Antigo School Board proposes consolidation plan, encourages community feedback

By Craig Marx, Editor

The Unified School District of Antigo released a proposal on Tuesday stating plans to consolidate schools in the Antigo area for the sake of meeting its own professional and financial abilities.

The statement reads as such:

"Beginning in July 2016, the Unified School District of Antigo School Board began work to develop a facilities plan which would consolidate the District’s current facilities to better meet the educational needs of all students and the fiscal needs of the district. Before beginning the planning process, the board identified priorities which any proposed plan would need to meet in order to be considered. These agreed upon priorities would create the foundation for the Board to develop a plan that would:

• Have the ability to be accomplished without a facilities referendum
• Provide equal services (Special Education, reading support) at each elementary school
• Provide for multiple sections of each grade level at each elementary school
• Provide for equitable class sizes at each elementary school

Other areas taken into consideration included green space for outdoor classes and play, length of bus rides, scheduling of specials (physical education, art and music) and staffing. In order to meet the identified priorities, the Board has developed a plan which would:

• Move 8th grade students to Antigo High School, making the high school an 8th-12th grade building
• Move all 4th and 5th grade students to Antigo Middle School, making a 4th-7th grade intermediate building
• Move 4-year-old Kindergarten-3rd grade students to East, West, and North elementary schools, thereby creating three multi-section 4K-3rd grade schools"

The board is asking for community feedback on the proposal and is offering multiple input sessions throughout the remainder of February, including: Feb. 15 at the Antigo Middle School IMC (6-7:30 PM), Feb. 16 at Spring Valley Elementary (6-7:30 PM), Feb. 20 at Crestwood Elementary (6-7:30 PM), and Feb. 22 at Pleasant View Elementary (6-7:30 PM).

This proposal comes nearly one month after the school board voted down a proposed referendum for the creation of an autonomous Mattoon School District. More on that decision and story can be viewed here.