Elmwood School Board Meeting - July 2010

School Aid a “Welcome Relief”

Submitted by: Citizen Journalist Rick A. Talford


Elmwood, WI- The July Board Meeting for the Elmwood School District was held on Monday July 19th at 7 pm in the Boardroom. Prior to the meeting starting, the members of the board discussed the Northstar All Star Football Game held in Oshkosh, WI. The Head Coach for the game was the Elmwood Football Coach, Jerry Hannack, and his Assistant Dick Jones was also selected for the coaching staff. This was going to be recognized by the Board during the meeting, but it slipped by without notice. I believe there will be more discussion during next months meeting.

The Administrative Report was provided to the Board by Principal Paul Blanford. The WASB Aid had been announced to be $96,588.00 for the Elmwood School District. These are funds received from the State Budget for School Aid, to help out the smaller rural schools. The program helps schools with less than 722 students, and have less than 10 students per square mile in the district. These funds are able to be used for any budget areas the school may need. “A Welcome Relief” Stated School Board President , Greg Nelson.

The Action Items were then discussed. The Varsity Assistant Volleyball Coach will be Becky Baier. The Varsity Assistant Coach position for Track will remain open, as Heather Sand did not take the position at this time. That position was tabled for the next meeting. A quick glance at the SAGE program was reviewed without any action needed. The current Director of Special Ed is now being filled by Todd Paavola, the School Psychologists. Todd is also shared with Glenwood City, as a Psychologist.

The Information Items were then reviewed, starting with the Annual Nursing Service of the Year Report. Traci Lien provided a six page analysis of the services provided to students and faculty for the past year. The visits and accidents/illnesses counted for 1,078 logged visits.(excluding diabetic checks or insulin administration) with 622 visits requiring school nurse intervention. 92 of the visits required further documentation with injury/illness reports. 18 reports were completed for illness, and 80 reports were for injuries, which were mostly received during inside recess in the gym, outside recess, or during Phy Ed.
123 students in K-5 participated in the fluoride mouth rinse program offered free through a state grant, rinsing once weekly. The Diabetic Nursing Care reported 1,379 blood sugar checks and 496 insulin administrations for two students that needed daily monitoring. A Variety of screenings were done with 176 Vision tests, 136 Hearing tests, 72 Head Lice checks, 36 Blood pressure checks were done in a “Healthy Living” Class, and 72 Blood pressure tests were conducted on Staff members along with hypertension education and counseling. Immunization Records were reviewed, as well as Staff Training, Classroom Special education, Safety, Social Services, H1N1 and Seasonal Influenza Monitoring, H1N1 Vaccination Clinics, Annual Policy Review, and Goals for the upcoming year completed the outlined information. It was also noted that Jeff Banks of RCMC has been replaced by Ben Rockwell for providing the Defibulator Training. The District Policy Update had two areas to speak over with the Meal Prices being the first. Last month it was decided to raise prices about thirty cents across the board, and this month they made a change to the policy in regards to informing parents earlier when their account have gone negative. Now when the account gets five dollars behind, a letter and phone call both will be made, in order to keep the accounts positive. A Meeting will be scheduled between Parents and School Administration for accounts getting twenty five dollars behind. The second area reviewed was for meal allotments for activities taking students away during meal times. In the past they gave the students three dollars and fifty cents, they are looking into changing this to five dollars for Breakfast, six dollars for Lunch, and nine dollars for Supper. This will be brought up again during next months meeting. Ending the Open Session part of the meeting was the 2010-2011 School Budget Update, with nothing really to report or take action on.


Update......This was posted on the web page for the pierce county herald....

(The three candidates are: Joe Zirngibl, K-12 Principal in Siren, Kyle Luedtke, Middle/High School Principal in Royall and Paul Blanford, Elementary/Middle School Principal and Assistant High School Principal at Elmwood.)