Nuernberger to step down from Medford School Board seat

The Medford School District will put its recently reviewed board member replacement policy into action as member Jodi Nuernberger announced she will be resigning from the board effective at the end of May.

Jodi Nuernberger announced her plans to step down at Monday’s school board meeting. Nuernberger described the decision to step down as being bittersweet.

She said in her time on the board she has developed a deeper respect for the work done by the board members and district staff.

She said her husband is starting a new career which will require their family to move out of the district with the move planned for this June.

District policy outlines the process for filling a vacancy. The first step is for the district to solicit for interest among community members, this includes posting for the position as well as spreading it through word of mouth. Those interested will have until May 13 to submit a letter of interest to the board. The board will review the applications at the May regular meeting on May 19. Those interested in serving on the board are asked to attend that meeting in case there are questions from the board members.

The board members can then make a motion and vote on filling the vacancy. Board president Dave Fleegel noted that Nuernberger’s resignation from the board is not effective until after the May meeting so she will be eligible to vote on filling her vacancy.

If for some reason the board does not make a decision, the process starts over and after 60 days, the board president can make the appointment. The board reviewed the policy after it was noted that the way a past board resignation was filled was not done correctly and they wanted to ensure they followed the process spelled out in the policy and state law.

Nuernberger most recently served as board clerk and as the chair of the policy committee and led efforts to revamp the district’s anti-bullying policies. She was elected in 2021 and her current term was set to end in 2027.

The board walked through the appointment process as part of the board reorganization following the spring election at the beginning of April. Incumbents Kurt Werner, Corey Dassow and Aemus Balsis all were reelected.

In the election of board officers, Fleegel was unopposed for board president. Board vice president went to Don Everhard who had more votes by ballot than John Zuleger who was also nominated for the position. Steve Deml was selected board clerk and Brian Hallgren was reelected as board treasurer.

In other reorganization business, the board designated AbbyBank, Nicolet National Bank, Forward Financial, Associated Bank, Wisconsin Investment Series Coooperative and Mid America as the official depositories of public funds and named The Star News as the district’s official newspaper.

Zuleger was selected the WASB delegate with Balsis as the alternate. Fleegel was selected as the CESA representative with Everhard serving as the alternate.

House project To meet market demands, the next home built by Medford Area Senior High School tech ed students will be larger and include a basement.

The house-building program started last school year. Tech ed students under the instruction of Doug Eichmann are currently building their second home on a lot donated by the city in the Pep’s Drive subdivision. As with the first home, this is one level and built on slab foundation.

When the houses are sold, the money from the sale goes back into the program’s account to pay for the next year’s home to have it run as a self-sustaining program which gives the students valuable handson learning opportunities.

At the advice of the real estate agents working with the school, Eichmann came to the school’s finance committee to get approval to go with a slightly larger house for year three and include a basement. In order to get this work accomplished within the school year, Eichmann said the basement would be set in the summer and they would work with Wausau Homes and Wanke Builders to set the exterior walls and roof putting up the shell of the building the second week of the school year and allow the students to do the rest of the work over the course of the school year.

“It is a great opportunity for the students,” Fleegel said.

The first home built by the district has a cost of sightly over $300,000 to build. Eichmann projected this year’s house will come in at under $300,000. The larger square footage and basement will push the projected cost of next year’s home to about $390,000.

Deml noted that the price of about $200 per square foot is the same across all three years. The next home will have two bedrooms on the first floor and two additional finished bedrooms and recreation area in the basement with a large unfinished utility room and a large unfinished storage room. It will also have three bathrooms instead of two in the current designs.

District finance director Audra Brooks explained to the finance committee that the money for the house project runs through Fund 21, which is the district’s gift fund and that it will show a negative balance until the money from the sale of the home brings it back to positive.

Board members expressed support in wanting to ensure the sustainability of the house building program.

“It is an awesome program,” Zuleger said during the finance meeting.

In other business, board members:

• Approved contributing up to $28,000 in district funds to match $80,000 which have been pledged from the Fulcrum Foundation and others to replace equipment and reconfigure the fitness room at the high school. Mandy Haenel told finance committee members that additional fundraising efforts are underway and the district has received positive response. The current equipment is 15 years old and the set up in the room makes supervision more difficult and includes tripping hazards. The district is working with Dynamic Fitness out of Eau Claire for the project. The goal is to have the new equipment in place by early August.

• Received a budget update from Brooks. She said while there is a little risk of federal funding cuts in the 2025-26 school budget, the greater risk would occur in the 2026-27 school year. She said a lot will depend on court battles between the state and the federal government. One area that she said could potentially face cuts is the discounted e-rate for technology, she said this equates to about $143,000 a year.

• Approved adopting a new facility use agreement which will result in a large increase charged to some school building users especially when it comes to custodial services. The cost will increase from $15 per hour per custodian to $40 per hour. There were also changes to the rates for lifeguards, audio equipment, theater lighting and a covering to go over the gym floor. According to district administrator Laura Lundy, this will more closely cover the district’s actual cost with wages and benefits for having the staff members work overtime hours for building rentals. There were no changes made to the tiers regarding groups that pay versus groups that do not pay to use the school buildings. Activities director Ryan Pilgrim said the district will be working with groups to refine custodial needs and cut down on costs. “It is our philosophy we

• don’t make money, but really don’t want the district to lose money either,” Lundy said.

• Approved setting up a back-up plan for graduation which will move the ceremony indoors to the Simek Center in the case of inclement weather. Since 2020 the district has held graduation outdoors on Raider Field, while the district has gotten lucky, there have been some near misses such as last year’s graduation. Under the plan, the superintendent and high school administration will make a determination the day before or early on the day of graduation if it will need to be moved indoor. Lundy noted the ability to make a last minute change is because the district no longer rents the large screen which needs to be set up prior to graduation.

• Received an update on projections for class sizes in the coming school year. There will be some shifting in the number of classes per grade at the elementary level as a smaller class moves through the grade levels. At the middle and high school level, the sizes are projected to remain level. In the RVA, increased demand by students and desire to cut down the wait list will see the RVA increase in enrollment to 2,500 students across all grades in the coming school year. RVA administrator Charlie Heckel noted that the RVA works with 75 different school districts.

• Approved a policy for grade level retention to comply with the language in Act 20 setting third grade reading standards in the state. That portion of the policy will go into effect in September 2026 with the remainder of the policy going into effect

“It is a great opportunity for the students.”

— Board President Dave Fleegel about the house building project