Rib Lake schools start superintendent search 
by Donald Watson
The Star News
December 17, 2009 —  The Rib Lake School Board is in the process of looking for a new administrator to replace Jeff Tortomasi, who is retiring when his contract ends in June.
"I gave you a copy of what was posted on WisGov, the Wisconsin government web site, for my position and that's out there," Tortomasi said. "That's one of the few places where normally those postings happen. The two places are typically WisGov and the other one is the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators, which I haven't posted it on yet because I've been afraid to ask them to post it because I'm not a member this year, but I could still put it there. So far, we've got one application."
Tortomasi said the district tentatively had the posting set up for a closing date of January 8 and an interview date of January 12, which is right before the board meeting on January 14. "My question is, what do we want for committee questions? Do you want me to put that together? How many people do you want on it? I need some input from the board on that." Tortomasi said. "I remember last time there was a room of about 15 people, but I couldn't begin to tell you who was on there."
Tortomasi said typically there is a committee that makes a recommendation on who should be called back for a second interview and then the recommendation made to the board for approval. "I think last time there was actually two committees," Cardey said. "There was a citizens-teachers committee who interviewed them if I remember right and then they interviewed with the board. They actually had two separate interviews and there was an advisory recommendation from the citizens committee."
"That was it," Tortomasi said.
"We sent out a letter asking for volunteers to be on the committee because there was quite of bit of interest last time," board president Jerry Blomberg said.
"And I think it's good too for the teachers, as well, like last time," board member Leslie Hebert said.
"Last time, Jerry Fiene helped us develop a set of questions," Everson said, "and he had some pretty specific information on questions you can ask and questions you can't ask that was very helpful."
"Do we still have them?" board member George Zondlo asked.
"I'm sure we have them somewhere," Hebert said. Cardey replied that he had the folder of them.
"When we get the volunteer committee together, we can go over them to see if they have any specific questions they want to ask," Tortomasi said. "and we'll get a list of questions the board wants to ask."
Gymnasium bleachers
Tortomasi told the board there has been a lot of concern expressed about the wood of the bleachers in the high school gym getting old and slivery. "I've contacted three different companies, one of which gave me the first and probably the best bid to cap the bleachers with one of these two colors," Tortomasi said, passing around maroon and gold color samples of the vinyl material to the board members. He said the company could also do the front riser part of the bleachers, but with Rib Lake's bleachers, it wouldn't work very well and would be a lot of work.
"So we're taking about possibly just capping them with one color," Tortomasi said. "To do that, the bid would be $6,729, which I'm hoping wouldn't cost the district any money." He said he is looking into funds from other sources, including sponsors and the booster club, and using volunteer labor to put the caps on. "I've talked to two schools that have done this and they said they're pretty easy to put on with volunteers." Tortomasi said the caps come in standard 18-foot lengths and are easy to cut to fit.
Tortomasi said he and Rick Cardey had discussed it and it is more expensive to go with two or more colors. "In some places, they've created the initials or logo of the school . . ."
"That would be really neat to do," Hebert said.
". . . but it gets really pricey when you do that," Tortomasi continued. "I was thinking that, instead of going maroon which is what I got the original bid on, we go gold and if we can get some good lacquer paint or something and paint the fascia boards maroon, that would look nice."
"What we had talked about was when we go to put the seat boards [caps] on, we take off the fascia boards, plane them down, paint and lacquer them, they would look better than what we have now," Cardey said. "It would also probably make it easier to put the seats on since you wouldn't be hitting your knuckles underneath. This is certainly a summer project."
"That would look neat," Hebert said as several other board members nodded in agreement.
"It would dress them up a lot and it would be good for the bleachers," board member Joan Magnuson added.
"You could even get the RL logo on them for when they're closed for a concert or other event," Hebert said.
"That's a good point," Tortomasi agreed.
"And the rational for looking for a decision at this time, even though it is a summer project, is that we would like to approach the booster club in January at its annual meeting to see what we can do," Cardey said.
In other action, the board:
´ approved a request by Camp Forest Springs to install marker signs at each end of the access trail connecting their ski trail system with the Rib Lake Ski Club's trail system, both of which are in the school forest. Board member Scott Everson said the sign by the ski club's trail would consist of two posts four feet apart with a 4x4-foot sign with a little roof on top so it would look like some of the other signs along the trail. "I envision the sign saying something like, Access to Camp Forest Spring ski trails, .45 kilometers," Everson said. He added that he would like to put brochures for the ski trails at the sign, along with painting a map of the trail system on it. A smaller sign would be placed on the Camp Forest Spring's end of the access trail. "The main purpose of that sign is for people who are skiing from the camp who are there for the weekend, I don't really want them turning there and going onto the Rib Lake trail," Everson said. "I want to put some type of a warning to let them know what they're in for if they turn right here — if they turn here, they may be gone for a long time."
´ approved opening a new savings account at Mid-Wisconsin Bank for the state aid the district receives and to correct the name on the district's accounts at the bank. Tortomasi said normally when the district receives state aid and other funds, it goes into an interest-bearing account with the state. He said the last time he received a statement, the interest rate was .27 percent. The new account at Mid-Wisconsin would pay a variable rate, depending on how much money is in it. He said the interest rate would be higher than what Mid-Wisconsin is paying the district on its checking account, which is 1.1 percent — not great, Tortomasi said, but far better than what they are getting from the state.
In opening the new account, Tortomasi said it was discovered that the accounts the district has at Mid-Wisconsin are labeled wrong. The district is officially known as the "School District of Rib Lake" — not "Rib Lake Schools" or by any other name. While this hasn't created an issue in the past, he said it may in the future, especially as the federal government becomes more and more involved in the district's operations.
´ approved new two-year contracts for principals Cardey and Angela Woyak for the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 school years. The contracts call for no salary increase in 2010-11, while the amounts of the 2011-12 contracts will be determined at a later date. Information in the budget summary handed out at the annual meeting in August listed Cardey's salary for the 2009-2010 school year as $81,475, excluding extra curricular pay, and Woyak's was listed as $72,000, excluding extra curricular pay.
"Before we go any further, let me just say I think this is a tremendous act of professionalism and generosity and we are very much indebted to both of you," board member Robert Rusch said before the board voted to approve the contracts.
"I agree," Magnuson said. "I think in this time and day and age, it's wonderful to see people will to do that and we thank you for that."
"We appreciate all your hard work," Hebert added. "You do a fantastic job and we're very, very lucky to have you both.".

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