RIVER FALLS – Like many Wisconsin school districts, River Falls has experienced multiple snow days already this school year, which means some time needs to be made up in order to comply with the state’s required number of instruction minutes.

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction requires 437 hours of direct pupil instruction in kindergarten, 1,050 hours for grades 1-6 and 1,137 hours for grades 7-12.

“We’ve cancelled school six times and January’s not over yet,” Superintendent Jamie Benson said at the Jan. 23 school board meeting.

Four other days saw early releases or late starts.

Benson sent a letter to parents Jan. 6 detailing the process he and Transportation Director Todd Burnap follow when determining school cancellations. High on the list of safety concerns are the hundreds of high school students who drive themselves to school (often with siblings and/or friends in their vehicle).

“If we’re going to make a mistake on whether we’re hopeful that it will be made on the side of safety, it will be that people will wonder why in the world did we not have school today as opposed to why in the world did you bring students in today and have a bus roll over in the ditch or have somebody in a bad car accident,” Benson said.

The district had two built-in snow days in its 2022-23 calendar and one day was made up Jan. 16, which had previously been scheduled as a no-school day. Other dates that are now school days are Feb. 20, April 7 and June 7. Adding five minutes to the end of each day will make up the partial days missed.

Benson said he hasn’t been eager to “jump on the bandwagon” of distance learning days.

“I think most would agree that a day of at-home learning for a second grader is really not the same thing as a second grader coming to school face-to-face with their teacher, with their peers, and having the engagement that they have all day long. It’s not the same,” Benson said.

However, if the district is going to avoid stretching the school year into the second week of June, with winter far from over, two more snow days would result in those being distance learning days. A third snow day would mean school will be in session June 8. Beyond that has not yet been determined.

Benson said staff has been working to define at home learning days and how that will work.

Board President Stacy Johnson Myers said people don’t realize how complicated the decision is to call off school. Benson and Burnap get out and drive the roads to figure out road conditions for themselves.

“I purposefully put my truck in two-wheel drive to test what the roads are like for somebody that might not have four-wheel drive,” Benson said.

He and Burnap also consult other districts; highway department, township and public works personnel, and weather forecasts.

Personnel

The board approved the hire of Lynette Edwards as the new Director of Finance and Facilities Management. Edwards earned a bachelor’s degree from UW-River Falls and a master’s from UW-Whitewater. She has nine years of experience in Clintonville, Green Bay and Osceola. She replaces Chad Smurawa.

The board also approved hiring the following short-term, on-call substitute teachers: Glenn Isnardi, Keven Bruesewitz, Michael Rundle, Philip Dumont, Richard Miller, Emily Sies-Mandel, Andrew Smits, Abby Ashauer and Amber Nadeau.

The board accepted the resignation of fourth grade teacher Stephanie Linehan at Greenwood Elementary effective June 8.

Facilities plan

The board approved the district’s 10year facilities/maintenance plan for capital improvement projects. Benson the district puts about $650,000 annually toward maintenance projects. However, that doesn’t cover everything that is needed. “We don’t want to just defer maintenance projects. We want to stay on top of that annually,” Benson said. “We have other needs that we don’t have the money to accomplish.”

Staff are getting bids out right now for a section the middle school roof dubbed “the penthouse.” Inside is the HVAC system and the walls need replacing.

Additional district capital/facility needs exist beyond the district’s financial means, therefore, this plan only reflects the current annual district budget allocation for capital improvement projects and is developed to meet the legal requirements associated with Fund 46 (a capital improvements savings account).

The 10-year plan and allocation are as follows: • MMS penthouse ($645,000)

• Rocky Branch skylight re-roofing ($100,000), MMS skylight re-roofing ($50,000), MMS roof sections from 2022 ($375,000)

• Rocky Branch boiler plant replacement ($600,000)

• Rocky Branch boiler plant replacement ($600,000)

• Westside boiler plant replacement ($650,000)

• Westside boiler plant replacement ($650,000)

• Replace generators at Westside and MMS and MMS student lockers ($635,000)

• RFHS emergency generator install ($650,000)

• RFHS emergency generator install ($650,000)

• RFHS tennis courts replacement ($856,000) The plan is subject to change if the district goes to referendum, which it is considering doing in February 2024.

Other business

The board approved a second reading of revised school board policy 171.1 – Public Notification of Board meetings, which proclaims school board notices will be sent to both the Pierce County Journal and Star Observer.

The board approved the first reading of a policy concerning overnight accommodations for student trips.

Two school board seats are up for election in April. Three candidates will be listed in this order (drawn at random) on the ballot: Alison Page, Cassie Erickson and Stacy Johnson Myers.