Boyceville school board approves $132,000 contract with CESA

By LeAnn R. Ralph

BOYCEVILLE  —  Representing a savings of about $40,000 over past years, the Boyceville Board of Education approved a contract with Cooperative Educational Services Agency No. 11 at Monday night’s meeting for approximately $132,000.

The exact amount of the CESA No. 11 shared services contract will be calculated later, but the contract was $132,000 last year and tends to increase about 1 percent per year, said Kevin Sipple, school district administrator.

Boyceville has been working to streamline CESA services, and the $132,000 is a savings of about $40,000 over what it was a few years ago, he said.

The school district has eliminated some of the services that were not being used to their full extent, and some of the services that were provided by CESA are now being provided by school district employees, Sipple explained.

“We want to make sure we are using the services we are purchasing and spending the money appropriately,” he said.

Because the CESA contract is based on a consortium of schools, the exact amount of the contract depends upon how many school districts participate, Sipple said.

Some of the services on the CESA No. 11 contract include comprehensive consulting and networking services for $5,725; Healthy, Safe and Respectful Schools for $2,100; high-cost equipment for closed-caption television for $150; IDEA flow-through/early childhood consortium for $1,300; school-based services for $72 per Medicaid eligible student; special education consultation for $865 per day for one day of consultation; supporting students with disabilities network for $2,295.

Other items in the contract calculated on an individual basis per school district include: audiology services; hearing impairment program teacher; and physical therapy.

Some parts of the contract are based on a percentage of allocations, such as Title I, Title II and Title III administrative and program services.

The Boyceville Board of Education unanimously approved the CESA contract for the 2016-2017 school year.

The contract also would include environmental service with CESA No. 10.

In praise 

Boyceville school district resident Joe Wheeldon spoke to the school board during the public comments portion of the meeting.

Wheeldon said he has five children in the Boyceville district, and he is pleased with the range of activities in which his children are able to participate.

Wheeldon said he is especially appreciative of three staff members: Steve Glocke (middle school/high school principal); Tim Engel (middle school/high school social studies) and Andy Hamm (high school science and math and Science Olympiad advisor).

Wheeldon said he appreciates Glocke because the principal appreciates working in a small district where “he can treat the students like people and not a number.”

Engel requires challenging papers written for class, so that the student knows he or she earned a particular grade, and the challenge of writing the papers is good preparation for college or for life in general. Hamm has brought excellence to the district with the Science Olympiad program, he said.

The Boyceville Science Olympiad program is “putting Boyceville on the map in a positive, good way,” Wheeldon said.

Class sizes

Boyceville school district resident Jack Owen also addressed the school board during the public comments portion of the meeting and wondered when the school district makes the decision whether to continue a particular class or program.

At what point is a class or program eliminated because of low enrollment numbers, when does the school board do a cost-benefit analysis, and at what point are parents notified that a cut is going to be made? Owen asked.

Tim Sempf, school board president, said he has been on the school board for nine years and that it has never come before the board to eliminate a class or program because of low enrollment.

“It has never happened,” he said.

Letters policy

Kelly Owen addressed the school board during the public comments portion of the meeting as well and asked about the school district’s letter policy.

If someone writes a letter to the school board or administrators about a particular staff member, is there a policy that deals with providing a copy to the subject of the letter? Owen asked, noting that she was referring to both positive and negative letters.

Sempf said he thought there probably was a policy but that he would have to research the district’s policies before giving Owen an answer.

Sipple said that if the letter writer wanted the letter to be shared with the subject of the letter that the writer should indicate it in the letter.

If the letter writer does not specifically say a letter should be shared, Sipple said he would not be comfortable with sharing the letter with the subject of the letter.

Letter writers should “own” what they have written, and if it is positive, the subject deserves to know he or she is appreciated, and if it is negative, the subject deserves to be able to defend himself or herself, Owen said.

Owen urged the Board of Education to adopt a letters policy.

Other business 

In other business, the Boyceville Board of Education:

• Received a report from Brian Roemhild, athletic director, on the winter sports season. All together, 16 athletes participated in boys basketball; 16 athletes participated in girls basketball; 22 athletes participated in wrestling; and ten athletes participated in winter dance. Youth basketball clinics for grades one to three (“Little Dribblers”) had 40 to 50 students participating. Youth wrestling for grades one to six had 40 to 50 kids participating. Roemhild said he is meeting with the coaches to work on building better youth programs.

• Accepted the resignation of Colette Chastan as a kindergarten teacher. In her letter of resignation dated March 4, Chastan said she is looking forward to spending more time taking care of her family. “I hope when the time is right, I will be able to join the staff in Boyceville again,” Chastan wrote.

• Approved four applications for youth options for the fall semester in 2016. All four applications are for certified nursing assistant at either Chippewa Valley Technical College in Eau Claire or Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College in New Richmond. The cost is $438 per class. The school district pays for the textbooks. If the students are interested in becoming certified, they must pay for the state licensing exam.

Closed session

The Boyceville Board of Education met in closed session to consider financial, medical, social or personal histories or disciplinary data of specific persons, preliminary consideration of specific personnel problems or the investigation or charges against specific persons, which, if discussed in public, would be likely to have a substantial adverse effect upon the reputation of any person referred to in such histories or data or involved in such problems or investigations (Wisconsin Statutes 19.85 (1) (f).

Sipple reported that the Board of Education did not take any action as a result of the closed session.

A number of parents who attended the school board meeting expressed concern about the closed session to the Tribune Press Reporter in the hallway after the Board of Education had gone into closed session.