February 2025 School Board Meeting

Last Monday, the Denmark School Board held their monthly board meeting in the high school Media Center. Following the call to order, Pledge of Allegiance and roll call showing all members in attendance, the board unanimously approved the night's consent agenda before hearing the monthly reports.

Denmark High School Principal Jacob Beschta first congratulated the school's Dance Team for their recent performances at the State competition before discussing ways teachers are preparing Juniors and Seniors for the upcoming ACT exam on March 11 and 12. Beschta also reported scheduling for the 2025-2026 school year was well underway and they had received four applicants for an open teaching position. He also described an upcoming Job Fair at the school on March 28 which is being put on in collaboration with Inspire Wisconsin. Beschta further reported the Class of 2025 Valedictorian and Salutatorian had been informed of their awards and would be presented at the board's next meeting. He closed his report by previewing the Wrestling Super Regional at Denmark the coming weekend and answering questions from board members.

Next, District Administrator Luke Goral delivered his monthly Superintendent's Report. Goral started by explaining the district was working on finding a way to consolidate all field trip registration and charges as part of the yearly fees and paperwork at the beginning of each school year. He said they believed this would make the process easier on both parents and teachers. He also said if a child would have to miss a prepaid field trip due to illness or other reasons, the situations could be addressed on a case-by-case basis. Goral said the district was also looking into changes in substitute teaching at the elementary and middle school. Due to a lack of available subs, the district will now be compensating teachers who take on classes during their prep time. Goral also reported Bray Architects had completed a walkthrough of the elementary school's bathrooms, and the district would be receiving a bid for their remodeling soon with the work scheduled for this summer.

The board then moved on to the Discussion Items portion of the night's agenda. First, they heard from former District Administrator and current OneDenmark board member Tony Klaubauf who was in attendance to present on his organization's progress and intentions with the former Early Childhood Center property. Klaubauf began by thanking the board for selling the ECC to OneDenmark for $1 and said the organization was excited to move forward and meeting with architects weekly to discuss their vision. He explained the $4 million grant they had received could only be used for certain areas of the Community Center project. Due to some areas of the project not being designated as public spaces, only 60% of costs for large projects like the roof replacement will be covered with OneDenmark being responsible for the remaining 40%. Klaubauf said the organization is planning on undertaking more fundraisers in the coming months to help bridge this gap, and a variety of sponsorships and naming rights are available for any interested area businesses. In closing, he stated, "We're going to have to watch our pennies," and, "We're really pulling up our sleeves and going to work."

Next, the board heard the first reading of Policy Update 34.1. Goral went over the changes being proposed and explained the reasoning behind each. The main focus was updates to the district's Tobacco and Nicotine Policy by adding an educational component to first offence violations instead of suspension. Goral posed the question, "Is suspension really the right thing to do?" and pointed out the students do also receive a citation when they are apprehended on the first offense at the high school and on the second at the middle school. He stated he doesn't believe suspension is deterring the behavior, and the final recommendation would be presented at their next monthly meeting.

Goral then presented the board with an update on the Pupil Count Report, starting by stating there were "not a whole lot of changes". He went over the data for each grade level showing a total of 1,606 students currently enrolled in the district. Of these, Goral explained 1,443 live within the school district. He said this year's numbers were "overall, very consistent, nothing out of the ordinary".

Other items discussed and acted on by the board at last week's meeting include approving the resignation of an elementary school para educator and the retirement of a middle school math teacher. The board also rescinded District Policy 2264 in accordance with the President's Executive Order to revert back to the Title IX policy of 2020 before adjourning to closed session.