Costs for significant remodeling to Neenah Joint School District buildings were revealed at a special meeting of the Board of Education on March 19 at the Shattuck Middle School Auditorium.
The meeting was the third in a series of four meetings the Board has set to determine the future of the District’s facilities. The next meeting is scheduled for April 5 at 5 p.m. at the Shattuck Auditorium, however, Board President Michelle Swardenski cautioned that it will not be a decision-making meeting and several more meetings will follow.
“It’s important for everyone to know that no decisions have been made,” she said. “The next meeting is simply the fourth scheduled meeting and that's it. There will be more meetings.”
A substantial portion of Monday’s meeting came during two separate open forum sessions. A total of 31 different people gave their opinions at the meeting. Some of the topics included the condition and future of Shattuck, the lack of Alliance Charter School in any of the plans, the potential congestion of adding another grade level at Horace Mann Middle School and the concept of the indoor performance center at the high school. Others questioned whether students learn from good facilities or good teachers, while others indicated how teachers get better by working in quality environments.
The meeting opened with a presentation from Superintendent Dr. Mary Pfeiffer, Bray Architects President Matt Wolfert and Director of Business Services Andrew Thorson. Wolfert presented pros and cons to each of the master path plans revealed at the second meeting, while Thorson discussed financing for the potential projects.
Costs for making safety, security and infrastructure improvements at each building are about $135 million. The first two master plan paths would cost about $260 million, while the third path costs about $253 million. Each building was also evaluated for its cost to tear down and build new with the total cost of new construction at every building being about $362 million.
Thorson explained how school financing works and showed that funding the master plan projects by staying within the revenue limit with no borrowing would take 35-40 years. Funding the plan through a referendum would take about five years to complete construction and 20-25 years to pay off the loan.
The District could borrow money within the revenue limit through short-term loans to a maximum of $65.62 million. Alongside a referendum, this process would also take five years to complete construction and 20-25 years to pay off the loan, but would result in a lower mill rate increase.
The Board seemed in agreement that none of the master plan paths were most desirable and the final outcome will likely be a hybrid of the models or something different altogether. Much of the Board discussion centered around what is the next step. Some Board members want to determine whether the proposed grade configuration of putting grades 5 and 6 at one school and grades 7 and 8 at another is the best model. Another suggestion was focusing on the proposed K-4 elementary structure and the possibility of condensing the number of schools.
The District has hired an outside firm to conduct a population study to review anticipated future population trends in each area with the District boundaries. Results of the study will be revealed and discussed at the April 5 meeting. The Board also plans to discuss its values and priorities for the future of the District as well as its next steps in this process.
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