Filling the loss

During the Gilman school board meeting on April 28, board and community members contemplated the next steps to take due to the board vacancy created by the death of Joshua Mann, who was recently elected.

'Sadly we have an individual that passed away and therefore we do not have the second seat filled and technically by state statute that vacancy does not exist until 11:59 p.m.,” said district administrator Walter Leipart.

The board was unable to recognize that vacancy until Tuesday, April 29.

During the citizen’s forum portion of the meeting, community member Fred Romig was recognized and spoke in support of his son, Derrick Romig, who ran for a position on the board this spring but was not elected.

Fred Romig cited school board policy, stating, “In this policy, in this circumstance, you shouldn't have to go any further due to the very recent election, the board should highly consider the next person with the next most votes on the ballot. I feel this is a large amount of votes and it would be in the best interest of the school district to appoint this individual.”

In the spring election Lynn Rosemeyer received 857 votes, Holly Bacha received 626 votes, Mann received 623 votes, Derrick Romig received 509 votes, and Vonda Kinas received 303 votes. Rosemeyer, Bacha and Mann were elected to the board.

Policy dictates that the vacancy will be filled by public vote of the current board members. The board will seek qualified and interested candidates from the community with all applicants submitting a notice of their interest in writing to the district office. The board may, but is not required to interview candidates to ascertain their qualifications. If the vacancy is not filled within 60 days of the date which the position became available, it will be appointed by the board president.

There was discussion of the policy terminology as there appeared to be some confusion about which pieces of the policy were optional and which were mandatory, with Leipart explaining that board is required to take all steps within the policy in

See GILMAN on page 8 order to be compliant with the state.

During the citizens forum, Fred Romig stated, “Previous boards did take the next person on the ballot, I think you are setting a precedent here.”

Leipart addressed this later, reporting, “The time that they just chose was not compliant with policy.'

Derrick Romig was present but did not address the board.

The board also voted in Darrell Thompson as president, Rosemeyer as vice president, Lauren Zach as clerk, Philip Grunseth as treasurer, and Val Kulesa as CESA 10 and WASB representative.

The board decided to hold off on filling committee roles until next month when they hope to have the vacancy filled. In other business:

• The board heard that Leipart testified in front of the joint finance committee in Hayward on Tuesday morning to continue advocating for school funding.

“We need certainty in our budget,” Leipart stated. “If there’s changes in that funding, that’s going to cause us to either find revenue somewhere else, or reduce or eliminate programming.”

Leipart discussed high property value in the Gilman area which has been detrimental to school funding, though he reports that 53% of Gilman students live in economically disadvantaged households.

“Now we have to start campaigning and looking at ways to present this operational referendum in a way that’s palatable to the community,” he said.

The board also heard from principal Phil Tallman who stated that track and field day will be held on May 28. Tallman reported that Forward testing was completed for grades 3 through 8, as well as grade 10. He informed the board of a new book club for the students which is being ran by teacher Tiffany Partridge. Tallman also recognized the school districts of Holcombe, Cornell, and Thorp, who all sent guidance counselors to Gilman to support students during the recent tragedy.

• The board heard that e-Succeed director Amy Russ has been approved to transition to full-time from parttime. The board voted to accept the resignation of Spanish teacher Nicole Butler and general music/band teacher Nathan McIntyre. Leipart also stated that he will be recruiting for a varsity girl’s basketball coach. The board approved 2025-2026 teacher contracts as well.

• The board also voted to install a bridge and make the trail wider in the school forest in order to attract more visitors. The bridge will cost $5,372 and brushing out and widening the trail will cost $11,214 with money coming from Fund 46 school forest funds. The work will be done by Olynick Management.

• The board heard from Leipart that the school is eligible for a 0% finance lease with Apple to replace the school’s iPads. Apple will credit the school for taking in their old iPads. They have the option to do this again in three years as well.