APPLETON, Wis. — If a pair of referendum questions get voter approval, some of the industrial arts classrooms at Appleton schools could look very different than they do now.
The Appleton Area School District is asking voters to approve multi-million referendum questions that would expand both schools and class offerings around the district. It also puts an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math instruction.
“Instead of seeing just saws and drills presses, which we see now in traditional industrial arts classrooms, you’re going to see more technology,” Appleton Area School District Superintendent Greg Hartjes said. “You’re going to see robotics. You’re going to see 3D printers. You’re going to see drones, those more 21st Century type science and technology projects.”
It’s part of a plan that focuses heavily on offering education in skills sought in today’s workforce.
“Manufacturing is not traditional manufacturing. It is clean, it’s technology based. It’s going to be robotics based,” Hartjes said. “We want to make sure students understand what that is.”
What the future looks like will be put to voters in a pair of referendum questions on Nov. 8.
One seeks about $130 million to build a new elementary school, expand middle schools and add additional science, technology, engineering and math facilities and offerings.
The second asks to allow the district to exceed its revenue limit by $5 million starting in 2023, for recurring costs tied to building maintenance, STEM class staffing and class size reduction in early grades.
The district said approval of the proposals would increase taxes four dollars for every $100,000 a home is worth per year.
Greg Brahe has a student at Wilson Middle School in Appleton.
“Overcrowding is definitely an important thing to keep in mind and to make sure we have small enough class sizes,” he said. “With how the district is growing, adding another school is important.”
Brahe also sees the benefits of expanding STEM offerings.
“Technology education and STEM is the way of the future,” he said. “The more we can give our students a leg up on that, the less we’re going to need to worry about them competing with people being shipped in from countries like India where they focus incredibly strongly on STEM.”
The district is also looking at ways to alleviate overcrowding — especially on the north side of the district — and keeping class sizes in early grades small.
“Why we want to build a new elementary school is there’s a lot of growth potential in the Huntley area,” Hartjes said. “It’s a school that’s well over capacity now and it has a lot of housing that’s currently going up in its boundary area.”