Cadott School Annual Meeting - Enrollment will grow if there’s childcare offered

Cadott School Board president Cory LaNou spoke about how the district is progressing, Oct. 21, as part of the annual meeting. The board of education is focused on not only student growth, but their own, to ensure they are fiscally responsible, while providing the best they can for the students. Photo by Ginna Young

By Ginna Young

Many things were discussed at Cadott’s annual school meeting, Oct. 21, as well as the business of setting the tax levy. After crunching the numbers, the levy was approved at $5,397,314, with a mill rate of 8.03, which is lower than last year, although the levy is up, because of the capital improvements referendum that was passed.

As the district moves forward, board president Cory LaNou shared in his report, that they are focused on enhancing student learning.

“That has been our singular drive, above everything else,” he said.

A report was also given on how the capital improvements are shaping up, with LaNou giving full credit to district administrator Josh Spaeth, for his negotiating with contractors for the work.

“It’s absolutely astounding, the price, per foot, he’s been able to get,” said LaNou.

As part of the remodel of the high school, Spaeth has plans to move the sixth-grade to the middle school side of the highway.

“That would open up some room for wrap-around care,” said Spaeth.

If the district moved personnel around and ran the childcare from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., parents would pay the district for that service, as other districts are seeing success with that model. At least 14 students, who would have been in 4K this year, at Cadott, enrolled at another district, because of the childcare options available.

“It makes it harder to bring people into our community, as well,” said Spaeth, adding that it would help with teacher retention, if they had a place for their children to go. “It’s something we’ve got to do.”