Student-services leaders for the Waunakee Community School District gave a broad update to the curriculum committee on social-emotional learning (SEL), attendance initiatives, McKinney-Vento counts and staffing comparables, and board members heard an extended overview of the new alternate program "Wanna Grow."

Lisa (student services presenter) said the department covers nursing, counseling, McKinney-Vento services for unhoused families, restorative practices and bilingual/ESL offerings. She told the committee that SEL work follows CASEL standards and acknowledged measurement challenges: "This is hard to quantify," she said, describing the use of brief universal screeners in grades 5, 7 and 9 and follow-up procedures for students flagged at "extremely elevated" risk.

Lisa highlighted two interventions that drew board questions: therapy dogs at specific schools ("Tucker" every other Tuesday at Prairie and "Reagan's" at Heritage several days a week) and targeted attendance efforts including home visits. She said the cabinet is monitoring building-level attendance and that changes to attendance default increments should improve accuracy.

On student homelessness, Lisa said McKinney-Vento numbers were "currently at 27," but she warned that the district often adds families throughout the year and numbers could reach the mid-30s or 40s before the school year ends. She also summarized EL (English Learner) access testing and noted that language growth is typically measured over four to six years.

Special-education staff and the Wanna Grow teacher described the alternate program's whole-child, relationship-based approach. The program teacher said students "are in attendance in our program 98% or more of the time," and emphasized personalization, high adult-student relationship time and the program's initial success in engagement and motivation. Administrators noted the district employs about 65 certified special-education staff and roughly 65 care professionals and described plans to track target groups and progress toward a 2526-year goal that 80% of target-group students make expected reading growth.

Speaker 2 and other staff discussed special-education referral volumes and evaluations: the district generally conducts about 120150 initial referrals per year; this year they had completed 13 evaluations so far with 5 students not found eligible. Staff also said the district is addressing disproportionality in referrals and identification and has added the Wilson Reading intervention.

Board members praised the program and asked how the board could support expansion. Staff said expansion decisions would be guided by district needs and by letting students and families lead transition plans. The committee adjourned after brief closing remarks.

Next steps: student services will present higher-level challenges to the full board and staff will continue monitoring SEL, MCkinney-Vento caseloads and staffing needs, including potential increases in nurse time.