Wednesday, September 18, 2024
During the Aug. 13 meeting, the Waupaca School Board voted to add an all-girls’ wrestling team to the school’s sports program.
“The WIAA has adopted rule changes for the 2025-2025 school year. In order for girls to wrestle in a girl’s state tournament, school districts must have a stand-alone girls wrestling team. The committee has this motion coming to the full board to approve a stand-alone girls wrestling program and a coach,” said board member Dale Feldt.
“Girls wrestling is one of the fastest growing sports. The state of Wisconsin in the last decade has gone from letting a girl compete against boys, to letting them wrestle and qualify for the boys state tournament, to creating their own girls-only state championships, to multiple divisions of girls at the state championship. The state is now quickly moving to enough girls in the sport for them to compete solely against other females during the season. There has been a growing interest by the WIAA for girls to compete against girls. This has created more opportunities for girls-only tournaments throughout the state and more opportunities for our girls to branch off and go their separate way,” wrote athletic director Rob Scherrer in a memo to the board.
E-tickets
The board also approved a partnership with GoFan, an online platform that provides digital ticketing to sporting events. More than 160 Wisconsin schools use the platform for ticket sales.
The tickets can be purchased digitally at the gate with a QR code emblazoned on a sign that reads “Buy Tickets Here” or with major credit card using point-of-sale card reader.
The schedules for all sports will be loaded onto the event page of the school’s website and a person can scan through and purchases tickets for individual games throughout the seasons.
Also season tickets can be purchased.
The benefits of digital ticketing is less congested lines at the gates as a person can simply show an attendant the ticket on a smart phone. This means less staffers are required to handle paper tickets and cash and no more swiping people’s hands with a magic marker or handing out wrist bands to indicate payment.
GoFan’s creceives a service fee of $1 per admission ticket, 5% plus $2 for season tickets, and 3% plus 30 cents per order for concessions. GoFan handles all refunds, chargebacks and disputes.
“There is a concern raised for using GoFan for concessions in that it is billing the fee into the cost of an item and student’s club running the concessions would have to absorb some of those fees,” said Feldt.
Scherer addressed the board about the finer points of the deal. The school district will have a one-year contract with GoFan that binds the district to not partner with another company during that contract year. After a year, there is no other obligation to continue to use the service, other than stop selling tickets digitally and returning the credit card readers the company provides for free.
“It’s real simple to use because it [GoFan’s platform] talks to all these programs that we’re already using anyway. It’s very user friendly,” said Scherrer.
Cash will still be used this year and most likely the following year.
$18,923 fail
Austin Moore, director of business services, brought attention to the board that in early June he found an uncashed check from Blenker Building Systems Inc. in the school safe.
The check was made out to the school district for 18,923.81. It was dated April 14, 2022. In the memo line was “Comet House-Julie Lane.”
The Comet House was the mini-home that was built by students in shop class. Previously students built two houses with the second one finished in 2016.
They are built in the school parking lot and later sold to a private owner and moved offsite. During the pandemic, the construction of the Comet House slowed to a halt because of remote learning. It was a large project that gave students hands-on experience in everything from framing, hanging windows and roofing.
Amherest-based Blenker Building Systems Inc. supported this project in the early stages. In March 2020, Campbellsport-based Drexel Building Supply acquired the company. Blenker continues to own and operate its own company, Blenker Construction.
Moore contacted Blenker about the check and was told they had no idea why it wasn’t cashed. The school’s bank informed him that the check was no longer valid and the school would have to contact Blenker and have them reissue a new check if so inclined. The school’s legal counsel also advised the check was no longer valid and to consider the affair finished. Moore recommended to the school board to destroy the check.
“Because Blenker Building Systems will not reissue the check, the district would have to pursue this matter in court and the legal cost involved in doing so would negate much of the value. The committee did not like the fact of losing this money but understood the district has to move on. Interim District Administer Craig Gerlach added that this occurred several years ago, the people involved are no longer with the district and there are no records on it. Mr. Moore advised the district to obtain written agreements prior to starting any projects. Everything is documented and records are kept more accurately,” said Feldt.
Associate Principal Jen Erb was involved in the early stages of the Comet House project. She reached out to company president Jason Blenker to see if the check could be reissued.
“He told me he would give Craig a call and even consider reissuing the check. I talked to Jason, the one that came to our school to want to work with us. I think we can make it strong again,” said Erb.
“It’s with the intent of reestablishing a business partnership with them. I’m optimistic. It’s a good opportunity for the kids and the community,” said Gerlach.
In a May, 9, 2018 article in the Waupaca County Post about student work experience, former teacher Dave Larson commented about the school’s relationship with Blenker, saying that Blenker’s involvement saved the district thousands of dollars: “We’ve had a very close relationship with Blenker Construction in Amherst. They bought the lot, paid for almost all the materials, and when we’re finished, they’re going to buy out whatever the school has invested in it, sell it and split the profits with the school.”
