The Unified School District of Antigo is aiming to accomplish a few things with the money from a $54 million dollar referendum if it passes, and they wanted voters to see it.
Community members were invited to the Senior Center to see a presentation on what district leaders say are security concerns, and why they want to have just one elementary school instead of three.
District Administrator Glenda Oginski said that current infrastructure at several schools is failing, and that it's more cost effective to combine the elementary schools into one.
Oginski said, "It would help with operational costs. We have a lot of shared staff, so having one location for those staff to spend their day and not have to work out of their car would be a retention strategy."
Roy Dieck is a resident of Antigo, and former member of the school board. He said that the city has invested in other projects throughout the years, and now it's time to invest in its students.
Dieck said, We're doing a lot of things in our community for ourselves, we're building new houses, bigger houses than we need, we buy a new car when we don't need one. We don't do things for our kids."
He went on to say that the referendum has his vote, and that he shares the same concerns about the current buildings.
Even though the referendum as a whole will be $54 million, the taxpayers will only be liable for $31 million, with the rest coming from state funding.
