Damakant Jayshi
The Wausau School Board on Monday approved borrowing about $100 million for facility improvements along with a tentative construction timeline for the project, while discussion over athletic facility changes continues to draw criticism.
Project plans include constructing two new turf fields at Wausau West and Wausau East high schools, building new classrooms at some schools, updating district-wide safety and security features and remodeling at several schools, among other upgrades.
Voters on April 5 approved a referendum for the district to raise roughly $120 million for the improvements. The balance of the debt will be issued later, district officials said. The district is the guarantor of the debt, while the referendum allowed the school district to raise property taxes as a funding source.
Wausau School Chief Finance and Business Services Officer Bob Tess said the bond sale was conducted earlier Monday, with J.P. Morgan emerging as the sole bidder in the end, with 3.89% true interest cost (TIC) as a winning bid.
The Board also approved a project design and construction timeline prepared by Nexus Solutions consulting firm.
According to the timeline, construction at the Wausau School Forest Environmental Learning Center, as well as at Stettin, Hawthorn Hills, Riverview and South Mountain elementary schools, John Muir Middle School and the two athletic fields at Wausau West and East high schools – takes precedence, though construction at John Muir and the fields is slated to begin next year.
Residents in Wausau continued to raise concerns about the potential for adding “synthetic turf” to athletic facilities at the high schools, citing concerns over student safety and the possibility of additional exposure to potentially toxic chemicals. Neither Superintendent Keith Hilts nor communications coordinator Diana White responded to repeated questions about the nature of the surface of the turf fields. In December, the then board president Pat McKee referred to the proposed facilities as artificial turfs.
Carol Lukens, the Wausau alder representing Dist. 1, addressed the WSD Board as a community member. She requested the board form a committee with community input and community memberships and “share the findings of that transparently with the community to ask for their input and approval before moving ahead.” Lukens said three aspects relating to artificial turf should be taken into account: health, safety and sustainability.
One of the risks posed by “artificial turf,” Lukens said, is that such material has been shown to contain micro plastic and PFAS contaminants, also known as forever chemicals. The drinking water wells of City of Wausau and nearby areas have been found to contain Per- and Poly-fluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) above the new threshold suggested by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS). The risk of PFAS seeping into groundwater has alarmed the residents and the Wausau leaders have announced several measures to address the concerns.
Others have raised questions about safety amid increasing concerns that athletes are more likely to be injured on synthetic surfaces. A University Hospitals Sports Medicine study found athletes were 58 percent more likely to sustain an injury during athletic activity on artificial turf. Injury rates were significantly higher for football, girls and boys soccer, and rugby athletes. Lower extremity, upper extremity, and torso injuries were also found to occur with a higher incidence on artificial turf.
Previously, the board discussed two proposed multi-million dollar indoor athletics facilities, which in the words of superintendent Hilts were “high impact projects” that could potentially turn around low public opinion of the WSD Board. District administrators stressed in previous formal and informal conversations that the estimated price tag of the proposed athletics facilities (up to $21 million), proposals that ranked among the lowest of previously identified priorities among staff and parents, would not come from the WSD budget.
Instead, they said, the money would be raised through fundraising efforts that would also provide an opportunity to engage with the community. Athletics facilities were ranked at number 11 by school staff and number 22 by parents, according to a survey shared during a June 2021 board meeting.
During community engagement sessions last year, residents demanded transparency over the issue. Emails reviewed by Wausau Pilot & Review show that despite public denial by admin officials, Board members Jon Creisher, McKee, Jim Bouche and Hilts were already discussing the idea nearly a year ago. In a June 19, 2021 email, Bouche wrote to McKee, Hilts and Creisher: “After our conversation last night, I thought I’d send you a couple of things: video (Texas Style), pictures (Not only stadiums, but indoor field facilities at each high school, and if you have Prezi presenter (I’ll share what I had proposed at LUHS, and when they balked, Rhinelander bought into it)… “if you snooze, you loose!”
McKee, in an Oct. 6, 2021 email, suggested starting “setting up meetings with appropriate people.” Creisher, who has publicly pushed for improved athletics facilities, termed the existing fields “sorely out of date to prepare our students for their futures” in a Sept. 14 email to Hilts. Creisher, in an Oct. 7 email, also suggested forming a steering committee that would move the project forward.
“Apparently this is what they did in Marshfield because they had concerns that if board members were running it the project could get derailed by any given election cycle,” he wrote.
Hilts responded by saying the athletics directors and principals and he would be happy to be part of the committee. He also asked if Chris Ghidorzi, of Ghidorzi Construction, or his father could be willing to sit on such a committee. “Do you know other influential folks who should be helping to drive this?” Hilts asked Creisher.
Some board and district officials have defended the idea of artificial turf fields, saying they are less expensive to maintain than grass fields in the long-term.
No third-party assessment, cost unclear
The district is pressing ahead with engaging Nexus Solutions for the project, despite calls for a third party assessment from Creisher and some residents objecting to the price tag. District officials have not confirmed the cost for Nexus, while Creisher and Hilts have argued publicly over the firm’s role.
In April, the then board president, McKee, suggested a meeting between Hilts and Creisher and then share it with the board. In response to Wausau Pilot & Review’s questions, Hilts said the third party assessment was not pursued. He did not cite any reason behind the decision.
“Mr. Creisher, Mr. McKee and I did have a discussion and we have decided not to pursue a third party assessment,” said Dr. Hilts on May 23.
Creisher did not respond to questions.
