JANESVILLE Several parents who are part of the Save Washington Elementary initiative plan to meet with school board members and school district Superintendent Mark Holzman on Monday to discuss the future of the shuttered, flood-damaged grade school.
The meeting comes amid calls for the school board to explore solutions that would allow Washington school to be repaired and reopened after a two-year closure the district plans for the building on North Pine Street.
The Facebook-based parents group has grown from 750 members in its first week to nearly 1,000. The group has also filed a formal to keep the school open that now has nearly 3,130 signatures.
The petition appears to be gaining traction; it had just under 2,000 signatures in mid-June.
In a statement to The 69蹤獲, the School District of Janesville said the meeting will not be public. The district said the guest list is limited to a few members of the Save Washington parents group, two Janesville School Board members, and Holzman.
The district did not specify which school board members are tapped to attend the meeting.
The parent group has floated some ideas already to help repair and reopen Washington school, including fundraising for the at least $3 million in repairs the flooded-out building requires.
Others in the group have suggested the district should sell off its Educational Service Center building, while some group members suggest the district tap state grants and grassroots fundraising.
In the last two weeks, the parents group has focused on strategies for fundraising and securing a meeting with district officials.
It is not clear exactly what topics the group and district officials plan to discuss at the meeting Monday. However, Facebook posts on the Save Washington page indicate the groups members plant to present FEMA funding as one idea.
President Trump announced in a social media post earlier this week that Wisconsin will be awarded $22.6 million in FEMA aid for severe storms and flooding damage that occurred in April.
Rock County officials confirmed Thursday night that the county is included in the federal disaster assistance package.
Enrollment trends may also be a topic of discussion at the meeting Monday.
In a new school district memo to the finance committee, district Finance Director Dan McCrea outlined a trend of declining enrollment in the district, which comes in large part because of dwindling birth rates.
Between 2000 and 2024 annual births in the district dropped 16%.
The memo said the district expects to see a further decline in enrollment from 2025 to 2040.
The finance committee will discuss these enrollment trends at its Tuesday night meeting.
The school board faces deadlines later this month for a decision on whether to permanently close Washington school.
The district has said the decision on Washington school is time-sensitive and needs to come in July in part because it must galvanize a construction schedule with contractor JP Cullen on a set of building renovations already funded through a previously-approved, capital projects referendum.
Some of those renovations had been planned at Washington school prior to the flash floods April 17 that left the school with serious water and mud damage.
The school boards next meeting is slated for July 14.