Glendale-River Hills denies residents' request to join Maple Dale-Indian Hill district

Glendale - With concerns of setting a precedent and taking a hit in revenue, the Glendale-River Hills School Board on Monday voted to deny four petitioners' requests to secede from the K-8 district and join the Maple Dale-Indian Hill district.

The petitioners live in the 400 and 500 blocks of West Calumet Road on the south side of the street in the city of Glendale and requested five homes be detached from Glendale-River Hills. The residents requested the boundary changes in an effort to keep the entire neighborhood consistent. Residents on the north side of Calumet are within Maple Dale-Indian Hill's boundaries.

District Administrator Larry Smalley said boundaries between the K-8 feeder districts within the Nicolet High School community were drawn in the 1950s before the subdivision was developed. There are other streets throughout the Nicolet community that are split between K-8 feeder districts.

Four residents on the south side of the street wrote a letter to Glendale-River Hills, outlining reasons for the requested detachment. The letter was written by John and Shirley Frederickson, Marion Maradik and Suzanne Novak.

"The petition ... to change the school district would reduce the school buses entering the cul-de-sac by half," the letter states. "This reduces the disturbance and risk of accidents. Also, there is a lot of confusion for the kids who take school buses to different schools every day."

After hashing over the issue, Glendale-River Hills School Board members opted to deny the petition, citing a number of concerns.

Board member Bryan Kennedy lives on Glendale's southwest end, near a border with the city of Milwaukee. Kennedy said a number of different buses pass by his home each day.

"My biggest concern is this could start shifting districts," Kennedy said.

The petitioners also stated Maple Dale-Indian Hill's schools are closer in proximity than the schools in the Glendale-River Hills system.

"People make a conscious choice when they move into our district," board member Jean Pereles-Strouse said. "I think we have to look at the responsibility we have to our taxpayers."

Smalley said the loss of the five Calumet properties would result in four fewer resident students, based on current enrollment figures, and would equal a loss of between $48,000 and $50,000 from the state. Also, the district would take in about $95,000 less in taxes, based on current assessed values.

Board President Bob Roska said the loss in revenue would be of concern, given the budget shortfalls the district has been contending with in recent years.

"We know we will be dealing with this in the years ahead," Roska said.