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Arrowhead is looking to survey possible options for the April referendum

Online Niel November 15, 2024

The Arrowhead School Board is considering polling the community on a potential referendum in the spring of 2025 after a proposed $261.2 million facilities referendum failed earlier this month.

On Nov. 5, voters approved a $7.6 million operational referendum but rejected a $261.2 million facilities referendum that would have built a new school to replace the district’s two campuses.

Board member Brandon Miller told the board on Nov. 13 that the finance and legislation committee on Nov. 11 agreed that the district should proceed with another referendum question in April 2025. He said that while the commission did not agree on a dollar amount or a strategy, commission members discussed two options. One would be a smaller amount that would maintain the two existing buildings. The second, for a larger sum, would consolidate the school under one roof.

“We ended the meeting with, I would say, pretty good agreement that we want to go back to the community to survey them as to where their appetite might be between the two options,” Miller said at the Nov. 13 meeting .

“Now we’re at a point where we have to discuss what the two poll numbers are. So basically, that’s where we left it,” Miller said.

Minutes from the committee meeting indicated that Eppstein Uhen Architects and VJS Construction Services would be asked to review the cost scenarios.

District Superintendent Conrad Farner said at the Nov. 13 meeting that the deadline for the board to place a referendum question on the April 2025 ballot is Jan. 21, 2025. If the board doesn’t miss the deadline, the next opportunity to go in the referendum it would be… until April 2026.

“So this brings the picture back – I don’t know if crossroads is the right term – but you get the analogy. The conversation you’re going to have to have is do you continue to maintain and invest in two buildings, or is there a way to get it under one roof, because most of the community actually told us they support it, but I have to tell you figure out what the threshold is for that,” Farner said.

According to a community survey district led earlier this year, a majority of respondents — 67 percent of parents, 67 percent of staff and 47 percent of nonparents — said they preferred consolidating school operations under one roof.

“So at this point, after a week, we know tensions are still high. People are still cruel. It’s an emotional reaction. We would say give us a couple of weeks,” Farner said. “As a management team, we would like to continue to look at options. Keep asking questions. Work with the board of directors. Look at the purpose of a consolidation and see if there is any way we can come up with a plan that could go over a roof at a number that the community could support.

“We need time to do this. We don’t have much time because you saw that timeline. You have to get a resolution by January.”

Farner said the administration would like to return to the board in December, before the district’s winter break, to discuss options.

Participants provide the district with suggestions on how to move forward

Several residents at the Nov. 13 meeting gave the board suggestions on how they would like to see things progress.

Melina Sebastian said she voted against the referendum. She said the council should listen to community members who are willing to donate materials or their time to make repairs.

“We would appreciate it as a council — and you were elected by us — that you would put more into the district asking, ‘hey, who in the area wants to help with this,’ because there are people here that would be nice. at,” said Sebastian.

Jane Owen said the council needed to look at needs versus wants. She provided numerous suggestions to the board, including, among other things, requesting a new request for proposal for small facility projects; removal of some administrators; increasing parking, sports and club fees; and cutting duplication areas.

“We just need a welcome center, a library, a music room if you rearrange your classrooms properly, a technical education classroom,” Owen said.

Benjamin Sobczak said the council should be more involved in lobbying in Madison, making the district’s voice heard and getting local political representatives to support their concerns.

“I think the local representatives should really see the power of this, that Arrowhead is that beacon and that we need to power the beacon. We need help. I hope the representatives can step up and help us more because I really care a lot. about Arrowhead and we want to be successful,” Sobczak said.

John Marek said he has more than 20 public records requests pending; information in those records could affect taxpayer opinion on any future referendum. He suggested delaying any action on a referendum until those records requests can be completed “because, frankly, I don’t think you have all the information.”

Keith Eineke said he voted against the Nov. 5 referendum and opposed the council putting the referendum on the November ballot in July. He said the council did not listen to the results of its own survey.

According to the community surveyonly 43.2% of respondents said they would definitely or probably support the facilities referendum.

In July, board members Kim Schubert, Darrell Beneker, Anne Angeli, Lindsey Wood, Brandon Miller and Tim Evers voted to put the $261.2 million facilities referendum question on the November ballot, while board members Chris Farris, Amy Hemmer and Tim Langer voted against it.

“I think the board really needs to understand what the voters here are going to approve, and yes, it’s nice to have a brand new school, but who’s tearing down their house after 50 years? Who is tearing down their house. after 70 years. They budget for roof repairs, for siding repairs, for all rebuilds.

“So I hope this board has learned something. I applaud the board members who voted against it at that time, but the board members who voted for it – I think you need to take a hard look at what you’ve done. You’ve lost a lot of the trust of the voters of this district and I don’t know if you’re going to get anything passed and I hope you don’t reveal anything in April,” Eineke said.

Contact Alec Johnson at (262) 875-9469 or [email protected]. Follow him on X (Twitter) at @AlecJohnson12.