Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
A decision could come as soon as Thursday on whether a referendum creating a Mattoon school district will go before voters in November.
A hearing was held Tuesday at Antigo High School with the School District Boundary Appeal Board, a panel of 12 school board members from around the state appointed by the state superintendent of public instruction.
The board is expected back in Antigo on Thursday to convene in closed session and discuss the appeal, then come out of closed session with an answer, according to Zak Kickhaver, one of the organizers of the push to give the village of Mattoon its own school district.
Supporters filed a petition with the state in February seeking an appeal of the Antigo school board’s vote to deny letting the proposed secession go to a referendum.
The Unified School District of Antigo board voted 8-1 on Jan. 10 against the proposed referendum.
According to Kickhaver, 30 people spoke in favor of holding the referendum at Tuesday’s hearing and only one against.
“We feel it went very well and are cautiously optimistic,” he said. “Still, our only goal here is to get it on the ballot in November so we can vote on it.”
Efforts to create a Mattoon district, which would serve students in kindergarten through sixth grade, were spurred by the Antigo board’s decision last year to close Mattoon Elementary School.
There are 120 eligible elementary students within the boundaries of the proposed Mattoon district, though some of them could still attend the Antigo district through open enrollment. The boundaries are in line with the area served by Mattoon Elementary in the 2015-16 school year.
The plan would be for the Mattoon district to contract with Antigo schools for seventh though 12th grade classes.
Antigo school officials voted twice to close the elementary school. Some parents say the school board’s first vote in April 2016 was taken without any public notice. The board held a special meeting in June to vote again and came down to the same 5-4 decision.
The village of Mattoon sought a court injunction in May to keep the school district from closing the Mattoon school, maintaining the village and parents of elementary school students in Mattoon were blindsided by the decision.
Two parents of Mattoon elementary students joined the village as plaintiffs in the complaint.
The complaint alleged the school board’s vote to close the Mattoon school was retribution for the lack of support for the school district’s failed referendum in April of last year.
The $25.9 million plan would have closed five of the district’s seven elementary schools, renovated the remaining two, and built a new, centralized school in Antigo.
The referendum failed by a vote of 3,787-2,615.
The civil complaint maintained that 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.
A court order issuing a settlement and stipulation to dismiss the suit was issued on Aug. 4, after the Mattoon school had already been closed.
