Early signs point to the Shawano School District being able to function with three school buildings instead of the four buildings it currently operates as student population continues to decrease.
Superintendent Kurt Krizan told the Shawano School Board during its Nov. 9 work session about the work done by district officials and representatives from Hoffman Planning and Design, the consulting firm that oversaw the projects from the 2024 referendum. Earlier this fall, the district announced it was going to investigate a reconfiguration of the school buildings as it considers what to do in a few years regarding the aging Shawano Community Middle School, which was originally built in the 1950s.
Three options are being considered. Besides the reconfiguration, the district is also considering building a new middle school on land purchased by the district adjacent to Shawano Community High School, as well as renovating the existing middle school at 1050 S. Union St.
Currently, officials are looking at having SCHS serve students in seventh through 12th grades, according to Krizan. Olga Brener Intermediate School would serve grades 4-6, while Hillcrest Primary School would add third grade to its current 4-year-old kindergarten through second grade setup.
“Hoffman, in order to do this, they took a copy of our current high school schedule and a copy of our current middle school schedule, and then all the rooms that we utilize, and they did a utilization of the entire space,” Krizan said.
A classroom or other space is considered to be utilized if it’s occupied or used 75-80% of the time, according to Krizan. If it’s used more than 80% of the time, it’s considered overutilized, he said.
Krizan noted there was a miscommunication originally between the district and Hoffman, because an initial report looked at having all three middle school grades at SCHS, including sixth grade. The high school could hold all of those grades, he said, but only if there were more spaces built to accommodate sixth grade.
“In order for us to put sixth grade there, they had us constructing four classrooms,” Krizan said. “If you were to put sixth grade as an option at the high school, that would be probably be putting it at over capacity.”
Once sixth grade was taken out of the equation, Hoffman estimated SCHS could accommodate the remaining two middle school grades. However, there could still be some overutilization of certain spaces, according to Krizan.
“Agriculture is one area that could be overutilized. So long term, it could be another classroom close to that,” he said.
Middle school grades would most likely be assigned space on the second floor of SCHS, according to Krizan, and a current health classroom would merge with existing science classrooms. He noted there could be an overflow area for some art classes under the potential reconfiguration.
Krizan noted one thing Hoffman didn’t look at was locker capacity if the seventh and eighth grades came to SCHS.
“We would have to double check that,” he said.
The next steps for reconfiguration would involve looking at other schools that have made the change already and how it has worked. Krizan said district officials plan to make trips to the New Berlin School District, which has two high schools with a grade 7-12 configuration, as well as Northland Pines School District in Eagle River, which turned its high school to the same configuration 10 years ago.
Krizan noted that both school districts are considered by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction report cards to be high-achieving schools, a goal the Shawano School District is working toward.
Putting sixth grade at Olga Brener would limit the number of electives for students compared to what they get at SCMS, according to Krizan.
“We don’t have a shop (at Olga Brener), and we don’t have a kitchen and some of those other pieces,” he said. “Those are all larger conversations we would need to have. It’s a space piece right now. We have the space, but what would some of those programs look like once we have the spaces available?”
The district is still looking at options and doesn’t expect to bring a final recommendation to the school board until early 2027.
