Building on the success of the Youth Apprenticeship Program, and following receipt of a Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) Fabrication Laboratory (Fab Lab) grant, North Crawford is gearing up for a strong focus on Career and Technical Education (CTE) in the district.

“A lot of the equipment being paid for by the grant is already here, and once the laser engraver is installed, we might start seeing projects at home with kids,” Middle School/High School Principal Dr. Robert Sailer said. “Mr. Keenlance came in and showed me some first examples of what the engraver produced, and he was like a kid at Christmas time.”

As part of the grant, the program, the district is required to offer certain courses that will position students to graduate with certifications. Ten Technology Education classes will be offered in the 2025-2026 school year, including:

• Woodworking I

• Woodworking II

• Automotive Maintenance

• Home Maintenance

• Intro to CAD

• Small Engines I

• Small Engines II

• Welding I

• Welding II

• Women In Tech

In addition, four independent study options will be available to students:

• Processing/Production

• Metalwork

• Repair

• Manufacturing

Courses will also be offered through Agricultural Education and Family & Consumer Economics:

• Childcare

• Child Development

• Foundations of Early Childhood Education

• Food Service

• Nutrition and Food Preparation

• Family and Interpersonal Relationships

• Hospitality and Tourism

• Interior Design

• Entrepreneurship

• Business and Marketing

• Animal Production/Science

• Plant Systems/Science

• Introduction to Agriculture and Natural Resources

• Horticultural Science

• Wildlife Recreation and Management

• Agricultural Leadership

• Agricultural Entrepreneurship

According to the WEDC website, “By helping to fund labs that school districts might not otherwise be able to afford, this program allows more K-12 students to receive direct experience with Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) skills—and ultimately leads to more graduates entering the workforce equipped with these skills. This program demonstrates that Wisconsin understands how important STEAM skills are to the business community as well as new companies seeking to locate here. Fab labs also serve a broader economic development purpose by acting as a resource for entrepreneurs, inventors, and businesses from their local areas—thus sparking innovation in their surrounding communities.”

Dr. Sailer pointed out that to qualify for the Department of Public Instruction ‘Regional Career Pathways,’ districts have to offer students two classes in a subject area, which then gets kids certifications, which in turn gets the school money.

“The courses we’re offering will give kids more options, along with meeting those expectations from the state,” Sailer explained. “You're gonna see a lot of CTE here, because that's what that grant was for, was to really beef these areas up.”

According to DPI’s website, “the Wisconsin Regional Career Pathways (RCP) approach is a statewide effort to deliver high-quality career pathways in high schools that reflect the needs and vision of a regional collaborative group of employers, education, and economic and workforce development.”

“Hospitality and Tourism is a big push in the state right now, along with the Foodservice,” Sailer explained. “So, we are really trying to find the areas that are in high demand jobs in the state, and then provide opportunities for our kids to learn about those here so they're exposed to it.”

Open enrollment

In recent years, the district and its funding has suffered from net open enrollment out of the district. That means that more students open enrolled out into other districts than open enrolled in from other districts. This has a significant impact on the state funding the school receives and is able to use to deliver services.

Superintendent Brandon Munson told the board that the good news is that the ‘open enrollment in’ number is up a little bit. Further, he says they know of a few families that have been open enrolling out of the district that are planning on enrolling at North Craw-ford next year and forgoing their open enrollment out of the district.

“Our goal has been the last few years is to continue to close that gap. We have been a negatively open enrolled district for many years now, and we've been slowly closing that gap the last few years,” Munson said. “I would expect that we'll continue to see that gap get smaller, with the goal of eventually becoming a neutral enrolled district as far as open enrollment is concerned.”

District showcase

Thirty-five-year veteran employee, Business Education teacher Scott Hubach, was honored in the district showcase portion of the board’s agenda. Hubatch was the only teacher to announce his retirement this year.

“I had to twist Scott’s arm to get him to be here tonight, and told him he's definitely worthy of the public recognition with the school board after 35 years in the district as our business education teacher,” Munson said. “He is the last of the ‘dinosaurs,’ meaning he's the last staff member in the building here that started in the old school down in Gays Mills.”

Munson said he could speak personally, as he had Scott as a teacher for a few years, and as a coach. He pointed out that Hubatch had his hand in a lot of stuff at North Crawford, teaching for 35 years, but also coaching or assisting several different sports, as well as being the senior class advisor and organizing graduation for 35 straight years.

“So he'll be wrapping up his 35th and final graduation here in a couple of days,” Munson pointed out. “It’s not just the content that he taught, but really a lot of the life lessons especially in his program. Kids carry those skills into life, and some of the most important things that we have to do when it comes to personal finance and managing checkbooks are for a lot of our kids, their first and only exposure. So with that, I would like to thank Scott for his service in the district. It's been a pleasure working with you for the last 18 years, and a few more before that as a student.”

In other business

In other business, the board:

• learned that the elementary team has been working on progressions that will follow students through the grades, and are aimed at identifying and addressing learning gaps

• learned that over $50,000 in scholarships had been provided to graduating seniors

• learned that due to declining numbers of students in the State of Wisconsin, overall the state received less Title One funding, and North Crawford’s allocation will be reduced by $17,000 for the 2025-2026 school year

• re-elected Terry O’Donnell as board president, Jerry Coleman as board vice president, Cody Brockway as board treasurer, and Judy Powell as board secretary

• heard about all the academic enrichment and fun activities planned for summer school, and about significant increases in program participation which grew by 20 students to 167.