Board adopts handbook and wage updates, renews insurance and approves athletic training partnership with evaluation plan

At Tuesday's meeting the Platteville School District board approved several policy and contract items for 2025-26, including employee-handbook language changes, wage updates, an insurance renewal and an athletic training partnership.

The board approved handbook language additions covering cell-phone expectations during duty-free lunch, new vaping language for staff, and a presenteeism-related provision that allows the district to freeze salary increases for employees with multiple unpaid days that are not FMLA or ADA-related. Board members said policy changes will be reviewed annually. The board also approved updated wage matrices that apply a 1% of-the-mean adjustment for certain employee groups.

The board authorized renewal of business insurance for 2025-26; staff noted a premium increase and a deductible structure for the upcoming year that includes a $25,000 per-event per-structure deductible when the new fiscal year begins.

The board also approved a full-time athletic training agreement with Southwest Health. Several board members requested that the district finalize a formal performance-evaluation plan that includes student- and parent-end-user feedback; staff said the evaluation plan will be developed over the summer and shared with the board before implementation.

Why it matters: changes to handbook language and wages affect district personnel policy and compensation; the insurance renewal sets fiscal exposure limits; the athletic training partnership affects student-athlete health services and requires measurable performance criteria.

Next steps: staff will implement adopted handbook provisions and wage changes, finalize the insurance contract, and develop and share a performance-evaluation plan for the athletic training partnership.