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The High School Enrollment Management Committee earlier this year suggested to Superintendent Jerry Kember that school district staff be required to live in the district.
The committee — which had been directed to look at the high school enrollment policy and ways to attract more students — reasoned that if new employees had to live in the district, their children likely would attend La Crosse schools.
Whether that actually would produce enrollment gains is unknown. Its potential to become policy hinges on negotiations with the La Crosse Education Association.
Kember also cautioned that while increasing enrollment is a priority, the district also wants to maintain the highest “pool of talent” when it comes to staff and would want to make sure options aren’t limited.
At La Crosse public schools, the only employees now required to reside in the district are Kember; Randy Nelson, associate superintendent of instruction; Doug Happel, associate superintendent of hu-man resources; and Janet Rosseter, executive director of business services.
The residency requirement idea intrigued me, so I asked officials in the La Crosse, Onalaska and Holmen districts about the number of their teachers who live within the district:
Remember, these numbers don’t encompass all of the teachers who live in the district — there likely are more, as all three districts stretch into other communities.
Referendum session
With just 11 days until Nov. 4, the end to the election season is in sight.
La Crosse School District voters had the opportunity Wednesday to learn more about the $18.5 million referendum that will be on the ballot, but only one showed up.
So Steve Gores was granted his own question-and-answer session with school board members and district officials.
He quizzed them on the future of La Crosse’s North Side elementary schools and what the tax effect would be.
And talked about safety and security at Central High School, which his daughter attends.
He waited until the end to tell them he had become a yes voter.
“They did the things that they needed to do” — removing the new school, working with the private sector, committing to use $3 million of the fund balance and only going for $18.5 million, Gores said.
If you would like to know more about the measure, the final information session will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Hogan Administrative Center, 807 East Ave. S.
Hopefully, more of the public will show up.
