Leading up to another successful Career Fair at the North Crawford School District, the hard work of the Career and Tech Ed staff were highlighted at the March board meeting. Career and Tech Ed (CTE) at North Crawford includes Technical Education, Business Education, Family and Consumer Science Education (FACE) and Agriculture.
“In addition to North Crawford, students from Kickapoo, Prairie du Chien, Seneca, Wauzeka-Steuben, De Soto and West Salem plan to attend our Career Fair on April 3,” Agriculture teacher Mackenzie Knutson told the board. “Students will be able to talk with representatives from 40 colleges and businesses, attend 13 breakout sessions, and take in a keynote address by NBC-15 news anchor John Stofflet. CESA-3 is providing lunch for presenters and staff, and our kitchen will provide lunch for the students.”
“Stephanie Colsch and Mackenzie have been putting in countless hours to prepare for this event, and we appreciate their hard work,” Superintendent Brandon Munson said.
Each of the CTE staff made a brief presentation to the board about their activities in the prior year. Those staff include, Dr. Rob Sailer, Stephanie Colsch, Mackenzie Knutson, Heidi Stovey, Aaron Keenlance, and Scott Hubatch.
“We’ve been very busy in the ag world – our group in high school is small this year, but participation among elementary students is up,” Knutson told the board. “We are using the greenhouse as a lab space, building a fishing rod in the wildlife class, and FFA has been very busy, with 30 dues-paying members.”
Knutson said FFA Club members had travelled to the national convention, attended World Dairy Expo, hosted the state FFA officer, and led a celebration of National FFA Week at the school. She said they had created an awesome FFA float for last year’s Apple Festival Parade, and that she couldn’t do all she does without the awesome support of the FFA Alumni group.
“We currently have 300 hanging baskets growing in the greenhouse,” Knutson said. “Those baskets will be for sale at the FFA Car Show coming up on May 4, when there will be an open greenhouse.”
Tech Ed instructor Aaron Keenlance told the board that this year he is teaching woodworking, welding, small engines, and facilitating student certifications. He said high school students had once again travelled to the Heavy Engineering School in Coloma, and that grant funds had been used to purchase a portable hand saw for the classroom.
“We applied for and have been notified we’ve received a grant to purchase cutting edge equipment for the school from the State of Wisconsin,” Keenlance said. “The Governor will be making an announcement about the grants soon.”
Heidi Stovey said of her Family and Consumer Science classes, “it’s not like the olden days of home economics.” She said the class doesn’t do much sewing, but she did make homemade peanut butter with the 4K class, which gave them a great sense of accomplishment when they got to eat it.
“We have a families and children class, and our students volunteer in the daycare,” Stovey said. “For high school students, we offer classes that cover everything from how to cook to how to change the oil in your car.
“It is satisfying and encouraging to teach practical skills that kids can take home and put to use,” Stovey said.
Knutson described the school’s efforts to support students with academic and career planning. She said that lunch visits are offered with representatives of the armed forces, colleges and local employers.
“We received an ‘Unlocking Pathways’ grant, which provides the district with $43,000 for 2-3 years, and assists students with career planning,” Knutson said. “Students have an ‘academic and career planning’ session once per month.”
Colsch elaborated that youth apprentice students are also integrated into the curriculum. She said that as part of the grant, North Crawford was paired with a ‘mentor’ school district to help implement the program. She said that the district’s mentor school is Pittville, which is a similarly sized district to North Craford, and that their support has been “extremely helpful.”
“These staff have done an amazing amount of work, and they have created future opportunities for our kids,” MS-HS principal Rob Sailer said.
School forests
Fifth grade teacher William Ladwig provided a report to the board about progress in securing recognition of a portion of the North Crawford grounds as a school forest. Ladwig began his comments calling for a moment of silence to honor the First Nations people, who were here before us.
“After I met with a DNR forester, 18-acres of our school grounds have been approved as a school forest,” Ladwig reported. “What this means is that we are eligible to receive up to 5,000 free tree seedlings from a state nursery, and we are eligible to receive assistance from the statewide School Forest Education Specialist.”
Ladwig said he is “all about well-being and educational outcomes for students.” He explained that the education assistance is provided through UW-Stevens Point.
“In the big picture, according to the DNR forester, we have a three-stand division on the property,” Ladwig said. “The designations are all based on the wildlife habitat they provide, and we have two acres of white cedar/central hardwoods, four acres of northern hardwoods/walnut, and 12 acres of grassland.”
Ladwig said he’d spoken with the Superintendent of the Boscobel Area School District about their education plan, and is “most excited about educational standard alignment. He said that some of the changes he envisions include getting 4k students outside, rain or shine. He stated he wants to form a professional learning committee for outdoor education, and plans to conduct the fifth grade camping trip on school grounds.
“I’d like to see a specials rotation to get kids outside,” Ladwig explained.
Ladwig said the DNR forester had also reviewed the district’s other two school forest properties, and provided an assessment. Those properties are on West Point Road, and in back of the Royal Bank in Gays Mills.
“The DNR forester characterized the West Point Road 10.42-acre parcel as steep, with a northeast slope, and a tree density rating of 18, with older timber, a good amount of old red oak, and some decent sized walnuts,” Ladwig said. “Some challenges with the parcel is that there doesn’t appear to be much regeneration occurring in the understory, and the red pine has a mortality from disease, known as Red Pine Pocket Decline.”
Ladwig said the parcel by the Royal Bank is 10.10 acres, with access being very steep and difficult, and a northwest slope.
“The forester noted the presence of leatherwood, which is an indicator of nutrient rich soils,” Ladwig said. “The average basal area of the forest is rated at 19, with stocking levels similar to the West Point Road parcel, but with younger age classes of trees because there are so many sugar maple and oak saplings in the understory.”
Ladwig said the question remaining after the assessment is whether to develop the parcels, or to sell them.
“There is no maintenance cost with the properties, and they could function as a community building asset, with volunteers recruited to help with improvements,” Ladwig said. “With uncertainties about federal funding, retaining the properties could provide the district with a financial safety net.”
Ladwig told the board that he believes the best way to honor the land is to protect it. He said it is important to see the land not just as a commodity, but as something that requires caretaking.
Munson asked Ladwig what the DNR’s recommendation would be to correct the lack of regeneration on the West Point Road property?
“We are working to create a management plan for the school forest on the school grounds, and we could also do so for the other two properties,” Ladwig said.
“I like the idea of getting the kids involved – perhaps a Forest Club could be formed,” board member Cody Brockway said. “It is also possible that kids could earn college credits in areas like Conservation Forestry – back in the day, John Gibbs let us use chainsaws.”
Board member Charissa Richter asked Ladwig what his target is for developing the plan. Ladwig responded that the goal is to have the plan developed by the end of the school year.
In other business
In other business, the North Crawford School Board:
• heard that 107 students and families had attended the first Elementary Showcase event, which has received a lot of positive feedback
• heard that senior Jordan Derrick had won a first place award in the Wisconsin Newspaper Foundation ‘Better Newspaper Contest’
• heard that State Senator Howard Marklein had visited the school, and that Munson appreciated his visit and his deep understanding of school finance
• learned from Munson that school districts are facing a lot of uncertainty in budgeting due to development of a new Wisconsin Biennial Budget, and increasing uncertainty about the federal funding that districts can expect to receive
• heard that Munson had met with Crawford County Highway Commissioner Kyle Kozelka, who provided an update about the county’s purchase of a six-acre parcel on County X, to be developed into shop facilities, consolidating the Soldiers Grove and Gays Mills shops, and housing six dump trucks
• heard that work on the softball/baseball dugouts is nearing completion, that Brian Swiggum’s time is appreciated, and that Richter had raised some funds for the project from the community to pay for the project
• accepted the retirement of Business Education instructor Scott Hubatch, and the resignation of Director of Student Services Cara Wood
• agreed not to replace the position of Business Education, and to hire a full-time high school math teacher, and a middle school English Language Arts teacher.
