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Seneca School Board thanks members for service
Seneca School District

SENECA - The Seneca School Board had two new board members attending the meeting on Monday night and presented their two outgoing members with plaques honoring their service.

The two new board members, Charles Clark and Tyler Aspenson were elected on Tuesday, April 3. They were officially sworn-in at the meeting Monday, April 16, 2018 and will serve three-year terms.

Outgoing board member Brian Reynolds was presented with a plaque and thanked for his service by board president Mark Johnson, while outgoing school board member Gary Allan was presented with a plaque and thanked by Seneca School Board Treasurer Larry Kelley.

The school board will do reorganization at their next meeting on May 21 that will include making new committee assignments and holding elections for school board officers.

Under new business, the board learned that a recent storm damaged the maintenance garage roof and that even though the school district has a $1,000 deductible on their insurance policy they will still receive $1,900 toward the repair of that roof. Chambers Construction was the only company of three contacted to return a bid. The board authorized Chambers to do the work at a cost of $2,874.

As might be expected, the board again discussed bolstering security at the school in the aftermath of the school shooting in Florida. The State of Wisconsin is indicating it will provide ‘Safe School Grants’ at two levels at some point in the near future, according to Seneca School District Administrator Dave Boland.

Boland told the board that it might be realistic to hope the funding was in place and the work was completed by the start of school next fall.

Seneca Schools got another bid for the installation of eight electronically locking doors-it was $21,200 and that’s in line with a previous bid.

Access Security, the company who bid the work is located in Viroqua and has done similar work at the Prairie du Chien School District, Crawford County and the North Crawford School District. Officials at North Crawford contacted by Seneca gave a positive review of the work done by the company.

Boland noted the bid did not include cameras or alarms, but the system would provide an alert in the event any of the doors were left propped open.

The district will continue to investigate security options for the school and follow the evolving funding structure being presented by the state. Boland explained the state now seems to be looking at two levels of fundinga basic level and higher level for districts that want to go further with security.

Boland also told the board that the district is currently being bombarded with offers from security firms.

In other business, the Seneca School Board:

• agreed to let a junior student graduate a semester early in the 2019-20 school year to help him pursue getting an education at SWTC to become a lineman

• reviewed and approved a shared services agreement with Belmont School District to share the services of a school psychologist currently under contract to Seneca

• approved a student accident insurance policy for $1,500 with the understanding that the need for carrying the policy in the future will be reviewed

• approved continued membership in SWEEP, a consortium of schools that share the use of certain machinery often used on athletic fields

• briefly reviewed a budget summary

• were informed that the Seneca Middle School was selected by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction as a School of Recognition

• decided the Seneca School District Monthly Recognition should go to the school’s three Academic All-Conference selections—Emily Garfoot, Cody Ostrander and Spencer Boland

• learned that Ridge and Valley Conference Athletic Directors were asking for obvious reasons for permission to move some games to Wednesdays in light of massive weather cancellations

Weather clears up for the first annual Fennimore Alumni Golf Outing
Alumni golf

Although the day started with a 90 minute rain delay, it ended up with both beautiful weather and a great turnout for the first annual Fennimore Alumni Golf Outing, held at the Hickory Grove Golf Course on Saturday, July 19.

         Proceeds from the event went toward the Fennimore Community Scholarship Foundation. The Foundation was established in 1984, awarding their first scholarship in 1986, so this year marks the Foundation’s 40th anniversary, “sort of,” according to JoAnn Wiederholt, Fennimore Community Scholarship Foundation President.

She went on to say that every graduating student from Fennimore High School who applies is guaranteed to receive at least one scholarship.

As for Saturday’s golf outing, Wiederholt stated that 184 people, or 46 teams of four, competed Saturday and even with the rain delay, went on “pretty much as scheduled (time wise).”

“Our past golf outings have had a record of 14 or 15 teams, so 46 teams was pretty impressive,” Wiederholt explained.

The only requirement was at least one member of a team had to be a Fennimore High School alumni.

“It was a whole new crowd, compared to our previous golf outings,” Wiederholt stated. “Lots of younger people this time, many of whom probably have received scholarships through us in the past. It was nice to see the younger generation who have benefited from the foundation now supporting us.”

Last Saturday’s nine hole tournament had a “Heaven and Hell Format” with “some holes being easier (big cups, forward teeboxes, etc.), while others were a challenge with obstacles,” according to foundation member and golf outing chairperson Seth Henkel.

Examples of the “challenging holes” Henkel gave were, on hole two, was on the movie, “Happy Gilmore,” where golfers had to tee off running and use a hockey stick to putt, and on hole three, golfers wore “beer goggles” which gave golfers the vision and balance of someone with a .13 blood alcohol level.

Wiederholt stated that the event had lots of community support through sponsorships and donations toward the event’s raffle and silent auction which had 25 items each, most of which were donated by the community.

After the 46 teams went through both “Heaven and Hell,” first place went to the team of Adam, Brady, Evan, and Reid Larson.

       The teams of Nate Wood, Jim Feldhacker, Brian and John Marrish;  Joe Carl, Mitch Carl, Coby Zwiefelhofer, and Jake Weinkes; and Jacob Henkel, Teagan Napp, and Druw and Austin Fifrick ended up in a three-way tie for second place. 

Both Henkel and Wiederholt stated it was a “great first year” for the event with a “rough estimate” of nearly $9,000 raised toward the Fennimore Community Scholarship Foundation. Wiederholt went on to state that a donation from the funds raised will be made to the Maroon and Gold Athletic Club “to support them for all the support they’ve given us.” 

Future alumni golf outings are scheduled to be held annually during the third weekend in July, with next year’s alumni golf outing scheduled for Saturday, July 18, 2026.