Saving Little Red with Donations from the Community

Updated: 1/8/2008

- Tanya Miller, a Little Red School parent spearheading an effort to raise funds to keep the elementary open for another year, is planning to set up an account by Friday at RCU seeking public contributions.


A new approach to saving school
Parent seeking donations to keep Little Red School open
By Christena T. O'Brien
Leader-Telegram staff
Spurred into action by her oldest son, Tanya Miller is spearheading an effort to raise $500,000 by Jan. 21 to keep Little Red School open.

"I'm really hopeful," said Miller, whose sons, Jacob and Kyle, are among the 122 students who attend the one-section elementary in the town of Brunswick.

By raising the money, Miller hopes to buy one more year for Little Red, which could close after the 2007-08 school year as part of an effort to address the school district's projected $2.8 million budget shortfall for 2008-09.

The school board voted to close Little Red in early 2007 to save money because of financial difficulties. The board later reversed that decision and appointed a committee to determine how best to use the school.

The committee, which began studying the issue last fall, is tentatively recommending closing the school, a move estimated to save about $500,000 annually.

The committee, which held a public forum Thursday, will meet one last time - from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 15 - before presenting its recommendations to the school board Jan. 21.

Miller would like to see the board hold off on making a decision on Little Red until the school district's comprehensive community plan, which will be critical in determining the future vision of the district's facilities, program offerings and transportation needs, is completed.

If her effort to raise $500,000 is successful, board president Mike O'Brien, one of three board members on the committee, said he believes the committee and the board would need to consider the implications of such a gift.

"I guess the question will be as to pledges versus actual funds," he said. "That would certainly be an interesting decision to be made if it could be done."

Miller began working on saving Little Red last year after the school board decided to close the elementary. When she explained to her sons that there was nothing more that could be done, Jacob, now a third-grader, reminded her that she never gives up.

"If there was ever a defining moment in my life, that was it," said Miller, who picked the school for her children after touring schools in five districts.

Last week, she contacted 100 businesses in the Eau Claire area and found that 97 were in support of Little Red.

If Little Red remains open, Arvid Jereczek, owner of American Express Transport, an excavating contracting business near the school, is willing to provide the equipment and labor for a new septic system.

"I think it's a nice little school, and it would be a shame to see it close," Jereczek said.