Boyceville High School will have two valedictorians and one salutatorian

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By Renee Bettendorf

BOYCEVILLE — At the Boyceville school board meeting held last Wednesday, MS/HS principal Pat Gretzlock introduced the two valedictorians, the salutatorian and the Technical Excellence Recipient for the Boyceville High School graduating class of 2024.

All four seniors attended the meeting with their parents. The 2024 co-valedictorians are Braden Roemhild and Peter Wheeldon, both of whom earned a GPA of 4.0. Cora Leslie is the salutatorian and Rylan Erickson is the Technical Excellence Recipient.

Wheeldon is the son of Laurie and Joe Wheeldon, he plans to attend UW-Madison next fall to study physical therapy. Romehild’s parents are Corrie and Brian Romehild. He is headed to UW-River Falls to pursue a degree in education.

Leslie plans to major in biology at UW-Madison. Her parents are Roni Voeltz and Blaine Leslie. Erickson is the daughter of Amanda Ewer and she is going to CVTC in the fall to study auto mechanics.

Reports

Gretzlock brought two hiring recommendations to the board during his report. He recommended hiring Kaitlyn Webster as the MS/HS Agriculture Teacher and FFA Advisor and Gerald Cardiff as the Instrumental and General Music Teacher.

Webster graduated from UW-River Falls in December and completed her student teaching in the Bloomer school district. She currently is substitute teaching in the Somerset and Hudson districts. She is interested in getting started at BHS this summer with being a part of FFA.

Cardiff currently lives and works in Illinois. He is a graduate of GCHS and has family in Glenwood City and Boyceville. Over the past 15 years he has increased the memberships of high school bands in three school districts.

“I think we’re bringing in people who will move our programs forward,” Gretzlock said of his hiring recommendations. 

According to Gretzlock, the process of interviewing and securing staff has changed over the years with fewer people applying. The district had two applicants for the Agriculture Teacher position and five for the Instrumental and General Music teacher. A total of six interviews were conducted for the two positions.

Later in the meeting the board unanimously approved hiring Webster and Cardiff.

Also in his report Gretzlock updated the board on the MS/HS progress with standardized testing. Forward Testing at the middle school concluded last week while the sophomore and freshman classes took the PreACT on April 16 and 17. And the junior class is starting to receive their ACT scores.

In her report Special Education Director, Rebecca Hanestad also updated the board on progress with standardized testing. She thanked the many staff members that were involved with proctoring the tests. She also spoke about various professional development opportunities that staff attended.

Elementary Principal, Jerim DesJarlais told the board that office discipline referrals (ODRs) are significantly down from the same time last year. At the end of March 206 ODRs were written. Last year during the same time 640 ODRs were issued. This is a 68% reduction. DesJarlais suspects the decrease in ODRs is due to the work that staff has been doing to build relationships with students.

“It’s a nice reduction in office referrals,” he said. 

DesJarlais reported the results of the Social Academic Emotional Behavior Risk Screener (SAEBRs) which students in grades two through five recently took. Students take the test to assess themselves and teachers take it to assess students.

According to the students’ results 2.2% of students are at risk, 11.6% are at some risk and 86.2% are at little to no risk. The teachers’ results were similar showing 2.5% at risk, 15% at some risk and 82.5% at little to no risk.

“If you have 80% or better with little to no risk you have a pretty healthy school,” he said.

Also in his report, DesJarlais said three new students who only speak Spanish have enrolled at TCE recently. MS/HS Spanish Teacher, EL Coordinator and District Translator, Liz Stolte has started a newcomers program that takes place one class period a day. This class helps with the transition, supports English development and onboards them to American schooling.

There are five students total at TCE that primarily speak Spanish. One is a kindergartener, two are first graders, another is a second grader and there is one fourth grader. The students are bussed over to the high school to attend the newcomers program with Stolte.

District Administrator Nick Kaiser started off his report by thanking Board Member Erik Evenson for his 12 years of service on the school board. He also welcomed Board Member Stacy Fetzer to the board; she will start her duties in May.

Kaiser went on to give an update on the successful referendum. He said that while a few things will get done this summer, the bulk of the projects will take place in the summers of 2025 and 2026. Because the referendum took place in the spring, there is no way any major projects could start this summer, which is an advantage because it allows the district to take their time and make informed decisions.

“We’re going to take the time to ask the questions we need to ask, and maximize the dollars that we have,” he said.

In Other Business the Boyceville School Board:

• Learned from Gretzlock that the March students of the month were Becca Wyss and Sam Barstad.

• Learned from DesJarlais that a device called a Clevertouch was purchased for TCE. This technology will likely replace SmartBoards and allows staff the opportunity to get familiar with the new technology.

• Learned from Kaiser that a retirement banquet is scheduled for May 8 for Brenda Schlough, Lisa Kane, and Joan Klassen.

• Approved the school 2024/2025 school calendar which will have school starting earlier so students can start summer vacation earlier so referendum work can begin in 2025.

• Accepted a $1,000 donation to the drama/music programs from Marlene Huley in memory of her husband Milan Huley who was a 1948 graduate of BHS.

• Accepted a $800 donation from Alfalfa Fest Polar Plunge.