Boots & Sabers

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Tag: West Bend School District

Superintendent Candidates Did Not Sign Walker Recall

by | 1708, 29 May 1616 | , | 22 Comments

Well, that’s good.

A quick check to see if anyone signed the Walker Recall.  Results posted below.

• Dr. Dean Gorrell, current Superintendent of the Verona Area School District, Verona, Wisconsin  DID NOT SIGN

• Dr. Brenda Lewis, current Assistant Superintendent of the Rochester Public Schools, Rochester, Minnesota (only Wisconsin residents could sign, but her name is not there)

• Mr. Erik Olson, current Assistant Superintendent of Operations and Continuous Improvement of the Sun Prairie Area School District, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin  DID NOT SIGN RECALL

In the comments of the post at the Washington County Insider, former West Bend Mayor Kristine Deiss asks, “What has whether or not they signed the Walker recall got to do with being qualified for the job? I would hope our School Board did not ask this question.”

It’s a valid question, but it is important and I do hope that the School Board asks about it. Act 10 is the single-most important school reform in this millennium (it sure sounds impressive that way, doesn’t it?). We need to know if the incoming superintendent view Act 10 as a detriment to public education or as a tool with which to make the West Bend School District better. Given that the citizens of the district overwhelmingly support Act 10 and turned out in huge numbers to vote for Governor Walker during the recall election, a new superintendent who hates Act 10 will come in immediately out of a step with the community he or she is supposed to serve.

So yes… ask the question. Do the due diligence.

West Bend School District Chooses 3 Superintendent Finalists

by | 1805, 26 May 1616 | , | 6 Comments

From the Washington County Insider… here they are:

• Dr. Dean Gorrell, current Superintendent of the Verona Area School District, Verona, Wisconsin

• Dr. Brenda Lewis, current Assistant Superintendent of the Rochester Public Schools, Rochester, Minnesota

• Mr. Erik Olson, current Assistant Superintendent of Operations and Continuous Improvement of the Sun Prairie Area School District, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin

West Bend Appoints Interim High School Principal

by | 1937, 20 Apr 1616 | | 1 Comment

This makes a lot of sense.

The Board of Education for the West Bend School District has appointed Tracey Conners to serve as interim principal for the West Bend high schools for one year, allowing the next superintendent of schools to develop the high school leadership team, following the resignation of current principal, William Greymont, at the end of the school year.

“We are pleased that Tracey is willing to take on theinterim principal role as we transition leadership in the school district,” said Rick Parks, WBSD Board member. “Her 14 years of teaching social studies at East High School, and leadership roles as principal at Fair Park Elementary School and in the district office give her a diverse background for this position.”

With the district also looking for a new Superintendent, it makes sense to appoint an interim principal to allow the new Superintendent to make the permanent hire.

The West Bend School District’s turnover ‘problem’

by | 0545, 29 Mar 1616 | , | 1 Comment

My column for the West Bend Daily News is online. Here it is:

One of the issues that has come to the fore in the election for the West Bend School Board is that of teacher morale. As with any large organization, some employees are not happy with how things are going and have poor morale. The School Board and district administration are tasked with understanding if poor morale is widespread or negatively impacting students to the point that changes in policy or leadership are necessary. Some folks in the community contend that teacher morale is a massive problem and cite high teacher turnover as a symptom of it. This begs the question, is teacher turnover a problem in the West Bend School District?

The short answer is: “no.”

Teacher turnover has been on the rise in the past few years in the West Bend School District. In the last school year, voluntary teacher turnover was about 6.7 percent. That is up from a little more than 4 percent in the 2011-12 school year and down from a spike of almost 9 percent in the 201011 school year.

One cannot tell whether 6.7 percent is good or bad without some context. Unfortunately, it is difficult to compare raw turnover numbers because different statisticians calculate turnover differently. Does the figure include only employees who quit, or also those who were fired? What about retirees? Eliminated positions? You get the idea. Still, even with the rough numbers, West Bend’s turnover rate is comparable to other surrounding districts and well below the national average.

According to the March 19 Daily News, the West Bend School District has the second lowest turnover rate when compared to that of the Mequon-Thiensville, Fond du Lac and Port Washington-Saukville districts. Nationally, the turnover rate for teachers is anywhere between 15-18 percent, depending on which study you choose to cite. As a raw comparison, West Bend’s turnover appears to be below the average of most school districts in the country and in the immediate area.

It is true that the turnover rate has been rising every year since the 2011-12 school year. There was a spike of almost 9 percent in the 2010-11 school year, but that was an anomaly due to a change in district policy regarding health insurance for retirees that prompted a group of teachers to retire before the change negatively impacted them. But West Bend is not alone — the turnover rate for surrounding districts and those all over the state have been rising. This is an intentional consequence of the landmark reform, Act 10.

Under Act 10, local governments, including school districts, were partially liberated from the strictures of union contracts that dictated regimented wage scales and work rules. Under Act 10, school districts began implementing reforms that would have previously been very difficult. For example, the Mequon-Thiensville School District implemented a merit pay system for employees. In West Bend, the school district tied some performance metrics to employee compensation and enacted reforms like the popular walk-in health clinic.

But not everyone is comfortable with change and it always creates some friction in any organization. Anyone who has ever been a part of a dynamic organization has seen people become uncomfortable, or become uncomfortable themselves, and the corresponding dip in morale for those people.

On the other side of the equation, Act 10 has infused a modicum of freedom into the labor market for teachers. Prior to Act 10, the strict compensation scales were weighted heavily to tenure within a district, so if an experienced teacher wanted to move to another district, they would often have to start over at the bottom of the tenure pile. Act 10 allowed many districts to pay teachers based on merit irrespective of their tenure. This allows teachers to more easily move between districts without being penalized and for districts to recruit the teachers they want.

The West Bend School District, for example, has a very competitive compensation package for teachers. According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, West Bend’s employees are paid an average total compensation of nearly $84,000, which is in the top 7 percent of all districts in Wisconsin, and have an average experience of 13.5 years. In a more competitive labor market, school districts must act to attract talented teachers with things like a good working environment, support structures, good leadership and, yes, better compensation. Good teachers are benefiting from Act 10.

In any organization of the size of the West Bend School District, there will always be employees who are not happy and are vocal about it. But there is nothing in the voluntary turnover rate that indicates there is a widespread morale issue in the West Bend School District. The vast majority of the teachers are doing exactly what they love to do and what we love them for doing — providing an outstanding education for our kids.

West Bend School District Superintendent Survey

by | 1414, 22 Mar 1616 | | 0 Comments

As part of the search process for a new superintendent for the West Bend School District gets underway, the school board is asking for input from the community so that they can develop an ideal profile. Since the survey doesn’t offer any safeguards to prevent people from answering it multiple times or people from outside of the district responding, it should only be used in an advisory capacity, but it might prove useful nonetheless.

If you live in the district, please click through to the survey and offer your thoughts!

 

Teacher Turnover in West Bend

by | 1403, 19 Mar 1616 | , | 5 Comments

The West Bend Daily News has an interesting, if poorly written, story about teacher turnover in the West Bend School District. Here’s the background…

There are several people in the community who are not happy with the current direction of the school district or the management style of the superintendent. Their dissatisfaction is particularly relevant at this time because there is a school board election on April 5th in which the chairman of the school board, Randy Marquardt, is running for reelection. He is, rightly, the standard bearer for the current policies and direction of the district. Furthermore, the current superintendent, Ted Neitzke, has already announced his resignation effective at the end of the school year. The school board, and whoever the two candidates are who are elected to it in April, will choose the next superintendent.

One of the metrics that the critics of the current superintendent cite as problematic is teacher turnover. Their contention is that voluntary teacher turnover is too high and that it is a reflection of poor management practices and failed board policies. Well, I love data, so let’s take a look to see if it’s a problem or not.

According to the story, here is what the voluntary turnover rate in the district looks like compared to surrounding districts:

teacherturnoverwb

The voluntary teacher turnover rate in the West Bend School District is a little below 7% and has been increasing since Act 10 took effect – just like every other district. And right now, turnover in the district is comparable to low compared with the other sample districts. Granted, it is a small sample size.

The other thing that jumps out from the date is the spike in the 2010-2011 school year in the West Bend School District that doesn’t appear in the other districts. That was the year that Act 10 passed. I remember there being a spike in teachers quitting in fear of Act 10, but it seems odd that it was higher in West Bend than elsewhere. Then again, West Bend had, and has, a very active teachers union that is rabidly liberal. Perhaps those other districts do not. In any case, I would point out that that occurred under the previous superintendent, and Marquardt was first elected in the Spring of 2010. If teacher turnover is an issue, it seems to have been a bigger issue prior to the current leadership.

In any case, we are still faced with deciding whether or not teacher turnover is an issue. I would ask three questions. First, is 7% turnover abnormal?

Well, compared to the other school districts cited in the story, apparently not. West Bend appears to be in the middle of the pack. There doesn’t seem to be anything abnormal about West Bend’s turnover rate at all. And if you compare it to national statistics, 7% is downright low. In this study about the 2011-2012 school year, it found the national voluntary turnover rate of about 11%.

The second question is, why has the voluntary turnover rate been rising? That is rather simple. It is intentional. One of the objectives of Act 10 was to give school districts more latitude in managing personnel and implement innovations. Act 10 helped the West Bend School District implement things like their on site clinic, online education, and charter school. As the rate of change increases, it tends to drive turnover up in any organization.

Also, school districts were allowed to decouple compensation from length of service and be more creative in offering incentives for teachers. This opened the door to school districts being able to be more aggressive in recruiting teachers from elsewhere. It also allowed teachers to consider moving to other districts without being penalized by coming in on the low end of the tenure scale. In other words, Act 10 intentionally opened up a more competitive labor market for teachers. By its very nature, shifting a labor market from a very closed one to one that is slightly more free will result in more movement of teachers between districts.

The third question is, is a 7% voluntary turnover rate a bad thing? Remembering that the 7% also includes retirements, I do not think 7% is bad at all. In fact, it is healthy. As with most things in life, there needs to be a balance with employee turnover. If turnover is too high, it creates organizational stress, impedes performance as new employees are getting up to speed, and drives up the costs due to training and inefficiency. If employee turnover is too low, it stifles innovation, breeds complacency, and drives up the overall labor costs since more tenured employees tend to earn more compensation.

You also have to take into account the shifting sentiments of the labor force. The Millennial generation is much less loyal to employers than previous generations. They have grown up in a very agile and mobile labor market. Millennials who are teachers aren’t much different. And in a labor market that has been freed a bit by Act 10, they have the opportunity to be more mobile if they choose. School districts are not an island and can’t escape the wider demographic forces in the labor market.

So we are looking for a healthy range of turnover. Without knowing how much of the 7% is due to retirements, I would say that, if anything, it seems too low, but that is just my gut talking. Let’s face it, a 3% turnover rate is not a healthy turnover rate. It is a stagnant organization. And a 20% turnover rate, which is not uncommon in many other professional service industries, is probably too high for schools whose teachers need a few years to develop their classrooms.

I would not become too concerned about the turnover rate until it gets into the double-digits. At 7%, the West Bend School District’s turnover rate certainly does not indicate a crisis.

 

Consistent Performance in Menomonee Falls

by | 0849, 9 Mar 1616 | , | 6 Comments

The voters of Menomonee Falls will vote on a pair of school referenda in April. They are:

REFERENDUM QUESTION:
OPERATIONAL FUNDING ON A RECURRING BASIS

Operational funding would exceed the revenue limit by $1,250,000 in the 2016-2017 school year and by an additional $1,250,000 a year in each of the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 school years, for a total of $3,750,000 for the 2018-2019 school year and remain at $3,750,000 each year…

REFERENDUM QUESTION:
FACILITY IMPROVEMENTS ● $32,700,000

The district wants $32.7 million NOW to spend on a laundry list of items and a tax increase FOREVER to spend on whatever they can think of. Both of these referenda are ridiculous, but the one to permanently increase taxes above the state limit is downright offensive. But as West Bend begins the search for a new superintendent, it’s worth taking note of what’s going on in Menomonee Falls.

The superintendent of the Menomonee Falls district is Pat Greco, who used to be Pat Herdrich when she was the superintendent of the West Bend School District. During her tenure in West Bend, she pushed for multiple referenda – including what was the state’s largest ever at $119 million. It was always the same complaints about buildings falling down and education suffering. The constant turmoil created a lot of community strife and raucous meetings. But the teachers loved Herdrich.

Fast forward into Ted Neitzke tenure. We no longer hear about buildings falling down because the district has largely shored up maintenance and is even putting aside money to replace Jackson Elementary in the future without having to ask for more money. The district has implemented innovations like the very popular walk-in clinic for staff, a charter school, more vocational education and online offerings, and the district is much more closely aligned with the local business community and community in general. But there is a cabal of grumpy teachers (mainly at the high schools) who hate Neitzke and are cheering his resignation.

As the School Board looks for a new superintendent, they have to ask themselves… do they want another Neitzke or another Herdrich? While I don’t always see eye to eye with Neitzke on policy, I’ll take a Neitzke over a Herdrich every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

West Bend Superintendent Resigns at End of School Year

by | 1958, 24 Feb 1616 | , | 1 Comment

This is some news to consider right before the school board election. From the Washington County Insider:

Ted Neitzke, superintendent of the West Bend School District for the past five years, announced today that he will resign at the end of the school year.

“It will be extraordinarily difficult to say good-bye to Ted,” said Therese Sizer, West Bend School District Board of Education member. “He is that rare individual who can embrace challenges and remain optimistic in his resolve to provide the best education for our children. He has faith in our students, our teachers and our community. He has this uncanny ability to reject the status quo and instead envision the greatness in our children. It was always about their futures.”

Neitzke has served the West Bend School District since 2004 in various positions. From 2004-2009, Neitzke was the principal at Badger Middle School. From 2009-2011 he served as the assistant superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction and Communication before being named superintendent in 2011.

[…]

Neitzke is an active member of the community. He served as the Campaign Chair for the United Way of Washington County 2015 Campaign; Board President of Riveredge Nature Center; Board of Directors for Froedtert and Medical College of Wisconsin St. Joseph’s Hospital; Board of Directors for the Volunteer Center of Washington County; Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Economic Development Corporation of West Bend; founding member of the Washington County Workforce Alliance; Board of Directors for the West Bend Area Chamber of Commerce; Board of Directors for the West Bend Public Schools Foundation; member of West Bend Noon Rotary, and past Board of Directors for the West Bend Community Memorial Library.

Neitzke will become the Chief Education Officer for CESA 6 starting July 1, 2016. Located in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, CESA 6 serves 42 public school districts in Dodge, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Outagamie, Washington, Waupaca, Waushara, and Winnebago counties to help district administrators, principals and teachers find solutions to the educational needs of students, classrooms, schools and school districts.

First, congrats to Ted Neitzke. This is a big opportunity for him. As you can see, he is heavily involved in West Bend and I assume he will resign from most, if not all, of those other positions too. He will be missed by the district and by the community of West Bend. He has a lot to be proud of for his 12 years working for the West Bend school district.

Second, this makes the school board election on April 5th all that much more important. The school board will have to choose Neitzke’s replacement. The choice they make will set the direction of the district for years. Do they choose a reformer who will make radical changes? If so, what changes? Do they choose someone, perhaps from the current staff, who will keep things moving on the current trajectory? Do they choose someone who is tight with the teachers and the union? Do they choose someone who will be aggressive in budgeting?

It’s a big choice. I hope the school board candidates begin formulating an idea of the kind of person they would like to see replace Neitzke so that the voters can take it into account.

School Board Votes Against Detachment

by | 0832, 9 Feb 1616 | , | 3 Comments

This is a bit of interesting policy that took place at the West Bend School Board meeting last night.

Not wishing to set a precedent, members of the West Bend School Board voted Monday night to deny a request by residents in the Strawberry Glen subdivision to detach from the district.

The subdivision is at the far southeast end of the district, north of Highway 60 in the town of Jackson, on the border of Washington and Ozaukee counties. Of the 44 families in the subdivision, 34 signed a petition asking for detachment in hopes of attaching to the Cedarburg School District.

Mike Shaw, who organized the petition, told the board during Monday’s public hearing that “staying in the West Bend School District results in our kids spending approximately 402 hours more on a bus over the course of their childhood.”

[…]

Shaw said of the 51 children in the subdivision, 40 of them want to attend the Cedarburg School District. The remaining 11 preferred to remain in the West Bend district.

[…]

The district would, however, feel a fiscal effect. It would lose more than $12 million in property taxes if Strawberry Glen was allowed to detach.

This is essentially a math problem. This subdivision is rather affluent and generates a lot of property taxes – more taxes than the cost of educating the kids in the subdivision. If they go to the Cedarburg district, it will cost the district. Even if the 40 kids that they say want to go to Cedarburg do so through open enrollment, it’s still a cash positive arrangement for the West Bend School District.

This does highlight something that I’ve been discussing for years. Many people have been critical of the West Bend School District because it has been losing more kids through open enrollment than it has been taking in. They characterize this as a indicator that the quality of the district has declined to where families are opting out. But the exit interviews and anecdotal information about the families who choose open enrollment to leave the district indicate that the most common reason is that a neighboring district is more convenient for the family.

The West Bend School District is a geographically large district. As such, some families on the edges of the district find it more convenient to go to the schools that are closer to them – even if those schools are in a neighboring district. That’s the case here. Many folks in the Strawberry Glen subdivision find it more convenient and in sync with their lives to send their kids to Cedarburg than West Bend.

Perhaps it is time to consider shrinking the geographic footprint of the West Bend School District. The far flung district made more sense when the population of Washington County was smaller, but as population centers shift, maybe it doesn’t make as much sense as it used to.

West Bend School Board Reinstates Teacher

by | 0857, 12 Jan 1616 | | 4 Comments

Here’s the statement from the School Board.

“As you’re aware of the ongoing investigation into possible policy violations of a member of the high school. While no decision has been made regarding this matter it is clear from the information that has been supplied to this board there is significant and outright false information being published about this matter. By law the district unfortunately cannot address and correct the specific misleading or false information because as the employer the district does not have the same rights  as public employees to go public and share with others their version of the facts of the personnel matter.

This inability to publicly address the situation and correct the inaccurate information that’s being communicated by these individuals puts the district at a significant disadvantage.

This district can not utilize social media in the same manner and to the same extent as the supporters of the employee who apparently don’t care what the facts really are as long as they can blame the administration for the situation and absolve the employee of any responsibility for the choices she made regarding her own behavior.

The district holds all staff members to standards of behavior that this community has the right to expect of any employee of the district regardless of the subject matter of an interaction between a staff member and an administrator.

When the administration receives information that those standards may not have been upheld the board expects the administration will conduct a thorough investigation of the matter that is exactly what is happening here.

The board fully supports the administrative actions in investigating this situation.

Finally we also agree with the administration recommendation to place Miss Lohr back in her classroom immediately.”

Controversy Brewing in West Bend School District

by | 1809, 9 Jan 1616 | | 4 Comments

There is another controversy brewing in the West Bend School District, but it is difficult to discern how much of a controversy it is yet. Here’s a primer:

Last year the school district implemented a new assessment system called Galileo. Previously they used another system, but this one allows for more online use and has some other features. Also, it saves the district about $62k/year compared to the previous system. Here’s the email the district sent out yesterday with some explanation.

The teachers union and some of the teachers oppose the use of Galileo. They complain about some of the mechanics of Galileo, but those complaints would apply to any assessment system. The root of the agitation seems to be the fact that the results from assessments will be used for a part of the teacher evaluations.

As part of their opposition, union officials were circulating a petition in the schools opposing Galileo. You can read the petition here. So far, it’s all fine and good. The administration implemented a new system. Generally speaking, people don’t like change and, in this case, unions don’t like objective assessments being used to determine teacher performance. So there was ongoing discussion happening.

Then, something went sideways to escalate the situation. In discussions with the principal – presumably about the petition – Tanya Lohr was put on paid administrative leave. Lohr is a teacher and a long time liberal activist in the district. According to the union, she was speaking with the principal in her role as a union official – not as a teacher.

That’s really all we know about that. The union is saying that Lohr was unjustly put on leave to silence her or intimidate teachers into silence for opposing Galileo. The district, of course, can’t give their side of the story because it is a personnel issue. The very procedures and secrecy that the union demands forbids the district from commenting. So take what the union is saying with a grain of salt.

We do know that Lohr has a history of aggressively advocating her opinions regarding the functioning of the schools and has run afoul of the administration in the past. We do not know if she was already on a performance plan or violated any previous agreements with the district regarding her behavior. We also know that because of Lohr’s previous work history and knowing the inevitable backlash that would occur, it is exceedingly unlikely that the district would have put her on administrative leave without substantial cause.

Lohr’s disciplinary action has precipitated a response from many parents, teachers, and the union – particularly since it comes on the eve of finals.

That’s the story, but more questions remain. The cynic in me has me very suspicious about the timing of all of this. Things like this do not happen in a vacuum. The filing deadline for the West Bend School Board was the day before Lohr was put on leave. There are two seats up for election and five candidates on the ballot. One incumbent, the school board President, Randy Marquardt, is running for reelection. He is a conservative and leads the slim conservative majority on the board.

How convenient is it that this “crisis” has been precipitated and the teachers agitated on the eve of a school board election that could oust the conservative board president and tip the majority to the liberals? The answer is “very.” In fact, Waring Fincke, our local socialist agitator and Democratic Party official, started using this as a political wedge for the election within hours. And the commenters have done us the courtesy of pointing out the candidates who they believe will advocate their pro-union views:

candidates

 

As I said at the beginning, it is difficult to tell how much of a controversy this all really is. It could range anywhere from a tyrannical administration foisting a flawed assessment system on teachers and acting egregiously to quash their opposition to a completely fictional crisis manufactured by the union and a few activists to agitate the electorate before a school board election. I’m leaning to the latter part of that spectrum of possibilities.

Liberal Activist West Bend Teacher Put on Leave

by | 1001, 6 Jan 1616 | | 15 Comments

Tanya Lohr, an aggressive liberal activist and teacher in the West Bend School District, has been put on leave. Here’s the statement from the union:

Tanya Lohr has been placed on paid administrative leave. It is important to note that paid administrative leave is not discipline. The WBEA is very concerned about the district’s choice to take an experienced, high quality educator out of her classroom, especially the week prior to final exams. Educators know the importance of teachers being with their students during this critical time.

Tanya’s administrative leave came after she spoke with Principal Bill Greymont about staff concerns regarding a threatening statement made by an Assistant Principal, and the chilling effect this statement had on the circulation of a petition outlining staff concerns with the Galileo testing system. Tanya spoke to Principal Greymont in her role as a union representative.

In these discussions, the WBEA felt they had reached an agreement with Principal Greymont wherein he would send out an email informing employees they were free to sign the petition without fear of retribution. Instead, an email was sent out that many employees, including union officers, believed was designed to further discourage them from signing the petition and raising their concerns. When Tanya met with Principal Greymont about his email, she was also threatened with retaliation.

Bear in mind that this is one perspective. Unfortunately, since it is a personnel issue, the school district is not allowed to tell their side of the story. Given Lohr’s history, I doubt that the district would have taken this action, and risk the inevitable backlash from West Bend’s vocal liberal minority, without ample justification.

West Bend Schools Fail to Come to Terms With Union

by | 0717, 25 Aug 1515 | | 1 Comment

From the Daily News:

By LINDA MCALPINE

Daily News

The West Bend School Board and the West Bend Education Association, the union representing teachers in the district, have failed to negotiate a contract for the 2015-16 school year.

At Monday night’s School Board meeting, board members approved a contract for 2014-15, which, according to Valley Elliehausen, chief operating officer for the district, includes the distribution of $65,000 to the teaching staff. That amount, Elliehausen told the board, will be distributed as a flat dollar amount to members of the teachers union.

“That is in addition to the $750,000 the board approved for distribution through the new teacher compensation framework that you approved last fall,” Elliehausen told the board.

Elliehausen said the district negotiating team met with representatives of the union three times but failed to reach an agreement. It was declared the negotiations had reached an impasse.

The 2014-15 contract agreement with the $65,000 distribution is the district’s final offer. The board unanimously approved it.

The story goes on with some comments from the union communications person, Tanya Lohr, saying how disappointing she was with the deal and how they needed more money to attract and retain teachers. It echos what appears to be a concerted effort all over the state to advance the notion that there is a critical teacher shortage. While there does appear to be a national slump in available teachers as the Boomers begin to leave the workforce, there are still ample applicants for most teacher positions.

In other news, the school board took up the task of making the school district’s website easier to navigate and find stuff. That’s a good thing. I consider myself somewhat technologically adept and I have a difficult time finding things on their website. It’s good that they are taking a look at making it easier for the public to use.

West Bend School District Annual Meeting Tomorrow

by | 2113, 26 Jul 1515 | | 2 Comments

One more post about the meeting tomorrow and then I’m done for the night… I’m hearing rumblings that our local cadre of lefties are organizing to get a lot of people to the meeting. They want to advocate for things like 4K, more spending, and gripe about the administration. If history is any guide, they can get the same 20-25 people to go to anything, so I would expect them to be there.

This is all, of course, perfectly acceptable and normal. Our local lefty rabble-rousers are citizens of the district and have a right to voice their opinions. The same right applies to our local righty rabble-rousers.

I highly encourage everyone in the school district to attend the meeting tomorrow. It’s a couple of hours well spent. Here are the details:

July 27, 2015

Badger Middle School Cafeteria

727 S. 6th Ave., West Bend, WI 53095

6:00 PM

West Bend School Board Considers Pay Increase for Selves

by | 2106, 26 Jul 1515 | | 0 Comments

Another resolution on the docket tomorrow is a pay increase for the school board members themselves. They want to increase from $2,500 to $3,000 for board members and a little more for officers.

Why?

The justification is that board members of other local boards make more and the school board needs to have comparable compensation. For example, a West Bend City Alderperson is paid $4,236 per year plus a $30 per month expense allowance. A Washington County Supervisor is paid $6,600 per year plus per diem and mileage. The board already voted unanimously to approve the pay increase and is asking the electors opinion.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I won’t be at the meeting, but if I were, I would vote against this resolution. While I vacillate on the merits of either highly compensating elected officials with the goal of attracting better talent and paying them next to nothing so that the positions attract people for altruistic reasons, that only really applies to full time boards. While it does consume a lot of time, the school board is a part-time elected position. The difference between $2,500 and $3,000 isn’t going to alter the quality of the candidate pool one iota, so I don’t see any purpose in making a change.

If anything, I’m looking to the Washington County Supervisor compensation and wondering why it’s so high…

West Bend School District Considers Raising Tax Levy

by | 2053, 26 Jul 1515 | | 1 Comment

Tomorrow is the annual meeting at which the residents of the West Bend School District will vote to approve or deny the proposed property tax levy. It is only an advisory vote. The School Board will approve the final property tax levy and budget on October 26th.

The resolution under consideration tomorrow is to approve the property tax levy at $37,637,407. Last year’s levy was $36,564,034, so that’s an increase of $1,073,373 or 2.9%.

Enrollment is projected to be flat, so the justification for the tax increase is that state aid is expected to decrease. Remember that the school district is funded primarily from two sources – state aid and local property taxes. If spending stays the same and state aid decreases, then property taxes would have to increase to make up the difference.

Looking at the fund 10 spending, the district is planning to spend slightly less than last year. In a year of flat enrollment, that’s good. The school district plans to spend $67,112,889, which is $52,681 less than last year.

The district also expects to get $30,732,189 in state aid, which is $716,340 less than last year.

So, let’s do some math and see if the justification holds. The budget shows the state giving the district $716,340 less than last year. Subtract from that the spending decrease of $52,681 and we have total budget gap of $663,659. The property tax levy is budgeted to increase by $1,073,373. That means that the district wants to increase property taxes $409,714 on top of what it would take to make up the projected decrease in state aid.

The proposed increase in property taxes is not completely to make up the difference in state aid. Some of the increase will be used for debt service and capital projects too.

Unfortunately, due to another commitment, I’m not going to make it to the meeting tomorrow. If I were going to be there, I would vote for this property tax levy. The school board has decreased spending in a flat enrollment year and is setting money aside for capital projects, like the replacement of Jackson Elementary, instead of trying to do it via another referendum. There is plenty in this budget that I question and would do a bit differently, but in the aggregate, it is headed in the right direction.

Note: you can find the budget presentation here. Also, DPI has revamped their website and it is much easier to get to historical stats.

Annual Meeting for West Bend School District

by | 1722, 23 Jul 1515 | | 0 Comments

The annual meeting for the West Bend School District is on Monday, July 27th, at 6 PM at the Badger Middle School cafeteria. This is the meeting where the voters of the district aprrove or reject the proposed property tax levy. Of course, it’s only an advisory vote, but it’s important for the public to show up and share their views.

This time, there are a couple of other things on the ballot. Here’s the agenda:

a. Resolution No. 1 – Tax Levy

b. Resolution No. 2 – Disposal of District Property

c. Resolution No. 3 – Board Member Compensation

d. Resolution No. 4 – 2016-17 Annual Meeting Date

I’ll have more on the merits on these in the coming days, but first a few comments…

It is highly disappointing that there is so little information available on the district’s website. For the levy discussion, all that is available is the post card that the district sent out:

budget_2015(1)

That’s it. No information on total spending, projected state aid amount, etc. There isn’t even the actual text of the resolution.

The same is true for the other resolutions. I can go back through some news stories and public comments and piece together what they are voting on, but as an elector in the district, I would have hoped that they would have made it easy for me to find all of the information I need to make a decision before getting to the meeting.

As a general rule (and it’s true with my kids too), if I don’t have enough information to make an informed decision, the answer is “no.”

I’ll have more in the days to come, but I highly encourage everyone in the district to attend. The people with a vested interest like teachers, staff, parents, students, etc., are more likely to attend, but it’s important that Joe Schmoe taxpayer show up too, since they represent the largest stakeholder constituent block.

“Rally” for Liberal Education Agenda in West Bend

by | 0739, 30 Jun 1515 | | 9 Comments

Apparently, there was a rally on Sunday by a group promoting the liberal education agenda.

By LINDA MCALPINE

Daily News

Those at a rally in support of public education that drew more than 70 people to Old Settlers Park in West Bend on Sunday called for full funding for schools from the state, a moratorium on vouchers and private charter school expansion, the restoration of social workers and librarians in West Bend schools and the creation of a 4K program in the district.

Anne Molineu, a parent from West Bend and a member of Benders For Better Public Education, the group that organized the rally, shared with the crowd a students’ bill of rights, pertaining to the West Bend School District.

Eh, whatever. It is their right. I would point out a couple of things. First, if you read through the story, it appears that most of the speakers came from outside of West Bend (Wauwatosa, Appleton, Milwaukee, Lake Mills). Second, this group really dislikes the current superintendent. Third, if you check out this video from the rally by Judy Steffes, “70 people” would be a very generous crowd estimate.

Once you filter out the people from out of town and the organizers, how many Benders were actually at this rally?

Voters to Decide to Sell Barton

by | 0759, 6 Jun 1515 | | 0 Comments

If you are a citizen of the West Bend School District, be sure to show up and cast your vote.

By LINDA MCALPINE

Daily News

Voters in the West Bend School District will be asked for approval to sell the Barton Elementary School property during a special meeting at 6 p.m. Monday in the board room of the district’s Education Service Center, 735 S. Main St.

“The district has been negotiating with Commonwealth Development Corp. for the sale, but approval by the electors is needed before anything can be finalized,” Ted Neitzke, district superintendent said Thursday afternoon.

The sole purpose of the special meeting Monday night, Neitzke said, is to ask voters for the authorization to sell the 90-year-old school at 614 School Place, which was closed in June 2014 as part of the school district’s long-range facilities plan.

Unfortunately, I have a prior commitment that evening, but someone stuff a “yes” vote into the box for me, will ya?

No Layoffs in West Bend School District

by | 1517, 5 May 1515 | | 2 Comments

I’m sure this is a relief for many.

By AMANDA VOSS

Daily News

The West Bend School District will not be issuing any lay-off notices for the coming school year.

At its meeting Monday night, West Bend School Board members approved 405 continuing contracts for full-time certified staff and 22 part-time certified staff.

“Even if our budget is reduced, we are not laying anyone off as a result of any budget pieces,” Superintendent Ted Neitzke said. “Many school districts around us are issuing lay-off notices as we speak, and we are not doing that.”

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