Budget Crisis Forces Waupun School to Close

Custodian Trudy Kempfer (left) and 4th-grade teacher Marilyn Klobuchar share a hug on Amity Elementary's last day of school. Amity parents purchased necklaces with the school's mascot, an eagle, for each teacher and staff member to show their appreciation.

The library at Amity Elementary School was the site for a celebration just five years ago. After voters passed a referendum in 1998, the Waupun School District added a new wing and library to the school, and purchased a group of computers so that students had access to the latest technology. The community, staff and students gathered at the school for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and party.

Now those computers are being packed and split up among the district’s four other elementary schools, along with the library’s collection of books. Because of state-imposed school district revenue caps and the state budget crisis, the school board voted in May to close Amity’s doors permanently.

Most of Amity’s teachers, staff and 98 students will also be split up among Waupun’s four remaining elementary schools when school resumes this fall.

Second-grade teacher Suzanne Goebert hopes the district will act soon to reassign Amity teachers. “We’d move on if we knew whether we had jobs,” she said. “We could be more positive.”

Fourth-grade teacher Marilyn Klobuchar, a 17-year veteran of Amity, worries about how the children will handle the change. Amity had one class per grade level, so classmates were close. Now that their school has closed, they’ll have to take longer bus rides to their new schools, and they won’t have all of their Amity friends to help them adjust.

Kindergarten teacher Terrie Schmoldt said the students will be in larger classes at their new schools, so they won’t have access to the individual attention they enjoyed at Amity, where student-teacher ratios averaged 18 to 1. “The kids have been really stressed out since the rumors started about Amity closing,” Schmoldt said. “They’re very concerned about where their teachers are going to go.”

Most of Amity’s teachers are hopeful they won’t have to take on a different grade level to keep their jobs. Teachers throughout the district are just hoping to stay employed.

The district sent layoff notices to more than 20 teachers this spring. All were in their first or second year of teaching in Waupun. Some have a chance to be recalled after the state budget is finalized.

At least one of Amity’s teachers won’t return to a classroom in the Waupun district this fall. Fifth-grade teacher Andy Steger was laid off.

Steger took a job in Waupun last fall because it offered higher pay and a shorter commute. Now, he is looking for jobs outside of the profession because there aren’t many teaching jobs available. Waupun’s neighboring school districts are also struggling with budget shortfalls.

“I love teaching. It is my passion and I love kids,” Steger said. “But reality is that I can’t do it because of these budget cuts.

“I really feel for first-year teachers in Wisconsin. There are no jobs, and they have to constantly live in fear of layoffs.”

When the school board officially announced in March that the closing of Amity was a possibility to solve the district’s budget woes, parents and community members rallied.

Using the message, “SOS: Save Our School,” parents and community members made T-shirts to show their support for Amity, called meetings at the Town Hall, gave presentations, and attended all school board meetings. They also collected 800 signatures on a petition to the school board. “It really kept us going,” Goebert said. “They really fought for us and the kids.”

In the end, the combined efforts of parents and staff fell just short of their goal. The school board voted 4-3 to close the school.

The faculty at Amity is frustrated by the way the district handled the matter. What hurt the most was the superintendent’s comment that Amity wasn’t a community, 1st-grade teacher Mary Anne Zimmerlee said. “He said we were just a country school on a black top road with no fire department or state highway.”

On the last day of school, Amity staff met for their last staff luncheon and shared hugs, tears and good-byes. Waupun Mayor Bob Reinap, who teaches at Waupun Middle School, sent the teachers an e-mail to thank them for their service at Amity.

“Contrary to some people’s opinions, Amity was and still is a community,” he wrote. “Always keep a soft spot in your hearts for your Amity community.”

Posted June 4, 2003