GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – The Green Bay Area Public School District hoped to gain taxpayer support and feedback as it held its first of four community engagement sessions Tuesday evening.
The district is in the process of developing a new master plan for its facilities.
District leaders outlined what they are trying to accomplish during the Tuesday session at West High School.
Andrew Sarnow, the chief financial officer for the district.
A main goal of developing a master plan is trying to balance the school’s growing enrollment. Since the 2006-2007 school year, district enrollment has grown 11.8 percent.
One of the things shared is the imbalance of enrollment and facility space within the district.
The east side of the city is filled with schools currently above capacity. Preble High and Edison Middle Schools are above, as well as five elementary schools: Baird, Danz, Sullivan, Eisenhower, and Jackson (west side).
There are also a number of schools under capacity, most being on the west side, including West and Southwest High Schools, Franklin and Lombardi Middle Schools, and a handful of elementary schools: Kennedy, Keller, Tank, Wequiock (east side) and Doty (east side).
Andrew Sarnow is the chief financial officer for the district.
“We are exploring what solutions might happen, which could be additions. We do own some land where we could potentially build some schools, so we really do need to look at everything.”
A failed 2007 referendum asked taxpayers to help fund a new high school on the city’s far east side.
District leaders say another referendum is a possibility, but they’ve said it’s too early to say what a referendum could entail.
The district hopes to gather more info and present a plan to the school board in either December or January.
Preble High School will host the next community session on Thursday at 6:30. Southwest will host on September 20th at 6:30 and East High School will hold the final session at 6:30 on September 26th.
