Voters will have a lot of choices to make in November, and in Antigo, the school district hopes they will vote to pass a $54 million dollar referendum for a new elementary school, an improvement they say is desperately needed.
All three of Antigo's elementary schools were built in the '60's, and district leaders say they are starting to become outdated, so they're asking people to vote "yes" so they can begin working on a new elementary school, which would be build just north of the high school.
Superintendent Glenda Oginski says that the current schools just aren't meeting standards, one of the most important being safety. Oginski said, "If there were to be an incident at one of our elementary buildings, we don't have the ability to just press a button and lock down the school, meaning preventing access to all of our classrooms."
In terms of costs, she said that they could increase once construction begins, but due to the district's low property values, they are eligible to have the state pay for more than half, with the rest being covered by taxpayers.
Oginski said, "Once you add on fees and interest, it would wind up being an overall cost of about $80 million dollars. The state kicks in $49 million, and then it will cost our local taxpayers $31 million."
Jake Leiterman is the district's supervisor of building and grounds, and says that the proposed referendum was a result of months of planning.
Leiterman said, "We had two phases of task force to assess what the buildings conditions were and what the possible needs were. The first one really focused on what the staff's opinions were, the second phase of the task force, which we hired an architect to come in and help us Blue Design Group."
Another part of the referendum would involve the district office, which is currently off of South Dorr Street, being moved inside one of the school buildings. Leiterman says the current building is outdated and costly.
The referendum will be a part of the November 5 ballot.
