A perspective on the Whitefish Bay School Referendum

Armory Park, the proposed site of a new Whitefish Bay Middle School

Nearly 10 years ago, our family moved into our house on Ardmore Ave. One of the primary draws was the beautiful, open park in our neighborhood.

Over the years, we watched the seasons play out here in Armory Park.

In the spring, T-ball leagues and kids learning to throw and catch, gym class practicing golf and frisbee.

In the summer, families spreading out on the grass, kids climbing trees or stringing up hammocks in the shade.

In the fall, turkey bowls and lacrosse and soccer practices.

And each Memorial Day, neighbors gathered together for a ceremony at Armory Park.

When the Village chose in the 1990s to remove the armory building and create Armory Park, it made a deliberate decision for this land to be shared open space. 

Unfortunately, the proposed referendum for a new middle school would take over this park. 

In a small, landlocked community like ours — where room to breathe is limited — this green space is rare. It belongs to the entire community. But under the new proposal, it would be largely absorbed into a 3-story building.

Protecting Armory Park and a Sense of Place

Building a new middle school is expensive, and the price tag for the school referendum comes out to $135.6 million. For example, that’s an additional $1,463.80 per year for 21 years for the median home value in Whitefish Bay.

But setting aside the cost discussion and tax implications — the price tag of demolishing the current middle school to build a new one across the street — I want to talk about the physical place itself that has been chosen for this referendum.

For those of us who live nearby — and for many families who use Armory Park — the proposal means converting a large, continuous community field into a building site. That land-use change deserves its own thoughtful conversation.

This is not a question of whether our community should invest in its students. The concern is about the location and the permanent loss of a space that cannot be replaced once it is gone.

Building a massive new middle school over this park would completely change the character of our neighborhood. Change is sometimes necessary, but this particular change would come at the cost of one of the last meaningful, uninterrupted green spaces in our village. It’s why we and others chose this neighborhood.

Today, Armory Park is one large, continuous open field that supports multiple activities at the same time and preserves long sightlines across the neighborhood. That would come to an end.

The proposal for demolishing the current middle school site would combine a separate square of green space with a mixture of parking and tennis courts, which is not the community park we have today. Those two things are not equivalent. We would lose this slice of outdoor community and open adventure.

“With the specific blueprint in this referendum, we would lose this slice of outdoor community and open adventure at Armory Park.”

Every decision has trade-offs: New facilities vs impact on residents who did not request this specific blueprint as the outcome of this referendum. But it’s important to ask: Does this particular plan serve the long-term character, financial health, and communal life of our village? Are there other, better, long-term options? 

But it doesn’t have to be this one path. There are other options.

The school board considered multiple scenarios for the middle school, including renovations and improvements in place. That, along with others, could still be an option.

A “NO” vote on this referendum doesn’t mean you don’t support education — it would mean you don’t endorse the wholesale takeover of the park next door. It means other options should be further explored. The legacy of Armory Park should be honored.

Once this current space is gone, it is gone forever: The games, the ceremonies, the unstructured play, the sunsets, the simple visual openness that gives this neighborhood its sense of calm and recreation.

When you vote in the upcoming facilities referendum on April 7, please carefully consider a decision that will shape this neighborhood and its residents for generations.