Fox Lake students face unnecessary burdens Last spring, thoughtful and practical suggestions to cut costs and keep Fox Lake and Alto elementary schools open were brought before the Waupun Area School District Board. They were dismissed without due deliberation. After the third referendum in four years was defeated, it was announced that both schools would be closed and all students transported to Waupun. And that is the source of the problem. It is documented that children as young as 5 years old are spending up to two hours on the school bus being transported from Fox Lake to Waupun. It is simply wrong to put these small children on the bus before 7 a.m. every weekday morning, rain or shine, for what to them is a very long ride. Would you want your 5-year-old on a bus for 10 hours a week? I doubt it. This treatment of our little ones is the last nail in the coffin. Never once during the time spent in meetings with the WASD board or other meetings with their representatives were they able to answer why so many Fox Lake kids opted out of the Waupun district. Many children had chosen to attend Randolph schools where they were made welcome. The list of reasons why our children shouldn’t attend Waupun schools is long. Children should learn to respect themselves. They should not be subjected to disparaging remarks made by staff and adults who should know better. Ask someone from Fox Lake who attended Waupun middle and high schools about their experience. We want what is best for our children and that is detachment from Waupun. Vote yes for detachment on Nov. 3. — Kathy Rydquist Town of Fox Lake Fox Lake joining RSD wise move for the future After some serious thought and research, I am a proponent of voting in favor of Fox Lake joining the Randolph School District. Through the past five years working to help establish and maintain the Wisconsin Agriculture Education and Workforce Development Council, I have been privy to a number of conversations regarding the demographics of Wisconsin’s population and its effect on small schools. It is more apparent than ever that the continued existence of some schools will come under closer scrutiny by the Legislature. It will become a matter of providing a good education with limited resources and not all schools can do that even now. Schools that are our current size will not exist in Wisconsin in the future — in perhaps as little as ten years or less. The Legislature struggles all the time with school funding and consolidating schools is a means for them to address the needs smaller districts. In short, there will be an increased emphasis on the consolidation issue. While I will be retired and not affected by a forced consolidation, it will be difficult to watch what will happen. Look at Pennsylvania and their state wide idea of county schools. The Randolph School District must position itself for the future, not the next three, four, or five years, but for the next generation. I urge a vote in favor of the addition of Fox Lake and then perhaps the establishment of a committee made up of representatives of the communities of Fox Lake, Randolph, Cambria, and Markesan to do some long-range planning on education. It is far better to be proactive now than reactive in the future when the Legislature tells us what to do. To be proactive, all districts need to review the demographics of their school populations and do what is best for the long term future. — Keith Gundlach Randolph