Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By TOM LAVENTURE
HURLEY, Wis. — The Hurley Board of Education on Monday approved 5-0 a transportation request for children living outside of the school bus routes.
The Island Lake family lives 18 miles from the nearest school bus stop on County Road C. The family is in a hardship situation with the father working away and the mother expecting a fifth child. The action requires a school district driver and vehicle to transport four children to and from their home to school in Hurley for the school tear at approximate cost of $19,000 to the school district, he said.
Another option was for the school bus company to drive the 18 miles would have cost $47,082 to the school district, Genisot said. The company would have purchased an SUV to drive the gravel road, he said.
“You don’t want to drive a bus down that road in the winter,” said Andy Laurin, board member.
The school board updated its transportation policy in 2018 to prevent just this occurrence, said Joseph Simonich, board president. Some responsibility for transportation must fall on the families who chose to live in remote areas, he said.
Genisot said he discussed the matter with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. The reply DPI said it would overturn an action to refuse transportation on appeal based on the policy, he said.
In his report, Genisot said the Northwoods Manufacturing expansion project is nearing completion. The machinery is installed and the building sealed, with final touches to windows, roof, parking lot, electrical and painting expected to be completed in time by a planned open house.
Genisot said he met with the city health department and the city public works department about installing an additional water filter for the school. He also asked for quarterly testing for bacteria and other mineral that would be free with an additional $25 for manganese testing, he said.
“We want an assurance that the water quality is good,” Genisot said.
After reviewing free and reduced lunch program information Genisot said approximately 48% of families qualify for the income guidelines. The school qualifies at 40%, he said, but the projection formulas show that the school would lose approximately $2,000 a month in the program, he said.
“It will advantageous for us to switch when 55% of students qualify,” Genisot said.
Genisot said he is completing the form to determine school district residency requirements. The border community school district has many as six Michigan families considering paying $7,700 in tuition to place their children at Hurley School.
The residency question is complex when some families are in the process of moving, have two homes in each state, or with children of separated or divorced parents living on each side of the border, he said.
Rebecca Lynch, a financial advisor with Edward Jones, update the school district on its three investment funds totaling $1.3 million in assets using a formula that places only 20 percent of the funds at risk to market exposure. Two accounts originated with a donation where the school district uses some of the growth funds on technology, furniture and other needs.
The third account resulted with funds from a civil suit against a contractor. Leslie Kolesar, board member, expressed concern that some of the parking lot fund was at a 50-50 risk level.
The board agreed with Lynch’s proposal to transition external management of CDs, bonds and mutual funds as they mature to direct portfolio management by Edward Jones. Bond and CD interest rates were higher when the funds were created and the benefit of transition now is daily fund management versus quarterly management, she said.
Lynch said changes in fiduciary rules taking affect next year also make the transition of benefit to the school district. She agreed to put together the proposals for the school district.
Simonich said it was preferable to have a professional money manager making day to day decisions and informing the board than to have the board make decisions directly on the funds.
Following an executive session the school board approved 5-0 to hire Jacklyn Aijala as the junior high school girls volleyball coach. The board also approved Jerri Sokol and Jake DiGiorgio as substitute teachers, and a tentatively approved an associate teacher candidate for mental health grant position, pending a background check.
