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Abbotsford school board forced to raise staff meal prices

The Abbotsford School Board received updates on the FEMA project and voted to raise prices for staff meals to meet DPI standards at its July meeting.

FEMA Project update

The board was notified that the district still owed around $400,000 on the FEMA addition project. Finance director Ashley Dake said the district just received an invoice for $200,000 from the contractor and still owed a little over $200,000 in a retainage pool.

The update included an issue with the fuel tank for the generator that powers the FEMA building. The tank that was ordered and placed in the ground was the wrong size tank. The correct tank has been ordered and is expected to be in place by the time the district has its grand opening ceremony on August 16 at 3:30 p.m.

District Administrator Ryan Bargender said the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction notified the district that the cost of employee meals must be raised to meet the minimum DPI standards for the coming school year. The increase means staff will pay a $0.31 increase for breakfast and $0.75 increase for lunch per meal. In previous years, the food service fund had been paying for the difference in meals for staff.

Other business

n Maintenance Director Mason Rachu was given a promotion within Dashir, the facility management company that contracts with the Abbotsford School District. Bargender said Rachu will not be working with Abbotsford on a day-to-day basis any longer but will be stopping in periodically as a part of his new position.

n The board discussed the possibility of increased enrollment for the upcoming school year. Ivone Vazquez warned the board that with increasing political tension in Florida, families are moving north. She said she wouldn’t be surprised to see increased enrollment numbers this year. Bargender said he was aware of the situation and was monitoring enrollment numbers as they came in for the school year.

n Middle/High School Principal Melissa Pilgrim gave the board an update on the co-curricular code changes that were being proposed for the 2023-24 school year. The co-curricular code is used to regulate participation guidelines in activities outside of academics at the school. Changes made included adding the opportunity for incoming freshmen to complete credit recovery school to raise one failing grade during the fourth quarter of their eighth grade year (if between the grade percentages of 50-59.9%) to passing in order to become eligible for co-curricular activities.

Other changes included raising expectations for officer and leadership positions within co-curricular activities which can include a 90-day suspension as opposed to the typical 30-day suspension that students normally receive for academic or behavioral violations.

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