Spring Green, Wisconsin
Thursday, August 22, 2024 | Vol. 5, No. 17 FREE, Single-Copy
Inside this edition
Arena has a somewhat normal meeting
River Valley School Board meets ahead of the school year
Notable Quotables: In the news
Pages 1, 2
Page 1
Page 2
Village of Arena Board continues discussions on police asset liquidations, hears reports on construction, wastewater commission Luukas Palm-Leis, Reporter At its Aug. 6 meeting, the Village of Arena Board of Trustees continued discussions regarding police assets — voting to sell its two police vehicles. The board also heard reports regarding construction projects in the village and the Dane/Iowa wastewater commission.
Police Equipment Liquidation
The board continued discussions from the July 2 meeting regarding liquidation of police department assets as part of the board’s decision to phase out the Village of Arena police department. At that meeting the board decided to liquidate all items not purchased with grant money.
At this meeting, the board discussed where to donate the grant-related items, which include a thermal monocular, AEDs, radios and computers, as they are restricted from selling them. Village President Kate Reimann and Trustee BeccaRaven Uminowicz suggested the Arena Fire and EMS Department may have use for these items. Trustee Melissa Bandell motioned to table the grant-related items that they are liquidating to query the Fire and EMS Department, as well as Arena Manor and the Arena VFW, if they would find use for the items. All members voted in favor of the motion. The board also discussed the liquida-
tion of its two police vehicles. Village Clerk/Treasurer DaNean Naeger noted that the police vehicles would either have to be sold to a police department or they would have to be decommissioned to be sold to the general public. “I think it would be better and a faster turnaround to have the vehicles decommissioned and then send them to Wisconsin Surplus,” Reimann said. Trustee Kathy Stoltz suggested the board should attempt to sell the vehicles still upfitted to allow local police departments the opportunity to purchase them. Bandell made the motion to attempt to sell the 2020 police vehicle as-is to a
different police department and decommission the 2017 police vehicle to sell to the general public. The motion passed with all members in favor.
Village Construction Projects
The ongoing project for the Village’s well #2 has been facing issues with electrical due to a contractor doing unauthorized work, according to Zach Adams at MSA Professional Services, the Village’s engineering firm. The generators for the new wellhouse and Pine Street lift station were commissioned and are currently operational.
continued on page 2
River Valley Board of Education updates crisis response plans, hears reports on district wellness Luukas Palm-Leis, Reporter At its Aug. 8 meeting, the River Valley School District Board of Education heard the district’s health and wellness report, voted to continue its school liaison agreement and reviewed a new crisis response plan.
District Policing and Safety
The board considered and discussed its long-standing police liaison agreement with the Spring Green Police Department. The purpose of a liaison is to help provide educational programs and resources to students and staff, act as a communicator between law enforcement and the district and perform policing duties on the district campuses. The agreement, which provides the school with a police liaison officer for a minimum of 20 hours per week, costs the district $14,400 per year, and has not changed for the current school year. The board unanimously voted in favor of continuing the policing agreement. The board voted to update the district’s crisis response plan. School Resource Officer Andy Kurek detailed the changes
that were made, which included modernizing the plan and making it more concise. Kurek also noted the new plan uses resources from the I Love U Guys Foundation, which provides schools with crisis response resources, crisis reunification protocols and related trainings. The school is utilizing the foundation for response and reunification protocols, as well as utilizing the provided trainings. All members voted in favor of the new crisis plan.
cy contains language related to 67 policy items considered to be best practices for school wellness. River Valley School District Pupil Services Director Claire Knoll noted that areas of improvement include strengthening wording within wellness related policies, adding policies regarding mental health, reducing caffeinated beverages sold in high school vending machines and having the wellness committee meet more often.
The board reviewed its triennial local wellness assessment. The district received a 2.77/3 score on its local wellness policy triennial assessment report card from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. The district received overall good marks on nutrition standards, nutrition education and physical education. The district received a comprehensiveness score of 88/100 and a strength score 67/100 on its WellSAT assessment. The WellSAT allows school food authorities to rate the extent to which their poli-
The board accepted the resignation of Nate Hunstiger, a high school English teacher. Hunstiger had been with the district for 5 years and left to pursue a career with First Tee, a youth golf organization. The board accepted the hiring of three new teachers. Simonne Starr, who is coming from Minnesota and has three years of teaching experience, was hired for middle school special education, at a starting salary of $48,500. Greg Rauls, who is coming from the North Crawford School District and has six years of teaching experience and a masters degree, has
Wellness Policy
Resignation and Hirings
been hired for high school English, at a starting salary of $63,500. Stephanie Pulvermacher, who is coming from the Richland Center School District and has three years of teaching experience, has been hired for middle school science and math at a starting salary of $47,500.
Community Spotlight
The board recognized Kurek as this month’s recipient of the district's community spotlight. Kurek has been the district’s police resource officer for 24 years. The board thanked Kurek for his assistance and support he has provided to the district over the years.
Looking ahead
Grades 1-9 and new high school students begin school on Sept. 3, grades 10-12 and 5 year-old kindergarten begin Sept. 4, 4 year-old kindergarten begins Sept. 5 and early childhood classes begin Sept. 6. The River Valley School District Board of Education next meets Sept. 12 at 7 p.m. in the Middle School Library and streams to the district’s YouTube Channel.