Board votes to make W-S a closed campus in 2025
Administration will continue to work with student, faculty for transition
By Steve Van Kooten
The Wauzeka-Steuben Board of Education voted to transition the school into a closed campus during their regular board meeting on Dec. 16.
During the meeting, Interim District Administrator Dr. Gary Albrecht and Principal Tiffany Dums acknowledged that the school has been an open campus for many years, but they also maintained that the standards for student safety have changed — it’s a “different time,” as Dums said.
“We are literally an anomaly having an open campus. It’s not a normal thing. Sometimes, we have to make changes that aren’t fun for everyone.”
Dums said her priority is to create a safer environment for the students.
“I just want to reemphasize that what we’ve been considering this for is because of school safety. I was an administrator during both Columbine and 9/11, and I take these very, very seriously,” Albrecht said. “We’ve done our due diligence over the past several months.”
Albrecht recommended transitioning to a closed campus after the winter break. The board unanimously voted to adopt his recommendation.
“What are the students’ thoughts on it? Are you getting any pushback?” Board member Ken Buck asked.
“No,” Dums answered. “After my Hornet Council meetings that we’ve made, no. The last meeting that we had with them, I asked, ‘Is there anything else? Is there anything more I can do?’ And they did welcome me to continue to have meetings with them.”
The school district has hosted several meetings about its open campus status, both through the board of education and CIS meetings, to gather community feedback, according to Dums.
She also held meetings with the Hornet Council and student leadership and confirmed that she will continue to have discussions with students on a regular basis to assess student concerns about the campus and any other issues that arise.
The students’ issues with a closed campus revolved around the school’s lunch program and ability to get food from other places, such as going home during their meal break or to a local business. Students also wanted an accessible outdoor space.
Dums said the district looked at all of the concerns raised by their students, saying, “I wrote down everything down to the butter.”
Albrecht said the district will continue to improve the lunchtime experience to help accommodate the transition.
Dums said the students were satisfied with the changes made by the district and received positive feedback from students and parents. Changes were made to the breakfast and lunch programs with the cooperation of the district’s meal staff. She said the district had not received any negative comments from the community recently.
Dums claimed students did not have any further recommendations based on their meetings. She also wants to add two students to the food services panel on the Wellness Committee to help address student needs.
“I would hate for them to think that the decision has already been made, but they aren’t here,” she said. “If those 20 kids that were are saying, ‘Yeah, I’m okay if you do these things,’ then that’s great.”
“In my heart I believe they’re not here because they trust that we’re making good, positive changes, and their children went home and said, ‘Things are going well, and we love that changes are made; we feel really good about them.’”
In attendance were board members Nikki Asleson, Jessica Bird, Buck, Thomas Martin and Brandon Millin. Albrecht, Dums, Director of Special Education Kevin Kilburg and Business Official Jeff Mara were also in attendance.
Hires
Luke Blair, CTE second semester; Brian Trautsch, middle school girls basketball.
Other business
• The district renewed a $1 million line of credit with People’s State Bank during the meeting. Mara said the school has not taken a line of credit borrowing in approximately five years.
• Approved a $1,560 funding request for the eighth and ninth grade Washington D.C. trip next year. The money would be for chaperone costs on the trip.
