Loyal School Board Discusses/Approves Long List of Items

Friday, June 2nd, 2023 -- 10:00 AM

The Loyal School Board began their meeting last week by administering the Oath of Office to their newly elected members.

The Board Clerk administered the Oath of Office to newly re-elected member Tom Odeen and newly elected member Derek Weyer. They also extended best wishes to outgoing Board member Kim Bremmer. for all her hard work on the Board these past three years.

They also heard some items brought up by citizens during the public comment portion of the meet. The topics of concern were:

• That all the board decisions should be for the benefit of the students;
• The use of closed session by the board;
• Four spoke on the American Reading Company (ARC) reading program both positively and negatively;
• Literacy Bill that is being looked at by the state;
• Two board committees having too many members per policy;
• And Volleyball girls recently hosted a very successful elementary prom.

The reorganization of the board was the next item on the agenda, which included:

• Decide Board Officers;
• Set Board Committees;
• Appoint Official Depository, Newspaper, School Attorney;
• And Meeting Dates and Times.

For the Board of Officers:

• President – Dennis Roehl;
• Vice President – Harlan Hinkelmann;
• Clerk – Carrie Becker;
• Treasurer – Holly Lindner.

The Board appointed:

• Citizens State Bank of Loyal as the Depository;
• The Loyal Tribune Record Gleaner and the Clark County Press as the official newspapers;
• And Kirk Strang as the School Attorney.

The regular monthly meetings were set for the fourth Wednesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. for closed session and 7:00 p.m. for open session.

The following committees were set:

• Buildings and Grounds:  Hinkelmann, Clintsman, Roehl;
• Finance:  Lindner, Clintsman, Odeen;
• Personnel:  Becker, Weyer, Lindner;
• Policy:  Odeen, Roehl;
• Recruit/Retain:  Lindner, Roehl, Weyer;
• Student Success/Curriculum:  Becker, Hinkelmann, Lindner;
• Athletics:  Lindner, Weyer;
• Communications:  Odeen, Hinkelmann;
• Technology: Odeen, Hinkelmann.

They heard a presentation by Jessica Zarnke and Ashley Landwehr from Simplicity Credit Union in Marshfield presented to the Board on a possible mobile branch of Simplicity Credit Union at Loyal.

Under new business, the board accepted two resignations due to retirement. Deb Ruggles, Foodservice Assistant has submitted her resignation due to retirement effective at the end of the school year. The board thanked Deb for her 12 years of service in that department.

Cindy Campbell, Social Studies teacher, has submitted her resignation due to retirement effective the end of the 22-23 school year. Cindy has been in education for 40 years, with 33 years at Loyal. They thank Cindy for all she has done for the District’s students over those years.

The Board also heard a brief update on the 2022-23 budget. It looks like they will have a balanced budget for this year and may possibly have some money from the maintenance department to put into Fund 46.

They also heard an update on the Assistant Principal position that has opened due to the resignation of Elementary Principal Nancy Popp, MS/HS. Principal Doug Dieckman was reassigned to 4K-12 Principal, and they are in the process of looking for an assistant principal. They currently have 12 applicants for the position. They are in the process of reviewing the applications. They are accepting applications until May 26.

The board renewed the Softball coop with Greenwood for 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years. There was much discussion on the American Reading Curriculum for Elementary. After discussion about the ARC proposal, a motion to table this item was made.

They reviewed the current Covid Guidelines for the 2022-23 school year. Board Member Derek Weyer noted some changes to be made. An updated version of the Covid Guidelines will be posted on their website and social media.

The board approved the 2023-24 fall and winter coaches. As they have recently put the other cooperative sports team head coaches positions out for interviews, it was decided by the Joint Collaboration committee that they should do the same with the Cross-Country coop.

The committee who will conduct the interviews will be the Loyal and Greenwood MS/HS principals (2) and athletic directors from each district (2). This position will be opened for applicants and interviews will determine the selection of the head coach.

The Board reviewed the coaching staff and the applicants for the open position. All volleyball coaches were approved. The football coaches were also approved. The Board clarified that this coaching staff is just for the 23-24 school year; and after that there will be a joint football program with Greenwood which has already conducted interviews for the coaching staff.

The high school gymnasium sound system upgrade was approved. They heard the proposal from Audio Architects for a new sound system for the high school gymnasium. The Board was notified that at the recent joint collaboration meeting the future of our sports programs and co-curriculars were discussed as well as other joint educational options with Greenwood.

They heard about different areas that the committee is looking at co-oping along with different academic scenarios with students and staff. They are looking at a joint town hall meeting in June for the public to come in and learn about what is being discussed and considered. No date has been set for the meeting.

Three policies were updated at the last Policy Committee:

• ING - Animals in the Buildings and on School Grounds:

The title was changed from Animals in the Building to Animals in the Building and on School Grounds; and in item 2 of the text after “When animals are to be brought into the school or classroom on an ad hoc basis or as part of a lesson or series of lessons” or non-curricular events was added.

• KI/KJ - Advertising and Solicitations in the School.

In paragraph two the line "In no way does this limitation apply to materials privileged under the employee collective bargaining agreements was removed as they do not have collective bargaining agreements anymore and the word not was added to the final sentence of the policy. Class lists or faculty rosters and/or related personal information NOT be disseminated to commercial enterprises in accordance with Board Policies, established procedures and state law requirements."

• GCC - Instructional Staff Recruiting/Hiring.

The title of this policy was changed from Instructional Staff Recruiting/Hiring to All Contracted Staff Recruiting/Hiring.  In the third paragraph, the sentence that reads “All vacancy notices shall be posted in each school in accordance with provisions of the current employee agreement” has been changed to “All vacancy notices shall be posted in each school.”

The Board and administration were encouraged to attend a joint WASB Governance Training series with Greenwood. It is a three-meeting series that would concentrate on:

• Meeting 1 – Identify roles and responsibilities of the board and administrator;
• Meeting 2 – Self-Evaluation, teaming, “what do you bring to the table”;
• Meeting 3 – Foundational documents, mission, vision, core competencies, strategic plan. No dates have been set yet.

They also reviewed the Fund 46 Improvement Strategic Plan with the Board. To activate the Fund 46 account, the board needed to approve the strategic plan, that includes the baseball field upgrade. The Fund 46 account is being activated to assist with the baseball field upgrade.

The board approved to increase the adult lunch price from $4.00 to $4.75 for 2023-24 school year. The reason for the change is because the minimum amount required by the state is at $4.67.

They also reviewed the process for choosing the Wolves mascot. A survey for ideas was given to the MS/HS student body of both Loyal and Greenwood. The list was narrowed down to three of the most popular mascots which were Wolves, Patriots and Eagles. It was put to a vote by the student body and the results were Wolves - 51%, Patriots approx. 25% and Eagles approx. 23%.

The 4YK Teacher Position was approved and they discussed the upcoming 4YK registration numbers and it was recommended that they continue to have two 4YK Teachers for the 2023-24 school year. That position is now open for applicants.

The Board also heard the Administrators Reports. Elementary Principal Nancy Popp reported the 4K students graduated. This is the first year that they have had two sections, so there was a great turnout of proud parents and grandparents. She provided a thank you to Alison Schley, Larissa Dillenbeck, Jenae Weyer, and Rebekah Smith.

The last day of school for the elementary students was Friday, May 26th. Teachers planned activities for the students in the morning and there were water activities in the afternoon. She thanked the fire department for helping in the afternoon with the water activities. Also, she thanked SOLES for treating all elementary students for an ice cream treat from Schecky’s and to the Chamber for the ice bars too.

The first session of swimming lessons runs from Monday, June 5th – Friday, June 16th, and session two runs from Monday, June 19th – Friday, June 30th. Summer school starts on Monday, June 12th and ends on Friday, June 30th. She thanked all the people who make these programs possible for their students.

Finally, as she has accepted a new position, she thanks all the students, staff, and families who have made her time in Loyal memorable. She will miss you all and wish you all the best next year.

MS/HS Principal Dieckman reported, in the past 30 days:

• Budget reviews complete for 2023-24;
• Student schedules and master schedules locked in for 2023-24;
• Finished term 3 observations;
• Prom at Rustic Occasions, Saturday April 29th;
• MS REACH trip to Action City on May 19th;
• NHS Banquet on May 21st;
• Senior banquet was on Wednesday, May 17th (What an event!)

Next 30 days:

• Final days of school planned out for students and staff;
• MS cleanup day on the afternoon of May 24th at Westside Park;
• HS student council activity day on the afternoon of May 24th;
• Senior trip on May 24th to Wisconsin Dells;
• Graduation rehearsal on Friday, May 26th;
• Graduation on Saturday, May 27th at 1 p.m.;
• Teacher checks out day on May 30th and 31st;
• Art candidate interview on May 31st at 11 a.m.;
• Conduct interviews for AP position end of May/Early June;
• Finalize schedules, room assignments, etc. for the start of 2023-24;
• Update all student, teacher, and parent handbooks;
• And update athletic code.

Challenges: Filling vacant positions.

Superintendent Chris Lindner read thank you letters from Grace Genteman and Dawn Kuchta. He thanked all the people who donated and worked on the Baseball Field project. He congratulated the seniors on their Graduation.

He thanked Cindy Campbell and Deb Ruggles for your many years of service. Finally, congratulations to the Track team on their successes and the athletes that qualified for sectionals.

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