Rhinelander school board purchases vehicles, approves end of year staff changes

The School District of Rhinelander (SDR) is taking advantage of a $500,000 loan from the Bureau of Commissioners of Public Lands to purchase eight new vehicles at once.

The loan interest, which is a rate of 5.5 percent for a five-year loan, goes to the common school fund for libraries.

“We have been struggling with aging vehicles and the lack of availability of fleet vehicles for some time now,” Burke wrote in a May 19 memo to the board.

The district will replace four Chevrolet Suburbans (2013 and 2015 models) with four Ford Expeditions at a fleet-pricing rate of $239,988 for all four. The district pursued Fords for several reasons, one of which being timing.

“The last time we talked to them [Rhinelander GM dealership] they said there would be a two-year lead time to get one,” said Bob Thom, SDR director of business services at the May 19 school board meeting.

“We have had little luck getting quotes or even a timeframe from Chevrolet for the availability of Suburbans,” Burke wrote in the board memo.

Thom also reported that the maintenance department staff preferred Ford models due to maintenence issues they’ve run into with the Suburbans.

In addition to the Ford Expeditions, SDR will also purchase a dump truck for $67,376 (replacing a 2002 Ford F-450), two F-250 pickup trucks for a total of $93,222 and a box truck for $46,817 (replacing a 2011 Chevrolet box van).

The district uses Suburbans to transport students for activities, special programming and for staff to attend trainings and conferences. Vans are used for wheelchair-bound students, special education transportation, activities and staff transportation.

All eight vehicles, purchased at government fleet pricing from Langlade Ford in Antigo, are totaled at $447,403. The district expects to receive the new vehicles within the coming months.

“Special orders like the dump truck may take a little longer, but [Langlade Ford] thought we’d have everything within six months once we get going,” Thom said.

SDR is using 2025 Fords to determine pricing, but the district is not set on specific models (particularly for the dump and box trucks) at this time, Thom said. A specific purchase order will be brought the board at a future date.

Thom said he does not think auto tariffs introduced by the Trump administration last month affect government fleet pricing at this time.

Carport

The remainder of the $500,000 loan will be used to construct a carport at the east end of the Rhinelander High School parking lot where the school Suburbans and vans currently park. Carport construction was approved and purchased in March 2023, but due to permit issues and increased costs it was never erected.

“Since we are already doing construction on the RHS and [James Williams Middle School] buildings it is more cost effective to have the construction done now,” Thom told The River News on Tuesday. “It will be really nice to provide protection from the elements for all of the school vehicles.”

C.D. Smith Construction provided a bid of $89,000 for the carport, bringing the entire proposed purchase total to $537,203. The district would use the maintenance budget to account for the extra $37,203.

The loan authorization was approved by the school board in a unanimous roll call vote. Board members Mary Peterson and Judy Conlin were not present for the vote.

Staff contracts

At the end of the May 19 school board meeting, the board entered closed session to address matters related to staff contracts and to “review an agreement concerning a specific individual and/or contracted service and/or to consider the histories and/or disciplinary data of specific individuals.”

The school board returned to open session to take action on the hiring, resignation and retirement of staff members.

The board approved the hiring of teachers Lisa White, Autumn Berry, Mitch Elbe, Katherine Laska, Amanda Knapp, Andrea Baughman, Danielle Adams, Ryan Mullen. Among the hires were also dean of students Tyler Johnson, reading interventionist Alexe Cooney and speech language pathologist Madison Schulz.

The board approved the resignation of Northwoods Community Elementary physical education teacher Robert Hock, James Williams Middle School counselor Ariel Roseland and Crescent Elementary School teacher Susan Schmidt.

The board also approved the retirement of Rhinelander High School teacher Cathleen Rogich.

Michael Strasburg may be reached at [email protected].