Lomira School Board Approves Installation of Solar Energy System

The School District of Lomira Board of Education met on Wednesday, April 9.
Board Matters:
• There was a college and business tour on April 8 for freshmen and sophomores with students going to four separate visits at UW-Madison and Epic, UW-Milwaukee and Maysteel, Lakeland and Holiday Auto, Fox Valley Technical College, and Pierce Manufacturing. Sam Kobussen, an event planning specialist from Inspire Wisconsin, helped with the coordination of the tours.
• The school board approved the summer school course description guide and summer school contracts for 2025 with a vote of 7-0 with one abstaining.

Summer school will be offered starting on June 9 until July 3 with 67 classes offered to students. Registration starts on April 28.
“All of the old favorites are being offered with a few new ones. While the classes are primarily for grades K-8, some newer classes offer opportunities for our high school-aged students,” said Elementary Vice Principal Eric Schalk. “Beyond our academic classes to keep students sharp, we also offer fun enrichment classes and others to hone physical skills.”
“One of our favorite things about some of the class offerings is the connections to the community with golf being offered again in partnership at Camelot, exploration where students will learn about and visit businesses within our community, swimming lessons at the Lomira pool with the Dodge County YMCA and lifeguard classes for any high school students over 15 years old, and referee classes for high school students to become certified WIAA referees,” said Schalk.
“One last new opportunity will be offered to help multilingual learners in our school continue to improve their English language skills for our K-12 students,” said Schalk.
• The April 1 school board election resulted in Dale Lindert being re-elected. Maggie Landowski is replacing Linda Pickart after five years, and Mike Sacotte is replacing Rick Welak after 24 years on the school board.
• The school board approved the replacement of 2,700 light fixtures throughout the Lomira High/Middle School campus for aLED lighting updates with a vote of 7-1, which improves the energy efficiency and lighting quality.
• The school board approved a solar power system which will be installed by Veregy at Theresa Elementary Community School (TLC) with a vote of 6-2 and will provide an 84% energy offset.
The upgrades are projected to deliver first-year utility and operational savings of $49,143 and guaranteed savings of $1,394,698 over the first 20 years.The total project costs $990,000 with the district’s Fund 46 acccount (capital expenditure fund account) funding the project along with funding through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Focus on Energy rebates that allow the district to leverage federal incentives for long-term operational savings.
“This project represents a significant step forward for the Lomira School District by utilizing IRA and Focus on Energy funding. We are not only reducing our energy dependency but also creating a more sustainable future for our schools,” said Lomira School District Administrator Ty Breitlow. “The savings generated will be reinvested into classroom resources and student programs by directly supporting our mission of educational excellence.”
• The school board approved an audit contract not to exceed $27,450 with Vesta CPAs with a vote of 7-0 with one abstaining.
• The school board approved library long-range planning and the outdoor club as a school-sponsored activity by a vote of 8-0.