Snow has melted and the first signs of Spring are here. I’m referring to the political ones, sprouting on lawns. The triple ones caught my eye – the incumbents of the West Bend School Board. By running as a bloc, they’re suggesting that everything’s going great and no changes are needed. I completely disagree. Over the past 3 years, as true conservative voices left the Board, this group presided over changes that dismantled innovations and returned to the old “status-quo”.

Here’s what that same-old way of doing things looks like: Loss of quality leadership, reductions in accountability, compensation regardless of performance, farcical facility referendums, stealthy curriculum changes and poor oversight of staff.

These incumbents were part of a Board that mishandled the hiring and firing of Superintendents, wasting many thousands of dollars. Turnover and shifts in other administrator positions followed, including elimination of the testing and accountability position. Without leadership or measures, across-the-board pay increases were approved, circumventing the performance goals outlined in the compensation plan. The recent referendum process followed the same playbook used in 2009, attempting to shame voters, and got the same defeat. It took an outside, volunteer group to present an alternate perspective; but it’s likely that approach will be ignored going forward. Curriculum changes are pushed through as quietly as possible, with inconvenient meeting times disguised as opportunities for parental/community input. Of final note are several public exposures of our classroom teaching materials and methods, which garnered not only parental and community attention, but national attention due to their biased and controversial nature. Who’s really running this District?

On April 7^th, ask yourself whether you want more of the same, or someone who will raise questions and provide a different point of view.  Vote for the only true conservative voice – vote for Jody Geenen.

Randy Marquardt