MONROE — The acquisition of more than $102,000 in grant funding by the Monroe school district influenced discussion by the district board of how to proceed with a short-term facilities referendum during its meeting July 9 at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School.
That same day, the Wisconsin Department of Justice Office of School Safety announced that the district was given a grant to improve security. It was one of 52 districts within the state given a portion of more than $3.5 million in grant funding.
During the meeting, members of the board agreed to draft two referendum questions for the November election: an operating referendum for $1.5 million per year for five years and a short-term facilities referendum for three years for $3.359 million over two years. The public largely favored both proposals in recent survey results, said District Administrator Rick Waski. Neither would raise taxes, said Business Administrator Ron Olson.
Members agreed to draft a resolution question for the operating referendum to be approved by the earliest August meeting of the board. The facilities referendum would address previously identified structural issues at district school buildings.
Waski asked board members to hold a discussion to discern whether they felt security upgrades or accessibility modernization was more important. The district facilities committee recommended that the heating and cooling, ceiling tiles and electrical and lighting upgrades, as well as the fire sprinkler system, be replaced at Parkside Elementary School.
Project estimates totaled more than $2.1 million.
“In this question, we’d be focusing primarily on Parkside and the middle school,” Waski said. “Those are two facilities that we really feel are in the best shape of the buildings we have right now.”
He said “one of the biggest issues” at the Monroe Middle School he has seen would be the lack of accessible restrooms on the ground floor near the gymnasium and the auditorium. But due to budget restrictions, the district needs to prioritize between creating secure entrances at the buildings that would require remodeling, and updating the bathrooms.
Creating a secure entrance means that anyone who visits a school building would have to be routed through a holding area before being given access to the building. MMS updates would be roughly $125,000. At Parkside, where more extensive remodeling would be required to set up a secure entrance, expenses would be roughly $462,000.
Waski said it was unlikely the district would be able to budget both within the referendum amount. However, he did note that if estimates were high, there is a possibility for more work to be done.
“I’m not saying that we couldn’t do as much as we could for the funds we had available,” Waski said.
However, he added that because the work would still need to be competitively bid, the amounts could increase, especially at a time when construction costs are rising due to active building in a positive housing market and tariffs on materials. Olson said with the grant, the district plans to implement the use of two-way audio and visual intercom systems that would require school personnel to unlock the door. There are also plans to install shatter-proof glass at the front entrances of all five school buildings. Administrators also hope to put in place interior alarms on doors which lead outside.
Board member Jim Plourde said it seemed like the best idea would be to focus on updating the restrooms to make them compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. He said the grant would currently help enhance security. Members Mary Berger Rich Deprez agreed. The board approved the short-term referendum 8-0. Amy Bazley was absent.
Saint Victor School in Monroe was also the recipient of a grant to update security measures for more than $19,000, which was almost exactly the amount the school requested in its grant application. The Shullsburg School District was awarded a school safety grant of more than $61,000, which will be used to purchase an alert system to notify law enforcement in an active shooter situation, said newly-appointed Superintendent Mark Lierman.
The district has eyed the WAVE System for a while, which has been implemented in Argyle and Cuba City, he said.
It’s designed to allow each teacher or staff member to carry a “panic button,” similar to a key fob, that when pressed sends a recorded message to city police and county law enforcement. It also activates sirens and strobe lights throughout the district’s only school building, he said.
“It’s an ounce of prevention you hope never to have to use, but it’s some peace of mind knowing you have it,” Lierman said.
The grant will also fund active shooter response training to staff performed by a Lafayette County sheriff’s deputy certified instructing rapid response to violent situations.
Also, the district’s “archaic public address system” will be upgraded and telephones will be installed in many classrooms that currently don’t have one, Lierman said.
“The biggest thing is communication…and it’s hard to communicate between classrooms and the front office…but this (grant) will help,” he said.
Lierman anticipates having much of the upgrades completed by Sept. 4, the first day of school.
— Kevin Murphy contributed to this story