Update: Superintendent Says Hawthorne Not Being Considered for Closure

Update, 9:30 a.m. Tuesday: Hawthorne Elementary has not been presented to the Waukesha School Board for closure and there are no plans for that in the future, said Superintendent Todd Gray in an e-mail.

"It may have been mentioned by a 'retired' administrator in some context, but this was an individual who had no detailed knowledge of our future overall plans," Gray said.

Earlier: The Waukesha School District could consider closing an elementary school as it looks at facility options to address crowding at Butler Middle School but no official recommendations have been given yet to the Waukesha School Board.

One of the options Waukesha has is to close an elementary school and the Waukesha School Board is expected to take up the issue during a workshop session within the next several weeks or months.

The school board took a step last week by redistricting the White Rock Elementary School students to make all the outgoing fifth-graders attend Horning Middle  School instead of Butler. However, during discussion at the April 11 Finance & Facilities Committee meeting, the elementary school closing came up as a possibility to alleviate crowding at the school. A school district document states that the district could “analyze the potential of closing another facility to more efficiently use our space and to offset costs (of potentially adding classrooms at Butler).”

The Waukesha School Board has not discussed in depth the addition to Butler, but it is listed as a possible consideration to address the spacing issues combined with the study of closing a facility and examining an additional location for an elementary English language learners program, the document states.

Superintendent Todd Gray said during the April 11 meeting that the board would use a workshop to discuss the possibility of closing any of the elementary schools. That workshop has not yet been scheduled but the discussion could include White Rock Elementary School, according to information talked about at the committee meeting last week.

“It is possible to close another elementary school,” said Jim Haessly, a recently retired administrator with the Waukesha School District who is assisting with the facility discussions.  “It will be tight, but it is possible.”