Sheboygan Area School District to propose new Urban Middle School rebuild plan after survey finds mixed views on moving school
SHEBOYGAN – Results of the Sheboygan Area School Districtcommunity-wide survey asking the public if they would support a $126 million referendum to rebuild two middle schools have been released.
The answer? It’s too close to call.
“In reviewing the survey data, we found strong support for pursuing a referendum to address our nearly 100-year-old middle schools,” said Jacob Konrath, soon-to-be SASD superintendent.
“The survey provided us with feedback that showed less support from both citizens and parents living in the Urban Middle School boundary,” Konrath said. “We look forward to addressing that feedback and discussing ways to ensure the support from the Urban boundary is similar to that of the rest of the district.”
Earlier this year, SASD announced plans for a referendum to rebuild both Urban and Farnsworth middle schools. The $140 million project was proposed by the district because the nearly century-old buildings need extensive repairs and upgrades.
Part of the rebuild plans included moving Urban Middle School from its current location beside North High School to a new lot about a mile away.
To gain community feedback, SASD has been conducting multiple public meetings over the last several months and sent out a survey to every home in the district.
Those survey results will be shared with the public during the June 25 Board of Education meeting. The meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. in the South High School auditorium and is open to the public. Attendees will be able to give their feedback and offer insight on the project.
To do so, attendees are asked that at the proper time, they raise their hand to be called on to speak. Then, they can stand and say their name, spell it, and give their address. After they speak, they will also be asked to sign their name and address on a clipboard.
All comments and suggestions must be kept under three minutes.
Committee meetings will begin at 6 p.m. June 25 and the entire meeting will be livestreamed on YouTube.
No action will be taken by the board during the meeting. On July 23, they will meet again to discuss next steps.
What were the results of the survey?
The results of the survey are available to the public in the agenda packet for the June 25 meeting. The agenda also includes some basic information about the project.
About 3,000 people responded to the survey, roughly 10% of the total number of recipients.
The majority of respondents were older than 35, had their primary residence in the district and were not district employees or parents. Additionally, 47% of respondents lived in the Urban Middle School boundary.
A large majority of respondents said they supported the district pursuing a referendum to address challenges of the schools — aging infrastructure, safety, small classrooms — but their answer for whether they’d support the referendum as it stood was less enthusiastic.
For staff residents, 74% of respondents said they probably or definitely would support the referendum and 64% of parents said they would probably or definitely support it.
However, only 49% of non-parent and non-staff respondents supported the $126 million referendum with 34% saying they would not.
With weighted calculations, that brings the support for the project to 52%.
Across all categories of respondents, people living within the Urban boundary showed the least amount of support for the referendum.
Related: What to know about the proposed Farnsworth Middle School rebuild in Sheboygan
Konrath said one concern the district had about the results of the survey and the project plans as they stood was that resident of the Horace Mann Middle School boundary, who will not be getting a new school, were more supportive of the project than those living in the Urban Middle School boundary.
Some of the themes of comments left by the public included safety and traffic concerns, location concerns and historical preservation.
Do these results change the district’s plans?
Because of the survey results, a new plan to keep Urban Middle School where it is now will be presented to the Board of Education June 25. Currently, SASD does not own the land by Mill Road, but has the right to purchase through July, Konrath said.
Keeping the school in the same location would help remedy public concerns about losing the historic façade of the building and moving it to the new location.
If completed as proposed, construction would be done in phases so classrooms and learning spaces could be used with no interruption in learning.
Keeping the location of the building versus moving it would not negatively impact the education amenities planned for Urban. For example, there would still be upgraded layout plans and increased natural light in classrooms.
If passed, this plan would also decrease the referendum amount from $126 million to about $120 million.
Have a story tip or public interest concern? Contact Sam Bailey at sgbailey@gannett.com or 573-256-9937. To stay up to date on her stories and other news, follow her on X (Twitter) @SamarahBailey.
This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Sheboygan Area School District has new Urban Middle School rebuild plan
