Gilman school board talks operations, improvements referendum

During their regular meeting held on June 16, the Gilman School Board heard a presentation from Brad Simonson of HSR Associates to prepare for a potential upcoming referendum.

Located in La Crosse, HSR Associates works with facilities to create a master plan for their projects by helping to determine space needs and analyzing building systems. Simonson and HSR helped design the school remodel in 1998.

“The school is kind of the hub of the community,” said Simonson.

He stated that he wants to help the district utilize their resources to the maximum and that spacial use is just as important as the operational systems within the building. Simonson suggested creating a survey to poll the school staff as they are the people who use the building every day. He also discussed the importance of community feedback. Simonson stated that they may find issues with operating systems within the school that could require updates.

“If we’re talking about going to referendum just for operating, how can we go to taxpayers and ask them to update lighting?” asked board treasurer Philip Grunseth, using lighting as an example of a system update.

“This is a total team effort here,” said Simonson. “We’ll have recommendations, but you guys and the community will have guidelines for us, I’m sure.”

District administrator Walter Leipart stated that Simonson and HSR could help compile information and evidence that shows voters that Gilman is a district worth investing in. Leipart discussed the community’s aging population as well as declining enrollment and suggested that a pivot to utilizing some of the space within the school as a community center could be to the district’s advantage.

“Instead of the county considering putting up another senior center in Gilman, why not use part of this building?” Leipart wondered.

Board clerk Lauren Zach brought up childcare within the school as she has done in the past, stating that it would be beneficial to both a provider and the school if someone wanted to rent space for that type of setting.

“I’d say anything is on the table,” said Leipart. Simonson reported that he felt HSR’s report would be worth up to $30,000, but they’d be willing to do it for $3,000 in hopes that HSR could ultimately secure the overall design of the project. The board voted unanimously to pay HSR Associates $3,000 to complete a facility assessment which Simonson reported HSR could begin right away.

In other business, the board: -Discussed contracting with Empowered Partners, LLC, a company owned by Leipart which hires retired educators and pairs them with schools. Leipart was not in the room for this portion of the meeting and director of business services Cheryl Rosemeyer reported on this topic in his absence. Rosemeyer stated that the school already partnered with Empowered Partners this year for one of the school’s interventionists.

“We have a need to fill and Empowered Partners is providing a service through which some of these retired teachers can retire and still teach,” she said.

She went on to state that this gives the school flexibility to hire a teacher for part of the year rather than utilizing a full year contract. Rosemeyer said that Leipart provided this information to both the district attorney of Taylor County and the school’s attorney and that it does not appear that the contract would violate Wisconsin statute 946.13 which deals with private interests in public contracts.

New school board member Derrick Romig questioned a portion of the attorneys’ evaluation, stating that there appeared to be something in their response that reported the school could be investigated or questioned for paying more than $15,000 towards a contract of this nature.

“Are we setting ourselves up for a conflict of interest here?” Romig questioned.

“He's not accepting finances personally on his own behalf or his company's behalf,” said school board president Darrell Thompson. “We’re getting those staff members at cost.”

“When he started this that was part of his condition,” Grunseth said.

Board member Valorie Kulesa questioned who paid for the employee’s insurance with Rosemeyer stating that Empowered Partners is responsible. “It’s lie hiring through a temp agency,” Rosemeyer said.

• Heard that Leipart sent offer letters to all staff members but for two part-time interventionists as the district had other contracts to fulfill first. Leipart reported he would wait to fill those positions until the school year gets closer. He also stated that kindergarten teacher Kim Quinnell plans to transition to the role of reading specialist halfway through the upcoming school year.

• Heard from principal Phil Tallman regarding the 2024-2025 student discipline report. Tallman reported that tardy infractions went down significantly in the third and fourth quarters due to the new policy which provided students harsher penalties for tardiness. Tallman stated that technology infractions also lessened as the year went on.