Dear Editor:

My name is Phil Greschner. In school, I’m known as “Mr. Phil.” I am writing this today as I have been employed at Owen-Withee schools as maintenance/janitor for seven years in the elementary. I want to share what happens on the inside of our school through my eyes, which many of you don’t see on a daily basis. I’m hoping this gives you a better insight on the importance of this referendum passing on November 5 for our students.

First of all, I’d like to share a bit of my life to where it has gotten me today here in Owen-Withee. My brothers and I grew up on our home farm with our Mom and Dad in the great neighborhood of Longwood. Tragically, our dad was killed on our farm in 1972 in a farming accident Thanksgiving week, which changed our lives forever. One thing that helped us through this most difficult time in our lives was the love shown to us through the communities of Longwood, Owen and Withee.

You see, we are all alumni of the Owen-Withee schools and all reside within the Owen-Withee School District. Mom graduated from Owen, Dad from Withee, along with my brothers, my nephews and niece graduating from O-W High. I have two great-nephews currently in the Owen-Withee schools. My brother Jeff and nephew Travis volunteer coaching football to this day. My sister-in-law, Janet subs in the schools whenever she is needed and my niece-in-law, Angela, is on the school board.

I never imagined I would be working where I graduated from as a maintenance/janitor. Now in my 7th year as I said in my opening statement, my eyes were opened as to what happens inside our school.

I see it as everyone working together as a great big “team”—to educate our children—from our superintendent to the principals, teachers, aides, cooks, janitors, volunteers, coaches, and advisors. There is encouragement given to get the children involved in activities—FBLA, FFA, music, art, sports, Homecoming, Student Councils, just to name a few.

I work with a great team of Maintenance/Janitors that work hard daily to keep our school clean to make it inviting to anyone who comes into our school. As a matter of fact, many of our vendors that call on us compliment how great our school looks. We take great pride in that, as does everyone who works there in their area of expertise. But it’s not only the cleaning that we take care of, it’s also helping out the staff and students in times of need. For example, we’ll be asked to take a student to be with us that might be having a bad day, to just go around and help us with little tasks to help calm them down, just to be an ear to listen and help them through their problems. I see our aides and volunteers working tirelessly one-on-one with students that need more special help, to better their education. What I’m trying to say, is that we all work together and sometimes have to go “outside the box” to help our students in any way that we can.

We are at a crucial time with the upcoming referendum. This last year we have seen some cuts made to our staff due to the last referendum not passing this last spring. It has affected us all as a team. We’re stretched thin now with teachers  and with maintenance on our buildings. It will become harder if the referendum does not pass. There will be more cuts all around the board therefore affecting the proper education our students need in order to have a better life when they leave the halls of Owen-Withee and to maintain our buildings. The referendum is strictly going to be used for day-to-day operations, this is NOT for any building projects. It is to maintain what we already have. It helps pay the fuel bills, electricity, insurance, staff, just to name a few. We are in need of new computers and technology. Our computers are out of date and students that are taking college courses are struggling without the updates of today’s technology. It would be great if we could once again offer Spanish, which is so greatly needed.

If the referendum does not pass, we will be facing the closing of our school in the future. The school is the main entity that makes our community of Owen-Withee.

If the school closes it will have a huge domino effect on our community. Families may move our of our community, businesses would then be affected by losing employees and less business for them, churches, restaurants, community organizations, plus more. It will not be an inviting area to move into with no school to educate a family’s children. There would be no draw to our communities. We will also be responsible in busing our children to other area schools and we will be taxed according to those communities.

This last Friday was Grandparents Day. The children were excited all day for this big event. I’d say they were “wound up”! The Forward Center and Elementary gym were filled with our students and grandparents. I thought to myself, if this referendum does not pass, it may some day just be empty gyms and halls of O-W High.

I’d have to say, we are blessed to have the great teaching staff and support staff that we have. Everyone is so dedicated to our students. It would be sad to see any of our current teachers leave.

You are always welcome to come see the school in operation as our Superintendent Randy encourages. The doors are always open!

I am grateful for my job at O-W High, the place that I can proudly say that I graduated from. I so enjoy going to work at the school every day to see our students grow into young adults receiving the best education and working with our great staff. Remember—our school is the PRIDE and FUTURE of our community. I am asking you to vote YES on November 5

Phil Greschner

Owen, WI