Pioneer Westfield Badger State Representatives

Pioneer Westfield High School and area American Legion Posts and Auxiliaries have announced Badger Girls and Badger Boys State representatives for 2008.

Attending this year’s Badger Girls State week will be (pictured L-R) Amanda Akers and Kelly Blanchard. They are sponsored by Auxiliaries to American Legion Posts 244 of Westfield and 343 of Coloma. Students spend a week learning about government at the UW-Oshkosh campus from June 15-20.

Selected for Badger Boys State are Ryan Schrank, Kyle Szyperek and (not pictured) Zack Floeter. They are sponsored by American Legion Post 163, American Legion Post 244, and American Legion Post 343. The week-long session of seminars and learning about government takes place June 14-21 at Ripon College.

 

 

Montello School Board Meeting

For the first time in recent history, the referendum was not the major focus of the Montello School Board meeting. Under the President’s Report the board welcomed newly elected member Jon Sheller, who returned to the board this year after having served previous terms. In the first monitoring report High School Principal Jeff Holmes gave an update on Junior/Senior High School grade distribution and final exams. While 30 percent of the students managed to earn a spot on the honor roll, about a third also managed to receive at least one F, slightly up from last year.

The next monitoring report came from Agriculture teacher, Brian Hendrickson. After outlining changes made in the monitoring of workplace readiness, Hendrickson addressed the science component of his courses as well as the other diverse offerings he has incorporated into his curriculum, before yielding the floor to the final monitoring report. The final report came from Mary Ott (Choir) and Adam Scheele (Band) who outlined student participation, awards, and their recent trip to Florida with their students.

District Administrator, Randy Guttenberg’s Administrative Reports included a variety of issues including: A limited discussion on Charter Schools, approval of a transportation contract for a student with a disability, the acceptance of donations, Coach Hanson’s request for permission to proceed on a project to replace current dugouts on the baseball field through fundraising and volunteer labor, a few post-referendum issues, and the ratification of the contract between the Board of Education and the Montello Education Association.

Motions came from the floor to separate the acceptance of donations and contract ratification from other consent resolution items. After the remaining items passed, acceptance of donations was considered separately. Donations included: $50 from the Thyme Shares Master Gardeners to the Montello Schools Library, $1000 from Weishaar Farms to the Soccer Program, and $500 from Kwik Trip toward the Baseball Program.

Prior to the Board voting to accept the donations, Board President Mike Lardy said, “This is what this community is capable of,” as he went on talking about how the generosity of many donors throughout the year allowed great things to happen. Lardy went on to say that although the school and staff are often the targets of criticism, he has come to realize that, “This is a great community, with a great school… one that we are all trying to save.” He cited the efforts of Mrs. Ott, Mr. Scheele, and Mr. Hanson as great examples of the commitment that many staff members have to their students and to their community, “They don’t just punch a clock - they go the extra mile to provide a quality experience for their kids.”

The final consent resolution item was the approval of the 2007-09 collective bargaining agreement with the Montello Education Association. Financially, the contract approves a 3.8% total package (salary and benefits) increase in both years of the contract. As for insurance, there was a change to the WEA Trust Preferred Plan that will be effective as of May 1st. The change to the WEA Trust Preferred Plan reflects about a $600 cost reduction for every association member covered by a family health plan.

Before adjournment, many of the Board members thanked outgoing President Mike Lardy for his service to the Board and wished him well. The next scheduled special board meeting will be held on Wednesday, April 23rd. This meeting will be in closed session and the board will review applications for the District Administrator position with representatives from Fox River Consultants, in light of Randy Guttenberg’s resignation which becomes effective this summer. The next regular board meeting will be held on May 12th.