Wausau School Board Holds Education and Operations Committee Meeting

Tuesday, February 28th, 2023 -- 8:00 AM

(Mike Leischner, WSAU) The Wausau School Board held an education and operations committee meeting on Monday, their first gathering since a vote to restructure the district earlier this month.

According to Mike Leischner with WSAU, Superintendent Keith Hilts says just because they've taken the leap, doesn't mean the work is over. Several tasks need to come together, and some still need to be assigned to a workgroup.

"What work needs to be first, second, third? What work is dependent on the work of another team? So, really just trying to flesh out the work of each of these planning teams."

He says one part of the plan that they are still working on is how the elementary schools will be restructured. "Which elementary schools might be merged? Which elementary schools might be repurposed for charter schools? Which elementary schools might be repurposed for early learning centers? So, there's a lot of work to do in that area."

He says he knows there are many who think they made the decision too quickly, but he thinks that's common with big decisions like this. "We said here are the changes we've purposed; here's why we're proposing them; here are the outcomes; here are the risks; here are the costs. Board, are you comfortable with that? And when they say yes, now we engage the staff and community and, really, that deep planning."

He says his team is working to schedule public meetings about the issue at least once per quarter to provide updates for the community on what work is going on, meetings that board members hope will be held in various locations and times to help everyone participate. "But it's always nice to be able to sit down and have a face-to-face conversation with people, so that's really what we're offering."

The district has about twenty planning teams that will work over the next few months to outline what needs to be done to make the change happen- there's still no timeline for when the changes will be implemented, or if they will be implemented at once or phased in over a period of three to five years.

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