One of the worldwide technology giants in computers and software will be paying out to the Mauston School District.

At the Monday evening board meeting, Dr. Steven Smolek, superintendent of schools, announced that Microsoft® will be paying out approximately $75 million in a legal settlement for software purchases in Wisconsin.

Smolek said, "They will pay $255,000 to the district over a four-year period." He said the money will be used for technology.

According to the Wisconsin State Department of Public Instruction (DPI) press release dated June 8, State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster said the settlement will provide benefits to more than 850 schools in the state. The Microsoft-Wisconsin Cy Pres Program is the result of a settlement that was reached in class action lawsuits about certain Microsoft® software acquired by consumers, businesses and governments for use in Wisconsin. She said the eligible schools are based on fall 2005 free and reduced-price school lunch data. Log onto www.dpi.wilgov/imt/ msest.html.

In another technology issue, the board approved a request for easement across district property for Lemonweir Valley Telephone Company (LVT). Jim Costello, representing LVT of Camp Douglas, said, "The easement we are asking for is to run a fiberoptic cable in back of the school to the hospital (Hess Memorial) and (Mile Bluff) clinic from Attewell Street and the industrial park."

He said the benefit to the district is possibly supplying the Internet in the schools, providing offsite data storage for security and e-mail archives free of charge.

Lighting upgrades

The board approved the bid of $137,690 for lighting upgrades in the school district. James Cauley, finance committee chair, said the district will be saving by using Gray Electric of Mauston which will charge $47,500 in labor. He said, "Johnson Controls (of Milwaukee) would have charged us $100,000 just for consultation fees."

Savings also will be coming from a Focus on Energy Grant. According to the Web site: focusonenergy.com, it offers financial incentives to help homes, farms and businesses take advantage of clean, green, renewable energy.

SAGE request

The board held a public hearing during the open meeting to receive input about the the district applying for a SAGE (Student Achievement Guarantee in Education) waiver. No one approached the board. They approved applying for the waiver to the DPI.

Smolek said, "The SAGE program has a 15:1 ratio for students and teachers. We are anticipating the third grade having 16 students in each of the five classes and 17 in the multi-age class." He said the DPI requires a waiver request to change the ratio. He said they would like to maintain the 15 but, they can not afford to hire a new teacher. R.J. Rogers, board member, said even if two students were taken out of each class, there would not be enough to have another class.

Pilot pre-expulsion plan

Smolek said, "We were looking at expulsions, offenses and students who return to the school district. He said there were 28 expulsions from 2004 to 2009. He said, of those, 17 returned and 11 did not. Smolek said, "These students are lost."

He said the administration is looking at alternatives to expulsion. Ron Rasmussen, Mauston High School principal, said, "We only move for expulsion when the safety of children is involved."

Rasmussen said he worked with pre-expulsion programs in Reedsburg and Monona Grove. He said in one case they found a student in possession of a small amount of marijuana and the student could come back to the school after alcohol and other drug abuse counseling. He said the longer the student is out of school, the less likely he/she is to return to school.

He said in the pre-expulsion process the district administrator, student and parents must agree upon stipulations of facts. Rasmussen said, "Once the facts are clear, readmittance is capable."

He said the positives are that it does not stay on the students' records and the school keeps the student there to graduate. He added, "In pre-expulsion, everyone works together, it is not viewed as the school being adversarial, it gets students back into school several days sooner and it cuts down on drop outs."

Board candidates

The board will be hosting a candidate forum, Monday, June 22 at 6:30 p.m. to interview those interested in filling the chair vacated by Rebecca Tuley for the remaining one-year term. The candidates include Rita Post, Sean Goyette and Paul Huebner.