Grant Elementary School in Wausau, WI. MWC file photo
CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Wausau already has one historic school building. It’s Grant Elementary School on Wausau’s near west side.
And city alder Lisa Rasmussen spilled the beans earlier this month. The Wausau School District considered closing Grant. The city voted to declare grant a historic building. And it was kept open.
And now the city has stuck it to the school board again. 2, 3 or up tp 5 elementary schools may be consolidated in the Wausau School District. And now Wausau has designated another school building, John Marshall, as historic.
As Rasmussen explained, school closings are unpopular. People like smaller, neighborhood elementary schools. She says the Wausau School Board separated the issue of school closings from its referendum request. When the issue was framed as fixing a backlog of building maintenance, it passed. If the consolidation issue was added in… oh, by the way, your local school may be closed, and if yours stays open, it’s going to get a new wing and be much bigger… then the referendum has much more opposition.
Councilwoman Rasmussen and I agree on the value of smaller, neighborhood schools. They’re better for students. Kids going to school close to where they live is best. Enrollment is down; consolidation is inevitable. How much? I say, as little as possible. I reject the idea of 5 or 6 mega-elementary schools.
But, Wausau city leaders are over their skis here. City Hall and the Wausau Board of Education are separate entities. The city doesn’t get to dictate policy to the school system. Deciding that old school buildings are historic to shape the school-closing debate is wrong. And the school district’s house is in order much more than the city’s. My school taxes are going down. They’re retiring older, more expensive debt and that gives the voters confidence to approve referendum spending. Meanwhile the city, even with an unprecedented infusion of Biden bucks, is raising taxes again. The city should stand down and let the school district arrive at the right decision.
Chris Conley
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