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Parents tell Siren board a $1.6M shortfall and shrinking teams threaten students' opportunities
Summary
Parents urged the Siren School District board to present a clear plan after a failed referendum, warning that a reported $1,600,000 deficit could make high-school teams nonviable and prompt families to leave; they asked the board to work with the WIAA on participation waivers and to improve public communication.
Parents at the Siren School District meeting urged the newly reorganized board to present a clear, concrete plan after a failed referendum, saying financial and program harms already are appearing.
“Tom Porter disclosed that we are now looking at a $1,600,000 deficit for next year,” parent Sarah Benson told the board, saying the figure came during a post-referendum disclosure and that the board’s public messaging so far had left families uncertain. Benson said girls’ teams are already thin—“we’re down to six girls in track”—and that she was unsure whether there would be viable basketball or volleyball teams next year.
Benson asked the board to work with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association to seek waivers that would allow students to participate on other teams if Siren cannot field squads, and she urged the district and board to communicate plans publicly to stem potential enrollment losses.
Resident Donna Chater thanked the new members for serving but challenged the board “to put your heads together and come up with a very concrete plan of action,” saying referendum defeat signaled the need to rebuild public trust.
No board response to the specific $1.6 million figure is recorded in the public-comment portion of the meeting. The board later moved into closed session to discuss staffing and an administrative resignation, items that participants noted were linked to post-referendum staffing and budget planning.
