September 14, 2015 at 6:30 PM - Regular Meeting

Description:  Included in your packet you will find the minutes from the August 10, 2015 regular meeting and August 24, 2015 special meeting for your review and approval.

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 non-agenda items related to the governance or management of the
Waunakee Community School District. Individuals may use this time to also
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:  This section is reserved for any comments from members of the board on meetings they attended or other informational items.

Description:  Connie Beth and Kurt Eley have submitted their reports for your review.  They will be present at Monday's meeting to answer any questions and to highlight items that are of particular importance.

Description:  The school year is off to a good start.  As I have been out in the buildings I have heard good comments from staff and my assessment is that we are starting the year in a good place.

Thank you to Julie for welcoming our staff on behalf of the school board.  Her message about collaboration, the strengths of our board, and a desire to work together for improvements, is in line with our work for the year and merged nicely with my message to staff.

I began the year with three points:

1.  Vision -- we need to have a picture in our mind of what we want to become.
2.  Kids -- keep the focus on our students -- they are why we are here and get to do this work.
3.  Ideas -- we all have the power to share, foster, and experiment with ideas.  Book - "What do you do with an Idea"

As we begin the school year, the school board has a very busy schedules:

Special Board Meetings
September 28th and November 2nd -- Board Development
October 19th -- Annual Meeting
October 26th -- Set the levy

When I look at our committee work, here is an outline of the work that I foresee us needing to address this fall:

Facility Committee
End of Prairie Project and Roof for Summer 2016
Intermediate School -- construction updates and district direction on security systems and doors control systems.
Heritage -- review of base scope of work along with alternate bids in preparation for bids coming to the full board in December.
Facility Maintenance Plan Update for all schools.
Review and set a direction for maintenance and projects related to Warrior Stadium -- field, lights, track, drainage, scoreboard, etc.
Building Tours

Budget Committee
2015-2016 Budget Finalization
Planning for 2016-2017 Budget 
Update on internal controls across the school district.

Policy Committee
Misc. Policy Reviews
Review Student Discipline and Expulsion Policies and Practices
Review HR Process for Hiring -- what is required by policy and by state law?

HR Committee
QTI Study Result and Next Steps with Admin Asst. and other groups.
Salary and Negotiations for 2015-2016
Points Discussion and Review
Insurance Updates -- Clinic Model

Co-Curricular Committee
Club and Organizations Review and Applications
Review and plan for student surveys.
Review and plan for parent satisfaction survey.
Coach and Adviser Evaluation process.
Possible Co-Curricular Community Discussion 

Goals Committee
Linkage Meeting Follow-up
Vision Statement Review and Feedback
District Planning -- proposal for superintendent and board roles.

Curriculum
As set by committee and Tim.

Our challenge will be to manage these items effectively so as not to slow down the progress that is needed to keep all areas moving forward.

I look forward to working with the Board and our staff on making this a great year for Waunakee.

Description:  Chris Hetzel, Dan Carter, and Sheila Weihert will be present on Monday night to share their building goals for the year.  As part of their presentation, they will review how they did in achieving their building goals last year, and what direction they are moving with their building  goals for the 2015-2016.  Their goals are attached for your review in the EXTRAS tap of Board Book.  The administrators will walk you through their documents and highlight the specific areas they are working on as part of their presentation.  I asked each administrator to plan for about 10 minutes each, and we encourage and welcome your questions.

Description:  On an annual basis we act upon our agreement to share the cost of staff with neighboring districts for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services.  At the time of the writing of the board packet, we have not received this agreement in the mail.  If we receive it prior to the meeting time on Monday we will be recommending approval, and if we do not receive it, we will move this item to next month's agenda.

Description:  Attached please find a memo from Kurt Eley requesting an additional para-educator for Prairie Elementary School to work with a student who is attending school in Waunakee per a DPI decision on an Open Enrollment Appeal.  The home district will pay for the cost of this position, not Waunakee.

Description:  At the special board meeting on August 24th you had the opportunity to have a conversation with Matt Claggett from Findorff on the early results of the bid process for the Intermediate School.  On Monday night you will be asked to act on the bids.  Since the last meeting, each bid item was reviewed by the EUA and Findofff team to ensure that the proper scope of work was bid by the subcontractors, and we are comfortable with their ability to provide the services requested.  Steve Summers, Joe Bellomo, Herb Haubrich, and I have been involved with this review, as well.  The bid sheets are included in the packet for your review.  Findorff is working on a review of where we are situated per the budget.  We will be prepared to share the updated budget information with you on Monday night.

Description:  Steve and I met with Mark Roffers last week to review his initial analysis of our projected enrollment growth by sub-units of our community and the overlay of our elementary attendance boundaries.  Mark will be in attendance at our meeting on Monday night to share his report with you.   His report is attached.  Steve and I believe our proposed hypothesis of moving Kilkenny and Bishop's Bay to Heritage as a "simple" way to address boundary needs for the foreseeable future, may be feasible.  We are not asking for any action from the Board in September -- this report will just be informational.  We will bring back this item for consideration later this fall.

Description:  Attached please find a request for early graduation from Olivia Sander and her parents.  Olivia is requesting early graduation to enter the workplace second semester of her senior year in order to save money for college.  Brian Kersten and the guidance staff have reviewed Olivia's academic program and are recommending approval of this request contingent upon her meeting the requirements for graduation.

Description:  Attached you will find the final 2014-15 Budget Status report as of June 30th, 2015, the Cash Reconciliation report for July 2015, the 2014 referendum budget report as of August 31st, 2015, and the new purchase orders over $5,000 report. Please note on the 2014-15 budget status report that all of the 2014-15 financial transactions have been completed. The school district auditors, Johnson & Block, completed auditing the 14-15 financial records during the week of August 10th. The district general fund, Fund 10, had a positive ending balance of $869,446.82. The final 14-15 Fund 10 fund balance is $8,275,543.98 or 19.5% of the 15-16 Fund 10 expenditure budget approved in July by the School Board. The 19.5% compares to a number of 18.1% in 14-15. The Board policy on fund balance has a statement of working towards maintaining a 15% balance. The new report on purchase orders over $5,000 is connected to the policy revisions on the bidding requirements policy. The business office will provide a monthly report on all purchase orders that have been approved for over $5,000, and the report will identify any exceptions to the bidding policy that exist with each order. 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 approval of student activity accounts. I have attached a report from the district financial system listing the student activity accounts by building, along with the ending account balance on June 30th, 2015.   Based on the recommendation of the school district auditor, the School Board policy on student activity accounts was revised during the 2010-11 school year to require an annual School Board review and approval of student activity accounts.   Student activity accounts by School Board policy are managed by Building Principals/Administrators. These accounts are typically used by student organizations for fundraising for activities above and beyond what the district budget is able to support. Student activity account balances carry over from one fiscal year to another.   I would like to point out that student activity accounts with a positive balance are reflected with a negative sign, as student activity accounts are balance sheet accounts on the district financial system. A positive balance actually indicates a negative account balance. Negative account balances are allowed by policy under certain circumstances.  You will notice a larger negative balance for the high school yearbook account. The yearbook vendor has been changed for the 2015-16 school year, which has caused a temporary negative account balance. The same issue occured the last time the yearbook vendor was changed. 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 approval of fund balance allocations. As discussed earlier in the meeting, the 2014-15 end of the fiscal year balance was $869,446.82. Please also remember that during the month of June, the School Board approved fund balance classifications to comply with national accounting standards. The administration is recommending that the $869,446.82 be allocated as follows:  
Description                                        Account Number      Amount          Balance  
Unassigned fund balance             939900                       $539,037.50  $7,360,736.13 
Reserved for self-insurance          936110                        -$18,008.83        $25,291.66
Committed fund balance                937900                         $11,875.00        $51,484.68      
Assigned fund balance                   938900                       $336,543.15     $838,031.51    
Total                                                                                        $869,446.82   $8,275,543.98               
The unassigned fund balance is the standard fund balance account that is not meant to be spent. The reserved for self-insurance balance is the balance in the districts self-insured dental program. The committed fund balance is meant for future parking lot expenses and high school band uniforms. The assigned fund balance is meant to carry over building/department budgets from one fiscal year to the next.  Attached please find a detailed accounting of the 937900 and 938900 fund balance accounts. Please contact Steve Summers at ssummers@waunakee.k12.wi.us or 849-2012 if you have any questions. Thanks. 

Description:   

Description:  Policy 671.2 Rule is being eliminated and the language from this policy is being incorporated into other policy you are reviewing on Monday evening.

Description:  The revision of this policy is the result of us moving the middle school co-curricular programs to Fund 80, per the 3rd draft of the budget, and the movement away from joining WIAA at the middle level.  The revision also articulates our local decision regarding restricting participation in the school programs while concurrently competing as part of the same club sport.

Description:  The revision of this policy is the result of us moving the middle school co-curricular programs to Fund 80, per the 3rd draft of the budget, and the movement away from joining WIAA at the middle level.  

Description:  Attached in the "extras" section of Boardbook, please find a list of the accounts payable payments issued during the month of August 2015. Please contact Steve Summers at ssummers@waunakee.k12.wi.us or 849-2491 if you have any questions. Thanks.