SPRING VALLEY – It’s an exciting time at Spring Valley School District and taxpayers have an opportunity to participate in determining future steps by joining a Community Task Force on Facilities.

The purpose of the task force will be four-fold:

• Reviewing identified capital (facility) needs, providing input on those needs and confirming support or lack of support.
• Reviewing various budget proposals by capital (facility) need and confirming support or lack of support.
• Reviewing the proposed operating budget, providing input on funding options and confirming support or lack of support.
• Reviewing possible/potential referendum formats by issue/option, providing input and confirming support or lack of support.

The task force, according to a school district letter, is being created to study the district’s facilities and recommend to the school board the most effective and efficient plan to address the district’s facilities needs.

The first meeting will be held at 6;30 p.m. Sept. 24 in the Spring Valley Middle/High School library. The task force will meet again in October and November.

So how did the district get to this point? It’s important to provide some background.

“In the fall of 2022 at the same time that the board was doing a community survey on the referendum that didn’t pass, we had a 10-year facility plan with various buildings and areas of focus,” said Superintendent John Groh. “We wanted to get more details on how our buildings needed to be maintained. We talked about doing a 10-year facilities study, which was presented in April 2023, the same month of the referendum vote.”

Two referendum questions were posed to voters in April 2023. District residents voted “NO” on both items including a $7.1 million facilities question regarding the construction of a track, football field and multi-purpose athletic complex at the high school. The second referendum item was a $1.5 million operational question, which would have supplied the school district an additional $500,000 annually for three years. Spring Valley School Board sent the operational question to referendum to keep up with rising everyday expenses largely caused by recently rampant inflation.

Election data showed that of the 1,553 people that voted in the election, 781 (50.28%) voted “NO” on the $1.5 million operational question compared to the 772 that voted to approve the funding.

People cast fewer votes on the athletic complex facilities question, which was the second referendum item on the ballot. That means that 15 people left the second question blank. Of the 1,538 people that voted, 901 (58%) voted “NO” on the $7.1 million athletic complex item.

“It was not the right plan, not the right time, not in combination with another referendum,” said Groh.

Fortunately, the state increased the per pupil funding limit and the district has been able to maintain a balanced budget, with a slight surplus the past three years. This should be the case moving forward as long as enrollment remains stable, Groh said.

However, the facilities study revealed that some district buildings need attention in order to remain viable for future generations of Cardinals. Some projects (which are very preliminary ideas) that will be under consideration include:

• Deferred maintenance at the middle/high school, built in 1998, including electrical, exterior (tuckpointing, doors, etc.), flooring.
• A new transportation facility; the current one located downtown on Second Street is 80x80. The district owns 12 buses with eight routes. They have to order special buses (at increased costs of $20,000 to $30,000 over regular buses) that will hold enough students and fit into the 1960s garage.
• Adding family and consumer education back into the curriculum, according to the 2021 strategic plan. In the last couple of years, the number of kids taking those types of classes in the ag department has doubled. Expanding career and technical education space/offerings.
• Building an outdoor athletic facility including a running track, practice field (without artificial turf). There would be no stadium with permanent seating, concession stand or plaza.
• Adding a music/choir room. “We have three rooms that are all great. The reason is we have three rooms and two teachers and one of them is empty all day long,” Groh said. “We have a library that is used five periods a day to teach health classes, which limits the library’s use.” A reshuffling of the rooms’ current uses plus adding a designated music/choir room would allow for financial literacy class space, wrestling room, band room and guest locker rooms, plus a school store. No space would go unused.

“In June 2023, the board looked at what are we going to do with all this information (from the facilities study) and the costs,” Groh said. “Directors met with the board and talked about priorities.”

In December 2023, the board voted to partner with Nexus Solutions, a Minnesota/Wisconsin school facility planning company, in order to connect with the community and perhaps devise a plan the community could support. It was obvious, Groh said, the plans presented during the April 2022 referendum were not what the community wanted. The district began working with Rob Brown of Nexus in February. They interviewed school staff, looked at systems and toured all district buildings. On Aug. 28, Nexus presented a draft plan to the school board, which addresses deferred maintenance, educational adequacy for 10 years and beyond, and athletic fields.

“The next stage is to initiate a task force,” Groh said. “If done successfully, we’ll get as many people to represent opinions as possible. Without the diversity of opinion of that committee, we have nothing.”

Close to 50 members have already signed up and the committee would welcome more. Only about six of them are school staff members.

“Nexus is good at what they do,” Groh said. “They’re not getting paid one dollar until there is funding for a project, whether that’s now or five or 10 years from now. It’s truly an incentive to find a plan that the community supports, not a big project that is maybe pushing the envelope.”

Groh said he will not be a big part of the task force, which is intentional. He will introduce topics and welcome people, but will leave the decision-making to the members and Nexus reps.

“It’s Nexus’ job to listen to the community,” Groh said. “We want to know what the community wants.”

A community survey will be mailed to all district residents the first week of October. It can be filled out by paper or electronically. The results will be tabulated by the end of November, when the task force will then draft a final recommendation to the school board.

“The board will have the survey results and task force recommendations. If it makes sense, the board can go for a referendum if they so choose,” Groh explained.

Groh said a key feature he appreciates with Nexus is they know it’s not appropriate to do all the facilities work at one time. They will give people the information and let them decide.

“All that information is put into a plan. If now isn’t the time, maybe later will be the time,” Groh said. “It’s not a ‘do the referendum and get it all done’ plan. It’s a ‘listen to the taxpayers” to see what they want’ plan.

“Above all else, the thing I’m most excited about is the feedback we’re going to get back from the community. I’m eager to find out what they want, what they think for our kids and our future. It has to make sense to them and that’s where the task force will come in. I’m really confident that the results of whatever the recommendations are will be what the community will support.”

The task force and its objectives address three goals in the district’s 2021 strategic plan: Fiscal planning for athletic and co-curricular facilities; developing a Family Consumer Science curriculum/life skills; and clear communication with students and families regarding academic and career planning opportunities.

Groh added that Spring Valley students’ test scores are far outpacing the state gains.

“We’ve worked really hard to do good things for kids. We want to keep that going and in a smaller school district, it’s more competitive now. What can we do to get great access to more courses and opportunities for kids. We can set this district up to be competitive long into the future. Bigger districts have some advantages, but we know every child in our school really well and we know what they want and what they need to succeed.”

Those interested in serving on the task force can fill out an application in the district office (1450 County Road CC) or go to the school website: www.springvalley.k12.wi.us