The Neenah Joint School District Board of Education extended the District’s virtual Wednesdays through Spring Break, approved a 2021 summer school plan and adjusted positions within the business office at its Dec. 15 meeting.
The Board of Education unanimously approved maintaining the virtual days on Wednesday beginning at all levels on Jan. 20 and extending through March 17. Grades 4K-6 will have a virtual Wednesday on Jan. 13, while Shattuck Middle School will be in person and the high school will be in a finals week. The week of Jan. 4-8 has already been announced as a virtual week. The Board also approved transitioning Neenah High School and Shattuck Middle School to four, 90-minute class periods beginning on Tuesday, February 16.
The 2021 summer school plan was approved as presented. The plan is similar to past years, but includes more virtual options for students. All of the summer school programs are scheduled to begin on June 14.
Director of Revenue Enhancements Jon Joch has been promoted to Chief Financial Officer and the District will search for a Director of Business Services. Joch fills the role previously held by Deputy Superintendent for Business Services Andrew Thorson, who passed away in August. A search was held for the Deputy Superintendent and yielded five applicants who were not considered for hire. The Director of Business Services position requires a school business administrator license and will be posted immediately.
In other personnel moves, the Board approved hires for Hannah Brown as a math teacher at Horace Mann, Rachel Terry as a fifth grade teacher at Taft and Brittney Stobbe as administrative assistant at Washington. End-of-school year retirements were approved for Horace Mann teacher Tami Malcore, Tullar educational assistant Chris Gardner, Transitional Education Center educational assistant Gloria Marsh and District office administrative assistants Diane Haug and Janet Linke.
Also, Board member Carol Hollar-Zwick announced that she will resign from the Board following the next meeting on January 22 to move to Madison with her husband who just accepted a new job. Hollar-Zwick’s term was set to expire in April of 2021, so the Board decided to fill her seat with a three-month appointment that will be filled immediately. Interested individuals need to submit a cover letter to the superintendent’s office by January 5 and the Board will interview candidates on January 12.
Student Board representative Parker DeDeker conducted a recent survey of 338 students at Neenah High School and presented his findings. The students were representative of all grades and methods of learning. Most of the questions covered student motivation, learning experience and workload. The survey found that a majority of students have not been motivated and have not enjoyed their experience this year under the new circumstances of the pandemic. DeDeker also collected comments from the survey that were shared with the Board.
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