School Board provides forum for public input on referendum
By Tracy Ouellette
Editor
The East Troy Community School District Board of Education opened the floor to residents to hear their opinions and suggestions on the proposed facility needs referendum the board is working to bring to the polls in the November General Election.
About a half a dozen community members attended the first listening session offering their thoughts and asking questions regarding the options available to the district.
Board President Ted Zess circled the tables in the library and asked everyone to “pull up a chair” for a “relaxed” round-table discussion.
There differing opinions between the community members, much like some of the board members, on whether the district is better off with heavily renovating Doubek and Chester Byrnes elementary schools or if building a new elementary either on the Prairie View or Doubek site was the way to go.
Dusty Stanford, who is a Village of East Troy trustee, said he’d like to see the existing schools brought up to date and the parking situation at Doubek fixed.
“They’ve done some things this year to make it safer but we need a permanent solution,” Stanford said.
He also wants the district to really invest in the elementary schools.
“When you look at elementary it’s the gateway to education,” he told the board. “We know we have challenges there today. We need to make the facilities something to be proud of.”
Stanford said he was in favor of renovation over building new, but he also said that whatever decision was made, it should be in the best long-term interest of the district.
“Whatever decision is made has to be fiscally responsible.”
Zess answered Standord’s questions regarding the different options available to the board and assured him that three of the four options had the district renovating the older schools and adding on to certain buildings depending on how the district decided to house classes. Zess also said that while the new elementary school option currently had it being build on the Prairie View site, that wasn’t set in stone and if the community still wanted the schools in the village proper the new school could be built on the Doubek/Chester Byrnes site.
“We’re looking for direction from the people,” said board member Steve Lambrechts. “If a vast majority are saying build out at the Prairie View site, that’s what we need to know.”
Another citizen said he thought Doubek was too old and he thought it would cost too much money to bring it up to 21st century learning needs. He questioned whether it was even a viable long-term solution for the district.
Board members assured him that the architects have drawn up the plans and made the necessary changes to get at least 30 more years out of the buildings and they wouldn’t even consider options that didn’t provide what the district needed for a long time.
Stanford also questioned the board on the plans at the High School and if they included space for things like shop class and the ability to teach career skills to kids who aren’t going to attend college.
“Right now it’s all college prep and it’s not cutting it,” Stanford said. “Not every kids can go to college and some would be just as happy as a welder. What are we doing for those kids to give them a trade?”
Zess told Stanford that was one of the main objectives with the High School renovations, which are the same with each option the board is asking the community to look at.
The discussion ran off on a bit of a tangent at one point when the issue of being the “district of choice” came up and how this referendum will help attract new families into the area if the elementary schools are top notch.
“Right now we’re not competing with Muskego or Mukwonago,” a resident pointed out, which is something that is impacting enrollment because the district is losing about twice as many students out of the district as it’s gaining through open enrollment. The goal is to stem those losses by offering cutting-edge learning and technology in the school.
