The Ellsworth School District Board of Education approved 2024-25 action for maintenance, technology, transportation and athletics projects during the May 13 meeting.
The projects include …
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The Ellsworth School District Board of Education approved 2024-25 action for maintenance, technology, transportation and athletics projects during the May 13 meeting.
The projects include reading curriculum resources, a 10-passenger van, carpet and flooring, a cafeteria sound system, main office chairs, a bell/paging system, concrete, a high school gym scoreboard, football field goal posts and a permanent softball fence. The list was approved with an amendment that enclosing library space would be looked at separately to potentially be funded through Fund 46 expenditures 5-2 after Steven Mark and Julie Lundstrom voted against it.
The scoreboard, which has an estimated $155,000 cost in addition to electrical costs, became a topic of discussion during the meeting.
According to board documents, if scoreboard advertising revenue was similar to that of nearby districts with new scoreboards, it could pay itself off in 4-5 years.
“That’s a revenue stream that we should take advantage of as soon as we can to support the idea that it would bring us into the modern era,” Michael Petersen said.
Concerns about the scoreboard included its high priority among other projects and the amount of deficit spending the project would bring.
“I’m definitely less comfortable in deficit spending, knowing that some of these projects could just wait a year,” Lundstrom said.
Superintendent Barry Cain said if everything was approved from the list at a $285,000 deficit, with the funding for enclosing the library space coming from another funding stream such as Fund 46, the fund balance would be approximately 24%.
“We’ve always talked about trying to keep your fund balance above 20%, so you’re still comfortably above that 20%,” Cain said. “You’re getting closer and closer to that number where you can start to get irresponsible dropping too much lower. Twenty percent is by far the lowest I would go.”
The other question mark raised by members of the board was about the item titled “Enclose Library Space” not having a cost number behind it. While Cain gave a rough estimate of $50,000-$75,000 during the meeting, he mentioned that it was not as sure as some of the other costs on the list.
With 43 students district-wide learning English as a Second Language, the project would create more of a classroom environment for the students at the elementary school rather than using “fabric” dividers in the library, according to Cain.
“Now, we’re basically a makeshift area in which we’re teaching English as a Second Language,” Cain said. “Certainly is not high quality space that we’re teaching English as a Second Language.”
Special meeting items
During a special board meeting prior to the regular board meeting, the board selected its officers, committee members and liaisons for the 2024-25 school year.
President: Julie Lundstrom
Vice President: Susan Beck
Clerk: Kurt Buckner
Treasurer: Michael Petersen
Liaisons
Elementary School: Susan Beck and Michael Petersen
Middle School: Mark Stoesz and Julie Lundstrom
High School: Gary Kressin and Steven Mark
Bus Garage: Kurt Buckner and Michael Petersen
Committees
Personnel/Negotiations: Mark Stoesz (Chair), Gary Kressin and Julie Lundstrom
Curriculum: Steven Mark (Chair), Gary Kressin and Michael Petersen
Communications: Susan Beck (Chair), Kurt Buckner, Mark Stoesz
Buildings/Grounds/Transportation: Kurt Buckner (Chair), Susan Beck, Julie Lundstrom
Budget and Finance: Julie Lundstrom (Chair), Steven Mark, Michael Petersen
CESA Convention Delegate: Kurt Buckner
WASB Convention Delegate: Kurt Buckner
Alternate: Michael Petersen
Personnel
The board approved the following personnel changes:
Hires: Elijah Dorsey, high school science teacher; Alexandria Dvorak, elementary third grade teacher; Megan Feist, school psychologist; Grace Groh, elementary special education teacher; Riley Jahnke, elementary fourth grade teacher; Michelle Jansen, math specialist; Stephen Kennedy, high school English teacher; Olivia Lynner, elementary kindergarten teacher; Myah Olson, elementary fourth grade teacher; Allison Wendt, high school math teacher.
Resignations: Kelly Carlin, special education administrative assistant; Josh Erlandson, middle school wrestling coach; Ralph Gilbertson, bus garage assistant mechanic; Amanda Kissinger, high school physical education teacher; Mark Matzek, high school wrestling coach; Brooke Minder, high school JV volleyball coach; James Neu, middle school seventh grade football coach; Ruby Straub, elementary school teaching assistant; Julie Winger, high school food service staff.
Retirement: Vicki Boyd, elementary special education teaching assistant.
Transfer: Laura Hodges, from elementary teaching assistant to special education administrative assistant.
Extra/Co-Curricular: Lisa Bench, fifth grade team leader; Karine Coulson, 4YK team leader; Mandy Heitman, kindergarten team leader and guiding coalition kindergarten representative; Kendyl Horn, third grade team leader; Becky Hoyt, fourth grade team leader; Stephanie Jensen, middle school assistant track coach; Katerina Musgrave, guiding coalition specialists representative; Lindsey Paul, second grade team leader; Ashley Pritchard, specialists team leader; Tyler Sampson, high school boys assistant tennis coach; Emily Stiemann, first grade team leader; Hilary Thom, guiding coalition pupil services representative.
Other business
