Appleton board weighs repurposing Columbus Elementary as parents press for options

The Appleton Area School District board on [date not specified] heard an outpouring of neighborhood testimony urging the district to preserve Columbus Elementary or repurpose it in ways that keep benefits for nearby families, while district administrators said the primary driver for change is sustained, low enrollment and constrained building capacity.

"The enrollment this year of Columbus is 79 students," said Mr. Hartjes, an administration lead, explaining the district’s position that very small grade-level cohorts make it difficult to staff teachers, specialists and student-services personnel in ways that meet students’ needs across instruction and special education.

Community speakers described Columbus as a neighborhood anchor. "This is unacceptable and reads as if the fast paced process is designed to minimize families' ability to give input," said Rebecca Zorno, a Columbus PTO member who urged the board to keep the site serving local children and proposed alternatives including 4K, a charter partnership or a dual-campus model.

District officials described operational constraints that they say make a neighborhood K–5 model hard to sustain: single-section grade levels that force combination classrooms, fractured student-services FTE (for counselors and social workers) and high staff turnover that limits in-building mentoring. Administrators also noted that Appleton Bilingual School’s planned move away from the Columbus campus reduced opportunities to share specialist staff.

Administrators outlined options under consideration for students and the building. Proposed student reassignments under discussion would send most Columbus students to Edison and some to Dunlap or Franklin, while the district said potential uses for the Columbus building include expanded special-education programs, RISE programming for students needing small-group support, or other district-run services — not shuttering the property.

Parents and neighbors urged alternatives to full closure. "Please repurpose in a way that benefits the people who live around it," said a neighborhood speaker, citing recent community investment in a new playground and the building’s walkable access for many families.

District staff said they will hold additional listening sessions (Columbus on the schedule tomorrow; Edison and combined sessions later this week), collect further questions via an online form, and present findings at a board work session next week. Administration said it hopes the board can make a decision in January but acknowledged the timeline is tight because staffing and enrollment projections feed hiring decisions.

The board did not vote on repurposing at this meeting; members asked for more detail about boundary implications, staffing safeguards (administration said all Columbus staff would retain their employment rights and use without-assignment status if needed), and possible community-school funding that could support programmatic options at Edison if students move there. Administration estimated annual staffing savings in the range of $500,000–$700,000 if the district consolidates staffing, but emphasized student-success concerns as the primary rationale.

Next steps: additional listening sessions this week and a board work session next week; the board expects to revisit the issue in January and decide whether to repurpose Columbus, how to redraw attendance boundaries if needed, and what program the building would house.