The Manitowoc Public School District is moving forward with its proposed consolidation plan.
The school board voted 4-3 to accept the plan last night that would close Madison and Jackson Elementary School, with Jackson being decommissioned for the 2026-27 school year and Madison being sold.
During public comments, Resident Alessandra Schwartz felt that at least one of the two schools should not close.
“They’re nice facilities,” she stated. “I think when families look at that, they would be more apt to make that consideration as a positive checkmark to move to our community, and I think that’s rather important.”
While no one during the meeting directly asked the school board to change its mind, some parents said at public input meetings that they thought the process was rushed and given insufficient time.
Board Member Kerry Trask said he wanted to see whether a compromise could be reached after going back and forth with parents via email.
He then asked if Riverview could be the primary elementary school instead of becoming a full-time building for 4K.
Board President “Biff” Hansen said he was also concerned about pricing for repairing Riverview.
He’s also concerned about the absence of “neighborhood schools” in the plan.
“When you start adding those things up, does it come up to an equal cost between Stangel and Jackson, and give a neighborhood school back to Manitowoc?” he noted. “It’s a huge part of the city that would not have a school. I think neighborhood schools are a good thing. My concern is that there’s a neighborhood school in the Jackson area that parents could choice their kids to.”
Board Member David Bowman said it should be more about the community in schools.
“One of the powers of this proposal is that we get schools that look like our community,” he said. “We get kids from all different ethnicities. We get kids from socio-economic variety, and research shows that all kids rise and your community rises when you are put together and in a group of people that are different.”
The board then had a lengthy discussion about the lack of a true north-side elementary school, the options considered for closing schools, and how students will be transported to their new school.
Board Member Chris Able also wanted to do something after the plan was approved.
Able told the board, “A referendum truly tells us if the proposed plan is the way the electorate thinks we should go. Representing the households of the MPSD is my top priority. I believe the best way to do that, in this case, is quite simply to ask you at the ballot box what we as a community should do.”
After the board approved the plan, they did not put the issue on the ballot because Able’s motion to do so didn’t receive a second. The consolidation plan includes a transition of 5th- and 6th-grade students to Wilson Middle School, while Washington Middle School will serve 7th- and 8th-grade students.
Riverview would become a full-time 4K building, while elementary students will transition to Stangel Elementary.
The district’s alternative learning programs will transition from Stangel to the UW-Green Bay Manitowoc campus.
The district will begin planning for immediate implementation with transition timelines and detailed logistics to be discussed in the coming weeks.
Superintendent Lee Thennes’s administration recommended the consolidation plan after the district learned about falling enrollment in the district and the need for immense facility fixes districtwide.
The district established a Facilities Advisory Committee to develop the plan, with both teachers and staff represented.
