By Patricia Bogumil
Editor
Six-year incumbent Douglas Schwartz was bumped from contention for a spot on the April 7 ballot, scoring a low tally of 127 votes (5.12 percent) in Tuesday’s primary election for the Waterford Graded School Board. Moving forward to the spring election are Amanda Fiehweg (437, 17.6 percent), Grant Strobel (431, 17.37 percent), Matt Kranich (382, 15.4 percent), Jordan Karweik (309, 12.45 percent), Andrew Ewert (303, 12.21 percent) and Bill Unke (302, 12.17 percent). All six are political newcomers, with the exception of incumbent Strobel, who was appointed to the WGSD board in November.
The top two vote-getters April 7 earn three-year terms on the board; the third, a one-year term.
With Schwartz’s upcoming departure in April, the depth of experience on the WGSD board maxes out at two years, with board member Dawn Bleimehl. She was elected in 2013, replacing Blaine Nicholls, who did not seek re-election.
Board member Tom Hoffman was elected in 2014, replacing Paul Beyerl, who did not seek re-election.
Strobel was appointed to the board three months ago, replacing Bob Kastengren, who resigned for health reasons.
Incumbent Dan Jensen is not seeking re-election.
Adding to the newness factor, District Superintendent Chris Joch gave notice Jan. 28 that he will resign from his position, effective June 30. A search for a new superintendent has since begun.
Schwartz, reached at home Tuesday night, said he fears “all the good work we have done will be gone in the next two years,” referring to the district’s strong financial stability in the face of continuing budgetary challenges, including drops in state aid.
For the full report, see the Feb. 20 edition of the Waterford Post.
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Fortunately, the voters do have good choices when it comes to fiscal responsibility in the upcoming April election. While some prefer to instill fear in voters and only focus on events from 10-15 years ago, I am campaigning on my recent actions right here in the Waterford Graded School District. Those actions speak for themselves.
To start, I have attended every meeting for the last two years. The three candidates that are running on a supposed “conservative” ticket did not attend regular or committee school board meetings until after they submitted papers to run for election. The one exception would be the candidate that sought election last year, but he stopped attending meetings after he lost the election. Another candidate has disputed this claim about attending WGSD meetings, but he refuses to name a single date of attendance at a WGSD meeting. Why is that? I always scan the crowd of the people that attend these meetings with my camera so if he did attend a meeting I am sure it can be verified if he would just tell us which meeting he attended.
With respect to fiscal responsibility I have 15 years experience analyzing school district budgets. I understand how our school districts are funded by the state of Wisconsin and I have repeatedly coached our current district administrator and chair of the personnel and finance committee on how to save money. I did this passively until it was clear they were not listening.
I kept after them and made sure they understood the hundreds of thousands we taxpayers will save by implementing a district wide 4K program. They dragged their feet and we lost another $900,000 in student services and state aid this year. You can read all about it the referenced article below where I state:
“The WGSD school board has yet to respond publicly regarding Mr. Joch’s errors and assumed incompetence. Mr. Joch has yet to apologize to the WGSD community that he has been hired to serve, nor has he thanked those in the community that did his job for him. And now it is mid May and our school board will be debating whether or not we have enough time to implement district wide 4K for the 2014-15 school year.”
“If Mr. Joch claims that he would not be able to implement a quality 4K program for the 2014-15 school year, then the very next issue the school board should take up is who is responsible for the fact that Waterford will now lose another year of 4K services and $500,000 in local tax levy relief. The $900,000 in lost state aid (that’s $400,000 to fund 4K in Waterford and $500,000 surplus that could be used to reduce the WGSD local tax levy) would then be used to fund other 4K programs around the state, such as the 4K programs currently in place in Burlington, Washington-Caldwell, North Cape, Yorkville, Elkhorn, Raymond, Bristol, Salem and Lake Geneva.”
Reference: http://www.wgsdmeetings.com/2014/05/who-pays-for-the-900k-loss/
More recently, I have laid out a detailed plan where we can both improve student services and freeze or reduce our school levy (property taxes). None of the candidates running with the word “conservative” above their yard signs have shared a plan. We don’t want leaders that are learning as they go. Maybe if they attend meetings and participate in the ongoing process we can consider their merits in another year or two.
It is worth mentioning another time that I pointed out how our District could have saved over $50,000. This was in 2013 when they chose to go with the more expensive health plan for all full time staff. I could not believe they would waste $50,000 of our hard earned dollars by selecting a higher cost health plan, but they did. While I do not believe in all aspects of Act 10, such as the expansion of non-instrumentality charter schools funded with our property tax dollars, I certainly do believe the employer should be allowed to decide what health plan they offer to their employees. How and why would the school board then pass up on this Act 10 tool and waste our money? See the details I posted back in September 2013:
http://www.wgsdmeetings.com/50000-wasted-on-healthcare/
I am sure there will be posts above or below this one that want to bring up the past when I represented educators in the city of Kenosha. That was over 12 years ago and I was unmarried with no children. I did the job I was elected to do and I did it very well. I know draw on those experiences and knowledge to serve the WGSD community to make our district better and without raising taxes.
I know that if I am elected I will be watched very carefully and my commitments to the community will be frequently brought up. I welcome that challenge because I know what I am talking about and I have done my homework. I am a successful business owner and a property investor. I am a parent who wants only the best for my kids and this community.
Matt Kranich
See link below for my three year tax freeze plan:
http://www.wgsdmeetings.com/2015/02/explaining-the-3-year-tax-freeze-plan/
Matt, I am confused about your tax freeze plan.
Year 1. Use reserve funds
Year 2. 4K Money
Year 3. Work to grow the community
I don’t pay too much attention to what is happening in our community but didn’t Mr. Jensen and Mr. Schwartz set the district up to do what you are proposing? It seems as if that will happen no matter who gets elected unless someone goes on a spending spree.
I like the things you are doing for the community but to me, this seems more like a political play.
Thank you and the other candidates for your time and efforts to the community.
Mary
SEEMS THE SPENDING SPREE HAS STARTED
Matt, I agree with Mary about the confusion of YOUR FREEZE and posted that same thing to my Facebook page on Monday.
You have no plan except what the current board has provided to you.
Year 1 – They built the reserve.
Year 2 – The board voted for 4k. Actually will cost us in the future, my opinion, but again you didn’t vote for it you weren’t on the board.
Year 3 – Become a Chamber of Commerce or Visitor Center. By the way, when are you going to SPEND the money necessary for these improvements? This component has an increase in expenses, AND the big part, no one is going to come miraculously Year 3 BECAUSE you want us to do that. You need to have a proved track record for Parents to want to move to “Destination Waterford”.
On another note: You mention that people will be using something from 15 years ago against you. Aren’t you doing the same thing. If some hasn’t attended a meeting so you could see them, they must not be involved. As someone that only uses your website for the videos only, I don’t attend meetings on Mondays, but do watch the videos. Am I not informed? Why are you posting the videos for those that can’t make the meetings BUT THEN attack people for not attending the meetings?
Lastly, you are correct NO other candidate is laying out a plan like what is on your website. However, your plan isn’t anything you are doing either since the current board has completed those task for you.
I only care about how the School Board will make my children interested in school and want to learn in a safe and happy environment. Your plans and suggestions are all politically motivated also.
I do thank all the candidates that are involved and are fighting for a school board.
Scott
Hi Scott,
Please see the links above and below and you will see that the school board has not done what you say. My plan is unique. If you disagree, please post a link that supports your comments. It appears your point in posting here is not to make creditable statements, but to diminish my hard work and plan.
Thanks,
Matt
Matt –
Like I have noticed someone having an open debate with facts that don’t seem to favor you equals non-creditable statements.
How can you say the School Board hasn’t done what I say, I am taking your ideas from your own 3 Year Tax Freeze as the evidence.
Okay I will use facts:
YEAR 1 – Use the reserves, the School Board of Previous Terms has allocated a Reserve YOU WANT TO use.
QUOTE from your plan: “Some portion of this $1.3 million shortfall will be softened with the surplus revenue we appear to be accumulating for this year. I estimate this surplus to be about $700K. The remaining difference of $600K would then need to be paid for from our reserve fund balance or by reducing services.”
YEAR 2 – Increased 4k Enrollment that School Board voted on.
Reference May 20, 2014 Article –
http://journaltimes.com/news/local/waterford-graded-to-offer–year-old-kindergarten-in/article_ca14ed84-e011-11e3-82fa-0019bb2963f4.html
QUOTE from Article: “Starting 4K was approved in a 4-0 vote by board members with board member Doug Schwartz abstaining because he thought more program design information should have been presented before the board voted to move ahead, Joch said”
Quote from Year 2 Plan: “In summary, with a one year reprieve in declining enrollment from adding 4K the year before, and a state budget proposal that is currently promising increases in state aid in 2016-17, a school tax levy freeze is possible.”
I realize I don’t attend meetings, so my input isn’t legit enough, I do know you were not a School Board Member on May 20, 2014 when the vote to approve happened. Hence, YOUR 2nd YEAR FREEZE of 4k enrollment isn’t your plan.
YEAR 3 – In this year you have a unique and different plan that is finally something of substance that does not involve the work of others before you. Add TAG Staff, Add Library Media Specialists, Add More STEM oriented classes, Reduce Class size due to increased Enrollment and offer Online Learning. Again as an individual that only watches board meetings online and not in person I may not understand this. Wouldn’t adding stuff, like staff, more classes, online learning and more teachers to decrease class size have to increase our expenses? If expenses go up so do everyone’s taxes.
Destination Waterford is great, you have us adding 30 kids in Year 3 without any of this program being implemented until Year 3. Would you as a parent just move to Waterford in Year 3 because these things are being implemented or would you wait for a track record to make sure they are being done correctly?
So in rebuttal to “It appears your point in posting here is not to make creditable statements, but to diminish my hard work and plan.” Look at the facts, you aren’t doing anything on your own until Year 3 which then is of your own hard work, and that is increasing expenses.
Thanks,
Scott
Hi Mary,
Thank you for your question. I would really enjoy the opportunity to meet with you and discuss this topic in depth. Please let me know if that is possible. You can contact me at my web page.
Regardless, I will take your question at face value and respond below. But I would also ask that you support your statements with evidence, because the record shows just the opposite.
Let me start by reminding everyone that Mr. Jensen is not seeking re-election. I am not running against him. I have great respect for Mr. Jensen’s knowledge base in several areas. But in several areas we are far apart and I am running against some candidates who appear to be of a similar mindset as him, so that does concern me. And unfortunately they lack his experience.
Having said that, the simple answer is “No”, Mr. Jensen has never discussed a tax freeze plan or ways in which our district can increase its enrollment. Let me explain in more depth.
First, Mr. Jensen is on record stating that he thought local taxes (the local levy) increased for every additional student we have in our district. It is frustrating to imagine he operated and made decisions over the last 10 years based on that incorrect belief. He steadfastly opposed 4K month after month based on this same false presumption. See here where I politely addressed the board and explained the board’s fundamental error (start at 2:04) and then see Mr. Jensen’s response at 7:26 in the video where he shares what we all now know is false. He has never yet offered an apology to me or the community and that is really too bad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPUTQ-dkEqM
As I explained we can make money off of students and we must increase our enrollment. I was correct and I went up against a large and entrenched group that had it wrong. Ask any community planner and they will tell you if you are not growing you are dying. That applies here in Waterford and the WGSD. I am a person that does his homework and makes change happen. Others can adopt my plan but they will have neither the passion or the knowledge to make it happen.
Some are attacking me for things I said and did almost 15 years ago when I represented teachers in the city of Kenosha. I did my job well and now have an invaluable skill set to apply here as member of our local school board.
Second, past school boards have had almost 10 years to bring forward an actual plan to grow our district and community, yet they have not (for the reason listed above). Mr. Jensen also just appeared to support artificially high limits that would tie the hands of future boards that would want to use excess reserve funds for tax relief. The excess reserves belong to us taxpayers and it should be used to freeze or reduce our taxes when needed as long as it is kept at a healthy limit. The current 25% reserve fund minimum is a healthy limit and should be left as is, not raised.
Third, my plan for growth is completely new in that it lays out how smart marketing and investment strategies can give tax payers a 200% return on their investment while increasing student services and making our district more attractive. I call it the “4K effect” and we can reproduce that in numerous ways. Please meet with me or spend additional time reading the details of my plan here. Focus on Year 3 where I offer several ideas for attracting young families to our community.
http://www.wgsdmeetings.com/2015/02/explaining-the-3-year-tax-freeze-plan/
Finally, I would expect that the other candidates who falsely claim to be more conservative than myself and who oppose me are working on their own plan because they feel they must have an answer to mine. But my plan is solid, original, and based on the knowledge that only comes with experience. My plan is not an empty promise and it is not reckless. I really believe the other candidates should just get on board and support my plan. In time I think we will see that they will, and hopefully they will give credit where credit is due. After all, adopting a plan and creating a plan are two different things. I have the experience, knowledge, and passion to see the plan through.
Matt Kranich
Isn’t it naïve of Matt Kranich to accuse candidates of not attending meetings, when Bill Unke’s and Andrew Ewert’s children have been attending the Waterford School District longer than Matt Kranich has actually LIVED in the District?
Open records requests made by Matt Kranich costs in excess of 24,000.00 dollars, doesn’t sound fiscally responsible to me, but then again that’s just my opinion as someone who pays taxes to support the Waterford school systems
09-13-13 171.00
09-17-13 564.60
09-18-13 821.50
09-20-13 1441.00
09-23-13 1449.00
09-24-13 1590.00
09-25-13 2003.50
09-26-13 1738.50
09-29-13 609.560
09-30-13 185.50
September 2013 total = 10574.00
10-01-13 3365.50
10-02-13 132.50
10-09-13 635.99
10-10-13 1060.00
10-11-13 212.00
10-14-13 212.00
10-15-13 371.00
10-16-13 79.50
10-17-13 450.50
10-21-13 85.50
10-24-13 132.50
10-25-13 79.50
October 2013 total = 6816.49
12-03-13 185.50
12-05-13 53.00
12-09-13 548.50
12-11-13 1404.50
12-12-13 530.00
December 2013 total = 2721.50
02-27-14 689.00
02-28-14 356.50
February 2014 total = 1045.50
03-03-14 1110.75
03-04-14 477.00
03-05-14 901.00
03-06-14 53.00
March 2014 total = 2541.75
05-22-14 53.00
05-23-14 185.50
May 2014 total = 238.50
11-11-14 181.25
Hi Janis,
I am happy to meet with you if you would like to discuss these issues. If not, it is clear that you too could benefit from attending school board meetings or watching them on my web site. Having the facts and knowledge that come with attending school board meetings is invaluable. That is why I have brought up the fact that the candidates who oppose me have not attended a single meeting before filing papers for this election. It is not an “accusation” as you say. The one exception would be Mr. Karweik who did attend a few meetings last year after submitting papers for election but then stopped attending after he lost the election to Tom Hoffman. Note: I have been at every meeting during that time 🙂
While it is truly a shame if the district actually spent such money on my public records requests, the irrefutable result is that the information I gained in those requests is the reason we tax payers will now save hundreds of thousands of dollars each and every year as we move forward with 4K. The record shows the district administrator mislead the school board on the 4K financing. This misinformation was never shared publicly, but I stuck to my guns and obtained this information through public records requests and then I revealed all of his errors. I am sure it has a lot to do with why he has decided to resign. You can read about how he mislead the school board here:
http://www.wgsdmeetings.com/original-district-budget-projections-for-4k/
Regarding the missing attendance of Mr. Unke, Mr. Ewert and Mr. Karweik to school board meetings, what does my residency in the Waterford area have to do with that? It is without doubt that I have attended more meetings in the past 6 months than all of them put together their entire lives. I think that is the relevant issue. Likek you, they can hardly know much about our district without having first been a student of it. To elect people “in training” is not a good idea and is certainly not a “conservative” approach. I recommend they attend meetings for a year or two and then they will be a much better candidate.
I realize Mr. Unke has refuted my claim that he has not attended any meetings prior to filing election papers, but he has refused to name a single regular or committee WGSD meeting that he has attended. Why is that? I will be happy to retract my statement if he simply does that. I can even verify his attendance by looking at my unedited video recordings where I pan those in attendance at the start, end, and during citizen comments.
Finally, I am very fiscally responsible and have proven that repeatedly during my three years here in the WGSD area. If taxes are your biggest concern than I am definitely the person you should be supporting.
To learn more please visit the links above and in my earlier post, or contact me so we can have a meeting.
Thank you,
Matt Kranich
Waterford Citizens,
I thought I’d inject myself into this conversation after being intrigued by something that Janis Christensen-Karweik had said above. She said that both Mr. Unke and Ewert had children going to school in the district longer then Mr. Kranich had lived in the district. That is an interesting point, how possibly could Mr. Kranich know what Mr. Unke and Ewert have done from four to nine years ago when he has only lived in the district for a couple of years.
Mr. Kranich’s statements are quite definite. Here is a direct statement, “candidates who oppose me have not attended a single meeting before filing papers for this election.” It seemed like a much too definite of a statement for someone to make so I considered it a great challenge to see if I could find out different. It almost seemed impossible at first since I have attended a few School Board Meetings in my day and know that no official attendance is taken. The only true record of someone being at a School Board Meeting is if they actually say something. It is clearly my experience that most people sit there quietly and never utter a word.
So I dove into the only place I could think of that would have a written record of attendance, and that is the Districts dreaded Agenda and Minutes folder. Let me tell you, there was a lot of boring records in there.
After searching record after record and almost giving up several times. There it was, staring me in the face and larger than life. The proof I had sought, and thought was unattainable. The name of a candidate that Mr. Kranich had stated so many times that had never attended a school board meeting in “their” life.
I found it in the Minutes for the October 21, 2013 Annual Meeting. The link is right here.
http://www.waterford.k12.wi.us/common/pages/DisplayFile.aspx?itemId=20707299.
Not only does this document show that Mr. Unke was at the meeting. He had a speaking part, twice. See page two and three. But it gets better. It gets a lot better. To my astonishment, seven line above were Mr. Unke appears in the document for the first time is the name of none other than Mr. Kranich. He was there at the same time and place as Mr. Unke, and Mr. Unke even spoke, twice.
I have been to an annual meeting before, so I know that when someone speaks at the meeting it virtually stops in its tracks as the recorder shouts out “who said that.” So the name “Bill Unke” would have been shouted back across the room twice, and a name like Unke you don’t forget. So there is absolutely no way Mr. Kranich could have not heard that name.
After this revelation, it was apparent to me that Mr. Kranich was not being completely honest with us about this candidate attending School Board Meetings. Mr. Kranich likes to split hairs. I know this from personal experience because he has split hairs with me before over someone attending meetings. He’ll say “I said regular meetings.” So let’s put this to bed now. Annual meetings are held regularly every year, so they are regular meetings.
After realizing that he obviously at best had misled and at worst was purposely less than honest with us, I remembered a video I had watch recently. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPzISCUydPA. A local citizen accuses Mr. Kranich of not being quite honest about her teaching credentials, which she then provided in public.
If Mr. Kranich finds it difficult to be completely honest with us over simple things like someone’s teaching credentials of whether or not they attended a School board meeting. Can we have him on a school board dealing with big things like 4K, budget plans, and our children’s education? You decide!
Hi George,
Thank you for your hard work and doing this research. You have once again supplied the community with information supporting my claim that Bill Unke has never attended a regular or committee school board meeting prior to filing election papers.
Did you notice if the other two candidates running with Mr. Unke (Karweik or Ewert) had been to any meetings? Unlike Mr. Unke they have not refuted my claim.
You may not know this, but the school board does not conduct business at the annual meeting. It is a meeting of the electors and after administrative reports the school board members join the rest of the community.
Again, thank you for your hard work on this!
Matt Kranich
http://wgsdmeetings.com
http://kranich2015.org
Matt,
I do not rebut your claim for a few reasons.
1. It is a ridiculous claim, you came up to me and asked me if I was running for the school board at the meeting where Grant got selected for the open seat.
2. Having strong man contests do no add any value to the community.
3. I am focused on myself and the value I can bring the the school board. I am not focused on the things you or the other candidates are saying. I care about the Waterford community and the students at the school. I want the best possible candidates on the board and I an focused on showing the community why I am that person.
If you want to continue to tell people why they should not vote for me, that is fine. I am confident in what I stand for and I abilities I bring to the board.
Jordan Karweik
http://www.vote4karweik.com
“[regarding Mr. Unke}… he has refused to name a single regular or committee WGSD meeting that he has attended. Why is that? I will be happy to retract my statement if he simply does that.”
You have been provided evidence of my participation at WGSD meetings. You can split hairs all you wish, but ultimately evidence using official minutes show I have been present at meetings. I am sure you will dismiss the evidence as a single incident, but you and I both know that no official attendance records are kept at regular or committee meetings, therefore I feel no compulsion to engage in your petty political grand standing, similar to those I have seen you engage in at the meetings you claim I have not attended, and provide you with further detail. The burden of proof does not rely on me to dispute your false accusation, but rather on you to substantiate them.
As a resident of Waterford for the past 11 years, I can tell you that the Board and district existed well before you and your video camera showed up a couple years back. Your myopic view of our community does not fully reflect what has historically occurred before you brought your union mentality to our township.
You now have two choices.
You can stand by your word and retract your false accusations against me, which are in violation of WI state statute 12.05 (http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/12/05)
Or you can continue you standard tactics as the former president of the Kenosha teachers union and perpetuate the lies you have engaged in.
Feel free to take whatever path you see fit, but realize by continuing these false accusations you put the integrity of your candidacy and the value of your word as man on full display to our community. If the desire to being elected to the Board means you need to expound lies about opposing candidates, it’s a reflection of your character, not mine.
The voters can decide on April 7th if they want a Board member focused on honesty, integrity, and the success of our district and our children… or you.
very well said Bill!
And I thought high school was full of senseless arguments and silly drama…
This is a serious race and this is what we get, “I did go to a meeting..did not…did too.” Fiehweg, Strobel, and Ewert get my vote, at least they don’t act like children. This is supposed to be a non-partisan position, yet it has morphed into a 2-group of 3 race by ALLEGED political leanings. Maybe a truly diverse board as some candidates say they want should be a mix of the 2 groups.