The West Allis-West Milwaukee School Board has voted to close an intermediate school and two elementary schools
The West Allis-West Milwaukee School Board decided to close one of its intermediate schools and two of its elementary schools following a failed April referendum.
Board members approved motions at a special meeting June 6 to:
Consolidate Lane Intermediate School into Frank Lloyd Wright Intermediate School starting in the 2023-24 school year
Consolidate Longfellow Elementary School into Jefferson Elementary School and Pershing Elementary School starting in the 2023-24 school year and approved an option for Longfellow's 4K students to start the 2022-23 school year in their current or new neighborhood school
Consolidate Madison Elementary School into Walker Elementary School to begin the 2023-24 school year while also approving an option for Madison 4K students to begin the 2022-23 school year in their current or new neighborhood school
Consider a plan to consolidate one additional elementary school and two high schools into one by the end of the 2023-24 school year. That additional elementary school has not yet been determined
All but one of the motions passed on 8-0 votes. The motion to consolidate Madison Elementary School into Walker Elementary School passed 7-1, with board member Jane Carr voting no.
The board also considered delaying the consolidation of Madison Elementary into Walker Elementary until the 2024-25 school year, but a 4-4 split vote meant that motion failed.
Board member Jeffrey Sikich was not present at the meeting, but his absence was excused.
According to meeting notes, the estimated cost savings for consolidating Lane Intermediate School is $943,292 while the estimated cost savings for consolidating Longfellow and Madison Elementary was $481,863 per elementary school.
The notes said a committee formed to decide what schools would be consolidated and reviewed the potential consolidation's impact on neighborhood boundaries and evaluated the re-design of those boundaries using various priorities.
In May, in-person and virtual listening sessions were held to discuss the consolidations before the board's June 6 vote.
The proposed consolidations were part of the district's facilities planning process, which focused on reducing the number of school buildings to the number the district said it actually needs to save money due to declining enrollment. The process also involves modernizing the district's school buildings, of which the average age is more than 78 years old.
When asked to decide on consolidating Nathan Hale and Central High Schools into one high school as part of a proposed $149.8 million referendum in April, voters overwhelmingly said no.
Contact Alec Johnson at (262) 875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AlecJohnson12.
Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.
DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: West Allis intermediate school and 2 elementary schools to close
