GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Administrators for Green Bay’s public school district revealed a hefty price tag Monday night for relocating district office operations.
It’s something the public heavily supported in a survey earlier this year as the district grapples with declining enrollment, a budget deficit that once stood north of $30 million, and aging facilities.
Claude Tiller, the district’s superintendent, hopes that stance will change with a more complete picture of the situation.
$20 to $26 million. That’s how much administrators for Green Bay’s public schools say it would likely cost to move district office operations out of its current home on Broadway to West High School.
“We’d need to put in a new entrance because you’d need a student entrance and you’d need a district office entrance,” said Josh Patchak, the chief operating officer for the district. “It would need its own elevator.”
Moving the operations to West was the only estimate given to the school board. It has been discussed over the last several months as the school is currently operating 500 students below capacity.
“Our team just wants to serve children,” said Tiller. “We don’t care where we are.”
The current district office building, often referred to as DOB, is 95-years-old. It houses 237.28 full-time equivalent employees. 65% of them work primarily in the building, while the rest work primarily in schools, according to district officials.
“I’d still like to see this building or most of this building be sold someday, but maybe it’s a phased transition as we see what’s happening with other buildings, right?” said Andrew Becker, a school board member.
District officials say the building needs $2.8 million in work over the next 10 years, which contradicts an $8.6 million estimate given by a district-hired consultant in 2022.
The annual utilities are about $147,000 and district officials say appraisers gave the building a retail value of $2.92 million. Compare that to the $20 to $26 million estimate district officials give for re-locating and it’s an open and shut discussion for some school board members.
“It’s not the Taj Mahal, it’s not fancy offices,” said Lynn Gerlach, a school board member. “It’s a school. It was built to be a school. I just don’t understand why people think there’s going to be an advantage to closing this building.”
Earlier this year, a community taskforce recommended closing DOB. A survey of about 3,700 residents found 78 percent support for relocating operations.
“A part of this is people just didn’t know what we did,” said Tiller. “They think we’re sitting up here and we are having bonbons and having chips all day long and not doing any work.”
“I do think we have to have creative solutions in changing the perception of the district, maybe the culture of the district,” said Laura Laitinen-Warren, a school board member.
The board didn’t come to a conclusion on what kind of vote should be entertained on the issue. The discussion will continue at the board’s next meeting in two weeks.
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