By TRICIA HILL
Riverdale’s School Board opened up their regular school board meeting on Monday night by electing board officers. The votes were all cast as unanimous ballots leaving Clay Dean as president, Bill Tracy as vice president, Dave McHenry as clerk, and Gary Stanek as treasurer.
Then high school principal Jonathan Schmidt announced that the Riverdale School District recently completed a fundraising effort for the Lions Club Summer Camp in Rosholt. The camp is to youth and adults who are blind or visually impaired, deaf or hard of hearing, youth who function socially or educationally as having a mild cognitive disability and youth with diabetes.
The students raised money in many different ways. One of the ways was by have a clothing and Yankee Candle sale, which generated $13,000 worth of sales and profiting $4,403.50. The Riverdale Elementary and Middle School sponsored a “Used Book Sale” and students got to wear hats for $1, which together raised $212.93. The High School student council sponsored “Hats for Dollars” and “Principal for a Day” and teachers had to perform certain activities for each level donated.
“Some of the activities were, hula hooping, performing the chicken dance, pie in the face, dress as the opposite sex, wear sports team apparel that you dislike and wash a student’s vehicle,” Schmidt said. “These events raised another $342 for a grand total of $4,958.41 for the Lions Club Summer Camp.”
Ag news
Schmidt also announced some agriculture student accomplishment to the board that took place on April 24, when Riverdale sent four teams to compete at the State Career Development at Madison. The Agriculture Sales Team of Zach Swaziek, Jordan Stanek, Shelby Rognholt, and Tanner Williamson placed first in the state. The Farm Business Management team of Trevor Troxel, Brooke Ottesen, Leah Underwood, and Bailey Kincade, placed first at state.
The Agronomy team of Montana Lins, Jared Roen, Lukas Swaziek, and Bradon Roen finished second in the state. The Dairy Foods team of Jordan Linvingston, Brendan Peterson, Sean Deglow, and Sydney Pulvermacher placed second in the state. The Poultry team of Shaylyn Louis, Macey Klebesadel, Bailey Conner, and Holly Tisdale placed 14th.
Students earning their State Degree this year were: Brier Bartels, Michael Boyd, Nicole Grimm, Montana Lins, Jared Roen, and Caleb Hanson.
Resignations/Hires
The school board accepted the resignation of Marcus Ingalls Rivera as Riverdale Head Wrestling coach for the 2015-16 school year. Rivera’s replacement, Jeff Campbell, was approved by the board. They also approved an extracurricular contract for Todd McKay as head track coach for the 2015-16 school year.
“In this case we did not post these positions; both of these recommendations are current teaching staff who are assistant coaches,” School Administrator Bryce Bird said.
There were also two teaching contracts approved for Megan Pierrick for first grade and Juliette Schneider for Kindergarten. They had over 50 applicants for these positions and interviewed 12 before deciding on these two ladies to fill these positions.
Open Enrollment
The board approved the open enrollment request for the 2015-16 school year, which included four incoming requests and 13 outgoing. Out of the 13 outgoing students though, only three are currently attending Riverdale. Out of the remaining students two are going into the 4K program, three are attending Richland Center, three are attending St. Mary’s, and two are attending Boscobel.
Census Taker
Bird made a recommendation to the board to approve a contract for Linda Eveland as a census taker for 2015 for $1,100. Eveland in the past has shared the position with Val Bailey, who does not wish to continue as a census taker. Eveland plans to continue to perform the duties but to take on the workload by herself. The board approved the recommendation.
