Neillsville District Administrator Provides March School Calendar Update

Friday, February 12th, 2021 -- 3:00 PM

The Neillsville School Board approved the March calendar and operational plan at their meeting.

The plan is similar to February, but there were a few minor changes.  I spoke with Neillsville Administrator John Gaier and he discussed some of those changes.

Mr. Gaier:  “We are now in the third week of having everybody back 4 days a week.  Our 7-12 came back starting on January 25th.  And everything has gone really well and we’re really pleased with that."

"We’re excited to have the kids back 4 days a week and we’ll continue to do that now through the March plan as well as we have since the beginning of the 2nd semester.  So, we’re really excited about that."

"And also, just a reminder, if we have inclement days, whether it’s based on cold or any other reason, for a school closing, we will be doing virtual or remote learning on those days."

"For kids that don’t have a device, like a Chromebook, there will be packets provided for kids to practice their work at home, so we don’t have to worry about making those days up.  And we actually did that last week for the first time and teachers thought that it went pretty well, so we’ll stick with that.”

“One of the changes that did occur is that we haven’t had singing or music playing in the band and we are going to allow that now under safety protocols.  So, our band and chorus will be rehearsing in their classrooms.  And they will be doing it under safety protocols.  That has been started and it’s going very well.  So, we’re excited about that as well.”

“We are in the tournament series for winter sports and, based on WIAA requirements, we are allowing 5 tickets per bench personnel for those tournaments, which means that any player or coach will have access to 5 tickets to give out to spectators and that is one more then we’ve had during the regular season, so we hope that all goes well as well.”

“We did have some interesting reports come out.  One is from the National Federation of High School Sports that talked about how they are changing their protocols regarding COVID 19 because we’re learning more about it all the time."

"One of the things that they’re talking about, originally, they started with sports being determined solely as either high, moderate or low risk sports.  And that has now changed because the coronavirus transmission rates in all sports vary based on a number of multiple factors and exist on a continuum according to their research."

"But basically what they have found is the great majority of sports related spread of COVID 19 does not appear to be happening during sports participation, but rather social contact outside of the sport."

"So, maintaining the protocols for safety of wearing masks and distancing, not just in school, but outside of school is vitally important as we move forward and continue to do sports as safely as we possibly can.”

“In the March calendar, a couple days stand out.  One is March 9th and it’s a special day for grades 9-12 because it is the day that our juniors will be taking the ACT test and that is scheduled by the state of Wisconsin.  So, they’ll be taking the ACT test in the building on the day."

"Grades 9, 10 and 12 will not be attending in person that day, but they will have a number of options for connecting remotely for business and industry tours as well as doing some class work.  So, that will be a special day.  And then March 31st will already be the end of the 3rd quarter of the school year, so those are the special days we’re looking at right now for March.”

Question:  “Neillsville has done a great job of keeping coronavirus case numbers low or having no cases at all.  Can you talk about that?”

Mr. Gaier: “Well, I think it’s the mitigation practices that schools have mitigated like ours.  The masking, the distancing, the hand washing as much as possible, making sure that surfaces are being cleaned and sanitized, taking mask breaks outside for our kids I think is really important, parents letting us know when kids are symptomatic and not feeling well, and keeping kids home that are close contact kids or family members.  All of that is very important.”

“There’s a study that just came out from Wood County.  Two doctors from Wisconsin Rapids did a study of 17 rural schools in Wood County and they found there is little evidence of school transmission when compared to community transmission, meaning that whatever the percentage is in the community, what is happening for the spread of the virus in the schools, it’s significantly less."

"So, it is more of a risk in the community then it is in the school buildings.  And I think it, clearly, is an indication of the mitigation practices that are being done.”

“The wearing of masks and all of the other things that schools are doing trying to keep kids and staff safe are working and, I think, that is the thing really making the difference prior to people being able to get a vaccine.  We will continue to have those practices."

"And I think it’s important to know that, based on the health department’s recommendations, even when a fairly large number of folks are able to get the vaccine, through the remainder of the year, I believe that we will be continuing to wear masks and continuing all of those safety protocols to get through the year because I think it will take some time to get beyond those measures of safety before we can all feel safe removing those mitigation practices.”

Question:  “We’ve heard reports that the next budget year for schools might be a difficult one because of the coronavirus pandemic.  Can you touch on that?”

Mr. Gaier:  “One of the big problems is going to be what happens to our student counts.  I think, without a doubt, our student counts, statewide, have dropped because of the coronavirus.  Some people have chosen to keep their kids home, which is certainly their right to do."

"But school enrollments, I think, statewide are down 3% and, I know, in many rural schools it’s down even more than that.  I know that we are down fairly significantly in our student count.  And that count number will be carried over now as an average for the next three years."

"So, as budgets continue to move forward for next year, and even the year after, that low number is going to impact how much revenue you’re going to be able to generate under the revenue caps.  So, I think that’s going to create some real issues.”

"Plus, the cost of all the mitigation strategies that we’ve had to invest in this year, and probably continue some into next year, all of those things add up.  Additional costs that are costs that are not costs for educating kids in the classroom.  Those things all become a bit of a burden on the budgets.  So, how we’re going to mitigate all that going forward is going to have to be done very strategically.  There are some federal dollars coming down."

"But I know the [state] Joint Finance Committee is now recommending that schools that were not in-person or have not been in-person, many school districts have been virtual all year long, that those funds will be directed to the schools that were in session and not to the schools that went virtual, which will negatively impact them even more if that goes through."

"It will negatively impact them even more than it does the schools that were able to be in session, at least most of the time, like we have been starting in the 2nd semester.  So, all of those things are things that add up to budget difficulties for districts."

"We know there are some federal monies coming down, but, again, those federal monies are one-time monies that can be used to plug some gaps for now, but as we move into future budgets, finding that money is going to be much more difficult.”

Question:  “Speaking of the next school year, to foresee some of those mitigation protocols in place during the beginning of the next school year?”

Mr. Gaier:  “It’s very possible.  A lot of it is going to depend on the rollout of the vaccinations; how many people choose to get vaccinated; and what kind of herd immunity they can get too.  They talk about 80%, needing to be at 80%, to have herd immunity."

"So, we will just continue to follow the direction of the health departments and let those folks guide us in what are the most safe ways of providing education and we will do that.  If we have to wear masks in order to be in the building, that is what we will do to keep kids and staff safe, but have them here and learning.”

Question:  “Anything else?”

Mr. Gaier:  “Just that we did pass, the board did approve, the 2021-2022 school calendar, so that will be out on our webpage.  And continue to check our webpage and take a look at all of the updates that we have there."

"You can follow our dashboard of positive cases or if there are positive cases in the district.  And you will be able to see the 2021-22 school calendar as well.  We are planning a normal year for the next school year, so, hopefully, we can get there.”

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.