Though several action items were approved, much of Monday’s meeting of the Waterloo School Board was dedicated to presentations on behalf of district libraries, Waterloo High School student council and unrest regarding the WHS basketball program.

Providing this month’s Waterloo Classroom Teachers’ Association presentation was library media specialist Andrew Mayer.

He offered an overview of district library activity, emphasizing the spaces are far more than just a room full of books.

Mayer highlighted studies which indicate the positive impact well-equipped and supported school libraries can have when it comes to student literacy and reading test scores, though much of his time went toward discussing what libraries really do for Waterloo students day-to-day.

“I want to focus most of my attention tonight on the other aspect of school libraries that goes beyond the research, beyond the test scores but more about the power of stories and that joy of reading, that joy of learning,” Mayer said. “In our elementary schools, that is kind of where that love and joy first begins. It’s where students discover that books can make them laugh, books can make them think, books can spark their imagination, books can introduce them to characters that feel just like them.”

He went on to describe how that love of reading persists from W.J. Zahnow Elementary to Gardner Elementary.

At Waterloo Junior High School, students enjoy the Stories and Slices Book Club which sees them speaking with authors via Zoom.

At WHS, the library serves as an incredibly versatile space where students not only read but also conduct research and generally relax with a selection of puzzles and board games.

Mayer went on to speak about the collaboration between the school district and Morrison-Talbott Library, with numerous library cards being issued for students who don’t live within the library district, allowing them to still make use of the services there.

He further spoke on the satisfaction he gets seeing and helping students discover their own passion for reading.

“I think I’ve got the best job in the district because I get to share my love of reading and literacy and stories with children every day,” Mayer said.

Leadership from the WHS Student Council also spoke during the meeting, particularly discussing work done during a recent “swap day,” with students from WHS, Civic Memorial and Belleville West visiting one another’s schools to experience how their student councils operate.

At the meeting, students spoke about a need for student council to stay active by meeting weekly rather than just monthly – already an improvement from the far less regular meetings in previous years.

They further described the good response to the WHS Snowball Dance and the need for additional committees within the student council to help spread the work out.

Other remarks from students at the meeting touched on activity in the district and community such as reading at Zahnow as well as various examples of student success outside the district.

Among a quartet of speakers during public participation, Amanda Wagner addressed the board first to talk highly of a recently-conducted self-defense class during girls PE at WHS.

One of her daughters participating in the class, Wagner praised the opportunity to allow students to acquire practical skills and confidence in themselves.

She further commended the amount of collaboration that went into class, with a number of staff and faculty members adjusting their schedules to ensure it could happen.

“That kind of teamwork, to me, speaks volumes about the dedication of the staff and the supportive culture coming from our building administration here, and I just wanted to recognize publicly the effort that went into making that happen,” Wagner said. “My daughter and I have a really good, close relationship, but when I ask her about the day, I usually just get an, ‘It was OK.’ The entire week that this self-defense class went on, she came home and told me about everything that they did.”

Brian Metzger spoke next, setting a substantially different course for the rest of public participation as he described how his son, an outgoing basketball player at WHS, along with a number of other students have had apparently quite negative experiences with the varsity basketball program.

“I’m here tonight because what I’ve seen with our basketball team over the past several years is not something that I agree with as a coach and as a parent,” Metzger said.

After speaking to his own connection with and a passion for WHS basketball, he described the poor experience his son has had, critiquing the head coach for a “lack of communication.”

Among his criticisms, Wagner described how students this year voiced an interest in instruction amid a rough season, only to wind up conducting routine practices running plays.

Acknowledging the poor performance this season, Wagner further voiced his disappointment that senior players weren’t going to receive a banquet to wrap up their high school careers. He noted that, earlier the day of the meeting, a message was sent out saying players would instead be gathering for a pizza lunch where their awards would be handed out.

Dan Niebruegge echoed much of Wagner’s sentiments as he expressed his own disappointment in the basketball program and its leadership, comparing his son’s experiences as both a basketball player and a football player.

“The contrast between these two programs is not subtle, it’s significant,” Niebruegge said. “One program elevated the student athlete, the other drained him. Coaching matters, culture matters and structure matters.”

During his speech, Niebruegge noted how one of his younger sons has been considering whether to attend WHS or Gibault Catholic High School, only to be entirely disinterested in WHS sports after seeing his brother’s experience.

The final speaker was Angie Augustine, who identified herself as the WHS boys basketball head coach’s sister and spoke in his defense.

She pointed to positive feedback she’s heard about the basketball program and its leadership, specifically the head coach’s transparency and how he works with players.

Augustine further emphasized that these complaints have seemingly only come following an admittedly disappointing season for the team.

“We were losing this year, so I can understand how people can be upset, but also I wanna know why we weren’t up here last year when we had a winning season, or the year before,” Augustine said. “I think in order for Waterloo to have a good basketball program, we have to have a coach for a length of time. We can’t just keep having turnover.”

During committee reports earlier in the meeting, school board member Nathan Mifflin offered an overview of the Budget Task Force following its fourth and final meeting.

He voiced appreciation for district faculty and administration, board members and community members who participated as well as Waterloo Superintendent of Schools Brian Charron for providing plenty of information throughout each meeting.

Mifflin further reported that the task force ultimately decided to recommend against abating the current tax levy.

He pointed to the forecasted diminishing of the Working Cash fund to support the Education fund as a key reason for this recommendation alongside the importance of the district having a balanced budget to support its credit rating to help secure good interest rates for future borrowing on big district projects.

“Ultimately, we decided that it would be best not to abate. What we are asking for is what we think we need,” Mifflin said.

Concerning action items, the board approved a lease agreement with St. Paul Evangelical Burial Park – Conrad Kolmer Memorial Cemetery for  rental of a storage building on Hamacher Street.

Also approved were a five-year contract with Americom Imaging Systems for district copier machines and maintenance, Kennel Klub school-year programming and a $16.50 hourly rate of pay for district grasscutters.

For district employment, the board also approved the extension of three-year contracts for District Curriculum Coordinator Jessica Washausen, Special Education Coordinators Victoria Mudd and Christine Osterhage, High School Principal Tim McDermott, Gardner Elementary Principal Angie Huels, Assistant High School Principal Margaret Herring and Assistant Junior High School Principal Cara Brown.

Two elementary teachers, an elementary special education teacher and a junior high science teacher were also hired.

The board additionally approved a contract with Archview Metals Systems Company totalling $27,962 for sheet metal work at WHS.

Charron and Maintenance Director Will Hulett explained that this work is intended to address the leaking that has long affected the school’s main hallway and competition gym, fixing the flat roofing and drains that can cause water to pool when there is strong wind or heavy snow and ice.