WAUPUN — The petition for the city and township of Fox Lake to detach from the Waupun Area School District was delivered by Concerned Area Residents for Education representatives Kim Derleth and Tim Meekma to district administrator Randy Refsland on Thursday.

The petition was prompted by a Waupun School Board decision to close three schools, including the one in Fox Lake, following a failed referendum.

The petition was circulated throughout the Fox Lake area in May and was verified by the CARE lawyer earlier this month. It contained 1,034 signatures        of the 1,623 possible registered  voters.

"The response was pretty overwhelming," Derleth said. "75 percent of the city signed in favor."

The WASD school board has until Aug. 1 to make a decision to accept or deny the petition. If it's denied, or if the district does not respond, CARE representatives will request a referendum by circulating another petition, this time requiring only 10 percent of the city and township in agreement. The referendum will involve both the school district the area wishes to detach from as well as the school district they wish to attach to.

Neighboring school districts are Beaver Dam, Markesan, Randolph and Rosendale-Brandon.

"This could play out quickly or it could take all of the next school year," Refsland said. "We're not going to do business differently. This is just a sideshow and it will have no bearing on how we teach the children next year."

Refsland said the school board will verify that all of the names on the petition are legal, registered voters and that the petition meets the 51 percent requirement.

"I think the school board will respond to this, but not until the second meeting in July at the earliest," Refsland said.

The school board meets on July 6 for its regular work session meeting and July 20 for the business meeting where it takes action on all agenda items.

Refsland said the district has done some preliminary work on the impact to the district if the city and township of Fox Lake leaves the district. In-depth research will now be done to allow the school board the best information before they make a decision.