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School board, faculty spar over compensation
Superintendent seeks 'big ideas'
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By TRICIA HILL

The Boscobel School Board’s monthly meeting Tuesday night at the Annex had a good turn out of faculty as there was a .57 remuneration proposal listed as new business on the agenda and the non-teacher employee remuneration.

Some may wonder where the .57 remuneration came from, and the answer to that question is quite simple. When the school board’s personnel committee went into negotiations with the teachers, they had a raise percentage from 0 to 2.07 percent. The school board had the whole 2.07 set aside for each teacher in case negotiations led them to giving the whole amount. However, the teachers and personnel committee were able to come to an agreement of a 1.5 percent raise, leaving .57 left for each teacher, which is about equivalent to $210 per teacher.

With the extra .57 percent left, District Administrator Tom Woznicki came to the board with an idea on how the teachers could earn by merit the other .57. Woznicki would like the board to consider having the teachers take the time and the effort to put forward three big ideas that each of them believe will help move the Boscobel School District forward for teachers, students, administrators and the board.

“By big idea, I mean one that involves significant change,” Woznicki said. “I would put that estimate for three big ideas somewhere between six or eight hours, so I consider $70 per big idea.”

Woznicki wants the teachers to not only come up with an idea that would help the school, but to have all of the information to back it up as well. He wants the teachers to bring their ideas with support, evidence or some reasoning behind the idea. After that is discovered, he also wants the teachers to explain how they could put their big ideas into practice and what the desire to effect change would be.

“I consider those ideas coming from our experienced professionals to be the best way that we could spend the money at this point,” Woznicki said. “I do not believe there is a way of recognizing merit at this point.”

Woznicki was not looking for a decision to be made by the board that night, but it was something that was required to be brought up in front of the whole school board publicly. However, he was hoping for the board to consider it. If the board decides to go with Woznicki’s suggestion, he wants teachers to submit their big ideas individually and in writing, probably about 3 to 5 pages.

“I would not have wanted to make a decision until the next board meeting because I want to give the public a chance to toss around ideas as well,” Board President Todd Miller said. “We have to do something with the money or by June 30 it is gone.”

After hearing out Woznicki’s idea, there were board members and staff who were not all for the idea that was presented. Third grade teacher Steve Wacker had concerns about who would be reading their big ideas and questioned what would happen if the person reading them did not like the big ideas that were presented to them. Woznicki responded that he would be the one reading them and that he would be accepting the big ideas in good faith and passing no judgment upon them.

“One of the reasons behind my idea is because after all the state has been through due to the transitions of Acts 10 and 32, there has been some tremendous angst from the teachers on what should we do now,” Woznicki said. “So what I am looking for is an avenue for teachers to freely express their ideas that will move the District or this school, without any fear of any kind reprisal or punishment.”

Another teacher spoke up asking if this was to be considered time they would have to spend on a Saturday on their own trying to come up with these big ideas and prepare them for Woznicki to look over.

“I already come in early, stay late, I am already doing tutoring and spending time doing a lot of other things,” said fourth grade teacher Deb Nordloh. “When am I supposed to find the time to spend six or seven hours to put three big ideas to put forth to Woznicki?”

With frustration rising in the board room, Todd Miller told everyone attending that if they have ideas on what to do with the $210 per teacher that was left over after negotiations, they could feel free to contact him or anyone else on the board with those ideas prior to the next board meeting.

Non-Teacher

Employee Remuneration

Woznicki brought to the board’s attention that they needed to make a move on what they should give non-teachers for remuneration on a scale of 0 to 2.07 percent. The board will have to decide on a number for all the remaining employees or they will have to take up how they are going to address the improvement for the people in non-teaching positions.

Miller asked the board what they would like to have done for the decision to be made on a percentage for the non-teaching employees. After discussion, the board members agreed that it would work best if the personnel committee including Barb Puckett, Miller and Tom Pelz made a decision together and then came back to the whole board with that decision.

“Myself and a lot of the teachers would like to see in good faith that they deserve this,” Wacker said. “We have more on our plates than we have ever had before and we feel it would be a generous offer to offer them the same as the teachers.”

I final decision on the matter was not reached at Tuesday’s meeting and will be re-visited in upcoming meetings.

Chromebook Carts

At the February meeting, it was agreed to buy 150 Chromebooks to be used in the high school and elementary school. However, in that agreement was not the price of the Chromebook carts that would be used to not only store the Chromebooks, but also charge them.

When Technology Director Allen Hines first talked to the board, he initially thought there would only be a need for five carts, however, he ended up having to order seven due to the school principal’s decisions on where to place the Chromebooks throughout their school.

The total cost of the seven carts was $7,235, which Hines had used out of his technology budget, but asked for it to be replaced with money from the Fund 10, which the transfer of funds was approved by the board. The carts can hold a total of 24 Chromebooks, but due to the locations the principals chose for the Chromebooks, more carts were required.

The Chromebooks are currently being used at the elementary level in the sixth grade classes fully on a 1:1 basis and there is a cart in the third grade class if they choose to use them. There are three carts in the high school and they are being used in the science department, English, foreign language, and the history classes.

“I hope to have teachers come to the board and demonstrate sometime how they are using the Chromebooks in their classrooms,” Hines said. “We had the opportunity to find the issues and work through them by testing them out.”

The board was all for the teachers coming in and showing them how they are using the Chromebooks in their classes. Board member Chuck Owens asked if it would be possible for Hines to bring in a cart as well to show exactly what they look like, so the board knows what their money was spent on.

“When I am picturing this cart, I am picturing some big bulky thing that is hard to move around,” Owens said.

Hines agreed that he could bring in a cart sometime to show to the board so they have an idea what they look like and how they will be used.

Snow day adjustments

Due to the severe winter weather, Boscobel students missed more than the five days that were set aside for snowy and inclement weather. In order to make up the three extra days, students will no longer be getting out of school on June 3. They will now be attending school until June 6, and the teachers will be at the school either on June 7 or June 9 to make up a work day.

There was an option on the table to take away from the students Easter break, however, Miller along with other board members did not feel right about doing that on such short notice when some families may already have trips planned.

Bullying committee

The bullying committee was also listed on the agenda to update the board on what they are working on. Committee member Annie Ngahlem presented the results from an asset test they had passed out in student history classes. It was a simple asset that asked questions including what are three positive characteristics of the students at BHS, what do you believe are three major challenges faced by the students at BHS, and so on.

However, there was a concern that Ngahlem and other committee members had about the asset test and it was that students really didn’t answer the question that asked what assests, skills, etc., do you have to offer in addressing some of these challenges? They went from having 65 answers to some of the previous questions to having their highest result be 13 when it came to discussing their own assets and skills.

“This is a concern because our students don’t know what they are good at or what they have to offer,” Ngahlem said.

An idea was presented from Nordloh on having the students participate in a 2-by-10 activity. This activity involves pairing a student with someone they do not usually socialize with, and having them take two minutes out of 10 days getting to know that person better in hopes of building a bond.

Nordloh participated in this activity with a kindergarten student a few years back and now that student to this day can not walk past Nordloh in the hallway without having to give her a hug.

There is currently not a curriculum set that the bullying committee plans to go forward with, but they decided they want to do a week-long curriculum on bullying. So if there are any ideas that someone feels would work, the committee is open to hearing them.

Cuts threatening use of local food
School lunches
LFPA cuts_Spring Creek Cattle Company
SPRING CREEK CATTLE COMPANY is one of the local suppliers of food for the North Crawford Foodservice Program. Cancellation of federal funding will impact both the school district and the local agricultural business. Here, Bart and Amy Mitchell are seen with the beef cattle on pasture in the background. Spring Creeks Cattle Company is a family partnership between three brothers, their families, and their parents.

With the federal government defunding programs around the country, it appears the North Crawford School District Food Service department will feel the impact.

Programs that fund food service at North Crawford, like the Local Food for Schools (LFS) and the Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant, had their funds frozen on March 7, when the USDA announced they would be terminating those programs. 

For North Crawford, this means they have lost funding for purchasing food from local farms, something that the food service department has prided itself on. This summer, the district is covered for their efforts in serving local food. 

25% sourced locally

North Crawford Food Service Director Jen Kapinus said in story published last summer that about 25% of the food served at the school is local, and specifically beef, pork, and apples are the most commonly locally sourced.

Now, that 25% is likely to drop, depending on the department’s next steps, which will have a large impact on the future of the school and the food service department.

Because of the timing of the USDA’s announcement, the food service department will have very little flexibility in the coming school year. In February, commodity orders are due, while the grant money comes in during May. Since, commodities were ordered with the assurance of getting this money in May, the department will have to figure out how to get the food still needed.

“We can no longer make the purchases we planned,” Kapinus said. “We planned ahead for two years, and there’s no money for that now.”

Having to find food to replace the planned purchases is not the only trouble with these cuts. It will also put a strain on the budget and the local farmers who provide for the program, and it will cause the department to move backwards in quality.  

Cuts strain district

These cuts also put a strain on the district because they now need to work through existing suppliers to get food that they typically would not get from them. 

“(The budget cuts) result in us having to look elsewhere,” North Crawford Superintendent Brandon Munson said.

It is not just the school district feeling the impact of the cuts. Good partnerships with our local families and farmers are being lost.

Although Munson believes it won’t hurt them too badly financially, Harry Young, of Young Family Farms LLC, who has been providing meat to the district since 2020, is sad to see these programs go. 

Young noted the impact on the local economy. It supported farmers in the area and kept that money local. 

“It was a good program,” Young said. “It got fresher food to the kids, that was more nutritious than what could be bought through the supply chain.”

Since higher quality food costs more, the department will have to compromise the quality of the food they are purchasing. Aside from the nutritional benefits of higher quality food, higher quality ingredients tend to make the food taste better. 

While the department gets more local food than nearby schools, and students enjoy the food, many already feel that what they are being served is more processed than they would like it to be.

Kapinus believes that the reduction in quality will affect meal participation, which the program relies on to be able to serve the students the best they can. 

Meal participation is often a domino effect. When more students eat the food, the program has a bigger budget to buy better food, which leads to more participation, but if the quality goes down, less students will eat, which will shrink the budget, which leads to even lower quality and, therefore, less participation.

Kapinus is hopeful that, through donations and possible fundraising, the department can continue to serve high-quality meals to students, but it will take a lot of hard work and support. 

It can be difficult to rely on such variable methods, though. The district recently received a donation from a local farm, but there is so much to be cautious about with donations, especially with meat. It also is not consistent. Both fundraising and donations cannot be planned for ahead of time because if the needs are not met, the meals can’t be made.

Despite these hurdles, the department is doing what they can to serve the best meals with what is available to them, but there will have to be a decline in quality because of the cost of food.

“There will definitely be a compromise,” Kapinus said, “but we will continue to do as much scratch cooking as possible, and we are trying to find a happy medium between hyper-local and hyper-processed.”

Kapinus is working to prepare for the future, despite the funding losses, but it is unclear what will happen as time goes on, especially with the federal government aiming to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. 

With bad news after bad news for the food service department, a glimmer of hope has come in the form of school lunch debt forgiveness.

Through School Lunch Fairy, a national program based in Florida, The North Crawford School District will be receiving a donation to cover a portion of school lunch debt owed. 

School Lunch Fairy is a charity organization that uses donated funds from all over the country to support school districts struggling with school lunch debt and sets up emergency lunch funds to provide struggling students with free lunches before they fall into debt. 

With the donation this program will give the district, it puts the food service department in a better standing and relieves some of struggling students’ financial stress.

This program gives Kapinus and the food service department hope for where they are headed, even when things the future is unpredictable.