Sheboygan letter-writers address rebuilding middle schools and universal school choice
Here are this week's letters to the editor of the Sheboygan Press. See our letters policy below for details about how to share your views.
Public invited to presentations on Urban Middle School rebuild
Editor’s note: The following is from Seth Harvatine, Sheboygan Area School District superintendent.
The Sheboygan Area School District is proposing a plan to rebuild Farnsworth and Urban middle schools. The buildings are approaching 100 years old, and a facilities study identified significant challenges at both schools.
School district residents will receive a survey in the mail providing details about the plan and asking for feedback. Please take time to read through this information and complete the survey. Your input matters and will help determine plans to address building needs at Urban and Farnsworth for generations to come.
One question we have received pertains to the proposed location for rebuilding Urban Middle School. We studied the donated North 15th Street property, but it is not a viable school site due to its proximity to industrial property, and it would be more expensive to build there due to wetlands and a high water table.
While we investigated other potential sites, the Najacht and Mill roads location is the only feasible location due to its size, ample green space and proximity to the current school. To ensure safe transportation to and from this site, an independent traffic impact study has been conducted. The findings will be shared at a community meeting at 6 p.m. May 6 in the Urban Middle School auditorium.
If you would like more information before completing the survey, please consider attending a presentation on May 16 at Urban or May 20 at Farnsworth, both beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Information and frequently asked questions are available on the SASD website.
Seth Harvatine
Sheboygan Area School District superintendent
Does Sheboygan really need three middle schools?
Sheboygan Area School District (SASD) is preparing a referendum to build two new middle schools to replace Farnsworth and Urban middle schools for an estimated cost of $146 million. Enrollment is down, and there are many charter and parochial schools.
The Farnsworth Middle School property is too small to build a new school to match today’s standards. It would make more sense to add onto the Horace Mann Middle School, which has 54 acres to work with.
Currently, students are being bused to Horace Mann from the Lincoln-Erdmann and Cleveland areas. Two middle schools using the same boundaries as North and South high schools would be a more effective use of our tax money. It would also make transition from middle school to high school easier on the students.
The new Urban Middle School is proposed to be built on the corner of Mill Road and Najacht Road. Traffic would be dangerously increased on the already dangerous Mill Road. A three-story middle school would not fit in with the country-like atmosphere of the Rolling Meadows subdivision.
Yes, we need a new Urban Middle School, but why can’t it be built on the Taylor Drive property, which is over 50 acres? There would be better police and fire protection at that site as well.
SASD will have another meeting on the proposed Urban Middle School at 6:30 p.m. May 16 at the existing Urban Middle School. Please attend to share your ideas.
Ed and Linda McCabe
Sheboygan
In support of universal school choice
I agree with letter-writer Art DeJong’s recent opinion piece ("Voters should tear down wall and adopt universal school choice," April 28); although, to be honest, I had to Google the North Korean Pyonghwa. When I did, it became clear that the Pyonghwa car was used as propaganda to convince the North Korean citizenry that the state could produce cars and that the country was in good shape. However, as usual, the product produced by layers of government bureaucracy was of low quality while being too expensive at the same time.
Fortunately, we still live in a nation where we realize capitalism and competition in a free market produce innovative and superior products and solutions to common problems. The government-run public schools continually request additional taxpayer funds for the administration of a behemoth institution. The results are dismal. Johnny still can’t read.
Wisconsin parents should be able to choose for themselves which school is best for their own children. Universal school choice would provide them with alternatives. New school buildings or athletic fields will not make the difference in education. Let the money follow the children.
Judi Pool
Sheboygan
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Our letters policy
Letters to the editor are published in the order in which they are received and letter-writers are limited to having one letter published per month. Letters can be emailed to [email protected] and Editor Brandon Reid at [email protected]. Letters must meet specific guidelines, including being no more than 250 words and be from local authors or on topics of local interest. All submissions must include the name of the person who wrote the letter, their city of residence and a contact phone number. Letters are edited as needed for style, grammar, length, fairness, accuracy and libel.
This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Sheboygan letter-writers on rebuilding middle schools, school choice