GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Even before the coronavirus pandemic hit, the Green Bay Area Public School District was considering tough decisions with its west side schools.
Several were under capacity and remain that way now. It’s an issue that is projected to get worse.
As FOX 11 has reported, the school district is projecting about a 15% loss in enrollment over the next 10 years.
Based on enrollment, Green Bay’s Franklin Middle School is only using about 65% of its capacity. In 10 years, that number is projected to dip to 44%.
“I think once we get to the 50% mark, we should actually consider it,” said Thomas Vansistine, a Franklin parent when asked about the possibility of merging under capacity schools.
Green Bay Superintendent Stephen Murley says all options are on the table as the district is beginning to create a new facilities masterplan.
“The problem is when you lose kids, from an enrollment standpoint, you never lose whole classes of kids,” said Murley. “You lose a couple here and a couple there. Certainly, when that happens, having many smaller buildings creates some real inefficiencies in your system.”
Out of the district’s 34 traditional schools, 24 are expected to have room for 100 or more students in 10 years. That includes 8 of 11 west side elementary schools, both middle schools, and both high schools.
At the elementary level, Keller is projected to have the most room, hitting just 23% of its target capacity. Beaumont, Fort Howard, Lincoln, and Tank all fall at or below 60% capacity.
For middle schools, Franklin is projected to be at 44% capacity and Lombardi at 58%.
For high schools, West is expected to be at 50% capacity in 10 years. Southwest at 62%.
“That is a challenge for us because if we lose the students, which obviously generates the revenue for us as a district and we’re unable to lose the staff because these classrooms are still intact, albeit significantly smaller, we eventually wind up putting ourselves in a structural situation where it simply can’t support these kinds of classrooms,” said Murley.
That is why, despite all these schools well below capacity, the district isn’t ruling out the possibility of adding a Kindergarten through 8th grade school on the west side, similar to Red Smith on the city’s east side.
“We’ve had a lot of input that has come to us from the west side of town that has looked at the Red Smith model and inquired about whether a K-8 model might be a good fit for them,” said Murley. “Obviously if it is, that would potentially impact both the elementary and the middle school facilities that we have on the west side of town. So you might see addition and subtraction as we go through this process.”
FOX 11 asked Murley if there are existing buildings on the west side that would work well for a K-8 school.
“It’s tough to say I think the biggest challenge that you have there is actually having a large enough footprint to put a building like that in. If you’ve been out to the Red Smith site, you know that not only does the school itself and the adjacent parking and what not take up space but then they’ve got direct proximity to the park that is right next door. So, it gives them the appropriate green space for them for recess and PE and other activities like that.”
The district has looked at a K-8 model for the west side in the past. In 2009, FOX 11 reported the school board considered turning Franklin into a K-8 school, but a study showed it would cost too much.
“I think a K-8 school would be good once you get to that 50% mark, but on that same aspect, with the amount of bullying between the middle school and then you got the elementary schools, I think the elementary school kids would get more bullied if you were to integrate both of them together,” said Vansistine.
Right now, the district isn’t recommending a K-8 school for the west side. However, Murley tells FOX 11 it would be more cost-efficient and would offer students access to more educational offerings and additional pupil services, in comparison to a smaller elementary school.
Any decisions will be made as the district crafts its facilities masterplan. The district hopes to have that masterplan done by the end of next school year.
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