City Council answers School Board's tough questions

Kutz, Van Atta, McKenna query aldermen in otherwise empty chamber

The Racine Unified School Board met with the big kids at the Racine City Council Tuesday night.

And while they weren't given all the answers to the test (though they asked for them), neither were they given wedgies. They weren't even rapped across the knuckles with a ruler (although that was suggested by a councilman, but in a slightly different context.)

It was billed as a Community Listening and Linking Session by the school board, which initiated the meeting in council chambers. School board members William Van Atta, Sue Kutz and Julie McKenna met with more than a dozen aldermen and asked them the really tough questions.

Here's some of the Q and A:

Q: Would you support building new elementary schools to allow grade reconfiguration at the high schools? (i.e., from 10-12 rather than 9-12):

Thomas Friedel, District 10: We could do a better job with smaller high schools. But before you do any of that, you've got to wrestle with the redistricting problem; it's been on the table for years. Until you solve that, you won't pass a referendum.

Jim Kaplan, District 4: I only support new schools in high density areas.

Mayor Gary Becker: I sense the school board isn't willing to make the tough decisions. No matter what, people will be upset; that comes with the big bucks you get.

Raymond DeHahn, District 7: The high schools were not built for grades 9-12, they were built for 10-12.

Q: Should we renovate or build new?

Becker: Whatever makes sense. We don't want a ring (of schools) built around the city. We want kids able to walk to school.

Friedel: You've got a school built in the 1850's (Winslow, 1856); you've got to wonder whether it makes sense to keep putting money into it.

Q: Would you support building schools west of Route 31?

Becker: If you're waiting for the perfect plan -- it's not going to come. City neighborhoods have to be taken into account. Of course, that's easy to say: It has to work for the community, for Mount Pleasant, for Sturtevant, for the city.

Q: What do we need to get referendum support?

Sandy Weidner, District 6: Bring more people into the schools.

DeHahn: Have a community open house.

Jeff Coe, District 1: Unified has to regain credibility, get trust back. Stop saying one thing and doing another. (The name Hicks was mentioned.)

Pete Karas, District 9: Hold exit interviews with kids, so staff and administrators can learn. Create more opportunities for recent grads to come back and work with kids. Engage young people; invest in the future.

David Maack, District 5: The school district doesn't do a good enough job of tooting its own horn about the good things, not just the dropout rate. You need to be able to show some success stories.

Kaplan: (Quoting a study showing why kids drop out) The kids found school too boring. I found it boring too ... and got a ruler across the back of my hand.... (amid laughter) I know you can't do that now.

Becker: Keep the process as open as possible. We're representatives of the community, but we're not the community. Find your critics first, if you're going for a referendum, and talk to them

Coe: Create a junior school board; we don't listen to our kids enough.

Robert Mozol, District 15: Indecision is worst.