Green Bay Area Public School District building. (IMAGE: Courtesy of Fox 11 WLUK)
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The Green Bay Area Public School District has removed Washington Middle School from consideration for possible closure as it continues work to consolidate buildings amid declining enrollment and budget challenges.
In a press release, the district says “Upon further exploration, it was not possible to come up with a reasonable boundary solution that did not result in overcrowding at Edison Middle School.”
Washington was one of 12 buildings, including 11 schools, a community task force recommended closing last May.
A new task force considering boundary line changes has also been recently looking at the issue and will continue its work at a virtual meeting on Wednesday February 28. The district says the committee will be reviewing two conceptual boundary scenarios: changes to create a 4K-8th grade school at Franklin Middle School or an alternate option of making Franklin a 4K-6th grade school and a 7th-12th grade school at West High School.
The district says the task force will also provide input on boundary changes to create 4K-8th grade models at Langlade Elementary and McAuliffe Elementary, which were recommendations from the previous community task force. Washington Middle School will also be looked at for a 4K-8th grade model as an alternate option.
The alternate option for turning Washington Middle School into a 4K-8th grade model includes a consolidation with Howe Elementary, according to the district. The district says that is being considered because of potential impacts and safety concerns at Howe due to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s plan to reconstruct the Mason Street Bridge in 2032-33.
Based on the task force’s feedback, conceptual boundary scenarios will be revised and available March 12th-15th for community feedback, according to the district.
The district says, “There will be another opportunity in April/May for feedback on the final boundary scenarios, prior to the committee’s recommendations being presented to the Board of Education in June 2024.“
The school board has already approved the closures of Tank, Keller, and Wequiock Elementary Schools after this school year.
Of the other schools the first community task force recommended to close, the board has decided against the relocation of Leonardo da Vinci School for Gifted Learners and the district office building. That leaves six schools that were recommended to close without decisions made yet on their futures: Doty, Elmore, Beaumont, Kennedy, MacArthur, and Minoka Hill.
A $150 million referendum is being considered for November that would include building a new west-side elementary school to house students from Keller, Kennedy and MacArthur.
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