Elmbrook's Rushed Vote for ~$500,000 Library Spend
Claims about academic performance increases to justify remodel seem to not be backed by research.
At the 3/8/22 Board meeting, in a 5-2 vote, Elmbrook voted to spend ~$500,000 of taxpayer money on cosmetic updates at one of the District's newer libraries - Brookfield Elementary (est. 2000). The administration indicated plans to continue this spending for library updates at three more elementary schools for a total of $2M of taxpayer money potentially on the line.
Board President Scott Wheeler admitted (1:49:04) “this is a new approach, or it’s a different approach in terms of getting it to the Board for construction season. Normally we would have had a discussion on this. We would have a month to visit the space [and] think about it.”
In support of this spend, Board member Jen Roskopf said (1:39:39) “We know scientifically and statistically that if kids are engaged extracurricularly, they perform better academically." A community member did a records request to find out what research, studies, reports or articles informed the Board that support Jen’s assertion. The District responded: “There are no records responsive to your request. Jen Roskopf, who as an individual Board member does not speak on behalf of the Board, made the comment based on her own personal knowledge/research.”
What will the taxpayers be getting when they spend ~$500,000 on the Brookfield Elementary library? Rolling bookshelves, a feature that Glen Allgaier (1:25:10) said “the librarian [from Brookfield East] did tell me that the movability, they were not taking, the high school again I talked about this a little bit, they were not taking advantage of the fact that all the bookshelves were movable, reconfigurable, um, what makes you f-, and that is part of the plan here, right?”
The school will also will be able to move the $40,000 in stadium seating furniture (pictured below) the PTO bought in 2020 in order to reduce distraction from the hallway. The administration also spoke about better sight lines and some technology updates.
A community member in attendance spoke out against this spending - citing that 33 part-time learning assistants could be hired for an entire year with $500,000. She also mentioned that her kids, who attend that school, love the library and refuted rationales brought up for the spending.
Board member Linda Boucher voted against the remodel. Scott Wheeler joined her in that no vote.
After the vote, a community member shared with us a link between Superintendent Mark Hansen and CJ & Associates, who is the vendor being used for all $153,000 of furniture in the updates. Mark and Kim Hastings, President of CJ & Associates were on the Waukesha County Business Alliance for the 2021-2022 year.
