Posted: Feb. 3, 2010

Muskego — About 50 people attended the first of five public input forums on whether the Muskego-Norway School District should close two elementary schools, build at least one more school and upgrade other elementary schools.

The forum was held last week at Tess Corners Elementary School, one of the schools proposed for closing.

Residents heard the latest cost estimates that put the annual impact of the two potential elementary proposals at $347 to $389 per year for the owner of a home worth $350,000 for 20 years.

The first option being reviewed has a price tag of about $58 million. The second option would cost roughly $65 million.

No action is costly, too

Superintendent Joseph Schroeder told the crowd that the cost of doing nothing would be about $10.5 million over 20 years. But that would address just maintenance items and not security, storage, space or other concerns, he said.

It also would leave the district still needing to figure out where it can cut the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to fit the school budget under state revenue caps.

Consolidating the schools would save up to $400,000 per year, officials estimate, which would have been enough to take care of most of the $450,000 deficit the schools faced this year, Schroeder said.

The School Board is holding the forums to try to gauge public sentiment for various aspects of the two plans and whether they are open to paying higher property taxes to improve the elementary schools. A referendum would be needed to carry out either plan.

Trying to get at taxpayer resistance, one of the questions posed to those at the forums is whether both the plans should be dropped.

It was not known as of press deadline how attendees responded to that question.

Both potential plans would close both the Tess Corners and Muskego elementary schools because they are aging.

About 70 percent of building components at Tess Corners are reaching or have exceeded their predicted life spans, based on an architectural survey the district commissioned.

Muskego Elementary is at 53 percent. Lakeview Elementary is at 46 percent; Mill Valley at 38 percent; and Bay Lane Middle/Country Meadows Elementary are at 38 percent.

These were among the key findings of the Facilities Study Team that made up of nearly 20 residents. The team made recommendations based on the huge architectural study.

The team rated each building component as excellent, good, fair or poor, Schroeder told the forum. Muskego and Tess Corners were both in the "poor" range.

"This was not a good assessment from the citizens group," Schroeder said.

The overall problems the two options aim at solving include space concerns.

"Classrooms are smaller than recommended for the number of kids," Schroeder said. There also is a lack of storage, so things are stored in classrooms.

The space crunch also means that Mill Valley serves lunch in the hallway, and its gym shuts down during lunch so that students can eat there.

Building security needs to be improved, Schroeder said. None of the elementary schools provide secure main entrances, he said, and school bus and car traffic patterns at the schools are limited.

Too close together

The elementary schools also are too close together.

"The district today wouldn't build four elementary schools within three miles of each other," he said.

To address these issues, the two plans call for building a school on district-owned land on North Cape Road where growth is expected; consolidating the five elementary schools into three; and renovating Mill Valley and any other school that will remain an elementary school. A new Lakeview School might also be built.

Option one, costing roughly $58 million, calls for Bay Lane Middle/Country Meadows Elementary being renovated to become entirely a middle school; building a new elementary school on North Cape Road; expanding Mill Valley; and either expanding Lakeview or razing it and building a new Lakeview on the site of Lake Denoon Middle School.

Option two, $65 million, calls for Bay Lane becoming entirely an elementary school serving 900 students; building a new middle school on North Cape; and the same two alternatives for Mill Valley and Lakeview as option one.

Five questions posed

To help school officials get a pulse of what the community wants, they are asking those at the forums to give input on five crucial questions.

Besides the general question on whether both plans should be dropped, another question asks people whether they think the new school on North Cape Road should be an elementary or a middle school.

A third question asks how people feel about closing the two schools.

Because one of the two main options proposes making Bay Lane an elementary school that would serve 900 students, making it twice as big as the largest elementary in the district, another question tries to get at how people feel about an elementary school that large.

A fifth question asks how people feel about the two Lakeview Elementary School alternatives. One is expanding and renovating the school and the other is razing it and building a new school on the site of Lake Denoon Middle School.

AT A GLANCE

Remaining facilities forums, all at 6 p.m.:

• Feb. 18 at Bay Lane Middle/Country Meadows Elementary, W16399 Hilltop Drive

• Feb. 23 at Mill Valley Elementary, S6445 Hillendale Drive