Neillsville District Administrator Discusses Items From the March School Board Meeting

Monday, March 30th, 2026 -- 3:00 PM

The Neillsville School Board recently held their monthly meeting for March.

I spoke with District Administrator Corey Peterson and he discussed some of the items on the agenda in more detail.

Listen to the interview with Mr. Petersson here!

If you have any questions or concerns about what’s happening at the District, feel free to reach out to Mr. Peterson at the District.

(AI assisted transcription via Otter.ai)

Riley: "The Board approved some budget modifications; can you touch on those?"

Mr. Peterson: "This time of year, we're taking a look at the budget, looking at revenue of expenses, and taking closer dive into where things are at. We had some adjustments that we wanted to make based upon some of the funding coming in from the state at the beginning of the year."

"The advertisement was such as for special education funding reimbursement would be at 42%, but it's coming in, currently, at 35%, so we're adjusting some numbers in various areas just to make sure that we're aligning to current, evident needs in areas that come into play."

"We had some money allotted for construction. This is equipment replacement, money that maybe is going to be tabbed for Fund 46, shuffling those into the areas of need, because some other areas, again, as we talked about special ed funding and the like, not hitting the mark, so we want to make sure and continue to have a projected Fund 10 balance budget and we are on pace to do that with these adjustments."

Riley: "The board also discussed strategic planning. Can you touch on that please?"

Mr. Peterson: "Yeah, great opportunity for our district moving forward. You may have heard of this in other districts, if it's in nearby area, but strategic planning is really taking a look down the line, the vision for where you want to be five or so years from now, and, in doing so, bringing some services on."

"We will be contracting with CESA 10 for this service. Ultimately, what will happen, is we're going to be able to utilize a lot of community engagement through surveys, through some focus groups, to try to get the feel and the pulse for where we interact with our district."

"Where do we want this to go? And really the mission, the vision, the values, what do we stand for and what's our vision for the future? In doing so, it will help us align with some pillars, for focus points, for budget construction, for attracting and retaining staff, just employee relations, everything across the board can be hugged into this document in the sense of our guiding post to work towards the future."

"So, CESA 10 will help us with that planning process moving forward that will be several months in the making. So, we'll be engaging across the way. So, along the way, if we have community members that receive surveys, or if they're interested, please reach out. We can get people engaged in this process. We want to hear the voices of everybody to find out how Neillsville can better serve everybody moving forward."

Riley: "The board also discussed the ECCP and Start College Now Programs. I believe we may have touched on these in the past, but if you could remind our listeners exactly what those programs are?"

Mr. Peterson: "High school opportunities these days have changed quite a bit compared to where we were at years ago. So, the ECCP, the Early College Credit Program, is set up for public and private colleges and universities, where our 9-12 students can take courses through those universities that may not be offered at the high school or maybe at a more advanced opportunity for them academically."

"Start College Now is an opportunity for our technical colleges to work alongside our juniors and seniors, again, some career tech ed classes that maybe aren't offered here or maybe along the lines of what they would like to pursue, a little more detailed."

"You know, a lot of kids will embrace this, knowing what field they're going into. Try to get a head start on that, but you can get certifications in advance. We offer 18 credits paid through the school here on campus, so a great chance for our students and our families to take advantage of this, get them set up for post secondary ahead of leaving our hallways, and get them set up for their careers ahead at a minimal cost to them as well."

Riley: "The Board also approved the Neola Select agreement. Can you touch on what that is?"

Mr. Peterson: "This year, we brought on the Neola for our policy. So, this has been an evolution over the last year, year and a half, moving forward as we plan forward with our Neola."

"Each year, there'll be several different times in which we're bringing a new batch of policies forward for updates, revisions, and the like. Neola Select offers us the opportunity to have Neola personnel help us review cross reference policies to make sure they're all speaking together and that they're all up to date."

"And then from there, we can take that locally, if we need to make any changes, we can but ultimately, have their guidance and getting them set up to bring forward."

Riley: "The Board also discussed the Bound agreement. Can you touch on that?"

Mr. Peterson: "High school athletics for our scheduling and needs currently uses and arbiter and that has been in place for a period of time, moving as a conference to Bound and, in doing so, providing us a little more opportunity."

"So, the same general agreement will be in place for the cost of the district. However, Bound does provide us a few more abilities moving forward for internal work with scheduling, not just for athletics, but potentially for other areas of our campus as well."

"So, we're excited about this in the sense that it may give us some opportunities with purchased upgrade packages in the future, if we find that the basic level that we're using for the Athletic Conference is hitting the mark."

"We may pursue this even further to help us maintain, you know, efficiency here on campus at a reduced cost. So, this will be something the whole conference is moving to, but may provide us opportunities in the future for even some more local improvements."

Riley: "Could you touch on the donations the district received this past month?"

Mr. Peterson: "Yeah, donations wise, again, we continue to be so fortunate with everybody coming on board. You take a look at, especially with the success that we've had with high school basketball team and girls. Congratulations! D4 state champs! That is so impressive!"

"But beyond that, we continue to get the outpouring of support. So, we've had donations from clothing to cereal to monetary donations. And I can go, I'm gonna go down the list, many different people here, but I want to give credit to everybody on board."

So, you know, we had some clothing donated by Gloria Turczyn-Trott. We had cereal donated by Richard Schleifeer and we had the Kiwanis Club that donated towards our music department to help our kids go on the Florida trip."

Gross Motors was willing to donate money, $3,000 towards our chess club who has just competed at state and placed 4th, so congratulations to them. We had Simplicity Credit Union, Unity Bank providing us some goody items for our girls heading the state tournament."

"Jody Gross providing a state for some track registration fees to help out our track program. We had Barb Bydalek that made some homemade products for us, as far as mittens and hats to keep our kids safe and warm."

"And then our Booster Club has come through big time for us, for roughly $900 to help out with our game changer app for our softball/baseball season in the spring."

"And to offer up roughly $8,000 for different costs across the board, for football jerseys to middle school football jerseys, middle school golf and some summer school for golf, high school for the football program, high school golf supply."

"So, just so many things that are being offered up to us from the community support. We are so appreciative of everything that comes forward and for the people that maybe weren't on our list, but we know have contributed. Thank you as well."

Riley: "Anyting else?"

Mr. Peterson: " Well, I was able to touch on a couple of our congratulations with a lot of our other noteworthy winter sports, but also our different programs are underway."

"I know our Florida trip for our band and choir was an interesting trip to start out with, but I know that there are many smiles when it came back in. They enjoyed the experience for sure."

"You know, we have, obviously, a D4 Girls Basketball State Championship that will now be in our trophy case. So, congratulations to Coach Gaier and the ladies for bringing that home. A great time for our community."

"Couple other reminders moving toward April 2nd, so next week, through the sixth, we are all be on break and just keep that on your calendar, and then down the line, we're not too far off when we will be talking about graduation season. So, we are hitting into the fourth quarter. So, it will become fast and furious at this point in time."

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