Stratford K-12 approves raises for staff
By Casey Krautkramer
The Stratford Board of Education voted last Wednesday to approve a 2 percent raise with a 1.5 percent stipend for certified teachers, along with a $2-per-hour raise for support staff The board also increased the hourly pay for paraprofessionals to $17.50, with substitute paraprofessionals to make $16 per hour. The pay rate was lifted to $135 per day for substitute teachers, and to $230 per day for long-term subs.
Sports coaches will receive an additional $100 next school year.
Board president Chris Dickinson said he told superintendent Nathan Lehman before the meeting that it was important to fairly compensate school district staff in order to retain them.
Board member Tyler Skaya abstained from the vote because his wife is a Stratford teacher.
Other business
■The board met in closed session before approving a superintendent’s salary of $150,440 for Lehman in the 2025-26 school year.
â– Lehman thanked outgoing board member Kitty Guyer for her combined 11 years on the school board. She lost her school board seat in the spring election to challenger Christine Hollatz-Polzin. Guyer served on the school board from 2006-2013 and from 20212025.
â– The board accepted the retirement of buildings and grounds supervisor Scott Adank, and the resignation of head varsity wrestling coach Adam Davison. Lehman said Adank worked in the district for 10 years, and Davison was the wrestling coach for five years. Lehman said Davison earned a head wrestling coaching record of 75-16 at Stratford.
â– Lehman said the Marathon County Health Insurance Consortium, of which Stratford School District is a member, chose to switch health insurance companies from Aspirus to Security Health for the 2025-26 school year, saving the school district over $110,000.
“If we had stayed with the Aspirus plan, we would have seen an increase of over $200,000 (12 percent),” Lehman said.
Security Health will be at the district on Friday, May 2, to review health insurance benefits with school district employees.
Lehman said district staff who choose Security Health’s Simply One (narrow network) plan for the 2025-26 school year will see a reduction in their health insurance costs compared to Aspirus’ Signature Network. Staff who choose the Simply One plan can only see doctors in the Marshfield Clinic/ hospital network.
District staff will see an increase in costs if they choose Security Health’s Premier (broad network) plan compared to Aspirus’ Freedom Network, he said. Staff who choose the Premier plan can see doctors in almost all of Wisconsin’s clinics and hospitals, including Aspirus.
