Merrill Proud
A new school year is upon us, and I am grateful to serve our staff, students, and community as the new Superintendent of Schools. As a lifelong resident of Merrill, a Merrill High School (MHS) graduate myself, and someone who was proud to send my own children through the Merrill schools, I have always appreciated and valued the Merrill community and our fine school district.
Sometimes, however, I think we take for granted the things that we are so familiar with, and our community and schools are no exception. It’s easy in our day-to-day lives to overlook the positives and only focus on the blemishes of our community and its school–this is just human nature and I, too, am guilty of doing that from time to time. However, having worked in other districts and through talking with other principals and superintendents from around the state and country, I am regularly reminded how fortunate we are in Merrill–both in terms of our community and of our schools. I wouldn’t trade either for anything.
In our district, we have parents who want their children to be successful and a community that values a quality education. In Merrill, we have a supportive business community that wants our graduates to help make our businesses, industry, and community a better place. In our community, we have dedicated teachers and staff who work very hard and are committed to seeing that ALL students are reaching their potential. In Merrill, our school district has always been a good steward of our financial resources and is always, formally, categorized by the State as a low spending district. In Merrill, we still enjoy Bluejay Pride and we get behind our young people in all of their endeavors and, in Merrill, we pride ourselves on preparing students for their next steps in life–whether that’s second grade or life after high school. I know that we’re not perfect, and we will continue to work very hard to supply our students with the best teachers, resources, and instruction that we can possibly provide to ensure that they are prepared for whatever their futures may hold. However, I encourage everyone to try not to take for granted what we have either.
The November Referendum
In 2018, the Merrill community overwhelmingly supported a four-year, $2.5 million operations referendum to continue providing programming and opportunities for our students. In April of 2022, as that first referendum funding was coming to an end, MAPS asked voters to continue supporting our schools, staff, and students by extending that funding with a second four-year, $2.5 million operations referendum. As you may or may not know, that referendum failed.
Feedback from voters and the community was clear: MAPS simply did an inadequate job of getting information out to voters regarding that second referendum. Many voters shared that, while they support our schools, they simply didn’t know enough about the referendum to vote YES. The referendum failed, and we had to make significant budget cuts for this school year. We will not make that mistake again.
In November, MAPS is going back to the community with the same four-year, $2.5 million operations referendum that recently ended. However, this time we are going to work very hard to inform voters of how the money is going to be used, why it is needed, and why it is needed now.
While referendums have become commonplace in Wisconsin over the past 10 years (83% of Wisconsin school districts have run a referendum over that time period), public school funding, finance, and referendums can be very complicated, multi-faceted, and are often misunderstood. So, over the next few months, you will have many, many opportunities to learn more about our financial needs and this referendum. We will be sending information in the mail, meeting with groups throughout the community, hosting information nights and a community conversation, putting information in the local media, and taking advantage of social media and our district webpage. This time, voters will know exactly what they are voting on.
One way for you to get informed is to “tune in” to our weekly Facebook Live events that begin on Monday, Sept. 12, 2022, at 5:30 p.m. These live broadcasts will air every Monday on the Merrill Area Public Schools Facebook page, each will focus on a specific part of the referendum, and the community will have an opportunity to submit questions. These weekly broadcasts will last about 30 minutes and will be archived on our Facebook page for those who can’t catch them live.
Merrill is a proud community with very good schools, and I’m honored to say that I’m from here, that I graduated from MHS, and that my kids did the same. I am also very proud to serve as the new Superintendent of Schools. We’re good, but not perfect, so we will continue to work on serving our students better, and we will be coming to the community again this fall asking for the same financial support that you have provided over the past several years. I ask that you take the time to become familiar with the issues and information as it becomes available and to please contact me with your questions by calling the MAPS central office at 715.536.4581. Go Bluejays!
Shannon Murray
Superintendent of Schools