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Board hears safety, facilities and finance updates; approves 'Raise Your Voice' student activity and insurance changes
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Summary
Committee reports covered safety drills and new medical supplies, construction progress on the childcare and community center projects, high estimated chilled‑air retrofit costs, and finance actions including approval of the Raise Your Voice student activity and a 5% health‑insurance premium increase and higher employee contributions for 2026–27.
Rice Lake Area School District board members heard a slate of committee updates Feb. 9 covering school safety, facilities projects and finance items and approved a student activity account for a mental‑health awareness group.
Safety committee members reported on drills conducted at Rice Lake Middle School and the high school, plans for a state tornado drill in April, and consideration of staff "Stop the Bleed" training. The committee said the district ordered additional EpiPens and placed Narcan boxes at the Aquatic Center; staff also reported routine AED checks. The group discussed policy options if ICE appeared at schools and "the use of wands and scanners to search students" as an item for further review.
The buildings and grounds committee updated the board on construction progress for the new childcare facility (utilities and wall forming underway), community center/Boys & Girls Club concrete work and window installations, ballfield dugout and pressbox repairs, and tuckpointing projects. The committee reported asking architects for chilled‑air retrofit estimates; the figures returned as a broad range between $21 million and $33 million to add chilled air at the high school. The committee tabled restarting a wood boiler at the energy plant and will review final heating‑season numbers before acting.
On finance, the board approved establishing an activity account for "Raise Your Voice," a student‑led mental‑health awareness group involving the county and Randall Therapeutic; committee and board members noted there is no direct cost to the district. The finance committee also reviewed construction budget additions (sprinkler and separate electrical service) for the childcare facility and said the community center project remains on budget with a hoped‑for completion in early May.
Finance staff recommended and the committee approved changes to the district health plan for 2026–27: adding the Alliance network and a new provider tier called 'Tier 2b'; a 5% increase to premium rates for 2026–27 (compared with 2025–26); and raised employee contributions to $30 monthly for single plans (from $20) and $90 for family plans (from $66). Committee material noted the district has seen a 13% annual increase in plan expenses since 2021–22 and listed the 2026–27 premium examples as $945 for single coverage and $2,205 for family coverage.
Board members asked clarifying questions and requested follow‑up reporting where figures are estimates; the board then approved the Raise Your Voice account by voice vote.
