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What to do with school buildings
Platteville board to consider districts options
PHS
Platteville High School opened in 1967 and was remodeled in 1997. - photo by Photo by Michael Prestegard
Steve Prestegard
Updated: Apr 10, 2014, 1:00 AM
Published: Apr 9, 2014, 8:26 PM

In late November, the Platteville School Board approved an agreement with Plunkett Raysich Architects to do a facilities study of school district buildings.

The results of that study are on the agenda of the School Board’s meeting Monday night as an information item.

“The board has already had a chance to look at that review of our facilities, and what possible options are available to the district,” said Superintendent Connie Valenza, who added there are “at a minimum five options, but probably more than that,” including doing nothing beyond regular maintenance to the school district’s five buildings.

The opportunity arises in the next few years because borrowing for the most recent round of building work, including the new Platteville Middle School and other projects, will be paid off during the school district’s 2016–17 fiscal year.

The school district holds classes in four of its five buildings. Children to first grade go to Neal Wilkins Elementary School, which opened in 1979. Second- and third-graders go to Westview Elementary School, which opened in 1967. Fourth- through eighth-graders go to Platteville Middle School, the newest part of which opened in 1997, the same year that renovations to the gymnasium and seventh- and eighth-grade classrooms were completed. Ninth- through 12th-graders go to Platteville High School, which opened in 1967 and was renovated in 1997, including the south classroom wing, north gym and weight room, shop, art rooms and band and choir rooms.

O.E. Gray opened in 1953, but the school district stopped holding classes there in 2008. The building was the home of St. Mary’s School between 2008 and 2012, when St. Mary’s closed its school. The building now has Southwest Wisconsin Technical College classes and other rental space. The school board’s meetings are now held there.

“The more buildings you have, the higher your operational costs go,” said Valenza.

One present building issue is tight quarters at Westview and the middle school. The Westview cafeteria doubles as space for some classes. Fourth grade moved to PMS, and, Valenza said, PMS is not “set up for four lunches or five lunches, and the gym wasn’t set up for that kind of schedule.”

However, she added, “This is not about a growing population. How the school district is configured has led to some space challenges, but overall it’s not that we think the school district is growing to grow.”

One recommendation is likely to be an upgrade of security in the buildings beyond the current system in which visitors are let in after buzzing in to each building’s office. Valenza said current school building design standard calls for “safe and secure and observable entrances to buildings.

“A very glaring observation is security at your main entrances,” said PRA architect Steven Kieckhafer at a school board meeting late last year. PRA advocates a “secure entry sequence” that requires visitors to go directly into the building’s office first. None of the school district’s buildings currently has that feature, and, Kieckhafer said, “each of your buildings has a challenge to incorporate that.”

Other issues to consider are classrooms designed for “the standard desks and rows scenario” in an era of more “hands-on, project-oriented” classroom work, Valenza said, as well as “options for grade configuration.”

The study is estimated to cost up to $18,900.

PRA’s work includes the UW–Platteville Bridgeway Commons, which opened last August, and Southwest Hall, as well as work at Southwest Wisconsin Technical College. PRA also did work in the Columbus School District, where Valenza formerly worked before coming to Platteville.
Boland retires from Seneca
After decades
Seneca School District
CHARLEY PREUSSER
Crawford County Independent & Kickapoo Scout
Published: Mar 26, 2025, 1:43 PM

Seneca School District Administrator David Boland’s resignation from his position was accepted by the Seneca School Board at their meeting on Monday, following a closed session discussion.

David Boland has had a long career at the school including serving as a teacher, athletic coach, principal and district administrator. Boland will formally retire from his current administrator position effective June 30, 2025.

During the public input portion of the meeting, Seneca Director of Food Service Michelle Updike requested that the board consider a change to graduation. She proposed letting staff members hand diplomas to students at graduation. Updike is also the parent of a high school student.

Updike explained that staff members could be chosen by individual students because of a special impact that staff member may have had on that student.

The current policy is to have designated school board members hand out the diplomas at graduation.

Seneca teacher and parent Shelly Davidson agreed with Updike’s idea. She added that the staff member need not be a high school teacher, but could even be a kindergarten teacher.

Board member Britany Joy asked if coaches could be included as eligible to hand out the diplomas as staff members.

Seneca School District Administrator Dave Boland said if the designation was staff members, it would include not only teachers, but paraprofessionals, coaches and anyone else who works for the district.

Updike told the board that she would poll the senior class to see if they favored having staff members, as well as school board members, be eligible to hand out their diplomas.

Boland emphasized that if the change was made it would include a list on the back of the program denoting what person was giving a diploma to each student. To accomplish this, the board would have to decide by April, so that information could be gathered in a timely fashion for inclusion in the program.

The next item discussed impacted the date of the next meeting. The third Monday next month is April 21. However, because of spring break and family plans, four board members indicated they could not make the meeting. After some discussion, it was agreed that the next Seneca School Board meeting would be held on Monday, April 14.

The school calendar was explained and discussed. Phy ed teacher and volleyball coach Shelly Davidson asked if the parent-teacher conferences could be changed, because the date chosen means she can never attend a parent-teacher conference, because they are held on the same dates as the state high school  volleyball tournament, which she attends every year.

In a discussion, the board considered moving the date of conferences back two weeks. The calendar approval was tabled for more study.

The senior class trip expenses were also discussed. Teacher and senior class advisor Michele  Updike said that the senior class funds are used to pay for the substitute teacher for class advisors, who are often teachers. The cost can range from $700 to $900 if both class advisors are teachers. Updike pointed out that can be close to 10 percent of the funds raised by the senior class, which are often around $10,000.

Updike asked that school district to consider paying for the substitute teachers when needed, to replace teachers acting as class advisors on the school trip, creating more funds for the senior class to use.

Shelly Davidson asked if it would be possible to use professional development funds from the missing teachers to pay for the subs.

District administrator Dave Boland explained switching those funds would not be possible.

School board member Crisse Reynolds suggested that perhaps the district could share the cost of the substitutes with the class.

After more discussion, Seneca School Board president Shawn Lenzendorf said she had no problem with the cost of the substitutes being paid by the district. Lenzendorf moved to pay costs of any substitute teachers hired to replace teachers because they were acting as class advisors on the senior class trip. The motion was seconded by Adam Green and passed unanimously by the board.

During the discussion, Green had said he was shocked when he learned the senior class was paying for substitute teachers for the class advisors going on the trip.

In other business, the Seneca Area School District:

• approved the 2025 CESA #3 contract to provide specialized services to the district with a 2.5% increase that was well explained by the agency’s director Jamie Nutter

• learned that the district had chosen a Skyward automated time sheet program that was less expensive than the alternative and fit with other Skyward programs already in use by the district

• learned roof leaks around drains in some previous heavy rains were fixed under warranty

The Seneca Area School District’s Monthly Recognition Award was given to the Royals’ boys and girls basketball teams and to the North Crawford Seneca Wrestling Team’s Seneca wrestlers; Jaren Grimsled, Thomas Sprosty and Sawyer Swiggum for wrestling in the sectional and to Grimsled and Swiggum for wrestling the WIAA State Wrestling Tournament.