The Seneca School Board meeting held in July got off to an unusual start in its public comment segment, when Jared Marti discussed the possibility of having a pro wrestling event at the school.
Marti told the board that River City Championship Wrestling is similar WWE seen on TV, but on a smaller scale.
The Chaseburg-based company would need at least a month lead time to set up, typically on a Saturday. The matches take about two-and-a-half hours-typically 7 to 9 or 9:30 p.m.
River City will rent space often in event centers and sometimes schools, Marti explained.
Recently the wrestling event drew 300 people to Viroqua and 400 to Cashton.
Tickets cost $15 for front row; $10 for General Admission; and $5 for Children.
River City sets up a ring and seating starting around noon for an evening event. The gate money goes to the company, but there are possibilities for the school groups to sell concessions and keep their profits. This would be in addition to the rental fee the school charged for the event.
An important decision on employee insurance was first on the list of old business.
Tricor representative Mr. Straaka had negotiated a nice offer from Dean Health, he informed the board. Just prior to the July 20 meeting, Quartz the current employee insurer for the Seneca School District counter-offered the same plan as the previous year with no increase in the HMO. It would be the same plan as last year. However, the point of service (out of network coverage) would increase almost 28 percent.
“The point of service cost has gone up dramatically,” the Tricor representative told the board. “The HMO will have no increase and that’s pretty significant.”
One third of the insured Seneca staff use point-of-service to access out of network providers. The Tricor rep suggested some of those people might want to change their provider to the HMO to save a significant amount of money. The district pays 88% of the cost.
Seneca School Board President Mark Johnson moved to stay with Quartz for the employee insurance and Adam Green seconded the motion. The board passed the motion unanimously.
The board agreed that Seneca Superintendent Alex Osterkamp would work out the details of the point of service fees with Tricor.
Other Old Business agenda items included changes to the Student and Extracurricular Handbook including a new policy for Communication Devices and new polices to put the school in compliance Act 88 and 89 concerning inappropriate relationship between staff and students.
Some of the policy changes included stiffening language about tobacco products at school to include the term ‘possession,’ as well as ‘use’ and changing ‘at school’ to ‘at school and school activities.’
The policies around excused absences were also changed. The first 10 days of absences would not require a doctor’s excuse, while more than 10 absences would require a doctor’s excuse.
School policy for communication devices would not let students use or possess phones during the school day. They would be left in a storage area in the students’ home room to be picked up at the end of the school day.
Penalty for use of phones would start with having the phone returned at the end of the school day and second offense would be an after school detention, while the fourth offense could lead to suspension.
Recording with a phone in a locker room or bathroom would be treated as a major offense.
The penalties for sexual interaction of any kind between a staff member and a student must be reported to the law enforcement or Child Services, according to wording provided in the employee handbook.
This behavior and various ‘grooming behavior’ has a mandatory reporting requirement for staff who see or learn of it.
The price for athletic event passes and tickets is $4 for adults and $2 for students-although Seneca students may attend home for free. Adult season passes are $35 and there is no charge for adults over the age of 62.
Adam Green made the motion to approve 2.63% wage increase matching the last Consumer Price Index rate. The Motion was seconded by board president Mark Johnson and was approved Staff wages for the coming year will match the Consumer Price Index of 2.63%
In another interesting agenda item, the board approved an item called Magic School, which would include training for some AI products. One website designed for school districts would streamline the workloads and could free up hours to be used teaching. IEPs used in setting courses and goals for students in Special Ed could be done with the help of AI.
The board approved giving the Seneca Area School District Monthly Recognition Award to Raya Wallin for playing in the High School All-Star Softball Game and Sawyer Swiggum for playing in the High School All-Star Football Game. It was noted that Sawyer was the third highest fundraiser of players in the All-Star Game and the money raised was donated to the Children’s Hospital.
After a closed session, the school board returned to open session and approved the hiring of Susie Garfoot for a part-time technology position. She will assist in resolving various tech issues that typically arise during the school year.
The board also regretfully accepted the resignation of Diane Condon, who worked as part of the kitchen staff.
In other business, the Seneca Area School District:
- approved being in the Association for Equity in Funding Membership
- approved milk bids and were informed whole milk would be offered this year in addition to 2% milk
- scheduled the Annual Meeting for Wednesday, October 21 at 6 p.m. at the school
- approved the Wisconsin Academic Standard Statement, noting the school exceeds those standards in most areas
- approved a statement of expectation that employees would testify if subpoenaed by a court
- learned there were no seclusion and restraint incidents at the school in the previous year
- approved renewing the 11-man football co-op with Wauzeka-Steuben for another two years
- approved contacting coaches about their plans to coach or not coach in the upcoming season
- agreed to hold the next Seneca School Board Meeting on Monday, August 17 at 6 p.
