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Mader rehired as girls head coach The school board held their September meeting Monday, Sept. 20 with several extra patrons in attendance. Apparently some of the extra patrons in attendance had a concern about a coach allegedly consuming an alcoholic beverage in the presence of their players after a game. Apparently some of the players even posted pictures to social media. If there was any action taken by the board on the concerns, it was during an executive session after the regular meeting finished. In regular business, Lori Mader was approved as girls head basketball coach. Apparently she had a change of heart and re-applied for the position. There were a total of 4 applicants for the position with Kim Schumacher, Aaron Hinkelman and Matt Elven doing the interviewing. They still have an opening for assistant girls coach. The continuous improvement plan was approved by the board. In reports Elven reported that had 191 students enrolled at the Jr./Sr. High School as of Monday. They had 35 7th graders, 38 8th graders, 37 freshmen, 24 sophomores, 20 juniors and 37 seniors. Elven talked about the athletic drug testing policy. This year they had 5 athletes test positive. 4 of them challenged it and got tested at the hospital. All 4 of those came back negative. Elven said he would like to see the policy changed from suspended upon testing negative to if they challenge they are only suspended upon confirmation from the hospital testing. Basically innocent until proven guilty instead of the guilty until proven innocent of the current policy. Receiving results from the hospital testing varied from 4 days to 2 weeks so one student wound up suspended 2 weeks even they it turned out they were innocent. Apparently the school’s test is hyper sensitive to nicotine. The hospital tests said yes there was nicotine but only at levels that would be due to second hand smoke. The board agreed maybe the policy should be looked at and it will be put on the agenda for the October meeting. Elven reported the blood drive was to be held Tuesday, Sept. 21 with 40 of the 41 donor spots filled with at least 4 flex donors waiting to be called on. Senior project presentations days are set for Sept. 16, January 12 and April 27. Jon Rehder reported the ASB elections at the Elementary went well. The new Pirates rugs have arrived for the Elementary and High School. He said he is enjoying being around the younger children after having spent his entire career to this point in secondary education. In his facility report he said the Auxiliary Gym now has its own water and sewer lines separate from the old elementary school. Fencing is going up around the long jump and pole vault pits at the track facility by the end of September to protect them from people driving on them. He and Rick Forsmann met with the Monastery about the water system at the Monastery. They are looking at updating the pipes from the well to the reservoir next June and installing a wireless control system. The school is also looking into a well of their own which would pump to the Monastery reservoir and serve as a backup if the other well goes down for any reason. In his superintendent report he said he drove the new non-CDL bus back from Middleton. They were told it had 50,000 miles but when he got it, it had just 18,000. He is working on updating the extracurricular duty contract. Total school enrollment is at 432 this year compared to 407 last year. They are not taking any new open enrollment students this year despite several requests to do so. Rick Forsmann talked a bit about the pipes at the Elementary School. They are galvanized pipes that were installed when the school was built in the early 1960’s. He feels they need to be proactive about getting them replaced as he is surprised they lasted this long without any major issues. He will work on getting some costs. Rehder asked about doing a Veterans Day program this year. He may meet with Rick Johnson and Joe Riener of the VFW to see what could be done. Covid issues could wind up cancelling it again this year. New weight equipment for the high school is supposed to arrive around the end of October. It was supposed to be here in August but delivery got pushed back. The meeting adjourned to an executive session at 8:30. The next regular meeting of the board is schedule for Monday, October 18 at 7 p.m.
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