By Jennifer Eisenbart
EDITOR
As the second in line to make presentations to the Burlington Area School District School Board Long-Range Planning Committee, the Peter Scherrer Group make a quick and simple point Monday night.
With Peter and Leslie Scherrer – father and daughter founders of the company – present, they would also be the only employees the district would be working with.
“We’re here to help you along the way,” said Peter Scherrer. “We will give you recommendations.”
The Peter Scherrer Group presentation was the second of three the committee will hear in regard to putting together a long-range facilities plan for the district. The Scherrer/Nexus Group (not affiliated with the Peter Scherrer Group) presented last week, and the Wisconsin Association of School Boards will present on July 21.
Peter and Leslie Scherrer stressed that the group works on consulting, and made the decision to make a clear break between consulting and construction.
“That allows us to take a wide, unbiased approach to our work,” said Leslie.
Peter said that he’s had a lot of experience working with schools, and his consulting business has taken him to more than a dozen projects with the Racine Unified School District.
The main job right now – at the cost of about a $25,000 price tag – would be for the group to come in, perform a demographics/enrollment study, and come up with four different models for the various grade levels within the district.
From there, said Leslie, “You’ll be able to use that data to your benefit to create a long-range facilities plan.”
In addition to the demographics study, the district would also get a walk-through of the facilities and a look at what needs to be fixed and an estimate of the useful life of the various facilities and what is inside of them.
That would be step one. Step two would be identifying solutions and funding, and step three would be implementation. Peter Scherrer said he and Leslie would help the district “brainstorm,” and even work with the district through the process and identifying money sources for the work.
There were few questions from committee and School Board members, with Phil Ketterhagen asking if the enrollment study would identify where students are living versus just enrollment at specific schools. Peter Scherrer clarified that Applied Population Laboratory out of Madison – whose $3,000 fee would be included in the $25,000 – would do exactly that.
Roger Koldeway said he wanted to know how the numbers would hold up over time, which Leslie Scherrer pointed out was the purpose of the different models.
The two also clarified what materials the district would receive at the completion of phase one – which included full study results, binders, floor plans and the like.
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