The Darlington Community School District held their regular board meeting Tuesday, Dec. 22. The meeting was dominated by discussion of the upcoming April referendum. The ballot needs to be completed by their January meeting. Members of the board and the administration’s main point of discussion was “recurring or non-recurring”, referring to the $2,200,000 the board wishes to exceed the revenue limit. If approved: recurring - the board would be able to exceed the revenue limit every year thereafter and non-recurring - would be done after a specified numbers of years. After the board considered and examined, they decided to go with recurring.
    The board also tentatively scheduled community forums, to present their  reasoning for having the referendum to voters on Monday, Feb. 15, 2016 and Tuesday, March 15, 2016. They also strategized on getting the word out, social media vs. media, long range implications if the referendum loses, the actual wording on the ballot, etc.
    In other business, the school board
    •heard a presentation, regarding the school’s 2014-2015 audit report, from Sara Jacobson from Johnson Block & Company.
    •introduced Jason Wood, the new president of Southwest Wisconsin Technical College in Fennimore, and had discussion and exchange of ideas.
    •paid bills.
    •approved policies regarding Graduation #700.10(a) - with changes and Election and Compensation #300.02 - which stayed the same.
    •approved trading-in the schools Bobcat for $1,542.
    •accepted donations from the Thrivent Grant, Darlington Lions Club, Darlington Optimist Club and Monroe Clinic and Hospital Foundation.
    •accepted Jeremy Wick as a volunteer coach for the wrestling program.
    •accepted Floyd Spoor’s request to retire and will post the position immediately.
    •purchased 25 more Chromebooks, with $10,000 from the Charles Barlow account.
    •Purchased a new planer for the woods shop for $2,955.60 also from the Charles Barlow account.