Boyceville school board hears reports, approves personnel moves and accepts donations
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NEWLY-ELECTED BOYCEVILLE School Board member Sharon Formoe (right) took the oath of office during the April 19 meeting held in the Boyceville High School/Middle School IMC. Current board member Amber Carlsrud (left) administered the oath of office. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
BOYCEVILLE — The Board of Education for the Boyceville Community School District listen to administrative reports, approved personnel items and accepted donations during its regular session held Wednesday, April 19 in the high school/middle school IMC.
During a board report by Tiffany Creek Elementary principal DeeAnn Thompson, it was learned that a member of the elementary teaching staff was selected for an award. Katie Ouellette was recently informed that the UW-Eau Claire’s Teacher Education Program had selected her to receive the 2023 Teacher Education Pre-Service Educator Mentor Award. Ouellette was nominated by UW-Eau Claire faculty and staff.
According to a letter from Carmen Manning, Dean of the university’s College of Education and Human Sciences, the award is presented annually to an outstanding educator with a demonstrated commitment to mentoring pre-service teachers with selection based on the recipient’s ability to model professional responsibility, effective classroom management and evidentiary assessment to help advance future educators’ skills and leadership.
In the letter, Manning wrote, “Ms. Ouellette is a highly skilled teacher who excels at combining best practice with compassion and love for her students. She is highly observant, excels in modifying instruction, and ensures the right level of supports is given to her student so that they can be successful. As a mentor to student teachers, Ms. Ouellette is kind, patient, supportive, and pushes her student teachers to think and act independently.”
Thompson told the board that Ouellette will receive a personal grant and that the school will also receive a $250 grant.
In his update, high school/middle school principal Patrick Gretzlock informed the board that standardized testing was underway and should be completed by the end of this week.
He also said that the first round of academic interventions at the high school were set to begin. This intervention period has been designed to help reduce the volume of failing students by the end of the current school year. Gretzlock anticipates that the pilot program will be fully implemented during the 2023-24 school year
Since January, Gretzlock has been tracking failures by grades and students. In the first report back on January 20th of this year, there were 97 failing grades and 47 failing students in the high school. Those numbers peaked in late February and early March when the number of failing grades rose to 184 with 97 students failing at least one class. Those figures have been declining and in the most recent snapshot taken at the end of March showed 89 failing marks and 36 students failing.
Gretzlock said that eight students, four from the high school and four from the middle school, had recently attended a student leadership day sponsored by CESA.
At the beginning of the meeting, newly-elected board member Sharon Formoe was administered her oath of office by member Amber Carlsrud. Formoe will officially join the board at its next meeting, taking the seat of Steve Olson, who decided not to seek re-election and attended his final meeting as a member of the board last Wednesday. Superintendent Nick Kaiser congratulated and welcomed Formoe and also expressed his appreciation for Olson’s time on the board and his dedication to the district’s students and staff.
In personnel matters, the hire of John Huevos as a high school English teacher was approved. The board also approved Kristin Pease as an elementary special education teacher. It also approved the hire of Mary Novotney as a special education paraprofessional.
A request by Derek Retz to resign his position as a middle school football coach was also accepted.
Finally, the board accepted a pair of grants before adjourning into closed session. A $902 AnnMarie Grant was accepted and will be used to purchase sets of “Start Readers” for first grade reading instruction. It also approved a $1,000 donation from the Hay River Fun on the Flowage event that will be used to aid district families.
