The Lakeland Union High School board of education accepted a $720,000 donation from an area couple and a charitable banking foundation Monday, laying the groundwork for synthetic turf replacing grass at the T-Bird stadium field.
Greg and Darcey Nicklaus and the River Valley Bank Foundation have each pledged $360,000 over a 5-year period toward the field turf, which will be installed this summer and be ready for football next fall. The Arbor Vitae couple told board members that athletic participation has been a positive influence on three sons, as well as on other student athletes. “We believe they are better students, that they are better leaders,” she said of that experience.
The board vote was 8-1 with Emily Hallstrom opposed because it will cost about $450,000 to replace the field turf at the end of its useful life, somewhere in the 12-15 year range. Athletic/Activities Director Don Scharbarth believes the new generation field turf could last even longer than that. Board President Tom Gabert said the administration would make a recommendation at the April board meeting on a vendor to supply and install the field turf, as well as a recommendation to either borrow the funds or to use the district’s fund balance to pay for it.
In either case, the donated funds would reimburse the accounts.
In other actions, the board approved the sale of $5.06 million in general obligation bonds. This is the second of two bond sales to finance energy-saving projects currently underway at the high school. Both are 15-year terms. The board had previously authorized the sale of $14.6 million of bonds in two phases for the improvements. The bond sales were split in order to qualify for a lower bank rate. The first issuance of $9.5 million carried an interest rate of 1.81 percent; the second will have a 2.46 percent rate. The interest rate for the latter went up after the November election, said Finance Manager Greg Kopp. Still, the net result was a lower cost than if the district had gone to the markets with the full $14.6 million sale.
The board approved a $33,425 contract with Cooperative Educational Service Association (CESA) 9 of Tomahawk. CESA 9 supplies specialized services that typically school districts cannot fund on their own because of limited resources or student numbers are not high enough to justify hiring a full-time person to provide them. Approved also was the 2017 summer school program where students can make up credits through online coursework, a school band session and a eighth grade science seminar. The district’s cost will be about $27,000, with bus transportation taking up about $14,000 of the overall cost.
The board accepted the resignation of Amanda Griggs, the school’s virtual learning coordinator following this school year. The board approved hiring Karen Leyrer, part-time hall monitor, at a pay rate of $11 an hour and the following as special educational paraprofessionals at a pay rate of $16 per hour: Lisa Moore, Karolyn Schrammel and Gary Lade. Eric Mikoleit was approved as the Project SEARCH/special education instructor at his current rate of pay.
