Board of Education Meeting Recap

Board of Education meetings can be viewed live on YouTube here and previous meetings can be reviewed here.

Congratulations to Matt Tiller, who has been selected as the Formal Educator of the Year by the Wisconsin Association of Environmental Education. The Formal Educator of the Year is awarded to a Pre-K-12 or higher education teacher who exhibits outstanding, ongoing efforts in infusing environmental education into teaching. Mr. Tiller has been a dedicated Verona Area School District (VASD) science educator and school forest coordinator for 30 years. He has won multiple awards over the years and is known for encouraging students to explore and learn from the natural world. He brings a strong sense of purpose to his work and his enthusiasm for outdoor education resonates with his students. Thank you, Mr. Tiller, for choosing to spend your career with the Verona Area School District, and for the positive impact you’ve had on thousands of students.

Winter Sports Update

Relevant Policy: Results (R) 3: Well-Being

Director of Athletics & Activities Adam Stiner shared a summary of winter athletics with the Board of Education (BOE). Two hundred thirty-one (231) students participated in winter sports. They earned an average GPA of 3.44 in the 2024-25 first semester. Winter sports saw 133 letter winners, with 39 first-time letter winners and 8 first-time letter winners in a 2nd or 3rd sport. The seasons were very successful, with 29 All-Conference honorees and 2 Big 8 Conference Coaches of the Year. VASD had an individual State Champion in gymnastics in floor routine and a total of nine podium finishers. Conference champion teams included Girls Basketball, Girls Gymnastics, and Boys Swim & Dive. s

In Departmental updates, Director Stiner shared that they have started a Student Athlete Initiated Leadership (SAIL) group and an alumni update. Two interim Head Coaches will be returning in fall 2025-26 as Head Coaches, and he is in the process of hiring a Boys Soccer Coach.

Update Regarding Dane County School Consortium

Relevant Policies: Results (R) 2: Academic Achievement

Superintendent Dr. Clardy provided an update regarding the Dane County School Consortium (DCSC). The DCSC was designed to work collaboratively with Dane County school districts and statewide work-based learning programs to offer educational opportunities related to career exploration through an interagency agreement. Initially, it supported Youth Apprenticeships across districts and assisted and supported with related grant funding. The current fiscal agent for the DCSC, the Monona Grove School District, has informed other districts that they are no longer interested in acting as the fiscal agent for the DCSC. VASD staff reviewed the requirements of the role and concluded that it would not be a good fit for VASD to become the fiscal agent. No other member district desires to become the fiscal agent. More importantly, VASD has an internal staff capacity to facilitate and manage Youth Apprenticeships in our School to Career Coordinator, Jenny Johnston. This position did not exist when VASD joined the DCSC. The Workforce Development Board of South Central Wisconsin is also available to support VASD’s work around Youth Apprenticeships. Other districts have also hired staff who manage Youth Apprenticeships as part of their role. These staff members meet monthly to collaborate on and facilitate successful Youth Apprenticeships. Other districts have started to withdraw from the DCSC and have taken action to dissolve the Consortium, which requires a ⅔ school board vote to dissolve by all participating school districts.

Member White shared an update on the African American History Academic Challenge (AAHAC). Entering its 28th consecutive year of operation, the local AAHAC was staged by the 100 Black Men of Madison, Inc. on March 12, 2025. Congratulations to the Savanna Oaks Middle School team and Verona Area High School Team 1 members on their local AAHAC victory! The regional competition took place on Friday, March 14, 2025. Teams represented local winners from the Verona Area School District, Middleton Cross Plains Area School District, and the Madison Metropolitan School District. The Junior Division winners were Spring Harbor Middle School from the Madison Metropolitan School District and the Senior Division winners were Middleton High School from the Middleton Cross Plains Area School District.

The AAHAC is an educational program designed to enhance the appreciation and study of African American history and culture, fostering pride and self-worth. The challenge is conducted in middle and high schools across Dane County. The African American History Academic Challenge is a fun and challenging way for students to expand their knowledge of African American history through highly competitive local and national competitions

Member Hanes shared that Dr. Clardy, Deputy Superintendent Chad Wiese, Member Peguero and he (all pictured with Rep. Bare) spent March 12 at the Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB) Day at the Capitol, where school board members and administrators advocated for their schools and public education by meeting with legislators and sharing their perspectives on important issues.

He reported that WASB focused on increasing special education funding. It’s currently just below 30% and districts end up using a lot of general funds, which are subject to the revenue limit, to support special education. He learned that there is a belief among some legislators that increasing funding for special education will incentivize overdiagnosing students with special education needs. They worked to inform the legislators that, not only would school districts not do this from an ethical standpoint, but that qualifying for special education is based on specific criteria and school districts cannot just “sign people up” for special education services. They also advocated to index the revenue limit to inflation. Member Hanes pointed out that the dysfunction at the Capitol will prevent a budget from being passed by July 1, 2025. The BOE needs to be aware that we may not have information on the amount of funds that will be available for the 2025-26 school year when the school year starts.

The purpose of a Board Workshop is to provide a publicly available venue in which the BOE discusses current issues. While no BOE action is taken during a workshop, the conversation may impact future BOE decisions.

The BOE discussed various results policies, with a primary focus on Results (R) 2: Academic Achievement. Their conversation built on previous discussions around whether the current policy language lends itself to providing evidence of interest to the BOE. The group also grounded their conversation in two documents, the Verona Area School District Board of Education-Results Policy Workshop 2025 and the VASD - Operational Expectations and Results Monitoring Criteria (DRAFT).

Member Hanes stated that organizing and aligning monitoring reports to VASD’s mission statement seems valuable and that the current policies are very general. He would like to see more substance in the policies. For example, policy language that states “each student will be literate and numerate” doesn’t communicate much about what the BOE is interested in learning about students’ education.

Member Porco also feels the policies are very general. The suggestions for Results (R) 3: Well-Being and Results (R) 4: Members of Diverse Global Community are based on federal guidelines. Member Porco asserted that it would be productive to work as a BOE in concert with the administrative team to come up with language that is meaningful and real. How monitoring reports are structured will greatly impact the type of information the BOE receives to digest and reflect on regarding compliance with policies.

Member Hanes said that having articulating information as shown in the Verona Area School District Board of Education-Results Policy Workshop 2025 and the VASD - Operational Expectations and Results Monitoring Criteria (DRAFT) documents gets the BOE 90% of the way to promising policy language. What are we saying we want to see out of each of these areas? Is it language we have now (e.g., appropriate and challenging) or is it something else?

Member Stier Christensen stated the BOE could have more robust indicators for Results (R) 2: Academic Achievement that tell the story of students’ experiences. Member Murphy wondered if general information is better. Member Medina contributed that one consideration for effective policy language is that it should help the administrative team know what the BOE is looking for in terms of outcomes. Member Stier Christensen highlighted the importance of objective and subjective data, and that Results (R) 2: Academic Achievement lends itself to objective data while Results (R) 3: Well-Being and Results (R) 4: Members of Diverse Global Community offer opportunities to consider more subjective data.

Member Hanes shared that he sees the language around “personal goals” as problematic because there is a challenge in operationalizing and measuring “personal goals.” Member Stier Christensen surmised that indicators and policy diverge because the indicators focus on the number of students in a class, but what data could the BOE be receiving about how students’ classes are or aren’t moving them toward their goals? Member Medina asked if the BOE wants to see data about personal progress, or if we want to take that out of the policy? Dr. Clardy offered that VASD’s instructional model is standards based, not personalized which is a different approach.

Member Porco cautioned that the BOE has to be very careful not to put too many wants out there that are divorced from what can be provided. On a different note, he shared that part of his struggle with all of Results (R) 2: Academic Achievement is that it’s a reiteration of Results (R) 1: Mission. He would like to see the BOE consider restructuring through Indicator 2.2.9 because all of the disciplines have goals and an impact on students, whether they are core courses or electives. Personalized goals are articulated in the Journey of a Lifelong Learner in the VASD Strategic Framework under personal growth and the other topics, with grade band “I will” statements. The Wisconsin Academic Standards also cover students' personal goals and development.

Member Murphy stated that perhaps the BOE should consider eliminating personal goals within Results (R) 2: Academic Achievement, noting that the concept lingers throughout the results policies. She stated that the BOE either needs to eliminate it or collect personal goals data. She’s not interested in that data as an indicator of compliance with this specific policy, focusing instead on a policy that looks at whether VASD is teaching students well. Member Hanes concurred.

Member Murphy cautioned that monitoring reports that don’t show progress because the policy isn’t focused on what the BOE wants to know have unintended consequences of the BOE not being able to learn what they want to know and yielding “not in compliance” results, which can be deflating for staff.

Member Medina wondered if Results (R) 4: Members of Diverse Global Community would yield evidence showing that students have the opportunity to progress along their interests. Member Stier Christensen asked what policy language would ask for data about students’ stories, passions, and their options to try different things. Member Murphy asked if this could live in Results (R) 4: Members of Diverse Global Community? The BOE could parse academics into Results (R) 2: Academic Achievement and focus on students’ journeys elsewhere. Member Hanes prompted the BOE to ask, from a policy standpoint, what they want to know. He wants to know if instruction in the classroom is going well. Member Stier Christensen would like to capture information on outcomes and experiences. Member Porco asserted that Results (R) 3: Well-Being and Results (R) 4: Members of Diverse Global Community could be included under 2.2.9 as part of social emotional learning or elsewhere. Member Hanes reiterated that the portion of Results (R) 2: Academic Achievement of import is how well instruction and learning are going for students, not how many students are taking a class, and that the BOE can tackle the topic of course access in another way. Member Murphy stated that she would be comfortable working from the Verona Area School District Board of Education-Results Policy Workshop 2025 and the VASD - Operational Expectations and Results Monitoring Criteria (DRAFT) documents to craft policy language.

Member Stier Christensen shared that the reason Results (R) 2: Academic Achievement Indicators 2.1.1 - 2.1.4 and Indicators 2.2.1 - 2.2.4 are split is because Indicators 2.1.1 - 2.1.4 are related to core academic areas while Indicators 2.2.1 - 2.2.4 are connected to electives or courses not generally considered to be core academics. Member Hanes proposed policy language such as “every student enrolled” to capture all students, whether the class is required or an elective. Member Medina asked about language such as “allow students to pursue their personal goals” rather than “allow students to achieve their personal goals” in Results (R) 2: Academic Achievement to provide greater flexibility. Member Murphy reiterated the notion of focusing on academic achievement in Results (R) 2: Academic Achievement. Member Stier Christensen asserted that none of the BOE members are interested in the number of students enrolled in classes, and that the BOE wants to know– of those students enrolled – how are they doing? Member Hanes voiced that separating content areas like they currently are in Indicators 2.1.1 - 2.1.4 and Indicators 2.2.1 - 2.2.4 doesn’t seem necessary. The BOE members discussed specific language ideas for Results (R) 2: Academic Achievement (e.g, “achieve at individually and …” “Each student enrolled …”). The BOE will continue to develop language.

Member Peguero asked how the BOE’s policies will reflect our values of supporting building a culture of inclusion and belonging? He referenced the last two sentences of VASD’s Equity Statement which read “We acknowledge that inequities and power dynamics exist in our system such that some individuals, on the basis of their identities, face barriers to accessing the opportunities they need to experience success. In acknowledgment of such, the Verona Area School District is committed to disrupting these systems of inequity.” He prompted the group to attend to how BOE policies incorporate and address these values.

Member Medina questioned where physical development and wellness exist in the proposed policy language? Member Porco shared that Health and Physical Education is proposed for inclusion in Indicator 2.2.6 in Verona Area School District Board of Education-Results Policy Workshop 2025, and perhaps wellness would live in Results (R) 4: Members of Diverse Global Community Indicator 4.1.1. Nutrition is more about an input than an output and is covered in Operational Expectations. Member Medina asserted that there are ways to look for data on nutritional health and physical wellness. Member Porco concurred.

Dr. Clardy provided copies of the VASD Teaching and Learning Framework to the BOE to articulate how VASD staff plan, teach, assess, and attend to the learning climate. The VASD Teaching and Learning Framework is VASD’s foundational document upon which we base our work. Member Stier Christensen expressed that we have so many sources of language – Strategic Framework, Journey of a Lifelong Learner, and Teaching and Learning Framework. Dr. Clardy highlighted that it’s key to align language. The chronology of the development of documents was as follows: the BOE developed policies, VASD developed the Strategic Framework and Journey of a Lifelong Learner, and then the Teaching and Learning Framework was developed as the operationalization of the Inclusive Teaching and Learning Priority Area of the Strategic Framework.

Member Hanes advocated for changing options for demonstrating compliance to “achieving, not achieving, or capacity building”. It’s not clear what “compliance with exceptions” or other terms mean.

Member White expressed that the BOE is missing attending to opportunity gaps, and tonight’s discussion would yield data largely about students who are engaged in learning and who currently have the supports and mental wellness to succeed. Member Peguero asked how the BOE can be sure to uplift the potential of the lowest-performing students. How do we reflect these needs and what we’re doing to meet them and the results? How do our policies address these realities, needs, and concerns? He concurred that a big piece would be missing if the BOE developed policy language based only on tonight’s conversation. Member White stated that his perspective points toward what VASD needs to be doing so that students can access education and see growth and success. Member Hanes asked how the BOE operationalizes success for *every student* in policy language, and then how the administrative team operationalizes it in the indicators. Member Peguero asked how we address issues affecting the most marginalized? If we are addressing those needs, all people benefit.

Director of Teaching, Learning & Innovation Karyn Stocks Glover shared that, in VASD’s Professional Learning Communities, we look at student work, beginning by looking at a student who is farthest from proficiency. We explore and decide how to build instruction and supports to meet the needs of that student while maintaining high standards.

The group’s next steps are as follows:

• BOE will develop a draft Results (R) 2: Academic Achievement policy

• BOE will discuss the draft Results (R) 2: Academic Achievement policy at a future workshop

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