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School board takes up employment issues and planning for summer
Boscobel
Boscobel School District

BOSCOBEL - The Boscobel School District hosted a special board meeting Tuesday night to complete decisions on various summer projects as well as address various end of the year employment situations. 

The board went into a nearly two-hour closed session at the beginning of the meeting. Following the opening of the meeting, once more employments were discussed, as was the announcement of the retirement of long time High School Social Studies/History Teacher Russ Atkinson.

“It’s with much sadness I will second the motion to accept the retirement of Russ Atkinson,” said board member Wendi Stitzer. Other teachers retiring this year include High School Math Teacher Joan Anthony and Fifth Grade Teacher Sally Schweiger.

Summer Projects

Door replacements at the high school middle school were extensively discussed by the board. The top two bids in that case were from LaForce and TCH. It was noted that despite rising costs in building materials, the bids were surprisingly close to the bids that were presented pre-covid. However, TCH was the lower bidder and had previously done work at the school putting in the partitions in the bathrooms. It was recommended and approved to go with TCH on the job. 

The other project that was discussed was that of the bus canopy. As board member Roger Knoble noted during the discussions, the canopy was a part of a previous to-do list that was a part of review for the Fund 46 10-year plan. 

The plan for the upcoming work would be to sand blast the enclosure, repaint it and replace the roof. As several board members noted during the discussions, the roof is perhaps the biggest concern of the structure and was described several times as “old and rotted”  with problems of a non existing pitch causing drainage issues and concrete damage below. 

There was some concern between Knoble and board member Casey Updike about the future of the space. Both expressed concerns about spending the money to complete the project within the future, other things may be desired to be done, such as a library expansion into that space. 

“I just want to make sure it’s something that is needed now,” questioned Updike after the first motion was on the  floor. “I don’t want to spend $44,000 and five years down the road we want to do something different.” He added that he believed the board should work harder to prioritize things during walkthroughs so there would be less doubt in the future on what needed done. 

It was approved to have Midwest Builders Complete the job on the Bus Canopy.

Finally, the board was informed that the final stages of the new bleachers were approaching and they were tasked with selecting the color pallet for the new set up. As the old wood has been coming out, the new look for the bulldogs gym would be coming in. Previously the board had decided on a red front, with BHS lettering. However, it took a lot of decision to reach the decision about the perfect shade of red. And ultimately, all of the board members adjourned to the high school gym to select the shade that would match closest to the existing red in the gym. Additionally they chose the BHS seats to be white, with black end caps and railing.