Rib Lake board sets teacher, staff wages

Rib Lake school staff will see a 5.5% increase in their paychecks next year.

Members of the Rib Lake School Board on July 13, approved the pay raise for each step in the teachers’ salary steps with an equivalent increase for support staff positions.

According to district administrator Travis Grubbs the pay increases for school districts have varied greatly throughout the region with some, such as Stevens Point, going up as high as 8% while at the other end of the spectrum, Athens has a pay freeze in place.

The Rib Lake board agreed with a plan to increase each salary step by a base of 5.5% for teachers and professional staff and include a provision to give a similar increase to those who are highest on the salary scale in order to keep them at the same increase as others.

Board members also approved giving a 5.5% base increase to support staff plus any additional experience increases. In addition, Grubbs said the board took into account that the school year will be shorter going forward by about four days and that the board adjusted the pay such that support staff, especially those who are paid based on school days, did not have less compensation, but were instead kept whole.

Board members approved a similar 5.5% increase for the base salaries of the administrator, bookkeeper, interpreter, counselors, technology coordinator, elementary principal and middle/high school principal with some tweaks to bring staff members in line with wages of comparable positions in other districts.

E tickets

Rib Lake is on the fence about a push in the Marawood Conference to contract with GoFan to provide electronic tickets to regular season sporting events.

Grubbs explained that GoFan is the service used by the WIAA for e-tickets for state events. People going to state games must purchase their tickets through GoFan.

“I am not sure if Rib Lake as a whole is ready for etickets,” Grubbs said, noting he has been one of the biggest holdouts in the Marawood Conference discussions on the topic. He said even if the conference were to decide to go to e-tickets he would want to have someone at the door for people who don’t want to use it.

As with many things it comes to cost, the conference currently pays GoFan to host the conference’s website and if they adopted the company as the e-ticket provider that cost would be covered. At the same time, there is a cost of using the e-ticket service with the service charging a fee of $1 per ticket.

The current ticket prices are $3 for adults and $2 for students for regular season games. He said the decision would need to be made if the ticket prices should be increased or if the schools would just eat the additional cost.

Grubbs was against the idea of raising prices saying that they don’t want to make it any harder for people to attend games. He noted the ticket fees are not a large revenue source and do not cover the cost of athletics as it is.

The e-ticket decision will be voted on by the conference and then will have to go to every school board in the conference for them to agree to it.

In other business, board members:

  Received an update on the impact of the state budget’s adjustment to the revenue limits increasing the per pupil spending limit in the district from around $10,000 per student to $11,000. “It will be a big thing for us,” Grubbs said. Unfortunately, because state aid was not increased accordingly, district taxpayers may see a slight tax increase as a result.

  Approved the second reading of the 2023-24 handbook and district strategic plan. These had been reviewed at the June meeting with no additional changes made since then.

  Received an update on the proposed building project. Findorff is on board and is reviewing the projected costs to refine them and bring the information to administration. School Perceptions is working on the draft of the survey that will be sent to the community in late August or early September to gauge support for the proposal and the prioraties of district residents for the school. The survey will be finalized and approved by the board at the August meeting.

  Received an update on the summer school program with 140 students participating. Grubbs noted the school served 508 breakfasts and 1,042 lunches through the month of June.

  Reviewed the educational goals set at the elementary, middle and high school levels. These are similar to the past and are based on having 80% of students in K to grade 5 meet or exceed set benchmark increases, the plans also include similar increases as the goal in the other school levels.

  Approved hiring Harold Polster, a former construction contractor from Phillips, as the new tech ed teacher and Josh Isaacson to be the cross country coach.

  Directed Grubbs to look at prices and availability of a van to replace the 1999 Plymouth Voyager that was used to transport meals from the high school to the other schools in the district. The van needs to be replaced, and the district may look at getting a newer vehicle to replace one that is being used for student or sports transportation and shift that for service in the lunch program.