SCHOOL FACTS
Cost per student Mercer $26,433,
Wis. $13,505, Nation $11,762
ACT comp. score Mercer 17.0,
Wis. 19.6, Lakeland UHS 20.0,
Hurley 18.7; perfect score 36.0
Mercer DPI Report Card score
lowest of all 421 Wis. districts






Tuesday, February 23, 2021


 

Still on Track

A CLEAN DPI BILL AND FORWARD THINKING

Monday night’s Mercer School Board meeting again demonstrated that the board is still on track in cleaning up a mess left behind two years ago. 

But first, a disappointing and surprising announcement came with Dr. Jeff Nehring informing the board that he was resigning as a board member to devote more time to his family.  He made a $1,000 gift to the school and said that he wanted it used for technology.

Nehring made a significant contribution in pushing for the greater use of technology and as a “wonderful reminder” of open meetings requirements, according to Board Member Sue Loth.   Board President Bob Davis thanked Nehring for his service and pointed out that he came on the board “at a very difficult time”.

“We are losing a lot of expertise,” Board Member Jim Hannemann said.  Nehring, who retired as Mercer’s only dentist, had been on the school board several years ago and at one time was a board president.  He was appointed to fill a vacancy on the board in 2019 and then was elected to a three-year term in April 2020.

Any qualified Mercer resident can apply to fill Nehring’s board position until the Spring 2022 election.  At that time, there will still be one year remaining on Nehring’s three-year term and that will be up for election. 

Administrator Sheri Kopka announced at Monday’s meeting that the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction informed the school that it had completed its more than two-year long oversight of the district’s earlier misuse of $185,465 of Community Services Fund 80.  After providing “hundreds and hundreds of documents”, the DPI said that the district is now in compliance, Kopka said.

The oversight of the Mercer School’s use of Fund 80 was the result of a May 2019 settlement the new board had reached with the DPI after it charged that former Administrator Erik Torkelson had misused Fund 80 in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 school years.  The settlement required that the district provide a massive number of documents to prove that it is now in compliance with Fund 80 eligibility requirements.

The “forward thinking" part of Monday’s meeting came in the form of a challenge by Davis to perfect and move forward with the district’s strategic plan.  More on  that later.

19 comments:

  1. The only person with school board experience is leaving? No one to replace them?
    Exactly what is a clean DPI BILL?
    What are these "hundreds and hundreds of documents"?
    What became of the testing scandal? Surely someone (Torkelson) was responsible? Did he lose his license and pension?
    Did the taxpayers recoup any of the misappropriated funds?
    What does the improved curriculum look like?
    Seems like nothing has changed but the names?
    This vagueness is transparency?

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  2. Torkelson’s former corrupt school board members, minions and enablers need not apply for the open board seat.

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    1. Anyone can and should apply. Move on!

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  3. Bob Davis has done a good job cleaning up the compliance requirements. Beyond that what has changed? Watching the School Board members spend useless time having explain to Joustra the definition of words in School policy is crazy. Joustra is never prepared. And we (citizens) expect school improvements? Did Joustra and Kussard ever fix the electrical issue in the school? Still waiting. Its only been more than a year.

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  4. Good point. Nothing has changed for the kids. Those committees are useless. Very frustrating. Different Board members same results. Bob Davis has at least got things on track for compliance but not sure what the other members really contribute. Sad and disappointing.

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    1. Then may I suggest you run for the open seat and push for the change you are looking for. Unless you just want to sit there and just complain about things Mr/Mrs/Ms Anonymous.

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  5. elections are coming and not a word on the DPI candidates and nothing at all on those running for the board or even how prat will affect the school/or not. NOW is the time for info.

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    1. Unfortunately, Hank Joustra is running unopposed for reelection to the school board. If you have been attending meetings you will realize that he doesn’t belong on the board. As for the prat tax it probably won’t affect the school but it will cost every Mercer resident tax dollars. It is supposed to be a tax on tourist purchases but there will be no way to differentiate between who is a tourist and who is a resident. So we will all be paying it. It MUST be defeated.

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    2. It’s actually a tax on everyone. (Not a tourist tax) You are correct though, it needs to be voted down.

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  6. When Jim Kichak was town chairman the town always had a surplus. Sendra is mismanaging our town funds, like he mismanages his son-in-law’s restaurant. Sadly no one is running against him. It’s time for Opal, Vic and Eric to do something. WE SHOULD NOT vote for the prat tax. It is not a “tourist” tax but is a tax on all of us residents.

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    1. Kichak was a penny pincher. Not all a bad thing but, a lot of things that he put off are in need all at once. Now there is definitely mismanagement of our tax dollars. (Cut off road bring 1 shining example) The board needs to concentrate on savings and cuts first before considering raising taxes.
      Crazy idea here. For Town Chairmen: write in Opal Roberts. Then vote for Eric & James as board members. This way Sendra is out.

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    2. GREAT IDEA. WRITE IN OPAL ROBERTS FOR TOWN CHAIRMAN. SPREAD THE WORD.

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  7. Lets face facts, the longer you put any project off, the more expensive it becomes. So cutting taxes is actually counter productive. Comprehensive 5 & 10 year plans are required to effectively budget. Rest assured they will change, but you can't constantly just shoot from the hip.

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  8. My wife and I were talking about this PRAT tax and the points that are made. We are a retired couple who moved here in 2015. We think that everyone is missing the point. Why do we need this tax? Let's face it, Mercer is dying. It has no energy. It is very cliquish and new residents are not welcome. Visitors are not welcome and the Prat tax is just an example. New ideas are ignored. For instance, why is there just a Loon Day. Why isn't it Loon days? Why not have Loon Days run through Sunday with a carnival and events running through the 5 days. Why not have a quilting bee. How about a pinochle tournament? How about some entertainment? What about a farmer's market on Friday and Saturday? What would that do to our tax problem? The reason we don't have this is that a very small group of people want to be in control. It's not John Sendra. It's not the board. It's this small power group who stands in the way of everything. Don't get me wrong, my wife and I are not youngsters. But the old timers who stand in the way need to step aside and give the younger generation a chance. This small group has done their thing. They have had their chance, and they have brought us this far. I say Thank You for that but now is the time for the next generation, with new ideas to take the lead. Although we live in the Town we don't go to town if we can avoid it. Who wants to go to a place where you are not wanted? I'm sure there are others who feel the same as we do. So don't ask yourself if we should impose a PRAT tax, ask yourself why do we need a PRAT tax. They tell us old folks if you sit around waiting to die, you will die. If you want to live you have to remain active. You have to move forward. let's move Mercer forward.

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    1. First of all, my sympathies for attempting to retire in Mercer. I made that same mistake, wised up and moved on. You are accurate about the cliques and not being wanted. You state to let the young take over, but the young are just copies of the older cliques you mentioned. Younger versions of their parents that know nothing else except the "Mercer" way. Face facts, Mercer does not want to change or move forward. It is evident with everything they do, from the school to businesses.

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    2. I would challenge anyone on what successful businesses in Mercer are not welcoming to everyone. Sure, I can name a few that will tell you to your face or by their actions that certain people are not welcome, but it is not the majority of businesses. You might want to consider not using such a wide brush to paint your calls of non-inviting businesses in Mercer.

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    3. A good business can work and be good but all the town needs is one negative to ruin it all. The brush is broad because it is applicable. The entire town lacks initiative. We see it in the help wanted signs where the jobs go unfilled by locals. We saw it in the school placement on the state report card. Parents let that happen. They sat and did nothing and chewed up one business owner who illustrated it to all and tired to make others SEE. Kudos to her and kudos to the parents who pulled their kids out and moved them to a school that put education at the top of the list. Those kids will be able to compete in the big city; the others? not so much. All the clubs are cliques. Same people, different costumes. It is a big gossip factory. All should be glad that Snow's is still operating. Without a grocery, Mercer would be nothing but a gas stop on Hwy 51. Grocery is key to all communities. Like the earlier poster, I can spend my money where people welcome me and go the extra step. I will vote for the PRAT because I realize that even if I spent $1000.00 in Mercer, the amount I would pay in Prat would be minimal. Prat will help us and those transient users, the recreational users, the summertimers, the wintertimers can give back a little to the community that they invade (need I say, that they make noise, leave trash, go off trail, and otherwise act as buckaroos!)

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    4. I think you just confirmed the the comment from March 24. It's not every resident or every business. There is however, more than enough of them to make it unwelcoming in Mercer.

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  9. Hi Anonymous March 25,

    Well, I have had a number of instances where I was not recognized and was treated rudely. From the way your response was worded you may be part of the problem. But, either way, from the way your response sounded it just helps me prove my point. But please don't miss the overall problem. Mercer is a dying town. If we raise taxes here, it is a slippery slope. When will it stop? As the taxes keep increasing more and more people will not be able to afford to live here anymore. I am not saying John Sendra isn't doing a good job. I voted for him. But Mercer needs to find a way to raise money, some other way. Why couldn't the incoming seniors at the school coordinate a Farmers' Market the last week of August? What a great way to learn initiative, leadership, and entrepreneurship. And at the same time do the town a favor. Maybe one of these leaders will be so proud of the work they did they will return to Mercer and become a town leader. I don't think it will be big the first year but it will grow. This is a different way, and I would argue a better way, to raise money than raising taxes.

    On another point, we have a school band, right? Why don't they ever march in a parade?

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