Colby K-12

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As with the varsity sports, Colby will host the softball team while Abbotsford will host the baseball team.

The board also approved a proposal to give official school club status to the archery club.

“We don’t usually officially recognize a club as a club at the building level until they build up a participation base, until they can prove they are going to have a sustained program over several years,” Galligan explained. “We feel like, based upon the numbers we had in the program this year alone, we feel pretty good about moving forward.”

In its first season, the club had 17 students participate, with students ranging from fourth grade to high school, with more expressing interest. The equipment used by the club is also used by the physical education departments, where students can learn the basics of safety and general form.

Archery has also seen an uptick in popularity, with Wozniak noting that other school programs are quite large and that he could see an increase in participation at Colby if more equipment was purchased to allow it. Because of the potential growth, he said he believes it would be a good idea to make the team an official school club so that the school could assist with the administration aspects of the team.

“Knowing that it could grow so fast, there needs to be somebody over top to make sure everything is going right and so it’s not all on (head coach) Allison (Rau),” Wozniak said. “That’s why I really think it needs to be a school club. If there is an issue, it is most likely going to come back to the school anyway because it’s school kids using school equipment and they are using the school facilities.”

“This way, if it’s a club, we can make sure they are academically eligible,” he added. “If it’s not a club activity, they could fail every class and still participate. They have to follow the (athletic) code. If there are any discipline issues, anything like that, it doesn’t fall on Allison, it would fall on the school. Screening coaches as well, if more people want to get involved, should be on the school.”

Other business

■ The board approved a 10-cent increase to the school lunch and breakfast rates for the coming school year. While the rates had increased last year as well, Galligan noted that it had been several years between increases before that. He also stated that the district adminstration uses a formula provided by the state to determine what the prices for meals provided by the school should be.

■ Changes to the K-12 math curriculum were approved at the board meeting, with the district deciding to go through three different companies across different age groups. After evaluations by the district’s teachers, kindergarten and first grade will use curriculum from Amplify, grades 2 through 5 will use Imagine Learning and grades 6-12 will go through McGraw Hill.

The different curriculums were chosen based on the needs of each age group, according to Galligan, with the district deciding to go with Amplify for the youngest students because it was less digital than some of the other curriculums. Imagine Learning was chosen because it was more hands-on and interactive and had digital tools in English and Spanish for teachers to utilize with the technology that the district currently has at those levels. McGraw Hill was seen as the first or second choice by many middle and high school math teachers and also has connections with Northcentral Technical College curriculum and dual credit courses.

■ The board approved a joint contract with Abbotsford for online counseling services with Uwill to help address mental health concerns for students. The program is seen as an option to bridge the gap until a student can meet with a counselor in person or as an alternative if the student preferred meeting online rather than in person. Long wait times for counseling were cited as one reason for making the move. More details can be found on page 1.

■ Next month’s regular board meeting date was changed to Monday, July 14, rather than its normal third Monday of the month. The time will remain the same, beginning at 6:30 p.m.