ELLSWORTH — A student-run coffee roasting operation, a new greenhouse structure and major changes to business and technical education courses were all part of a presentation from four of the Ellsworth High School academic departments, showcasing the things expected to come after the referendum construction is complete, during Monday’s school board meeting.

First up was the presentation on the agriculture department. The ag area is seeing updates to the lab/classroom area as well as a new concept for the greenhouse.

Three branches within the agriculture classes (plants, animals and natural resources) are all seeing improvements.

From the plant perspective, the greenhouse space will allow for hydroponics (plants growing in water and mineral mixtures rather than soil), vertical farming and other planting methods.

“Vertical farming is up and coming - this year there is a farm that is looking to produce 4 million pounds of strawberries on 1 acre of land.  Using 90% less water & 97% less land than if they were grown conventionally,” the presentation states.

With added coolers, the floral design classes can preserve flowers significantly longer, potentially opening a window for the sale of arrangements.

Animal science’s lab area will allow the classes to take in raw product from farmers and pasteurize it. Composting also becomes a possibility for the natural resources classes.

The presented labs and projects for the classes were lengthy, with highlights including a soil erosion lab, a strawberry DNA lab and cheese, yogurt and jerky making.

“There’s a lot of knowledge missing of where their food comes from to how it gets to their table,” agriculture teacher Katie Christenson said.

Business education will focus on collaboration with other departments. Additions of business basics, retail management and digital marketing will help to further that collaboration. They will share space with the technical education department and use laptops to collaborate with students working on projects in the tech-ed classes.

Family and consumer science will be adding a convection oven, a proofing oven, a Hobart mixer, a gas stove and hood, a dish washing station, a dry storage area, a coffee roaster and a braising pan. These additions allow for added classes of a baking and pastries course and an advanced foods course to learn the equipment.

Perhaps the largest endeavor is selling their own coffee blend, the Panther Blend, through a student-run Panther Perc Coffee Bean Roasting group. The roaster can create $338 in retail value per hour, producing over 18 12-ounce bags of coffee beans per hour.

The department’s hope would be to sell the coffee at the Panther Den, Nilssen’s Foods, the Ellsworth Creamery and East End Gifts.

“We would eventually teach a couple seniors how to run this, and then they would have a junior under their wing and then it would kind of rotate up,” Family and Consumer Science Teacher Sarah Johnson said.

The technology education department is facing less limitations thanks to the expansion. Construction was limited by the size of the lab which will now be larger. Other additions include more welding booths, mills and lathes, robotic arms and Programmable Logic Controller workstations.

Board member Gary Kressin focused his questions on opportunities to earn college credit in each of the departments. This ranged from which courses are currently offered to what opportunities for expansion into new courses the referendum facilities will bring.

With 21 transcripted credit courses, 14 Advanced Placement courses and four Project Lead The Way courses, High School Assistant Principal Rob Heller said the high school is right at the top compared to similarly-sized districts.

“We went to CVTC (Chippewa Valley Technical College) and they said for schools our size we are probably one of the leaders in that department,” Heller said.

Kressin was also interested in the experimentation of further collaboration between departments with the new spaces.

Audit

A conference call with a representative from the district’s auditor confirmed the district’s financial reports and they can continue to go about things as usual. The total net position increased $1.2 million due to some capital investments and variables like WRS which goes up and down frequently.

The auditor said spending was “very close” to the budget and the district was in compliance with laws and regulations.

Acknowledgements

The board acknowledged the middle school’s screen free week, where students were kept away from screens; the school aided the process by providing opportunities without a screen.

They also acknowledged the high school’s promo fair, putting out booths from each academic department to speak to students about potential career paths. The students voted the family and consumer sciences booth as the top booth for the second year in a row, this year hosting a diaper changing speedrun.

Other business

• Awarded a $25,000 grant for opioid prevention from the Department of Public Instruction.
• Board President Julie Lundstrom will head to the State Capitol to pitch to legislators on behalf of the school district.
• Heard first readings of policy changes. The changes are largely out of the school’s hands, being brought to the board from the outside.

Personnel

The board approved the following personnel changes:

Hires: Melissa Walsh, high school food service.

Resignations: Olivia Bonlander, high school guiding coalition; Lexi Daute, JV volleyball coach; Kiley Fiala, middle school counselor and mental health coordinator.

Retirees: Tammy Blodgett, high school administrative assistant; Gale Harris, elementary school teaching assistant; Kari Langer, elementary school teaching assistant.