Boyceville Board of Education discusses next step in Superintendent search
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By Amber Hayden
BOYCEVILLE— The Boyceville Board of Education met last Wednesday, January 16, to discuss the next steps in the superintendent search.
Six candidates have been offered interviews with the Board that began on Tuesday, January 15, with the first three and the first round of interviews will conclude on January 21 with the final three candidates.
Superintendent Kevin Sipple explained that on February 4 the Board will conduct the second round of interviews after narrowing the selection down to three, and will meet on Friday, February 8, to narrow the search down to one.
“The timeline is fluid and may change though,” said Sipple.
With the recent retirement of Dunn County Sheriff officer Rod Discus, the Boyceville School District was informed that the D.A.R.E. Program (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) will be canceled for the remainder of the school year as there won’t be a new officer for the program, Sipple explained.
“I have received communication from Sheriff Kevin Bygd regarding the next steps for D.A.R.E. being considered,” stated Sipple. “Currently, there are alternative programs to D.A.R.E. being considered. If an officer from the county is used, the county board will need to approve the funding.”
The Tiffany Creak Stream Bank Restoration Project has moved forward with the volunteers from Trout Unlimited finishing the tree removal, except for a few that are too close to power lines.
With the remaining trees the DNR will contract a company to come in and do the removal in the safest way possible.
Also residents may see the shot rock being brought in as early as March, weather permitting, in order to begin the next phase of the restoration.
With the ACT and ACT Workkeys coming up on February 20 and 21, high school/middle school principle Tyler Moy explained that students are in the stages of preparing for the two day testing.
“It won’t affect any of the other classes in that end of the building as the teachers have rearranged their schedules to make things easier,” Moy explained.
Bonnie Barker, director of Special Education, also let the Board know that the special education students have been working with the teachers after receiving the ACT prep books.
The Board of Education approved 16 additional overnight and out-of-state state trips for Tiffany Creek Elementary and the Boyceville Middle/High school including trips to: Sea Life Aquarium in Bloomington, MN for the second graders, Como Zoo in St. Paul, MN for the kindergarten class, AP Biology will visit Lakeside Labs in Milford IA on April 26 through the 29, and the Spanish Club will travel to St. Paul, MN on May 3 for the Festival of Nations.
Enrollment for the upcoming 2019-20 school year will begin in the following months, and with it comes the available spacing for the schools.
Each grade has a set capacity limit for a student to teacher ratio, with only the second and sixth grade classes reaching numbers over the limit. Also the availability for special education enrollment exceeds the state recommendations leaving the Boyceville Area School District with zero space for any students needing aid from the Special Education department.
The state mandates that Boyceville’s case load for Special Education services not exceed 13.8 percent, but currently the school has an average of 18.4 percent for students receiving special education services.
During the meeting the Boyceville Board of Education:
Approved the hiring of Patrick Deustch as a full-time custodian.
Accepted the retirement of Elementary Special Education teacher Suzanne Carlson.
Approved the 2019-20 school calendar.
Approved 16 additional out-of-state and overnight trips for spring semester.
Approved the 2019-20 open enrollment space availability.
