Stratford H.S. to get rid of senior prom court

By Casey Krautkramer

Beginning next school year, Stratford High School will no longer have a senior prom court at its annual spring dance.

On Monday, the school board voted to change the student handbook so it will be a junior-only court starting with the 20252026 school year This year’s prom will still be comprised of five junior couples and three senior couples, but the 2026 prom court will consist of 15 percent of the junior class, dependent on the number of students. A student can only be crowned king or queen once while they are in high school.

Middle/high school principal Jeff Bell said the change was made because seniors have so much on their plates already in the spring, preparing for graduation, applying for college and looking for jobs.

Other business

■ The deadline is April 1 for handing in Hall of Fame nomination forms. The Hall of Fame committee of Cal Tackes, Troy Bargender, Dan Drexler and Carol Ballerstein will meet Thursday, April 3, to review nominations and select the top three Hall of Fame inductees. The plan is to honor the Hall of Fame inductees before the home football game on Friday, Sept. 5.

■ Five students from Lauren Dillinger’s fine arts class participated in the Marawood All-Conference Art Show on Feb. 19 at the Center for the Visual Arts in Wausau: Lydia Junemann, Emma Syring, Sophia Delo, Paige Spindler and Jenna Weigel. Junemann, Syring and Delo received all-Marawood Conference awards.

■ The board approved the Early College Credit and Start College Now programs for the 2025-26 school year.

■ Registration is now open for children wanting to attend summer school from Monday, June 9 through Thursday, July 3. There is a new summer school class this year titled, “Books, Movies & Popcorn.” Superintendent Nathan Lehman said summer school enrollment has increased the past three years, with 351 attending in 2022, 416 in 2023 and 481 in 2024.

■ The board met in closed session to discuss the conduct of a school district employee and to receive an update on a student discipline matter. The school board reconvened into open session but it did not take any action.

■ The public can attend the next school board meeting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 16, in the library. The public also has the option of watching a recording of the meeting starting the day after at https://www.youtube. com/@stratfordtigers2143/streams.