This letter was sent to me by an Elmbrook parent.
Our family has had a couple of children recently graduate from an Elmbrook high school. They received exemplary educations and are doing very well in universities. I guess it's remarkable my children are doing so well considering they had to attend a high school in such deplorable physical condition. That's the district's opinion, not mine. Their spin on this referendum really angers me.
Perhaps parents should be suing the district. Elmbrook is clearly, according to their own plethora of fact sheets, running two high schools that are placing students at risk every day. The district doesn't get to have it both ways. Either the schools are worthy of my children or they aren't. And the district keeps telling me over and over again that they are not.
Five years ago I remember watching a teacher struggle to open a window at the high school. She commented that
the main office had stopped responding to requests for maintenance for stuff like windows. THAT WAS FIVE YEARS AGO. A couple of years ago an article ran in the Brookfield News about how easy it was to bypass security and enter the high schools. All of the issues were caused by human error. Now we're told that my children are at risk because there are no closed-circuit cameras on the doors.
Another concern is how many people will be milling through the schools during a potential renovation. What about the security of my child then? No one has addressed the thousands of high school students that will have the quality of their education significantly diminished by constant construction. (Of course, the district has shown their real concern for safety by having people mill around the high schools all day long for a million tours.)
I absolutely love the teachers and curriculum at the high schools. I love the students that come from those schools. But, I don't trust Elmbrook School Board President Meg Wartman. I don't trust Superintendent Matt Gibson. I don't trust the administration to be good stewards of my tax dollars on this issue.
I'm going to vote against this referendum.
(Please do not use my name)
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