At the April 9th SASD Board of Education meeting, the Board approved the Executive Management Team’s original recommendation, which was to close Washington School at the end of the 2012-2013 school year and starting in the 2013-14 school year:

• Elementary School for the Arts and Academics (ESAA) will be relocated to a shared facility at the Pigeon River campus.
• Students living n Washington’s attendance area will attend Grant Elementary or Jefferson Elementary School.
• Students living in the southern non-connected Pigeon River ‘island’ attendance area will attend Cooper or James Madison Elementary.
• To ease the transition, bussing will be provided for 2 years to the families affected by the Washington and Pigeon River boundary changes.

We would like to thank all of our families for their commitment to ESAA and their participation in the survey and meetings over the last few weeks where many shared their valuable thoughts and concerns. In the weeks ahead The Étude Group Governing Board, ESAA Administration and the ESAA School Design Team will work to ensure the transition to the Pigeon River campus will be a positive experience for everyone.

Based on the feedback of ESAA families, The Étude Group Governing Board sent a letter to David Gallianetti and Dr. Joe Sheehan regarding the accessibility of ESAA at the Pigeon River campus for current and future families. Our Board proposed a site-to-site bus route between Grant and the Pigeon River campus offered both before and after school. 

ESAA Administration will also begin to work on a car pool directory for our families. This was a very successful tool for Mosaic families when the school originally opened. We expect the ESAA community will also see great benefit in this directory.   

The School Board President, David Gallianetti and the Sheboygan Area School District Superintendent, Joe Sheehan are confident that the passion and energy shown throughout the last few weeks will be directed into making the transition period productive, welcoming and positive. They are committed to providing support to students and staff for this transition and are confident that the needs of the students will continue to be met through the dedication of all SASD staff.

We will continue to update our families on information regarding the move of ESAA from the Grant Campus to the Pigeon River Campus through all of our communication avenues which include our website, eblast, school messenger and letters home. An updated list of FAQ is available.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at 459.0453 or ebeattie@sheboygan.k12.wi.us (Elizabeth Beattie) or thamm@sheboygan.k12.wi.us (Ted Hamm).