By Ben Rodgers
Editor
DE PERE – The West De Pere school board agreed to take the show on the road for four meetings at the Wednesday, Oct. 10 meeting.
The board agreed to visit each school in the district and hold a meeting there in order for administrators to show the board things they are proud of.
The November meeting will be held at Hemlock Creek Elementary School, the February meeting will be at West De Pere Middle School, the May meeting at Westwood Elementary School and the October meeting at West De Pere High School.
“It would be a good opportunity to get into each of the buildings if we had a board meeting there and then have the administrators give us a tour of what they’re proud of or something they want us to consider,” said Jenni Fuss, board member.
However, there was some discussion as to possible confusion for the public.
“I like the idea, the amount of times we do it is my issue, because of letting people know where we are,” said Barb Van Deurzen, board president. “It’s convenient to let people know we’re going to be here. That’s my only concern for doing it very often. But I see the merit in doing it, like I said we’ve done it in the past and it’s a good thing.”
The board unanimously agreed to move the meetings, with Joe Bergner, board member, not in attendance.
In other news the board scheduled a special meeting for the certification of the tax levy.
The meeting, which is legally required to approve the tax levy for the upcoming year, will only take a few minutes.
It was decided to hold the special meeting on Oct. 17 at the high school.
However, the time for the levy approval was not solidified at the meeting.
Van Deurzen said she will check with Bergner and find a time that works so there is a quorum to approve the levy.
Superintendent John Zegers will be conducting a live Facebook event at the high school, where people are encouraged to ask him any questions they have with the upcoming referendum.
This 10-minute event is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Oct. 17, with an open house regarding the referendum from 6-7:30 p.m.
Zegers also informed the board that for the third Friday September headcount, the date where the district formally submits enrollment numbers to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the district saw an increase of 52 students from the previous school year.
“We will continue to rise for the next 12 years,” Zegers said. “So that’s still up there.”
Finally, the retirement of Kevin Hanson, district business manager, was approved by the board.
“I’ve been so fortunate to have great board members that supported me the whole time and great administrators to work with,” Hanson said. “As I said in my letter, I’m truly blessed.”
Hanson’s retirement will be effective on Aug. 18, 2019. He has been with the district for more than 27 years.