Elk Mound Board of Education hears updates on construction
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by Cara L. Dempski
ELK MOUND – The School Board held its regular monthly meeting June 21 at 7 p.m. in the high school Board Room. The meeting opened with the usual items of the Pledge of Allegiance, roll call, and verification of a quorum. The first business item before the Board was approving the previous meeting’s minutes. Then, it approved presented bills and vouchers for payment, no one was present for the citizens forum, so the Board moved on to the principals’ reports.
Moundview principal Eric Hanson reported first, saying the school’s annual fourth-grade Olympics were held May 21, four-year-old kindergarten graduation was held May 27 and went well. The traditional end-of-year picnic was held on the last day of school, which was May 28, and it was a little chilly he said, he joked they had snow on the last day of school, but grandparents and parents seemed to relish the opportunity to get together.
Currently, Moundview has over 120 students attending the first session of summer academy. The teachers are Mrs. Garnett, Ms. Labs, Mrs. Linzmier, Mrs.Hinnenkamp, Mrs. Crossman, Mr. DeRoeck, Ms. Rusk, Mr. Close, Ms. Kiesler, Ms. Keefer, Mrs. Andrashko, Ms. Ribich, and Mr.Linzmeier.
Hanson also explained custodians have been busy completing maintenance projects and cleaning classrooms, along with some larger projects such as replacing carpeting in classrooms and other areas, replacing concrete in the front and back of the building, and mulching playground areas. He said it will be a busy summer for the custodians. He indicated referendum work at the building is progressing, since work crews have been busy working on the boilers and plan to start on the lobby entrance July 5.
Hanson indicated he has been doing some data analysis to evaluate student achievement. He also presented current enrollment numbers, this fall four-year-old kindergarten will have 54 students, and kindergarten will welcome 65 students. He reported briefly on the end of year survey sent home to parents. 97% of parents responded Ranking the school at 8, 9, or 10 out of a scale of 10.
Chris Hahn reported on the middle school next, he expressed appreciation for the efforts expended by the custodians and Mr. Kessler for eighth grade graduation, and reported there are 60 students participating in the “Getting Ready for Middle School” summer school session and thanked Mr. Ferguson, Mr. Proft, and Mr. Andrea for leading the session. There are 15 students participating in the middle school academy, and more than 20 in the middle school volleyball camp.
Hahn also reported there was a safe schools meeting on June 9, summer cleaning and repair work is underway and going well, bus inspections were originally scheduled for June 21, But were rescheduled to June 28. He does not anticipate any issues coming up during inspections.
High school principal Paul Kling reported next saying, “I cannot thank the staff and students enough for how they finished the year.” He also reported on some recent happenings, such as the powerlifting team and its performance at the national meet. The girls finished as national champions, and the boys were runners-up, the combined team finished as overall national champions. He offered thanks to coaches Aaron Maves, Abe Ferguson, and Taylor Deling for the time dedicated to preparing the young athletes for meets. In other high school sports, Kling reported the boys track and field team finished second at the Dunn-St. Croix conference meet, while the girls were third. Baseball and softball had good seasons, both of which ended in regional play, the track team saw a single athlete qualify for state, for the boys 200m dash.
Regarding progress on referendum projects, Kling said the asphalt surface has been laid for the track, and requires approximately 30 days to cure prior to laying down the recycled rubber surface which should go down sometime in July.
A CESA representative was present to provide an update on construction projects pointed out the brickwork for the outer walls of the new band room and weight room is in place, and indicated there will be sufficient funds available should the Board choose to bid out any extra projects, such as installing a new shotput and discus area near the track and football field, extending the chain-link fence around the ball field and parking lot on the west side of the middle school to completely enclose the area, eliminating the entry point from University Street, leveling and placing black dirt and seeding the ball field so it is a safer playing area, or adding windows to the east wall of the middle school band room.
Kling also reported Ms. Dinger and FFA students are preparing to attend the state FFA convention in Madison July 6 through 8, summer school classes will continue through July and there are over 200 students registered for summer athletic camps.
Finally, he said custodians will begin resurfacing the gyms at the end of July.
Superintendent Eric Wright encouraged Board members to drive around school grounds to get a better view of the ongoing construction projects. The CESA representative explained some work may need to be done at the elementary school on the 2009 addition where it has been discovered, there are cracks in the caulking between expansion joints. These cracks could cause leaks, and structural damage. The representative reported some scaffolding was blown over in a storm several weeks ago and fell onto the high school roof causing a pair of holes. Wright said he has checked out the pool, and thinks it looks good.
The Board unanimously approved the resignations of Mr. Proft and Mr. Lesek from their positions as middle school boys basketball coaches.
The next meeting was confirmed for 6:45 p.m. on July 26. The Board then adjourned to closed session to discuss and act on hiring candidates for several positions, Malia Kirschbaum was approved as a speech and language pathologist, and Bradley Wesley as a middle school basketball coach.
