Middle school passes voter test

Residents in the Shawano School District voted nearly 2-to-1 on Tuesday to approve borrowing $9.25 million for improvements to the community’s 60-year-old middle school.

Results released by the school district showed that the districtwide referendum was supported by 1,338 voters and opposed by 717 voters.

The outcome means school administrators can borrow $9.25 million and make repairs and upgrades that referendum backers described as long overdue to Shawano Community Middle School, 1050 S. Union St.

District Superintendent Gary Cumberland, who celebrated the victory Tuesday night with others inside a Shawano restaurant, said the results show that officials effectively made their case to voters that the middle school is worth the investment.

“We got our message out there,” Cumberland said.

On a day of unseasonably mild weather, Tuesday’s referendum generated more than 20 percent turnout among an estimated 9,300 registered voters in the school district.

School Board President Tyler Schmidt said he was heartened to see strong voter support on a referendum that Schmidt said was carefully planned and presented to the public with transparency.

“We did everything we could,” Schmidt said. “If you lay it out there, our community will support it.”

The district asked voters to authorize a plan to replace the middle school’s heating system and renovate or expand the school’s front entrance, kitchen and cafeteria areas, locker rooms, band and orchestra rooms, restrooms and more. Paying off the project over the next 20 years will require a property tax increase of about $35 a year for the owner of a $100,000 home.

It was the Shawano School District’s first referendum since 2010, when voters approved an estimated $27 million initiative to build Hillcrest Primary School and remodel Olga Brener Intermediate School.

Administrators acknowledged that updates to the middle school were overdue and that the facility had lagged behind while other properties in the district were built or improved. Erected in 1954, the middle school served as Shawano’s high school until the current high school was erected in 1996.

Administrators said the project put before voters Tuesday would likely keep the middle school functional for another 25 years or longer.

With no sign of organized opposition to Tuesday’s referendum, school officials and boosters were confident and said that work on the school improvements could begin by April and be completed by next September.

Voters outside the polling place at Shawano City Hall, however, voiced mixed feelings about the referendum.

Some said they opposed the measure because of the expense involved and because they felt the school district had mismanaged school construction and maintenance.

Bonnie Surprise said administrators should have updated the middle school before they built the new Hillcrest Primary School. With taxpayers still paying off that bond issue, Surprise said she opposed any more borrowing.

“They’re asking for a lot of money,” she said.

Another voter, Jim Poole, said he voted no because he thinks the district should pay off the 2010 referendum and then ask voters to OK building a new middle school rather than fix up the old one. Poole voiced concern that the aging middle school will need more repairs later.

“I think they need to think about it a little bit more,” he said.

Other voters said they supported the referendum regardless of the expense.

Len Prahl, a retired school teacher, said he voted for the referendum because he feels strongly that schools are the backbone of a community and that they should be maintained in good condition. Prahl said the cost of the upgrades or tax increases did not concern him.

“I don’t think you can overspend on education,” he said. “Without education, you don’t have anything.”

Jason Rosenow agreed, saying, “I look at it as an investment in the community.”