W-S school referendum open forum is Monday

Voters encouraged to come discuss April 2020 potential

By Correne Martin

Enrollment in the Wauzeka-Steuben School District has been on a gradual decline since the 2002-03 school year, according to Interim Administrator Gary Albrecht. Tax rate levels, operational costs and capital project needs are being examined, and an April 2020 operating referendum proposal will be explored at the district’s annual meeting Monday, Oct. 28, at about 6:45 p.m., in the Hornet’s Nest gym. District taxpayers are urged to attend and give input.

Following an Oct. 7 “Movers and Shakers” meeting discussing the potential referendum, Albrecht said one theory is, “If we could keep the tax rate level about 12.71 percent, at three years recurring, we’d have enough to operate the district and still have $300,000 for capital projects. We take an incremental approach, revisit it in two to three years and then reassess enrollment, finances and capital projects.”

But the discussion is open. Monday’s open forum is intended to get citizens in both communities of Wauzeka and Steuben, and the surrounding townships, talking about the best approach to keeping the school alive.

In anticipation of the meeting, several stakeholders shared their opinions on the importance of the school district’s continued existence and the probable investment of a referendum.

“If you don’t have your school, you just ... fall apart,” said Phyllis Groom, village clerk and longtime resident. “I don’t want to lose our school.”

Gary Gundlach, current village president who moved to Wauzeka with his wife, Roni, over 19 years ago, agreed. “The school is the adhesive that holds the community together,” he stated. “The school events are important social and recreational points for a lot of people here.”

Jennifer Folbrecht, who grew up, graduated and has taught in the school district now for 23 years, described the school as the hub of both Steuben and Wauzeka. 

“It’s more than just a learning center in the education sense. It’s also a place where there’s listening, caring and a safe place to be,” she said. “They say it takes a village to raise a child. But, we truly do take care of each other as staff, kids, coaches, community members. If somebody needs their kids picked up, we do it. We take them home, feed them and keep them as long as we need to.

“If that’s gone, Wauzeka is not Wauzeka, and Steuben isn’t Steuben either.”

Village postal worker and school district bus driver, Kathy Oswald, credited the school on how it has “incrementally sliced and cut in a lot of different ways to become what it is today.”

“I think the school is working as hard as anybody,” she said. 

Proof of that was mailed out in a district letter from Albrecht to taxpayers.

The letter informs readers of the steps the school board has taken to “responsibly manage the district financially and prepare for the future.” The steps include:

•Reassessment of the school roof and maintenance that will preserve it for another five to seven years.

•Establishment of Fund 46, which is a budget fund for maintenance that allows the district to set aside funds that will be available in five years for major maintenance projects. This year, the board set aside over $300,000 in Fund 46.

•The writing of a 10-year maintenance program that focuses on major maintenance priorities.

•The writing and securing of a safety grant that allowed an update of the school PA system.

•Continued replacement of school vans and buses on a rotation basis.

•Refinishing of interior floors that will take them another 10-15 years.

•Replacement of playground equipment.

•Replacement of interior classroom doors.

•Athletic field improvements.

•Furnace unit replacement in the shop area of the building.

•Significant staff reductions, beginning three years ago.

•Reduction of superintendent FTE.

Oswald hopes the voting public will be at the Oct. 28 meeting, and that the school board and administration can be transparent and ready to explain.

“People need to demand concrete information, and the board needs to lay out what is needed, why and the numbers necessary for it to pass,” she stated. 

Folbrecht is optimistic the upcoming forum can be as well-attended—with parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles—as the different sporting activities, music concerts, classroom presentations and local charity events. She pointed out that the district has approved a couple referendums in the past and she believes, through discussion, people will understand the need once again.

“From the elders to the younger family owners and renters, it’s very important to be informed,” she said. “It’s going to affect them in some way.”