On February 13, 2023 school board members and district staff received a letter from the Wisconsin Institute of Law & Liberty (WILL) regarding the misinformation surrounding the November 2022 referendum to purchase land and construct a new high school building. The contents of the letter resonated strongly with my personal belief in doing my best to always do the “right thing.” I am writing this post to share my opinion on what I believe doing the “right thing” means in reference to the current situation.
I personally believe the district needs an updated facility. I voted in favor of the current referendum and if it were to be put on the ballot again, I would still vote in favor of borrowing the funds to build a new facility.
With this being said, I also feel that the Monroe School District Board of Education should pause, communicate, and run a special referendum, as suggested by WILL, to determine if voters are still willing to support construction of a new high school facility now that the true cost to individual taxpayers is known. It will take an act of extreme courage from our current board members and school administrators to temporarily disregard all the hard work and effort they have poured into the process to date and put the referendum approval back on the ballot. Doing the “right thing” may possibly mean losing money (currently estimated at ~$2,000,000 per district consultants) and potentially negating years of effort. The road forward will not be easy. By proceeding courageously and with a mindset of doing the “right thing” it can at least be navigated as a community that is accurately informed and united rather than a community divided and where some feel disenfranchised. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, “The time is always right to do what is right.”