New outdoor classroom open in Marathon

By Kevin O’Brien

For students and staff at Marathon Elementary School and Venture Academy, the new school year has brought with it new learning opportunities in an outdoor classroom built this past summer.

Now, students in the tech ed class at Marathon High School are planning to furnish the new classroom with new benches that are just as unique as the classroom itself. Under the direction of teacher Wayne Kroeplin, students Riley Ott, Logan Rohland, Will Bretzke and Mitch Zemke have designed what are called “Leopold benches,” which allow people to sit backwards and rest their elbows on the back so they can look at the nearby pond with binoculars or write on a flat surface.

Kroeplin and his students spoke to the school board last week about their plans to build 30 benches to fit inside the outdoor classroom, which is 68 feet wide long by 38 feet wide. He said they’ll start with a fullscale prototype to make sure it fits the parameters of the new structure.

The benches, which will be stackable and have the name “Raiders” stenciled onto the back, are estimated to be completed by the end of next month, the students said.

Board members seemed enthusiastic about the project after reviewing some design drawings and asking the students a few questions about the construction process.

“I just can’t say enough about the tech ed program,” said board member Lia Klumpyan. “It’s come so far, and there are just so many more kids involved, doing

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good things. So, keep it up.”

Superintendent Rick Parks said the district has gone through most of the final punch-list items on the classroom project with Scherrer Construction, and a ribboncutting ceremony was held for students last week.

Other business

■ Connor Ellenbecker, associate principal at MAES/MVA, said 406 students participated in at least one summer school class this year, including 56 students who openenrolled from outside the district and 127 high school students who participated in strength and conditioning.

■ MAES/MVA Principal Max Wienke told the board that Ellenbecker and school counselor Emily Miller redid the class schedule at MVA so that there are only 21 eighth-graders in a classroom at a time, down from the over 30 per section at the start of the school year.

“The staff love it,” he said. “The students have expressed to me that they like it.”

Seventh grade still has 28 students per classroom and sixth grade has 27 per section, which is a little high, but none of the grades are above 30 pupils per classroom, he noted.

In order to reduce the class sizes, Wienke said the school had to add another class period, shorten each class by five minutes and cut the “crew” periods from 30 minutes down to 15. All seven sections of students now have new “extended learning time” class periods where they can focus on their individual academic needs.

■ The board approved the hiring of George Adams, a retired professor at UWStevens Point, as a part-time math teacher at MVA. The district has also hired a long-term substitute to cover afternoon classes. Wienke said Adams would be willing to work full-time, but his retirement benefits prevent him from doing so.

■ The board approved the hiring of Rick Johnson as cross-country coach and Ashley Gertschen as a volunteer JV3 volleyball coach.

■ The board voted to post a job opening for a bilingual health and English Language aid. Parks said the number of non-English speaking students in the district is increasing, and he’s hoping there’s a qualified candidate in the area who could spend about seven hours per day with students.

■ Boy Scout Leo Narloch told the board about his Eagle Scout project, which involves building and installing a backpack rack at the shelter in the school forest. Narloch was planning to get the materials last week and start working on the project.

■ The board renewed the district’s property, general liability and worker’s compensation insurance through EMC TRICORE, at an increase of $16,000 over last year. Parks said the district will seek new bids for insurance next spring.

■ The board approved an increase in custodial work time by five to six hours a week, which will allow a current staff member to clean the wellness center more often and do work in the kitchen.

■ On the recommendation of athletic director Curt Miller, the board approved the creation of a girls wrestling team, which will allow female athletes to start participating in postseason competitions this winter. Miller said girls wrestling is the fastest growing sport in Wisconsin schools, and he can think of at least five students who would sign up right away, with potentially many more in the future.

■ Miller told the board that several lights are out on the football field scoreboard and he’s working with a company called Daktronics to explore options for replacing the individual lights (an estimated $8,000) or the full scoreboard. Parks said the district could approach local businesses and organizations for donations as it has done in the past.

■ Parks said Marathon students earned a total of 297 college credits last school year through the district’s dual credit program at Northcentral Technical College, saving local families nearly $44,500 in tuition.