WAUPUN-Other than an overwhelming yes coming from those seeking the detachment, voters in the Waupun Area School District denied the referendum for the detachment of the town and city of Fox Lake from the school district.

District-wide, the vote tallied 1,176 for and 1,736 against.

"Fewer people voted for the detachment than signed the petition," said Randy Refsland, district administrator.

The referendum Tuesday was the final step in the process for about 28 percent of WASD to detach from the district and attach to Randolph School District. Although RSD passed the referendum with votes of 393 to 240, the detachment is denied because of Waupun's negative response.

Randolph School administrator Greg Peyer said his district was ready to take on the work if the referendum had passed. Randolph has had some space issues at the elementary level and it is possible that some voters saw adding Fox Lake as an opportunity to gain not just students, but also another building. Fox Lake Elementary School was closed last year and likely would have been part of any asset transfer had the referendum succeeded.

Peyer said the district will continue to take steps to resolve its space shortages.

"There are ups and downs in this situation," Ann Kraintz, school board member, said. "I understand that the taxes would be lower [if they detached], but keeping them here would mean more money and better programs for all of the kids in the district."

"From what I was hearing in the community, I would have expected a strong 'yes' vote," Lori Lemmenes, school board president, said. "I heard a lot of people who were ready to cut Fox Lake loose."

An attempt Tuesday night to reach a member of Concerned Area Residents, the group that filed the petition leading to the referendum, was not successful. The group had launched the petition in response to the Waupun School Board closing the Fox Lake Elementary School as part of budget cuts that also closed two other schools.

Bill Zeininger, business administrator, thought the results would have been closer than they were because the tax rate would decrease if Fox Lake detached.