Cadott School Board - Hornet Care is moving full steam ahead for the next school year

Construction on the new tech ed space at the Cadott High School, is continuing on schedule and on budget. The timeline to be done is expected to be met, with the facility open for the beginning of the 2025-26 school year. Photo by Ginna Young

By Ginna Young

You may have noticed the advertisement on the big electric sign along State Hwy. 27, heading toward Chippewa Falls, about the upcoming Hornet Care. What is Hornet Care?

It’s something that promises to bring in even more kids/ families to the Cadott School District, as was discussed March 17, at the board of education meeting.

Known as Hornet Care, the initiative at the elementary school building will provide before and after-school care to students, the same way a daycare would. In addition, there will be full-day care for 4K students on their day off.

“We’re kind of piggybacking off of Cameron,” said district administrator Josh Spaeth.

Staff time is the only investment, as no construction is needed, with the moving of sixth grade to the high school building in the fall. Other than a few materials, which will be purchased through Fund 80, are the only expense.

“Plus, if people are going to use it (care), they have to pay for that,” said Spaeth.

Cameron, who has the same set-up, is seeing $200,000, annually, in revenue, not counting what could potentially be brought in through increased open enrollment.

Casey Yeager, board member, asked if additional staff needs to be hired, but that won’t be necessary, as the 4K paraprofessionals will staff the care, before the regular school day starts and after. Spaeth said they may need to have one additional worker and will probably have to put a cap on the number of kids they can accept.

Board president Cory LaNou pointed out that the paras’ pay comes out of Fund 80, while the rest of the day is covered under the normal salary. There will have to be some special accounting kept, especially on the special education side.

“That’s an additional piece,” said Deb Delyea, director of special education.

Rod Tegels, board member, questioned if the district qualifies for state aid for meals for the kids in Hornet Care, which Spaeth says they will be, if they eat breakfast and/or lunch through the food service program, but snacks will be paid for through Fund 80.

During the meeting, the board also agreed to use $50,000, from Fund 46, to help give back somewhat for the baseball field upgrades, which includes lighting for night games, a concession stand and even a new scoreboard.

“This was not originally part of the project,” said Spaeth.

With the new scoreboard, the old one will be moved to the youth field, provided the district can legally do so.

Since the majority of the project was privately funded, with many donations from individuals and organizations, Spaeth felt it was important to give back financially, as he doesn’t want to see the youth funds depleted.

“It’s pretty important to keep those funds,” he said. Board member Andrea Wahl asked if giving money toward the project would cause any animosity from the other youth sports programs, but LaNou felt that was not the case, as the district has spent money in some way on all of them, at some point. It was agreed those in charge of the baseball project went above and beyond in their efforts.

“They’ve knocked it out of the park, quite literally,” said LaNou.