A back-to-school re-entry plan was approved by the Neenah Joint School District Board of Education in a five-and-a-half hour meeting on July 21.
The meeting began with 43 speakers during an open forum that lasted over two hours. Most asked questions or provided comments about the re-entry plan, while some others gave opinions about the transgender and gender non-conforming students policy on the agenda. Over 400 people participated in the virtual meeting with over 300 still present when the meeting ended.
Superintendent Dr. Mary Pfeiffer and Director of Curriculum and Instruction Susan Hull explained that the re-entry plan consists of choices for students to attend in person for five days per week or in a virtual format, similar to what was done last spring. A distance “real time” learning option is also available for students in grades 7-12. Parents will need to complete a survey indicating their choice by July 31 in order to prepare for staffing. Pfeiffer said the District has been working closely with the Winnebago County Department of Health and will continue to do so in developing a color matrix for determining when to close classes, schools or the entire District. Neenah is also the only district in the area at this time requiring all students and staff to wear masks.
The Board unanimously supported the plan, but made one minor change in the presentation to soften the language on the reasons for wearing masks to support students who may not be able to wear them for medical reasons.
Several new staff hires were approved at the meeting. Angela Nelson will teach math at Shattuck, Tyler Arthur will teach fourth grade at Wilson, Molly DuPoint will teach grades 1-3 at Alliance, Alexandria Schroeder will be a cross categorical teacher at Roosevelt, Erin Martin will teach kindergarten at Clayton and Kailyn Olk will teach third grade at Coolidge. Colleen Oppor was approved as a health educational assistant at Taft, Erica Pivonka will be a health assistant at Lakeview and Dennis Hill was hired for operations at Taft. Resignations were approved for Shattuck teacher Sarah Muraski, Coolidge teacher Lynn Relien, Clayton educational assistant Ashley Hinz and Coolidge educational assistant Victoria Olenski.
Board policies were adopted for non-discrimination and access to equal educational opportunity, student anti-harassment and bullying. The discussion about the transgender and gender non-conforming students policy was tabled until the next meeting on August 4 due to the length of the meeting.
In the superintendent report, Dr. Pfeiffer said the District finalized the purchase of 217 acres of property that has been annexed to the Village of Fox Crossing for the new high school. She also announced that $99 million was borrowed at a 2 percent interest rate, which was well below the anticipated 4-4.5 percent rate. Pfeiffer added that about 125 people have been serving on committees in regards to the referendum projects.
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