Antigo board confirms direction to demolish East Elementary; staff cites $6,000 testing cost, says sale offers must be brought back to board

The Unified School District of Antigo Board of Education reviewed plans for East Elementary on Oct. 20, 2025, with staff reporting required testing and demolition preparations and reiterating that any proposal to sell the property would need to be returned to the board for approval.

Board members were told the district has incurred about $6,000 to complete state-required testing of building materials that must be done for commercial structures before demolition or sale, and that the district will solicit bids for demolition once testing and cost estimates are complete. Jake Leiderman, the district's director of buildings and grounds, said the testing "cost about $6,000" and that the district will put demolition work out for bid after that work is finished.

The matter drew a public comment from Jason Honesy, who identified himself as a lifelong Antigo resident and a volunteer wrestling coach. Honesy said he read that the board had voted to raze East Elementary and urged the district to allow community members an opportunity to buy and repurpose existing buildings instead of demolition. Honesy proposed converting an existing school into a private, alcohol- and drug-free community center offering evening sports, fitness classes and meeting space. He told the board his business-plan preference would be for the building commonly known as West Elementary because of its location relative to nearby schools, and he asked for guidance on how to pursue purchase of district property.

Board members and staff described the district's current direction as demolition of East Elementary. A board member said that if a legitimate purchase offer is received, the item could be brought back to the board for consideration; until then, the board's direction remains to proceed with demolition. Board members expressed concern about the district paying to heat an unused building through the winter and noted a desire to complete the decision before January to avoid that cost.

Leiderman said there have been inquiries from members of the public but no "substantiated interest" or formal written offers to purchase the property. He said any person or group that wants to purchase the building should present a formal offer to the district; only then would the board consider reversing its demolition direction. Board members also noted the district will follow the same testing process used when previous district buildings were taken offline.

The board discussed that East Elementary comprises multiple parcels (transcript comment: five parcels totaling 2.223 acres). During public comment, Honesy estimated market values of vacant lots in Antigo and offered a rough revenue estimate of $70,000 to $100,000 for the combined parcels, while saying the district could take an overall loss of $50,000 to $80,000; the board did not verify those figures during the meeting.

No formal vote to sell or to halt demolition was taken at the meeting. Staff said next steps are completion of required testing, issuance of demolition bid documents, and reporting back to the board with pricing and any formal offers.

Provenance: district buildings-and-grounds update and public comment on East/West elementary properties occurred during the administrative reports and public comment portions of the Oct. 20 meeting.