Rib Lake rewards smart cookies
At the Wednesday, January 24, 2024 meeting of the Rib Lake Board of Education meeting, the Board approved a proposal given by Rib Lake High School (RLHS) Student Council members Anna Martin and Gabriella Gustafson.
The proposal was to give RLHS seniors the opportunity to have lunch off campus. The Student Council members presented the board with a fully fleshed out proposal including how it would work, what supervision would be required, and who would be allowed to go.
RLHS seniors would be allowed to eat lunch off campus on Fridays only. During this time, students leaving are required to sign out in the office. Students must have a signed permission slip from their guardians, and have a list of requirements they need to meet before being allowed to go. One such requirement is attendance related. Students must be on time back to classes and they must not have 3 or more tardies to any class. Other requirements are academic -- only students with a 3.0 GPA will be allowed to participate. More requirements have to do with responsibility. Students must not transport or bring food and drink to students who do not have this privilege, students must not leave litter in the parking lot, and they must not have any behavior referrals for the semester.
The Board approved this proposal for the rest of this year, and will revisit it during the summer to make changes for next school year.
RLHS Student Council member Madison Grzanna also presented a proposal to the Board at the meeting, which was also approved. RLHS seniors will be allowed to purchase parking passes for specific parking spots, and will be allowed to decorate the parking spots with school-approved designs. Seniors will need to fill out an application with the design and have it approved before decorating the parking spot. All designs must be appropriate and not disrespect others, use offensive imagery, contain political statements, have any personal information not permitted to be shared by the school district, have references to inappropriate behaviors, have advertisements for businesses or products, have references to other schools, have double entendres, or have any name other than that of the student who the spot belongs to. Designs that are encouraged contain school themes, celebrate school spirit, and promote Rib Lake clubs or sports.
It will cost $10 for the parking pass and another $25 to be allowed to personalize the spot. The school will not provide the supplies for the painting. There will be two parking spot decorating days in August for the students who elect to participate. Any paint used must be exterior all weather or water based paint.
At the end of the school year, juniors will be given service hours for painting over the spots with black paint purchased with the funds collected from the seniors that personalized their spots. This will begin with next school year’s seniors.
In other business:
On ACT Day for Juniors (March 12), no students will be in the high school except for the juniors taking their exam. Freshmen will be taking campus visits to NTC and UW-Stevens Point: Wausau. Sophomores are visiting UW- Eau Claire, and the Seniors will all be required to do job shadowing.
The Board is considering changing the social studies courses required and the order of them. The current requirements have freshmen taking one semester of civics, sophomores taking one semester of an elective, juniors taking a year of U.S. History, and seniors taking one semester of sociology and one semester of economics. The proposed plan is for freshmen to take one elective social studies class, giving sophomores a year of U.S. History, giving Juniors a semester of world history and a semester of sociology, and giving seniors a semester of civics. This plan is not approved as of now, but will be discussed further before starting next school year.
The April 2024 elections are fast approaching. Three seats will be opening for relelection this year. Stacy Tlusty is running for the Town of Westboro seat, Nicole Glenzer is running for the Town of Rib Lake seat, and both Jackie Mohr and Peter Meyer are running for the District at Large seat on the Board.
Along with the April 2024 Board elections, citizens will be voting for a referendum. “Given the increase in property value across the School District of Rib Lake the estimated tax impact for a $19.5 million referendum is an additional $146 per $100,000 of value. The school district website will have a tax impact calculator on the referendum page for residents to use and see the impact for their specific property,” said District Administrator Travis Grubbs.
This referendum is for the funds necessary to maintain the buildings and to make sure Rib Lake’s schools thrive for years to come. Community information sessions regarding the upcoming referendum vote will be happening on Wednesday, February 21 at 10 a.m. and at 6 p.m. as well as on Monday, March 18 at 6 p.m. These will take place in the Rib Lake Middle School library.
The community education programs being held have been hugely popular, many accruing a waiting list. Upcoming programs are Women’s Volleyball League every Wednesday until February 28th, 2024 from 6 -8 p.m. in the Elementary Gym.
Pickleball every Wednesday until February 28th, 2024 from 6:00-8:00pm in the High School Gym.
Introduction to CAD Using Sketchup February 20, 22, 27, and 29 from 6- 8 p.m. in the high school in room 109.
The school will be reopening applications for a 5th grade teaching position in the 2024-25 school year that remained open throughout this school year.
The School District of Rib Lake completed the 2nd Friday in January student count. Student enrollment in the district continued increasing. Rib Lake schools had 12 additional students in the count increasing the enrollment from 525 to 537, a 2.3% increase from September.
The district middle school spelling bee was held and three students - Madelyn A., Kaelyn B., and Isaac H. - are moving on to the regional bee which will be held on February 7th at 1 p.m. in the Rib Lake Middle School IMC.
Freshman orientation is February 20.
The Marawood Art Show is February 21 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m..
The staff planning committee has decided to move from a purely “Athletic Code” to a more broad “Activities Code” to promote the same standards for all students participating in extracurricular activities, not just student athletes. There will be a few meetings in the spring to go over the adapted code and make any adjustments.
Rib Lake High School graduation will be on May 24.
Child Development Day will be held on February 16 from 8:15-3:30 in the Rib Lake Elementary Gymnasium. Children from 2 ½ to 4 years old can attend. Appointments can be made by calling Amy Foster at the Rib Lake Elementary School. The phone number is (715) 4275818. Children will get to work and play with school staff. They will get their eyes tested, have the opportunity to speak in front of the speech and language pathologist, and will receive a goodie bag.
February 5 is Prom Perfect from 4-7 p.m. at the Ice Age Pavillion. This is an opportunity for students to get a new-tothem prom dress for free. Students from Rib Lake, Medford, and Prentice, as well as surrounding areas, are invited to come as well. Any donations can be dropped off at the Pavillion on Sunday, February 4, starting at 1 p.m.
The Board approved a school calendar for the 2024-25 school year. Changes include matching spring break to Medford’s, a date change for parent teacher conferences, and moving new teacher orientation closer to the start date of the school year.
The next meeting of the Rib Lake Board of Education will begin at 6 p.m. for the judging of the Future City competition the middle school science classes participated in. As this is the first year that Rib Lake participated in the competition, they were not allowed to compete with other schools, so the Board is going to judge the cities designed by middle school students instead. The meeting will be on February 28.
Travis Grubbs
