Regular Board Meeting: September 13, 2021
• The following citizens addressed the Board regarding busing issues, masks, vaccinations, keeping masks optional, curriculum not being posted to the website, COVID, transportation, busing issues, back to school mitigation, budget, the Pledge of Allegiance, transparency: Kelly Becherer, Jean Merry, Krista Ewert, Chad Matzen, Monica Curtis, Kevin Curtis, Lynn Carey, Scott Hefle, Sandy Pie, Abby Duszynski, Pam Schulz, Diane Pedersen, Alyssa Pollow, Jodi Graf, Lynne Hirsch, Melanie Smythe, Laureen Harris, Kim Grant, Alex Hardin, Jessica Chapin, Ed Hurtz, Mikey Whitcomb, Brad Schiereck, Elizabeth Green.
• Director of Teaching and Learning Brenda O’Brien led discussions on the curriculum pilot plans for 2021–2022 school year, the timeline for those pilots, and public parent sessions that are planned for January or February of 2022. Pawlak mentioned that the Curriculum Committee still needs to review and determine how to set up those meetings, how to get that information out to parents, the timeline for sharing that information, and concerns that O’Brien forwarded on to him from a parent(s) of some items on the pilot list, that he will share with everyone on the Committee. Soderberg asked when a complete list of the curriculum would be available on the website and what is the percentage of where we are today with having that completed. Pawlak mentioned that for the next Board meeting the Curriculum Committee will have an agenda item to describe the high-level plan, by percentage or by school, whichever is most appropriate. Loth mentioned teacher syllabuses being provided to parents. O’Brien suggested a meeting between the Curriculum Committee and Stousland to define what is curriculum and what is the expectations for what is to be posted online, and further clarification on what definition around what are the expectations of what is to be posted and what does not need to be posted online. Medved mentioned the pilot program proposal brought to them tonight, a vetting program, and continuing with that process. O’Brien updated the Board regarding the proposal for the AP Government and Politics course, and that the adoption of this course will be put on hold this year. Board discussion on inservice material, individual schools having their own inservice material. O’Brien reiterated that it would be helpful to have a definition around what the expectations are for what is to be posted. Medved mentioned that not all inservices are curriculum-based.
• Loth led discussions and updated the Board on the Finance Committee meeting discussions held on September 13, 2021. The Finance Committee brings forward a motion to the Board of Education with a positive recommendation to award the 2021–2022 paper bid/purchase to Contract Paper Group in an amount not to exceed $17,160.00 and charge to the appropriate accounts across the district budget. It does not require a second. Motion carried.
• Director of Human Resources Mike Nowak led discussions on the teacher resignation. Motion by Barney, second by Reinemann to approve the resignation of Carl Anderson and thank him for his years of service to the students, their families, and to the Germantown School District and approve posting and filling the vacancy. Motion carried.
• Director of Human Resources Mike Nowak led discussions on the teacher contracts. Motion by Reinemann, second by Pawlak to approve the 1.0 FTE regular contract for Marie Petrakovitz at $72,000, the 1.0 FTE regular contract for Brittany Crowe at $48,250, the 1.0 FTE regular contract for Melissa Owens at $46,250, the 1.0 FTE regular contract for Albert Allen-Jones at $40,000, and the 1.0 FTE regular contract for Kathy Simonis at $56,000. Motion carried.
• Director of Human Resources Mike Nowak led discussions on the request to hire a part-time physical education teacher due to increase sections at the elementary level. Motion by Pawlak, second by Barney to approve the request of hiring a 60% part-time physical education teacher for the 2021–2022 school year for the reasons stated. Motion carried.
• Motion by Reinemann, second by Loth to approve the overnight travel request for the Germantown High School Advanced Placement program to travel to London, England, and Paris, France, from June 23, 2022, to June 30, 2022, as presented. Motion carried.
• Superintendent Stousland led discussions on busing issues during the first week of school, the extra students that tried to access bus routes that had not been signed up for a route, and that the issues have been sorted out. Stousland mentioned the bus driver shortage contributing to the issues that we are experiencing with busing availability for after-school activities and how we are working through those issues. Director of Business & Auxiliary Services Brittany Altendorf described the process used in the past for bus routing by placing all students on a bus route, and that this year, parents had to sign their students up for a bus route. Altendorf also mentioned that there could be three to a seat if needed, but they are trying to avoid that. Board discussion on late buses, communications to notify parents, communication tools that are available. Motion by Loth to add a bus route if necessary, second by Pawlak. Motion carried. Altendorf added that if an additional bus route is necessary, either Stousland or Altendorf will send an email to the Board to notify them.
• Superintendent Stousland led discussion on the Washington Ozaukee County Health information from their website, the cumulative information, the seven-day rolling average with the percentage of positive tests, vaccinations by county, local data from our website (found by clicking on menu and looking under About Us for the COVID Dashboard), area schools benchmarking, and that a lot of these schools use Riteway. Stousland mentioned that we could add a quarantined section. Stousland led discussions on how the Board would like to handle students attending school when there is someone in the household that has tested positive along with discussions on wearing masks on the buses. Riteway is following the CDC guidelines and requiring masks to be worn by bus drivers and students while on the bus, however, they will not deny a student transportation if they do not wear a mask. Stousland is recommending that any student with a positive COVID test in the household, should also be quarantined. Motion by Reinemann, second by Soderberg to add the mitigation adjustments for positive cases in the same household, quarantine students for 10 days, if vaccinated there is no need to quarantine unless showing symptoms. Motion carried. Stousland discussed the contract tracing that we are doing in the district, communications that go out to parents when there are multiple positive cases in a classroom, and that if we can determine if their child was in close contact within 3 ft. of a positive case, we will continue to notify parents and get information out. Donation from the Faich family for an air purifier for a kindergarten classroom at Amy Belle School. Motion by Reinemann, second by Barney to thank the donor for their generosity and approve the donation as presented. Motion carried.
A recording of the meeting can be viewed here.
UPCOMING MEETINGS
September 27: Budget/Annual Board meeting