Loyal School Board Hears One Act Play Update, Insurance Renewals, and More

Tuesday, December 5th, 2023 -- 12:00 PM

The Loyal School Board heard an update on the One Act Play at their recent meeting.

Jo Elmer, Jonah Vircks, and Lydia Vircks gave a brief presentation on the 2023 co-op One Act Play. The play made it to State and received an All-State award and the Technical Award. Congratulations to all members from Loyal and Greenwood on a terrific performance.

They also heard public comments regarding the HRS survey and how students leave the school building at the end of the day. Jo Elmer also offered to help Loyal restart their Forensics Program. The board also approved 2023-24 Property/Liability Insurance Renewal quote.

The cost increased $8,300 from last year due to the increased replacement cost for their buildings. The replacement cost per square foot went from $270 per square foot to $300 per square foot. They request quotes from other agencies every three or four years and they will be doing that next year.

The board also discussed the HSB Identity Theft Insurance and Recovery services. All staff members are included in this benefit and will have this coverage. The board opted to hold off until they have a chance to talk to the staff about the Identity Monitoring Services.

The Board approved the revised 2023-24 budget that, as of right now, is running a deficit of $400,000. The original budget was approved with a deficit of $780,000. To reduce the deficit, they took $200,000 from Fund 46 that they put in last year and moved it back over to the General Fund.

They also had money budgeted for textbooks and software that they will not be utilizing and used to reduce the deficit. They will continue to cut costs where they can so that they use as little of the Fund Balance as possible. Per Board policy, they are required (if possible) to keep at least 15% of the overall budget in Fund Balance and right now they are at 15%.

District Administrator Chris Linder updated the board on the building maintenance projects: Brad and Mike are working on cleaning the steam traps and they have about 50 out of 220 of them done thus far.

Many of the 50 done so far were plugged tight, but the majority of them only needed cleaning, not repairs. The maintenance department is doing the majority of the work on the steam traps, which is saving the district money.

Trane has been onsite working on getting consistent temperatures to all of the rooms. Complete Control is working on the Condensate Tank and will have that up and running. They will try to limp this through this heating season, but it will need to be replaced for the next heating season.

They are preparing a quote for this project. Boiler #2 went down recently, but Complete Control got it going on Friday. Boiler #1 is worse than they thought. Replacement of the 11 tubes is being done, but the tubes are in worse shape.

Complete Control informed Brad that all of the tubes are not good on either boiler and they are looking at a major replacement project. Complete Control is getting them a quote for this project. The Boiler #1 feed pump is undersized and they are getting a quote from Complete Control for this.

Room 13 is ventilated outside and is doing good, but they needed to replace some ceiling tiles. These are the main concerns for now and that is where their focus is. They do have ESSER (COVID) money left to help pay for this. The Greenhouse heater was ordered and should be here soon. Brad is checking on an estimated time of installation.

The Board was also presented with the results of the state report card for the last three years. The board will look through the results and this will be discussed at next month’s meeting, but a quick overview shows:

• Elementary School = 63/100 Meets Expectations,
• Middle School = 64.8/100 Meets Expectations,
• High School = 56.6/100 Meets Few Expectations,
• District = 61.3/100 Meets Expectations.

Mr. Lidner also updated the Board on the spring school board election. The School District of Loyal will hold a school board election on Tuesday, April 2, 2024, to fill the following board positions of three years, beginning on Monday, April 22, 2024.

One School Board Member for the City of Loyal: Carrie Becker, incumbent. One School Board Member for the Area North of Highway 98: Harlan Hinkleman, incumbent. Interested candidates need to have papers completed and turned in to the district clerk prior to 5:00 pm on Tuesday, January 2, 2024.

The board also gave the Administrator approval to take the recommendation of the interview committee to hire the new IT Director. This will be decided this week. The board opted out of the Direct Admit Wisconsin, which is a program to help streamline the college application process to certain UW campuses.

There was a December 8th deadline to approve the application and the Board felt they needed more information on this before making a decision. The board also tabled the Head Co-op Varsity Football Coach decision.

The Board also heard the Administrators’ Reports. High School Principal Doug Dieckman reported on, in the past 30 days:

• Elementary P/T conferences Nov. 9 and 14 (3:30-7:0), overall a good turn out;
• Surveyed parents on PT conference times;
• Surveyed parents on their knowledge of their child’s reading programming;
• End of first term Nov. 17, grades posted Monday, Nov. 27;
• Veteran’s day program Friday, Nov. 10, students did a great job;
• Scholastic Book Fair week of Nov. 13;
• Personal Finance mock interviews on Nov. 16;
• National FFA conference Oct. 31-Nov. 3;
• One Act play state recognition;
• Finished staff observations for all staff first term, completing follow up meetings;
• New GIT 2.0 schedule will begin, organization meetings will move to AP;
• Started Little Dawgs after school program on Nov. 13, going well;
• Surveyed parents that pick up their children on new procedures, overwhelmingly positive feedback, safety was a big part of the support;
• And all winter sports season have started.

In the next 30 days:

• Interviews for IT position;
• Interviews for MSHS secretary position;
• November new teacher monthly meeting;
• Hosting the second on site ARC learning lab for CESA 10;
• ES ELA materials selection meeting with ES team at CESA on Dec. 13;
• Health care field trip;
• Staab Construction field trip;
• Course request books due back from teachers;
• Meet with Greenwood on preliminary master schedule planning;
• CADD students will begin class in Greenwood on Monday, Nov. 27;
• New dance/cheer club will begin practicing;
• And Guiding Coalition team continues to work with Mike Evans on our lagging indicators.

Finally, Mr. Linder report on:

• Thank you cards from the Scherer Family and the Donnerbauer Family;
• November 20 professional development day;
• Great presentation to the staff on the school report card;
• Jeff Bell organized a staff chili cookoff that day that was well received, 8 staff members brought in their favorite chili recipes and Doug Dieckman took home the best chili honors, all of the chili’s were delicious and the staff really had a great time;
• Congratulations to the One-Act Play on their great season;
• And the next Joint Board Retreat will be held on December 13 in Loyal.

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