GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Another Green Bay elementary school may send its students elsewhere as the district tries to solve capacity issues.
Keller Elementary School, on Bond Street, could be the next to close in Green Bay. It’s just four months after the school board voted to close Jefferson Elementary.
Initial talks on Keller will take place at two special board meetings at the end of the month, on February 26th and 27th. The future of the district’s two charter schools is also expected to be discussed.
“I don’t think any of us are going in with concrete plans of what we’d like to see happen,” said Brenda Warren, president of the school board.
Keller has a capacity for 440 students. The district says it serves about 300 right now, including west side Head Start students. The Head Start students move to the former Jefferson Elementary School next year, likely leaving Keller more than half empty.
“I think families and teachers and principals and our staff, they can get on board with decisions that they may not necessarily agree with, as long as they can be a part of the process and understand why decisions are made,” said Kristina Shelton, a school board member.
Shelton says she learned a lot when the board voted to move Jefferson students to Fort Howard Elementary for next school year. With Keller, she hopes to get interested stakeholders involved earlier and more often.
“I think for a lot of our community members with the Jefferson transition, they felt it was a very top-down approach,” said Shelton. “Many people reported back they felt like the decision had already been made.”
At the upcoming meets, the board also expects to talk about John Dewey Academy of Learning and N.E.W. Innovation. Both charter schools rent their shared building on Cherry Street for $334,729 a year, according to a district spokesperson.
“I would say everything is on the table so to speak and we’ll make sure we talk about lots of different options so hopefully through that conversation some of the best ideas will bubble up,” said Warren.
No final decisions are expected to be made at the two upcoming meetings.
2,349 people responded to a district facilities survey last spring. 69 percent agreed with repurposing west side schools, knowing many are running under capacity.
