The Wauwatosa School District is encouraging city residents to complete a survey seeking feedback on five proposed options for upgrading and possibly reconfiguring the four middle and high schools — proposals that could transform the physical spaces where many Tosa students learn.
The survey, which is being sent to all residents starting this week and also will be available online, is part of an ongoing process of deliberation by a group known as the Secondary Schools Ad Hoc Committee. Since forming in May 2025, the committee has reviewed numerous options and narrowed them down to the remaining five, and it is scheduled to recommend one of those options to the School Board in February.
To assist the committee in its deliberations, the district contracted with the firm School Perceptions to conduct the survey and analyze its results. Submission deadline is Jan. 26.
"The purpose of this survey is to gather your input to help determine how and when the District should invest in these schools to improve academic opportunities and educational quality for students," Superintendent Demond Means said in a Jan. 9 email to families announcing the survey. "Options include maintaining, renovating, consolidating or potentially closing one or more middle or high schools."
Tosa Forward News obtained an eight-page sample PDF of the survey, and it can be viewed here.
After voters approved a facilities referendum in 2018 and another in 2024 that allowed the district to catch up on deferred maintenance and in some cases to modernize facilities at the elementary school level, it now is focusing specifically on the middle and high school facilities, which are underutilized and in need of millions of dollars in improvements.
The Secondary Schools Ad Hoc Committee has about two dozen members, mostly parents of Tosa students, as well as some faculty members and additional residents without children in Tosa schools. The committee toured Tosa's four middle and high schools and comparable school systems around the state and then began meeting this fall to discuss what would be best for Wauwatosa and its students.
Although the five options vary in ways both significant and subtle, they essentially will require the committee to choose from three configurations:
- One combined citywide high school, likely on the current West High School campus, and one combined citywide middle school on the east side, which would require busing.
- One east-side school combining grades 7-12 and a second 7-12 school on the west side, with the younger grades separated from the older grades in both schools.
- All four existing schools as they are, renovated and enhanced, but without addressing unused space and inefficiencies.
The committee’s next meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Jan. 13 at the Fisher Building, 12121 W. North Ave.
Means, in unveiling the district's survey, outlined the need for action in addressing the existing middle and high schools' deficiencies. "The oldest of these schools is nearly 100 years old, while the newest is almost 60 years old," the superintendent said. "As a result, these facilities were not designed to support today’s instructional practices, learning environments, technology integration, or student support needs."
Residents are urged to mail the hard copy survey back within the next two weeks. An online option also will be available using personalized codes, with every voting-age resident allowed to submit responses.
