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If two Waukesha
elementary schools are closed, I can guarantee you one thing: It
won’t be enough for some in this community.
One of the
potential targets is Randall Elementary School, which my 8-year-old
son attends.
I want Randall
to stay open because it’s a really good school. But I also have
more selfish motivations. Closing Randall would be disruptive to my
child and hundreds of others - including those who attend the
surviving schools that would have to house the refugees.
Of course the
closings would be hardest on the kids who have to transfer;
switching schools is never easy. Still, kids sometimes have to make
the change, often because of a “greater good.”
For example,
many children transfer to a new school when a parent gets a better
job. It’s hard on the kid, but the family earns more money and the
kids have better opportunities.
Closing schools
could be a “greater good” for the community. Maybe it will
deliver us from this budget crunch, and make further cuts
unnecessary. Maybe we can close two schools and be done with this
mess once and for all.
It would be
nice, wouldn’t it? But hoping the cuts actually stop with a school
or two closing also would be naive. The truth is a bunch of kids are
going to get moved all over the place, and the cries for spending
cuts will only get louder.
I understand the
arguments for closing the schools, and to a certain extent even
agree with them. If these schools - Randall, Saratoga, Whittier,
Hadfield and Blair - have a bunch of empty classrooms, why not send
the kids elsewhere in the name of efficiency? I get it.
The problem is
that, despite the enrollment declines, there are still a lot of kids
attending these schools. Even if only one or two schools get hacked,
we’re making hundreds of kids switch. That can be a pretty
traumatic event - and certainly more disruptive than those who
advocate the closings would lead you to believe.
Say, for
example, Randall closed. It’s not like the whole grade school
would simply move to a new location. The next closest school for
some kids would be Hadfield, so they’d go there. Others would go
to Whittier and Saratoga.
The kids would
get placed all over, and it would be hard on them. And please -
don’t just say, “What’s the big deal?” You can argue that a
closing is worth the pain; that’s fine. But don’t act like
it’s not a major event in the lives of these kids.
So if the
students are going to get scattered all over the place, I would like
to know there is a benefit - that there is a “greater good.”
But I’m not
confident there will be given those involved. To be honest with you,
I’m getting sick and tired of everyone mixed up in this debate.
* We have
parents at Pleasant Hill, once targeted for closing, who were
accommodated by being allowed to stay “half” open and combining
with Hillcrest. Wasn’t the point to close a building, maybe sell
some land and eliminate operating costs - to have one school to
heat, one barrel of vomit-covering sawdust to buy, fewer halls to
sweep?
Anyway, the
parents objected, and the district didn’t want them fleeing to
Brookfield schools - which would have cost the Waukesha district
some serious revenue.
Therefore the
closing that makes the most sense appears to be out of play, and now
my son’s school might get the ax. This has me a little hacked off.
* We have
legislators who are completely gutless and unwilling to make a
decision. Or maybe they’re just not all that bright. Whatever the
motivation (or lack thereof), the Legislature is the reason this
whole mess continues.
* We have the
“taxpayers rights” people, who won’t be happy until there is
nothing left. These people can never concede that maybe there is
something worth saving. Yet we continue to think that at some point
they’ll say, “OK, you’ve cut enough.” They won’t.
* We have the
“pro school” people who are at the other extreme. They don’t
understand the financial impact of what they advocate. Property
taxes in Waukesha are high - it’s a fact. You’re not going to
get community support if you don’t realize that - and work toward
solutions within that framework.
(There are, by
the way, some community groups that have been a silver lining in
this whole mess by way of their reasoned analysis. Waukesha Forward,
started by a district parent named Paul Bickler, immediately comes
to mind.)
Remember a few
months back, when the Waukesha School Board actually got concessions
from the teachers union - and other bargaining units? This was a
major victory for the district and its finances.
Think about it:
We have the board getting unions that represent hundreds and
hundreds of employees to agree to less compensation THAN THEY ARE
ALLOWED BY STATE LAW. This is impressive work, right?
The
Legislature’s reaction was nothing,
because they don’t do anything. So it was just another day on that
front.
The “taxpayers
rights” people acknowledged that the concessions are a start. Then
they came back a day or two later and said it really wasn’t such a
big deal. Yeah, it would be tough to admit something good happened,
wouldn’t it?
The “pro
school” people reacted by immediately saying, “Let’s hold a
referendum.” During negotiations, their theory had been that once
the teachers agreed to cuts, the community would rally behind a
referendum that would allow taxes to be increased to fund schools.
The problem is
the “pro school” people called for a referendum before the ink
was dry on the teachers’ contract. To a certain extent, their
reaction made genuine progress look like a ploy to get a referendum.
Heaven forbid we should actually enjoy lower taxes for a year or
two.
Don’t get me
wrong, the concessions were still a major victory for the school
board, the school district and a few other groups - including those
of us who pay property taxes. So it’s a good thing, and I
certainly wouldn’t say otherwise.
But both sides -
actually, I should say the extremists on both sides - took what
should have been a clear victory and showed how set they are in
their agendas. They took a key event and twisted it to support their
beliefs.
That left me
pretty discouraged.
So where are we
at? Well, if you have kids in elementary schools on “the list,”
I guess you’d be wise to attend meetings where the closings are
discussed and say, “See that guy over there? Close his school.”
Because the
longer I’m around this mess, the more I realize making a
concession for the “greater good” is just selling your kid out.
(Longtime
Waukesha resident Pete Kennedy is a former Freeman editor. His
column runs Saturdays in The Freeman. Reach him at kennedycolumn@yahoo.com)
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