As the Green Bay School Board grapples with the fate of the district office building, what have board members said about closing it?

GREEN BAY — The Green Bay School Board has made decisions on five of the 12 buildings recommended to close as part of the district's restructuring. It voted to close Keller, Tank and Wequiock Elementary schools, while keeping specialty schools Leonardo da Vinci School for Gifted Learners and the John Dewey Academy of Learning at their current locations.

One building it has yet to make a decision on is the district's downtown office building at 200 S. Broadway.

The building was recommended to close by a community task force in May because it's nearing 100 years old and needs $8.6 million in maintenance.

The office building provides space for at least 60 employees with annual salaries ranging from $50,000 to $184,000 for top administrators.

Last year, the district spent $147,000 on utilities for the office building. Since 2007, the district has spent $7.7 million on renovations and maintenance to the building and the adjacent Cup of Joy Welcome Center.

What have board members said about closing the district office?

When the recommendation was initially made last summer, a handful of board members publicly supported closing the building.

In June, Andrew Becker wanted the board to move forward with closing the district offices. It ultimately didn't because it wasn't clear at the time where the offices would move.

Becker said at the June 5 board meeting that he wouldn't support any plan that leaves the district office, known as the District Office Building, or DOB, where it is.

Board member Bryan Milz said at the same meeting that he supported moving as many district office personnel into West High School as possible. West High was one of the proposed locations for the new offices.

Board President Laura McCoy also said June 5 that the offices could stay where they are but "nobody wants to do that."

The district wanted to take the possibility of moving the district offices to West High off the table at the Oct. 9 board meeting, which Milz said he didn't want to do. McCoy, along with Vice President James Lyerly, said they needed to see the financials behind moving the offices.

More: Why is Green Bay closing schools?

"Is there really a benefit to it?" McCoy said Oct. 9. "I'm not crazy about this building either, but it does serve a purpose."

When the board voted Oct. 23 to close Keller and Tank Elementary, Becker reiterated his concern over closing more schools without a decision on the district office.

"I would really like to have a firm decision made, committing to close this building (the district headquarters) before we start closing schools," he said at the Oct. 23 meeting. "I think the public deserves that commitment."

Superintendent Claude Tiller said at that same meeting he wanted board members to tour the district offices before the district presented the financials for closing the building.

"It’s a lot that goes into DOB. You can’t just facelift, move sections of DOB because of continuity that has to happen,” he said.

A community survey administered by the district last spring found that 78% of community members supported closing the district office and moving it to a vacant school building. About 3,700 people responded to the survey.

More: Green Bay School Board closes Keller and Tank Elementary schools, approves $336M budget

The building was also recommended to close in all 12 plans considered by the task force that developed the closure recommendations.

The board has not identified where district leadership and administration would move if the office building were to close, and it hasn't been presented with the costs versus cost savings to close the building. The district is expected to make a presentation about the district office at Monday's board meeting.

Do other districts have separate office buildings for district leadership and administration?

Green Bay is not the only district that has its administration and leadership housed in their own building. The Racine Unified and the Kenosha Unified school districts each have separate buildings for their offices.

Green Bay and Kenosha both have about 19,000 students, according to 2022-23 enrollment numbers from the state Department of Public Instruction. Racine sits at 16,000. However, Racine isn't in the process of closing schools. Kenosha closed an elementary school over the summer as it grapples with declining enrollment.

The Appleton Area School District, about 30 minutes south of Green Bay, has about 15,000 students, and it doesn't have its own building for its district office. Instead, it has a suite inside the City Center Plaza building.

Danielle DuClos is a Report for America corps member who covers K-12 education for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at dduclos@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @danielle_duclos. You can directly support her work with a tax-deductible donation at GreenBayPressGazette.com/RFA or by check made out to The GroundTruth Project with subject line Report for America Green Bay Press Gazette Campaign. Address: The GroundTruth Project, Lockbox Services, 9450 SW Gemini Drive, PMB 46837, Beaverton, Oregon 97008-7105

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: What has the Green Bay School Board said about closing the district office?