Colfax school district referendum includes tech ed and STEM improvements

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX  —  Of the $7.2 million in the Colfax school district’s referendum November 8, $1.2 million would go toward expanding and improving the high school’s technology education and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) program.

The tech ed and STEM improvements would include updating software and computers to prepare students for post-secondary education and for the workforce, said Bill Yingst, Colfax superintendent.

The STEM updates also would include purchasing a 3D printer for student projects; updating computer numerical control machines that are used in fabricating products; updating the technology education shop; adding laptops and Chrome Books to the curriculum while working toward a one-to-one computer device initiative; updating the K-12 science and math curriculum; and adding a distance learning lab, Yingst said.

“The vision I have is — can we have a business model? Can we design a business and use the computer-aided design to design, make a prototype with the 3D printer, fabricate using the CNC machines, market and sell and bring any profit back into the program and then continue to expand,” Yingst said.

“We have one 3D printer that we just got at the beginning of the year. We ordered that at the end of the year last year,” he noted.

The addition of the laptops and Chrome Books is to work toward a one-to-one computer device initiative, Yingst said.

Right now, the school district has about 850 students and 450 devices, so there is roughly one device for every two students.

“We added 100 devices this year, so that’s new. We only had 350 last year,” Yingst said.

“One of the big feathers in our hat was getting rid of all the old tower computers, the old desk-top towers. We had 70 plus of those left. They were seven or eight years old, and they really weren’t too useful anymore. That’s one of our major plusses to get rid of those. Now we have all laptops and Google Chrome Books in our system,” he said.

“Everything is mobile, is what we are saying. We can pick them up, and we can go anyplace in the building, and we’ve got the wireless that was put in three years ago with the energy efficiency operational piece,” Yingst said.

“When you’re doing research and you need access to the information that’s out there, it is essential for each student to have a computer. That’s how the world is operating now. Everything is mobile and pick up and go,” Yingst said.

Standardized testing also is now done on-line, so access to the Internet and access to computers is particularly important for students.

Rural broadband

Anyone who has Internet access in certain rural areas around Colfax knows that the choices for access are limited and that the service available is slow — so slow that it is difficult, if not impossible, to access on-line videos.

Or if you can access on-line videos, the video starts playing, but then it stops, and maybe it will start again, or maybe not, or maybe it will continue starting and stopping, starting and stopping.

Another portion of the tech ed/STEM part of the referendum would deal with Internet access for students.

“The other things we’re working on with CESA 10 is the WIMAX system. It’s basically a wi-fi system, but what we’re tying into is we have the big tower (near) Wheeler, and there’s the big tower southeast of here north of Elk Mound. The WIMAX network is part of the C.I.N.C. Network (Chippewa Valley Inter Networking Consortium) and this whole thing CESA 10 has been doing. It’s WiscNet. It’s C.I.N.C. And it’s WIMAX,” Yingst said.

“Basically it is a work-in-progress, but what we’re trying to do is bring it into these rural areas so students can have access, if they don’t have good Internet access. The WIMAX system allows them to tie right into the school’s system so they can do their work, so they can access anything on their system folder here and have access and do the work that way. We’re going to try to connect all of the students that way,” Yingst said.

“WIMAX is exciting to me because you don’t get very far out of Colfax and you don’t have very good Internet. I live four and a half miles out of town south and west of here, and I’m nine miles north of the Interstate, and I have terrible Internet access out there,” he said.

“When you’ve got slow Internet and kids are trying to access things so they can do their homework, to watch some kind of video that’s for education, it’s impossible. It won’t load. And then if it’s streaming, then it stops,” Yingst said.

Colfax has teamed up with CESA 10 for the last three or four years, he noted.

“The ultimate goal is to tie us all in with all of the universities, tech colleges and hospitals in this area so if there are educational things happening, you can access or you can contribute. That’s the way of the world. A one-to-one initiative and what we’re trying to do with distance learning labs. People can like it or not like it, but that’s the way the train is going, and it’s not going back,” Yingst said.

Students are already taking university and technical college classes, “and that’s just going to be more and more … we can host or tap into who is teaching those classes. But we’re only scratching the surface,” he said.

“There are some exciting things here, I do have to say that,” Yingst said.

Science & Math

Another portion of the $7.2 million referendum involves updating the school district’s science and mathematics curriculum.

Purchasing new curriculum costs “quite a lot of money,” Yingst said.

But it is not only the amount of money that makes purchasing curriculum difficult. The actions of the state and federal government also make purchasing curriculum a difficult task.

“I want to make sure before we invest all that money that we’re getting the right curriculum. (State legislators) have changed the standardized tests three times in three years. From all the research we deal with, from a curriculum point of view and from the professional curricular people, is you have to have a standardized test in place three years before you have a solid baseline and normed numbers. You can’t have a different test every year for three years and then build anything from that. You have no data that’s useful at that point,” Yingst said.

“If you bought new curriculum after the first time they changed the test, well, they’ve changed the test twice more since then. It makes it very difficult to zero in on what curriculum you need to use. I think things are starting to stabilize a little bit. And then, if it stabilizes, that lends itself to selecting which curriculum is in line with where our state is going,” Yingst said.

It is very difficult to choose curriculum when the legislature “keeps changing the rules and the expectations,” he said.

But after the Colfax school district is in a position to determine which science and math curriculum to purchase, there is still the issue of paying for it.

The school district’s budget has no “wiggle room” and consequently no extra money to purchase curriculum.

Following Governor Scott Walker’s Act 10 in 2011, which reduced state aid to Wisconsin school districts, Colfax is receiving less state aid now than the district received ten years ago.

High school office

Another component of the $7.2 million referendum is moving the high school office to the outside perimeter of the building.

Moving the office is part of the safety and security portion of the referendum and will cost an estimated $650,000.

Years ago, putting the high school office in the middle of the building was a common practice.

“But when you look at the way the school is designed, the doorways and where they are located, it doesn’t funnel people into the building,” Yingst said.

“Tom Twohig, the architect (from SDS) who has been at some of the school board meetings, said he thought the main entrance would have been the entrance to the Martin Anderson Gymnasium lobby. That appears to be where the office would be. You drive around, and then you see the red sign (on the east side of the building). That was another piece to make it look like the entrance and for safety and security,” he said.

“It’s an odd way to do it. Bring people into the building and then make them walk to the center of the building to find the office. It was an odd way to do it, but a lot of the schools were built that way,” Yingst said.

Moving the high school office to the perimeter of the building will allow office staff to more closely monitor who is entering the building.

Because of the existing location of the high school office, someone intending to do harm could be well into the building before anyone realized it.

All of the safety work that has been done in recent years regarding schools, with all of the school shootings, says “control what you can control. We can control moving the office and keeping someone at bay in the parking lot. That we can control. We can’t control everything, but there are a few pieces we can control,” Yingst said.

Elk Mound, Menomonie and most of the other schools around here have moved their offices to the front of the building for safety reasons, he noted.

Other projects

Other projects in the $7.2 million referendum include replacing temporary classrooms for $1.4 million.  The temporary classrooms were meant to be used for less than a decade but have now been in use for 30 years.

Infrastructure updates, which includes updates to the heating and ventilation system throughout the entire building (elementary, middle school and high school) and replacing sections of the rubberized roof, would cost $2.2 million.

In addition, the referendum amount includes $750,000 for a bus maintenance building (a maintenance garage and not the “bus barn” where the buses are parked).

The referendum amount also includes $600,000 to purchase six new liquid propane buses to begin the replacement cycle. Colfax runs 18 buses, so replacing one per year means that each bus must last 18 years.

The last item included in the referendum amount will be $400,000 to pay off the Wisconsin Retirement System “unfunded liability.”

The school district has been working on paying off the liability to the Wisconsin Retirement System for the last 27 years, since 1989, and is now paying $60,000 per year.

At the current pay rate, the unfunded liability would be paid off in 2029.

If the school district continues to make payments of $60,000 per year for the next 13 years, the total would amount to $780,000 — or nearly twice the amount the Board of Education is asking for in the referendum question.

Tax levy

To fund the $7.2 million referendum if voters approve it on November 8, the estimated annual average property tax increase over the current property taxes would be $77 per $100,000 of property value or $115.50 for $150,000 of property value.

For $200,000 of property value, the estimated increase on property taxes would be $154, and for $250,00 of property value, the estimated tax levy increase would be $192.50.

On a property with a value of $300,000, the estimated annual increase in property taxes would be $231.

More information

Informational meetings about the referendum will be held October 26 and November 3 at 7 p.m. in the Colfax High School library.

A reminder postcard about the referendum will be sent out to district residents October 31.

A flyer with information about the referendum has already been sent out to school district residents.

Flyers about different aspects of the referendum will be sent home with students, too.

Yingst said he hesitated to schedule the informational meetings too early because he was hoping the flyers mailed out and articles published in the newspaper would help people formulate questions they could ask during the meetings at the high school.

Yingst also says he would be happy to meet with any group that would like him to do a presentation about the referendum or just come to answer questions.

“I am sincere about the transparency. We started by asking the taxpayers what they would support (with the surveys that were sent out late last winter), and I’m happy to talk to any group about what is included in the referendum,” he said.

Yingst also would be happy to give a tour to any district resident who would like to see the areas of the school building included in the referendum.

“It’s interesting, though, because I’ve still gotten from people I’ve talked to, ‘are you sure you went for enough?’ They hear the $7.2 million down from $15 million. I’ve heard that comment multiple times, and it kind of throws me off when I hear that,” he said.

“The survey didn’t support ($15 million), but there are still some people out there who would support more. I was surprised to get any of those comments, to be honest. The steering committee asked those questions. But the comments (about asking for more) came from people outside the steering committee,” Yingst said.

Yingst said he also has heard the comment that if the school district is asking for the money, the money must be needed.

The Colfax school district has not had a referendum in 20 years.

“Not to be facetious, but we’re not talking about gold-plated faucets. I think we have a nice, well-kept building. But it’s modest. It’s useful and functional, but it needs some updating,” Yingst said.

To reach Superintendent Yingst, call 715-962-3773, or send him an e-mail at wyingst@colfax.k12.wi.us.

Results from the survey sent out to district residents are available at the school district’s website: www.colfax.k12.wi.us.

The school district also has a Facebook page and a Twitter account at www.twitter.com/vikingscolfax.