Rib Lake board approves elementary HVAC repairs

Will do piecemeal repairs now, eyes replacement as part of future referendum

At the May 11 Rib Lake Board of Education meeting, board members voted to repair the HVAC system in the elementary school as it breaks rather than completely fix it now. These fixes would play a part in the potential facilities project the board has been discussing.

The current HVAC system at Rib Lake Elementary School is malfunctioning in certain rooms. There are classrooms that are too hot - to the point of having to keep a window open in the dead of winter - and rooms that are too cold.

School administrator Travis Grubbs told the board about the few times he had come in on weekends. “I was coming in on weekends and it’s hot, but it shouldn’t be hot.” He went on, “it should be in unoccupied mode, and it should be not cold, but you know, cooler, and it’s not.” Grubbs also told the board that the elementary school’s electrical bill is much higher than those of the other district buildings, partially due to the HVAC system not being able to turn off or adjust itself.

A few months ago, the board voted to fix the broken valves in the HVAC system, as they found that the reason that the temperatures were incorrect was that the valves were either stuck open or stuck closed. As they fixed these issues, a new one made itself known. The current theory as to why the temperatures in classrooms still aren’t correct is that the computers sending signals to open or close the valves, and the transmitters receiving those signals, are not working properly. To properly fix the entire HVAC system now would cost the district around $150,000. With the hope of a potential facilities project referendum that would cover these fixes, the board decided to forgo fixing it all at once, and instead fix the issues as they appear, costing the district around $30,000 now.

In other news:

  The board voted to hire School Perceptions, a consultant company, to conduct a survey in the Rib Lake community to gather information about the potential facilities project and referendum. The information the survey will collect includes things such as the parts of the project the community feels strongly about as well as an accurate measure of whether or not a referendum will pass in the Rib Lake School District.

  Also regarding the potential facilities project, Grubbs and Excel Engineering proposed hiring a construction manager for the project. This person would get to know the Rib Lake schools even better than Excel Engineering has, and give the district a better idea of what is actually plausible for the facilities project, as well as a better understanding of the cost of the project. The board approved this proposal, and the facilities committee will finetune it before bringing it to the board for final approval.

  This was the first meeting without former board vice president Jason Dananay who decided not to run for the board this year. He was replaced by Karah Grzanna. The board had its yearly reorganization and had to approve the designation of the official recording secretary (Joanne Peterson), depository (Nicolet National Bank and Prevail), newspaper ( The Star News), WASB delegate and alternate (Stacy Tlusty with alternate Rollie Thums), and CESA 9 representative (Nicole Scheller).

  The board president for this year is Stacy Tlusty, the vice president is Nicole Glenzer, the clerk is Jackie Mohr, and the treasurer is Amanda Treffinger. The board also established who was on different committees. These include: Personnel: Stacy Tlusty, Jackie Mohr, Nicole Glenzer Facilities: Rollie Thums, Karah Grzanna Policy: Amanda Treffinger School Forest: Rollie Thums Safety: Stacy Tlusty, Nicole Scheller Athletic: Karah Grzanna, Stacy Tlusty

  Student Council members Angel Krueger and Ryan Buehler attended the meeting with Student Council advisor Craig Scheithauer, who reported on the recent goings-on of the Rib Lake high school, and told the board about the application process to get on student council.

  The board approved a change to the staff handbook regarding retirement benefits. Before the change, the district’s retirement policy in regards to health insurance had two options for retirees, both of which were dependent on how long they had worked for the district. For every five years a person works for the school district, they get one year of health benefits, only if they have worked for the District for over 20 years. Option One was to remain on the district’s current health insurance. This option has not changed. In Option Two, the district puts $10,000 into an HRA for that acquired time. Both of these options stop when the retiree reaches Medicare age regardless of whether they had received the benefits they earned from working for Rib Lake Schools for so long. The change proposed and approved was to give those people who chose Option Two the Medicare premium amount for the extra years they earned.

  The board thanked the bus drivers that serve the Rib Lake School District.

  There were 64 people who filled out the survey at the facilities project listening sessions on May 3. The sessions were well attended and they gathered some good information about the wants and needs of the Rib Lake community.

  board member Rolie Thums and his wife attended grandparents day at the elementary school, and were very impressed by the school’s music program and the event in general.

  General facilities maintenance projects happening this summer include waxing and painting at the middle and high schools, draining the high school ice rink, and fixing the greenhouse.