2024 Elementary Facility Planning
The Wausau School District is engaging in a process to create a long-range elementary school facilities plan, with an expected recommendation from a citizen task force and guidance from the school board. The plan will focus, in particular, on whether the number of elementary schools in the Wausau School District should be reduced and if so, then how, where, and when. The process will consider student and enrollment projections, whether delivery of 4-year-old kindergarten should change, and other criteria being developed with task force and board involvement. The task force's recommendation is expected by the end of 2024. The process is being facilitated by MDRoffers Consulting -- a school facility planning, projections, and facility planning firm. This project webpage is designed to share relevant information with task force members and the interested public during this project, including meeting outcomes and products.
Our Current Elementary School Footprint
- Franklin Elementary (grades K-5)
- G.D. Jones Elementary (grades 4K-5)
- Grant Elementary (grades K-5)
- Hawthorn Hills Elementary (grades 4K-5)
- Hewitt-Texas Elementary (grades K-5)
- John Marshall Elementary (grades K-5)
- Lincoln Elementary (grades K-5)
- Maine Elementary (grades K-5)
- Rib Mountain Elementary (grades K-5)
- Riverview Elementary (grades 4K-5)
- South Mountain Elementary (grades K-5)
- Stettin Elementary (grades K-5)
- Thomas Jefferson Elementary (grades 4K-5)
- Wausau Area Montessori Charter School (located within Horace Mann Building): Serves students in grades 4K-8.
- Wausau Area Virtual Education (WAVE): Serves students in grades K-12.
- Opening in the fall of 2024: Red Granite Charter School (will be located within and on the campus of Hewitt-Texas Elementary)
Elementary Facility Plan Citizen Task Force
To start this work, we reached out to every Wausau School District resident, via a postcard sent through U.S. Mail, to ask for volunteers to be on an Elementary Facility Plan Citizen Task Force. We had nearly 80 people volunteer!
Mark Roffers, who is facilitating the task force meetings, suggested that we keep the group to no more than 45 members to ensure that everyone can participate in a meaningful way. To do that, we split the volunteers into 3 groups:
- Wausau School District Parents (x15)
- Wausau School District Community Members without Children Currently in School (x15)
- Wausau School District Staff (x15)
Once we downloaded a spreadsheet from Qualtrics, the platform we used to have volunteers sign up, each person had a number next to their name. Then, we used a random number generator to draw numbers. The individuals associated with each number that came up on the generator for each group was assigned to the task force. Alternates in each group were also chosen through the use of the random number generator, and through the second meeting alternates are being asked to serve if an original assignee cannot serve.
This citizen task force will be asked to develop, evaluate, and recommend one or more elementary school facility options by the end of this year. Their work will be guided by the Facility Option Evaluation Criteria, endorsed by the Wausau School Board on Monday, August 12, 2024.
Facility Option Evaluation Criteria
The task force will be supported by the district's administration, as well as Mark Roffers.
The task force purpose, charge, norms, and commitments are located here.
The project timeline is located here. (Last updated: July 10, 2024)
Meeting Schedule
- June 12
- July 10
- August 21
- September 11
- September 25
- October 9
- October 30
- November 13
- December 4
All of these meetings are scheduled for 5:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. at the Longfellow Administration Center, in the Nicholson Boardroom, located at 415 Seymour Street in Wausau.