Damakant Jayshi
The Wausau School Board on Monday approved laying artificial turf at Wausau West’s athletic field and approved the district administration’s revised timeline for referendum-related construction work at some elementary schools.
The decisions were made amid a sharp discussion Monday that was highlighted with interruptions and visible frustration among some board members.
The Jerry Johnson Field, named after Wausau West’s first football coach, will be a multipurpose field that can host football, soccer and lacrosse games. School Superintendent Keith Hilts, Wausau West Principal Jeb Steckbauer and West Athletic and Activities Director Jason Foster said that the field was the best available option given the board’s direction on the high schools and the budget available. The field has lights, which can also work for the tracks around it, they said.
In November, the Wausau School Board reversed its previous decision to combine Wausau East and West, a plan that involved moving fifth grade students from elementary schools to middle schools.
In addition to the artificial turf decision, the board also approved construction work to continue at Maine, Thomas Jefferson, and G.D. Jones Elementary schools as well as the repair of the concrete sidewalk at Hawthorn Hills Elementary.
The district administration said work at other buildings will happen at a later stage to allow the board to make decisions about the elementary footprint. In November, the school board decided to hold off on closing several elementary schools until more information could be analyzed.
The board this week also approved a proposal to spend up to $400,000 to replace desktop devices at secondary school computer labs and update laptops for “administrative assistants.” During the discussion, Jon Euting, director of Technology and Media Services at the Wausau School District, told board member Pat McKee that the district is considering replacing 400 devices. When McKee balked at the steep price tag, Euting said the cost will likely be lower but the district is requesting enough funding to ensure flexibility.
After Wausau Pilot & Review reached out to district officials with questions over the device replacement and other proposals, no response was given. Instead, the district issued a press release the following day answering some of the questions posed by Wausau Pilot, but not all. This newspaper has reached out again, seeking additional information and clarification.
In the press release, the district said some of the technology education courses at the secondary schools “require computers with more memory and processing speed to meet the requirements of the software utilized…Some of this investment will also be used to update the computers used by our office staff in many of our schools.”
Board member Cory Sillars was the lone vote against the motion related to the field. The other motion, related to elementary schools and the Wausau West elevator, was approved unanimously.
New road and proposed parking expansion at Hawthorn Hills axed
The board accepted the district administration’s proposal to nix some of the previously designed and approved projects under the referendum plan, including proposed $2.6 million construction of a new road at Hawthorn Hills Elementary and some footing and structural work for a future elevator at Wausau West. District officials have not answered questions about the impact on safety. It was also unclear how much the district hoped to save with this change.
The Hawthorne Hills parking lot raised questions for McKee, who asked about the need for the space when the school saw a double digit drop in enrollment, exposing again an apparent planning failure by the district and its consultant.
“What’s the rationale of doing half a million dollars site work at Hawthorn, given the discussions that have to happen about elementaries?” McKee asked. “Hawthorn alone had a 14% decrease in enrollment this year. Why do we want to spend half a million not knowing what its future may be?”
A Nexus Solutions representative said the expansion would add 40% more parking and allow more cars to queue up during drop off. Superintendent Hilts said this was meant for the parents. He added that they were trying to “move forward with projects that were fairly certain wouldn’t be impacted” as well as to avoid inflation and put off those projects that were likely to be impacted. McKee said it was an “easy no” given that the future of the elementary school remains uncertain.
Board Vice President Lance Trollop and Board Treasurer Jon Creisher agreed with McKee’s approach. Trollop asked if McKee supported the sidewalk construction and the latter replied in the affirmative, saying it was a safety issue for $44,000.
‘Frustrated’ Sillars spars with others, wanted Board to wait to discuss his plans
Board member Sillars was clearly irritated with the proposal on the turf field at Wausau West. He proposed splitting a single motion on the proposal that encompassed the revised timeline for some schools after failing to get support from other board members to discuss layouts for a future turf field that he developed and had brought with him for review. Sillars is a builder and contractor in the Wausau area who has spent decades building homes and other buildings.
During the debate on where to lay the turf and the future of Thom Field, Sillars said the development of the Jerry Johnson Field, which he termed “too skinny” and without parking, will interfere with the future planning at Wausau West, potentially hampering a tech ed wing and even perhaps an auto lab. He said work could be done in phases.
Both Trollop and Hilts rejected the idea that the new turf field would interfere with any future plans or expansion. However, McKee, who asked district officials about their reference to an indoor facility and a potential stadium to the east of Jerry Johnson Field, said that spending over $1.7 million “could be a short-sighted plan.”
When Sillars suggested they could have waited until the end of February “to make a yes or no on this” and referred to some other conversations with the Nexus staff, Trollop said the board meeting was the “only place where we can have our conversation” and asked Sillars what he hoped to gain by waiting and what else he wanted discussed. Sillars said he wanted the layouts discussed.
“I sound frustrated because you guys don’t want to wait two weeks to actually have a discussion and see some layouts,” Sillars said. When Hilts said they can’t get layouts in two weeks, the board member said he had them “right in my bag.”
“I added on the tech ed wing, the parking, I put more parking, I changed the tennis courts. Took me all of 15 minutes,” Sillars said.
Trollop said making the drawing is the easy part of the equation. “Coming up with $30 million referendum you just proposed is the hard part,” Trollop said.
Sillars, who was visibly annoyed, said: “Hey man, there may not be a referendum.” He said the board should develop a plan so people in the community can support it through donations.
“We’re the only school in the conference that doesn’t have a turf field,” he said. “Everybody else has new stuff. How do they get it done? By having a plan, talking to people. And we’re not doing it.”
Wausau Pilot reached out to Sillars to give him an opportunity to explain his ideas further. He acknowledged receiving the questions and said he would get back to the newspaper if he wishes to make further comment.
Board President Bouche said the immediate need is to have something for the students to use. For future expansion, including constructing a 21st century stadium, they could always have that discussion in the future.
