Colfax school board green lights golf co-op with Elk Mound schools
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — The Colfax Board of Education has approved an agreement with the Elk Mound school district to form a cooperative boys’ and girls’ golf program beginning in the 2020-2021 school year.
“I can’t see a reason why we wouldn’t do it,” said Todd Kragness, president of the Colfax school board, at the Board of Education’s December 16 meeting.
“If (golf) gets dropped, it probably never comes back,” said school board member Andrew De Moe.
Cooperative agreements between school districts allow both school districts to offer programs they might not otherwise be able to offer by themselves, said William C. Yingst Jr., district administrator.
Having a golf course in between the two schools “is a good thing,” Kragness said.
According to the written proposal from Michael Hodel, Colfax athletic director, “Colfax’s girls’ golf numbers are declining, and we would like to maintain our program. The Elk Mound school district is looking to add a girls’ golf program and is interested in being part of a co-op with us since we have an established program. If Elk Mound would co-op with Colfax for girls’ golf, they would lose a large portion of their boys’ golf team. Colfax then proposed the idea of being a co-op for boys’ golf as well. By combining both the boys’ and the girls’ golf programs, it will ensure the programs will still be offered at both schools.”
After Colfax and Elk Mound receive approval from the Dunn-St. Croix Conference, representatives for both school districts must sign a form approving the cooperative, and the form must be turned into the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) by February 1, 2020, for the girls’ cooperative program and by June 1, 2020, for the boy’s cooperative program.
The cost of the cooperative golf program will be shared by both school districts on “per golfer” basis. The sum of all fees for busing, contests and supplies will be divided by the total number of golfers, and the per golfer cost will be multiplied by the number of golfers at each school to determine how much each school district pays for the golf program.
The host schools will provide transportation to golfing events. Colfax will provide transportation for the girls’ golf team, and Elk Mound will provide transportation for the boys’ golf team. The non-host school will have the responsibility of making sure their athletes are at the host school to be transported to an event.
Each school district will pay their own coach. The head girls’ coach will be supplied by Colfax, and the head boys’ coach will be supplied by Elk Mound. Each school district can make its own decision on whether to have an assistant coach.
The rate of pay for the season will be $3,200 for each head coach.
The host schools — Colfax for girls and Elk Mound for boys — will each be responsible for insurance coverage for the students who are participating in golf.
The cooperative agreement covers two years, and after two years, the cooperative will be re-evaluated by both school districts.
Jodi Kiekhafer, school board member, wondered what the school colors would be for the golf team.
Colfax’s school colors are red and white, and Elk Mound’s school colors are orange and black.
There has been no discussion yet about school colors, Yingst said.
The Colfax Board of Education unanimously approved forming a golf cooperative with Elk Mound.
In addition to Kragness, De Moe and Kiekhafer, school board members Christie Hill, Ken Neuburg, Kyle Knutson and Ken Bjork voted in favor of the motion.
Other business
In other business, the Colfax Board of Education:
• Learned the Colfax school district has received the TEACH grant for approximately $30,000 for the fourth year. The grant is used for technology infrastructure, such as cables, servers, battery back-ups and firewalls. The school district has already applied for next year’s grant and will be receiving this year’s grant this summer, said John Dachel, Colfax High School principal.
• Learned that the referendum account had been zeroed out as of December 2. The school district had three years from the time the referendum was passed during the November of 2016 election to finish the projects.
• Received a reminder that Colfax High School basketball games can be found live-streamed on the school district’s website and also can be found at www.northernlightwebcastingnetwork.com.
• Learned the regular open enrollment application period is February 3, 2020, to April 30, 2020, at 4 p.m.
• Approved the school calendar for the 2020-2021 school year. The first day of school will be September 1, 2020, and the last day of school will be May 28, 2021.
• Approved hiring Darcy Hover as a teacher assistant. Hover is from Colfax and is a Licensed Practical Nurse and also is a licensed special education teachers’ aide, Yingst said, noting that Hover has experience as a special education teachers’ aide as well.
• Accepted the resignation of Kirk Secraw as the assistant football coach.