Glenwood City School District Administration reviews two-day retreat to school board

By Laura Giammattei

GLENWOOD CITY — A district administration two-day retreat was held last Tuesday, June 21 and Wednesday, June 22 to reflect upon this past school year’s programming initiative strengths, weaknesses and ways the administration can be mindful and progressive in regards to current and future programming.

Part of the initiative agenda includes revising the Elementary, Co-Curricular, Athletic, as well as Middle and High School handbooks with a projected approval date of no later than July 11th.

Middle and High School Principal Patrick Gretzlock and Elementary School Principal Betsy Haltinner recounted how they are developing a vision for the 2016-2017 school year which includes, but is not limited to, redefining co-teaching in regards to special education aides collaborating more in depth with regular education teachers. Gretzlock would also like to generate more opportunities for teachers to step into leadership roles, while Haltinner is looking towards student goal setting as a guide for students to be more involved in their own education.

Gretzlock is also moving to implement a Read 180 program, which has proven to be a strong intervention-based program that assists in developing a student’s reading level. Read 180 helps to identify which students are in need of the most intervention as well as which resources the district has to assist those students.

In Nicole Brite’s High School and Middle School Assistant Principal report, she noted how the first session of summer school, held at Holy Cross church for 4K to 8th grade students has now ended and was a major success. A total of 120 students attended the summer school program and 100 of those students also participated in summer sports skills.

Additionally, 16 high school students attended summer school, half of which have already completed the credits required for recovery. The remainder are on pace to earn credits but will need to finish by Thursday, June 30th to receive those credits.

Betsy Haltinner updated the school board on the 100-day plan for this upcoming school year which revolved around a newly formed team of district teachers to help lead the plan. These teachers spent a great deal of time towards the end of the 2015-2016 school year to develop documents and processes that will be used to define the five focus areas (specific learning outcomes, instructional strategies, student engagement, embedded literacy, and assessment mechanisms), which will ultimately improve student learning and understanding.

The team will start to meet this August, with the goal going forward of having team meetings once a month to help guide this process. The current goal of this team is to complete at least three of these five tools by mid-October.

In Superintendent Tim Johnson’s construction update, construction is moving along swiftly and is currently ahead of schedule thanks to the cooperative weather. The rock and gravel that has been excavated will also be used to create a pathway that will extend along the baseball field to the outfield for better access during bad weather.

In an extensive consent agenda, the board also approved the financial statement, accounts payable, budget transfers and a state mandated lunch price increase for all grades. The lunch price for elementary students will increase from $2.20 to $2.30 and the lunch price for middle and high school students will increase from $2.30 to $2.40. A full analysis of these items can be found in the “Board Docs” program within the Glenwood City website.

In addition, the board approved the Glenwood City School District’s Information and Technology Plan from 2016 through 2019. The board also accepted a donation of $425 from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

The board approved the hiring of Jodi Main as the C-Team Volleyball Coach, Gordy Hierlmeier as the Middle School Football Coach, Dean Fayerweather as the Girls’ Varsity Basketball Coach, Angela Williams as the Assistant Cross Country Coach, and Gina Holter as the Middle School Yearbook Advisor.

The board also approved all Extracurricular and Co-Curricular contracts for the 2016-2017 school year as well as the creation of Fund 60, a CTE Incentive Grant Fund.

The next regular school board meeting is scheduled on Monday, July 11 at 6:30 p.m. and will be held in the elementary art room.