GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – After months of research and debate, the Green Bay school district voted Monday to continue discussions about closing 11 schools and the district office building.
Monday was originally thought to be decision day for a task force proposal, which was intended to address declining enrollment and a significant budget deficit. But school board members began to express doubts recently, saying they were not ready to make a decision on the proposed plan.
Several items were voted on Monday night, but no certain decisions were made. Rather, the district voted to further evaluate the potential closure of Wequiock Elementary School, which specializes in environmental science, for the 2024-25 school year.
The board also created a deadline of Nov. 1 to have a referendum proposal. That referendum could address closing the district office building, upgrading security, addressing high-priority facility issues, building a new school on the west side and addressing the future of the John Dewey Academy of Learning.
Interim Superintendent Vicki Bayer said in a memo last week: “By January of 2024, the Board of Education must make decisions to address a projected budget deficit of $20 million in the 2023-2024 fiscal year.” The district can’t hold a referendum to fund the changes until February 2024.
On Monday, the board also voted to further evaluate shifting the following schools to 4K-8th grade facilities: Langlade and McAuliffe elementary schools and Franklin Middle School. A third-party group would be involved in evaluating the community impact of those changes.
Before closing for the night, the board discussed the potential closure of Tank Elementary School but eventually voted to table the discussion.
Several new ideas were brought up, but not carried out on Monday including repurposing locations to deliver services to special education students.
“Some of our buildings are not adequately set up for students that are either medically fragile, that are receiving ID services or autism focused,” says school board member, Bryan Milz.
Another idea that was mentioned was adding childcare to the schools that are not full.
“If we have X amount of free space in West, do we have a need for recognized community partner childcare space…being revenue positive, I guess that could be maybe a win win for families,” says school board member, Andrew Becker.
The school board will be meeting again next Monday.
