th -- School Tour at Heritage/Intermediate 1:00-2:15 p.m.
October 28th -- ROMEO (Senior Center) 9:00 a.m.
October 30th -- Rotary (Rex's) noon-1:00 p.m.

Description:  Attached you will find the 2014-15 Budget Status report as of September 30th, 2014, and the Cash Reconciliation report for August 2014. Please disregard the "ordered" column on the 2014-15 Budget Status report for the salary and benefit budgets. The payroll encumbrance process is not calculating correctly at this time, and we are working with our financial software vendor on updating this process to reflect our new teacher payroll cycles. Please contact Steve Summers at ssummers@waunakee.k12.wi.us  or 849-2012 if you have any questions. Thanks.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request School Board approval of the resolution authorizing temporary borrowing. Attached please find the resolution as prepared by Quarles and Brady, the district’s bond counsel.  PMA is the financial advisor hired to manage the cash flow borrowing process. Here are the highlights of the cash flow borrowing process:
·         A maximum loan of $5,000,000 is taken out in October (compared to $5,000,000 last year) ·         The loan is not bank qualified, which increases interest costs
·         PMA seeks bids on the borrowing
·         The legal opinion is provided by Quarles and Brady
 ·        The borrowing is rated by Moody’s and an official statement is provided to the bidders
 ·        The issuance cost of the loan is higher due to the financial advisor fees, the legal fees, and the rating fees
 ·         The interest rate of the loan should be lower than non-rated, non-bank qualified loans
 ·         The resolution is a parameters resolution, and the final terms will need to be approved by the Business Manager/District Administrator or the Board President, Clerk, or Treasurer

As a reminder, the cash flow borrowing for 14-15 will not be bank qualified because we are electing to save the 2014 $10 million bank qualified funds for either a referendum approved borrowing or a refinancing borrowing if the referendum is not approved. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments on this agenda item.   You can contact me at ssummers@waunakee.k12.wi.us or 849-2491. Thanks.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to review the 3rd Friday in September Count. The 3rd Friday in September Count is a student enrollment count (taken on September 19th) that has a significant impact on budget planning for both the current fiscal year and the next two fiscal years. Attached please find the 3rd Friday Count grade by grade numbers.   The 3rd Friday Count in September is incorporated into the current year revenue cap formula that determines the maximum revenues available from the two major sources of funding (property taxes and state aid). The 3rd Friday Count in September is also a significant factor in the state equalization aid formula for the following fiscal year.   In preparing the 2014-15 budget, an estimate of the 3rd Friday count is necessary. The estimate for 14-15 included 3,919 PK-12 resident students and 160 PK-12 non-resident students. The actual count resulted in 3,870 PK-12 resident students and 169 PK-12 non-resident students.   The Budget Committee will review the financial changes as a result of the 3rd Friday Count, and the information will be included in the 14-15 Budget and Tax Levy Approval on October 27th.    Please let me know if you need any additional information or have any questions. You can contact me at ssummers@waunakee.k12.wi.us or 849-2491. Thanks.

Description:  The Youth Options Program is articulated in state law to provide students with the opportunity to extend their education to the college and university while they are still in high school.  The classes they are able to take must be substantially different and beyond what we offer in our high school.  The cost for the course is paid for by the school district.  You will see that some students have requested permission to take multiple classes.  The students who list many options are trying to cover all bases in the event they cannot get into the class they desire or if it does not fit into their schedule.  These classes have been reviewed by the high school administration and they fit the criteria for Youth Options.

Description:  Attached please find a "Facility Rental Fee Exemption Request" from one of our teachers, Lori Gallagher.  She would like to offer a yoga class to staff for a fee.  Her request is presented to me is as follows:

Hi Randy,
I have not been able to figure out who to talk to about this, so I figured I'd just go right to the top decision maker ;). 
You may not know, but this past spring I became a certified yoga instructor. In the spring I voluntarily provided one 45-minute per week class to coworkers as practice for my "final exam" in the yoga program. There was a lot of enthusiasm about the class and on the first day back to work last week, at least 5 different staff members in my building asked if I'd be doing yoga again this year.
I would love to, but I am not going to be able to afford (time) to volunteer this year. I need to figure out ways to pay down my rising debt (oldest just went to college...). 
I was wondering if you knew if there was a policy against someone charging money for services provided in a school building. What I'd like to do is to offer classes to my coworkers at a severely reduced rate in comparison to yoga studios (who currently are charging from $15 to $20/class for drop in classes). I would ONLY like to have coworkers invited to these classes - so teachers, administrators, office staff, custodians, etc. So, everyone participating would be an employee of the district (if that makes a difference). I'd like to charge $5 per class per person with a possible "month pass" for $30/mo. (if I offered 2 classes per week). When I was doing the classes in the fall, I had anywhere from two to seven people attending at a time. But, there were several more that expressed interest. 
I'd like to offer a "true beginners" class every week or every other week. I'd also like to offer a general class that would be appropriate for all levels as I have interest from some who have done yoga in the past (or are currently doing yoga). I do know that there are some districts that offer classes for staff for free, but that would be paid for by the district. Marcy seemed to believe that this would not be an option within our district. 
So, my main question is - is it possible for me to reserve a location within a school building (possibly the cafe at the MS or somewhere other than the wrestling room where I was before as wrestling does start relatively soon) for no fee but then charge participants for the class? Does it make a difference if the participants are school employees or not (I feel that it may make a difference)? It could be presented as "the district has "donated" the facilities for me to provide you with a reduced rate yoga class X times per week." 
Thank you for your consideration and time reviewing this request.
Sincerely,Lori Gallagher

The cost per policy for rental of the facility as requested would be $25/day.

As a school district we are looking at ways to enhance our wellness offerings to our staff.  The Wellness Committee will be starting work in the coming weeks and it is anticipated that there will be proposed changes to our wellness opportunities in the school district, which may promote more options like what Ms. Gallagher is proposing.  I recommend approval of this request on a one-year basis and look for future direction from the Wellness Committee and the proposals they bring forward later this school year.

Description:  Congratulations to Emma Meyer, Colin Hensen, Sara Freimuth, Brandt Dietry and Moira Shrader for being recognized through the National Merit Scholarship Program. 

Description:  Attached please find the minutes from the October 6th, 2014 Budget Committee meeting. Please contact Steve Summers at ssummers@waunakee.k12.wi.us  or 849-2491 if you have any questions. Thanks. 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request School Board approval of the financial advisor for the November 4th, 2014 referendum. The district issued a request for proposal for financial advisor services, and we received a response from the following firms:

A. EHLERS
B. SPRINGSTED
C. PMA SECURITIES INC
D. ROBERT W. BAIRD

The Budget Committee interviewed all four firms, and is recommending the selection of PMA Securities, Inc as the financial advisor for the November 4th referendum. You are welcome to view all the proposals received in Boardbook for the October 6th Budget Committee meeting. Please contact Steve Summers at ssummers@waunakee.k12.wi.us  or 849-2491 if you have any questions. Thanks. 

Description:  Attached in the "extras" section of Boardbook, please find a list of the accounts payable payments issued during the month of September 2014. Please contact Steve Summers at ssummers@waunakee.k12.wi.us or 849-2491 if you have any questions. Thanks.

Description:  We need to also have a special board meeting to set the tax levy.  This meeting is proposed for Monday, October 27th.  We also want to consider a Budget and HR Committee for the same night.  Additionally, we would like to schedule a Facility Committee Meeting for a date soon after November 4th.  I may also schedule a Co-Curricular Meeting before the November BOE meeting to address co-curricular club requests.