School board reviews five-year plan

The Tea Area School Board met Dec. 8 and reviewed the five-year plan.

Business manager Chris Esping updated the board on the five-year general fund plan. She noted this is just a plan that includes projections for revenue and expenses for the next five years. The projected enrollments are conservative with 25 additional students next year and 10 additional students per year for the next four years.

Superintendent Tonia Warzecha said in the Tea Area district, 25 percent of funding comes from property tax and 75 percent comes from state aid. The percentages vary by school district.

Operations manager Wayne Larsen presented the growth and development report. The report is a review of new construction of single-family homes, multi-family units and twinhomes in the various neighborhoods and development within the district’s boundaries. While they are seeing many units being built in the 41st Street area, they are not seeing many students coming out of that area yet. Larsen noted that there wasn’t as much home building going on in the district in 2025 as they had expected.

The board surplussed a 14-passenger 2011 Chevy mini bus and they have a potential buyer.

Esping presented more information on combining GO bonds from 2015 and 2019 into one and combing capital outlay certificates from 2014, 2015 and 2018 into one. The board passed two resolutions regarding combining bonds.

Larsen reported that they have received their permanent occupancy at the high school. They got the final ice storage tank so next spring they will be at full capacity. They continue to work on getting all of the HVAC controls working. Over break, they will resurface the floor in the black box theatre. At Legacy, they had a leak in the system in the HVAC system so they are working with the manufacturer to get that fixed.

They are looking at moving the weight room to the former band room. There is also some funding to put a new floor in the old band room. He hopes they will do that at the beginning of January.

They plan to close on the middle school land purchase when they have the contract for deed paperwork.

The board approved the resignations of Mary Copple for foodservice, Jasmine Kaukovic as high school custodian, Shawn Kennedy as assistant high school football coach, Kaitlin Kuhnert as ninth grade girls soccer coach, Brooke Piper as girls high school assistant soccer coach, Reba Waldner for middle school foodservice and Taryn Helgeson as middle school oral interp coach effective at the end of 2025-26 school year.

They also approved the retirements of Scott Frey from coaching and Wayne Larsen as operations director effective on June 30, 2026.

The board approved the new hires of Te McKnight as student TASK aide, Kelli Steffes for middle school foodservice and the transfer of Michelle Baartman to executive administrative assistant from Venture Elementary.

Board president Jason Bennett thanked Larsen for his service to the district from the very beginning of the district. He also thanked Frey for his 15 years in the district as a football coach.

Warzecha presented the proposed calendar for 2026-27. She noted they worked to make it family friendly. A change includes a half day for the teachers to set up their classroom between Aug. 1-10. Aug. 18, 2026 will be the first day of school. Grades JK-5 will have conferences at one time and 6-12 will have conferences at a different time. Graduation will be May 16, 2027. The board approved the calendar.

The board reviewed the committees they have as a board. The board approved sunsetting the TASK, Sprouts and Land Committees and renaming Facilities and Construction Committee to Building and Grounds Committee. They also moved to dissolve the Athletics, Arts and Special Projects Committees.

Warzecha presented four options for a board purpose statement. The board chose __________

Warzecha also recognized the work on and generosity toward the district angel tree.

She mentioned Gov. Larry Rhoden’s proposed budget for next year with a zero increase in state aid and teacher pay. She noted that it’s just a proposal at this point.