Green Bay Area Public School District board approves personnel moves, previews strategic-plan timeline and to assume election duties from city

The Green Bay Area Public School District Board of Education approved three personnel items during a special meeting and then spent its work session mapping out how the district will report on strategic priorities, make modest handbook changes, and pursue energy-efficiency projects while preparing to run its own school-board elections.

In the special meeting that opened the evening, Jeanette read motions to approve staff employment, transfers and resignations. "I move that the employment of staff as presented be approved," she said; online voting was used and trustees announced the motions carried with all board members voting in favor. The board moved immediately into the work session.

At the start of the work session, David Johns presented a calendar that will give each priority area a substantial monthly focus beginning in September and running through July of the following year. He said the structure was designed to provide the most timely available data for board review and to link updates to annual goals and the five-year strategic plan. "One thing that we heard was the importance of maintaining a quarterly focus on academics," Johns said, explaining the plan will include four academic updates and a standardized board memo and dashboard to support presentations.

Johns also told trustees the administration will later ask the board to shift the five-year plan's official end date from June 2030 to October 2030 "to capture the final academic-stamped data report" and thereby complete five full years of strategic action.

Human-resources updates drew extended discussion. Mike Friese, who introduced a set of recommended edits to the 2025-26 employee handbook, said the changes are largely intended to "clean up and clarify what's already happening" in district practice, including rules on emergency closings, out-of-class assignments and leave usage. Board member Andrew pressed the point of seniority in internal hiring. "It just seems like at this point, any reference to seniority is all but gone," he said, asking that the board guarantee at least an interview for the most senior eligible internal applicant.

Friese responded that the handbook language "does not reflect any change in actual practice; it simply writes down what the practice has been," and that HR had met with union representatives earlier in the day and would reengage stakeholders on concerns raised.

Administrators also presented an updated food-service job description; Lynette Kino, director of food service, said the new position would support monthly safety audits, onboarding and training, taste-testing events, summer feeding oversight and processing free-and-reduced meal applications. Kino said the role would be funded from Fund 50, the district's food-service fund.

On facilities and sustainability, the board reviewed a proposed performance contract with McKinstry for energy-conservation measures that includes solar photovoltaic installations at four sites, retro-commissioning and other efficiency work. Lou Anne O'Leary, director of facilities, said the district expects roughly $1,100,000 in federal funds and rebates to support the measures and would use Fund 46 for capital improvements aligned with the board's sustainability resolution.

A policy change with practical consequences drew one of the more consequential discussions of the night: administrators told trustees the City of Green Bay has informed the district it will no longer conduct school-board election tasks on the district's behalf, and the district must now assume those duties. As the memorandum and staff explained, the district will take over nomination-filing validation, campaign-finance forms and canvassing responsibilities; the city has offered to train district staff on the work.

"They are not required to conduct our elections, and they've informed us that they're no longer gonna conduct the elections," O'Leary said. Trustees raised questions about staff workload, institutional knowledge and the technical burden of signature validation and canvass duties; administrators said training is in place and that state statute, filing timelines and clerk duties would continue to govern the process.

Other policy housekeeping presented during the meeting included proposed technical corrections and delegation language allowing the superintendent to make non-substantive edits to policy for transparency and efficiency, plus updates to policies on whistleblower protections, fraud prevention, procurement and food-service rules to align with federal and state changes.

Votes at a glance

- Employment of staff as presented: motion read by Jeanette; outcome: approved (all board members voting in favor). - Transfer of staff as presented: motion read by Jeanette; outcome: approved (all board members voting in favor). - Resignation of staff as presented: motion read by Jeanette; outcome: approved (all board members voting in favor).

What comes next

Administrators said the strategic-priorities presentation format and the dashboard will be used beginning in September; the board will be asked later this month to consider the proposed October 2030 end date for the five-year plan. HR will follow up with union leaders on the handbook language, and the district will continue preparations and training to assume election-administration duties the city has vacated.

The meeting adjourned with no further action.