Stoughton Area School District board approves three-year library media plan with author visits, AI training goals

The Stoughton Area School District Board of Education on Monday approved the district's three-year library media plan and directed staff to upload the plan to the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to meet state requirements.

The plan, presented by Kathy Gargano of the library media team, covers the 2025-26 through 2027-28 school years and uses the Future Ready Librarians framework as its organizing structure. "The plan that we're presenting would start with the 20 five-twenty 6 school year and run through the 20 seven-twenty 8 school year," Gargano said during the board meeting.

The plan sets at least two major goals. First, the district will enhance student engagement with literature by providing annual author experiences across all K-12 schools: two years of virtual author visits (live or recorded) followed by an in-person visit in the third year. Gargano cited the November author visit by Aaron Reynolds as evidence of impact, noting, "Mr. Reynolds was fantastic ... but he was also $5,000 a day." The presentation said the three "creepy" titles by Reynolds were among the district's top-circulating books after the visit.

Second, the plan includes objectives on artificial intelligence, focusing on professional development for staff and on student literacy and ethical use of AI tools. Gargano described practical training efforts already underway, including lunchtime "lunch-and-learn" sessions on specific AI tools, and said the plan includes measurable targets for staff training and a goal that a high percentage of students will receive training on ethical AI use.

Board members asked how the library goals connect with district academic priorities and measurement. Gargano told the board that media specialists considered district- and building-level goals when drafting the plan and that periodic updates to the board are possible. The presenter also noted funding constraints: the plan team previously relied on a now-unavailable Dane County youth grant and is exploring other funding sources and partnerships with public libraries.

Board President Jill Patterson called for a motion. A motion to approve the library media plan carried; the board recorded the action as approved and staff were directed to file the plan with DPI. Gargano said the district had requested and received an extension from DPI because the previous plan had expired on Dec. 31; the board approved the new plan so the district can return to compliance.

The approval moves the plan into implementation planning by the library media team, including identifying funding sources for author visits and scheduling the planned AI professional development and student activities. The board discussed receiving periodic updates; Gargano offered to report back annually or at whatever cadence the board prefers.

The vote on the library media plan was recorded as an approval by the board; no roll-call tally was read into the record during the meeting.

Clarifying details: the plan years are 2025-26 through 2027-28; Aaron Reynolds' in-person visits in November were cited and were described as costing about $5,000 per day; the district obtained an extension from DPI because the prior plan expired Dec. 31; funding previously included a Dane County youth grant that is no longer available. These details were stated by Kathy Gargano during the presentation and by board members during discussion.

Next steps noted at the meeting included filing the approved plan with the Department of Public Instruction and scheduling updates to the board on progress toward plan objectives.