Presented with a handful of teaching vacancies in the district and expecting less funding from the state, the Oconto Falls School Board agreed to fill one vacancy, then ranked five other positions to be filled as finances allow.
From highest to lowest priority are Abrams Elementary guidance (Cathy Ehlert resigned), middle school agriculture (Bret Iverson resigned), Abrams Elementary fifth-grade teacher (new), library media specialist (Marsha Mellen retired) and computer technician (new).
Board members also voted to fill the position of Abrams Elementary math/reading interventionist (Linda Stoltenberg resigned).
The district projects a revenue limit — the maximum amount it can raise through state aid and property taxes — of $17.2 million, which is $183,000 less than last year.
An overflow crowd of about 60 people attended the School Board meeting June 8, with some audience members standing in the kitchen and hallway adjoining the conference room, waiting for an opportunity to campaign for their cause.
School Board member Pam Engel said reductions in state funding placed the board in a difficult spot.
“To even prioritize these things is just an awful position for anybody to be in, and for you guys to be lobbying for your kids is like, ‘Oh, my God!’, but that’s the position we’re in,” she said. “You have to make sure you’re an advocate for your school district and your kids and for public education. No one wants to put one in front of another.”
Among the speakers were representatives of the Oconto Falls FFA chapter who encouraged the School Board to keep agriculture education and the FFA program at Washington Middle School.
“Agriculture is a great way for them to get hands on and dirty and reinforce what they learn in their science classes,” said Amanda Lietz, high school agriculture teacher and FFA adviser.
School Board member Ken Harter said today’s emphasis on testing and academic subjects leaves fewer opportunities for students to enroll in career and tech ed programs.
“It’s something students want that they can gain from and learn from and keeps them in school,” said Harter, a retired agriculture teacher, county agriculture agent and former state FFA Alumni president.
School Board member Jan Stranz also spoke in favor of filling the position.
“I’m afraid we’re going to lose a really valuable opportunity at the middle school if we don’t support agriculture at some level,” she said.
Amber Just, a parent of a fifth-grade student at Abrams Elementary School, asked the School Board to add a third section of fifth grade to reduce the potential class size from 24 to 16 students. She said students in the class are “struggling to learn every single day just to hear the teacher, just to get what the teacher’s saying across to them.”
School Board President Ron Leja said the board shouldn’t set a precedent of adding a class, because it opens the door to other parent requests the district won’t be able to fulfill.
But School Board member Clint Gardebrecht referred to the Abrams class as unique, due to the number of special needs students.
“I do feel strongly at times there’s a requirement to look at unique situations and adjust a certain way,” he said.
Adding a fifth-grade teacher was estimated to cost $56,500. The other new position, a computer technician, would cost an estimated $58,000.
Currently, District Technology Coordinator Tammy Gaertig and two technicians maintain 1,400 computers, 80 Smart Boards, projectors in every classroom, plus iPads and other devices, Gaertig told the School Board.
The district’s 1-to-1 technology initiative, which supplies middle and high school students with laptops, will bring in 250 more computers for the 2015-16 school year. Gaertig said her staff is spread thin, requiring staff and students to wait longer for assistance when there’s a breakdown, which can impact learning.
“Especially if you’re doing 1-to-1, you need reliability for the students that are depending on that,” Superintendent Dave Polashek said.
One thing the School Board decided not to fund was a new phone system, estimated at $81,900, but it did vote for a teacher compensation raise of 1.62 percent, based on the consumer price index, estimated to have a budget impact of $162,000. Health and dental insurance costs are expected to rise $85,000 from last year, Polashek said.
Several expenditures in the current budget, such as $238,000 for new textbooks, will not be a part of the 2015-16 budget. In addition, the district plans to run one less bus route, for a savings of $25,000, drop a fourth-grade section at Abrams Elementary due to lower enrollment, which saves about $56,000, and reduce a full-time high school math position to part time, saving $26,500.
The board also approved an exemption to the revenue limit, meaning it can collect more in taxes and state funds, to repay about $121,000 in bonds for the recent energy saving projects done by Ameresco. The board had planned to use utility cost savings for the payment but decided instead to expand the revenue limit.
Polashek said this option provides the board with flexibility in budgeting.
