A group of 13 Neenah High School students captured first place in a regional competition to qualify for the Wisconsin Art Education Association State Visual Arts Classic. The event is scheduled for April 17 in Madison and may still be done through a virtual competition.
Each student is bringing a long term piece of art they have been working on in response to specific prompts and mediums which will be scored when they get there. They then will each participate in an on-site art making with specific prompts that they do not get until they are at the competition. They have two hours to create a piece that will then get judged and scored. Then the students participate as a team in an art history quiz bowl and they also do a team critical thinking problem solving component. The Neenah team took first place in the quiz bowl and critical thinking component at the regional meet.
Team members are: Jericka Paulson, Kyler Lasee, Rachel Jones, Grace Hagner, Mitchell Liebhauser, Archer Gahl, Autumn Schultz, Melody Wienandt, Jane Rogers, Elizabeth Oakland, Katie Kortbein, Paige Hanson and Kaley Sagataw. The group is advised by Ms. Emma Santiago.
Coenen Named Boys Volleyball Coach
Jake Coenen has been named the head varsity boys volleyball coach at Neenah High School.
Coenen currently serves as Neenah’s head junior varsity boys basketball coach. A Kimberly High School graduate, he was an honorable mention all-conference volleyball player for the Papermakers and played college basketball at UW-Fox Valley and Marian University. Coenen served as the junior varsity boys volleyball coach for the past seven years at Appleton East High School.
Coenen, 30, works full-time as an elementary teacher at Holy Spirit School in Darboy. He comes from a family of former standout Neenah athletes. His father, Steve, was an all-conference basketball player for the Rockets, and his aunt, Laura, was an inaugural inductee of the Neenah Joint School District Hall of Fame for her success in basketball and volleyball.
“This is a real honor and opportunity to be a part of a great high school and community,” Coenen said. “My goals for the volleyball program are to start building this program to the highest level, not only in the FVA, but the state of Wisconsin. I also hope to bring together a family culture and excitement to the boys volleyball program at Neenah High School.”
Coenen replaces Chris Plamann, who resigned after coaching the Rockets for the past six seasons.
Submit Entries for Proces Poetry Contest
Students across Neenah are invited to submit their best works of poetry for inclusion in the annual Neenah Public Library Proces Poetry Contest.
Poems may be submitted through an online form or by email to youthdesk@neenahlibrary.org. All entries must include name, grade, phone number and address. Every grade level has winners. All poems will be displayed at the library beginning in June until the award ceremony in September. Entry deadline is May 31.
All children 18 and under are eligible to receive a free lunch and breakfast for the following day during the school closure period due to COVID-19. The meals are made possible through the Wisconsin Department of Instruction along with Chartwell's and Kobussen Buses.
School Board Approves Referendum Question
Residents of the Neenah Joint School District will be asked to consider a $114.9 million referendum on April 7, 2020 to build a new high school.
The ballot resolution was approved at a Board of Education meeting on Dec. 17 by a unanimous vote of the nine-member board.
Along with a new high school, the ballot language also consists of safety and security upgrades throughout the District and a renovation of the existing high school to create an intermediate school for grades 5-6 and a middle school for grades 7-8. In the plan, the 92-year-old Shattuck Middle School would be closed and Horace Mann Middle School would become an elementary school. The annual estimated tax impact for a $100,000 property would be $99 per year for up to 20 years. The new high school would be located on 225 acres the District is in the process of purchasing along Winchester Road (County II) just west of Highway 41.
District voters narrowly rejected a $129.5 million referendum in April 2019 that would have replaced Shattuck with a grades 7-8 middle school, renovated the technology wing at the high school and made infrastructure, safety and security and Americans with Disabilities Act improvements throughout the District. The annual tax impact for last year’s referendum was $167 for a $100,000 property. The vote failed a final count of 6,654-6,156. It was Neenah’s first attempt at a facilities referendum since passing a referendum in 1994.
The plan for this year’s referendum was developed out of four community engagement sessions held throughout the summer. Nearly 300 people attended the sessions and provided feedback regarding six potential long-term master plan pathways. In a recent community survey, 66 percent of all respondents advised the District to pursue a referendum and 62 percent favored the new high school plan.
“We’re thankful to everyone in our community who provided feedback since the last referendum and helped develop this new plan,” Superintendent Dr. Mary Pfeiffer said. “This was truly a community effort and this referendum addresses pressing needs that will support students at every level in our District.”
The scope of the overall project is larger and the tax impact is lower, in part, because of a $47 million commitment by the District to borrow funds through its operating budget. The District had been spending $4.5 million over the past nine years to fund a previously unfunded employee benefits obligation that was negotiated in 2002. That obligation is now fully funded and would have cost District taxpayers about $10 million per year had it not been completed.
The District has continued to increase its annual capital maintenance budget to maintain facilities and is currently budgeting $2.8 million annually. The capital maintenance budget in 2009-10 was $400,000.
