Menomonie School Board meeting for 12/8/2025

1. OPENING ITEMS
   1. Call to Order

President Rachel Henderson called the meeting of the School District of the Menomonie Area Board of Education to order at 5:47 p.m. on Monday, December 8, 2025. The meeting was held in the boardroom of the Administrative Service Center, located at 215 Pine Avenue E., Menomonie, Wisconsin.

2. Roll Call and Quorum

Roll call confirmed the presence of all nine board members: Amy Riddle-Swanson, Angela Wolf, Abe Smith, Emily Hines, Rachel Henderson, Michelle Dupree, Amber Kersting, Dale Dahlke and Dominique Stewart. President Henderson declared a quorum and noted that the meeting had been duly noticed. Administrators in attendance included Joe Zydowsky, Samantha Hoyt, Brian Seguin, Eric Nelson, and Stacy Lee. Also present was recording Secretary Jenny Mikesell.

3. Pledge of Allegiance and Reading of Mission Statement

President Henderson led the Pledge of Allegiance and read the district’s mission statement.

4. Agenda Order and Approval/Revision

There were no revisions.

5. Recommendations & Commendations

Lauren McCalla received a commendation for winning the state cross-country championship. She will attend the University of WA next fall. She was invited to Portland, Oregon for a Nike invitational recently. She is the best runner in the history of the state. She has also established several Menomonie High School track records. The coach, Craig Olson has established a good record for the team. Several male and female cross-country teammates were at the meeting as well and stood up to be recognized.

6. Highlight on Youth

Principal Drake from Menomonie High School shared highlights on what is happening at all the schools.

7. Student Representative Communications

The Board received an update on recent and upcoming activities at Menomonie High School from two representatives from the high school student council.

8. Community Communications

Josie Pillman provided a statement on how to improve education in Menomonie. The state’s actions regarding the removal of cell phones and teaching phonetics are good. But there is lawlessness in our nation. The curriculum should include an explanation of why our country is a democracy and why Muslims are bad. Muslims such as Ilhan Omar and Keith Ellison are promoting Jihad. It is fiction that a boy can be turned into a girl or vice versa. Evolution is fiction. Need to teach character, how to be kind and how to live a moral life.

9. Revenue and Expenditure Reports for the Month Ended November 2025

Administrator Eric Nelson presented the monthly Revenue and Expenditure Reports for November 2025. The Board President mentioned that there will be a midyear budget hearing in January with more information available.

10. Monthly Employment Report (November 2025)

The report for November 2025 was presented.

2. CONSENT AGENDA
   1. Action to Approve Consent Agenda

Board member Smith made a motion, seconded by Board member Dupree to approve the following consent agenda items as presented: 1) Minutes of the Regular Board Meeting of November 10, 2025; 2) Financial Reports for November 2025; 3) Donations Exceeding $1,000 for November 2025; 4) Renewal of School Safety Plans; and 5) Renewal of Boys and Girls Club Partnership. The motion passed 9-0 by electronic vote.

3. PERSONNEL CONSENT AGENDA
   1. Action to Approve Personnel Consent Agenda

Board Member Riddle-Swanson made a motion and Board Member Dahlke seconded it to approve the Resignations/Retirements and Requests to Hire.

It passed 9-0.

4. ACTION AGENDA
   1. Action to Approve Adaptive Sports Club at MHS

Board member Dupree made a motion and Board Member Hines seconded it.

It passed 9-0.

2. Action to Approve New Course Proposals for 2026-27

A motion was made by Board member Smith and seconded by Board Member Dupree to approve the new course proposals. It passed 9-0.

3. Action to Approve 2026-27 Calendar

The district calendar has been shared with the staff and contains much of the same scheduling as the last few years. Still have professional development days. Winter break is a little less than this year. Spring Break and professional development dates changed order. Graduation will be on Friday night of Memorial Day weekend versus Sunday afternoon. There is a slight risk of conflict if the sectional track meet gets moved to Friday if there is rain on Thursday. It is a risk worth taking as most school districts are also doing Friday night graduations. Board Member Riddle-Swanson made a motion to approve, and Board Member Kersting seconded it. Passed 9-0.

5. DISCUSSION ITEMS/POLICY REVIEW
   1. State Accountability Report Cards

Joe Zydowsky voiced his congratulations to students and staff regarding their efforts to maximize performance. He was pleased to talk about the fact that all schools met or exceeded the requirements. Performed better than 46.6% of school districts. Each school has looked at their results and will adjust action plans. No surprises from report cards. Chronic absenteeism is down too. Pretty rapid changes. While the cell phone change was not popular it has made a difference. Structured learning is also required during study hall time. Will have a professional development day in January and discuss AI. Menomonie is now in the biggest part of the bell curve even with 40% of the students on free and reduced lunch.

2. SDMA Accountability Report Card 2.0

The report card was created 10 years ago. The school district has done a good job. Categories have not changed for several years. Numbers are now reported on a percentage basis versus raw numbers. There are 16 categories measured. There were Increases in 13 of the 16 categories and only a decrease in one category. Two stayed the same. The number of middle school and high school students participating in activities increased. The percentage of students with 5 or fewer behavior issues is at 97%.

3. Discuss Technology Survey

This was a survey of families to test their understanding of the website. A majority look at the website monthly, 38% or weekly, 32%. Menus and forms are looked at most often. The current layout is ineffective. The website is 10 years old and needs improvements. It is difficult to use on a phone. Administrator Katie Krueger and her team are investigating websites and cleaning up the website. They hope to have a new website by the next school year.

4. Discuss SDMA Health Insurance Plan Wellness Incentives

The Superintendent mentioned that the district has been having challenges with the health care plan as costs have been skyrocketing. Adding the high-deductible health care plan option has been very effective in controlling costs. The fund is where it needs to be for the 2026 budget, allowing the district to add some wellness incentives. This will help lower costs. It is modeled along the same lines as the Dunn County Employee Plan. Lots of options available. The District is encouraging employees to try out Anovia Health Clinic and to get age and gender-specific treatments. The incentive will be $500 for individuals and $1000 for families. The idea is to encourage good behavior. The employees have not yet been informed of the change, and it will apply back to July 1st. The staff wanted to share the plan with the board before moving forward.

5. Review Number of Regular and Special Education Spaces Available for Open Enrollment

This item was presented by Administrator Tonia Kowieski. The open enrollment period runs from February to April. There is no limit to the number of students that can attend as regular enrollment students. But there are no seats available for special education students in the district after reviewing the special education students in the district already and their needs.

6. Review Information for 2026 School Board Election

The election is on April 7th. December 26th is the deadline for members to announce that they plan not to run again. February 17 will be the primary if needed. December 20th through January 5th is winter break. The Superintendent recommends that members try to get the non-candidacy information done before winter break.

7. Discuss Opportunity for Voucher Presentation by Wisconsin Public Education Network (WPEN)

A representative is willing to come to the next meeting to discuss. WPEN has put out a toolkit and there is a Zoom Event this Thursday evening as well to discuss vouchers. Next year could be a lot worse as the cap is going away. WPEN is not political. It is about transparency. It is about making the public understand the voucher issue. Green Bay’s cost is over $1 Million and was on a news report today. Will need some planning to ensure the information is clear and consistent. Will need to get municipalities on board to put the information on the tax bills.

8. Review and Discuss 2026 WASB Resolutions for Delegate Vote

Dominique Stewart is the representative that will be attending. This will be her third year in attendance. Two resolutions will be voted on. The first concerns decoupling public and private school funding. Two board members expressed opposition. Amy Riddle-Swanson and Abe Smith want to continue to show the amount of money being removed from the school district budget for private school funding. The second concerns revising the school report card process. Board members are concerned that making more changes so soon after significant changes have been made will make it difficult to evaluate results. The resolution also calls for the legislature to be involved in making changes. This is also concerning due to their lack of expertise in this area.

9. Items Related to Next Meeting Dates, Board Committees, and Reports

No special meeting this month. Next meeting January 12 and budget hearing prior to the meeting.

6. ADJOURNMENT
   1. Action to Adjourn