The Kewanee and Wethersfield school districts are separate right now, but that could all change as early as the 2017 school year. A public hearing Wednesday, May 11th, 2016 is set to reveal evidence in favor of consolidation.
The topic of consolidating the two schools is the talk of Kewanee, and the meeting could be the beginning of putting this idea on the November ballot. However, there is a definite divide in who supports this plan.
As a former Mayor of Kewanee, Bruce Tossell has a sense of what works and what doesn't work in the city. To him, what doesn't work now is two separate school districts only blocks away.
"It was two distinct towns at one time, and that's where it all came from. We've been one town for a long time now, and it's time to become one school," Tossell said.
Tossell leads a group called the Committee of Ten, looking at the feasibility of joining the Kewanee and Wethersfield school districts together. He's spent the better part of two years digging into state data, and while he wouldn't share exactly what they found, he says the information in favor of consolidation is shocking.
"We've seen some deficiencies in both schools, but we've also seen a lot of good in both schools. What our job is is to take the good from both schools, combine them together and make something even better," Tossell said.
He says talks with Kewanee school leaders have been positive, but not everyone is on board.
Shane Kazubowski, the Superintendent of the Wethersfield School District, told WQAD News 8 that the district is in good financial shape and that he opposes consolidation
Kazubowski isn't alone. A community group called Geese Strong is standing up for Wethersfield independence, telling WQAD News 8:
"It is our position that we do not recognize the Committee of Ten as an impartial committee with equal representation between districts and that the feasibility study does not show significant improvements for Wethersfield."
Tossell says working with Wethersfield on this is difficult, but he believes the data shown to state education leaders will speak for itself.
"It'll come down to the people and their opportunity to vote on this. We just ask people to be informed, get the information and make a decision on what you think is best," Tossell said.
The information shared at Wednesday's meeting will be sent off to the Illinois State Board of Education where they will decide if consolidation will be put on the ballot this November.
The meeting starts at 6:00 pm at the Visitation School in Kewanee, but at the same time, a meeting against consolidation hosted by Geese Strong will be held at the Wethersfield High School gym.