CRIVITZ – The Crivitz School District Board of Education met on July 15 to take action on a variety of handbook and policy updates after hearing reports from administration and staff members.

District administrator and superintendent Kelly Robinson shared information regarding a projected state aid decrease of 12.9% or nearly $190,000.

While the overall funding given to the district will remain the same, a larger portion of the funding will come from local property taxes instead of state aid. This may appear as a tax increase on bills even though the local district is not choosing to raise the tax levy.

Robinson reported that the Wolverine Sports Booster voted to dissolve their organization. She shared that there is a plan in place to move concession operations in-house and allow signups as a stipend position.

Additionally, Robinson secured permission from the board to gather outside proposals regarding a strategic planning process. The last strategic plan expired in 2020.

Next, high school principal Justin Lauber spoke about his new position with the school. He also congratulated students regarding the Advanced Placement (AP) and college credits they earned.

Elementary principal Kam Dama thanked the Crivitz Area Woman’s Club and the local Masonic Lodge for donating to the student book giveaway and special education programs.

Finally, technology coordinator Nicholas Schramm reported that data was successfully rolled over to the new family communication platform ParentSquare.

Staff handbook and board policy updates

The board discussed the terms of the years-of-service retirement stipend in regards to employees who leave the district and return. The stipend is $1,000 per year and is vested at 10 years for a total maximum payment of $20,000.

Ultimately, the board agreed that if an employee leaves the district for any reason for longer than 24 months, their years of service reset. If they return within 24 months, their prior service years count. This policy will apply beginning with the 2026 - 2027 school year.

Board members then reviewed a board member behavior policy from Neola, an independent provider that creates school board policies and administrative guidelines for a variety of local and state-wide districts.

One policy subset of this optional policy clarified how board members and students/parents should communicate, stating that official school emails and other school monitored and approved communication platforms should be used instead of through personal contact platforms that the district cannot monitor.

School board member Sara Roman voiced her concerns over the policy, sharing that it could infringe on communication abilities and access. Other board members spoke in favor of the policy, specifically how it serves as a safety net and aligns with open record compliance.

Ultimately, the updates to the board member policies and staff handbook were all approved.

Student handbook updates

The elementary, middle and high school all saw a variety of approved handbook updates.
At the elementary school, the bus discipline procedure was clarified to explain the four-step writeup procedure. However, serious misconduct that jeopardizes safety for other students and staff may result in “immediate suspension of transportation privileges” instead of the four writeups.

Also updated was the absence policy, stating that “if a student is absent from school due to an appointment, they must provide a doctor’s note in order to participate in any after-school activities that same day. Absence documentation must clearly reference the student in order to be considered an excused absence.”

One other change was that families with students in 4K through third grade must submit Go Home plans to ensure children know how to get home after school, if there is an early dismissal or any other alternate circumstances.

At the middle and high school level, the academic honesty policy was updated to explain that students may not present information generated by artificial intelligence (AI) as their own work.

A section was added to the high school extra-curricular activities code to explain how families may appeal a positive drug test if they wish to.

Updated policies and handbooks will be available on the Crivitz School District website soon.

Otherwise, contact the district directly for more information about these policies.