RIVER FALLS — The River Falls School Board approved cooperative agreements with the University of Wisconsin-River Falls for the university preschool program and Ellsworth and Prescott for hearing impaired teaching and the Project SEARCH program.

“These are some long-standing agreements between both UWRF Preschool and Ellsworth and Prescott that we’ve done for a number of different years,” Director of Student Services Mark Inouye said.

The UWRF agreement serves as a way to share the cost of a paraprofessional that works at the preschool where the district also places students.

“It allows us to staff that program with a special education [paraprofessional], who helps with kind of the education for the students that we place over there,” Inouye said.

The hearing impaired teaching agreement with Prescott and Ellsworth is to split the costs of a teacher to teach deaf and hard of hearing students in the districts.

“A district our size really can’t support a full-time [deaf and hard of hearing] position by itself,” Inouye said. “What we do is we hire a full-time teacher and then we contract out a portion of their salary to some of our neighbors.”

Last year, both Ellsworth and Prescott took on 10% of the salary, with Prescott’s percentage increasing to 15% this year. The percentages are based on enrollment numbers.

“Project SEARCH, a transition-to-employment program for individuals with disabilities, recently celebrated the achievements of its latest cohort. Licensed through the School District of River Falls, Project SEARCH is a one-year transition-to-employment program that provides valuable career exploration and employability skills to students and adults from across western Wisconsin,” an article submitted to the Journal from the School District of River Falls states.

Inouye said the program could not go on without the other communities, recommending the contract be approved by the board.

“We could not do the Project SEARCH program alone, if we didn’t have some kind of community partners and some people that participated with us as well,” Inouye said.

The program is hosted by the River Falls Area Hospital and has seven interns for the coming year. Four of the interns are from River Falls, one from Ellsworth, one from Prescott and one through the adult system. Inouye said people in the program face a variety of different job settings and learn vocational skills.

Project calendar

The Finance and Facilities Committee presented a capital project timeline to the board that showed the timeline of each phase and project of the referendum projects from the facilities referendum that passed in February.

The majority of the construction phases are scheduled to begin in the summer of 2025 or in early 2025.

The presentation also included a site plan for the high school addition, which includes fitness, all-purpose and wrestling rooms. The design was created with the intention of the least possible disruption to the pick-up location.

“After the latest estimates in totality projects are tracking approx. 3.5% over budget. The design team and CM are creating deduct bid alternatives and value management opportunities to balance the overall budget,” the presentation states.

Other business

• Accepted a $3,000 donation from the River Fall Lions Club to support mental health initiatives at the high school. The money was raised at the first River Falls Garden Tour, which is expected to return next year.
• Approved the first reading of revised Policy 537 Staff Development. “This policy has existed, so this is part of our updating of all of our policies to try and make sure that we’re on track,” Director of Academic Services Nate Schurman said. “Also, this policy is encouraged to show our collective support for professional development both inside and outside of the school and encourages principals to promote that and also to set aside budget.”
• Approved revisions to the District Office and Buildings & Grounds Program Assistant job description.
• Approved first readings to “modest” revisions of many board policies.