ELLSWORTH – Ellsworth School Board mem- bers gave the green light Oct. 10 for the two Ellsworth High School physical education locker rooms to get a major remodel, which has been talked about for a num –

ber of years. “The locker rooms are largely original to the 1960s building," said Superinten –

dent Barry Cain. "Many ar eas are not handicapped ac- cessible." Cain said now is the time to move forward with the project, since the district’s Wisconsin Retirement Sys- tem liability payments will be finished in April 2023. John Huenink from Kraus-Anderson said the project would include a com- plete remodel of the boys' and girls’ phy ed locker rooms, adjacent ovces, re strooms and storage areas.

This means a complete over- haul of the 1960s plumbing, electrical, flooring, fixtures, lockers, benches and furni ture. Updates will provide handicapped accessibility, individual shower stalls and asbestos abatement of the floors.

“We actually have a shower facility which is not hand- icapped accessible, which is kind of hard to believe," Cain said. “We did a lot of asbestos abatement when we did the energy evciency projects, so it is mostly floor ing.”

The district also hopes to give the athletic (sports) locker rooms a facelift with new paint, vinyl and lighting.

Huenink estimated the project to cost anywhere from $1,006,280 to $1,257,850, which is up from the $700,000 estimate in 2020.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before," Huen – ink said of inflation euects. "Many things are 30 to 40% higher than one year ago.”

Possible funding sources include Fund 38 (non-refer –

endum debt), Fund 46 (capi tal investment fund, of which $626,886.06 remains), and Fund 10 (the general bud get). The funding piece will be decided over the course of the school year, Cain said.

“Now is the time of year to make these decisions so we can move ahead,” Cain added. “We’re putting a pretty tight timeline together if we want to do it next summer, especially considering supply chain issues.”

The district, because the WRS liability will be paid ou, can also levy $1 million next year, Cain said. He ex- pects funding will be a mix of all three options above. Construction will hope- fully being in Summer 2023.

Third Friday count

Cain presented the num-

bers of the Third Friday Count, which lists the num- ber of district students at 1,619, a trend line which is "pretty stable." Cain said the district is actually about seven bodies down from last year, but the count is up because there are less 4YK students this year, who are only counted as .6.

The high school has 519 students, the middle school has 375 and the elementary has 725, which is up 13 from last year. St. Francis has 58 students.

Personnel

The board approved the following personnel chang- es:

• Hire: Riley Groh, EES health aide

• Resignation: Drew Rodgers, custodian

• Retirement: Ava Maxwell, district ovce busi –

ness and finance special –

ist

• Extra/co-curricular: Tanner Hoyt, boys junior varsity basketball coach