Sarah Wedge receives Shining Star award

The Custer School District (CSD) has a new shining star. At the district’s board of education meeting in Hermosa April 14, business manager Sarah Wedge was presented the 2025 South Dakota Association of School Business Officials (SDASBO) Shining Star award.
The SDASBO presents this award to a business manager in their first five years as a business official. The business manager must demonstrate remarkable innovation and leadership qualities and make a positive impact on their school and community.
Business manager Teri Reynolds presented the award on behalf of New Underwood School District business manager and past president of the SDASBO, Amanda Trople.
In her submitted letter, Trople said, “SDASBO received glowing nominations from Sarah’s peers and coworkers.”
One nomination said, “Sarah is a trailblazer in every sense. Through her forward-thinking approach to budgeting, finance and leadership, she has implemented innovative solutions that not only drive financial growth, but also inspire those around her. What truly sets Sarah apart is her dedication to making a meaningful impact on both her school district and community. She has taken an active role in TeamMates as a mentor, sits on two community boards and takes every opportunity to increase her knowledge.”
Wedge will be honored at the SDASBO Spring Conference in Pierre.
The 2025-26 school year will officially start Monday, Aug. 25 rather than Wednesday, Aug. 20, per the board’s vote on the calendar during the meeting April 14.
After the conversation at the March 13 meeting, the board proceeded with postponing the start of the school year and adding two days of professional development for teachers Aug. 20 and Feb. 20. That way teacher contracts remain at 155 days.
Board member Michelle Lehman asked if staff approved of the date changes. For the most part, superintendent of schools Mark Naugle said the teachers like to start the school year on a Wednesday and Thursday, which is why it has been that way for the past 11 years.
Part of the reason the board proposed changing the start day was because the Central States Fair in Rapid City was the same week and district families were expected to be participating. Naugle said the question brought up was whether or not the board would modify the schedule for 10 or so children when it could be a school activity anyway.
Board member Heath Reindl said he understood teachers wanting a short first week, but there was a four-day weekend immediately after the first week of school due to Labor Day.
“But also, folks, we need to know that this calendar that you asked us to put together—we add two in-service days, and we take two days away from kids. So we went from 146 days with students to 144,” said Naugle.
Reindl said when the board was talking to staff members, teachers said they felt short on professional development days.
With no further discussion, the board unanimously voted to approve the updated calendar.
The Career and Technical Education (CTE) building is coming along. There were a few days when high winds and frosts kept the crews off the roof, but crews got the classroom side roofing on. According to Carter Stonecipher from Dean Kurtz Construction, the plan is to continue working on the exterior of the building and get the wall panels up.
“Things are moving a little out of order at times, but they’re all continuing to the next point,” said Stonecipher.
Plumbers and electricians are due to begin roughing in the classroom side as well.
The board discussed additional CTE building plans, progress and changes before approving two more requests for proposals. The board also approved Dean Kurtz Construction’s March pay request for $375,575.80 for general conditions, sitework, concrete, structural steel, doors, frames, hardware, metal building system, fire suppression, plumbing, electrical and construction manager fees.
The board also approved Grahek Tech’s camera and opener bid at $71,940 for the CTE building.
Reindl said, “Mark (Naugle) did a lot of vetting on this. They had a Zoom call with manufacturers and everything, and he did good work on it.”
Naugle said, “I think we’ve got apples to apples, and this bid was about $13,000 less than the other company that met our specs.”
Board president Jeff Barnes asked how compatible the district’s systems will be with using different companies for cameras and entry systems. Naugle said the cameras are very compatible. The entry systems will require multiple programs, but Naugle said they have a plan for overcoming this. The bid for matching systems was around $120,000.
Looking ahead to maintenance, head of buildings and grounds Kevin Metzger requested the board’s approval of an additional part-time night custodian for the CTE building.
Metzger said with the current setup there are two night custodians. With the addition of the new classrooms, Metzger talked to Reynolds and Wedge about adding another part-time person to assist for four hours a day year-round, saying this would be more than enough time to tackle the added load and prevent projects from falling through the cracks.
With the CTE building set to open sometime in October, Metzger said he would like the part-time employee to start at the beginning of the school year so they can receive training in the process and products beforehand.
Hartshorn asked Metzger how he felt about staff numbers throughout the district. Metzger said staffing was good as is, but he could do some research and discuss it further with the board.
The board approved the addition of a part-time night custodian to work in the CTE building.
Also discussed at the meeting, a few years ago, ACE Academy was moved out from underneath the umbrella of the Custer Jr./Sr. High School and made into its own testing site. The South Dakota Department of Education changed these policies, so the academy needs to be brought back under the umbrella of the high school.
Naugle said the board needed to approve the distinction change so it would be recorded in the minutes. It was clarified that the location would not be physically moved. The only change is that the state testing will now be under the umbrella of the high school. The board unanimously approved this.
Additionally, the CSD received partial funding from the Community Impact Grant through United Way for expanding hours in the substance abuse prevention program. The district originally hoped to receive $20,000 for the program to double Danielle Meyer’s hours and bring her closer to full-time. The approved amount was $12,000, which will still provide approximately 342 additional student contact hours for the 2025-2026 school year. The board approved the acceptance of the grant.
The CSD will conduct the 2025 board of education election Tuesday, June 3. Two seats are up for election for three-year terms commencing in July. The candidates running for office are Corey Virtue, Brandy Tarap, Jesse Sorenson and Mark Perrenoud.
In other news from the April 14 meeting, the board approved:
• The yearly membership to the South Dakota High School Activities Association.
• Working with Nonprofit 360 to support data gathering for grant writing and finding grant opportunities at no charge.
• Giving choir teacher Hannah Rehmeier and band teacher Catherine Halliday a stipend for their work on the musical portion of the musical “Mamma Mia!”
• The workman’s compensation renewal for the 2025-26 school year.
• The second reading of changes to Board Education and Expenses as well as Sections C and G.
• The first reading of updates to Sections K, J and L.
The next meeting of the CSD Board of Education is Monday, May 12, at 6 p.m. at the Custer Administrative Building.