Sullivan noted the expansion of ….

Sullivan noted the expansion of technology education space, increased accessibility as well as upgrades to the gym and theater spaces were all items included in the district’s long-range planning. Sullivan noted that these needs were identified not by the school board but by the community.

Board member DeDe Strama asked what would be done differently now compared to the fall. The district is continuing to work with consultants from Findorff who have assisted through the referendum process. They highlighted additional plans to get information to residents through advertising, mail and virtual open houses. The open houses held prior to the fall election were only sparsely attended due in large part to COVID-19.

Sullivan also encouraged board members to pick up call lists and call local voters. He said at the least it is a good way to get conversation going and help correct misinformation people may have.

Other suggestions were for board members to visit town recycling centers to spread the word and to share the updated project video and information with residents. Sullivan noted that one positive is that with interest rates falling again since last autumn, the current projections from the district’s financial consultants at Baird are that the project would have an impact of $45 per year on $100,000 home on the debt service portion of the school tax levy compared to the previous estimate of $53 per year. “That is still conservative,” Sullivan said.

Teacher vaccinations

A plan to hold a mass vaccination clinic for district teachers was met with questions and concerns by board president Dave Fleegel.

Sullivan said that they had been informed by the Taylor County Health Department that vaccinations for teachers would take place on either February 5 or 12 and be done at the high school. He explained that he would be told by the health department when the exact date would be based on vaccine availability. On Tuesday, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services announced that vaccinations for teachers would not begin until March. While this will push back the date when vaccination occurs for area teachers, it will not impact the process the district will use on the day vaccination takes place.

The plan is for the vaccinations to take place at the high school with high school level students not having class that day. High school teachers would be vaccinated first and then after being observed would go to other schools in the district to supervise classrooms at the elementary and middle school level as those teachers take their turn to be vaccinated. On the same day, teachers from Rib Lake and Gilman as well as Holy Rosary and Immanuel Lutheran would also receive their vaccinations at the high school.

Every person vaccinated must be observed for 15 to 20 minutes to check for reactions. However, Strama noted the shot itself does not take much time at all and most would just be waiting for observation.

Sullivan said of all the school levels, having high school students at home would cause the least disruption to families in the district versus younger students who would need childcare. Sullivan said that under the plan, all the teachers would be working all day somewhere in the district.

With a second round of vaccines either three or four weeks after the first vaccine, Sullivan suggested school could be canceled due to the reported greater incidence of reactions from the second dose. His concern was having teachers reacting to it and not being able to cover classrooms in the process. A total of 157 teachers in the district have signed up to receive the vaccination when it becomes available. Fleegel questioned why they would do a mass vaccination and take up a school day versus having staff members all make their own appointments like they are doing with senior citizens. Strama said the intent is to get the entire group done at once.

“We need to get it to people as quickly as possible so that it isn’t going until next September,” said board member Steve Deml.

Fleegel also questioned being a site for the staff from other schools to be vaccinated saying this goes against the efforts to keep others out of the school buildings as much as possible. Sullivan noted that students would not be the building for this and that the logistics involved with running a vaccination clinic like this needs space the size of the high school in order for it to be completed in an eight-hour day.

“I don’t see why it is our job to mitigate when and where they can get their shot,” Fleegel said, objecting to holding a mass vaccination.

Board member Paul Dixon disagreed. Dixon compared it to having to vaccinate 10,000 cows during his career as a veterinarian and if he was going to a barn with 150 cows he would want to get them all vaccinated at the same time rather than come back.

“It is a matter of how many doses can you deliver in the shortest period of time,” he said, In a related action, board members received an update from administration on COVID-19 leave. Prior to January 1, staff out due to COVID-19 either being sick or quarantined and unable to teach from home, were eligible to use up to 80 hours of federally guaranteed sick time instead of their regular sick leave. That program ended at the end of December and now people out sick will need to use their accumulated sick leave. The district had previously allowed COVID-19 to be included in the reasons for employees to donate banked sick leave days to other employees. Sullivan told board members he has been hearing complaints from staff regarding this with people saying it is unfair. Sullivan said that if people have exhausted all of their sick days the district would not pay them for any days that they were out sick, but he assured them they would continue to have jobs. District teachers receive 12 sick days per year with the ability to accrue up to 180 of them with days over that level being paid out.

While noting it seemed unfair that people were able to use the federal program through the first part of the year, but cannot do so now, board members noted the money for the program was no longer available.

“It doesn’t seem right, but that is the reality,” said board member Cheryl Wibben, noting the same thing is happening whether people are teachers, doctors or in any other area.

Board member Brian Hallgren expressed concern that there would be people who would be coming to work sick or hiding symptoms because they could not afford to be off without pay.

Board member John Zuleger noted that with the vaccinations, this concern of teachers becoming ill with COVID-19 would be reduced. “This discussion will have a lot less weight six weeks from now,” he said.

“I agree it sucks, but that is the reality of it,” Wibben said, noting the district has done quite a bit already to address concerns.

Activities planned

Medford is planning to hold a junior prom this spring at the Simek Center. Building off experience with sports and other activities high school principal Jill Lybert told the board they felt they could hold the annual event with enough room for social distancing to occur and by limiting outside people from coming in to watch the coronation to two per person on court.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, resident Sherry Meyer had urged the district to allow prom and other activities as well as concerts to take place. She said the district needed to be giving students hope rather than sending the message of taking things away. Those comments came before Lybert reported that prom would be held as well as a return to in-person concerts and a play planned for this spring at the high school. No concerts are currently planned at the middle or elementary level. Middle school principal Al Leonard noted the end of year concerts for the middle school would not typically take place until the beginning of May and that he planned to bring a plan to the board at a future meeting to see how things are going. The first high school concert will be on February 22 with a band concert in the high school gym. Seating at the concert will be limited and patterned on how access is granted to sporting events.

Lybert also reported on the plans for the Winter Carnival where in place of the traditional dance, the high school would be going for a fun day at Forest Spring Camp and Conference Center with a variety of activities and the crowning of the winter carnival court to take place on the lake.

In other business, board members:

_ Approved using $200,000 from the maintenance budget to repave the bus parking lot to the east of Medford Area Elementary School. “We have really kicked this down the road for the past 10 years,” Sullivan said, noting the parking lot is overdue to be replaced. Work on the lot will be done before the end of June. Depending on timing with contractors, the existing surface may be ground off before then.

_ Received a report on how drivers education will be handled in the future with the retirement of longtime drivers education instructor Jim Giese. The course is currently a hybrid with Giese teaching the classroom portion in the building and those taking the class contracting with him for the behind-the-wheel portion. Sullivan said administration is seeking proposals from vendors to continue a drivers ed program at the school.

_ Received an update on the ACT test date to occur on March 9. The district is required to give the test to all 11th graders with specifications on how close together they may sit and minimizing distractions such as passing bells. In the past few years, the junior class has taken the test at the First Baptist Church facilities allowing the rest of the high school to continue to hold classes. This year, with social distancing requirements, the Baptist Church facilities are not large enough to accommodate all the students so the current plan is to use the high school and have grades 9,10 and 12 off that day while testing is taking place. Fleegel raised concern about the plan, noting that the board had spend a lot of time adding minutes of instruction two years ago to get more educational time and this year seems to be cutting time out. “I get this year is an exception, it just eats away,” he said.

Parent Sherry Meyer addressed the board urging them to allow prom, in-person concerts and other activities. She cited the success of student athletics with COVID-19 precautions and said similar steps could make other activities possible.BRIAN WILSON/THE STAR NEWS