At the Barneveld School Board meeting on Wednesday, September 9, Middle School Science Teacher Kaitlyn Nankey and two students shared highlights from their summer trip to Washington, D.C. Seven middle school students and four parents participated in the action-packed four-day tour of landmarks, monuments, and museums. The students showed the Board photos from the trip and described it as a great experience. Participating parents also praised the trip as educational and well organized by World Classrooms.
After the presentation, the Board moved ahead to the agenda item on the 2028 Washington, D.C., trip for interested sixth-and seventh-grade students and approved the trip.
In their first presentation for the 2026-27 school year, Student Representative’s Syndey Hooks and Kaiya Meives reported to the Board that students have had mixed reviews regarding Chromebooks and that students are getting better acclimated to the new phone ban. They reported new Drama Director Abby Whitish is doing well in her new role and that Homecoming planning is slowly coming along.
In her Superintendent’s Report, Robyn Oberfoel thanked Barneveld’s summer school teachers and staff, with special recognition for Summer School Coordinator Melissa Carden. She also thanked the office staff for spending the summer catching up before the new school year began, as well as the summer custodial teamespecially Robby Schlimgen, Randy Reeson, and Connie Heinemeyerfor cleaning and painting the school. Oberfoel said staff chose the 2026- 27 school year theme, #Forever- Golden, during a recent professional development day, building on the earlier themes #BeGolden and #StayGolden. She also announced a new social media series, “Let’s Talk About Learning,” which will highlight sample word problems and corresponding state standards. Math Mondays will run in September and October, followed by Science Stumpers in November and winter activities for all grade levels in December.
In her Principal’s Report, Heather Schmitz said the in-service days focused on professional development for new initiatives and continuous improvement. SpringMath was introduced in grades K-8 to strengthen fluency, while FastBridge replaced Star testing as the district’s universal screening and progress-monitoring tool for identifying student strengths and needs. Releasing Writers and CKLA were also added to support comprehensive language arts instruction in writing and reading.
In her report, Dean of Students Melanie Norton presented this year’s Assessment Calendar, a single document containing all district tests, dates, instructions, and parent letters. Students are being assessed in September so the district can adjust instruction and interventions as early as possible. Norton also serves as Barneveld’s Data and Assessment Coordinator, working closely with Nikki Nemitz and CM Consultants on technical compatibility and troubleshooting.
In Finance, the Board Approved $2,544.95 in donations with gratitude to include: $625 from the Barneveld PTO for fair fireworks, $735.95 from the Barneveld PTO for classroom rugs for kindergarten and first grade, $1,184 from donors for the multi-use track and field project, $500 from Dave and Joann Manteufel, $100 from Chris and Danielle Thousand, $100 from Dan and Ronda Bowe, and $484 from Community Donations.
New entry doors for the alley and maintenance room were Approved in a Capital Fund Purchase. Three estimates were submitted and the Board awarded Premier for the new entry doors for $18,719.
In Facilities, the Board Approved $6,745 for Omni Technologies to replace the sound system core processor in the gym and commons area. In Operations, the 2026-2031 Library Plan was Approved.
In Athletics, the Board renewed the football co-op with Mount Horeb and renewed the boys soccer co-op with Wisconsin Heights.
The Board Approved to contract with the firm Renning, Lewis & Lacy to join a Social Media Class Action Suit. The legal claim is that social media has resulted in overwhelming rates of anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicidal ideation in school-age children and districts have inadequate funding to meet students’ mental health needs. Many Wisconsin districts have already joined but districts still have an opportunity to join and receive money as part of the larger settlements. Like the vaping cases, the social media litigation is ongoing. These cases are on a contingency-fee basis so districts pay nothing to join and will have no exposure for out-of-pocket costs. Those will be paid out of any recovery. Finally, the amount of work that districts will have to put in should be minimal.
To begin the meeting, the Consent Agenda was approved to include the Minutes of the Regular School Board Meeting on August 12, 2026, the Annual Meeting Minutes from August 17, 2026, and the July and August Receipts and Expenditures.
The next Barneveld Regular Board Meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 14th, at 6:00 p.m. For additional information go Barneveld.k12.wi.us.