By Thomas J. McKillen
Managing Editor

While the Thomas Jefferson building has not been used as a school building for several years, that doesn’t mean it is vacant.
During a joint meeting of the Menomonee Falls School Board and Menomonee Falls Recreation Commission Dec. 12, Recreation Supervisor Dan Zeroth said the building — which is located at W165 N8301 Lavergne Ave. —has been used by the Community Education and Recreation Department as another program site for the past three years after it was closed as a school setting.
Zeroth said the building is used three nights a week —Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays — from 6-9 p.m. In addition, starting this fall the building is being used on 9-11 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday for an indoor walking program which is being supervised by Older Adult and Volunteer Coordinator Louise Schmidt.
When the building became available to the Recreation Department three years ago, Zeroth said use was initially limited to the gym area.
“As we’ve grown and as we’ve added more classes over there, we continue to increase our space needs. Right now we’re pretty much accessing most areas of the building but we’re not utilizing most of the classrooms,” Zeroth said.
Zeroth said the gym areas and space that was once a library and art room are being used for programs. Among the programs that are being offered at the Thomas Jefferson building are self-defense, cardio kick boxing, junior martial arts, country line dance, social dance, zumba, knitting, home buying/selling, two youth dance classes, youth and parent child cooking, and Falls Focus club volleyball.
In addition, the gym will be rented out Jan. 1 to Falls Youth Basketball and the outdoor grounds will be rented in spring to the Falls Soccer Club, Falls Angels softball and Junior Indians baseball. The building is also used by Waukesha County Technical College for police training courses.
Zeroth said most of the programs are offered during the week. Zeroth cited the walking program as an example of good use of the facility.
“For most part that building sits dead until 6 p.m. Louise has been looking for a place to do indoor walking in the schools? You can’t — it’s a safety concern,” Zeroth said. “Here we have this great building, we have access to it, Louise found some volunteers to open it up and it’s been growing since day one.”
The growing use of the building could present a challenge to the Recreation Department should it no longer be available, Zeroth indicated.
“As we expand in the building and we’re creating things, we’re trying to creatively use those spaces. But it’s also getting to the point where it’s going to be tough if for some reason that building would disappear, to replicate those in other parts of the school buildings,” Zeroth said.
Zeroth noted that that building was previously rented out to Goodwill and the Tri-County YMCA in the past.
District Director of Business Services Jeff Gross added that the district will have to decide if it should grow programs or put a cap on them considering the uncertain future of the Thomas Jefferson building. Gross noted that the Thomas Jefferson building will be addressed in a 25-year facility plan the district will be developing.
“It’s a catch-22 that at some point (the building) may go away but you take advantage of it while you have it, and that’s what we’ve tried to do,” Zeroth said.