Oshkosh board denies three petitions to move parcels to neighboring districts

The Oshkosh Area School District Board of Education on Feb. 26 voted to deny three petitions that would have detached small parcels from the Oshkosh district and attached them to neighboring districts.

The petitions would have moved: parcels into the Winneconne School District (petition filed by Timothy and Lindsey Scottberg), a parcel into the Omro School District (petition filed by Katina Mulkey), and a parcel into Oshkosh from Omro (third petition). Administration recommended denial for each petition, citing fiscal impact and statutory criteria the board must consider when evaluating territory transfers.

The petition to move properties to Winneconne covered a neighborhood with 12 resident pupils and an assessed property value the district listed at $13,748,500. The district staff noted the request included an amendment filed by the Town of Vinland clerk shortly before the hearing and that, if granted, any approved boundary change would take effect July 1. Petitioner Tim Scottberg told the board he was asking “to provide students in our small rural neighborhood in the town of Vinland with the education, transportation, and services they require in the district where they already attend school,” and said most children from the listed homes already attend Winneconne.

Katina Mulkey spoke about her parcel at 5143 Ripple Ave and said most nearby homes already send children to Omro, and that she favored smaller class sizes and continuity for a child with an individualized education program.

Administration recommended denial on the Omro-related petition as well, noting the parcel in question had a property value the packet listed as $208,000 and that the request would create a complex district boundary shape. For the petition to detach land from Omro and attach it to Oshkosh, administration recommended denial because the parcel would create an island and, at the time of the hearing, contained zero students and had an assessed value listed at $159,200.

Board members debated the petitions on statutory and fiscal grounds. Board member Doctor Herzog reminded colleagues that Wisconsin statute requires consideration of factors “as they affect the educational welfare of all the children residing in all of the affected districts,” and that an appeals panel convened by the Department of Public Instruction would examine the same criteria if petitioners appealed a denial. Several trustees said transportation access and the wishes of local families weighed in favor of the requests, while others said approving detachment sets an undesirable precedent and could reduce the district’s tax base.

After discussion the board recorded the motions on each petition and the motions failed (the meeting minutes state the resolutions “fail” for all three petitions). The board did not record detailed roll-call tallies in the public transcript of the meeting; administration noted petitioners retain the right to appeal denials to the state’s School District Boundary Appeals Board through the Department of Public Instruction.

The district packet and staff presentation noted deadlines that applied to the petitions (petitioners met a Feb. 1 filing deadline), described the parcels in maps included in the packet, and listed the statutory criteria an appeals board would apply. The packet also explained that, if a petition were granted, the detachment would take effect July 1.

The board’s denial preserves the district’s current boundaries but leaves open the option for petitioners to pursue the state appeals process.