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A five-member majority on the board is leaning toward closing one school, probably Jefferson School on the North Side. It is believed such a closing would save the district $500,000 to $700,000 a year.
Here's our recommendation: Be care ful. Be very careful.
La Crosse closed four schools in 1977.
-- Hogan School became the district's administrative center.
-- Pleasant Valley, a small rural school, was closed and the site sold.
-- Washburn Elementary, across from the La Crosse Public Library downtown, was closed and sold to developer Jay Hoeschler, who built the Washburn on the Park apartment complex.
-- Erickson School on the far South Side was closed and the site was sold. It is now used as an office building.
In all, the district gained $1.041 mil lion from the closings. It reduced its operating costs by $480,000 a year. For a while.
Soon, births began to rise.
In addition, the full impact of the Hmong refugee resettlement in La Crosse was being felt in a big way.
Later, school officials approached the public with an idea to build two new schools, on the far north and south ends of La Crosse, where land was available.
When school officials sit down to decide whether to close a school, they need to keep the past firmly in mind.
They need to make sure that we do not fall victim once again to a cyclical, up and down enrollment pattern.
And they need to take serious mea sure of La Crosse's space needs.
Consider, also, what district residents have to say about the subject -- and make sure there is plenty of room for public input before we seriously embark on a school closing plan.
Shortly after Tom Downs became La Crosse school superintendent last year, the district held a series of public meetings to assess long-range planning concerns.
Those sessions, unfortunately, were not as well-attended as we would have hoped.
But Jefferson school parents came out in force. They knew there were some school board members who wanted to close their school and they did not want that.
Downs ultimately decided not to include any school closing in his own recommendations for long-range planning.
Board members need to take to heart his concerns about the district's space needs. And they need to take to heart the concerns of parents.
Let's not be so blinded by the appear ance of short-term savings that we end up costing the district far more over the long run.
And let's make sure that space needs and district residents' concerns are taken fully to heart.
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TO EKW SOCCER GAME
I shot and arrow in the air
It fell to earth I knew not where.
I put a WEB page on the Net.
It makes me friends I'll not forget.
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I wrote these few words of poetry after I got the note below from a party in Sauk-Prairie. In talking with him he said he had gotten this WEB address off a link on the Elroy WEB page. Then guess what? After both of us had made this effort the soccer game was canceled. Oh! well it is always nice to meet new people. Thanks Rich.
Here is his note:
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Please pass on directions to Royall High School. I will be attending the soccer match on Friday, May 14th, between Royall and Sauk-Prairie. I will need these directions by 3pm on the 14th.
Thanks for any assistance that you can provide in this
matter.
Rick Hannah
Media Technician III
WisView Core Coordinator
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At the March 11th 1999
regular EKW School Board meeting:
Douglas McCracken, proposed a referendum to be held on the 3 site district
configuration. described as: K-6 in Wilton & Elroy- Grades 7-12 with Highschool and
Middleschool located in Kendall. The total cost of of said configuration to be 10.5
million dollars. The motion was passed by the Board with 4 in favor - 2 opposed and 3
absent. The original referendum date was April 20th later changed to April 27th -1999
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March 22nd 1999, Regular Board meeting,
When the Board asked for items from the floor, Elroy Superintendent, Tim
McCowan spoke to the Board and said, "No, I do not want to talk about door knobs but I
do want
to talk about keeping open and opening new doors of educational opportunity. Lets talk
about offering something better, I want that you guarantee to the kids of this community that
your building program will not result in one educational program being cut and I am
asking proof of that guarantee as well. If you can guarantee this that will be fine
with me if not I will be in the forefront to stop this plan. Thank you."
After Mr. McGowns speech the Board voted to look into contacting and consulting with other Design Builder besides TCI. It was decided that Administrator, Art Keenan contact and invited Hoffman and Kramer Brothers to offer their ideas and cost estimates . Mr. Keenan said he would contact them immeadiatly.
That speech by Tim McGowan was perhaps the catalyst that began a chain of events the outcome of which I don't think anyone at this time would be willing to predict.
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March 23rd 1999
"Citizens for Education First" held a meeting with about 100 in attendance in which
they praised and elaborated on Principle McGowan's speech.
Shirely Preuss, speaking before the group said, "both I and my husband were born and raised in Elroy and we raised our daughters here and are pleased with the type of education they received. But with cost controls in place and a declining enrollment we have reached a point where we are going to have to do more with less which means we have to spend our money wisely. Perhaps the first thing we should do is JUST VOTE TO CONSOLIDATE then let the discussion begin as to where. So lets figure out how to make it work so we can bring everyone together on this issue."
Scott Tuttle, who owns an investment and advisory office here in Elroy said, " In my opinion this existing referendum is a bad decision. Why? Three reasons.
Dave Armstrong, 9th Grade English Teacher at Royall High. I am
here to fight for the education of my kids who are artist, musicians, actors,
computer whizzes, and many other things to numerous to mention
You must understand that when I say my kids I am not just referring to my three
children, I feel I am fighting for all the approximately 960 children,
in our school district. The biggest problem to me personally was brought on by Art
Keenan, it stems from the fact that in getting to know the philosophy behind his
administration I found myself dreaming rather than accepting, dreaming of the way things
might be, rather than the way they are. I found myself envisioning programs that could be
offered to all. Some of those dreams have been realized, some of them haven't. Those
dreams, my dreams, have temporary been put on hold. I now find myself fighting not to
increase programs offered my kids but fighting just to save those we presently provide.
I will not support any philosophy that states that the buss ride to school takes priority over
the education the students get.
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March 25th 1999,
Some 65-70 people gathered at the Wilton School Gym to discuss the 3 site
configuration, tabled by the EKW School board at their March 22nd meeting.
Lee Wyttenbach, from Kendall, called the meeting to order shortly after eight o'clock. Asking
the question, " Does everyone here know what is going on with our school district?"
Mr. Wyttenbach then said, "I will try and explain it the best I can: As most of you know the school board voted about two weeks ago to go to referendum on a 10.5 million dollar project that would include a 7-12 highschool in Kendall and K-6 elementary schools in Elroy & Wilton. The other nite at the March 22 meeting the vote was rescinded so the board could get more information from teachers, superintendents and other Design Builders besides TCI.
So actually the main purpose of this meeting tonite is to lend our support to those three board candidates, Doug Path, Kari Benish and Patrick Dwyer, we have with us tonite a large contingent from Elroy and I regret that it seems that each side wants to beat up on the other side. It is unfortunate that it has to come to this and I think down the road we will come to some compromise but until that happens some people from the other end of this school district will beat upon people on this end of the district and people from this end of the district will beat upon people from the other end of the district.. We need to have people on the board who will support the views of those of us on this end of the district for as we know they are doing the same at the other end of the district.
Mr. Wyttenbach then turned the meeting over to, Donna Welch, a Wilton resident said, "I came from the Tomah area and must say that the bad feelings in this district has been here over many years. We must learn to understand each other, I know how the people from Elroy must feel when they think that their school is going to be taken away and it is hoped that they understand how we feel when we want to keep schools in our district also. Donna, said that she had strong opinions on detachment, that she did not think it a wise move if the people of the area wanted to keep their school here in Wilton, that actually she did not think there were that many who really wanted to detach and that the talk that people from the other end of the district were saying , "let Wilton detach if they want to" was just that "talk" as they know that they need the tax base from this area in order to keep the whole district operating.
Lee Wytthenbach then took charge again saying that "Personally at this time I would not support anything that would not support a school in Wilton. I think that again the next proposal from the people in Elroy will be for everything in Elroy. If that is not possible then they might settle for everything in Elroy except K-6 in Kendall, but that the Elroy K-6 would remain in Elroy as their will claim will be they already have the new Elementary school there."
Norman Anderson, from Wilton, the next speaker asks, "Does this district want to be united, I think that we can be, there are a lot potential jobs coming into the area, Walmart will soon have a labor force of over 400 new workers, some no doubt will move into the EKW district especially on this end. Wilton has a fire department and ambulance service 2nd to none, best little hardware store in the area, a swimming pool, a very beautiful park In fact it was not too long ago I was talking with a couple who was thinking of moving in this area because they like what I have just described but when they found out that the high school was 16 miles away that sort of changed their minds In my opinion I believe that this is our last "hurrah!" I do support the 3 site referendum now being proposed. If we let this opportunity pass it will not come this way again. I don't know that even if the referendum does pass whether that will unite us but we should give it our best shot."
Mr. Wyttenbach, said there are a couple of other proposals out there. One is a brand new 6-12 in Kendall and another proposal would be a brand new 6-12 at the Woolver Site about two miles south of Kendall. I don't know how possible they are but I would support either of them. The present configuration now on the table with an add on Highschool in Kendall but my heart was not in that one. But I have to hand it to Doug McCracken for stepping forward and proposing this present 3 site configuration. For "just doing it" It seems to me that the people on this end want to do something and those on the other end want to stall There is a proposal out that will work.
Mr. Schulz , an EKW teacher from Elroy,
said that there is two schools of thought, the Education School and there is the
Geography School.
On the education side, perhaps you have heard of the 13 programs they have at the
Hillsboro school that are not offered at Royall. A lot of people are concerned that if
you keep these multiple sites open the money to operate them has to come from
some where and it is going to come out of that education pot.
The geographical concern is that if you shut these small town schools down they
will suffer dramatically because of that. How do you put those two things together.
Now I am an educator so you know what I am going to say, I am not going to take
money out of education to fund buildings if we can find a way to consolidate and
free up money that could be used for Education.
But people living in small towns are more interested in keeping those towns more
viable and that is where part of the problem is.
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March 30th, Board calls a Special Meeting
(closed to the public)
After a lengthy deliberation between the Representatives of TCI and the EKW Board
they voided their motion to consult other Design Builders at their prior Board meeting
by unanimously voting, to stay with
TCI as their Design Builder either until a Configuration was approved or as, Pres. Yahnke
said, "it was tossed away"
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April 6th, 1999-Spring Election
EKW School District elects Craig Hanson, and Sue Schoeder Incumbents
and Louise Jensen from Elroy, who replaced Incumbent, Doug Path of Wilton.
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April 8th 1999
Regular School Board Meeting
Comments from the floor:
Two members, Esta Parrish and Mike Baurenfeind, of "NOW is the Answer
Committee" presented the case for detachment of Wilton from the EKW school
district. The following are excerpts from their reports-go to Page 7 for full details.
Esta Parrish - The Answer Is N.O.W. Committee said:
Although emotionally detachment will not be easy, financially and logistically it is the only truly equitable solution to EKW¹s configuration problem. According to Mr. Hanson¹s report of March 11, 1999, the EKW school district will be ³broke² by the year 2003 whether or not we consolidate in one community. This necessitates a referendum to permanently increase the revenue cap for operating expenses by several hundred thousand dollars at least and possibly by over 1 million dollars each year.
The Wilton area detachment will decrease district income from property taxes by about $1,700 for each student and will decrease from state aid by about $5,700 for each detaching student. This results in a $1,480,000 decrease in income annually. The difference between the decrease in income and the decrease in expenditures will be at or very near break even point.
Because of the need to exceed the revenue cap for operating expenses, district taxes are going to increase. However, the increase may not need to be as great if the Wilton school is removed from the picture.
Consolidation is the only way to unify this district and eliminate the prevailing us/them attitude. EKW cannot afford to consolidate in the center of the district which is the only consolidation plan that would satisfy Wilton area residents. Detachment would eliminate the need to consolidate Wilton with the rest of the EKW district.
Allowing the Wilton area to detach from EKW will open the way for the people of Kendall and Elroy to unite and begin concentrating their energies on education of the children instead of having to constantly face the configuration and financial worries that have plagued this school district for many years.
Detachment is a workable solution for the EKW school district, and possibly the
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Mike Bauernfeind The Answer Is N.O.W. Committee said:
For some time now, this board has struggled with this issue of configuration. You¹ve put a lot of time and energy into trying to find a solution that will satisfy the needs and desires of all parties concerned, sometimes at great personal sacrifice.
I know you are all sincere in your desire for quality education for our children. But part of the difficulty lies in the fact that each of you represents other legitimate interests of the people who elected you and those valid interests also include the desire to keep a school in your respective communities.
The people of the Wilton area, like the people in Kendall and Elroy, want to have a school in their village. We in Wilton can sympathize with how the people of Elroy must feel facing this $10.5 mm referendum that would close their school. We felt the same way last year. However, now a lot of people in the Wilton area are thinking differently. Many have come to the simple conclusion that declining enrollment and increasing costs make keeping open three schools in this district unrealistic and ultimately impossible. We recognize that whether you build a new school in Wilton or do nothing at all there, the sad but actual fact is EKW will not be able to afford to operate and maintain a school in Wilton.
Detachment offers this board an historic opportunity to end the configuration battles and forge a new coalition between Elroy and Kendall that can focus on improving educational programs in a way that would facilitate a strong EK district with programs and facilities that are both high quality and affordable.
Those of us that favor detachment wish no ill will to our friends and neighbors in Kendall and Elroy. On the contrary, we want to see you build a exceptional school district on sound financial footing with additional educational opportunities of which your communities will be proud. We simply realize that is not going to happen while Wilton is part of the district and we are offering to step aside and let you go forward to fashion a district and a school system that contains the elements you and your teachers and administrators desire but are currently lacking because of the ongoing focus on configuration.
We want to reach out to each and every member of this board and ask that you consider this detachment alternative. At least investigate it with an open mind. We¹d be happy to work with you, share information and turn this opportunity into a positive reality. Detachment really can benefit us all.
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The Administrator and Board agreed to appoint, Tim McGowan, as the chairperson to form a educational Committee that would work with the EKW School Board and TCI in coming up with a configuration plan that would meet the needs of the educational community as well as the taxpayers.
Elroy Teacher, Edith Gustafson, review of a detailed 10 page report on the recommendations of the EKW EDUCATION ASSOCIATION regarding the present educational needs of the district and their recommendation of how they should be met. It is detailed report about the educational needs of the district that their Association did not feel were being meet by the 3 site configuration.
Administrator, Art Keenan reported that there were 19 students who had requested School Choice to other districts for next year. 17 students request were granted by the Board.
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APRIL 9TH 1999
"NOW IS THE ANSWER COMMITTE"
PRESENTS A CASE FOR DETACHMENT
Esta Parrish, Wilton Veternarian and Mike Baurenfeind Wilton Businessman and members of the "NOW IS THE ANSWER COMMITTE, opened the April 9th detachment meeting at the Wilton School Gym, by using an overhead projector to explain in detail the facts of why detachment would benefit all people of the district.
Mike Baurenfeind, opened the meeting by again emphasizing what he and Ms. Parrish had present to the EKW board at Elroy the nite before (see April 8th EKW Board meeting below.) Mike said, "we must face the reality, that be it now or later the Wilton School will have to close as there is not enough money to operate three schools in three different locations with declining enrollment.
He asked "Where Are We Going? First and formost Norwalk, Ontario school district would welcome us.The have a good school and educational programs. One thing interesting I noted when we attended their School Board Meeting was a complete copy of the minutes of the last Board meeting including the bills authorized and paid. This has not been my experience at the EKW Board Meetings.
Donna Baurenfeind, read a letter from one of the families that had made application for School Choice to Brookwood but had been turned down so they moved to the district and they have been very pleased that they did.
Esta Parrish, was the next speaker spent most of her time showing how it would be beneficial for both parties financially to have Wilton to detach and go to N.O School District. The N.O. mill rate is now 12.40 while the EKW mill rate is about 11+ but should EKW pass the 10.5 referendum there would be a 3.30 increas in the mill rate bringing it up to 14+ mill rate.
Ms. Parrish had a number of charts which are hard to duplicate on this WEB page but I will try and get them and see if I can incorporate them some way.
Lois Newman, had made, a large easy to read, map of the Wilton area of the EKW School District showing where those who will be circulating petitions will be going to get signers. as well as showing how convenient it is for a large part of the Wilton area of EKW to being a part of a district only six to eight miles to the school instead of 16 to 20 which is now the case.
Mike came back again and said that we have to convince the majority of the district and the Board to approve the detachement and, Let Our People Go"
From the Floor:
Donna Welch, "I don't feel any great desire in this community for detachment." Mikes reply, a lot of people have come asking for detachment. If however, we do not get the number of petition signers necessary then the thing is dead but if we do get the signers then I will be out in front to get the detachment carried through.
George Chute, a long time resident of Elroy said, "I drove School Bus for the EKW
back in 1950 and then I was on the School Board back in the 1960's. We got along great then.
As I recall it Kendall joined Elroy first. Wilton tried to attach to several other districts but because of a
$100,000+ debt, no other school district was interested. Elroy finally agreed to accept
them.
As for the present proposal I can't see throwing away 8 million dollars to
build a new school when we do not need one. As for you people who want to
detach I think that there will be a lot of people in Elroy who would support you and
I am one."
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Others who contributed items to this months review are,
To go to the index page these articles are on:
Click here to go to page 2
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