April 30, 2019

New Intermediate School

EUA (Eppstein Uhen Architects) has led a group of staff members through a visioning process to begin developing high level schematic design ideas for the new school. They will be concluding their work in the next couple of weeks, and interviews with staff members are being planned in order to move forward with additional design details. The full design process, with many more discussions to come, will take approximately six months.

DeForest Area High School Project

A similar high school visioning team will meet three times in May and June, with staff interviews following a few weeks later. The design process for the high school is scheduled from May to November.

We are working on ways to engage others throughout the design phase. . . this is part of the communication planning process that we are currently finalizing.

Morrisonville Elementary School Closure

District staff have met twice with several Morrisonville Elementary School families and conducted a survey of all families to plan for the closure of MES and transition of students. A recommendation will be presented to the Board of Education in May.

Not part of the referendum

A few people have asked about a recent school board meeting where the possibility of turf for the high school stadium field was discussed. On Monday, April 22, a group presented a fundraising proposal to the Board of Education for replacing the current grass field with turf at the high school stadium. Below is a summary of information presented at the meeting:

• The turf is not part of the referendum.
• The field is currently in need of extensive repair.
• The fund raising group must have commitments for $475,000 in donations before anything moves forward, including any matching funds from the District.
• The district has budgeted for repair of the grass field in the capital maintenance budget. Any additional funds needed to match the donations will be taken from the district's fund balance (not referendum money).
• According to Athletic/Activities Director Mike McHugh, moving toward turf vs. continuing with (and repairing) the grass field allows for:
• increased opportunities for more individuals and more programs
• ability to use during heavy rain periods
• earlier access following the winter season. (Girls soccer and lacrosse rents MATC Field for practices early in the season.)
• ability to use the field for practices