REGULAR MEETING WAUKESHA BOARD OF EDUCATION June 8 ...

Regular Board Meeting
June 8, 2011
Page 6
2011 to June 30, 2014.
J. Como moved to approve the contract for participation in the Carl Perkins vocational consortium
with CESA 1 as the fiscal agent for the period of July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2014; seconded by
B. Brzenk. Motion carried 9-0.
2. Approval of Resolution authorizing the District to require Pre-tax Employee Contributions to WRS.
J. Como reported that the Board has been provided with a resolution that would make any employee
funded contributions that might be required, either contractually or as mandated by legislation to the
Wisconsin Retirement System to be paid as a pre-tax contribution. This would save employees any
state or federal income taxes on those contributions. There would be no financial impact to the
District as a result of this resolution. There is legislation pending at the State level that would require
most public sector employees to pay one-half of the required contribution to the State pension plan.
Without a resolution any required payments would have to be paid with after-tax dollars. By adopting
the resolution at this time, it puts the District in the position of being able to provide the pre-tax
contribution should such legislation become law.
J. Como moved to approve the resolution authorizing the District to require pre-tax employee
contributions to the Wisconsin Retirement System; seconded by P. Madden. Motion carried 9-0.
B. Information Items:
1. Monthly Budget Report (February, 2011) J. Como reported that the committee received the monthly
budget report for General Fund activity through the month of May, 2011. Revenues received for the
month totaled $359,229 and expenditures were $9,848,294. For year to date totals, revenues were
$105.2million and expenditures were $98.9 million, resulting in a surplus of $6.3 million.
IX. Curriculum and Instruction Committee
William Baumgart, Chair
A. Action Items:
1. Revision of Numerical Grading in Lieu of Letter Grades at the Middle School: W. Baumgart reported
that at present, during each learning period (trimester), students receive in-class feedback on
assignments and assessments using the 4-3-2-1-0 system where each mark corresponds to a specific
learning target (knowledge or skill). These numeric marks are posted on the online grading system,
Standards Score. In addition, letter grades are automatically calculated and also used in progress notes
and report cards, which can be confusing to parents and students. Letter grades are not part of the
daily business of the classroom and not used during teacher and student interactions. Eliminating the
letter grades from the system will help our teachers, parents and students focus their discussions and
efforts on the specific knowledge and skills we want our kids to master.
W. Baumgart moved to approve the revision of numerical grading in lieu of letter grades at the
Middle School; seconded by B. Brzenk. Motion carried in a 9-0 roll call vote.
B. Information Items: None
D. Discussion Items: None
X. Other Business
W. Baumgart moved to adjourn to executive session per Wisconsin statutes 19.85 (1)(e) for the purpose of
discussing teacher negotiation strategies; seconded by B. Brzenk. Motion passed in a 9-0 roll call vote.
Time: 9:30 p.m.