OSHKOSH, WI — Construction work is already underway on the new Menominee Elementary School in Oshkosh. But students, staff and a representative of the Menominee tribe came together for a groundbreaking ceremony. The new school will become home to students currently attending Merrill, Washington and Webster Stanley School. Oshkosh Superintendent Dr. Bryan Davis says Menominee Elementary School will allow those students to have a brand new experience in education.
“But the right building can amplify what happens in our schools,” Davis says. “The new elementary school will give an opportunity to experience learning like never before. Allowing for collaboration, and inclusion and embracing technology. It will bring together three school communities into one and allows to better serve and support all of our students.”
School Board President Beth Wyman says Menominee Elementary School will be a game changer for students and teachers alike.
“I am confident that this news school will provide our students with an environment that sparks imagination, nurtures talent and sets all of our students on the path for life-long learning,” Wyman says. “Within its walls, our educators have the tools and the resources to engage students in innovative and effective practices.”
Menominee Tribal Historian David Grignon praises the school’s honoring of tribal origins and history in the city of Oshkosh.
“The Menominees have a long history here in Oshkosh,” Grignon says. “We’ve been here for thousands of years. We’re indigenous to the state of Wisconsin. Our birthplace is at the mouth of the Menominee River and that’s where our tribe was created thousands of years ago.”
Grignon says the school is a great honor for his tribe.
“The Menominee people will always remembers this, that you remembered us,” Grignon says. “That’s because this is, Oshkosh is in ceded territory from the tribe and ancestral territory for the tribe. And the great Chief Oshkosh lent his name to the city of Oshkosh. And his legacy lives with over 9,000 Menominees that live on and off the reservation.”
The new Menominee Elementary School is scheduled to open in time for the 2024-2025 school year.
