Oct. 17, 2023 10:30p
(WGTD)---A consultant hired by Kenosha Unified to study downsizing is laying out all of the angles at a series of public meetings being held this week.
The first occurred Tuesday at Harvey Elementary on the city’s north side. About 75 people attended. While attendees may have left with some ideas on what schools might be on the chopping block, officials aren’t speculating on the final recommendations of the district’s right-sizing committee. Those recommendations will eventually be acted on by the school board.
Officials are taking into account a variety of factors, including a building’s age, physical condition and capacity, along with growth trends in each school’s boundary area. The committee is also expected to take a look at combining an elementary and middle school.
Megan Ernst has a 1st grader at Harvey and sat through Tuesday's meeting at the school. She left, not happy. "There are schools in lower-income communities where that school is a child's safe place," she told a reporter afterward. "So you're going to take that essentially away from them. How are they going to feel when the school district doesn't even have their back?"
Nick Antef has three kids, the oldest of which currently attends Stocker Elementary. Antef had been looking for more concrete information. "Definitely more questions than answers. I'm just concerned about the student/teacher ratio," he said.
Two more meetings will be held Wednesday: A session at Tremper will begin at four, and the final meeting in this set will be hosted by Reuther beginning at 6:30.
The full school board is expected to make some final decisions before the end of the year.
Enrollment in Kenosha Unified is expected to decrease by some 3,000 students over the next ten years, on top of a 4,000-student drop that occurred over the past 13 years.
KUSD Superintendent Jeff Weiss said the overarching goal is to preserve high-quality instruction and programs while trimming costs by closing or consolidating schools. The district--and many others around the state--are in a budget crunch due to sagging enrollment brought on by a lower birth rate. State aid is partially based on enrollment.
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