Adams‑Friendship board approves facilities contracts, policy updates and personnel actions

The Adams‑Friendship Area School District board met April 22 and approved a series of facility contracts, multiple policy updates and personnel actions, while also voting to issue a performance‑based preliminary notice of nonrenewal for a professional staff member.

District business opened with the consent agenda, which the board approved. The consent agenda included a $500 donation from Castle Rock Realty, payment of bills, March 11 meeting minutes, several resignations (including middle‑school and high‑school coaching positions) and a slate of hiring recommendations for coaches and paraprofessionals. The board recorded individual roll‑call responses during the vote; the motion passed on the recorded roll call.

On facilities, the board awarded a timber‑harvest contract for the district’s School Forest near Grand Marsh to Double H Logging LLC; the district expects timber revenue to flow back to the general fund (the bid estimated roughly $23,123). The board approved an HVAC upgrade for district building 'AF' to tie an end‑of‑life unit into the building‑wide system and confirmed the work would be paid from the maintenance budget. Trustees also approved an overhaul of the high school lift station (B&M, not to exceed $59,500) to improve maintenance access and safety, and accepted a bid from Show Striping Industries (not to exceed $27,400) for targeted parking‑lot crack filling and seal coating.

The board approved a large set of Neola policy updates in two batches (volume 32, number two; volume 33, number one). The policy packages covered a wide range of topics, including electoral process, public expression, meeting‑notice procedures, personnel background checks, Section 504/ADA nondiscrimination language, family and medical leave provisions, student‑discipline matters, and school safety policy updates. Trustees said routine policy review is necessary to keep district rules current with changes in technology and practice.

The board also approved the district’s co‑curricular code, a recommendation to add an assistant dance coach position (to be slotted when salary reviews occur next month), and an adjusted 2024–25 school calendar to incorporate transition days for fifth graders rather than a pre‑Labor Day workday. The board fast‑tracked approval of policy 8500 in response to a DPI food‑service audit and approved the CESA 5 contract for 2024–25, which the district said is slightly higher than prior years because it adds library and school psychologist days; board members clarified the district is charged only for services it uses.

After a closed‑session discussion under Wisconsin statute Section 19.85(1)(c) about employment matters, the board returned to open session and approved a resolution to issue a performance‑based preliminary notice of nonrenewal for a professional staff member.

What happens next: the board will proceed with implementation steps tied to the CESA 5 contract and the personnel process set in motion by the preliminary notice. Several projects (HVAC, lift station, parking lot) will move into procurement or work scheduling phases following contract award.