Northland Pines school board halts recording of committee meetings

The Northland Pines Board of Education held its regular monthly meeting last week where it voted unanimously to end the three-year process of recording committee meetings which take place once per month for each of the policy, finance and personnel committees.

In a brief discussion period, district Administrator Scott Foster said that low online viewership is the primary driver of the proposed change, especially when balanced against the time and staff resources required to manage the process.

Foster pointed out that regular monthly meetings will continue to be available through a livestream and through recordings available on the district website and on the YouTube video sharing platform. He was the only person to speak on the matter as none of the board members present made a public comment.

Monthly board meetings are usually scheduled during evening hours while committee meetings have variable start times, usually during school hours.

Of the three committees, internal district information suggests that the policy meeting has been the most popular and at times draws as many views as typical full board meetings. Even so, Foster said that the decision to record only monthly board meetings falls in line with other school districts in the region and board members voted in agreement.

While state law requires monthly meetings, there are no statutes calling for audio or video recordings of any type of school board meeting. There is, however, a requirement that motions and votes are recorded in some manner, often through written minutes.

Tax levy certification

In other business, the board also voted unanimously to approve the final $31 million 2025-2026 budget and the nearly $21 million tax levy to be imposed on property owners in the district.

Both of these figures are near matches to what the board presented at the annual meeting in September. The original projections made at that time were best estimates, but subject to change based on additional information required from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI).

Tera Fritz, business manager for the district, walked the board members through the changes before a unanimous vote of approval was recorded.

Impact to the property owners is also near identical to the tax levy announced in September. The end result is an expected mill rate imposed on each $1,000 of assessed property to be $3.23 versus the $3.22 rate originally presented.

According to Fritz, total property value in the district was slightly higher than initially projected. Using the mandated DPI worksheet formulas, this would normally bring the tax levy down, however, there were other elements such as lower student counts and minor budget amendments that caused the final calculations to be slightly higher than the September estimate.

The $3.23 mill rate is much lower than in prior years but because property values for many in the district have increased, actual tax dollars allocated to the district could be higher than in the past.

On a separate matter, the board voted to approve the renewal of dental, life, and vision insurance plans for district employees, as well as a long-term disability policy. Following further discussions on administrative reports by school principals and general updates by Foster, the board went to a closed session to discuss safety reports and other matters.

The next regular meeting of the school board will take place on Monday, Nov. 17, at 6 p.m. in the middle school and high school large group instruction room.