Shawano School Board splits on consent agenda, then approves calendars, appointments and $2.7M in vouchers

The Shawano School District Board of Education reconvened from a closed personnel session and, after an initial 4–4 tie on a consent-agenda motion, moved several items to separate votes and approved calendars, personnel changes and vouchers totaling $2,702,456.

The meeting opened at 5:00 p.m. Monday in the high school library with President Mike Musolff presiding. The board voted unanimously to approve the meeting agenda and then adjourned to a closed session under Wisconsin State Statute 19.85(1)(c) to consider personnel matters. The board returned to open session at 5:53 p.m., and CeJe Wegner of Shawano offered community comment.

An early effort to approve a broad consent agenda—including minutes, vouchers, donations and personnel actions—failed on an evenly split vote. Jeana Winslow made the motion to approve the full consent agenda; the roll call recorded Al Pyatskowit, Christine McKinnies, Winslow and President Mike Musolff as voting “aye,” and John Arens, Tim Renard, Frank Kugel and Bobbi Lemerond as voting “no,” producing a tie and causing the motion to fail.

Following that result, board member John Arens successfully moved to remove the listed resignations from the consent agenda for separate consideration; Mr. Arens’ second motion to remove vouchers from the consent agenda also carried. The board then approved the consent-agenda subset covering minutes and donations.

On several separate votes that followed, the board approved the 2025–26 and 2026–27 school calendars (one dissenting vote), granted one-year extensions for administrator contracts (one dissent), and approved the district joining the Rural Virtual Academy as an affiliated member. The calendars as presented include 167 student days and 188 pay days, with an additional 15 minutes added to each school day’s start time.

Brandie Genske presented open-enrollment figures and reported, “We have zero space available in special education.” The board voted to close special-education open enrollment while leaving general-education open for all grades.

Personnel actions approved after items were removed from the consent agenda included appointments of Cyan Hite as a high-school science teacher and Brittany Alloy as dean of students at Olga Brener, and acceptance of the retirement of Beth Mueller (Hillcrest) and the resignation of Marena Erickson (ELA SCHS/SCMS).

Board members also approved an out-of-state trip for two FFA students to attend the Next Gen conference in Orlando, Florida, and instructed delegate Al Pyatskowit to vote on district matters at the delegate assembly as he sees fit.

A question was raised about technology procurement: board member John Arens noted that some computers initially came from existing inventory and that a buyback required purchasing 13 replacement machines for the SCMS smart lab. The board then approved vouchers in the cumulative amount of $2,702,456 with receipts of $431,167.

The meeting concluded with a review of future agenda items—including a closed-session follow-up on resignation matters, building schedule updates tied to the district’s ongoing facility design work—and adjourned at 6:51 p.m.

The board cited Wisconsin State Statute 19.85(1)(c) as the legal basis for the closed personnel session. No formal policy changes beyond the votes listed above were adopted at the meeting.