Hank Snyder
WAUPUN -- First-time voter Caleb Giebink, 18, came out early Tuesday morning to cast his ballot on the Waupun Area School District referendum as to whether Fox Lake should break away from the WASD and join the Randolph school district. "I voted no," said the senior who is home schooled.
WAUPUN—Other than an overwhelming yes coming from those seeking the detachment, voters in the Waupun Area School District denied the referendum for the detachment of the town and city of Fox Lake from the school district.
District-wide, the vote tallied 1,176 for and 1,736 against.
“Fewer people voted for the detachment than signed the petition,” said Randy Refsland, district administrator.
The referendum Tuesday was the final step in the process for about 28 percent of WASD to detach from the district and attach to Randolph School District. Although RSD passed the referendum with votes of 393 to 240, the detachment is denied because of Waupun’s negative response.
Randolph School administrator Greg Peyer said his district was ready to take on the work if the referendum had passed. Randolph has had some space issues at the elementary level and it is possible that some voters saw adding Fox Lake as an opportunity to gain not just students, but also another building. Fox Lake Elementary School was closed last year and likely would have been part of any asset transfer had the referendum succeeded.
Peyer said the district will continue to take steps to resolve its space shortages.
“There are ups and downs in this situation,” Ann Kraintz, school board member, said. “I understand that the taxes would be lower [if they detached], but keeping them here would mean more money and better programs for all of the kids in the district.”
“From what I was hearing in the community, I would have expected a strong ‘yes’ vote,” Lori Lemmenes, school board president, said. “I heard a lot of people who were ready to cut Fox Lake loose.”
An attempt to reach a member of Concerned Area Residents, the group that filed the petition leading to the referendum, was not successful Tuesday night. The group had launched the petition in response to the Waupun School Board closing the Fox Lake Elementary School as part of budget cuts that also closed two other schools.
Bill Zeininger, business administrator, thought the results would have been closer than they were because the tax rate would decrease if Fox Lake detached.
He compared this election, where the referendum was the only item on the ballot, to the last referendum, and the number of voters was 800 fewer in the district.
“I’m very pleased that we had close to 3,000 voters turn out for an election that this was the only thing on the ballot,” Refsland said. “I appreciate that they came out to vote, no matter how they voted.”
The failed referendum allows WASD to move forward with long-term and short-term planning that was put on hold until the referendum results.
“I think the message was sent by the entire group of voters in the district to put the long-term interest of the districts ahead of smaller groups in the district,” Refsland said. “They looked at the big picture and responded in a way that was appropriate for what was needed long-range.”
Refsland said that if the referendum had passed, the district would be struggling financially in five to 10 years.
“All indications are that the Waupun budget would be in a more difficult shape if the town and city of Fox Lake detached from Waupun. I think it’s a good thing that it did not go through for the students of our district,” Zeininger said. “We would be facing more trouble with the revenue limits with Fox Lake removed from our district.”
“This shows that it was more than about taxes in Waupun,” Kraintz said. “It was about what was best for the district as a whole. We need to stop dwelling on the past problems and focus on a better future for our students.”
“I hope the Fox Lake people accept this and move forward,” Lemmenes said. “I feel we have more important things to do than argue about a facility. I think what we’ve done [with the consolidation] is what’s best for the kids, having them all educated on a level playing field.”