response to being able to figure out what is happening in the system that serves as the impetus for that to happen. There are also some other pieces around culturally-responsive teaching, micro-aggressions and celebrations of culture around other ethnic groups. The plan is pretty detailed. What attracted me is the board being mindful of and willing to acknowledge where those gaps lie and be willing to earmark dollars for us to be able to be responsive to it.”

Like the rest of the state of Wisconsin — and the rest of the United States — reading proficiency is a concern that the district will be addressing.

“We hope the new reading strategy will be helpful,” Kelsey-Brown said. “It remains to been. However, I believe what we all know is when you look at the state of Wisconsin and we look at the Black-White achievement gap, it has persisted for so long. What the state sees as a common strategy among all districts, I’m hoping will get us to where we need to be. It takes five years to see that change come to fruition. And so I’m hopeful that is part of the answer. But I would venture to say that it is not the end all, be all because there are so many moving parts in education that we work with.”

Some of these issues  — both for underrepresented students and the student body as a whole — have existed for a long time. It took something like the COVID pandemic to uncover those issues.

“We’re still considered a high-performing district,” Kelsey-Brown said. “We know that students experienced some instructional loss as a result of the pandemic. I think what we learned nationwide that what was already there was uncovered or highlighted even more in terms of the social/emotional wellness of our students. And so we now know that we have to do a better job of trying to make sure we provide strategies or implement strategies that the kids can employ to balance academics and the socio-emotional piece as well. COVID-19 did some things that we did not really realize or know until later. And I still think some of it remains to be seen as it relates to how COVID-19 truly impacted our children long-term.”

Social media is a double-edged sword for students. It can help them, but it can also hurt them.

“I do believe that social media impacted our students even more during the pandemic because we were all isolated in our spaces and that is all we had,” Kelsey-Brown said. “And then coming out of that, I think we were still navigating social media as if we were still being isolated. You can’t go anywhere and not see someone on the phone including kids. My husband and I went on a trip back in July and we were in the airport. I was just looking around the airport to see how many people had a device in their hands. Out of probably 20 people who were sitting in the space at that time, one person had an actual book in their hands. And these are adults. So we know our children are probably navigating in a very different way.”

Students have to learn to use it for their long-term well-being.

“That’s one of the challenges in the schools these days is helping our students understand what are primary resources and what are secondary resources and what is fact and what is fiction, trying to help them sort through that in the land of artificial intelligence. Here we are and we knew it was coming. And that horse is out of the barn now and I think it came faster than we knew it would be and now we are trying to catch up to where it is. That’s something that we will have to tackle from now until I retire. We will still be trying to chase after what we need to do in the AI world because it is here and it is not going away in trying to strike a balance between what is fact and what is fiction. I think it is very hard and challenging. You have 24/7 access to information. The question becomes, ’Is it factual or not?’ It’s very difficult to keep up with it.”

Funding is always a challenge for school districts. A large number of districts have a funding referendum on the November ballot. Waunakee is one of them.

“We have a question on the ballot in November for operating referendum,” Kelsey-Brown said. “Yes that presents some challenges. There were some years in the state budget where school districts received zero increase to fund our schools. In the last biennium, we received $225 per kid for two years which helped. Going back to understanding what the needs of our students are, in some instances post-pandemic needs are expanding and resources are not. How will we keep up with making sure that we have ample resources to meet the needs of our children and families? And right now, going out for a referendum is the answer. I think the question is, thinking about that from the standpoint of sustainability. We’re fortunate here in Waunakee. I am very thankful and grateful to our community.”

The alternative to having a referendum passed is not one that school administrators and boards want to have to deal with.

“At some point, it could run its course and then the question becomes, ‘What do we do,’” Kelsey-Brown said. “And so either you go out for referendum or, in my mind, the other side of that story is if you are unable to sustain your budget, the only other answer is budget cuts. What that looks like, this is a conversation that we would have in collaboration with the board of course. However, we have to think about that moving forward. And our funding formula, I believe, needs to be revisited in terms of understanding from an equitable standpoint. Some districts can go out for a referendum and given history, know and understand whether or not they have a good chance of it being approved or not. In those districts that are in the ‘or not’ category — they haven’t been able to pass a referendum for quite some time — that’s a very challenging position to be in. Yet at the same time, we are held responsible and accountable for our students and meeting their needs.”

Kelsey-Brown is optimistic for the 2024-2025 school year. She feels that the district has in place what the students will need to be successful.

“We’re in a good place,” Kelsey-Brown said. “We are fully staffed for the most part. I believe there are some special education paraprofessional positions that we haven’t been able to fill. Again, we are very fortunate in that we have a board and community that tries to remain competitive with surrounding districts in terms of what we offer our certified and our non-certified staff. We’re very fortunate in that regard.”

“At some point, it could run its course and then the question becomes, ‘What do we do,’” Kelsey-Brown said. “And so either you go out for referendum or, in my mind, the other side of that story is if you are unable to sustain your budget, the only other answer is budget cuts. What that looks like, this is a conversation that we would have in collaboration with the board of course. However, we have to think about that moving forward. And our funding formula, I believe, needs to be revisited in terms of understanding from an equitable standpoint. Some districts can go out for a referendum and given history, know and understand whether or not they have a good chance of it being approved or not. In those districts that are in the ‘or not’ category — they haven’t been able to pass a referendum for quite some time — that’s a very challenging position to be in. Yet at the same time, we are held responsible and accountable for our students and meeting their needs.”