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| School Board approves revised budget recommendations |
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| Written by Janet Murphy |
| Friday, 26 February 2010 14:53 |
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A motion made by Board member Jerry Kolbe and seconded by Randy Lisowe to accept the budget recommendations presented by Superintendent Dr. Claire Martin for the 2010-11 school year, with freshman athletic teams intact, was unanimously passed at the February Chilton School District regular Board meeting. Martin’s revisions to the budget presented at the January meeting included: implementation of a flat $35 athletic/co-curricular fee for high school students; charging admission to baseball/softball games; elimination of the cheer squad; and funding one coach for the Dance/Pom team for one more year, with an intent to remove it from the budget next year. More than $30,000 for middle school athletics, along with the $10,000 cost of producing and mailing the District newsletter, was added to the $15,500 in utility costs already transferred to Fund 80 in the earlier proposed budget. Eliminating swim practice transportation costs approaching $4,000 and a $4,000 reduction to Board equipment costs also helped reduce the budget. As presented, the budget recommendations now include $36,300 in increased revenues, and $264,386 in reductions. During delegations, high school freshman Shandell Hephner spoke on behalf of the Dance Team and asked the Board to reconsider their decision to drop the dance team, saying, “Nine years out of ten we went to State. We really love it; we work hard, not because we have to, because we want to. We’d really like you to keep the Poms team.” Regarding costs to run the District, Martin referred to the Department of Public Instruction web site at http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/sig/index.html as the most reliable source for this information. Citing Administrative and Operations costs of $2,188 per student for the 2007-08 school year, compared with $2,145 for the 2003-04 school year, Martin noted the $40 difference adding, “We have made a very concerted effort in this School District to keep those costs down.” Referring to a chart that compared educational costs for Chilton with those for other districts, Martin said, “Our current educational costs are among the lowest, what we spend in educating a child is among the lowest of our counterparts.” Martin also addressed the use of MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) testing in addition to the WKCE (Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam) given to students each year. While the WKCE results compare Chilton with other school districts, Martin said they are of little use in the classroom because they are not available until spring. Martin said, “The WKCE has a very low benchmark. We do not use it for the District assessment because if we did, we’re fooling ourselves, we’re fooling our community and we’re fooling our parents; if we let them know their children are proficient – they’re not.” Martin said that if students were only measured using the WKCE, they would not be ready for job skills, technical schools or college. Acknowledging that the MAP assessment has a higher benchmark, Martin said that we need to hold the standards high for all of our kids. Martin added, “We now have these tools available to us in education, and we must use them. To not use them, in my opinion, is professional negligence on the part of the most important asset that we have and that’s the achievement of our children.” Board President Paul Meier thanked community members, staff and students for being a part of the budget process, and encouraged people to feel free to call or e-mail Board members and administrators with ideas and to stay involved. The Board approved an amendment to an earlier motion which formed co-ops with Brillion Public Schools for both the boys’ and girls’ swim teams for the next 2 school years, so that the co-op will now also include Valders. The Board approved hiring Ms. Lu Ann Monroe as custodian to replace Mr. Fluhr who recently retired. The Board also approved the resignation of Mrs. Marcia Ricci, who has taught high school Language Arts at Chilton for the past 5 years and the retirement of first grade teacher Mrs. Jean Goeldi. The Board also approved the Chilton Education Association contract renewals. The Board approved a request by Jamie Koehler to take the Ski Club to Indianhead Mountain in Wakefield, Michigan, March 12-14. The Board also approved a Youth Options request to take a CNA course at Fox Valley Technical College. High School Principal Dr. Tim Schaid congratulated senior April Pitzen for being named the school’s Wisconsin Academic Excellence Scholarship recipient, adding that she will receive $2,250 from the State, which is renewable for four years. 
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