Neillsville District Administrator Discusses August School Board Updates

Monday, August 25th, 2025 -- 12:01 PM

The Neillsville School Board held their monthly August meeting.

I spoke with Neillsville District Administrator Corey Peterson and he highlighted some of the items from the agenda in more detail.

Listen to the interview with Mr. Peterson here!

If you have any questions or concerns about what's happening at the District, you can contact Mr. Peterson at the Board Office.

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

Riley: "The Board did rescind old Board policies and approve the NEOLA Board policies. Can you touch on that?"

Mr. Peterson: "Over the last year, the Board has engaged with NEOLA to update our policies. Now, throughout that process, in updating the policies to make sure that we are in alignment with all state statutes and needs, we had to now rescind our existing policy."

"So, taking our old policy off the books, we followed up with a resolution with our new NEOLA policies that we've been working on. A lot of districts have moved towards the Neo policies to make sure that we are up and in current and compliance with all the needs across the board. So, that's the resolution on seven a was to resend the existing policies to be able to adopt the new new old policies that move forward."

Riley: "And then the board did approve going with an outsourcing company for background checks. Can you talk about that?"

Mr. Peterson: "Correct. Since coming on board, I've been taking a look at finalizing our employment process and procedures, looking to solidify one more step in that process through the B-Checks company, bringing them on board and, taking work through over 100 districts throughout the state, use this company to finalize the background checks so our finalists are covered, volunteers and the like, to make sure that the adults in front of our students are verified and good to go."

Riley: "The Board also heard a building and grounds update. Can you talk about that?"

Mr. Peterson: "Yeah, Lance Gregorich from CESA was here, along with myself, kind of giving some updates on where we're at with the high school construction and the front entrance."

"And taking a look at that high school construction, it's coming fast and furious to an end. Here we are pushing through to the final bell. We will be ready for next week at our open house."

"Final things would be nuts and bolts, might be a couple little entities here and there, but for the most part, we'll be tied up on the front entrance. We were moving along quickly there to take a look at the flooring."

"Will be the next step down the line here. They're finishing up drywall, as we speak, taking a look at that. And so it's going to be looking beautiful here momentarily. People are on the outside looking at the building. They're seeing it come together very, very nicely."

"So, we looked at where things were at there, and along the way, just some cleanup that took place. We had a water infusion that took place with some heavy rains over the last couple of weekends, and we've had that cleaned up and remediated correctly, and we're good to go and moving forward."

Riley: "The Board also discussed the Crisis Response Plan. Can you touch on what that is?"

Mr. Peterson: "Yeah, Crisis Response Plan is laid out for our staff to adhere to in the case of various scenarios that would come forward, ranging from tornado drill to an intruder in the building. What is the procedure and protocol to go through to mitigate those situations?"

Taking a look at that, our policy, our practices are going to move forward pretty consistent there, but we're going to continue to look at that in alignment with best practices this year to see if we need to make any changes to that. But we're going to study the course with a lot of what we've had in place, because it's very well laid out as it stands."

Riley: " Is there anything else then, anything else that you would like to highlight from Monday's meeting that we may not have already touched on?"

Mr. Peterson: "Open House is coming up next week, so any staff, students, parents and the like, if they are not aware, we should be on board with next Wednesday the 27th from 1pm to 4:30pm. And five to seven, doors will be open."

"We are going to showcase at that time, not only our new facility as it stands, but ultimately, taking a look at how our flow pattern for traffic will work this year for parent pickup drop offs."

"We will have parents enter into the field house and they can have a one stop shop there, where we'll have transportation, nursing, our back to school, essentials, food service, everything will be in one location there, and then from there, they can divide throughout the building as they look to see their teachers and excitement builds."

"But we would just look at Wednesday the 27th if anybody out there does not have their transportation forms returned to the district. We would love to have those back to make sure that, at the open house, we can give you a really accurate time on when the bus is going to be showing up at your doorstep, so that we are ready for day one, which is going to be on the second."

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