Background Information on Referendum

Superintendent Tim Culver came to Oak Creek as the new superintendent from Sun Prairie School District which was one of the most indebted School Districts in WI.
Nexus Solutions was hired as the design firm to build and promote the referendum. Nexus has paid for fliers, used school mailers and websites to promote the 60 million dollar referendum which they will oversee. The commission for this contract will be 9 million dollars or more.
Comprehensive Plan

The Comprehensive Plan was initiated about 10 years ago to address the future needs of the School District. 5 years ago, the decision was made to construct Forest Ridge elementary and the 9th grade center. This was done because it was cost prohibitive to build additions on all of the older elementary schools. This was the advice of Voss Jorgenson School District Consultants. Nexus is now presenting a variation of the rejected plan.

Actual Plan Considerations

1. Grade schools are not housing any more students than they were 10 years ago. The enrollment at this time is static.
2. Gymnasiums seem to be a priority while most classroom upgrades remain unaddressed.
3. The existing gymnasiums are smaller on our older schools but adequate for the size of the schools.
4. High School upgrades include a Preforming Arts Center, this option has community support and should stand on its own merits. We should not consider all projects within a single referendum question.
5. Technical Education is growing. The School District should be mindful as to how much funding is dedicated. High schools should be used to prep students for the next step in their education toward technical college. Technical education plans for the High School include numerous changes and the addition of classes. This will also burden the system with additional cost considerations for staffing and operating costs.
6. Sports complex facility complete with astro turf. Our current facilities are owned and operated by the City of Oak Creek. The School District trades usage of our school facilities for equal use of the City’s sports facilities. Construction of a new baseball facility shifts all of the costs to the School District in addition to the millions for dollars to build it.