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Resident urges transparency on Monona Grove School District discussion of Maywood and Nichols
Summary
At the May 18 council meeting, resident Kathy Crew told the council she and neighbors are following Monona Grove School District talks about possibly selling or swapping Maywood and Nichols schools and urged greater transparency and city involvement in discussions about building disposition.
During the appearances segment of the May 18 meeting, Kathy Crew of 4905 Robman Place spoke to the council about recent Monona Grove School District discussions concerning potential sale or swap of Maywood and Nichols schools. Crew said she emailed the council on May 2 about the issue and did not receive responses she expected, and she urged the city to ensure transparency.
"Selling Maywood to the city does not make sense because we already own it," Crew said, arguing that swapping or selling buildings that require substantial repair could leave Monona taxpayers responsible for costly maintenance. She expressed concern that a swap could result in Monona taking possession of a building needing major work and asked the council to thoroughly consider options.
Crew also raised the comprehensive plan and said she and others were surprised to learn about a major private project concept (referred to in the discussion as the Green Light Project or Monona Mixed Use Village near Topgolf) that she said had not been discussed at the comprehensive‑plan meeting. She closed by urging "transparency — the quality of being open to public scrutiny."
Council members acknowledged the comment; there was no school‑district representative or followup response from district officials on the record at the meeting. Council staff and members said they would follow up on the resident’s emailed material and consider the concerns in future discussions.
