Neillsville District Administrator Discusses Items from April/May Board Meetings

Friday, May 9th, 2025 -- 4:01 PM

The Neillsville School Board recently held their monthly meeting for April, as well as a re-organizational meeting after the April election.

I spoke with Neillsville District Administrator John Gaier and he discussed items from the April 21st monthly meeting and the re-organizational meeting, which was held May 5th, after being rescheduled from April 28th due to some severe weather.

Listen to the interview with Mr. Gaier here!

As Mr. Gaier mentioned, the regular May monthly meeting is scheduled for May 19th at 7pm.

(AI assisted transcription of the interview by Otter.ai):

Riley: "At the April 21st meeting, the Board heard some facility updates, can you touch on those?"

Mr. Gaier: "No actions were needed at the meeting for new contracts. One of the things that we did find out, though, is we were able to make some some adjustments to the high school front entrance as far as lighting changes and we did get a deduction of over $11,000 by making those changes.

"So, that was certainly good news. Other than that, it was just updates of what's happening currently in our district for the new construction. So, things are continuing to move along and, as we move into the summer months, things will just keep picking up."

Riley: "The Board also discussed the Project SEARCH contracts, can you explain those?"

Mr. Gaier: "Project SEARCH is a program that serves older, special needs kids and it is a specific job training program and we contract with the Marshfield school district to do that."

"Our kids go over to Marshfield, they get specific job training in that Project SEARCH program and often have a chance to connect with companies that they train with and/or bring back the skills that they have learned and become very employable. So, it's a great program for our special needs kids in that Project SEARCH program."

Riley: "The Board also discussed some bus service bids, can you touch on those?"

Mr. Gaier: "Well, we did hear some bids. No action has been taken yet. The board has has received bids from contractors and we're also hearing updates from folks in our own district that would like to keep our bussing in District."

"The challenges that I think the bus companies, and certainly us at the district, are facing is just the lack of drivers. We would be more than happy to keep our transportation services right here in house, but we will need more drivers in order to make that happen."

"So, if anybody that's listening is interested in driving bus for us, we have morning routes, we have evening routes, we have activity routes, whether they be field trips or sports transportation that needs to be done. We would certainly be interested in hearing from anybody that might be interested."

"We would provide training for people that are interested in getting that license and we would pay for that training and all of the testing that they would need to go through to get their bus license. So, anyone that would be interested out there, we would certainly be interested in hearing from."

Riley: "The Board also approved the baseball/softball co-ops, can you touch on that?"

Mr. Gaier: "We've been co-oped with Granton and the School District of Granton for both high school and middle school, high school softball, and we just renewed those contracts for another two years."

Riley: "The Board also approved some donations, can youd discuss those?"

Mr. Gaier: "We had a number of donations from a lot of folks that certainly support our district and we're so happy about that. One of the donations was books from the Clark County Home and Community Education group."

"They donate books to our 4K and our early childhood kids to get them reading. And they come in and actually read to our kids. So, that has been pretty much an annual donation from them and we are really appreciative that they get our kids started off on the right footing."

"We also had donations from Unity bank. We had a number of them. We received a $500 donation to help with field trips from them. And they donated 10 brand new pairs of shoes and seven packages of undergarments for kids that might be in need."

"And we also received multiple donations from the Marshfield Clinic Health System, a total of $95 was donated to help with student projects in the district and they also donated a large box of hygiene products that we use for kids in need."

"And lastly, the Neillsville Area Booster Club donated $23,599 for multiple sports purchases and weight room purchases that support all our athletes. So, as always, we are really thankful for the community support week for our kids."

Riley: "Is there anything else from the April 21st meeting you'd like to highlight?"

Mr. Gaier: "One of the things that the board approved was an out of state field trip for our FCCLA group. And that is for kids that are going on, actually, to a national competition. They won their regional competition."

"They've won the state competition by the projects that they did in those programs. And so now they earned to go to the national competition that will be in Florida in July. So, we're really excited about what those kids were able to accomplish."

Riley: "So, from there, the board was originally going to hold a meeting on April 28, but we had some nasty weather coming through that particular day. So, it was moved to May 5, and one of the things that the Board did at that meeting is they actually did have a slight change in their makeup of the board and they elected their officers. So can you touch on that?"

Mr. Gaier: "One of the things that we have to go through for every reorganization meeting is we have to elect officers. It is the first time that Herman Seabandt took office on that date."

"And I also would also be remiss if I didn't tell you that, at the meeting on April 21st, Peggy Grap was honored for 18 years of dedicated service to the School District of Neillsville and to the kids of the School District of Neillsville. So, special thanks to her."

"But, Mr. Seabant did take office. Then on May 5th, we had elections for president. Sue Voigt was elected president. Vice President is Dewey Poeschel. Treasurer was Paul Opelt and clerk was Deanna Heiman."

"We also had to elect a CESA 10 delegate. Deanna Heiman was elected to that. We also have to identify what will be a part of what's called the delegate assembly for the Wisconsin Association of School Boards. Sue Voigt was elected the delegate and Herman Seabandt was elected the alternative delegate for that position."

Riley: "And on the May 5th agenda, the Board did have an item regarding facility updates. Was there anything different from the April 21st meeting?"

Mr. Gaier: "Nothing new or approved. Just more construction being done."

Riley: "The Board also had an item regarding elementary music on the agenda. Can you touch on that?"

Mr. Gaier: "Yeah, we had a presentation about what are the expectations for our elementary kids for performances for their parents? So, the discussion was talked about how we are going to continue to do a holiday concert and how we are going to do concerts or activities in the spring that allow our kids to be seen in performance. So, it was a good conversation."

Riley: "An the final item on the agenda for May 5th was, again, donations, can you touch on those?"

Mr. Gaier: "Again, we had a number of wonderful donations. CESA 10, which covers 29 school districts in which we are one they provide service too, donated a playground communication system for our elementary playground."

"So, if kids have a hard time explaining things that happen. It's a picture board where that they can go and point to for our supervisors to let them know, to help communicate what might be going on in that playground."

"So, that's really a great donation and it really gets us started on our elementary Student Council's goal to make our playground more user friendly for people with special needs, whether it's physical or mental handicaps. So, we're excited about that opportunity."

"Subway donated coupons to our middle school students earning high honor recognition. So, that was a nice donation from them. And Central Wisconsin Broadcasting and WCCN Radio donated 30 ice cream cones of some of the best ice cream around for kids in our elementary school for the positive behaviors that they show."

"And lastly, there was a donation of pizzas from Julie Simiek and Jake Ormand for honoring our staff during Teacher Appreciation Week, which is currently this week, and as always, very thankful for those wonderful donations and all of our community support. 

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