Athens K-12 to consider new addition
The Athens School District continues to prepare for a likely capital improvements referendum next spring.
Board of Education member Kat Becker on Monday asked CESA 10 building study representatives if it would make more financial sense for the district to construct an elementary school addition onto the middle/ high school building instead of continuing to spend taxpayer money on fixing up an aging elementary school located five blocks away.
John Berger, CESA 10 project manager, said Baird would be able to give the board financial numbers on whether consolidating the two school buildings in the village of Athens into one main campus is the best course of action. Baird will provide this information at its second budget forecasting and referendum planning presentation at 5 p.m. on Aug. 18 in the middle/high school library.
Berger said that CESA 10’s facility assessment of the district’s school buildings in February discovered that Athens Elementary School was in the worst shape. He said Maple Grove Charter School in Hamburg is in the best shape of the three buildings. District residents can access the CESA 10 audit and assessment of the school buildings by going to www.athens.k12.wi.us and then clicking on About Us/facilities and operations/CESA 10 Audit & Assessment.
The latest trend is for Wisconsin school districts to consolidate their buildings to save money, Berger said. For example, he said the River Valley School District in Spring Green is undergoing a consolidation and reconfiguration of its school buildings. The Early Learning Center in Plain will close and its students will be integrated into the existing Spring Green campus. River Valley School District is also reconfiguring grade levels across its three Spring Green schools to optimize space and potentially save money, with a target of $1 million in annual savings.
Monday was the first meeting for the newly-created Athens Board of Education’s finance, facilities and operations committee, which will continue meeting from 4-4:45 p.m. on the third Monday of each month in the middle/high school library before the school board’s regular meeting at 5 p.m.
Committee members spoke about what repairs could be done by maintenance supervisor Jonathan Heier and his custodial staff that are on CESA 10’s facility assessment, which identified the most pressing safety items that need to be completed in each school building within the next one to two years. The district has budgeted $40,000 this school year, which breaks down to just over $13,000 for repairs in each of the three school buildings.
Berger said it’s good that the district is attempting to make whatever repairs it can afford to now, because it shows taxpayers that it’s doing all it can with limited money. The district will still need a probable capital improvements referendum next spring to ask taxpayers for additional money to repair the large ticket items, such as the building roofs, HVAC, electrical panels and plumbing. Berger said that taxpayers need to realize that these types of building repairs will get more expensive the longer the district holds off on them.
Other business
■Sam Cattanach, the district’s contracted technology consultant, gave a presentation at Monday’s meeting on the district’s schedule for replacing staff and students’ Chromebooks. The school board voted 5-0 to allow the district to pay $41,375 to CDW-G for new student Chromebooks, $31,900 to Dell Technologies for new staff Chromebooks and $1,455 to CDW-G for new custodian Chromebooks. Board members Steve Janke and Tom “Chummo” Ellenbecker were absent from Monday’s meeting.
â– The board voted to increase student meal prices by 10 cents for the 2025-2026 school year. The district has not yet decided how much it will charge students and adults for extra entrees not included in breakfast and lunch. The district wants to remind parents that even students on free-and-reduced lunch need to pay the full price for any extra food their student chooses to eat.
â– Board members approved amendments to the 2024-25 district budget, which left $154,639 in the general fund.
■The board accepted the resignation of Kaylin Diels as administrative assistant at Maple Grove Charter School, and approved the hiring of Kristine Zarins as a replacement for the fifth grade teaching position at Maple Grove. Danielle Gauerke was also hired to provide seasonal help in the district’s technology department.
