Cadott School Board; Push continues for some sections of April 2023 referendum

Fourth-grade students gave the Cadott School Board a demonstration of what their math lessons look like, as part of the Building Thinking Classrooms program. The demonstration came during a regular meeting Jan. 9, where board members also had time to ask the students questions about the program. Photo by Julia Wolf

By Julia Wolf

With the Tuesday, Jan. 24, deadline looming to get a referendum on the April 2023 ballot, the Cadott School Board discussed the next steps, during a regular meeting Jan. 9.

Board president Cory LaNou says he is not sure they are ready to move forward, since they do not have a 25-year plan yet, and questioned if they want to hold off until an April 2024 election.

Becca Blanchette, board member, says she feels like they should get some of the most supported projects started.

“It affects our students the most and our teachers, that they’re not getting started on anything for another year now,” said Blanchette.

LaNou says he is hoping they can use the grant money they have for air conditioning and ventilation going, even without a referendum. Jenny Starck, superintendent, says they have about $800,000 for ventilation and air conditioning, which is not enough to do the whole building. She also says that money has to be spent by September 2024.

Board member Brad Sonnentag says he would like to do some of the projects, at least enough to use the grant money.

LaNou says he would like to see a 25-year plan, before moving forward on air conditioning, so they can plan for future expansion when installing it and don’t spend money on areas that will be torn out later.

Ryan Beachem, director of buildings and grounds, says any new additions would need a separate air handler anyway.

“They’re sized for the areas that they’re existing in,” said Beachem.

He says adding air conditioning to existing areas won’t affect much else, unless they are going to tear an area out. Beachem says he is looking at installing air conditioning into the south side of the building this summer, since the electricity is already there and the grant money is available.

LaNou says the tech ed improvements are also a priority for him and would like to see the money available by the summer of 2024, which would require a 2023 referendum. He questioned whether breaking that out would cause a problem, since the 25-year plan isn’t solidified.

“It shouldn’t,” said Starck, adding that is why the projects were presented as separate sections.

Christine Rowe, board member, questioned if they should prioritize tech ed over the safety and security bucket, since the community ranked the security higher than tech ed on the survey.

“I want the tech ed room done just as much as anybody else, but how do we pick and choose?” asked Rowe.

LaNou says he thinks tech ed was still very high on the community’s priority list and that a large portion of the cost in that area wasn’t just security. He also says there was no consensus around where the offices should be.

“If we have true security concerns, we should be addressing them outside the referendum,” said LaNou, adding he doesn’t think they have an extreme security concern right now.

After further discussion, the board decided to continue to pursue major building systems and tech ed. A special meeting with Miron to go through those sections line by line and get final numbers on those areas. A special board meeting was tentatively scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 12, at 6 p.m., if Miron is available at that time.

Fourth-grade students also shared how their math lessons look this year, during the spotlight report. Elementary principal Terri Olson says fourth-grade teacher Kaylee Evergreen asked to pilot Building Thinking Classrooms this year.

“I started hearing the kids being super excited about what’s going on in math,” said Olson.

Evergreen says she implemented three of the course strategies this year. The first is students work together in random small groups each day.

“That just promotes collaboration, inclusion, students of all abilities working together,” said Evergreen.

Students also use whiteboards around the room to show and share their work. Finally, students are given tasks that build on prior knowledge, where they figure out how to apply what they already know in new situations.

“By just implementing those three strategies, we’re already seeing their growth just skyrocket,” said Evergreen.

She says they are not only seeing growth in math, but also English language arts, because Building Thinking Classrooms promotes a class family environment, where they want to see their classmates succeed.

The fourth-graders then gave a math demonstration using strategies from Building Thinking Classrooms and answered questions from the board members.

Olson says they also plan to showcase what the class is doing at an in-service day, so other teachers can learn more about Building Thinking Classrooms.

Baker Tilly was also on hand to give the audit report for 2021-22, during the meeting.

Kim Schultz, Baker Tilly, says they issued three reports – the financial statements, the report on federal and state awards, and the reporting and insights letter.

The board got a brief overview of the General Fund, where they learned the fund balance increased during the year, along with the ratio of fund balance to expenditures.

Debt metrics were also discussed. Schultz says the district is using 18.4 percent of the debt limit and that number has trended down. She says the district is getting a double bump, as they continue to make payments and the equalized value going up.

“That metric has been less than 20 percent, which is great,” said Schultz.

During the business portion of the meeting, the board approved the retirement of Starck, at the end of the 2022-23 school year.

I have been privileged to be a part of this district for the last five years, and I am humbled by the work of the students, staff and families of this district, and community, wrote Starck. The district has much to be proud of, and I am grateful for the experiences and relationships that I have gained here.

The retirement of Olson, effective June 30, was also approved.

I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to spend the last seven years of my teaching career in Cadott, wrote Olson. I have greatly enjoyed being a part of our leadership team.

Members also approved a one-year family leave for kindergarten teacher Heidi Spilde and an amended retirement date for food service supervisor Deb Zais.

The board also approved the updated COVID Protocol Plan. Starck says they are required to update the plan each year, to keep their COVID-related funding.

“This has not changed, other than it used to have a test-to-stay requirement,” said Starck. “That’s been removed, because that’s not part of any CDC guidelines.”

Board members also set open enrollment seat limits for the 2023-24 school year. As in previous years, the district does not have open seats for students with special education needs to open enroll in.