Elections

Leopold area split on location of new school?

6 Comments

By trying to compare city council ward maps and the Leopold Elementary attendance map, it appears to me that Lawrie Kobza and Bill Clingan ran neck and neck in the Leopold area:

Ward 57 Ward 58 Ward 59 Total
Kobza – 32 Kobza – 16 Kobza – 129 Kobza – 177
Clingan – 36 Clingan – 14 Clingan – 138 Clingan – 188

Kobza favored construction of a new school at a different location to help relieve crowding at Leopold. Clingan favored construction of the new school at the Leopold site.
Do the results mean that the attendance area is nearly evenly split on the two options?
The comments section is open for anyone with an answer or interpretation.
Ed Blume

6 thoughts on “Leopold area split on location of new school?”

  1. Perhaps it is more complicated than for a school on the same location vs. new location.
    The school board or administration has not responded to the newly announced redevelopment of the Ridgewood apartments displacing 3000 residents over the next 5 years, nor have they acknowledge by building a school in a hard to access location you eliminate the option of rezoning students that live west of Leopold for busing. While Allied Drive residents were asked five years ago about placing a school in their neighborhood and they said they didn’t want to move their children, I ask again why that neighborhood is subject to the wind and a school is not build near them that could pool students from Leopold, Thoreau, Orchard Ridge, or Huegel with less transportation and more options. Leopold is very far from the west side growth and a new school more logically placed could help with many schools and not just one.

  2. Mary,
    I agree with you.
    I also wonder whether a new building in a different location might address a whole range of issues in a positive way. I have no idea where that location might be, but I’d like someone to explore all of the options and ramifications.
    Ed

  3. I wasn’t aware that Lawrie favored building at another site. Has she stated so publicly? I couldn’t find it on her campaign website.

  4. “Kobza has opposed earlier versions of the operating budget referendum, which cost more than the one the School Board adopted Monday night. She does not support building a new school next to Leopold Elementary, but said she would be in favor of building a new elementary school for the area at a different site.”
    From:
    Madison School Board Races: Kobza challenges Clingan
    Referendums a big issue
    By Lee Sensenbrenner
    March 29, 2005
    Capital Times

  6. To consider another site, I’m wondering:
    Where would the building be located? On what land and what is the cost of that land?
    The schools mentioned (Leopold, Thoreau, Orchard Ridge, or Huegel), currently go to different middle schools and high schools? Who would go to Cherokee? Who would go to Toki? Who would go to West and Memorial? These schools also have a medium to high percentage of low-income; how would the new school classroom dynamics be impacted? How would the schools these students currently attend, be impacted by ESL or SAGE?

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