January 9, 2017 at 6:00 PM - Regular Meeting

Description:  I will present to the BOE in closed session my self-evaluation and provide a district update on what is going well and areas of challenge.  This presentation has been requested by the BOE per our conversation during my evaluation last year.  

Description:  Included in your packet you will find the minutes from the December 14, 2015 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:  Amanda Koenig and Mikayla Ripp are the high school student representatives who will provide an update of events from the high school.

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:  The 2017 WASB Resolutions are attached for your review.  The BOE will discuss these resolutions on Monday evening and provide Gary Epping with input on how he should represent the Board at the Delegate Assembly in Milwaukee later this month.  A link to the resolutions is as follows:
http://www.wasb.org/websites/advoc_gov_relations/index.php?p=391
You may also find this link in the extras section of board book. 

Description:   Julie Waner and Joan Ensign have submitted the requisite paperwork to be on the ballot for the April School Board Election.  

Description:  The BOE will discuss progress on the WASB Survey.  The BOE agreed to have this survey complete by Monday.  If you need assistance, please contact Rebecca McDonough.

Description:  The BOE will discuss the process and timeline for completing the Superintendent Evaluation.

Description:  The Community Engagement section of the Strategic Planning Framework includes work related to Linkage Meetings.  The Linkage Meeting held on 12-05-16 yielded great feedback and input from the 55 attendees.  The Goals Committee and the Linkage Meeting Planning Group that included the High School Above the Influence Club, the school district, and the Waunakee Care's Coalition met before the holiday and developed a list of potential actionable items.  The summary of these next steps is as follows:

• Find opportunities for the Above the Influence Group (ATI) to work with younger students.
• Explore sending ATI students to the SWAY Training Youth Summit this summer.
• The Waunakee Cares Coalition will establish a Facebook presence.
• Randy Guttenberg and Kurt Eley have a meeting set with Sisters of Saint Mary’s (Dean Health) to discuss opportunities for bringing mental and behavioral health services to the community.
• The School District and Coalition will share data in the newspaper.
• Janet Thomas will develop a parent survey to compliment the data we received on student perceptions.
• Ellen Grunder is working a community book reading series.
• Find opportunities to have the “hidden visibles” bedroom display available to parents and community.
• Explore the opportunity for having students trained in Mental Health 1st Aid.
• The district has agreed to partner with the Dane County Building Bridges Program.
• The Coalition and school district each need to review the need and roles of AODA coordinators for the community and school.
• Review policies on sharing of directory information for parents to have access to information about how to contact other parents.
• Send a follow-up summary of actionable items to the attendees of the Linkage Meeting.

I will review the Linkage Meeting outcomes and these actionable items with you on Monday evening. The exit survey and notes from the Linkage Meeting are attached for your review.

Description:  Earlier this fall Peggy Hill-Breunig, Dave Boetcher, and I met to discuss how our school board might become more engaged in the legislative process, particularly as the state budget process occurs this winter and spring.  Peggy has asked that this topic be on the agenda for us to discuss as it relates to our community and legislative engagement goals.

A few guiding question to assist this conversation:

1.  What legislative engagement activities have we participated in the past and did you feel they were effective in communicating our position?  (I am aware of letters written to legislators and various staff and board members testifying at legislative committee meetings, along with our participation in the WASB delegate assembly process.) Do you think we should continue with these approachs with issues that come up in the future?

2.  What other options for legislative engagement should/ or do you want to consider for the future?

3.  Other Comments / Ideas?

4.  Do you have an actionable or next step you want to consider?

Description:  A significant part of our work on the Strategic Planning Framework leads to the need for better data to track and assess progress.  Over the first few months of Strategic Planning Reports you have had many questions about data.  For Monday's report I want to take a step aside and demonstrate  for you a new tool we are using from the administrator to the teacher to track and analyze student academic and behavioral data.  This tool is called EduClimber.  Tim Schell, Amy Johnson, and Janet Thomas will define for you what this tool is, who can use it, how it will be used, and how you will see it emerge as an en integral part of our future strategic planning reports and decision making process.

Description:  Attached please find the proposed School Calendar for 2017-2018 that is being recommended to the Board from the Calendar Committee.  Peggy Hill-Breunig sits on the committee along with members of the teaching and administrative staff.  The noted changes to the calendar for next year include:

1.  Back-to-Back staff development days in August to allow for a deeper level of work on district priorities.  For this coming year we will have Louis Cruz working with all staff on PLC issues particular to our district.  Louis is one of the primary speakers we have heard the last few years at the PLC Institute.

2.  School will begin on Tuesday, September 5th.  State law does not allow us to start school until September 1st and this year that date falls on a Friday.

3.  All other parts of the calendar are similar to this year with the last day of school being on Friday, June 8th.

I received a call a few weeks ago from a parent who was upset that we did not have a full 2-weeks off of school over Christmas and New Years.  I told her that I would share her concern with the BOE but that the draft calendar for 2017-2018 did not include this length of break for the holidays, either.

I will review the whole calendar with you on Monday evening and will be asking for your action and approval.

Description:  Tim Schell has a meeting on Thursday, January 5th with members of the physical education staff to discuss the expansion of the on-line physical education course at the high school.  Tim will provide an update to the Board on Monday regarding the outcome of this meeting and the next steps as an effort to keep you informed as this item moves forward. 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request School Board approval of the
2015-16 financial audit. The district’s audit firm, Johnson Block & Co., has
not completed the 2015-2016 financial audit reports, so this topic will be tabled until the February meeting. Here is a statement from the WI DPI on the delay in the audit reports:

2015-16 AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS – REVISED DUE DATE
JANUARY 10, 2017: In an effort to be flexible and understanding, the SFS Team has again extended the due date for the 2015-16 audited financial statements to January 10, 2017.  If your district’s independent CPA audit firm is unable to meet the January 10th due date, please have your audit firm contact one of the SFS Team auditors and provide an estimated date for
submission of the statements. As we have indicated previously, we delayed the submission of the district audits this year because of the delayed release of the GASB Statement # 68 information by the Department of Employee Trust Funds (ETF).  The Legislative Audit Bureau has completed its audit of ETF.  ETF has posted
the GASB # 68 employer schedules with the related Independent Auditor’s
Report.  The employer schedules and Auditor’s Report can be found on ETF’s
GASB # 68 resources page or directly at https://etfonline.wi.gov/ETFGASBPublicWeb/gasb68.do. Please let me know if you have any questions on this topic. I can be reached
at ssummers@waunakee.k12.wi.us or 849-2012. Thanks for your time.

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Description:  Attached please find the minutes from the January 4th, 2017 meeting of the
Budget Committee.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to review the transportation bid process. Please
see the attached bid timeline and bid major specifications documents.
The Budget Committee reviewed both of these documents in detail at the January 4th meeting, and the revisions as suggested by the committee are highlighted in bold on the attachments.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at
ssummers@waunakee.k12.wi.us or 608-849-2491 Thanks for your time.

Description:   

Description:  Over the last 15-months I have been in contact with Dr. Nick Mischler, a community member who wants to commemorate education in the community through the commissioning and construction of a sculpture.  A community committee has been established by Dr. Mischler and they would like the sculpture to be located on school grounds.  Per our policy on facility improvements, this request needs to come to the Facility Committee and the BOE.  

Attached please find the site review completed by Joe Bellomo and his staff of the exterior entry way to the high school.  This site is the preferred site of Dr. Mischler's committee.  

I am asking the Committee to review this site location and determine if you are open to a sculpture being located at this site.  If so, then this item will be forwarded to the full board on January 9th for consideration.

Prior to any sculpture construction taking place, the sculpture design and concept would need to come back to this committee and the full board for consideration.

Description:  The dance room is located off of the field house at the high school.  This room is outfitted for the dance team to practice, and is also used by the cheer squad.  The dance team wants to install a flooring that provides cushioning for the dancers.  The dance team will pay for the floor and there will be no cost to the district.

Aaron May is working with the dance team to secure the final specifications.  He will bring that specification and plan to the facility committee meeting on Thursday, for their consideration.

Description:  Attached in the "extras" section of Boardbook, please find a list of the accounts payable payments issued during the month of December 2016. Please contact Steve Summers at ssummers@waunakee.k12.wi.us or 849-2012 if you have any questions. Thanks.

Description:  Attached you will find the 2016-17 Budget Status report as of December
31st, 2016, the Cash Reconciliation report for November 2016, and the
2014 referendum budget report as of December 31st, 2016. Please note that
the purchase orders over $5,000 report has been included in the "extras"
section of BoardBook. 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 2017-
18 open enrollment capacity. Please note: administration is recommending pulling this agenda item from the consent agenda for separate discussion and action. We believe the School Board may want to modify the calculated 4K enrollment down to 30, as this action was taken by the School Board last January. We are required to provide the calculated open enrollment openings as attached, and the School Board may opt to modify the calculations. Another area of discussion should be 5th grade. 

The approval of the 2017-18 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.
Attached you will find a document that identifies the recommended 2017-18
open enrollment capacity by grade level for regular education and special
education. The recommendations are based on the open enrollment
policy which requires class sizes below the optimal level and building
capacities below the maximum level prior to accepting open enrollment
students. Please note that open enrollment capacity is different than class sizes
at each grade level.
For 17-18, I am estimating enrollment (and budget planning) based on a 48
increase in student enrollment. The only regular education openings
recommended are in four-year old kindergarten, 4th grade, and 5th
grade. 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.
For the 16-17 school year, the School Board approved the following number of
open enrollment openings compared to actual number of enrollees:
Four-year old kindergarten 30 openings/30 enrollees
3rd grade 15 openings/0 enrollees
4th grade 26 openings/0 enrollees
9th grade 10 openings/3 enrollees
Please let me know if you have any questions or comments on this agenda
item. You can reach me at ssummers@waunakee.k12.wi.us or 849-2012.
Thanks.

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