WAUKESHA — It was a full house inside the gymnasium at Randall STEM Elementary School Wednesday evening. The school is one of two buildings the Waukesha School District is hoping to sell to Carroll University within the coming weeks.
Hilary Roberts has two children who attend the elementary school. She says she learned about the district's plan to sell STEM Randall, along with the Lindholm Administrative Building, in a letter that was sent out last week.
"I'm feeling a little bit of disappointment. We love coming to STEM Randall," said Roberts. "We have some concerns about how rushed this whole process feels and how a lot of our questions have not been answered before we feel like the sale is more than likely going to go through."
Superintendent Dr. Jim Sebert said discussions to sell began last year. Because of a decline in enrollment, Sebert says the district has more buildings than they need at the moment.
"We've been seeing it for a period of time. We are going to continue to see it at least through 2030," said Sebert. "We think the way to address that is to try and get in front of it a little bit and part of that is right-sizing the district footprint."
If the sale goes through, staff would be relocated from the administrative building to the vacant Blair Building along Park Avenue. Students and staff at Randall STEM Elementary would move to the vacant Whittier Building for the 2023-2024 school year and beyond. But that's causing some concerns for parents.
"For me, as well as the majority of the parents here tonight, the biggest concern is the traffic flow. With it being next door to South High School, the young drivers being in the area with young children trying to cross the street, parents driving their kids to school."
"We heard that loud and clear and we'll continue to pursue options to address those," said Sebert.
The Waukesha School board will consider the sale of the buildings during a special meeting next Tuesday, Sept. 27. If approved, the Waukesha School District and Carroll University plan to hold a joint press conference to discuss the next steps.
