Hamilton School District

Untitled Article by Fred H. Keller, Living Sussex Sun, Posted: Dec. 22, 2009

It was mandated in 1959 by the state and the county that there be a high school district in what became the Hamilton School District and it took three years of wrangling, lots of meetings and petitions to finally accomplish the opening of Hamilton High School in September of 1963.

The very first meeting was in May 1959 at the Sussex Village Hall (the 1936-built Sussex Community Hall). Originally the name for this school district was "Joint School District No. 10" which became "Union High School" and then finally Hamilton School District and Hamilton High School.

The district included Sussex, Lannon, Butler, parts of Pewaukee and the eastern half of the Town of Lisbon, plus the southern part of Menomonee Falls and a little bit of Brookfield. The territory was a gerrymandered set of leftovers that on the map looked like an R laying down with a period some distance from the bottom of the R. This period was Butler which was actually separated from the rest of the proposed Hamilton School District.

Butler, in the mix because of its valuation, fought tooth and nail to not be included. Butler at times, tried to be included with Menomonee Falls High, Brookfield Central and East, and most outrageously to be annexed by Wauwatosa so it could be included with those schools.

But the state, county and electors of the district finally prevailed and Hamilton High was accepted and built The period of 2009-2012 will be the 50th anniversary of the school and the district.

Oddly, I knew the very first Hamilton School District President, Francis Beaudry, who served from 1960-63. I had been employed as the Wisconsin State Fair poultry building and chicken husbandry leader from 1946-52. That is when I noted Beaudry as a midway snake oil promoter who would spellbind people with his baritone voice presentation for the vitamin extracts that his group would sell.

I marveled at his ability to hold country boobs with his sales pitch in an almost gospel evangelist-style fashion. I was then at the early meetings of the emerging Union High School (Hamilton) birth when Beaudry again emerged, and this time the crowd accepted him as a spokesman and school board director/leader. Knowing his earlier life as a carny, I did not vote for him, or against him but just sat mute marveling at how things change.

In addition, Robert Brisk of Sussex was the first elected clerk, Roger Robinson treasurer, and Sussex's Don Gill, Lisbon's Fred Linstedt Sr., Butler's Peter Monfre, and Dan Schnabel completed the first seven-person school board.

The next big event was the selection of a site. After some wrangling, four sites were chosen; one near Butler, two other sites and a site on the Pusch 80-acre farm on Town Line Road between Silver Spring Drive and Highway 74 in Lisbon.

In March 1960, the final vote was 471 for the Pusch farm site, 91 for Butler and only three for the two other sites combined. The cost was $40,654.73, $40,000 for the site and $654.73 for lawyer, real estate fees and other payments; for all practical purposes, it was $500 an acre.

Immediately there was a start after the March 1960 site selection meetings to get things rolling on the $2.1 million school. In January 1962, Lowell Paffenroth, principal of Marcy School, was hired as the new Hamilton principal. Gordon Heier replaced Paffenroth at Marcy and was later the first longtime Templeton Middle School principal.

In February 1962, school construction was topped out. In March 1962, base salaries for Hamilton, including teachers, were set at $4,800. Watler Wagener was hired as athletic director and football coach, and Horace Moran as basketball coach. Also coming on board was teacher Jack Crook and Norman Friess as superintendent. Hamilton was accepted into the now revamped Braveland Conference with full membership slated to begin in 1963 to 1964.

In July 1962, the proposed budget was $657,239 for the first school year and in September of that same year, Hamilton opened for its first classes of freshmen and sophomores - about 400 students. Hamilton graduated its first class of seniors in June 1965 and its first class of freshmen through seniors in 1966.

The idea for the Hamilton District was born in a report given by Mr. Ralph Joliffe, of the State Department of Public Instruction on May 2, 1956, before the Waukesha County School Committee. He presented two plans for school re-organization in the Town of Menomonee area. One called for creating a K-12 district which would include the Menomonee Falls village district. The other called for creating a Union high school district under which the Menomonee Falls district would give up its K-12 status.

In subsequent months, meetings were held in the area. Little enthusiasm was expressed for either plan.

On January 14, 1957, the Menomonee town chairman appeared before the committee to ask if plans has been made for a high school in the Town of Menomonee. He requested permission to form a committee representing various municipalities concerned with a high school for the area. The committee the request.

In Discussion at the same meeting, the Superintendent of Schools of Menomonee Falls brought out the fact that his district was interested in consolidating with only a few districts in the northeast corner of the township. It was also brought out that a new high school district might be needed in the Lisbon, Lannon, Marcy, Menomonee, and Butler areas.

On April 22, 1957, a special meeting, which had been previously requested by the school boards of Lannon, Willow springs, Marcy and Butler, was held to discuss the future high school status of the area.

On February 23, 1958, the county school committee met with the Sussex Parent-Teacher Association and presented a proposal for a new high school District covering the following elementary districts: Lannon, Sussex, Butler, Marcy, North Lisbon, and Willow Springs.

(Editor's note: By this time the western half of the Town of Lisbon had been absorbed into the Arrowhead High School District).

After this proposal, there was considerable and other meetings regarding a union high school district.

On June 16, 1958, at Marcy Elementary School, a general discussion was held on a proposal to create a union high school as previously proposed in Sussex. After much discussion it was moved by a member of the audience that the people go on record requesting the committee to hold a formal hearing on a proposal to create a union high school district of the following districts, except for the portion of Marcy in Brookfield City, and the portions of Sussex and North Lisbon in Arrowhead: Sussex, Marcy, Lannon, Butler, Willow Springs and North Lisbon. The motion was seconded and carried unanimously by those present.

The formal hearing was held July 9, 1958 in Marcy. After discussion, Mrs. Kinkel, stated she believed the group present was generally in favor.

It was moved from the order creating the district effective September 2, 1958 be passed and it was unanimously approved.

On November 4, 1958, the order was voted down in a referendum. the negative vote was heavy in the Town of Lisbon.

Three further meetings were held on the situation until another formal hearing on February 25, 1959.

During the meeting of December 18, 1958, at the Waukesha county courthouse, (the last before the formal hearing) the attorney for the Town of Lisbon stated the people had changed their minds since the original order had been voted down. He said people were opposed to a new proposal which excluded the Town of Lisbon and would prefer the original order placing all the remaining territory of the Town of Lisbon and village of Menomonee Falls into a union high school district. He said the people had been afraid the high school would be located in Butler if the original order had gone into effect. If the high school could be located somewhere near Sussex, where sewage was available, the the attorney believed the people would probably go along with it.

The people of Sussex and Lisbon urged the County School Committee to deny the proposed reorganization excluding the Town of Lisbon. The proposed reorganization was denied.

At the Sussex school a public hearing was held on February 25, 1959, as a result of a resolution adopted by the county school committee on February 4, calling for a hearing on the creation of a union high school district. This resolution stated:

"It is hereby ordered that Union High School District Joint No. 6 of the Town of Pewaukee, Town of Lisbon, Village of Sussex, Village of Menomonee Falls, Village of Butler, Village of Lannon, Waukesha County, Wisconsin be created."

The first annual meeting was ordered to be held May 11, 1959, at the Sussex Community Hall at 8:00 p.m.

An affirmative vote of the Waukesha County school committee completed the action. The order was mailed on February 27 and became effective March 30, 1959.

On November 3, 1959, the County School Committee attached additional areas to the district from in the Towns of Lisbon and Pewaukee.

The primary reason for the creation of the district was the high school situation in the individual districts. Much of the area had a long history of populations too low to support a community high school. As a result, the students were sent to high schools outside of the community on a tuition basis.

In recent years there had been over-crowding in the high schools used by students of the area on a tuition basis. Many of the areas were notified that after a certain date no students would be accepted. This meant that a high school education must be provided for the children. Such public high schools as Menomonee falls, Wauwatosa West, Waukesha, Arrowhead and Germantown had been attended by students of the future Union High School Joint No. 6. After plans for the building were well under way notices were received that Brookfield could accept students. However, Wauwatosa stated that Butler students would not be accepted after 1961. Waukesha would not accept Sussex area students after September, 1961. The long awaited rejection of district tuition students had begun.

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