Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
Antigo school officials Tuesday reaffirmed their previous vote to close Mattoon Elementary School this fall, even as a circuit court hearing is pending on a restraining order that would keep them from doing that.
The School Board voted 5-4 Tuesday, as it did in April in a vote that some Mattoon elementary parents say was taken without any public notice.
The village of Mattoon and two of the parents subsequently filed for a court injunction to stop the Unified School District of Antigo from closing the school at the end of the current school year.
They are asking the court to order that Mattoon Elementary be kept open until at least the end of the 2016-2017 school year to give parents adequate time to find other educational options for their children.
Both Shawano County judges have recused themselves from the case, which has since been assigned to Forest County Judge Leon Stenz.
No hearing date has been set.
Donald Childs, interim district administrator for the Antigo district, said Tuesday’s board vote was on whether the district should wait a year or close the school this fall.
The board voted to go forward with plans for a fall closure.
Childs said that operating a school that serves fewer than 100 students is not financially sustainable.
“The cost is exorbitant,” he said. “We can’t continue to support it.”
Childs said information would be going out to parents as soon as possible, giving them information about the closure and possible school reassignments.
The request for a temporary restraining order was filed in Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court last month.
It maintains the village and parents of elementary school students in Mattoon were blindsided by the board’s April 25 decision.
During discussion of an agenda item covering “next steps” for district facilities, board member Patrick McKenna made a motion to close the Mattoon school, according to the complaint. The motion passed by a 5-4 vote.
The complaint alleges that board members “conspired to surprise the public with the action to close Mattoon Elementary School without proper notice and out of spite and retaliation against the residents of Mattoon for the board members’ perception that residents of Mattoon did not show sufficient support for the board’s proposed referendum.”
The $25.9 million referendum plan would have closed five of its district’s seven elementary schools, renovated the remaining two, and built a brand-new, centralized school in the city.
Mattoon and Crestwood schools would have stayed open under that plan.
The referendum failed by a vote of 3,787-2,615.
The complaint states families that expected to have their children attend the school next year will have their lives and schedules — including travel, work and child care — irreparably disrupted by the closure, which will traumatize young and vulnerable children.
The complaint also maintains the the school’s closure will make the village of Mattoon a less attractive place to live, leading to a decline in population, business presence and economic vitality.