Mattoon v. Antigo School District

The Mattoon Elementary School in the Antigo School District has been closed for four years.  The School District has offered to sell the building to the Village of Mattoon for $1, but with a restrictive covenant that prohibits the building from ever being used for educational purposes.  While Antigo refuses to answer exactly why it wants the restriction, it’s fairly obvious that it doesn’t want competition from a private school.

However, it’s not entirely clear that the Antigo School District actually owns the building.  The school was originally part of a now-defunct school district called Joint School District #6.  According to state law at the time that district dissolved, title to the school could only have passed to the Antigo School District pursuant to an express agreement, which doesn’t exist in this case.

On behalf of Shepherd’s Watch, an organization that wants to turn the building into a community center and private voucher school, we successfully intervened in the case. If Mattoon actually owns the school, it is willing to transfer it to Shepherd’s Watch without any deed restriction.  We are currently briefing the merits of the case.

CASE DOCUMENTS

• PDF: Complaint
• PDF: Answer and Counterclaims
• PDF: Answer to Counterclaims
• PDF: Shepard’s Watch Motion to Intervene
• PDF: Antigo Brief in Opposition to Intervention
• PDF: Defendant’s Amended Answer, Affirmative Defenses and Counterclaims
• PDF: Plantiffs Answer and Affirmative Defenses to Defendant’s Amended Counterclaims
• PDF: Signed Order Granting Shepard’s Watch Community Center’s Intervention
• PDF: Shepard’s Watch Community Center’s Complaint with Exhibits
• PDF: Defendant’s Answer, Affirmative Defenses and Counterclaims
• PDF: Shepard’s Watch Community Center’s Answers and Affirmative Defenses