Nature school may be in county park to stay

Officials with the Sugar Maple Nature School at Hawthorne Hills County Park hope to develop a nature-based playground on the school’s five-acre site that will be open to the public.

It’s one part of the school’s continuing development that may lead to the school making the park its permanent home.

The school wants to use about $100,000 from a state Charter Schools Program Expansion grant to build the natural playground made with logs, stumps, rocks and native vegetation.

“These features encourage large-motor development, sensory exploration, imaginative play and meaningful interactions with the natural world,” a memo presented to the county Natural Resources Committee last week said.

“Unlike traditional playgrounds that rely heavily on plastic or metal structures, natural play areas foster open-ended, child-directed experiences that deepen connection to the land and support healthy risk-taking.”

Similar play spaces can be found at Lac Lawrann Conservancy in West Bend, Riveredge Nature Center in the Town of Saukville and Schlitz Audubon Nature Center in Bayside.

Sugar Maple’s Director of Education Cindy Raimer said tentative plans call for an “active play zone” featuring a downed-tree climbing structure, climbing nets, log balance beams, stump walks and an overhead climber.

A second phase would potentially include a “creative play” zone that focuses on exploration and collaboration, offering a wheelchair-accessible mud kitchen, a loose-parts construction area stocked with natural materials and “additional open-ended discovery elements that invite imaginative play.”

“This project represents a meaningful and lasting enhancement to Hawthorne Hills County Park, one that aligns with Ozaukee County’s conservation values while enriching the experience of every child and family who uses the space,” according to the memo.

Raimer’s was an information-only presentation, seeking a “nod” from the committee in favor of the playground concept.

The school is in the second year of a five-year lease from the county.

The kindergarten-through-seventh-grade outdoor nature school uses the park as its outdoor classroom and has an enrollment of 124 students, Raimer said.

The school added a seventh grade this year and plans to add an eighth grade in the 2026-2027 school year.

Raimer also said the school hopes to add a nature-based daycare center at some point.

She said the school’s five-acre “footprint” could accommodate the school’s needs “for the next 40 years.”

The school is a tuition-free, public charter school authorized by the Northern Ozaukee School District.

It was originally formed as Riveredge Outdoor Learning Elementary School but moved to Hawthorne Hills and changed its name in 2024 as both the school and nature center outgrew their facilities there.

Last year, the school received a $1 million Wisconsin Charter School Program grant to fund the operational expenses for the creation of sixth, seventh and eighth- grade classes.

The school has exclusive access to five acres of the park but also can use the 57-acre Hawthorne Hills Park and 67-acre Shady Lane Natural Area as an outdoor classroom and learning lab, including the park’s nearby pond and the Milwaukee River.

The school, which conducts classes outdoors in all kinds of weather, consists of a 70-by-120-foot one-story building containing eight classrooms, one of which is used for offices for an administrator, nurse, counselor and speech pathologist.

The committee approved the school’s plan to add a 16-by-44-foot storage shed.

Raimer said the school also hopes to add a community garden that would include a greenhouse-type structure.

The school makes annual payments to Ozaukee County totaling $375,666 through 2029.

To accommodate the school at the Ozaukee County-owned park located just north of Hawthorne Hills Golf Course, the county has made a number of improvements including road grading, snow removal, improved electrical service and a new well with heated pump house.

The school can also use a nearby maintenance building, bathrooms, showers and parking lot and, in case of severe weather, offices and other rooms.

Earlier this year, the school and county officials had a disagreement over who should pay for $63,000 in improvements.

But Raimer, county Planning and Parks Director Andrew Struck and County Administrator Jason Dzwinel told the committee those differences have been ironed out or nearly so.

News of the succession of improvements sought by the school prompted some supervisors to wonder aloud whether the school was already becoming a permanent fixture.

“We’re incrementing our way to a permanent decision,” Supr. Bruce Ross said and asked at what point the County Board should be brought in.

“I think we’re getting to that point,” Struck said.

Asked how the school’s search for a permanent home is going, Raimer said several sites are under consideration but added that Hawthorne Hills has been a “wonderful home” for the school.

“We would love Hawthorne Hills as a permanent home,” she said.

“I think the two missions (of the county and the school) align really well. But the devil is in the details,” Struck said.

Dzwinel agreed.

“We’re getting closer to being on the same page,” he said. “We’re moving toward having fewer devils.”