Board moves to next phase of referendum work

The Shawano School Board wasted no time in moving forward following the successful referendum vote Nov. 5.

The board came to a consensus Nov. 11 to have a committee work with Hoffman Planning and Design to solidify plans for renovations and additions at its schools, with the goal of having groundbreaking ceremonies at each of the schools in the spring and hopefully have most of the work done by the first day of school in September 2026. Board members Tim Renard, John Arens, Bobbi Lemerond and Frank Kugel will serve on the committee.

Jody Anders, K-12 specialist with Hoffman, said that his team was meeting with district administrators Nov. 15 to begin discussions.

“We’ll be formalizing how the projects will proceed,” he said.

Anders said the committee would “sign off” on things so that the process did not have to wait for the school board to meet once a month.

“Throughout the design process, there are phases that we have to be signed off on, have an official OK before Hoffman is allowed to proceed any further,” Anders said.

The committee was one option, but Anders said the board could have asked Superintendent Kurt Krizan give the green light on his own, or the whole board could give approvals at special meetings. He also said that the board could have given the authority to one of its standing committees, like the finance and facilities committee.

“I will caution you that, whoever it is, the participation level will not be easy,” Anders said. “There are times during the construction process where we may need to meet every other week. Design is a little more spaced out, but we need to have people available to make the decisions and keep the process moving.”

When Anders said something needed to be decided by the Nov. 15 meeting, board members expressed concern about moving that quickly, especially because discussion about the referendum projects was not listed on the agenda as an action item. Anders said the board could take more time but urged members not to wait too long.

Board President Mike Musolff said that forming the committee did not require an official vote by the board.

Krizan told the board that while the special committee will give the official approvals, there will be a lot more involvement from community members — especially folks involved with supporting high school athletics and performing arts.

“It’s not being done in isolation,” Krizan said.

Anders echoed that, noting that Hoffman plans to, in short order, reach out to staff members regarding design ideas.

“You have a lot of supporters of certain areas of the facilities that you may want to have involved in the design process,” he said. “That’s up to you as a board to decide how much you want to open that process up. I would recommend you open that up as much as possible.”

Board member Christine McKinnies said she didn’t want to be part of the committee but supported the idea of having some committee manage the process.

“For one, we, as a board, made a big decision,” McKinnies said. “We could put this on our district administrator, but if people are unhappy and everything, I don’t think he should be the one person. There should be a committee to support him.”

Arens expressed concern about whether the district would be able to move forward as quickly as they intend, given that contractors could be in short supply.

“There’s about a half a billion dollars in referendums that were approved out there (Nov. 5),” Arens said. “How comfortable are you getting contractors?”

Anders told Arens that there have been no indications that there wouldn’t be contractors available to bid on the school district’s work.

Arens suggested that, because schools are educational institutions, Hoffman should work on getting students involved with the design process, construction work and more. Anders agreed it was a good idea.

“We need to teach our students the proper way to do these jobs, not by what they know, but by what’s really out there in the trade,” Arens said.

Krizan said that the question of when the district would be breaking ground on projects has been one of the most frequently asked questions since the referendum passed six days earlier. His favorite comment, though, came from a student.

“Wednesday morning, one of our students walked into an English class, took his desk chair, shook it and said, ‘Hmm, I expected a new desk by now.’”

The first meeting of the new committee has not yet been scheduled.

In other news, Krizan announced three participants who are helping with the stadium at Shawano Community High School, and one more person offering verbally to contribute. So far, no one has come forward to support the large naming rights donations for either the stadium or auditorium.

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com