Maple Grove looks to Athens
Fromm Wade says legal process in place to leave Merrill district
Peter Fromm Wade, a defender of Maple Grove School in Hamburg, updated the Athens Board of Education on Monday on how the process is going to detach the rural K-5 school from Merrill Area Public Schools (MAPS) and attach it to Athens School District for the 2021-22 school year.
Fromm Wade told Athens school board members he filed two petitions with Nubs Ashbeck, Merrill Board of Education clerk, on Dec. 3, 2020. The first petition includes 75 percent of voters and the second one has 75 percent of property owners in the town of Hamburg who signed their names in favor of detaching Maple Grove School from MAPS and attaching it to the Athens School District. Fromm Wade said 50 percent or more of voters and property owners’ signatures is required under state law for both petitions.
Jeff Mastin, Athens schools superintendent, said he received copies of the two petitions with the signatures on them in the mail during the holiday break. He’s handed the petitions over to the Athens School District’s attorney.
“There’s really nothing we can do at this time until MAPS decides to detach Maple Grove School,” Mastin said.
Mastin said after Maple Grove School detaches from MAPS and attaches to Athens, the Athens School District and Maple Grove School could sign a charter school contract.
Fromm Wade said John Sample, MAPS superintendent, told the Maple Grove Governance Board at its recent virtual meeting the Merrill Board of Education was not going to decide on whether to detach Maple Grove School at its regular school board meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 27. Sample told the Maple Grove Governance Board the Merrill Board of Education planned instead to hold a special board meeting, which hasn’t yet been scheduled, to make a determination on Maple Grove School.
The deadline is March 1 for Merrill Board of Education to create a resolution and pass it to detach Maple Grove School, and also for the Athens Board of Education to form a resolution and pass it to attach Maple Grove School for the 2021-22 academic year.
“If MAPS does nothing before March 1, it’s considered a denial but with a positive resolution from the Athens School District, we are prepared to go through the state appeals process with a positive resolution from Athens and a negative resolution from MAPS,” Fromm Wade said. “Then on March 1, our 14-day window begins for us to replicate all those signatures on the two petitions.”
He said Maple Grove Foundation has hired Mueller Communications, a public relations firm in Milwaukee, to handle the bulk work of soliciting additional signatures from the voters and property owners in the town of Hamburg needed for the state appeal. He said Mueller Communications already began getting signatures 1-1/2 months ago in case an appeal is needed.
“That ball is already rolling; we already have that mechanism in gear in anticipation two positive resolutions may not happen,” Fromm Wade said. “Failure is not an option. Maple Grove will be open and we are very much looking forward to coming back home to the Athens School District.”
Fromm Wade said one third of property in Hamburg remained in the Athens School District when Maple Grove School detached from Athens and attached to MAPS in 1952 so its students could attend high school.
“The other two thirds of the property we are wanting to detach from MAPS and attach to the Athens School District is approximately 18,000 acres in Hamburg worth approximately $47 million,” he said.
He said Maple Grove School has 76 students this school year compared to 82 last school year. Fromm Wade said Maple Grove School has remained open the entire time during the COVID- 19 pandemic, but it lost a few students this school year because their parents wanted them to study virtually from home. He said Maple Grove School has gained students from the town of Maine and from as far as Irma and Gleason.
Fromm Wade said a $3.5 million Mabel and Walter Fromm scholarship fund, created from the family’s legendary fox farm and ginseng business, would transfer to the Athens School District. The scholarship has provided college dollars for graduates of Maple Grove School over the years.
