Area school co-op to continue

The members of the Trempealeau Valley Cooperative 2.0 governing board voted unanimously to continue the four-school co-op, which had come under fire in recent months, at an in-person meeting held at Western Technical College in Independence last Wednesday.

The governing board — which consists of two members from each district school board — had lengthy discussions with administrators about the direction the co-op should go and some of its current shortcomings. When the vote was held, however, it was unanimous to continue for the 2022-23 school year.

Members of the Arcadia school board put the co-op’s future in question at its March meeting. Arcadia school board member Diana Tempski said the co-op was a “sinking ship” and that Arcadia should not continue to work with Blair-Taylor, Independence and Whitehall. Fellow board member Dana Conrad suggested giving the co-op six months, while Rob Hurlburt thought they should wait until the end of the school year.

“At Arcadia’s last board meeting, we had an in-depth conversation; some are skeptical and some have more reservation than skepticism,” Arcadia and TVC board member Randy Nilsestuen said. “Schools need a vibrant community if they’re going to prosper and communities need a vibrant school if they’re going to prosper. We need to do this and do it well.”

Brian Steinlicht, another member of the Arcadia and TVC boards, brought concerns from his district to the governing board prior to the vote.

Steinlicht said members of the Arcadia school staff don’t think the district needs to be involved in the co-op.

“I keep getting kickback from the staff,” Steinlicht said. “‘We’re doing this already, why waste our time with these other things?’”

Arcadia superintendent Lance Bagstad pointed out that the district has 38 students participating in TVC classes in the three other districts.

“That means we probably aren’t offering the classes those students are taking or it doesn’t fit their schedule,” Bagstad said. “Therefore, it tells me we can benefit in Arcadia from the co-op.”

Bagstad said that the each individual district might not have enough students to warrant having classes such as trigonometry or advanced statistics, but they can offer such courses through the co-op.

Nilsestuen said he has heard concerns about the cost of participating in the TVC, but the cost involved is about $5,000 in transportation

“I don’t mean to suggest that people are being deliberately disingenuous, but there are misperceptions that create some of these skepticisms,” Nilsestuen said.

Overall, the board focused on being better at communicating, not just with members of the public, but each district’s staff and other school boards. Pressure was put on the district superintendents to get school staff members on board.

“If they’re going to be delinquent and just belligerent then they gotta go,” Jason Molis, TVC and Whitehall board member. “If they’re not on board and they’re festering or causing problems then they need to be disciplined or be told change your ways or you can ultimately go because this is the vision of the district and the co-op and the region.”

Leah Matchey, a member of the Independence and TVC boards, said that staff members may be concerned about job security, saying change commonly causes concern amongst employees.

“We’re not talking about eliminating people, that has never been a part of the discussion,” Mike Beighley, Whitehall superintendent, said.

Presented during the meeting was a list of accomplishments that have happened under the co-op, including a collaboration with Western Technical College and University of Wisconsin-Stout set to begin this fall.

“Having a K-20 partnership with WTC and UW-Stout wasn’t on our radar when we started,” Beighley said. “Not one of us could draw that kind of interest to change the structure of the technical college system in 18 months. That’s significant, I think we all need to remember that.”

Nilsestuen said his impression was that Ashley Furniture Industries wasn’t interested in implementing a mobile skills laboratory with each individual school. “They would only work with a group, that’s concrete proof of the impact the co-op has had.”

Steinlicht said he wished he had the list of accomplishments available for Arcadia’s last board meeting. “The conversation in Arcadia would’ve been entirely different.”

Board members noted the importance of the work the co-op does for area businesses, including health care providers.

In addition to improved communication, administrators suggested narrowing the scope of the co-op.

“We’ve gone a mile wide and an inch deep and we’ve tried to wrap our arms around all of this stuff,” Bagstad said. “We want to identify a few things then work on it.”

The board approved a three-step process to help narrow the focus. In order to provide better direction, the TVC board also agreed to meet monthly with two meetings with the full school boards scheduled.

“Nothing runs perfectly,” Sara Staff, member of the Blair-Taylor and TVC boards, said. “There have been some bumps and curves, but it’s the big picture. If we’re moving toward our goals, we are going to stumble, we are going to run into roadblocks.”

Bagstad said his impression was that little issues were being seen as major roadblocks. He mentioned the grading scales being different in each school.

“We can’t let that piece be a barrier to all the positives that are taking place,” Bagstad said, pointing out that schools have been collaborating for more than 30 years through distanced learning programs.

Last Wednesday’s meeting was the first in-person meeting the governing board has had since before COVID-19 shut down the schools more than a year ago. Conversations from that last meeting largely centered around how to market the co-op better.

“I think the COVID experience kind of derailed us as a group,” Staff said. “You all had other fish to fry, it’s time to put us back on the burner.”