Throughout the past three years, the Beaver Dam Unified School District’s Board of Education and administration have had many conversations, workshops and listening sessions about our district’s facilities, the number of buildings we operate, future maintenance projects and the changing needs of our students and staff. These conversations culminated this past summer with the board’s decision to contract with an architectural firm to complete a comprehensive feasibility study of our 11 buildings. The study will focus on how we use space, the expected lifespan of our buildings and their mechanicals, as well as the efficiency of operating numerous small elementary buildings. We also asked the firm to look at vacant buildings in the community to determine if they are viable options for our school district.

We have surveyed our staff regarding their thoughts on how our facilities meet their needs. Teams of engineers and architects have spent in excess of twenty hours walking, mapping and recording every inch of our facilities. Administratively we have spent time with the architects in charge of the project, talking about the history of our district and community, the challenges we face, the successes we have had and a future vision of education where instruction is more individualized and fully integrated with technology advancements. 

The end result of this process will be a list of options for the BDUSD board to consider. The options presented will focus on addressing the areas of need identified during the study. We anticipate having preliminary results to discuss within weeks and final recommendations to consider in late February. When deciding on future actions, the board will weigh input from our community, parents, staff and students. The board will also consider current economic trends, property tax rates, local property values and other financial indicators that impact our community members. 

How can you be involved in the conversation? Several board members and the superintendent host a community listening session the first Thursday of every month from 7:00 to 8:30 AM at Edith’s Café (Downtown Beaver Dam). The district hosts an open call-in program on WBEV the fourth Thursday of every month from 11:10 to 11:50 AM. In January and February the board will host open house events for all community members to attend; dates will be published in our newspaper and on the district’s website (www.bdusd.org). The open houses will provide an opportunity to hear the results of the feasibility study and will offer everyone in attendance a chance to share their thoughts. All feasibility study information and resources, as well as a venue to ask questions and get answers can be found on our website.  Please join the conversation.