Cadott School Board; Long-term planning looks at facility needs of the future

By Julia Wolf

What are ways for the Cadott School District to move forward? Board members had the chance to weigh in on longterm facilities planning during a Committee of the Whole meeting July 27.

Superintendent Jenny Starck says they are looking for planning for 15-20 years out.

“What are some of the needs going to be?” asked Starck, adding they would like to focus more on the junior and senior high school, since the elementary was remodeled more recently.

Some ideas that came up in the past, are having a safer office entrance, creating more space for technical education, a community center with fitness options, larger wrestling facilities or something cooperative with the public library.

“Part of it is sort of wrestling with, how do we have facilities that kind of promote and attract staff, and students, yet be responsible with our budget dollars,” said Starck.

Starck said Chippewa Falls held a capital campaign to upgrade their football field many years ago, where businesses and individuals agreed to donate money over five years. Those she talked to about it, said the campaign worked pretty well.

Starck said the board could also do a request for proposals from architects for a district-wide master facilities plan.

“One thing we don’t want to do, is say we’re going to add onto one section, but then that shoots us in the foot later, for something else we think we might need,” said Starck.

She says the chosen company would interview every teacher and all coaches, to come up with a comprehensive recommendation.

“The district could pick and chose if they weren’t going to follow all of it,” said Starck.

Brad Sonnentag, board member, says he thinks the district has to do its part to draw families and businesses to town. He says, right now, they have limited gym space, a small wrestling room and baseball facilities that could be improved.

“I would love to see us pitch something and see what the community thinks, see how much donations we could get, to have another facility put up,” said Sonnentag.

He says that would allow more teams to practice at the same time, let the community use the facilities and may open up space in the current building for other things.

“If we don’t try, then we don’t know, right?” said Sonnentag.

Board member Christine Rowe says she likes the idea of meeting with the municipalities in the district and community members, to discuss the ideas and gauge support, since sports teams have competed for gym time for a while.

“I don’t know how to figure out how the community is in or out,” said Becca Blanchette, board member.

Board president Al Sonnentag says he would like to see an architect get involved and suggested they start by making a wishlist. He says he would personally like to see more space for the tech ed classes, adding that could be a draw for some families. Others agreed technical education should be a priority.

“I think we need to look at the whole thing,” said A. Sonnentag, adding they could break down and prioritize projects after that.

Cory LaNou, board member, said he thinks any improvements they make need to benefit all kids, not just one group. “I’m not saying we don’t need the sports facility,” said LaNou. “...I also want to make sure we’re taking care of all the kids.”

He says he would like to see a community center, benefitting senior citizens and helping the library that is not handicap accessible, adding school and community support needs to go both ways.

After further discussion, board members expressed support for getting requests for proposals. Starck says she will work with Ryan Beachem, director of buildings and grounds, to draft a request for proposals to bring to the August regular meeting.

The board also got a preview of the proposed junior/senior high handbook changes, with action slated for the August meeting.

The academic integrity code, concerning plagiarism, is set to see updates.

“This is one thing that the English department actually took on,” said Caleb Hundt, junior/senior high principal.

He says the old policy was pretty vague, and the new policy has more structure and a clearer procedure. Hundt says there also may be a tracker to stop cheating before it becomes habitual.

Another handbook change is to align the final exam language with that in the grading manual. Starck says the valedictorian and salutatorian were previously chosen with third-quarter grades. Under the updated handbook, those students would be chosen at the end of first semester, senior year, the same time as the Wisconsin Academic Excellence Scholarship is decided.

“I honestly think it will be cleaner,” said Starck.

Other changes will likely be considered in the future, such as which credits are weighted and dress code.

B. Sonnentag also brought up the portion that says students would not be allowed to park up by the weight room. He says he thinks there are as many problems there, with parents dropping off students there, near the tunnel, to go to the elementary building.

B. Sonnentag says he thinks it will be difficult to prevent that without some sort of physical barricade and says he is concerned it is a safety issue, with walkers, bikers and cars all in the space, and on the hill.

Hundt says he thinks the idea behind that language, is kids, as a general rule, are more reckless drivers than adults.

“I think they wanted to avoid that accident,” said Hundt.

B. Sonnentag said he can see where that’s coming from, but says there is also just a lot of traffic in that area during times.

“I think we need to direct it one direction or put an arm down,” said B. Sonnentag.

During the business portion of the meeting, members approved the hire of Carolyn Dobson, fourth-grade teacher, as well as the open enrollment alternate applications.