Loyal School Board receives election update; approves Direct Admit WI, open enrollment spaces

By Valorie Brecht The Loyal School Board’s last meeting was chock-full of action items for the board to take care of, whether it was accepting retirements, resignations, or donations; updating policies and Staff Person of the Year criteria; or joining a program that will make it easier for Loyal seniors to enroll in a UW school.

The Jan. 29 meeting started with a review of the minutes of the last several school board meetings. At the joint board meeting held Jan. 15, Loyal board member Derek Weyer had wanted to pass a motion assuring school district residents that the April 1 advisory vote would not be the final time they got to vote on consolidation. Fellow board member Matt Kubista had agreed that would be a good idea. Loyal board president Dennis Roehl had responded by saying it wasn’t on the agenda, so they couldn’t vote on it at the Jan. 15 meeting, but had suggested talking about it at the next regular school board meeting.

However, at this recent meeting, Roehl recommended waiting to potentially pass such a motion, because the makeup of the board will change after the Spring Election. Holly Lindner will be going off the board, being replaced by Carrie Becker or Crystal Rueth. Also, Roehl will be running against Nikki Rueth, and Dave Clintsman will be running against Adam Smith.

“You (Weyer) wanted something in the form of a motion telling the public that we would bring this to another vote. I think we should wait on that until the new board comes in and that way we’re not making any decisions that the new board comes in with, so I think we’ll wait if it’s okay with everybody until after the election,” said Roehl at the Jan. 29 meeting.

Hearing no opposition, Roehl continued with the meeting.

Loyal District Administrator Chris Lindner gave a brief update. He said he was working with Greenwood District Administrator Joe Green to put together a list of all the classes and co-op activities Loyal and Greenwood share. They are also working on a fact sheet and a form for submitting questions that will be posted to the school websites.

“We’re just trying to get as much information out to our communities that we can in the next two months and we’re working with a company on that to get that fact sheet done,” said Chris Lindner.

The board accepted the retirement of Mark Rueth, middle school math teacher who has taught at Loyal 42 years; and the resignations of Mary Ellen Johnson, longtime second-grade teacher; and Cale Cuddie as driver’s education teacher.

The board also accepted a donation from Ted Zvolena, who built wall cabinets for the business room and an island cabinet for the concession stand.

“Our cabinets look amazing and are—what would you say?—well-built,” said Chris Lindner.

The board approved an out-of-state field trip for the National Honor Society (NHS) to Chicago from April 11-13. The itinerary has not been finalized, but it includes some educational options such as an architecture boat tour and museums. There are about 20 students interested in going. The trip will cost approximately $400 per student, but students can have money taken off the cost of the trip through a point system in which they earn points for volunteering and participating in NHS meetings.

The board voted unanimously to approve the first reading of Neola policies Category 7000, regarding property. These policies cover everything from how long does the district hold onto memorials and awards, to how would they handle a situation of someone accidentally leaving their hunting gun in their vehicle on school property. They will have to do a second reading before the policies are officially changed and updated on the school website.

The board has been systematically going through all of its policies; there are a few Category 6000 policies it needs to finish up, including dress code, cell phones, and retainment. Chris Lindner suggested taking a closer look at those in the summer and pinpoint exactly what they want.

The board also discussed Direct Admit Wisconsin, which removes the traditional application process and instead uses data provided by the high school to admit students to Universities of Wisconsin universities (not including Eau Claire, La Crosse, or Madison). School districts have to opt in to participate.

“I know there was concern last year about student information getting out to these colleges. In doing a little research, I believe there's like 350 out of the 425 school districts that are doing Direct Admit, and I believe everyone around us except for Spencer, and after I talked to them, they’re also considering it,” said Chris Lindner.

School counselor Maiya McSorley also spoke. She said she attended an informational session on Direct Admit, and from what she gathered, the program would be similar to Infinite Campus, the school’s grading software. Students would fall under different tiers based on criteria that the universities set. If a student qualifies, the universities have pre-made letters that could be sent home to the students. McSorley would submit data to the Universities of Wisconsin and they would determine which students were eligible. Students in the Class of 2026 would start receiving letters in September saying they were directly admitted to any Universities of Wisconsin school, with the exception of the three that are not part of it.

“If students and families don’t want to be a part of it, they can opt themselves out of sharing their data with them, so it’s completely a student and family decision,” said McSorley.

After a brief discussion, the board voted unanimously to join Direct Admit Wisconsin.

The board also approved an updated version of the Staff Person of the Year/Support Staff Person of the Year application. Acommittee had wanted to update the criteria, as it used to be the person had to have taught at Loyal for five years, and they had several new teachers, as well as retirements, so they were running out of applicants. Teachers Seth Schilling and Sarah Hamland talked with other staff members and came up with the new application.

Staff, students, or community members can submit a nomination. The nomination form will also be available on the school website. There will be one elementary teacher, one middle/high school teacher, and one support staff member chosen (previously there were only two awards given out). Decision-making will be student-led for each category, with adult support as needed. As a new development, the school district plans to recognize the winners at a school assembly in May, rather than at the staff breakfast at the end of the year.

The board also approved a cooperative wrestling program agreement with Neillsville and Greenwood. The three districts have been together since 2011 or 2012, said Lindner. Greenwood and Loyal have been bussing their students to Neillsville together for every practice and sharing the cost for that. Lindner said he was going to sit down with the superintendents of the other schools and see if they could reach an agreement to even things out a little, especially since Loyal and Greenwood had just as many participants between their two schools as Neillsville did. He said he would update the board on what was decided.

The board approved the number of open enrollment spaces for special education. The state recommends a maximum of 12 students per teacher for grades K-4 cross-categorical, 14 students per teacher for grades 4-8 cross-categorical, 15 students per teacher for grades 9-12 cross-categorical, and six students per teacher for intellectual disabilities/high needs students. This is including aide support for each teacher.

For grades K-4 cross-categorical, Loyal has a projected enrollment of 10 students, leaving two available spaces. For grades 4-8 cross-categorical, there is a projected enrollment of nine, leaving five available spaces. For grades 9-12 cross-categorical, there is a projected enrollment of 10, leaving five available spaces. For intellectual disabilities/high needs students, there is a projected enrollment of seven, leaving zero available spaces.

Lindner also said he and other staff were working on the schedule for next year and to stay tuned. He said they planned to continue the early release Wednesdays next year. Roehl asked how those had been going.

“It’s going very well. So if we’re looking at our elementary teachers that are meeting, so our new elementary curriculum is CKLA, and they are just diving in, using that time for trainings and curriculum work. Middle school, high school are working on their curriculums, their standards, their learning targets, and all their lessons, so yes, that time is very well valued and utilized,” said Assistant Principal Justin Stoegbauer.

Kollmansberger gave a report. She said students in grades K-8 had completed their winter FastBridge testing, which assesses English/language arts and math, and those with lower scores were being identified as needing extra help (if not already identified). CESAcame in for a behavior management workshop with some of the staff. Jan. 24 was a teacher in-service day. Sarah Hamland did a Google workshop and Christine Geier did an EduClimber (student data system) workshop. Elementary teachers received a three-hour training on Core Knowledge Language Arts/Amplify (CKLA), the new literacy curriculum. Staff also received an artificial intelligence (AI) training.

“It was pretty eye-opening for a lot of us. It maybe scared some of us too because it’s so unknown and foreign, but I think once this becomes more comfortable, staff and students will find it important and very useful as a resource,” said Kollmansberger.

Alady from CESAalso gave a presentation on the school report card during the in-service day.

Recent events included the all-conference band and choir festival, Sheltered Reality drumline and kindness assembly, and the “Cozy Up With a Book” reading event. Students received trimester one awards on Jan. 15. Middle school and elementary students competed in the spelling bee, and physical education students took their trip to Bruce Mound, the first time in a few years they had been able to go because there wasn’t snow other years. Mid-term report cards were expected to be issued soon, and middle school students were entering a new exploring class rotation. Loyal also hosted the FFA District Leadership Event.

Lindner also gave a report. He said he had also attended an informational session on AI. CESA4 has 13 schools that are piloting using AI as a resource on how to make a teacher’s job more efficient. Lindner said he planned to have discussion with the administration on how they foresaw Loyal using AI, and also to talk with the staff about their comfort/interest level in using it.

Board member Tom Odeen said he attended the state school board convention along with Lindner and went to a number of useful sessions, including on college and career readiness, getting students interested in teaching, the use of consultants, and how to “tell your story” through the school report card. He said several nearby districts had created their own version of the school report card that broke down what they got from the state into more understandable data, and posted it to their website. He said Loyal might look at doing that.

Lindner also reported that the school district’s strategic planning process is well underway. The strategic plan task force met on Jan. 8. There were 58 members split into seven groups. The groups talked through several questions and came up with answers as a group, which were then recorded. The questions were: what great things are happening at the Loyal School District; what are the biggest challenges facing the district; and what educational programs, activities, or facility changes are needed to ensure future student achievement and district success. All of the responses were recorded by Nexus Solutions and organized into themes. Then the educate team went through the responses on Jan. 24 and selected the 15 top themes. On Feb. 5, the task force committee plans to meet and choose the top five themes.

With the five main themes, the educate team will meet and start formulating a strategic plan. From there, there will be one more task force committee meeting for the task force to take a look at the draft plan. After the plan has been finalized, it will go to the board for approval, probably in May.

The next Loyal School Board meeting will be Feb. 19, in the district conference room, with open session at 7 p.m.