Overall, we want to thank our community for their support and continued patience as we are all going through this difficult time. We truly look forward to the day we can put away our Reopening Plan and go back to our normal and customary way of doing things – together!
Overall, we want to thank our community for their support and continued patience as we are all going through this difficult time. We truly look forward to the day we can put away our Reopening Plan and go back to our normal and customary way of doing things – together!
Upcoming Referendum Information
Phelps School District to go to Referendum on April 6, 2021
Updated 2/16/21
The good news - no GREAT NEWS is our next referendum will be exactly the same as what Phelps School District did 6 years ago. This referendum to exceed the revenue cap is exactly the same as the last 6 years – NO INCREASE to your taxes! We are just asking to continue the same tax support as the community is currently doing which is $1,182,000 annually. The new referendum will also be for 6 years. If approved, it will commence 2021-2022 through 2026-2027 and not include a penny more.
How is that possible?:
1) Every day and every year we at Phelps School District look at ways we can save money and still provide our students with an outstanding education! This helps improve the lives of 102 Phelps students attending Phelps School District and 22 children attending Phelps Daycare.
2) We have a staff who understands we need to use our community tax dollars wisely and they are never frivolous with those funds.
3) Over the years we have taken care of our facility - to avoid big maintenance costs (not to say we can prevent everything bad from happening - but we try).
4) We have taken advantage of grants which has allowed us to do energy efficient projects (ex. LED lighting indoors & outdoors, boiler tune-up and maintenance and other projects)
5) Saved a significant amount of money on benefits every year while keeping coverage and out of pocket expenses the same for staff. (Started with regular health insurance added an HRA and then an HSA over an HRA)
6) Every time we save money on anything it is moved into our fund balance to offset the next referendum. For the last 13 years our fund balance has grown every year. Because of this we do not have to keep raising the cost of a new referendum to our community taxpayers. In fact, during our 2015 Referendum we returned $125,000.00 to our taxpayers after our school building was paid off. This reduction happened annually for 6 years by reducing the tax levy by $125,000.00. And it is not being added back in during the next 6 years!
Above all - we have an incredible staff who works together to support one another and understands we are custodians of our taxpayers' support and good will - along with providing a wonderful environment in which our students can learn!!
We will be sharing more information as we go forward. If you have any questions or concerns - please let me know by calling the school office at 715-545-2724!
Please know, we are all looking forward to inviting our community residents back in to use our facilities once again. Having community members involved in our education system, holding events and using our facilities to enrich their lives has always been our commitment. This will continue to be our commitment moving forward. As the vaccines are administered and Covid cases decline, we are enthusiastically awaiting a time when we can do all of these things with our community! We will be revisiting our Reopening Plan in the spring!
Sincerely, Dr. Delnice Hill
Updated 20-21 Calendar
During the October 21, 2020 board meeting, it was approved to adjust our current 20-21 calendar. November 23 & 24 will now be virtual teacher in service days. Students will be off on those two days. December 21 & 22 will be virtual student instruction days. They will be asynchronous instruction days, meaning students will not have to log in to classes at a set time. Attendance will be determined by completion of student course work.
The focus for the November in service will be Staff Mental Wellness during these trying times. In December the teachers will focus on sharing relevant resources and projects for students regarding student mental wellness. It is the belief of the Phelps School District, taking time to understand how we can help each other out and get through this school year in the best way possible is a priority!
In addition, it is important to utilize already scheduled breaks at Thanksgiving and Christmas to increase our opportunity to have our school building empty for an extended time. This improves our ability to deep clean and time to mitigate Covid by having everyone out of the building.
Please check with Phelps Daycare for their days and times of service. They will be closed for a few days during each of those weeks to allow for deep cleaning of the daycare.
We hope these two changes to our school calendar will help everyone to relax and refuel focusing on self-care!
School Building Opens at 7:45am for students
Dear Parents, please note that in the morning Phelps School building is closed until 7:45am. Teachers are not in their classroom until then. Students will have no place to go if you drop them off at school before 7:45am. Due to safety protocols, we are not opening up the Library to keep a room available for students to come to school before 7:45am. It is simply not a safe way to begin school having a large group of students all in one room waiting for school to begin.
Parents dropping off students should do so at the main entrance in the upper parking lot no earlier than 7:45am.
Students driving to school should park in the lower parking lot and may enter the school building at 7:45am.
Students riding the bus will be dropped off at school at a pre-arranged time.
The daycare is available for parents who need earlier arrival times. Please call 715-545-2724 ext. 105 to make arrangements.
Thank you for supporting Phelps School and the safety protocols we have put in place.
