Schools

Swanson, Burleigh Join School Closure Debate

It's no longer just Hillside and Tonawanda schools being eyed for shutdown; board hopes to decide by November.

The Elmbrook School Board is widening its school closure study to include the possible closure of Swanson or Burleigh elementary schools, or the relocation of the district administrative offices into one of those larger elementary buildings.

A year ago, families at Hillside and Tonawanda Elementary schools packed meetings to oppose closing one or both of those schools due to declining enrollment, excessive building capacity and five-year deficits. The district's six elementary schools feed into two middle and two high schools.  

The Elmbrook School Board last winter deferred a decision on school closure for the 2011-12 school year and focused on other budget issues.

Find out what's happening in Brookfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

On Tuesday night, board members renewed those discussions.

"We still have more elementary capacity than we need and we still have a budget deficit to close," Superintendent Matt Gibson said.

Find out what's happening in Brookfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Board members agreed district officials should research these options for the 2012-13 school year:

  • Closing and redistricting Hillside: Projected savings of $650,000. 
  • Closing and redistricting Tonawanda: Projected savings of $650,000. 
  • Closing and redistricting Burleigh: Projected savings of $780,000.
  • Closing and redistricting Swanson: Projected savings of $780,000.
  • Making Wisconsin Hills Middle School an elementary school, Burleigh a middle school and having Pilgrim Park Middle School feed into Brookfield Central High, not East: Projected savings are yet unknown.
  • Relocating Elmbrook's central administrative offices to Burleigh: Projected savings are yet unknown.
  • Closing Hillside Elementary and relocating Elmbrook's administrative office to Burleigh's second floor: Projected savings of $650,000, plus savings from the relocation.

Gibson and others discussed whether closing one larger elementary was better than a smaller schools. Closing a small school such as Hillside or Tonawanda could end up not being enough, and in the future a second small school could be closed, again forcing a painful redistricting process.

On the other hand, some noted that keeping the larger schools and allowing the district administrative offices to move into Swanson or Burleigh would give the district flexibility in the future, should enrollments increase, to kick out the administrative offices and use the area again for school.

Closing Swanson or Burleigh would require sending some students to Wisconsin Hills Middle and others to Pilgrim Park Middle. 

Board member Jean Lambert said to help make a decision she wanted to know how redistricting would affect bus ride times and distances. She added she needed to know what the district would do with its closed school or schools — keep them or sell them.

Currently the six elementary schools have a total capacity for 25 sections per grade level. Closing part or all of a school could decrease capacity to 19 sections per grade level districtwide.

Burleigh Elementary School Principal Bil Zahn urged the board to consider the age and condition of the six schools, and future maintenance costs, when identifying which closures should occur.

Board member Kathryn Wilson said the board also needs to look at how redistricting could impact whether students go to Central or East high schools, which she said had very different cultures. Changing which high school a student will attend may become a flash point in family opposition, she noted.

"This becomes an emotional issue," board member Bob Ziegler said, adding that no one would be happy to hear a school might be closed. 

"It's a tough sell to sell long-term stability for short-term disruption," Ziegler said.

A man active in last year's effort to save Hillside e-mailed the board to urge members to first justify the need for any school closure. 

Marla Kalfayan, who helped lead the Save Tonawanda effort, told the board to be as transparent as possible with families and district staff. 

"They're (teachers) being hit with a lot of things right now," Kalfayan said, such as the elimination of most collective bargaining rights and an increase in health costs.

Board President Tom Gehl agreed with Gibson that a decision should be made by November to give the district time to implement redistricting, teacher and building changes.

District staff needs to research whether closing a school would prevent Elmbrook from adding a 4-year-old kindergarten program, should the board desire to do so.

Elmbrook would hold public hearings on the school closure options in September, with debate and action slated for October to adequately plan for fall 2012, Gibson said. But he and others acknowledged that timetable might be too short, given the complexity and public opposition.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here