School board OKs staff resignations
The Athens Board of Education on Monday approved changes to the school district’s staff.
The school board accepted the resignation of Kris Peterson, middle/high school business and information technology teacher. Peterson replaced Roger Bloomer after he resigned from teaching business in Athens following the 2016-17 school year. At Monday’s meeting, the school board voted to rehire Bloomer to replace Peterson in order to fill the teaching job he formally had.
The school board also accepted Beth Steinke’s resignation from being in charge of the school district’s newsletter, which has been eliminated. School board members then hired Steinke and Danielle Gauerke to split the newly created social media manager job. Steinke will continue working as Athens Elementary School secretary and Gauerke as a special education aide at the high school.
In other news:
n The school board tabled a decision on making an agreement with the village of Athens on repairs to Schlegel Street within the next two to three years. The school district wants to transfer ownership of its portion of Schlegel Street back to the village of Athens after the road repairs are made.
Buses load and unload students on Schlegel Street in front of Athens Elementary School. The school board’s buildings and grounds committee wants to schedule a meeting with the village of Athens streets committee, chaired by Randy Decker, to further discuss the Schlegel Street agreement.
Kenny Ellenbecker, Steve Janke and Tom Ellenbecker are on the school board’s buildings and grounds committee.
n School board members approved a 2020-21 one-year busing contract with Fischer Transportation of Fenwood, which is operating eight bus routes each of the 172 school days in 2020-21 for Athens School District students.
Fischer Transportation is charging the school district $349.28 per bus per day, which is a 2.5 percent increase in cost compared to last school year.
n The school board voted for a total tax levy of $2,001,776 needed from school district residents for the 2020-21 school year during the annual meeting, held before the regular school board meeting began. A tax mil rate of $9.11 per thousand dollars of property owned in the Athens School District in 2020-21 is needed to fund this levy.
School board members will vote on final approval of the 2020-21 tax levy and mil rate at the end of October, after it receives the school district’s land valuation from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue and certified equalized value from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction in the middle of October.
School board members also voted to keep their salaries the same for attending meetings during the 2020-21 school year.
