Tag Archives: School Board Election 2018

April 29, 2018 · 8:40 pm

West Bend School Board Has New President

Larson happy to pass the gavel to Ongert

By Samantha Dietel, Current Staff

After serving only one year in the position, Tiffany Larson will not continue as president of the West Bend School Board.

Tiffany Larson

Members of the school board changed roles Monday in an annual process that occurs after new members are sworn in. Because Chris Zwygart and Kurt Rebholz secured their seats on the board during the April 3 spring election, it was time for the board to reorganize. Larson was replaced by Joel Ongert as president and was not re-elected into an officer position.

That turn of events led a local blogger to interpret the shift as an effort to expel Larson from board leadership. Continue reading →

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March 31, 2018 · 10:57 am

‘Our Thoughts Are Our Own’: Walkout Organizers Respond to School Board Candidate’s Criticisms

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

On Wednesday, March 14th, hundreds of students poured onto the West Bend High School’s football field to honor the seventeen lives that were taken on the Valentine’s Day Parkland shooting. In light of the recent discussion on school safety, we would like to respond to Mary Weigand’s blog post directed at “the protesting students and supportive administration” regarding the walkout. Mrs. Weigand is currently running for school board. We would also like to clarify and enlighten our community members on the events of the day. The following response does not reflect the views of the high school administration. Continue reading →

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March 19, 2018 · 9:54 pm

Decision 2018: Meet the Four Candidates for School Board

SchoolBoardElection_LogoTwo seats on the West Bend School Board will be up for grabs in an at-large election on April 3.

Joining incumbent Monte Schmiege on the ballot are three challengers, Chris Zwygart, Kurt Rebholz and Mary Weigand. Leaving the board is Tim Stellmacher, who was appointed to the board mid-term and did not file for re-election.

The West Bend Current asked the candidates about their background. That interview material is presented below in the order that the candidates will appear on the ballot. Continue reading →

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March 19, 2018 · 9:53 pm

Decision 2018: Board Candidates on Why They Chose to Run

Why are you running for school board?

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Monte Schmiege

Well, I have three years of experience in the district. I think it is important to have some experience on the board rather than new members every single year because it does take some time to get acclimated to the business of the school board and what it’s all like, what the responsibilities are, what you should be doing and what you shouldn’t be doing. So it takes quite a bit of time to get acquainted to all of that. Continue reading →

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March 19, 2018 · 9:52 pm

Decision 2018: Board Candidates on Spending Money

What are your budgeting priorities for the school district?

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Monte Schmiege

Seventy-five percent of the money goes towards staffing so that is a big component of that and then you’ve got a component which would be for construction materials and all of that. The district is putting 1.4 million dollars into retaining the school grounds. Those are the primary ones and we also have debt that we have to pay for. Continue reading →

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March 19, 2018 · 9:51 pm

Decision 2018: Board Candidates on District Curriculum

What is the board’s role when it comes to curriculum changes?

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Monte Schmiege

That’s an interesting question because I have a different opinion on that. Some people will say that we need to leave that to the experts and I don’t necessarily believe that. If we had policies or some way to describe what curriculum should look like that would be one thing, but we really don’t. And things change so much that it is difficult to do that. I think the board’s role is oversight. But I worked with administration to update our policy to allow the board to approve standards and curriculum and this is modeled after what Green Bay does, as a matter of fact. And the board is also responsible by law and action in August to authorize a list of board-approved standards so there is a precedent of the board approving standards.   Continue reading →

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