Two students win Star Award
By Jane Myhra
Jeffrey Oppor resigned as a member of the Iola-Scandinavia School Board. He represented the towns of St. Lawrence and Helvetia.
In a letter to the board, Oppor explained that he did not have enough time to commit to the school board.
“Over the past several months, it has become increasingly difficult for me to attend the needed committee meetings as well as the monthly meetings,” he stated in the letter. “Now that the referenda have passed and the school board is no longer in a budgetary crisis, it seems like the best time to make this decision. I feel the students of Iola-Scandinavia will be better served by a school board member that has more time to dedicate to the improvement of the school district.”
The board approved Oppor’s resignation at its Dec. 12 meeting.
The board will appoint someone to replace Oppor until a new board member can be elected during the spring election. This person must reside in the township he will represent.
Potential candidates have until Jan. 3 to file papers in order to appear on the ballot for the April election. The winner of the election will serve one year, which is the duration of Oppor’s term.
“This is an electable seat now,” said High School Principal Sara Anderson. “If we don’t have a candidate on the ballot, a write-in could get it.”
“Our current policy needs to be revised to meet changes in the state statute,” said School Board President Kristen Hoyord.
Bruce Beyersdorf was elected as the board’s clerk, a position that was held by Oppor. Ken Wavruk replaced Oppor as chair of the Buildings and Grounds Committee.
The board will fill Oppor’s other committee positions at a later date, since the Transportation and Negotiations committees have no upcoming meetings scheduled at this time.
In the consent agenda, the board approved a $24,778 Peer Review and Mentoring Consortium Grant. The I-S School District will share this grant with Auburndale and Rosholt, with Auburndale serving as the fiscal agent for the grant.
Included in the grant budget is up to $9,759-plus fringe for I-S teacher mentor stipends and expenses. In addition, two tri-district mentor collaboration days planned for second semester will include networking of mentor teachers and collaboration time to strengthen initial educator support within districts.
This is the second year I-S has been approved for this Peer Review and Mentoring grant.
Travis Bassett assisted in the writing of the grant and Business Manager Sarah Thiel handled the reimbursement paperwork with Auburndale.
Also in the consent agenda, the board approved the resignations of Barb Sauer, special education route driver, and Arlene Wiskow, food service support.
The board approved the Personnel Committee’s recommendations to hire Miranda Bestul as middle school girls basketball coach; Iryna Rice as food service support; and Gerard Wroblewski as special education route driver.
Star Awards
STAR awards were presented to Echo Watters and Khyla Gryer. They were nominated by Principal Sara Anderson.
The two I-S seniors were recognized at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point on Dec. 1 for their creative writing submissions.
For her short story, Watters was awarded a $1,000 scholarship to attend UW-Stevens Point.
“I really enjoyed writing it,” Watters said of her short story.
Gryer was chosen as an alternate to receive a scholarship for her speculative fiction piece. She did not attend the board meeting to receive her Star Award.
These two students, along with six of their peers, were chosen to attend a day-long writing workshop, held at UW-Stevens Point.