By LeAnn R. Ralph
BOYCEVILLE — Instead of moving the sixth grade from Tiffany Creek Elementary to the middle school this fall, the Boyceville Board of Education has approved the move for the start of the 2023-2024 school year.
School administrators looked at the idea of moving the sixth grade this fall for a long time and concluded making the move at the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year would leave more time for planning and for communication, said Nick Kaiser, school district administrator, at the Boyceville Board of Education’s April 20 meeting.
Delaying the move by a year opens up all of the options again, he said.
“There’s not enough time now to do it the right way for the fall of 2022,” said Tyler Moy, Boyceville High School and Middle School principal.
The Boyceville Board of Education delayed making a decision on whether to move the sixth grade from Tiffany Creek Elementary to the middle school, pending a re-survey of fifth grade students, at the March 9 meeting.
During the public comments portion of the March 9 meeting, three fifth grade students spoke to the school board and said they did not want to move to the middle school next year.
One student, who identified himself as Easton, said there had been many changes at school in the past few years because of the COVID pandemic and that the fifth grade students were not ready to move to the middle school.
The fifth graders have been looking forward to being leaders for the younger students when the fifth graders became sixth graders, and if the class was moved to the middle school, they would not have that opportunity, Easton had said.
The Boyceville Board of Education unanimously approved a motion to move the sixth grade to the middle school for the 2023-2024 school year.
Voting in favor of the motion were Tim Sempf, school board president, and school board members Amber Carlsrud, Erik Evenson, Jeremy Mittlestadt and Steve Olson.
Other business
In other business, the Boyceville Board of Education:
• Learned from Moy’s report that graduation will be held at 7 p.m. May 27 without restrictions this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and that Baccalaureate will be on Sunday, May 22, at 6 p.m., followed by the Senior Awards Program at 7 p.m.
• Learned that Boyceville High School juniors attended a career fair at Menomonie High School that was put on by the Menomonie Chamber.
• Learned that a group of students had gone to the Chanhassen Dinner Theater to see the production of “Footloose.”
• Learned that the senior sociology class and members of the National Honor Society had helped pack meals at Feed My Starving Children in Minnesota.
• Learned from the superintendent’s report that the school staff retirement banquet is scheduled for April 27 and that retirees from 2020, 2021 and 2022 will be honored.
• Approved a resolution authorizing the transfer of funds and the establishment of an escrow account to help the school district pay down debt. According to the resolution, the fund will help pay the principal and interest on $75,000 of the 2024 maturity, $75,000 of the 2025 maturity, $85,000 of the 2026 maturity $85,000 of the 2027 maturity, and $85,000 of the 2028 maturity of the 2015 bonds.
• Approved purchasing the Houghton-Mifflin English Language Arts resources for grades kindergarten through fifth.
• Approved the retirement of Diana Gasteyer as a special eduction teacher. Gasteyer has worked in the Boyceville school district for 12 years. She has been an educator for 30 years.
• Postponed the agenda item for hiring a middle school English Language Arts teacher
• Approved hiring Jon Talmage as the assistant softball coach.
• Approved hiring Brian Roemhild as the assistant baseball coach.
• Accepted the resignation of Angie Kurschner as a food service worker. Kurschner has worked part-time in the school district for 10 years and has accepted full-time employment elsewhere.
• Accepted an $800 donation from the Hay River Fun on the Flowage Polar Plunge event.
• Accepted a grant in the amount of $5,000 from the Community Foundation of Dunn County for the purchase of canoes for the Bulldog Adventure Camp. The grant application was submitted by Jacob Peterson, 5th grade teacher.
• Accepted an Ann Marie Foundation grant in the amount of $2,139 to be used for the purchase of three canoes and six straps for the Bulldog Adventure Camp. The grant application was submitted by Jacob Peterson, 5th grade teacher.
