Additional details emerge about proposed Jefferson Elementary closure at Menasha School Board meeting
Editors' note: The original date for the final vote on Jefferson Elementary School closing was misstated in the original version of this story. The final vote will be taken Feb. 26.
MENASHA - A crowd of nearly 50 people packed a conference room at the Menasha City Center during a Menasha Joint School District Board of Education work session Monday evening. The big draw: the district's recommendation to close Jefferson Elementary School, which was announced as a possibility to parents earlier this month.
During the meeting, district superintendent Matt Zimmerman submitted to the board many of the questions families had asked during the Jefferson parents' meeting on Feb. 6. He and business services director Brian Adesso also broke down what additional cuts would be needed to address a nearly $3.5 million budget deficit the district faces next year.
Why is the Menasha Joint School District considering closing Jefferson?
The district faces challenges similar to many other school districts statewide: declining enrollment and a lack of funding.
The district faces a $3.5 million deficit in next year's budget, partially due to pandemic-era ESSER funds coming to an end and partially because state aid for next year will fall short of rising costs at the school.
Closing Jefferson would save the district about $1 million, mostly due to staff reductions, Zimmerman said Monday. By being able to spread students out over multiple sections, mostly at Butte des Morts Elementary School, the district could cut at least 19 positions while maintaining district-recommended class sizes.
What budget cuts did the district present to the board?
Besides closing Jefferson, the district proposed an additional $2.1 million in cuts to the rest of the budget.
That includes reducing about five special education paraprofessional positions and four in other special services, though district director of special services Marci Thiry said these cuts mostly represent ways to use special education and services staff more efficiently.
Zimmerman also said they plan to offer an already-funded incentive for about 34 teachers to take early retirement, so the district wouldn't have to cut their positions.
In total, the district plans to reduce the budget by $3.3 million to cover the deficit. As for the last $200,000, Zimmerman said he anticipated some of the actual costs of the following school year would fall short of their projections.
Why didn't we know about the possibility of Jefferson closing sooner?
"Unfortunately we got to the place where (closing Jefferson) made sense" after discussions earlier this school year, Zimmerman said.
When the district closed Nicolet Elementary in 2022, Zimmerman said at the time they addressed the possibility of having to close another school if enrollment declines continued.
Many of the conversations around having to address budget deficits took place after the budget was finalized last fall, including a staff survey about approaches to budget reduction. The district informed Jefferson staff in late January that if the district moved forward with a plan to "right-size" the district, Jefferson would be the school that would close due to its smaller space, Zimmerman said.
Zimmerman sent a letter to Jefferson school parents Feb. 2, and addressed parents' concerns about the school closing during the Feb. 6 meeting.
If Jefferson stayed open for another year, what would happen?
Essentially, the district's financial woes would continue, according to Adesso. The school could be forced to borrow more money, possibly affecting the district's interest rates and credit rating.
Keeping Jefferson open would also reduce the district's ability to make other necessary cuts, Zimmerman said. That would force them to make cuts elsewhere that could potentially increase class sizes, reduce the co-teaching model and reduce continuing education for teachers — priorities the district is trying to preserve through the deficit.
And, Zimmerman said, the longer the deficit persists, the "more anxiety" the district will experience as a whole, potentially leading to difficulty hiring and retaining staff.
What will happen to the students and staff at Jefferson if the school closes?
The students would be reassigned to Buttes des Morts Elementary school, about a mile and a half northwest of Jefferson Elementary.
In response to parent concerns about class sizes, Zimmerman emphasized that the teachers there "do a phenomenal job" of helping the youngest students transition to kindergarten from 4K and that class sizes would be unaffected by the budget deficit if the district moves forward with closing Jefferson.
Zimmerman said they had learned from closing Nicolet Elementary in 2022. He also said "the vast majority" of Jefferson staff would likely keep their jobs and be offered placements at Butte des Morts and elsewhere in the district.
What are the school board's next steps?
The board is expected to take a final vote on whether to close Jefferson at its Feb. 26 meeting. If the board decides to close Jefferson this year, the district plans to put a transition team in place in March.
More: MJSD meeting answers additional questions on possible Jefferson Elementary closing
Rebecca Loroff is an education reporter for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. Contact her with story tips and feedback at 920-907-7801 or rloroff@gannett.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @RebeccaLoroff.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Menasha school board receives district recommendation to close Jefferson
