On April 2, the voters of the East Troy School District face a major decision to either fulfill the grandiose wishes of the School Board for a “Taj-Mahal” of a Performing Arts Center, or do what is best for this district as a whole, and vote no for this short sighted and damaging referendum plan.
The Performing Arts Center the board is asking you to vote for costs over $10.4 million and is over 32,000 square feet in size, which is not depicted correctly on any of the drawings the board has put around the community.
This is almost the same size as the entire Doubek Elementary School, and takes over 55 percent of the total dollars they are asking for.
If economic times were good, if the district tax base was growing, and having the Florentine Opera in East Troy was a need, then this extravagance of a proposal may make sense. Unfortunately that time is not now.
This district is facing tremendous financial pressure, and that will continue for the foreseeable future. This referendum will only make that situation worse. This district has a deteriorating unsightly Doubek Elementary School, which is the first look at this district for new parents.
We have another elementary school designed for three grades that is currently holding four grades. We are lacking in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) space and programs at all levels of education.
Our district needs a well thought out, all encompassing, balanced plan to address our current needs, not just the wishes of a few.
I encourage all the voters who care about the long-term prospects of this school district to vote no on this referendum, and to vote for School Board members that will do what is right for the long-term success of the East Troy School District.
Ted Zess
East Troy School Board
candidate
Agreed- we will be voting against the auditorium and for Ted Zess. This school board shamefully piggybacked the auditorium with items that the community feels required to vote for, such as improved security in the wake of recent school tragedies. The controversial auditorium should never have been included in the same vote as critical necessities such as handicapped accessible bathrooms and basic security improvements. They have blatantly ignored the results of the previous referendum as well as the results of the community survey. They just will not accept the community’s voice on this issue. After attempting to reframe it numerous different ways and still not getting the answer that they want, they are now having the auditorium leach off of the validity of items that have been held hostage by the auditorium vote.