Loyal School Board October Meeting

Sunday, October 24th, 2021 -- 12:00 PM

The Loyal School Board discussed a survey with community members to start their meeting.

The Board met at 6:00 p.m. to meet with members of the community to review the facilities upgrade survey and answer questions from community members. More information can be found on the school website. In closed session, they discussed the Special Education Paraprofessional applications and administrative recommendations and personnel issues. The English Department gave a great presentation to the Board about the changes they are implementing in the English Department including essential learning targets pulled from the state standards, and the addition of individualized courses. The Board also approved two out-of-state field trips. The Chorus and Drama Club will be attending a dinner theater production of the Music Man at Chanhassen on Wednesday, November 3; and the Board approved a Spanish Club trip to Costa Rica in 2023. The Board also accepted a letter of resignation from Crystal Ashbeck. They thanked Crystal for her time and effort while being at Loyal. They wish Crystal the best in her future employment endeavors. They tabled the decision to hire a part-time special education paraprofessional until next month as they have not completed all of the interviews yet. The Board also reviewed the School Operational Plan pertaining to COVID protocols. They reviewed the current positive cases, which is one, and close contacts, which is none. At this time, they are not planning any changes to the current plan. The Board also discussed and approved the updated high school gymnasium portable audio system proposal. The first purchase of this system proposal will be new microphones and a digital processor. The Board also approved several winter coaches including, for Girls Basketball, Mike Rueth as the Head Coach, Tony Wilke as the JV Coach, Angie Kollmansberger as the Assistant, Jaedyn Pieper as the 8th Grade Coach, and Jamie Wolf as the 7th Grade Coach. For Boys Basketball, the Board approved Brandon DeSmet as Head Coach, Steven Arch as JV, Louis Stieglitz as Assistant and 8th Grade Coach, and Dean Bogdonovich as 7th Grade Coach. The Board also approved the property/liability insurance renewal quote from Spectrum Insurance; and the 2021 Annual Meeting Agenda.

The Board also heard the Administrators’ Reports. Principal Nancy Popp reported on the 3rd - 5th grade students earning $5,444 with this year’s LEP fundraiser. This money will be used towards field trips and lyceums. The 5th grade class went to The Highground on Thursday, September 30th and 1st graders went to Turnpike Greenhouse on Monday, October 18th. The elementary Holiday Concert will be Thursday, December 16 th at 1:30 in the high school gym. Also, staff had a professional development day on Friday, October 15th and will have another professional development day on Friday, November 5th. Teachers are also completing the Fastbridge Assessment process and they are beginning to look at the data for individual students. She also mentioned it was time to meet with the Title I teachers to create groups for each grade and which classrooms Title will be pushing into. The Seal-A-Smile Program will be coming to Loyal soon. They will start seeing students the end of October and finish up the beginning of November. This is a wonderful program offered through the county to put dental sealants on children’s teeth at no cost to the families. The Clark County Health Department held a flu shot clinic on Thursday, October 14th. 61 child flu shot doses were given and 31 adult doses were given. School supplies were donated to Loyal students from Cummings in Neillsville, United Way, the Loyal Car Show, Wal-Mart in Marshfield and Jessica Zarnke and her mother.

Principal Doug Dieckman stated Homecoming week and the dance were a huge success, Fall screening with FastBridge is primarily done with only a few student make-ups and they started the new GIT intervention schedule. Focus is on students with failing grades and getting them to the teacher that can help them. Number of F’s decreased by 75% in 3 weeks. They started their Wednesday morning collaboration with staff and focused on defining collaboration and understanding the shift in how they do business. Students also attended the World Dairy expo in Madison and a FCE workshop at Eleva-Strum. FACE room renovation is still ongoing, mid-term grades have been posted, and at the Oct. 15 staff inservice they focused on CPI training, self-review, and ACP. The Weekly Pupil Services Team meetings have provided a great opportunity to connect with students outside of the academic realm. They are looking at behaviors and social/emotional challenges. Also, Middle School Boys Basketball begins, they’re having an FFA National Convention send off Monday, Oct. 25th, and he attended EE training with a team at CESA. Within the next 30 days, they hope to begin teacher observations, staff training will continue on Wednesday mornings, and Fall sports seasons will come to an end and winter seasons will begin. They’re also planning for a staff Personal Development day on Nov. 5th and planning for Parent/Teacher conferences, mixture of in person and virtual/phone. Looking at a scheduler program that can be pushed out to parents to help with scheduling conferences across the district. They’re also scheduling a showing of the short film “Screenagers - growing up in the digital age.” They will show to grades 5-12 in school and have a parent viewing on the night of Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. Finally, Chorus and Drama plan to attend a play at the Chanhassen theater in the Twin Cities on Nov. 3 and they continue to work through the EE pilot program with CESA and Loyal’s team.

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