Whether it’s promoting Little League baseball or working in big-league finance, Joe Pichler has always found ways to positively impact the community.
Now Pichler is seeking a seat on the West Bend School Board. He has always had a big community focus, being an ex-board member of the United Way as well as serving as president of the Little League booster board.
Currently, Pichler works in non-profit accounting, and has for nearly two decades. He started out auditing healthcare entities for hospitals and nursing homes. After doing this for around five and a half years, he became the finance director at Cedar Community for seven years. The nursing home had found Pichler and reached out with an offer for him to take the vice president finance role in 2018, where a lot of his first-hand experience stems from. Last year, he moved over to the Threshold Incorporated, an agency that offers a wide array of programs for people with disabilities, to take the director of finance role.
Since the Threshold receives funding from United Way, Pichler then needed to step away from his position on the United Way board of directors. While considering other ways to serve, local leaders who knew he was open to possibilities suggested running for school board.
Pichler’s involvement has a lot to do with his children. He is quite the family man, spending most of his summer at his kids’ Little League baseball games, often scorekeeping or helping run tournaments. Pichler likes to golf when able, yet states that his main “hobby” is his family.
Pichler has three kids who are all in the district, and it is extremely important to him that his children as well as all other students are getting the best education and learning opportunities possible. He believes he can achieve this as well, especially with his background in financing and construction projects as a CPA.
As a kid, Pichler enjoyed music from artists like Led Zeppelin and others in the classic rock genre, and now finds himself enjoying music from Noah Kahan and Bon Iver. His current favorite businesses in West Bend are restaurants like Gary’s Place and the Norbert. Pichler’s favorite local West Bend traditions are the Regner Park fireworks and the Tap Yard events.
How will your credentials and experiences help you be a constructive member of the school board?
FULL TRANSCRIPT: Well, I’m a CPA experienced with bond financing and major construction projects, so as the district is approaching those very challenges, I will through past experience have the ability to know what to look for, what questions to ask, and where there might be opportunities to save some dollars.
A bill passed by the Wisconsin Assembly in February would ban cell phones and other communication devices during instructional time in public schools. What are your thoughts about that proposal?
FULL TRANSCRIPT: That generally seems like a good idea. I feel like students should be focused on their instructor while instruction is happening, and we all know that phones can be a major distraction.
What is another significant challenge the district currently faces? How will you address it?
FULL TRANSCRIPT: I know the district has been going through some curriculum changes, and I know that that takes a lot of time for the teachers to get their new curriculum set up and do the advanced learning that they need to do in order to provide instruction. As an example, I know that CKLA (the Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts curriculum) came to grades K through four this year, and I’ve heard very positive things from my own kids’ teachers about that. Despite the amount of extra work that it has been, they feel that the students have been very engaged and that it has improved their learning and their literacy capabilities. Continuing to roll that into the higher level grades will be a challenge.
I know there’s also work being done to look at a new math curriculum, and so that will be kind of the same story. It’s going to be additional work for the teachers to prepare for and make that new instruction happen. Again, hopefully it will be a similar story where it’s benefiting the students and their learning.
Since the board is non-partisan, how will you approach the topic of political division in the district?
FULL TRANSCRIPT: I try to remain very neutral and be cognizant of the fact that it is a non-partisan position and that political differences should not come into the decision-making process by the school board or the district. I’m a very objective person and I treat each decision with scrutiny and care and try to help make the best decision based on the data and information available.
How do you plan to measure and evaluate the success of your tenure on the board?
FULL TRANSCRIPT: I think if the district gets through its building projects and they are largely on budget and on time and in addition to that, the district has not had to pass an operational referendum just to continue its normal operations, which many districts have done, then I would consider the term financially successful, which is obviously the background that I bring and where I can feel I can be most effective as a school board member.
Please say one nice thing about each of your opponents.
FULL TRANSCRIPT: John served in the Army and I appreciate all veterans and I have a lot of respect for them, and I know Melanie has shown the ability to change her mind from what she had previously thought when presented with a logical argument.
Read about the school board candidates at The Current. The school board election is April 1.
(Photo courtesy of Joe Pichler.)
The West Bend Current 
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