The Ripon School Board heard information about an offer to purchase a small plot of land by Wisconsin DNR at its November board meeting last week Monday.
RASD Superintendent Mary Whitrock speaks at a Ripon School Board meeting. The School District considers the sale of a .44-acre plot of land to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Neither the DNR or the School District was aware the District owned the land.
The DNR has used the .44-acre piece of property for a prairie reclamation project and recently discovered that it was owned by the Ripon Area School District (RASD). The DNR purchased 120 acres of land from a private owner in 2001 and was unaware that the .44-acre piece was adjacent to the larger acreage.
Once the DNR became aware of ownership, staff members worked to determine value and prepare an offer. RASD Business Manager Jonah Adams recommended to the School Board to approve the purchase offer, assuring board members that the offer was a fair one.
Located along County Road E in the town of Nepeuskun, the property will generate $7,600 for the RASD. The funds will go into Fund 10, according to Adams.
School Board President David Scott expressed surprise about the subject.
“It’s kind of interesting that we didn’t know we owned that land and they didn’t know we owned that land [either],” he said.
There was no vote on the offer since it was an information only item on the agenda. The official offer will come at a later date, according to Scott.
In other Board action
In other School Board action, votes of approval were cast for several items concerning academics for the district, including the Academic and Career Planning Guide for 2024-2025, new course proposals for Ripon High School, including biotechnology and contemporary fiction, and the 2024 schedule for roofing repair projects.
Also approved was the school calendar for the upcoming school year and the gifted and talented math credit recommendation. In addition, all business-related and school operations reports were approved. The board then voted to go into executive session at the 31-minute mark.
The next regular meeting of the Ripon School Board will be Monday, Dec. 18 at 6 p.m.