Elementary School Enrollment and Facilities Progress...

Dear PreK-Grade 5 Families and ECASD Staff:  The Eau Claire Area School District is facing challenges related to declining elementary enrollment and efficient use of resources. Since September 15, we’ve engaged in targeted outreach to gather input on two preliminary recommendations from the Demographic Trends and Facility Planning Committee (DTFPC). This is an update on that outreach in preparation for the October 20 School Board Meeting.   Feedback was collected through focus groups, individual and group conversations with parents, community members, PTO leaders, principals, staff, and underrepresented populations. The first focus group met on September 23, and 85 out of 103 invited participants attended four total focus groups.   Focus groups included school board members, administrators, staff, Equity Committee members, PTO leaders, parents, and community representatives. The meetings were structured to encourage open discussion, with participants providing valuable feedback on the proposed options and suggesting alternative solutions.   As a reminder, below are the Preliminary Recommendations (as proposed by the DTFPC)  Option 3B: Absorb Longfellow Elementary and repurpose Flynn Elementary. According to Focus Group feedback, this option could lead to cost savings, more balanced enrollment, and improved staffing efficiency. However, Focus Group feedback expressed concerns about equity, diversity, transportation, and the impact on neighborhood schools and underrepresented students. Option 4: Absorb and/or repurpose Flynn and Roosevelt Elementary.   According to Focus Group feedback, this option impacts fewer marginalized students and families but raises concerns about attendance boundary changes, transportation, and closing Flynn, which is the district’s newest building. Focus Groups also suggested a variety of alternative ideas including:  Adjusting boundaries for select K-5 schools Adjusting boundaries for all K-5 schools Moving PreK students from Prairie Ridge to K-5 schools and utilizing Prairie Ridge for Roosevelt students. Focus Group Idea to Explore: Repurpose Prairie Ridge – Administration made the decision to explore this due to Focus Group feedback. This idea involves moving Roosevelt students to Prairie Ridge and distributing PreK students across elementary schools. This idea will require facility updates; however, this keeps Roosevelt students together in the same attendance boundary and reduces Roosevelt’s maintenance needs. Administration will explore this option in detail in the next few weeks, collaborating with staff, families, the DTFPC, and community partners. The process includes:  Gathering more feedback and input Assessing specific financial and logistical impacts Continuing community engagement and transparency The process will culminate with a Board update in January of 2026. Administration will continue reviewing and updating the public about Options 3B and 4 as we focus our efforts on exploring the idea of repurposing Prairie Ridge.   No administrative recommendations will be presented at the October 20 School Board Meeting. Furthermore, Administration will engage the Board in discussion to extend the timeline for recommendations and decision-making. Thank you for your attention and patience through this process, as well as your engagement and communication.  Sincerely,  Mike Johnson  Superintendent 

Thursday, Oct 16 2025

Demographic Trends & Facility Planning Committee Update

Dear PK-5 Families,   The Eau Claire Area School District, through assistance from its Demographic Trends and Facility Planning Committee (DTFPC), has been involved since September 2024 in a planning process specifically addressing elementary school enrollment. The DTFPC consists of community members, parents, and district staff.   The purpose of this letter is to inform you of the ongoing work of the DTFPC in addressing declining enrollment at the elementary level and how the District can more efficiently use District facilities and resources while maintaining student access to equitable programming.   The ECASD has building capacity at the elementary level for 6162 students, and currently 1658 of those seats are vacant.   The birth rate has been declining in the United States since 2007 and in Wisconsin over the past twenty years, according to the Wisconsin Department of Human Services . We have had an 8.4% reduction in the number of elementary students over the last ten years while remaining the 8th largest school district in Wisconsin over that same time span.   We are not alone facing a decline in student enrollment, and, like other districts, we must take a proactive approach to decrease our facility capacity. Similar-sized districts like Green Bay, Hudson, Kenosha, La Crosse, Manitowoc, Neenah, Racine, Superior, Waukesha, Wausau, and Wauwatosa are either currently addressing their facilities in a comparable manner, or they have already done so.   Over the course of the past year, the DTFPC examined this data and its trends, toured some of our elementary schools, sought more data, brainstormed different opportunities to address the problem and indicators, and narrowed their focus to two preliminary options while adhering to the twelve DTFPC Guiding Principles.   These preliminary options and the DTFPC process will be presented to the Board of Education at their September 15 Board meeting. The present DTFPC preliminary options include:   Absorb/Close Longfellow Elementary and Repurpose Flynn Elementary to serve the Dual Immersion Program and expand Chippewa Valley Montessori.   2.   Absorb/Close or Repurpose Flynn and Roosevelt, so that one school is closed and the other is repurposed to expand Chippewa Valley Montessori and/or serve the Dual Immersion Program.   These options and any additional preliminary options include school closure and repurposing and will require elementary school boundary adjustments . It will take a combination of buildings and ideas to address declining elementary enrollment and to more efficiently use District facilities and resources while maintaining student access to equitable programming.   During the Board Meeting on Monday, September 15, ECASD administration will discuss the following: history and progress of the DTFPC, formation of an additional administrative committee to review present and develop additional preliminary options, feedback opportunities for the community, and the decision-making process. We encourage you to view the slides for the DTFPC presentation in the September 15th Board agenda here .   Moving forward, gathering input from our community will be critical. The feedback will be used to evaluate all present and future options, as well as to refine and inform a final recommendation which will be presented to the Board of Education during the last stage of this process, targeted from November through December 2025.   We would like to invite you to be part of this process by providing feedback. There will be several ways in which you can get involved in the future which will be shared after the September 15 School Board meeting.   We recognize that this information and process may bring challenges, as many of us have ties to places central to our education. This reflects the relationships and high-quality education the ECASD provides. By collaborating and planning for the future, we will uphold our commitment to providing environments where each student can grow, achieve, and be their very best.   Sincerely, Mike Johnson Superintendent

Wednesday, Sep 10 2025

Welcome to the 2025-2026 ECASD School Year

Dear ECASD Families,   Welcome to the 2025-2026 school year! We are having a great back-to-school week in the Eau Claire Area School District.   We hope you had a wonderful summer and spent some time participating in outdoor activities with family and friends. Our Summer Programs were enjoyed by thousands of our students, allowing them to explore academic areas of interest, participate in engaging activities with our staff and community partners, and enjoy hands-on and physical fitness opportunities. Our high school and middle school students are well into their fall activities and athletics, and it is exciting to feel the positive energy in all our schools with students being present and active.   As we enter the new school year, our students’ academic success and their social and emotional growth are key priorities, as we have learned from our families, staff, and students themselves. Our staff members were busy throughout the ECASD this summer as they met to align standards, review student data, examine curriculum, and engage in other collaboration structures to prepare for the school year.   We know our schools do a great job of sharing information with families, and we always welcome suggestions about how to keep our families informed. We encourage families to make sure their contact information is current in both the Skyward Information System and in ParentSquare. This will ensure that you receive important information all year long.   The 2025-2026 Family Handbook, which you can access on our website or by clicking HERE , has further details for our students and families. It provides valuable information that may be helpful to you.   On behalf of the ECASD staff and our School Board, I wish you a successful and positive school year. Thank you so much for your support as we begin 2025-2026!   Mike Johnson Superintendent

Friday, Sep 05 2025

ParentSquare Change on How You'll Get Texts from Our...

Dear ECASD Families: As the 2025-2026 school year begins, many of the text messages you get from our schools through ParentSquare will now come from regular 10-digit phone numbers. This will make it easier to see who is messaging you. For example, a message from your child’s teacher will come from a different phone number than a message from the school office.  What’s changing?  In the past, most texts came from a 5-digit number. Soon, you’ll start getting texts from different regular 10-digit phone numbers for:  ·           Direct messages ·           Classroom and group posts ·           School posts  Messages from the district, digests and alerts will still come from the 5-digit number. When you receive a message from one of these new 10-digit numbers, consider saving it to your contacts . Here are some examples: ·           Save a teacher’s number as: Ms. Davis - 4th Grade ·           Save classroom/group posts as: Flynn Elementary Classes ·           Save school posts number as: Flynn Elementary Updates Read more about this change and some helpful tips:  Changes to ParentSquare Text Messages .

Wednesday, Aug 27 2025