Milk stays but at a cost

Rib Lake Elementary School students will still be able to get milk with their afternoon snacks, but families will have to pay for it. At the June 25 Rib Lake School Board meeting, board members approved having staff set up the process to collect payment and provide supervision for the school day milk program. Traditionally, Rib Lake schools served milk to the lower elementary grades as a routine part of their afternoon snacks at no charge. Students would say if they wanted milk or not and a student would be assigned for that day to take a basket to the kitchen and bring the milk back to the classroom. This spring, the Rib Lake School District’s food service account was audited by the state and the school was told they were doing it wrong. Only students qualifying for free and reduced lunch are eligible to get the milk for free through the school’s food service accounts. About 50% of all students in Rib Lake schools qualify for free and reduced lunch. All other students must pay for it. If the school chose to provide milk to all students, it would have to come out of the district’s instructional budget. In addition, the state told the district that the cooler for the milk would need to be kept locked. At last month’s meeting, board members asked District Administrator Travis Grubbs to survey parents to determine if the district should invest the time and labor into setting up a paid program or just drop having the afternoon milk entirely. Elementary Principal Jon Dallmann noted there are a large number of students who bring their own reusable water bottles for the afternoon snacks. Of the 27 families who responded to the survey, 25% opposed paying for milk while 63% said they would be OK with pay 40 cents for milk. Dallman said he will figure out a way to run the program to meet the regulations. He said it will involved additional manpower and accounting to collect the milk money each day. “We aren’t giving away gold bars for God’s sake,” said board member Rollie Thums objecting to the requirement to have the milk kept locked up. “You can’t ever do something that is decent without rules and regulations, because you might offend someone,” Thums said. He said he would have supported giving students the milk even if it had to come from the general fund. On the positive side, Grubbs noted that the cost the milk program could be for the staff and accounting could be charged back to the food service account rather than being a general fund expense. In the end, board members voted to continue the milk program charging 40 cents per carton. Construction update If things go according to plan, residents could see some major changes in the buildings over the next week. Grubbs reported that the crane was scheduled to be on site on June 30 and that it would be placing the precast 14x30 foot panels of section of wall with one panel set to be placed every 30 minutes for the walls of the new gym. There will be a community walk-through of the construction project on the afternoon of July 3 for those wanting to get a view of how the project is proceeding. Grubbs also presented and the board approved project changes and modifications. Grubbs said the district is in a good situation when it comes to the allowances and contingencies with the chance for higher-cost additions earlier in the project. While some things, like the ceiling joists are coming in over budget because of additional work that needs to be done, other things like the vinyl graphics came in at $62,000 which was $37,000 below budget. Grubbs also noted that they were able to utilize the maintenance staff for moving things from the areas where construction is taking place and saved money that was budgeted for hiring additional help to do the work. There were also additional costs due to a sanitary line replacement and the rerouting of a gas line that was discovered to be very close to the sanitary line. Grubbs said he was also working with Findorff about changes to the ceiling area for portions of each of the locker rooms to have the walls go up to the ceiling level rather than all the way to the roof except where necessary which will save expense. In related action, board members approved spending $6,500 from the furniture budget of the project to replace desks and chairs in classrooms. In other business, board members: • Approved a $25,000 grant from Marathon Cheese for the replacement of the high school track. The board also approved accepting a grant of $34,720 from the Sue and Wayne Tlusty Foundation for the replacement of softball field fencing. In related action, the board approved allowing the project to replace the fencing at the south softball field to take place. Board members voted that they would support having the school district participate in installing an outfield fence on the north field up to a level of $5,500 if other groups wanted to raise funds for it. The outfield fence would allow youth tournaments to be held at the field. The district’s participation in the north field project would come from Fund 80. Grubbs said another group would need to take the lead on that project because the district has too many irons in the fire with the referendum construction project. • Reviewed proposed changes to the student handbook. The elementary handbook will now include additional explanation about when a student will be sent home for illness. At the middle and high school levels, there were a number of changes in the handbook including reducing passing time between classes by one minute and bringing the handbook in line with actual operations. • Approved second reading policies for school meal account charges and the third grade promotion and retention changes required by Act 20. • Accepted the annual Title 1 report, special education report, and seclusion and restraint reports. The district is required each year to formally accept these reports. • Approved moving ahead with getting heat in the bus garage and gave the OK to demolish a barn located on school property that has been used for storage in the past and is in disrepair. Grubbs noted that the district can dispose of the rusted old desks currently being stored there while the recycling dumpsters are at the school for construction and will be able to get scrap prices for them. • Approved the routine line of credit which is used for short-term borrowing for cash flow through the year. Grubbs noted that the rate is lower this year because due to the referendum bonds last year, the district had used taxable borrowing for the line of credit while this year it falls under the limit to be non-taxable. • Approved a budget revision moving Fund 46 dollars into different line items for the track project • Approved renewing the district’s membership as part of the WIAA.