GC school board adopts new district goals

GLENWOOD CITY — The School District of Glenwood City will have some new goals for the upcoming school year.

The Board of Education unanimously approved (6-0) the new district-wide goals for the 2023-24 academic year at its August 7 regular session.

These new SMART Goals, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound, were advocated for by new district administrator Patrick Olson. During his first board meeting last month, he hit upon three main themes – English Language Arts (ELA), Math and the district motto “Every Student, Every Day”.

As adopted by the board Monday evening, the ELA goal looks to increase overall student performance, in grades 4K through 12, by five percentage points from the fall to spring on FastBridge Assessments. In math, the district will also try to achieve a similar five percent gain in overall performance, according to FastBridge scores during that same period.

The third and final objective, “Every Student, Every Day”,  will look to build a district culture that is committed to high expectations, clear communication, and building positive relationships. The district will measure this goal by increasing the number of positive responses on student and staff surveys.

The board also approved an expenditure of nearly $25,000 with North American Mechanical, Inc. (NAMI) of Windsor, WI for repairs to the school buildings roof-based heating and cooling systems.

Olson told members that the district does have a service agreement with NAMI that covers quarterly inspections and routine maintenance of the systems at a cost $22,000 per year. The current agreement, Olson stated, runs through 2025.

Unfortunately, that service agreement does not cover the needed systems repairs which were nearly two pages long.

Just a month into his job as district administrator, Olson is finding several other buildings and grounds issues that have required immediate attention.

Recent severe storms that blew through the area damaged some of the buildings’ roofs and allowed water infiltration. The elementary gym was hardest hit as rain water poured through the roof and damaged the wooden floor. The storms also took down a portion of the outfield fence at the new high school baseball field and did damage to the wind screen. The football bleachers also sustained damage according to Olson.

With the district preparing to replace tile in the high school lunch room and commons, an inspection revealed a large crack in the concrete floor of the commons area that was allowing moisture to seep through the floor and bring humidity readings to 90 percent. That required a $15,000 expenditure to seal and skim coat the floor to help mitigated and control any future moisture issues prior to the installation of new floor tiles.

With those issues in mind and a need to perform a safety inspection on all bleacher seating, Olson “recommended the board authorize a facility analysis and long-range strategic plan” to deal with building and equipment maintenance and proposed upgrades.

Substantial amounts of asbestos have also been found and removed during the CTE renovation project which has been underway this summer. Olson estimated the asbestos removal will cost an additional $25,000 to $30,000. 

Not all was bleak, however, as Olson reported that he had received the bus inspection report early that day noting that it had went very well. The inspection of the fleet, which was completed by the Wisconsin State Patrol, found only minor repairs were needed *on some buses.

Marcy Burch, high school/middle school principal, told the board that the CTE project should reach substantial completion by August 18 and will be ready for students when school resumes at the end of this month.

In other business, the board approved Shanna Hoffman as a substitute teacher and Patrick Olson as volunteer football coach. It also accepted a $1,000 donation to volleyball from the Youth Volleyball Program.

Finally, residents are welcomed and encouraged to attend the annual meeting and budget hearing on Monday, August 21. The budget hearing will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the board room with the annual meeting to follow at 7:00 p.m. District administrator Patrick Olson has proposed to establish a Fund 80 (community education) levy balance of $300,000 and move the annual meeting date to the fourth Monday in September beginning next year.