Board discusses moving wellness policy into operating expectations, adds extracurriculars tracking
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Summary
Trustees and staff discussed redrafting the district's wellness policy (R4) into operating expectations and creating indicators for social-emotional competencies and extracurricular participation; no vote taken, draft changes to return in April.
Shorewood trustees on March 11 reviewed proposed changes to the district's wellness policy (policy R4) and discussed folding the policy into the board's operating expectations framework.
Board members and staff agreed there is limited objective, district-level data for some wellness measures and that certain wellness outcomes are difficult to hold the superintendent accountable for if framed as results. The suggested approach is to move language that describes desired learning environments and systems into an operating expectation (proposed 8.1) and to keep measurable results as separate indicators.
Staff proposed integrating competencies from the Wisconsin DPI framework (for example, self-concept and social competency) into the district's learning and wellness expectations. Trustees also discussed relying on existing screening tools, such as the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) and other screenings, to identify risky behavior and student needs rather than attempting to make outcomes like "hours slept" a formal board result.
The board also considered an explicit operating expectation encouraging the district to promote and track extracurricular participation (suggested focus on grades 7—6), reduce barriers to participation and report participation levels as evidence of access. Trustees discussed whether a detailed annual report of extracurricular spending is needed; several members said they would value a high-level summary showing participation rates and material budget trends, while staff said many operational decisions (for example, cooperative team arrangements) are already made as part of the budget process.
Administrators said they would redline proposed changes and return a combined revision that folds wellness and extracurricular expectations into a new 8.1 operating expectation. That redline will be presented for board action at a future meeting; staff indicated the next formal presentation would be in April.
Ending: No final policy was adopted on March 11. Trustees asked staff to prepare a redlined draft of operating expectations and suggested indicators (including use of DPI competencies and existing screening measures) for formal consideration in a future meeting.