Gilman school board comes under fire
A large crowd of area residents were at the Gilman School Board meeting on Monday night to voice their support of principal Jerry Smith and question causes of what they perceived as being high turnover in the district.
Smith has drawn attention for his personal relationship with a community member outside the school leading, residents say, to comments being made in the school building.
Others of those who spoke targeted administrator Walter Leipart for creating in their words a negative work environment for the teachers and staff. Other criticism was leveled against the school board members for not taking action to address concerns.
The comments came during the citizens forum portion of the meeting. There was no item on the agenda for action related to any personnel concerns.
For his part, Leipart said after the meeting that he could not make any com- See GILMAN on page 4 ment at this time as he is awaiting guidance from an attorney regarding the issues raised. He confirmed the large turnout at the meeting and said an investigation being done.
Attorney Stephen Weld of Weld Riley, S.C., of Eau Claire made the following statement on behalf of the school district: “Consistent with the District’s practice of addressing personnel matters confidentially, I can only advise that a complaint is currently being investigated, pursuant to Board policy, by our firm as the district’s legal counsel. Under Board policy, the privacy of the complainant, the accused, and all witnesses is to be maintained as much as possible.”
In the regular business portion of the meeting, school board members:
Approved moving forward with a 100Kw solar project in cooperation with CESA 10.
The electricity generated from the panels would feed directly into a transformer on the school grounds and into the school for power. Engineers estimated that this system would cover about one-third of the energy needs for the school district. The system would be connected to the power grid so that anytime more electricity was being produced than was being consumed the meter would essentially run backward with the district being credited an amount equal to what they pay for power usage.
The project is estimated to have a total cost of $323,152. However, that cost will be offset through nearly $100,000 in federal grants, a $15,000 rebate from Focus on Energy, and a Solar in Schools initiative grant of $25,000 all of which will bring the cost to the district down to about $186,195. There will be about an 8-year payback on the investment with a projected 30 year lifespan on the 230 solar panels to be installed.
The panels will be installed at where the school tennis courts are currently. Work is expected to begin later this year.
Reviewed the results of the recently conducted child care survey with the recommendation that the district could see between 10 - 25 students who currently open enroll out of the District, return to the district if child care was available. Next steps will be discussed at the March 18 Board Meeting.
Received an update on the Child Find Study indicating that the district will have 12 students who will be in 4K in 2024-2025 and five students in 2025-2026. Over the course of the next year Leipart said the school district will develop strategies to prepare for a school district enrollment of under 210 students by the 2028-2029 school year.
Received information on the Gilman Community Design Event to be held on March 22-23. The purpose is to work together in the school and community to identify what can be done to create a vibrant main street and increase community engagement and volunteerism.
Postponed action on the heating, ventilation, air conditioning project for the middle school and fitness center. The board had initially approved adding central air conditioning to that portion of the building, but at last month’s meeting pulled back from that idea because the engineer greatly underestimated the scope and cost of the project. Board members are looking at alternative options.
Accepted the resignations of Lacey Repinski and Theresa Goebel as paraprofessionals. Approved hiring
Amanda Webster and Lauren Hernandez as paraprofessionals.
Approved hiring Janice Komanec as MS Track Coach.
Approved hiring Grace Grunseth as Summer School Coordinator.
Approved the high school stage audio and visual equipment purchase. Leipart explained this will improve the sound quality for concerts, programs and the graduation and awards ceremony at the school. Included in the project is a new screen projector, retractible microphones for on the stage and performance-type speakers pointing to those on the stage.
Established the Engels Scholarship at $1,100 for 2024 Gilman High School graduates going to further their education.
Received an update that the January enrollment count is 325 students for revenue purposes. The school’s physical count is 380 students which includes 280 students in the building and 100 students at eSucceed Virtual School. Current enrollment at eSucceed is 105 students.
Received the annual achievement Gap Reduction report.
