The Owen-Withee School Board held their monthly meeting on Monday, May 12. Officers will remain the same for the next year, including Julie Wendler as president, Dean Schmelzer as vice-president, Joan Jalling as treasurer, and Angela Greschner as clerk.
Approval of co-curricular assignments was removed from the consent agenda. The remaining items, including minutes, payment of bills, 2025-2026 WIAA membership, approval of certified contracts and open enrollments were approved.
The board discussed hours and minutes for the 2025-2026 school calendar before approving them. The school day will begin at 7:55 a.m. and end at 3:20 p.m. next school year. The elementary school will start at 8 a.m. It was noted that many of the students are there by 7:30 a.m. Schmelzer asked why not start at 8 a.m. and go to 3:25 p.m. The response was that it works better for the middle/high school, in part, because athletes are released early for games/meets. Schmelzer asked why that was a problem if every student has study hall 8th hour anyway. Middle/High School Principal Nate Johnson said they are planning on changing that next year. Instead of the end of the day, some students will have study hall at the beginning of the day, those with reading issues will have intervention during that time, and others might have STEM activities. They will also have homeroom time where they can get any needed help with homework. Johnson said research shows that doing these activities at the start of the school day is more effective than at the end of the day. The extra minutes will allow for approximately five snow days without having to make any days up.
Dean Schmelzer will represent the school district at the CESA 10 Board of Control Annual Meeting.
CPI increases for support staff, teachers, and administrators was tabled until the June meeting.
The Policy Committee met about the Reading Promotion Policy. It was decided to go with the recommended DPI policy. This was considered the first reading of the policy. It will be approved in June after the second reading.
The board approved joining AEF (Association for Equity in Funding) at a cost of $250. They lobby to try to get equitable funding for schools. Schmelzer attended their presentation at the WASB State Convention and said they lobby for smaller schools to get the same amount of funding as larger schools like Madison and Milwaukee.
The board then took up the discussion of co-curricular coaches and advisors. Some positions still don’t have anyone. Schmelzer said they reduced the number of coaches last year and then ended up hiring more. He feels there should be criteria on how many coaches there are for each sport based on participation numbers. He also said they could give each program a pot of money each year and the head coach could decide how to divide it. Robyn Renderman felt the board should decide how much each coach got paid, but that they could give money to each program and ask how many coaches were needed. Angela Greschner felt a committee should be formed to look into it more in depth. It will be put on the June agenda with a possible closed session. In the meantime, Dean Schmelzer, Robyn Renderman, and Adam Simington will meet with District Administrator Randy Bergman and Athletic Director Hailey Kadolph to put together some numbers. One of the items that will be looked at is a census of participants in each sport over the last three years. Renderman wondered if it was necessary to still have C-teams as a number of other area schools no longer do. Co-curricular advisors were approved except for coaches.
Under Administrator Reports, Elementary Principal Julie VanArk said they are doing their end of year assessments. Katie Hatlestad and Brian Lewison have been chosen to participate in a study for the new reading curriculum. This will allow the district to get some extra support for the program. There are a lot of field trips currently happening and Summer School planning is underway.
Middle/High School Principal Nate Johnson said the FFA did well at the recent Career and Leadership Development events. Community Service Day allowed students to go out into the community. They were rewarded with grilled burgers, ice cream, and afternoon activities. The middle/high school will be working on making sure their science curriculum is in alignment with state standards. All eligible students in grades 7-11 will be participating in an incentive day before the end of the year. High school track has broken three school records this year.
District Administrator Randy Bergman checked into middle school team sports being affiliated with the school. Of the 15 other schools he contacted, four had middle school baseball affiliated with the school, in the case of two of the schools, it is a co-op. Middle school softball had five schools with an affiliated program, two of the schools were in a co-op.
Todd Nelson asked about the Valley Fair trip the students used to take. There is no one who is willing to run that program at present. He also asked about them providing a shelter for playground monitors to stand in during inclement weather.