Green Bay School Board moves ahead with closing Wequiock, explores other closures

Aug 24, 2023

GREEN BAY ― Less than a month after the Green Bay School District's Facilities Task Force made its recommendations to the School Board, members voted to move forward with planning to close schools and examine how equitable the recommendations are.

No modifications were made to the plan to shutter 11 schools and reshuffle student populations at over 20 district buildings. The board recommended the district move forward with planning the closure of Wequiock Elementary.

The board did not have a public comment period, moving directly into its action items of approving staffing, awarding the bid for Southwest High's stadium entrance project and voting on the facilities task force recommendations.

More:Green Bay School Board could vote on school closures plan Monday. Critics demand board votes no.

More:Even if your child's school doesn't close, Green Bay kids might have to switch. Here are 7 graphs showing where kids would go.

A police officer and another security person guarded the door to the meeting room. About 25 community members attended the meeting. Many wore white shirts, standing in solidarity with each other over their community's school being recommended to close.

Vice President James Lyerly introduced four resolutions about the school closure plans. Here's a breakdown of the board's votes:

The board unanimously voted for the district to move forward with planning a 2024 capital referendum that would include the following projects:

The district will prepare a project list to share with the board by Nov. 11.

The board unanimously voted for the district to hire a third-party firm to do an equity assessment of turning Franklin, McAuliffe and Langlade schools into K-8s and the subsequent movement of students to different schools.

Transforming those three schools to K-8s would impact eight schools: Beaumont, Doty, Elmore, Franklin, Langlade, Leonardo da Vinci, McAuliffe, Washington and Webster. The district will also develop a transition plan for students who would be impacted by any changes.

The district is tasked with proposing alternative sites for a K-8 such as Webster Elementary or Washington Middle and potential sites that could be repurposed for a school for students with disabilities.

The board authorized the formation of a boundary task force "representative of the impacted communities" to evaluate the equity study and potentially change task force recommendations.

The study and boundary task force should ensure:

Six board members, excluding board member Andrew Becker, voted for the district to move forward with planning Wequiock's closure. Some parents from Wequiock left the board room crying, after the vote.

The board directed the district to explore moving Wequiock's environmental program to Red Smith K-8, which is where all of Wequiock's students are proposed to move. Part of the planning includes working with the city of Green Bay so students can access to the park adjacent to the school for the environmental program.

The district will present its plan to move Wequiock Elementary 3994 Wequiock Road, to Red Smith K-8, 2765 Sussex Road, by Nov. 1.

The final resolution was for the district to plan the closure of Tank Elementary, 814 S. Oakland Ave., moving students to Fort Howard, 520 Dousman St.

But board members voted to table the vote until the June 26 board meeting.

Leah Weakley, a parent of a Wequiock student, said she was frustrated and that the process to close her child's school was not fair. No other school was voted to proceed with closing plans, except Wequiock.

The board voted for further exploration and a task force to examine the equity of closing other schools.

"This whole thing was pushed back to be more equitable and make decisions that were fair, and I feel like Wequiock was the only school that was slated to close tonight without getting a (boundary) task force recommendation," Weakley said.

Weakley said she wishes she had more time to find a potential solution.

"I just wish that they would pause, go back. Let us have a voice," she said.

Dr. Yolo Diaz, a Green Bay pediatrician and a member of the Northeast Wisconsin Latino Education Task Force, said the meeting was "terrible."

"Absolutely ridiculous. They were not prepared. They did not know what they were doing," she said.

She liked the proposals that Lyerly came with and felt like the equity study and a boundary task force are a win for the Latino community. NEWLET ― a grassroots, volunteer community group ― has been asking the district and board to not close Washington Middle School and take a closer look at the demographics of the schools recommended to close.

The district is facing a $20 million budget deficit in the 2024-25 school year. With enrollment declining since 2016, inflation and a lack of state funding, the Green Bay School District says some schools need to close to reduce its operating budget.

If the district doesn't close schools, it will have to look to staffing and programming. Staff pay and benefits make up 85% of the district's expenses. At Monday's meeting, the board approved the retirements and resignations of 25 staff members.

Interim Superintendent Vicki Bayer sent the board a memo outlining other spending areas the board could consider:

The board has until January to make decisions to address the deficit, according to Bayer's memo.

Board members spent a portion of the meeting talking about whether to move the John Dewey Academy of Learning, JDAL, to West High School, as outlined in the recommendations. Becker said he doesn't want to move JDAL into West, but would rather keep it as its own independent school.

Board member Laura Laitinen-Warren said that logic could be argued to keep Leonardo da Vinci and Wequiock's special programs open at their schools, which are both slated to close. Leonardo da Vinci's gifted program would move to Webster, but Wequiock's environmental program would be absorbed into Red Smith K-8.

Board member Bryan Milz supports keeping JDAL in a similar setting as it is now.

Becker proposed that the board formally direct the district to close the downtown District Office Building. Lyerly cautioned voting solely on closing the district headquarters without having a concrete idea of where it would go.

But all board members agreed that the district's headquarters would close.

Board member Nancy Welch proposed a resolution to direct the district's new superintendent, Claude Tiller, once he starts in July, to examine the district's administration to downsize.

Bayer said the district is working on hiring a third-party group to analyze the district's administration staffing compared to other districts of Green Bay's size.

Lynn Gerlach, the newest board member, said after less than two hours of discussion, that she was ready to go home.

"Let's go home," she said, before the board had voted on anything.

Milz said the board knows it can improve on how task forces are made in the future. Making connections with community members in a time of crisis isn't the best method, he said.

Board President Laura McCoy said the task force needs to be a larger representation of the district.

Becker suggested the board approves the members of the boundary task force, instead of the district recruiting and creating the group without final approval. He also suggested that there be an easy way for community members to volunteer to take part.

Danielle DuClos is a Report for America corps member who covers K-12 education for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at [email protected]. Follow on Twitter @danielle_duclos. You can directly support her work with a tax-deductible donation at GreenBayPressGazette.com/RFA or by check made out to The GroundTruth Project with subject line Report for America Green Bay Press Gazette Campaign. Address: The GroundTruth Project, Lockbox Services, 9450 SW Gemini Drive, PMB 46837, Beaverton, Oregon 97008-7105.