Neillsville District Administrator Discusses Items from the Board's September Meeting

Monday, September 23rd, 2024 -- 3:01 PM

The Neillsville School Board discussed several items at their September meeting last week.

I spoke with Neillsville District Administrator John Gaier and he discussed some of those items in more detail including donations, a new school club application, and a building and grounds update.

Mr. Gaier: "There were no new bids for this past month. But we did get an update on the progress that's going on in the construction of the school and the updating of all of our faciliites. Even though school is in session, we do have some work going on, but none of the work by the contractors is interrupting education."

"But there will be on going work here for the electrical and lighting and other infrastructure things that are going to be going on during the year, so that we can stay ahead of the goals of getting this done by the end of next summer. Still alot going on."

"Just a quick update, the pool should be open by the second week of October. That's what we're shooting for right now, so anybody that has used the pool or would like to use the pool, we think that should be available again by the second week of October."

Riley: "The Board also approved a club application for 'The Store.' Can you explain that?

Mr. Gaier: "Yeah, we're going to start a school store in the High School and it's going to be part of a class that's taught in our Family and Consumer Education Program. We have a vinyl cutter now where we can do t-shirts, all kinds of vinyl printing for stickers and posters and those type of things."

"We have 3D printers, so we'll be doing some work for the District and we'll also be doing some work for folks that want to have anything created by our class. And that will create an income for that school store."

"And our students will learn to run that as a business. So, it will be a business course that they're actually producing some things that can be sold to help support our community and our school."

Riley: "The Board also approved a request for proposal for administrative search services. Can you explain that?"

Mr. Gaier: "The Board went through a response for proposals. What we're trying to do is we sent out request for propsals to six or seven search firms in the state. So, they will make a proposal to the Board about being the search service that the Board chooses to find the next District Administrator and do a nation wide search for anybody that might be interested in this position here."

Riley: "The Board also approved a long list of donations at their meeting. Can you highlight those?"

Mr. Gaier: "We've got, again, just an incredible amount of donation from the community that supports our school. We were able to get school supplies that were supported by the Inwood Supper Club in Hatfield. We were able to get hygenie kits for our elementary kids that are in need and that came from the Clark County Child Support Agency."

"We had books donated for early learners. They are take home books for our early childhood and 4-year-old kindergartner kids. And that is done by the Clark County Home and Community Education Program and they have a bookworm project that they do. They've done this in the past as well and I know our parents of the youngest kids really apprecaite having take home books available for them to encouarge reading."

Also, there was a donation from Gross Motors. There was some signed, Green Bay Packers things that were donated on behalf of our Cheerleading Club. Tickets will be sold to win those products at our home football game. So, if anybody is interested in purchasing a ticket to potentially win some of those autographed Green Bay Packers materials, come to the football game and look for those."

"We also had a number of donations to our softball team. We had an $83 donation from Grit Nutrition for softball. We had bating cage netting provided by Kevin and Kelly Schmitz for they softball program. And MEC is actually creating target frames for that netting for pitching for our softball team."

"We also got a $50 donation from Unity Bank to the Homecoming Activity fund and that $50 will be awarded to the class that wins the float contest. So, again, just very grateful for all of the donations that we receive from our community and the support that we get for our school here."

Riley: "Is there anything else you'd like our listeners to know that we might not have already touched on?"

Mr. Gaier: "We did report to the Board, and we would like the community to know, that picture retake day will be September 26th. So, if a student didn't get their picture taken or would like a different picture taken, September 26th is the retake day for that."

"Also, I included a thank you note from the Class of 1974. They did a tour here a couple weeks ago on behalf of their 50th class reunion. We had about 21 or 22 people go through our facility and were very thankful for the tour and were pretty amazed at the things that had changed in the last 50 years."

"I also reported to the Board that there is currently 137 new referenda that will be on the November ballot. And it just, again, really magnifies the struggles that schools are having in the current funding system and how we are advocating for significant help in the current funding system for schools, so they don't have to continually go to referenda just to opearte."

"Also, it's important for folks to know that our Annual Meeting, which includes their input, is scheduled for October 21st here in the new Board Meeting room, which is up by the Board of Education Office. All are invited to that and that meeting begins at 7pm."

If you have any questions or concerns about what’s happening at the District, you can contact Mr. Gaier at the Board office.

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