Without fixing image, there’s no fixing schools

By: 
Lee Pulaski
City Editor

Many folks who have lived in Shawano for a considerable period know Terry Hilgenberg. He might have gotten folks a house or debated wildlife issues. He also has pushed for voters to approve referenda in the Shawano School District and is usually the first to argue against a naysayer who says Shawano’s public schools are bad.

That’s why it threw me for a loop recently when Hilgenberg, who sits on the district’s task force looking at possible capital and operations referenda, struck a sour note when the recent community survey results showed that support for those efforts was tepid, at best.

“Is anybody really surprised with the survey results?” Hilgenberg said. “Let’s face the facts, guys. The community has lost confidence in our school system. This community does not trust our school system. Until that is remedied, school board, you’re peeing in the wind.”

Plenty of folks in the community have been singing that tune in recent months after news broke that the district was looking at closing one of its schools at the same time it was exploring the option of asking voters to shell out money for school improvements. When you have one of Shawano’s bigwigs doing a solo in the high school library, that’s a clear indication we should be heading for the lifeboats.

Now the question before the Shawano School Board is whether to call for one or both of the referenda in November, a decision that needs to be made by the end of August in order to make the ballot. The alternative would be to wait until next April or further down the line.

Given the current tension between the schools and the community, the latter option would seem to be the most prudent. Normally, I would advocate for a November judgment day, as more voters tend to come out for an election that has state and federal races in the mix than they do when it’s just the local races, and that would give a far better indication of whether the district is moving in the right direction. However, there are a number of reasons — all leadership related — that pushing for more money for the schools in 2022 is pure suicide.

First, you’ve got recall petitions circulating against two school board members, Michael Sleeper and Chuck Dallas. While the jury is still out on whether the recall will happen, having a referenda on the same ballot with the question of whether the district’s elected leaders will retain their power indicates a low possibility for success.

There’s also the administration factor. Many in the community have called into question the leadership ability of Randi Anderson, the district superintendent, in the wake of a mass exodus of teachers and other staff this year, along with the fact that the suggested school closure was not made public until March, with a potential decision on whether to do it or not scheduled for the next month. To say that there’s a failure to communicate would be an understatement, and it’s doubtful that folks who don’t trust her because of this would trust her and her colleagues with millions of dollars more.

Anderson is also one of the last standing members of the administration now that all four school principals, the pupil services director and other school leaders are leaving for Marion, Gresham, Wittenberg and Oconto, to name a few places. When most of the leadership jumps ship in the course of just a few months, that’s another doubt in people’s minds on whether to trust the district with money. There will be new leadership coming in, but they’ll need time to show they can care for the children’s education.

Hilgenberg was dead right when he said that trust needs to be rebuilt. Trust is not something that reignites with the flipping of a switch. Anderson, the school board and whatever few administrators remain are going to have to do some major damage control if they ever hope to get the public to say yes to more money. Mike Musolff, the new board president, seems to be attempting a mea culpa, but unless he gets more support from within the schools, the lack of trust will remain a choking cloud of hanging smoke over the district.

Now is not the time to suggest a referendum, or two, for that matter. Next April would be a better opportunity to ask to give the schools a facelift, but only if the leaders can execute their own makeover and cover up their blemishes. The way things stand right now, that’s going to take a lot of spackle.


Lee Pulaski is the city editor for NEW Media. Readers can contact him at lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com.

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