Metro Briefs

Dramatic school changes proposed

A proposed referendum project would consolidate the Wausau District's 13 elementary schools into seven K-4 sites

A new proposal for the Wausau School District would drastically revamp its 13 elementary and two middle schools.

District leaders presented the proposal to the Wausau School Board Thursday. The plan — slated for a referendum in November — calls for consolidating its 13 elementary schools to seven remodeled schools, and split the two middle schools into one for 5th and 6th graders, and the other for 7th and 8th graders.

Remodeling the elementary schools would cost $53.3 million, according to documents from the district. Remodels of the middle schools would cost another $31.6 million. But the district would also save $23.2 million on one-time deferred maintenance costs and $2.5 million on recurring costs following the merger, according to data compiled by the district. And it would save $17 million by not needing to modernize those schools.

According to a summary of the proposal, the referendum project would:

• Remodel and merge the district’s elementary schools into seven K-4 schools (Stettin, Thomas Jefferson, South Mountain, GD Jones, Riverview, Hawthorn Hills and John Marshall). This means some schools, such as Lincoln Elementary, would be vacated.

• Remodel John Muir into school for 5th and 6th graders

• Remodel Horace Mann into a school for 7th and 8th graders

• Remodel Maine Elementary into a 4K–8 th grade Montessori school

• Remodel Franklin Elementary into a single alternative school site

• Build a new environmental learning center at the school forest

• Remodel Thom Field, adding a turf field, showers, concessions and increased parking

• Address deferred maintenance and technology replacements across the district

The plan also calls for updating the district’s curriculum to “reflect 21st century themes” and help prepare students for the jobs of the future.

Wausau School District Superintendent Keith Hilts says the proposal came out of the information gathered by the school district as part of a series of listening sessions he and staff held with community members. Addressing the district’s school boundary issues were the number one thing they heard from residents. Safety and communication were next on that list. “We know the Wausau School District is a great district,” Hilts says, “But we want it to be even better. That’s the purpose of this proposal.”

School Superintendent Keith Hilts says the proposal came out of a series of listening sessions held with community members.

Proposed new elementary school boundaries under the referendum.

Data from the Applied Population Lab in Madison, a consultant the district hired, shows the student population decreasing in Wausau, as it is in a lot of places in the state. “We’re building something that’s the right size,” says the district’s Chief Finance Officer Bob Tess. “We think we found the sweet spot.”

Tess says because the district has been planning ahead, it should be able to borrow for the projects while still decreasing its property tax mill rate. “When need meets affordability that’s a recipe for a good referendum,” Tess says.

Board member Patrick McKee pointed out that under the proposed school reorganization, some students would attend four different schools before ever reaching high school.

The district will put out an information video in May to explain the proposal to residents, and develop the project with a lot of community and local leader input, including with a follow up survey. A task force will meet over the summer.

The full board would need to approve the final proposal by August in order to schedule a referendum in November. Hilts said at a meeting Monday that an alternative proposal is also being developed and would be presented to the board in May.

Nine Mile Mountain Bike trails open this weekend

If you’re looking for some good news out of all this pandemic business, things are looking up: mountain bike trails will open on Friday, leaders of the local mountain bike club say.

Nine Mile Trail will open at noon Friday, May 1, says Aaron Ruff, President of the Central Wisconsin Off-Road Cycling Coalition. Before that, according to Ruff, the Ringle mountain bike trails will open at sunrise. The Underdown mountain bike trail in Lincoln County is slated to open as well, Ruff says.

Ruff says that with the county offices physically locked, but still open for business, riders should call ahead to buy their season passes for Nine Mile and purchase them over the phone. There is no fee to ride the Ringle trails.

Dozens of downtown businesses could go under, River District survey shows

More than 50 small businesses in Wausau’s downtown are at risk of closing within the next two months, according to a survey conducted by the Wausau River District.

Those are the sobering findings of the Wausau River District’s report, The Impact of COVID-19, released last week. According to the findings, 54 small businesses within the district are at risk of closing over the next two months as the pandemic and resulting lockdown continue. That number jumps to 104 over the next five months.

The survey question specifically asked how soon each business would be at risk of closing permanently if the restrictions continue. Of those asked, 4% would close in less than a month, and 33% said it was not a concern. Roughly half of the River District’s downtown businesses said they would close within one to five months.

Nearly 60% of businesses surveyed said their revenue had dropped by more than 75%. And nearly 75% of businesses laid off at least one employee. The survey also found that nearly 49% of small business employees in the downtown area are at risk of unemployment. The report says that business owners most need financial assistance and penaltyfree extensions on expenses.

Doctor suspended for attending rally faced online hate, vandalism

An Aspirus cardiologist suspended from his job for attending a rally in Mosinee decrying the Safer at Home order extension says he’s faced hate online and vandalism at his home.

David Murdock was suspended for a week without pay after attending the rally outside the IROW facility in Mosinee April 19, where hundreds gathered to protest the governor’s extension of the social distancing lockdown.

Murdock in a Facebook post says he received hateful comments the like of which he hasn’t heard since high school. Someone also apparently spread feces over the front steps of his home, for which he filed a police report. “Nobody should have to put up with this evil,” Murdock says.

According to his Facebook post, Murdock told Aspirus administrators about his having attended the rally the following day, and was placed on leave. He decided to take another week off using vacation time, Murdock wrote. Murdock says by attending the rally he was able to better understand the devastating effects of the coronavirus shutdown order. Murdock agreed with the initial order, he says, but the number of cases have been few in Marathon County and in nearby counties, and Murdock believes that policies after the initial order should have taken regional variation into account.

Good week for: Ponderosa Motel will be gone soon

The old Ponderosa Motel should come down in May city leaders say.

The burned out former Ponderosa Motel on Grand Avenue is slated to be razed within a few weeks. Wausau Community Development Director Chris Schock says the motel would most likely come down by mid- or late-May.

The city’s Community Development Authority earlier in the year sought bids to redevelop the former Ponderosa Motel and chose Emmerich Associates, which plans to build an eight-unit site for Pastika Guardianship and Independent Living.

The motel was gutted by a fire in 2015, and ultimately the CDA bought it after the county repossessed the property in a tax lien. According to the negotiated terms approved by the CDA Tuesday, Emmerich will build an apartment building with a constructed value of at least $600,000, and work would be completed on the site by Dec. 31, 2021. The CDA is responsible for demolishing the site. Emmerich is buying the site for $10,000, according to the term sheet.

Emmerich is also working on buying the adjacent vacant restaurant property (former site of the Eagle’s Nest), and if so would construct a 16-unit building there.

The demolition is good news for southeast side neighborhood residents, who have long raised concerns about the dilapidated building.