Thursday, June 7, 2012
Departing superintendent recommends that $255,000 overage be used to pay off phone lease early, however some are asking for more caution before money is spent.
Superintendent Dr. Joe Schroeder credited Business Director Scot Ecker and Coordinator of Pupil Services Ted Gennerman for netting the district $90,000 in reimbursements related to special education services the district provides. The savings was added to those from utilities, which came in under budget by about $165,000, realizing a surplus of $255,000. Schroeder said the dollars could be put into the district's fund balance, but instead requested that $140,000 of it pay off their phone lease early. "In doing so, we would be pre-paying off this lease-to-own financial obligation and position the district to realize anticipated interest savings," Schroeder explained in a memo to the board. "More importantly, this would open up approximately…
Friday, March 23, 2012
Muskego school board narrowly passes recommendation to spend nearly $2.6 million to fix what's ailing throughout school buildings, with some notable exclusions.
The failure of the November 2010 and November 2011 school facilities referenda, which would have approved borrowing up to $30 million to update existing and builld new school facilities, meant that the Muskego-Norways school board had to go back to the drawing board. Monday night, after several rounds of discussion the school board decided to spend $814,000 from their budget and $1.78 million of their fund balance to get started on the long 'punch list' that the schools have presented. Among the items that will be repaired or replaced are roof sections on the Educational Services Center and all but one school (Lakeview Elementary). The expenditure takes up the vast majority of the total, at nearly $1.2 million. Other projects will include …
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Muskego-Norway School Board discusses how wisely last days of school are being spent, but ultimately makes no changes to 2012-13 calendar.
The Muskego-Norway School Board approved the calendar for the 2012-13 school year Monday at Muskego Elementary School, with no changes being made to what was presented. The last day of school will be Thursday, June 13, but board member Eric Schroeder asked whether two additional days could be taken off the calendar in order to shorten the final week. "It seems like the last four days of school aren't spent in meaningful instruction. There's loose ends being tied up, kids are cleaning desks, and I wonder if we can't cut that down so it doesn't seem like we're wasting days," Schroeder said. Schroeder suggested adding class days around conference times twice a year to make up for the earlier release date. Kelly Thompson, assistant …
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Recommendations from a 30-member panel adopted and will include longer class periods, which many feel will help district to reach the 'every child' mark
Debate continued Monday night at the Muskego-Norway School Board meeting over the merits of changes proposed to middle school programming. The most distinctive changes include lengthening some class periods for math and science to allow for more in-depth instruction and additional help to students who need it. It also encourages writing across the curriculum to help students learn subjects better. The concept is that even in a math class, if a student is required to write their explanations, they develop a better understanding of the subject as they themselves have to verbalize it. Tammy Gibbons, Director of School Performance, led the committee of 38, which included teachers, parents and a few students, and said they were excited at the …
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Recent savings was cited as both a success and a failure of Willis by school board members, who were split on the decision to retain firm going forward.
Shortly after the Muskego-Norway School Board selected an insurance carrier that would realize a $2 million savings for the district, the discussion of the role of consultants to reach that savings was taken up. While many on the board pointed to the efforts of Willis in leading them to the savings on health plans for its employees, others felt it was the board itself that forced Willis to go back to the drawing board. "They dropped the ball here," said board member Dean Strom. "The additional $500,000 came out of our recommendations, and I feel they left that money on the table." Strom referred to the recommendation that was discussed only two weeks prior by the board, which had Humana selected as the carrier of choice. The board had …
Christine Webb
8:10 pm on Saturday, March 31, 2012
Considering at Muskego Elem, you can hear the kids tip toe on the second floor when on the first floor, don't you think that is the school that should be on the minds of the school board?? It has 6-7 levels in that school! Maybe the building can be replaced, but keep some of the "historical" items in the design. They did that when my old high school, when they tore it down to add to the "newer' … more ›