Garfield Elementary School in Marinette on August 20, 2019. PC: Fox 11 Online
MARINETTE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The first step has been filed towards a possible lawsuit against the Marinette School District for refusing to sell an empty elementary school building to a Catholic school.
Marinette Schools closed Garfield Elementary at the end of the 2021-22 school year as part of a right-sizing effort. It has listed the building for sale for about $300,000, but declined a purchase offer from St. Thomas Aquinas Academy, saying it’s not in taxpayers’ best interest to sell the building to the competition.
The building is located at 1615 Carney Blvd.
This week, three district residents – two of whom are members of the STAA board of trustees – filed a notice of claim with the school district. That notice is the first step towards a possible lawsuit. The conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty is assisting Cheryl Sporie, Frank Staggs, and Fred Gard with the claim.
“Here, the District has no authority to hold onto the empty Garfield Property indefinitely. It does not currently use the Garfield Property for educational purposes, and has no intention of doing so in the future. That is why the District has listed the Garfield Property for sale. While the District certainly may determine the price for which it will sell the building and is entitled to a reasonable time to locate a buyer and consummate the sale, that authority is incidental to and limited by the authority granted by 120.10(6). It is one thing to dispose of property acquired for a permissible purpose. It is quite another to hold property in order to frustrate the ability of district residents to privately educate their children and to avoid competition,” the claim states.
The claim also cites problems at the empty building.
We note in addition that during the last two years that the building has been vacant that there were 25 separate instances where the police were called relating to incidents at the vacant building including trespass and vandalism. By refusing to sell the property and continuing to leave it vacant, the District is creating a public nuisance and exposing taxpayers to additional harm and expense due to the potential for serious property damage caused by one or more of these past incidents and future similar incidents,” it states.
In February, Supt. Corry Lambie said it was in the district’s best interest not to sell to STAA due the potential loss of state aid for each student.
“We’re a district right now that has a declining enrollment,” said Lambie. “If it was owned by another entity that provides these similar services, more dollars could go to that entity, which then has an adverse impact on our taxpayers. Let’s use simple numbers, if $10,000 follows a student there, if you help me with my math – that’s 30 students,” said Lambie. “So, over the course of a few years, if it draws 30 students away from our district, there’s your $300,000 that we got for the sale.”
The school board could review the notice of claim at its July 16 meeting.
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