Referendum headed for a meeting with voters

Voters will decide the fate of Northern Ozaukee School District’s $14.95 million referendum on Tuesday, April 3.

According to the School District, the referendum is critical for improving its school facilities, which includes updates to classrooms, grounds, auditorium and cafeteria.  

“We’ve honed in on our biggest needs with those key areas,” Supt. David Karrels said. “This process has been two years in the making and there’s been a significant amount of time spent narrowing down what are the most important things that our district needs.”

The district has held several informational meetings leading up to the vote, which have had a strong turnout, Karrels said.

“The information has been very well received and we have had many great discussions with the taxpayers in the district. I think people have been appreciative of how transparent the information has been,” he said, noting there will be one more meeting before the vote at 8:30 a.m. Friday, March 23, at the Fredonia Family Restaurant. 

“The goal has been to make sure everyone is well informed and the information is shared. I’m open to meet with people up to the election to provide any answers or clarifications to their questions.”

If the referendum passes, Karrels said the School District will begin a bidding process with local contractors for certain parts of the project to start this summer.

“The major portion of our referendum is looking at existing classrooms and maintenance,” he said. “We look to start that portion immediately after the passage of the referendum as early as this summer.”  

According to Karrels, the district sees a growing need to educate students in areas of construction and manufacturing because of a growing demand for jobs in those fields. Updates to the classrooms would include new technology and remodeling technical educational spaces. Science and chemistry labs would also be renovated to support hands-on learning opportunities.

Some of the district’s infrastructure is from the original construction that occurred more than 50 years ago, which has resulted in costly repairs to sustain the school’s maintenance. Plans include replacing leaking roof sections and the heating and ventilation equipment. 

Upgrades would be made to the electrical-service system, which include panels, lighting and the emergency generator.

Other infrastructure improvements involve replacing the clock and intercom system, abating and replacing asbestos floor tiles, repairing exterior masonry and improving the building security system.

Student pick-up and drop-off is also addressed in the referendum to allow for better traffic flow. Currently, buses park behind the school, which requires a one-way-traffic pattern. Karrels said the plan is to create more parking spaces and to separate pedestrian and vehicle traffic.

“For every portion of this referendum, we’ve involved experts in each of the fields to make sure we’re making wise decisions. We’ve already started with the safety and traffic portions,” Karrels said. “As that moves along, we’ll involve the experts even further to see what makes the most sense with the traffic patterns for buses and students who are walking.”

Based on feedback from a community survey, improvements to the athletic field and gym will not be part of the referendum, but work would be done for draining the field and resurfacing the track.  

The cafeteria and auditorium currently share the same space, which is too small to meet the needs of the student population. Due to space limitation, lunch is served during multiple periods, which has created scheduling conflicts. 

The referendum will allow the district to create a new cafeteria that will have designated areas for different grade levels. The space would also be used for large group instruction and community events.

Karrels said construction for the cafeteria would occur when school is out so students’ safety and lunchtime wouldn’t be impacted by the work.

“The remodeling of that area would all take place in the summer of 2019. That way we can do the construction in a safe manner when the students aren’t in school,” he said. “The cafeteria and auditorium work go hand-in-hand because that’s our existing cafeteria-auditorium space.” 

The auditorium would be renovated to allow more space for students to practice and rehearse for performances. Plans also include adding permanent seating and updating the lighting and sound system. A gallery would be added to showcase student artwork.

The estimated property tax increase to support the school projects has a mill rate of 37 cents, which means the owner of a $200,000 home would pay an additional $74 in taxes annually.

If the referendum is passed, the district would issue two phases of bonds to pay for the projects and the borrowing would be paid off over a 20-year period. 

“The School Board, staff and I are proud of the way the information has gone out, and the fact that we really wanted to make it a priority so that everyone was informed in our community in an honest and transparent way,” Karrels said. “We’ve gotten a lot of feedback from people telling us that they appreciate the information that is out there, so they can make a well informed decision on April 3.”