SDR board hears JWMS news, school forest timber sale plans and more in busy session

James Williams Middle School earned a sizeable share of the spotlight during the March 23 School District of Rhinelander school board meeting.

Next month’s meeting of the school board will actually be held at JWMS as part of a celebration Monday afternoon, April 20. Superintendent of schools Eric Burke told the board the band will start playing there at 4:15 p.m., followed by an open tour to see some of the new classrooms that are part of the $26 million referendum construction project approved by voters in April 2024.

On hand at the March 23 meeting was a JWMS quintet comprised of principal Kyle Raleigh, associate principal Ingrid Bodensteiner, school counselors Melissa Hasselberger and Brian Tienhaara, and school psychologist Britney Bolkema, to give a presentation on the positive impact of building-wide implementation of the Character Strong curriculum. 

The curriculum has had an important role at JWMS for five years, and a few tweaks have been tried this year, including an emphasis on character traits.

Bolkema explained to the board that this curriculum targets social and emotional learning. “Once a week students engage in lessons where we’re really looking at a focus of the outcomes of belonging, student well-being and engagement,” she said. 

“But over the summer we met as a team and we wanted to figure out how we could enhance it or make it better at our school for our students. So what that really looked like was more of a shift and a focus on the addition of character traits.”

“We picked a different trait for each month that we’ve been going through as a whole school,” said Raleigh. “In September we talked about kindness. In October we went through respect; November, forgiveness. December was patience. January was honesty. February was humility; that was a tough one to go through with the kids. This month we’re focusing on selflessness. Next month we’re focusing on commitment. And then May, we’re just going to do a general overview of service learning and mental health because it’s mental health awareness in the month of May.”

Weekly character challenges have also brought an encouraging amount of participation.

Raleigh had a bit of a challenge ready for the school board members, too, giving each a strip of paper, and asking them to write on it a selfless act that they’d done that week. He then collected the strips, which will be looped to form links and added to the JWMS students’ paper chain at the school.

School forest update

Department of Natural Resources forester John Gillen spoke on the district’s school forest — the largest school forest in Wisconsin, he said — and its timber sale planned to take place within the next two to three years, for which 39 acres of an aspen coppice harvest are recommended.

“It was a parcel that had some aspen resources that are mature and have the potential to generate some income for the school district as well as sustainably manage the property,” he said, estimating it could generate “around $40,000 or more” for the school district.

“Now, with that said, people probably start thinking, ‘Ooh, what are we going to use that money for?’” he added. “Part of the school and community forest law does say that because it’s coming from school forest, it really should be targeted — the funds, the majority — to go back in to help with school forest infrastructure (and) education.”

Update from Allen

High school college and career counselor Lexi Allen updated the board on the Education Academy and Youth Apprenticeship for the 2026-27 school year. 

“Last year we had 15 seniors who graduated and went in some form of education. That could be teachers, school counselors, you name it; some form of education,” Allen said.

“This year we currently have 13 students that are planning, and next year we have 22 students. Our goal is really to find a way to keep these students within our community and bring them back.”

She noted there are currently 39 students in the Youth Apprenticeship program, which is state-funded. “They also have to complete an employability skills checklist no matter what path they’re going into, and then they have a mentor at that job site,” she said.

“More than 39 started Youth Apprenticeship,” added Burke, “but in some years you might have people that drop off because it is a big commitment, either from the student side or also from the employer side. 

“The other part that I’m excited about is that we are going to hopefully help with our Partners In Education … they will really show this is how you do a Youth Apprenticeship program, and we want to be able to make sure it’s great for our school district but also a really good experience for our students.”

Other matters

The board also at its March 23 meeting:

• Heard in a referendum construction project update from Bob Thom that $22 million of the $27 million has been spent to date. “The rest will go for finishing up this summer,” he said.

• Heard from Burke that the district will be featured in an upcoming book by Julie Anixter about role models; that he celebrated the school district and good things happening there on a Rhinelander Chamber of Commerce podcast; and that a summit on partnerships in education will be held with school districts from throughout the Northwoods, Nicolet College and CESA at the Cedric A. Vig Outdoor Classroom on April 15 from 11 a.m. to about 3:30 p.m.

• Authorized the superintendent and/or designee to offer tentative employment to qualified applicants.

• Approved the 2026-27 CESA 9 shared service contract for a total of $331,522. 

• Approved the addition of four new courses – Intro to Philosophy, AP World History, Accounting Principles and Construction Math – for the 2026-27 school year at Rhinelander High School.

• Approved an expenditure of up to $125,000 for dual credit coursework in the 2026 fall semester through the Start College Now program at a technical college level.

• Approved the second reading of Policy 5515 Student Use and Parking of Motor Vehicles, Policy 6152.01 Waiver of School Fees or Fines, Policy 6608 Accountability and Oversight of Fundraiser and Crowdfunding Disbursements, Policy 7540.08 Artificial Intelligence and Policy 9215 School Support Organizations.

• Approved the revisions, recommended by Neola and evaluated by the district’s administrative team, to Policy 1240 Evaluation of the District Administrator, Policy 5111.01 Homeless Students, Policy 5136 Personal Communication Devices, Policy 5505 Academic Honesty and Policy 7540.02, Digital Content and Accessibility. 

• Approved rescinding Policy 9211 District-Support Organizations.

• Accepted gifts or donations of two Newberry Award-winning books valued at $36 from Jillayne and Jeff Waite, and $83.36 from the Oneida County Cope-Mental Health Coalition.

The next regular monthly meeting of the School District of Rhinelander school board will be Monday, April 20.

Ardith Carlton may be reached at [email protected].