The fall semester has been busy with many school, community and sporting events taking place, said Lynn Stankevich, district administrator, and Vince Czahor, principal.

At the beginning of the year there were Homecoming events, including a school/community pep rally, community parade, alumni versus student flag football game and dance. Unfortunately, the Homecoming game had to be canceled.

The district took part in the National Walk to School Day on Oct. 8. Students were dropped off at a spot in town and were escorted to school by the Beecher-Dunbar-Pembine Fire Department and Marinette County Sheriff’s Department deputies. Banker Bear from Stephenson Bank also walked with the students.

During Fire Prevention Week, elementary school students learned about fire safety from the Pembine Volunteer Fire Department. Students toured the fire equipment, and took part in demonstrations with the firefighters.

Beecher-Dunbar-Pembine School elementary students listen to firefighters during Fire Prevention Week. (Submitted photo)

The annual craft show on Nov. 8 continues to be a good fundraiser. It is organized by the Senior class, but other classes take part as well. For example, the Junior class had a meat raffle, concessions, and bucket raffles.

“The craft show went well. It’s a fundraiser for the Senior class, and they are planning a class trip to Washington, D.C.,” Stankevich said. “Different clubs and organizations help make the day more successful and have it as part of their fundraising as well.”

The school also held its annual Veterans Day program and hosted a breakfast.

The drama club, featuring grades sixth through 12th, performed the comedy murder mystery “This Murder Was Staged” on Nov. 15.

“We really had a significant pause in our drama program since COVID, and the head of the drama department had taken a different position, ” Stankevich said. “So this is actually the first time coming back. They held a summer school play and that kicked off the interest to help bring it back in full force. They did a really nice job.”

A chili fundraiser was held between the two performances.

On Wednesday the middle school/high school Christmas concert is planned and the elementary school concert will be on Dec. 10. Both shows start at 6:30 p.m.

The annual Mike Bryant Talent Show takes place on Jan. 17.

“It was just teachers and staff putting on skits and plays and productions, and now students and community members can also be invited,” Stankevich said. “It adds to the fun.”

“We have events happening all the time,” she added.

They district is now offering a live online middle school Spanish class.

“We partnered with Rural Virtual Academy because we couldn’t find a middle school foreign language teacher,” Czahor said. “It gives parents some options, if they want to be in person or online, learn online at your own pace or do live virtual instructions.”

They are also offering other online programs, such as credit recovery and advanced placement courses.

With the passage of a five-year operational millage last April, the district has been able to stablize its finances. They are projecting a balanced budget for the 2025-26 school year, rather than facing a deficit of $285,000. The district was able to increase its fund balance to a projected $360,000. Stankevich and Czahor were thankful for the community support.

Both are longtime members of the staff and have seen many changes. One big change is the level of security needed now at schools.

“Unfortunately you have to spend a lot of time on it. How much of your budget is now on safety measures? It’s a lens that we always have to look through for safety and academics. When I first started, you didn’t have to worry about that,” said Stankevich, who started with the district in 1987.

Czahor, who has been with the district 22 years, said they have been writing a lot of grants and were successful on some smaller ones. They received a healthy snacks grant, a pickleball equipment grant, and a peer mentoring grant to support new teachers.

They also received a $100,000 grant from the Wisconsin Emergency Management to help with protecting against cybersecurity threats.

They have added several new staff members including, Travis Stanczyk, counselor/social worker; Brooke Boucher, sixth grade teacher; Nikki Sotka, middle school/high school science teacher; Kelly Wallenberg, kindergarten; Rebekah Barrick, fourth grade teacher.

“We have some great things that are happening. We should be proud of our little school. Like all schools we have things that we have to work through, and deal with, but educating our kids to the highest level that we can is our top priority,” Stankevich said.

Marguerite Lanthier can be reached at 906-774-3500, ext. 85242, or mlanthier@ironmountaindailynews.com.