Board Of Education Meeting 01/13/2025 – Will Vote On Request To Close And Repurpose Columbus Elementary, Set New Attendance Area For Columbus Students

The Appleton Area School District Board of Education is meeting 01/13/2025 at 6PM.

They have a number of items on their agenda but the one that is probably of most interest to the public is the vote on closing Columbus Elementary and repurposing the building.

As discussed during the 12/09/2024 Board meeting, the AASD Leadership Team would like to close Columbus as a neighborhood school because of the low enrollment numbers, a low maximum student capacity of only 135, a high turnover rate amongst teachers, and a disproportionate number of inexperienced and/or out-of-field teachers.

In addition to voting on the closing and repurposing itself, the Board will be voting on setting new attendance areas Columbus students. The Leadership Team has brought forward four options.

• Option 1: The Edison attendance area adds the entire Columbus attendance area. No change to the Dunlap or Franklin attendance areas.
• Option 2: Edison adds the entire Columbus attendance area as well as the Franklin attendance area that is south of Wisconsin Avenue. No change to the Dunlap attendance area.
• Option 3: Edison adds the entire Columbus attendance area as well as the Franklin attendance area that is south of Wisconsin Avenue and also the Dunlap attendance area east of Richmond Street.
• Option 4: Edison adds the Columbus area that is East of Division Street as well as the Franklin attendance area south of Wisconsin Avenue. The Columbus area west of Division Street would be added to the Dunlap attendance area.

View full meeting details here: https://go.boarddocs.com/wi/aasd/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=DBLNSJ5EE239