School board deadlocks on new assessment system

Requests from community members to address what they described as a “dying school district” appeared to make a difference June 20 as the Shawano School Board deadlocked on a proposal to implement a new system called iReady.

The program was expected to replace the STAR assessment at the two elementary schools and Shawano Community Middle School, while the STAR program would have remained in place at Shawano Community High School. However, the board deadlocked 3-3, with Mart Grams, Mike Musolff and Jeana Winslow voting against the implementation, which was expected to cost up to $82,972 in its first year. Board members James Davel, Chris Gull and Jamie Beyer were absent from the meeting.

Kurt Krizan, the district’s director of personalized learning, told the board that the iReady program was expected to reduce costs in the long run, with individual tests costing $5.40 per student, while the STAR tests are currently running $6.10 per student. The iReady system would have also included about 100 licenses per school to develop individualized learning plans for the most at-risk students and/or gifted students, according to Krizan.

However, community members spoke out at the board meeting and encouraged the board not to implement anything that would add significant expense to the district, which is expected to continue to bleed out millions of dollars in deficit in coming years due to declining student enrollment unless an operational referendum is approved.

“Given the state of crisis that this district is in, along with the over $2 million deficit that is being projected for the coming school year, I ask that you vote no on any action items that are not currently in place, including curriculum and existing district positions that will add to our expenses and budget moving forward,” said Christine McKinnies, of Shawano.

McKinnies addressed the iReady program specifically in her comments, urging the board to get answers specifically on how much the existing STAR program, which has been used by the district for at least a decade, currently costs the district.

“In order to make an educated decision, you need to be aware of the current costs and the quoted costs if we are to do what is presented,” McKinnies said. “If iReady will be any increase, I encourage you to vote no. We simply cannot afford to add another item with training for our teachers.”

When pressed by board members, Krizan said he did not know the current total cost of the STAR assessment program, only that it cost the district $6.10 per test per student.

McKinnies also discouraged the board from approving the district administration’s proposal to have only one board meeting in July due to the Independence Day holiday with no committee meetings. The plan was to just meet on July 11, as the normal first meeting of the month would have been July 4.

“Our district is critical. We are dying,” McKinnies said, comparing the state of the district to a critically ill or injured hospital patient needing emergency surgery and care. “It is time for our district and administration to look at why our district is critical.”

The board changed course on that plan, altering its meeting schedule for July and August, with the board meeting July 11 and July 25, with the next month’s meetings taking place on Aug. 8 and Aug. 22. With there being five Mondays in August, that would allow for board meetings to take place every two weeks, even though there was no mention of what would be done once September arrived, and the first Monday of the month was Labor Day, a holiday where schools would be closed.

The board also agreed to allow at least the finance committee to meet in July, set to meet in its usual time slot at 5 p.m. July 13.

McKinnies told the board that this was not a good time to be lax in care for the district, simply because it’s summertime.

“Declining enrollment does not cause damage as severe as what Shawano School District is experiencing,” McKinnies said. “Why are staff leaving in unprecedented numbers — over 50 this year with a total loss of all principals.”

Her statement was confirmed with the announcement at the meeting that Troy Edwards, principal at Hillcrest Primary School, is leaving to be the superintendent at the Marion School District with the departure of James Bena. Olga Brener Intermediate School principal Aaron Manders tendered his resignation in May and will be a principal in the Oneida School District.

In April, Shawano Community Middle School principal Stuart Russ resigned and became Wittenberg-Birnamwood High School’s principal, and Shawano Community High School principal Scott Zwirschitz resigned and took a teaching position at Clintonville High School.

The district has also lost associate principals and one dean of students in the last two months. Currently, only one position is filled at the school adminstrative level, with Matthew Peterson, who had been dean of students at Olga Brener, moving into the principal position.

Another Shawano resident, Charlene Stuewer, also addressed the budget crisis and argued that more attention needed to be paid to the district’s situation, not less.

“Imagine the school district is a car with a transmission problem,” Stuewer said. “That would be our budget deficit. This is serious and can’t be ignored. Imagine that same car is by a cliff and in danger of toppling over the edge. That is our current personnel crisis with over 23% of our professional staff leaving the district.”

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com