Glenwood City school board holds short meeting for updates, approval of staffing changes

By Cara L. Dempski

GLENWOOD CITY — The Glenwood City board of education held a short open session before moving to a closed session and then meeting with district teachers to discuss the compensation model developed by the board.

The February 13 meeting was marked at the final January 2016 meeting as one which would need to be shorter in order to fit in time to hear feedback on the new compensation plan from district staff and instructors afterward. 

There were no updates from district administrators at the meeting, but board vice president Judy Achterhof said there was discussion in the earlier committee meeting surrounding the current facilities use policies in place. Superintendent Tim Johnson said there would be some changes made to the policies, but did not elaborate what those changes would be.

Johnson also updated the board on current issues before the state legislature. He indicated Governor Walker’s increase in categorical aid could be a good thing for Glenwood City. The proposed increase for the first year of the biennium would be approximately $200 per student, with an additional $204 the second year.

“For us, based on the ballpark numbers of the three-year rolling average, that’s about $145,000 each year,” Johnson said.

The number is significant when talking about increases in salary and insurance rates, giving the district new money it would not otherwise have. The concern with this aid is that it is categorical aid instead of general aid. If a district uses too much categorical aid for compensation or salary schedules, it could burn people hard if the aid disappears.

“We will have to budget cautiously,” Johnson said.

The superintendent also said earlier school start dates are back on the table for discussion, and sparsity aid available for schools. 

Sparsity aid is based on a district’s enrollment and number of students per square mile. Glenwood City has qualified for this in the past, and Johnson said he is hoping the Glenwood schools will receive these monies again.

In other business covered in open session, the board:

• Approved the notice of retirement from Jo Berends.

• Approved receipt of $5,000 from Larry and Eleanor Mousel to be used in the Topper Partnership Foundation funds.

• Approved Logan Berglund, Ali Schock and John Larson as substitute teachers.

• Approved the 2017 – 2018 school calendar.

• Approved the amount and number of district scholarships available to the Class of 2017. There will be 13 scholarships of $1,000 each from the Russell Meyer Scholarship Fund, One scholarship at $300 from the Dorothy Kuhn Scholarship, one $500 award from the Class of 1950, and one $550 scholarship from the Topper Partnership Foundation.

The board then adjourned to closed session. During the session, the school board:

• Discussed the employee handbook relating to holiday pay and paid time off.

• Approved Kristin Monson as a part-time paraprofessional.

• Approved Daniel Cleaveland as a part-time to full-time custodian.

• Tabled the issue of hiring a part-time custodian and part-time instructional aide as a full-time employee.

• Completed Superintendent Johnson’s evaluation.

The board reconvened in open session before adjourning the meeting and welcoming teachers for dialogue regarding the new compensation model. The results of this discussion were not available at the time of publication. The board plans to hold another meeting with teaching staff regarding the compensation plan after the February 24 regular meeting.