Prescott High School history teacher Jeff Ryan had been nominated for and won the Gilder-Lehrman Wisconsin History Teacher of the Year Award recently, and would go on to compete for the national one. This little snippet of local intelligence was made known at the Prescott School Board meeting for August. Meanwhile, another sort of history was happening globally, but not without its local impact. Having given all families the option to begin the school year off-campus for 2020-21, the Prescott School district would like a formal commitment by September 25 for staffing purposes and teacher schedules.

“So we are livestreaming and it’s open to the public from now through—until we can’t,” Dr. Rick Spicuzza announced as the school board meeting got underway Wednesday, August 19 in the Prescott Performing Arts Center attached to the High School building. Prior to Spicuzza’s pronouncement, there were technical details to sort out at the Wednesday meeting.

“Mic check 1-2-3, mic check 1-2-3” a sound technician announced as the framework was put in place to livestream the Wednesday board meeting. Minutes later the unique meeting venue came live, complete with stringed instrument music. Then it was into board business. Among other matters, there was the matter of Chromebook contracts to consider. The district was adding a great many Chromebooks to its high school fleet, and Technology Director Kyle Flaherty said that meant choosing the right supplier. All the prices were comparative, and the differences were in incentives. With two people in the tech department, it wasn’t feasible for them to successfully maintain the several hundred machines that would be needed for learning during the current school year, and that meant having good support off-site.

“As a staff of two in a tech department, bringing in 430 Chromebooks didn’t seem like anything feasible,” Flaherty said of the district’s ability to keep the machines working and in order. So who to choose for a vendor and support? One that offers good benefits, including a fair market buyback option at contract end, plus repairs.

“The option we went with was Trinity 3, because they offered us unlimited repairs, for any reason,” Flaherty said, the sole exception being “malicious damage,” such as a student stabbing their pencil through the screen. Additionally, a two percent loss prevention clause in the leasing contract meant that Trinity 3 would replace up to 8 or 9 Chromebooks free of charge, no questions asked. Once the multi-year contract was up, said Chromebooks would be either bought back by Trinity, purchased through the district, or sold to families at an otherwise fair market price. Every student would be offered one, but no one would be forced to take it if they had their own machine instead.

But although savings were important, given the cost of keeping the machines clean. Flaherty said that he and an assistant Andrew had worked out an inflated figure for sanitary wipes, to the tune of $23,000. This likely wouldn’t happen, but it was worth noting nonetheless. Meanwhile, Board Clerk Pat Block had a question for Spicuzza on the cost of the little laptops. “The only thing I would ask would be the budgeting, for the dollars, Rick?” Block said during question time.

“You mean how much?” Spicuzza asked.

“Well I can see how much,” Block said of the $42,000 in Chromebook costs. “I guess I’m asking where the money’s coming from.” Spicuzza replied that in working with Finance Coordinator Renee Peterson on the October budget, the necessary funds had been found to cover the purchase, along with an additional $32,000 in Federal CARES Act money available to the district. With a motion and second to enter a three-year lease into 2021 with Trinity 3, the purchase was approved. Then it was into guidelines for what might trigger a level 3 campus shutdown, or transitioning to everyone off site, all the time—aka “Chromebook learning 101.”

“We will probably hit a level 3 sometime this fall,” Vice President Steve Sizemore said of district instructional planning at the August 21 meeting. That fateful decision would depend on data from Pierce County Public Health but also the “burden rate” of locally confirmed COVID-19 cases at the State Department of Health, updated at 2:00 p.m. every Wednesday. Level three would be triggered by anything above 30 per 100,000. Along with the question of shutdown was staffing. What to do if the district shut down, and how to attempt to guarantee jobs in the meantime? Change policy language, that’s how!

“We realize there are decisions that are tough, that will probably have to be enacted this year,” Spicuzza said of foreseeable furloughs if the campus shuts down from COVID. Because of coronavirus and its impact on local taxpayers and businesses as well as state revenue, the district finances would be in question, at least after the biennium.

“I think what I can share with you is that the next biennium will be discussed in spring,” Spicuzza said of state finances, with no guarantee that the State of Wisconsin would be able to meet its promised revenue payouts as such. Weld-Riley as the Prescott district’s counsel had just gotten back to the district the previous night, but nothing had been prepared since that. The district was looking at combining furlough and layoffs under the policy as a way to look out for employees to the degree possible when temporary unemployed status became necessary. “It’s not something we take lightly,” Spicuzza said. “We take pride in being able to provide for all our staff.” Nevertheless, most board members, while regretful, agreed that a change in policy language was “unfortunate, but necessary” at the present time.

If made necessary, furloughs and layoffs would be based on employee training, years of experience, and the relationship to other support employees. The district would let staff know as soon as possible, though no less than 24 hours beforehand.

“This is something that protects us, but it also protects staff,” one board member said, “They have a job when we’re able.” Board President Mike Matzek had his own insightful take on matters of finance.

“We do employ a lot of people,” he said. “This is the biggest business in Prescott.”