Vote gives school board authority to lease property
By Steve Van Kooten
On Monday, November 25, the Prairie du Chien Board of Education held a second meeting after the working session for the operating referendum.
The district has to consider alternative options to help finance the school district after the referendum failed to garner enough votes in the November election. One possible option is a partnership with Scenic Bluffs Community Health Centers.
The second meeting, which began immediately after the first, only had one item on the agenda: a resolution to give the board authority to enter a lease agreement for a Scenic Bluffs Training Clinic and Primary Care Center on the school’s property.
The board and community members present voted 6-5 to pass the resolution, giving the board authority to explore a lease agreement with Scenic Bluffs for 8,000 feet of Bluff View Middle School.
The authorization does not give approval to any indvidiual lease agreement. According to Banasik, no lease has been signed with organization or business.
“All the proposal does is open a door for us to review all options,” said Banasik.
The decision divided the board, with three members voting against the resolution and three in favor. The other five votes came from members of the community, some of which were employees of the school district. Board member Jim Hackett was not present at the meeting.
Banasik said the board had the option to table the resolution, but they went to a vote after the recommendation was not rescinded.
Banasik told the Courier Press, “The referendum got voted down, so now we’re looking at different solutions or what’s our next steps. Do we pose another referendum in April? Do we try to move forward with a possible leasing? Or do we try to move forward with BA Kennedy? Those are our options now.”
According to information provided by the school district, Scenic Bluffs could bring in as much as $43.4 million in economic impact over the next five years. In that time, Scenic Bluffs estimates it could create as many as 54 jobs.
The potential partnership with Scenic Bluffs (which is adjacent to the district’s Career and Technical Education Center project) would include programming and resources for students and the workforce to develop new skills in various STEM career paths and obtain advanced placement credits.
Scenic Bluffs has received $3 million in federal funding for their proposed site.
According to Banasik, Scenic Bluffs is willing to collaborate on securing future funding for CTE initiatives through state and federal grants, and Wisconsin’s Department of Public Information has demonstrated a willingness to support these programs.
Scenic Bluffs could also provide students access to practical learning opportunities and resources for our county that aren’t readily available.
About CTE
The CTE initiative is being supported with the help of several community partners, including the Opportunity Center, Scenic Bluffs and thirteen support partners, such as Truvant, Driftless Development, the city of Prairie du Chien and 3M.
“Letters of support were generated after meeting with industry leaders and asking what they thought of the CTE, what are the needs for their industry, and they said, ‘We need this; we’re on board, we will write you a letter of support,’” said Tomi Gebhard, Bluff View Elementary principal.
The district’s career readiness plan includes a career pathway for each grade level. In elementary school, the focus is on career awareness; middle school grades will work on exploration of different career paths; and high school grades will work on preparation to enter the workforce.
CTE programming will also have components for non-traditional learners in the community, including soft-skills training, and apprenticeships.
Along with programming tailored toward robotics and information technology, the CTE curriculum will also support the school’s CNA program and medical career paths, which could utilize the proposed Scenic Bluffs clinic.
Gebhard said, “Recently, the state superintendent, Jill Underly, has proposed $60 million to be put toward expanding the CTE program. She stressed the value of preparing kids as well as educating the workforce to strengthen our state’s economy.”
The CTE has already received $175,000 in funding for equipment from private donors. The CTE has also applied for additional federal funding. The goal of the CTE is to be supported through grants, private donors and industry sponsors.
Board members weigh in on vote
After the Prairie du Chien School Board of Education vote on Nov. 25, two school board members released statements to the Courier Press about the decision. The board and community electorate passed the authorization 6-5. Both statements are in regard to the meeting held to adopt the resolution authorizing the board to lease school property.
Further information can be found in the article on the front page of this edition.
As most of you probably don’t know, the school board last night held a special meeting of the electorate of the Prairie du Chien School District. Anyone who was in attendance and resides in the school district could vote on allowing the school district to negotiate a lease to lease out part of Bluffview School to Scenic Bluffs Community Health Centers. Scenic Bluffs provides dental care, primary care, and mental health services — mostly to the underserved — but they do accept insurance too if you have it.
I am not opposed to having such a great service in our community but not housed in our newest building that just had renovations finished six years ago from a referendum.
To me, I think this was a very shady way of handling such a big topic. As a board member, the last I knew we were doing was [discuss] this to the public at this meeting and then have a special meeting in December for the public to come and vote on this. I guess the days of the school district trying to be transparent to the public are over.
Nick Gilberts
Vice President
PDC School Board
The PDC School Board and Administration used unethical practices to deceive the public at a working session meeting on November 25. As a member of the community and member of this school board, I am disappointed and embarrassed.
At the meeting, a vote was taken to lease up to 8,000 ft2 of Bluff View Elementary School to a Scenic Bluffs Community Health Center. Have you ever heard of this idea before? Odds are you have not.
Imagine an idea being so bad for our school district, it had to be hidden from everyone not involved in closed session meetings. With that being said, it still barely passed. This was an unethical process that wronged all taxpayers who will be paying for this for years to come. They took away your right to vote so they could control this going forward with no strings attached.
There are two arguments to this in my view. One, should the school be in the commercial real estate business? Second, if the process of how we got here was ethical in any way. I am happy to discuss both in more depth with anyone who wants to get in touch with me. It may be obvious my answers to those questions are no and no. This was a complete unethical process that wronged all the taxpayers that will be paying for it. They took away your right to vote so they could have complete control of the situation. They did not want you involved.
We were told in past meetings, in order for the school district to lease out any of their buildings, a meeting would have to be held for a vote. Everyone who attends and who lives in the district would have the right to vote. Instead of advertising this to the public, the administration and some school board members stayed quiet to not have the community involved. As a school board member, I was not even aware this would be taking place at the working session meeting on Nov. 25.
We had met one week before the meeting on the 25 and left with the understanding our meeting on the 25 would be a working session. I even spoke the school board president a few hours before the meeting about the leasing of this space to an outside organization. I expressed my concerns and questions (which were to be answered at the meeting but were not). During this conversation it never once was it brought up that this was the meeting where the official vote would take place. I sent questions to the superintendent on Nov. 19 about the situation that were never answered.
This was not an ethical practice and the community deserves answers. I believe this was done intentionally by district administration and members of the school board who did not want the public to know about this. We had two members of the community attend that both voted no. All the “yes” voters were involved in closed session meetings. To me, the vote was 2-0 “no” and this radical idea lost. Concerns of not having any information on what was going on and what benefits this would give the school were brought up by the two members of the community in attendance. However, those were ignored and not answered.
Not only was not enough information given, we were told we had to take a vote (before discussion was over) so some school board members could get to a basketball game.
The six “yes” voters were all on the school board or members of the administration that had been involved in closed session meetings. They were able to obtain information that no one else was able to. They used this information to take advantage of the system and taxpayer.
Our school district has a declining enrolment with an excess amount of space. Instead of looking at the possibility of going down to two buildings and getting rid of that excess space, this vote was to lock us into a lease (for an undetermined amount of time) putting the burden of keeping and maintaining the building we don’t need on the taxpayer. This is not a lease where a fair market amount will be paid profiting the school. This is being done through the school district for a reason. This is not the board member’s or administration’s personal loss. The attitude of leaving the loss to the tax payer should not be tolerated. Signing a lease would take away the flexibility this district needs in the near future as the student population decreases.
The school district/board needs to be focusing on K-12 education. The board was elected to do this and not get into developing commercial property on tax payer expense.
The administration and school board just lost a $10 million operating referendum. Both indicated afterwards we need to work together — all “be on board” — and then ask again for another amount during the spring election. With a shady and misleading meeting, all trust has been lost. I do not blame anyone for voting against an administration and board that acts like this.
I am embarrassed and at loss of words of how this administration and school board treats that taxpayers they are supposed to be working for.
Noah White
School board member
Prairie du Chien
