Residents of Cudahy are speaking out about what they call a secret plan to spend millions of dollars in referendum money to demolish Cudahy Middle School’s pool and replace it with a new cafeteria.
Residents of Cudahy are furious after discovering what they’re calling a secretive plan to spend referendum money to demolish Cudahy Middle School’s pool and construct a new cafeteria.
The School District fo Cudahy spent $5 million to refurbish the pool within the past decade, and residents are questioning why it now needs to be demolished, especially after they say they were never informed about the plans.
Members of the Cudahy School Board first discussed the proposal March 9 at a Building and Grounds Committee meeting, but minutes from that meeting reveal that the agenda item under which the proposal was discussed make no mention of it. The item was titled “Middle School Multi-Purpose Spaces” and included nothing about demolishing the pool or constructing a new cafeteria.
Residents only learned of this proposal late Friday afternoon, when the agenda for the March meeting of the full Cudahy School Board were posted. That meeting is scheduled for 6:00 pm Monday night.
Demolition of the pool is listed as an “Action Item” and the full board is expected to vote in support of it.
“There is no way that everything listed in this item was done in the 14 days since the project was first submitted to the Building and Grounds Committee,” one furious Cudahy resident told The Heartland Post. “These plans have been known to administrators and probably the Board, too, for months—yet this was kept secret from taxpayers. They knew we would be pissed and we are!”
Voters approved a $12 million Cudahy School District referendum in November 2024, but there was no indication then that any of that money would be used to demolish the pool, which is used regularly for gym classes and swim team events.
Demolition of the pool and construction of the new cafeteria would begin this summer if Board members approve the construction contracts at Monday night’s meeting.
