District responds to critics

By Anna Krejci and Andy Steinke, Dells Events

wde-news@capitalnewspapers.com

Wisconsin Dells School District Administrator Chuck Whitsell answered residents’ questions about the proposed $2.3 million addition to Spring Hill School at meetings this week at Neenah Creek, Spring Hill and Lake Delton schools and responded to comments from critics that were in the Events’ letters to the editor.

On Nov. 3, residents in the district will be asked to vote on whether the district can borrow $2.3 million to build an eight-classroom, two-level addition to Spring Hill School.

The district is seeking the addition to house 4-year-old kindergarten students and other lower-level elementary grade students. Whitsell said the addition will make it possible for the district to continue in the Wisconsin Student Achievement Guarantee in Education, or SAGE, program that gives financial support to school districts that maintain class sizes of 15 or fewer students in kindergarten through third grade. The Wisconsin Dells School District received about $560,000 last year from SAGE. The money is distributed based on the number of students in a district eligible for financial aid on school meals. The money supports the employment of 10 to 11 teachers, he said.

If approved by voters, the addition would be constructed in the spring and ready for students by next school year. Whitsell said the project will be bid and could possibly cost the district less than $2.3 million.

When Whitsell spoke at Neenah Creek Elementary School Tuesday, parent and Briggsville resident Susie Maier asked whether Neenah Creek School would be closed because of the addition at Spring Hill School.

Whitsell said the district will need all of its classroom space to continue in SAGE. He said the school could one day decide not to participate in SAGE when a new school board is elected and that could impact whether Neenah Creek Elementary School continues to exist.

Now, the district receives almost as much SAGE aid as it does state aid. Whitsell said in two years the district’s SAGE aid will exceed its other state aid, which will be $787,000 this year.

After the meeting, Maier said she was undecided about how she would vote Nov. 3 but that she thought the potential savings for the district were appealing.

Whitsell said the school could save an estimated $345,000 in interest if the referendum is passed, and the district receives the Qualified School Construction Bonds. He also hopes construction costs will be less in the recession.

Some residents have challenged the district’s plans in letters to the editor. One charge is that the district implemented 4-year-old kindergarten, new this year, with misleading information.

Whitsell said the board knew state grants for 4-year-old kindergarten might not be available, but parents who were surveyed indicated they wanted the programs.

“Yes, it (4-year-old kindergarten) is an expenditure of money, but that’s not why we’re here talking about a referendum. We’re here because we want to keep ourselves in the SAGE program,” Whitsell said during an meeting at Spring Hill Elementary School on Wednesday.

At the same meeting, he said the district knows it will have to pay for an additional custodian and two more teachers as costs associated with the construction.

Whitsell also said the district has been up front about its finances.

“We had a revenue limit referendum several years ago. When we sent out our second referendum brochure about that we clearly stated quite publicly that the funding system we have in Wisconsin does not adequately support schools and that the referendum — thank goodness that the voters approved it — but that referendum was only going to be a short-term solution,” he said.

Whitsell said the school board will likely have to discuss another referendum to exceed revenue limits.

“I don’t think we will have a referendum to exceed revenue limits next spring,” he said during a meeting at Lake Delton School Thursday night, “but in future years, probably.”

A letter suggested that the district could save space by doing away with its early childhood education program for 3-year-olds, but Whitsell said the programs for disabled 3- 4- and 5-year-olds is required by the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Portable classrooms have been suggested, but Whitsell said he didn’t like the concept, and said portable classrooms are better in warmer climates.

“Once you bring them in, first of all they take up quite a lot of space. Once you bring them in, they become the permanent solution, and you pay $150,000 for a portable classroom. They’re not going away anytime soon,” he said.

He also said he would support the SAGE program being changed to allow more than 15 students in a classroom, which was another suggestion given from a letter writer.

As for the writer who suggested putting 30 students in a classroom with two teachers, Whitsell said that isn’t legal under SAGE, and school districts who attempted to do that have been kicked out of the program.

Whitsell addressed another letter suggesting the 4-year-old kindergarten program, currently being housed at St. Cecilia Education Center, is understaffed. He said the students don’t have a principal or a secretary in the building, but the class sizes are smaller than in other districts.

One writer suggested the district’s 4-year-old kindergarten was putting day care centers out of business.

Whitsell said a shortage of day care exists in the city of the Dells, but the situation isn’t as bad in Lake Delton where Sunshine Playhouse Child Care Center is. He added that he hasn’t heard from any day care centers saying the district is putting them out of business.

At Thursday night’s meeting, Whitsell asked himself the question, “So if we need two rooms, why are we proposing eight classrooms?”

He said two of the rooms will be used for 4-year-old kindergarten, two will be used for extra first and third grade rooms needed next year to comply with SAGE, two would be used for middle school students currently using elementary school rooms, and two would replace small rooms being used now.

School board Vice President Bob McClyman, who was at Thursday night’s meeting, said the eight classroom wing was in the plans for the original Spring Hill built in the early 1990s, but it was cut off to save $1 million. The wing’s price will now be more than twice that amount, even in a builder-friendly economy, he said.

Whitsell expects the Nov. 3 vote to be a tough one.

“I think it will be incumbent upon us to get the people in favor of this to come to the ballot box,” he said. “If the referendum doesn’t pass I’ll do everything to maintain SAGE. But it will be tough.”