Loyal School Board hears district report card numbers, other updates

The Loyal School Board met on Nov. 20 and received updates from the district administrator and principal on many activities happening in and around the school.

For one, District Administrator Chris Lindner informed the board of the school report card numbers recently released by the Department of Public Instruction. The district received an overall score of 62 out of 100 points, with the elementary school at 61.5, middle school at 66.1 and high school at 59.4. All four entities received a rating of “meets expectations,” or three out of five stars. The rating categories are “fails to meet expectations,” “meets few expectations,” “meets expectations,” “exceeds expectations” and “significantly exceeds expectations.”

The board approved Spectrum Insurance Group as the district’s property/liability insurance carrier for 2024-25. There were presentations given by Jesse Furrier from Spectrum Insurance Group and Brian Hess from The Insurance Center. The presentations took place in closed session and questions were asked in open session.

The board also approved the hiring of Mindy Geiger as a Title I interventionist. Title I teachers provide additional support for elementary students struggling with reading and math. With Geiger filling this position, Doddie Rahm will move into the open special education paraprofessional position.

The board was notified that there are three positions on the board up for re-election April 1: one at-large school board member, currently Holly Lindner; one school board member for the area north of Highway 98, currently Dave Clintsman; and one school board member for the area south of Highway 98, currently Dennis Roehl. The three incumbents have until Dec. 27 to file a notice of non-candidacy if they do not wish to run again. New candidates have until 5 p.m. Jan. 7 to file a campaign registration statement and sworn declaration of candidacy with the district office in order to have their names appear on the ballot.

Principal Angie Kollmansberger gave a report. She said the book fair Nov. 4-8 went well. Kollmansberger congratulated the one-act play for advancing to state. She also said the Veterans Day program went well. Nov. 22 marked the end of the grading period for first trimester. The second trimester was to begin Dec. 2. In the elementary school, Act 20 bingo night took place Nov. 4. The county health department recently gave puberty talks to the fourth graders. Parent-teacher conferences were held Nov. 21 and 22.

Kollmansberger also reported on the many field trips and activities that have taken place so far this year. The middle school students enjoyed a dance earlier this fall as a fundraiser for the Washington, D.C. trip. The art club took a field trip to a museum in Minneapolis. Juniors completed mock interviews. The seventh graders visited the 45 x 90 Geographical Marker in Wausau, which is halfway between the Equator and the North Pole, a quarter of the way around the planet, and halfway between Greenwich Meridian and the International Date Line. The FFA Leadership Team went to Stevens Point. The personal finance class completed job shadows. The juniors and seniors received an overview presentation on the UW System on Dec. 2.

The 4K students will visit Huey’s Hideaway Children’s Museum in Medford on Dec. 19 for their Christmas activity. The kindergarten and first grade students will visit the museum Dec. 20, while the fourth and fifth grade students will go tubing at Bruce Mound that day (weather permitting).

Lindner gave a report as well. He also congratulated the one-act play group, and complimented those involved with the Veterans Day program.

“The Veterans Day program was once again an outstanding program. Thank you to all that were involved in preparing the program. A special thank you to our guest speaker, Aaron Greisen, and Lisa Mahoney and the food service team for putting on an unbelievable meal for our veterans and spouses, Angie Kollmansberger and Seth Schilling for preparing the program, and the Legion and Legion Auxiliary for their parts in the program,” he said.

He congratulated Isaac Jakobi for receiving second place at the National FFA Convention for his ag services proficiency.

In addition, “Mike Evans from High Reliability Schools (HRS) was here and did walk-throughs with the admin team making sure we are consistent with our observations and working off our instructional model. This was very beneficial for us,” said Lindner.

He also reported that new school counselor Maiya McSorley and previous school counselor Becky Scherer met last week and worked together on scholarships, scheduling and course description updates. Scherer will be meeting with McSorley on an as-needed basis, not the eight hours per week as previously approved. Lindner envisioned it would be two or three hours per week.

Lindner also provided an update on the strategic plan.

“Scott Schiller is assisting with this and we have approximately eight members on the educational action team and 45 members on the task force team,” said Lindner.

The educational action team will have their first meeting on Dec. 4 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. This will get everything in order and prepared for the first task force meeting, which will be Jan. 8, with a light supper at 5:30 p.m. and the meeting from 6 to 9 p.m. There will be three task force meetings.

Lindner also provided an update on some of the district’s maintenance projects. The concession stand slab has been poured with in-floor heating. The plan was to install the sill plate the week of Nov. 20 and have the site prepped for walls to go up when students returned from Thanksgiving break. The construction class has the walls built already.

“The goal is to have the structure up and enclosed in December,” said Lindner.

The grease trap has been replaced in the kitchen. The old one had rotted through.

The district is still working on updating its steam heating system. Maintenance supervisor Brad Graffunder has some steam actuator valves in stock that he is going to use and will only order what is needed with the Belimo valves. The Belimo valves total $1,300 with labor will take care of one uni-vent.

The area by the greenhouse which had basketball courts is being converted into lawn space.

“Paul Bugar will bring sifted black dirt when it freezes and will have smaller loads so as not to ruin the east parking lot. He will level the black dirt then, so it will be completed then,” said Lindner.

It will cost $308 per load of dirt and the district will need approximately 10 loads, along with $125 per hour for the dozer. The estimated total cost is $3,500 to $4,000.

Lindner also looked into maintenance for the golf course greens after Loyal resident and former school district custodian Dan Lindgren expressed concern at the last meeting that the greens were falling into disrepair and he didn’t want to see the school lose its golf course.

In response, Lindner had the Neillsville Country Club groundskeeper visit Loyal. The groundskeeper sharpened and leveled the blades on the greens’ mower and looked at the greens. He used the mower to get Green 1 down to 5/8 of an inch. It should be at 1/8 of an inch, but he did not want to kill it off during the winter. Graffunder put down fungicide two weeks before the meeting and planned to put down another fungicide treatment to prepare it for the winter. Green 1 is the worst of the five greens.

“We’ll see how if turns out. If it doesn’t turn out, we may have to scalp it and redo it,” said Lindner.

The board also set future meeting dates. The athletic committee will meet Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. The Loyal and Greenwood school boards will meet jointly on Dec. 11, with the meeting tentatively scheduled for 7 p.m. at Greenwood High School. The full board will meet Dec. 18 at 7 p.m. for their regular meeting.

Editor Valorie Brecht contributed to this report.