On Monday, Jan. 14, the Monroe School Board:
• Created a Dan Bauer Memorial Fund within the Excellence in Education Foundation. Bauer worked for the district for many years, including serving as director of special education and most recently as principal at the Monroe Virtual School before his death in November. In creating the fund, the board also gave Superintendent Larry Brown authority to help raise funds, when appropriate, for the memorial. The foundation must secure $10,000 to endow the memorial fund, after which proceeds will go toward grants supporting at-risk students and programming. The fund will be "a great tribute to Dan for all the innovative and hard work he put into the district," Brown said.
• Accepted resignations from Rex Burgess, custodian at Abraham Lincoln Accelerated Learning Academy, and Don Lane, outdoor safety supervisor at Northside Elementary School. The board accepted recommendations to hire Rick Alston as custodian at Abe Lincoln and Stacie Christensen as outdoor safety supervisor at Northside.
• Hired Andrea Skalmoski to fill a vacancy for Specific Learning Disabilities program teacher at Parkside Elementary School. Skalmoski has two years experience teaching fourth and fifth grade at a parochial school in Neenah and is scheduled to complete her master's degree in May.
• Saw a draft of a school community relations plan. Brown has said since he took the superintendent's position this summer that he wished to implement a community relations plan. The draft states the plan's objective is to "develop a public relations/communication program of action that all faculty and staff will embrace so the district will speak with a united voice." The plan calls for, among other things, publishing a quarterly newsletter; continued use of the district's Web site; continued use of local media to publicize school activities and events; and providing packets of information to businesses and realtors. Now that the board has the draft, it will work to develop and approve a final plan.
• Learned the Department of Public Instruction denied the district's request to hold parent/teacher conferences after regular school hours. The district sought a waiver from the DPI in order to count conferences held at night.
• Created a Dan Bauer Memorial Fund within the Excellence in Education Foundation. Bauer worked for the district for many years, including serving as director of special education and most recently as principal at the Monroe Virtual School before his death in November. In creating the fund, the board also gave Superintendent Larry Brown authority to help raise funds, when appropriate, for the memorial. The foundation must secure $10,000 to endow the memorial fund, after which proceeds will go toward grants supporting at-risk students and programming. The fund will be "a great tribute to Dan for all the innovative and hard work he put into the district," Brown said.
• Accepted resignations from Rex Burgess, custodian at Abraham Lincoln Accelerated Learning Academy, and Don Lane, outdoor safety supervisor at Northside Elementary School. The board accepted recommendations to hire Rick Alston as custodian at Abe Lincoln and Stacie Christensen as outdoor safety supervisor at Northside.
• Hired Andrea Skalmoski to fill a vacancy for Specific Learning Disabilities program teacher at Parkside Elementary School. Skalmoski has two years experience teaching fourth and fifth grade at a parochial school in Neenah and is scheduled to complete her master's degree in May.
• Saw a draft of a school community relations plan. Brown has said since he took the superintendent's position this summer that he wished to implement a community relations plan. The draft states the plan's objective is to "develop a public relations/communication program of action that all faculty and staff will embrace so the district will speak with a united voice." The plan calls for, among other things, publishing a quarterly newsletter; continued use of the district's Web site; continued use of local media to publicize school activities and events; and providing packets of information to businesses and realtors. Now that the board has the draft, it will work to develop and approve a final plan.
• Learned the Department of Public Instruction denied the district's request to hold parent/teacher conferences after regular school hours. The district sought a waiver from the DPI in order to count conferences held at night.