Everything is on the table for the Manitowoc Public School District trying to save money for improvements to all their schools.
During a special meeting, MPSD Superintendent Jim Feil explained that options could include consolidating one of the schools or closing one school entirely.
The project plan was created by Cooperative Education Service Agency or CESA 10 with Project Manager John Berget saying that what the group found wrong within the schools was much worse than expected.
“It was a much longer list and a much more expensive list than we anticipated when we started,” he stated. “I think the reaction that we’ve gotten from most this group and most other people within the district that we’ve talked to, it’s the same thing, it’s much larger.”
Berget also explained that the project needs to be done quickly because of how much needs to be done.
But before the project gets started, Board Members Kerry Trask and “Biff” Hansen want to pump the brakes before anything gets started.
“We haven’t informed the community at all about what we’re even thinking,” Trask exclaimed. “There hasn’t been an article in the paper (at the time). There hasn’t been anything discussed on the radio. And if we have a top-down approach to this like we’re IBM or something, it’s just not going to work.”
Hansen continued the conversation, saying, “We’ve decided what to do without taking any input from the public, and that is wrong.”
The recommendation from CESA 10 is to have the school borrow $20 million in borrowing to address immediate maintenance.
Following that, the plan would be to have two referendums in 2026 and 2038, to raise more than $450 million for finishing upgrades at the elementary schools and restoring Lincoln High School and Franklin Elementary.
The board also heard a presentation from MPSD Director of State and Federal Programs Lee Thennes, who says the district is down about 1,000 students since he came in 2001, and that means consolidating some of the schools could be necessary.
The board didn’t take any action during the special meeting.
The school board could have to act on the issue next month.
