School Board Considers Nicolet's Post-Referendum World

After voters passed the last Tuesday, many have begun to ask, "What happens next?" And that's exactly what administrators and School Board members considered Monday night.

At a Budget and Finance Committee meeting Monday, committee members collectively brainstormed a vision for the school's future now that the referendum has passed. While nothing was decided or voted on, many ideas were brought to the table.

Despite the additional funding, budget cuts will still be required. One option raised by District Administrator Rick Monroe was elimination of the Advancement Via Individual Determination, or AVID, program due to low enrollment. AVID students are considered "middle" students — not failing, but not straight A's — who have great potential to succeed academically in high school and college.

Administrators said the program costs about $100,000 per year, and that's a high price for a low number of students. 

"Just like any other class, if they can't maintain a minimum of 17 students, that's something that we can't maintain," Monroe said. "We have a spectrum of options, from eliminating it, to tweaking it, to reducing it, to changing the name and lots of other things. We will be analyzing AVID and I'll be giving a report back to the board as they've asked me to do."

Monroe discussed reductions in teaching staff as well. Because a larger number of teachers have retired, it is unlikely that Nicolet will need to issue any layoffs. It was even recommended that Nicolet increase the positions within the Academic Success Center by 0.4 FTE. This would put one teacher in the ASC for an entire day, instead of that same teacher prepping for a different class.

"Basically, it's bigger bang for your buck that way," Monroe said.

Another idea that was brought up by board President Marilyn Franklin was to bring in students through open enrollment, as many surrounding schools are eliminating classes that Nicolet can still sustain.

"I just think there's more opportunity out there if we can be creative, because everybody's in the same financial crunch," Franklin said.

The committee also discussed:

• Bidding out health insurance;
• Continuing research into consolidation with the feeder districts;
• Open enrollment students to fill classes;
• Additional communication with residents;
• Potentially getting some teachers trained in web-based education;
• Revising the fund balance policy to follow new policies and guidelines from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board.

Committee members agreed to bring additional information and research to the next Budget and Finance meeting, and the next School Board meeting scheduled for April 20.