By Thomas J. McKillen
Managing Editor

Several parents urged the Menomonee Falls School Board Feb. 8 to drop any plans  to scale back middle school athletics.
Resident Sharon Daly submitted a petition urging the board to reject any effort to cut middle school athletics.
“Rather than middle school sports becoming collateral damage, please involve parents and coaches to find efficiencies in programs that will reduce spending without reducing opportunities,” Daly said.
Robert Greifenkamp said he was concerned about middle school sports being cut or transferred to the Community Education and Recreation Department. He noted that B-teams have already been reduced.
“You have to find it somewhere else. Consider other options,” Greifenkamp said.
Greifenkamp suggested the board consider increasing fees or examining transportation costs.
“There are lot of other ideas out there, other places where you can make reductions that wouldn’t hurt the lifelong experiences these kids are having playing middle school sports. You’ve already hurt those experiences by cutting the B-teams, don’t cut the A-teams,” Greifenkamp said.
Superintendent Keith Marty noted that the district has faced several years of addressing structural deficits and has heard from parents objecting to cuts in other areas. Marty said he “challenged” Athletics and Activities Director Dave Petroff to make reductions in his budget.
“The way we’re looking at our athletic program at the middle school right now, truthfully I’m not sure it’s the best,” Marty said. “There’s some limited number of opportunities for kids truthfully and over the years we’ve created a lot of new opportunities for our middle school (students) thanks to the good works of many of you with the Junior Indians program and other opportunities we’ve given our children.”
Marty suggested a meeting be held in March where parents and administrators can “share their thoughts.”
Marty warned that “changes are coming” with the current budget situations that are being faced by public school districts and urged parents to work together with administration and the board.
“There’s a lot of members of this board who don’t want to see a loss here either or see cuts. I’ve had many of them tell me if there’s other ways to do this and I think there is — we just have to look at the world differently,” Marty said.
During a later discussion on the budget, Marty noted that the district was on the verge of closing the pool at the North building. A study determined that 60 percent of the pool use occurred after school. As a result, 60 percent of the pool budget is funded through the Community Education and Recreation Department.

Developing the budget
While the district is facing a $1.5 million structural deficit as it begins budget preparations for the next year, several board members requested administration to have meetings to listen to residents’ concerns.
“The deficit hasn’t gone away yet,” Director of Business Services Jeff Gross said.
Two meetings were scheduled for the coming week. Gross said that 20 percent of the budget that involves non-staffing items — approximately $300,000 — is becoming more difficult to reduce each year.
Marty said the redistricting of elementary schools and creation of an early childhood center will save the district $360,000 due to greater efficiency of operations. An additional $80,000 savings is projected in the Central Office operations.
Marty said the district may have to lay off five to eight teachers as part of balancing the budget.
“If we can’t find $300,000 in non-personnel, then we’re going to have to find it somewhere else,” Marty said.
Board member Cindy Clough asked if updates could be provided to the community before the recommendations come to the board. Marty said that discussion will occur at the committee level.
Board member Gina Palazzari asked if administration could commit to a way to get resident input as the budget recommendations come to the board.
“I think that would help with public goodwill, to improve that,” Palazzari said.
Board member David Noshay said an open forum discussion with the public could be planned relatively quickly. However, he noted that the district has held such meetings in the past only to encounter sparse attendance by residents.
“You folks have to make a commitment to help us,” Noshay said to residents present.
Noshay added that such a meeting could be organized by the Parent Teacher Association or other group if residents weren’t pleased with the response from the district.
Marty added that “if we do schedule these, we really need to get community participation.”
Human Resources Director Patti Keller said the district does have to issue initial layoff notices by March 30, so decisions have to begin to be made by that time. 
“We do have to meet certain deadlines as well for our teacher association,” Keller said.