Boyceville School Board Reviews and Updates Policies and Handbooks

by Carlton DeWitt

BOYCEVILLE — The school board reviewed current board and school policies and approved updates at their monthly meeting. Included in the reviews and updates were the student and employee handbook and compensation agreement, the union and non-union wages for the coming school year and the first reading for policy updates. The board also heard reports from various department heads in the two-hour meeting of August 20th.

Included in the school board approval was the 2012-13 Employee Wage Compensation package. The board approved the following: “Each teacher’s base salary will be increased by $1,100. In addition, because of the increase made to the starting base salary, one teacher at BA 0 will be allowed to move to BA 1 and will receive on additional $1,017 for the 12-13 school year.”
For Bus Drivers, an additional $300 per year will be added to the annual salary. An additional $120 per year will be added to the noon route driver’s compensation. For the Paraprofessional/food service and all other non-represented staff will get an additional 39 cents per hour.

Board president Gail Stark commented that it was nice to have the employee wage schedule done before the start of school. “The staff should know what their wages are when they start school,” she concluded. She also was pleased that by the time school started, staff would have the updated employee handbook.

During department heads report to the board, Julie Wathke, Community Education Director gave the board an overview on the number of Program Participants that have been involved in community education over the past three years. Her report indicated that numbers were dropping in most of the 15 areas, which were listed in the report. Only hunter safety class, piano lessons and summer reading and math showed an increase number of participations. Driver’s education class had 49, up five from the previous year.

She talked about the why the swimming program was cancelled and that open swimming cost was set at $45 for each participant and that was deemed too expensive.

President Stark inquired of Wathke what she saw in the future of Community Education and Wathke indicated that it was, “finding qualified instructors.” Wathke also addressed new upcoming classes, which include Quickbooks, Payroll and Inventory; AARP drivers safety course, and a cooking class with the Menomonie Food Co-op.

The school board meeting has entered the technical age. The writer of this piece was always greeted at the school board meetings with a package of printed material that contained minutes of previous meetings, and most of the information on the agenda that the school board members had and what they would be discussing during the meeting. But at this meeting, things have changed. The printed material was not there, but on the press desk was a laptop computer with the information on the screen. “Are we going to teach an old dog new tricks?” People in the district can also access this information. Just go to the school’s website www.boyceville.K12.WI.US and click on school board.

Bonnie Barker, Director of Special Education reported to the board that 18 members of the Boyceville staff recently were trained using the Nonviolent Crisis Intervention (CPI) training program. She noted that the school must have at least one CPI trained person in each building. Her report stated, “This one day seminar was an introduction to crisis prevention that emphasized early intervention and nonphysical methods for preventing or managing disruptive behavior.”

Barker informed the board, “Boyceville was part of the development of a new program.” A special education team was in Boyceville as Alpha testers for DPI’s Postsecondary Transition Plan (PTP) software. “This year, use of the PTP will be mandatory for all IEP development for students aged 14 and above,” Barker said.

Elementary Principal Nick Kaiser reported that the elementary school would be holding their 12th annual Open House to kick off the beginning of the school year on Tuesday, September 4th. “The purpose of this day is for parents and staff to meet one another and share information.” His report indicated that currently there are 422 students enrolled at Tiffany Creek with just over 50 students in each class.

Middle and High School Principal Steve Glocke reported to the board about new teacher performance reporting where a student growth is shown over the school year. He also mentioned about the fine arts programs at the school and noted that students will be required to take two out of a choice of six available. He also told the board that high school sports have started. He said that a volleyball match would be in the high school on Thursday evening and that Cross County was already going.

Superintendent Kevin Sipple reported that the Pavilion in the park was nearing completion and some of the funds from the sale of the school forest were used on that project. He reported that the school received a grant of $21,400 for fresh fruit and vegetable program to provide elementary students with a healthy snack during the school day.

Sipple told the board, “our new teachers will begin their in-service on Monday, August 27th. He also discussed federal money to support Title One and Two. He told the board that the school had been told that they would probably lose some $15,000 in funds for those programs, but recently developments indicated that those funds would continue. “That’s good news not only for the Boyceville district, but every school in the state,” Sipple said.

The board approved the request from Sipple to rent a second safety deposit box at the bank. He noted to the board that with all the school information now stored electronically, it would be a safe place to keep the back-up disc. It would be transferred weekly to the box. Sipple noted that the one box the school has contains historical and financial documents.

The board approved the hiring of Corrie Roemhild as a new First Grade Teacher replacing Tammy Johnson.

The board approved a request from Mr. Hamm for two paid days for Professional Development. Hamm has been asked to serve on the Science Olympic National Board of Directors on Physics.