On Tuesday night, the School District of Janesville School Board meeting took place.
The board set the meeting at 70 minutes, but due to public comments, that time was subject to be extended. Board President Cathy Myers said she appreciates the public’s past civility in public comment sessions and hoped it would continue. Parents, students and concerned citizens made their voices heard, with many speaking about the district’s mask mandate, however no debate regarding masks was on the agenda.
After only 22 minutes of speakers, the consent agenda was unanimously approved. A summer school presentation was then given by Paul Stengel, the Director of Summer School. One of the goals of summer school was to keep students connected academically, socially and emotionally connected as they returned from online schooling. The goal was also to get families and students comfortable returning to the classroom. Over 3,000 students participated in the programs that ran in multiple sessions from early June to the end of August. A variety of courses were offered and the annual summer musical. Guys and Dolls was very popular. There were no reported COVID cases during the summer session. 2022 summer school will start on June 6 but is subject to change. When asked what needs Stengel might need, he said he would want the summer back to normal, with some bussing issues, they had to remove some popular classes such as the Saunter Bus Tour class.
Following Stengel’s presentation, Kim Peerenboom gave a presentation on student wellness practices. The focus of the presentation centered around mental health and student trauma. Peerenboom said students deal with five different types of trauma: acute, chronic, complex, historical and racist or race-based. Peerenboom suggested staff should know warning signs and how to respond to them. Support for students should remain necessary. If the teachers see the student with “glasses off” they may not see or understand the issue, but with their “glasses on” they can be given ways to help the students.
“The outcome is how to teach students to use their glasses without expectations,” Peerenboom said.
Janesville Police and the school district also work together on a partnership to notify staff who may interact with that student that they may have been involved in a traumatic event. School based offices are located at most schools in the district. It was also made aware that school workers cannot diagnose students that outside help may be able to. Each of the offices have to be licensed to be in the school setting, and have necessary ways to keep the traumatic situation private. The board then got any questions that they might have answered, which included questions of support and what the offices may do. The charter schools all have access to counselors, Rock River Charter has a full-time counselor. TAGOS has access to an on-site social worker while Rock University High School has staff assigned, and RISE has a full time counselor who is also a social worker.
A presentation was then given on early literacy. The goal of the district was to improve the reading proficiency of kids by the third grade. Steve Pophal said you can tell in the early grades which students have been read to and have gotten a start on learning. A community group that came together and started Phase I, which works with the United Way and Imagination Library to get books into the students' hands. Currently, there are 1400 kids signed up. These students get a book every month until they turn 5, or a total of 60 books. The two hospital providers also entered into a partnership with the district to promote early literacy and brain development in children. Pophal asked for an approval of Phase II of the literacy program, which would be done once again with the community. Phase II includes a full-time Early Literacy Coordinator as well as the expansion of Read, Talk, Play kits as well as marketing/promotion. A program called Basics Insights is a harbor program about parents education. Pophal said this needs to be regular, not episodic. The district sends “coaching” messages twice a week. Also proposed was a program where siblings could read to their younger siblings. This was projected to be a positive outcome for both siblings. Pophal said he was proud of the Phase II possibilities. The Board thanked Pophal for his address of the early literacy situation. After that, the board tried to, in a positive manner, get more information on the Early Literacy Coordinator. Fund 80, which is outside of the normal revenue limits, would be used to help pay for the proposed position. Fund 80 is levied, paid for by the taxpayers, and instead of levying $50,000, but levying more than that instead. Fund 80 will continue to accept contributions and community resources to supplement the new program. The vote passed unanimously, 9-0.
Michelle Haworth followed, giving a PPC Committee Report. This included a safety report, staffing, a proposed new Food Services chef, and then a Professional Development Review. A small debate about the chef position began, with one boardmember, Commissioner Murray, saying the issue should come before the board. The boardmember said he was originally not aware of a chef to be hired with benefits for $70,000 and wanted to make sure that it is necessary for the board to approve any new position that affects the district’s budget.
“I think this new position is uncalled for and a misappropriation of taxpayer dollars”, he said.
“It makes me wonder why…our food service…is fabulous…. It’s ridiculous, this whole package”.
It was said that this is a federal fund, and not taxpayer money managed by the State DPI.
“Everything we do in the School District of Janesville is through tax dollars”, Murray said.
President Myers then received Board Requests, outlined the next board of education date, and the date of the proposed public hearing. Those are set for October 12 and October 26.
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