By Kim McDarison

Some 40 residents of the Whitewater Unified School District Monday filled the Whitewater High School library during the district’s regular board of education meeting, many of them eager to ask and receive answers to questions that have, according to several residents, in recent months, remained unanswered.

Six residents, many of whom have spoken during previously held Whitewater Unified School District Board of Education meetings, offered statements during the public comments portion of the meeting.

Discussion also was held by board members and a member of the public near the end of the meeting, under a heading of “Board member requests for future agenda items,” during which two board members — Maryann Zimmerman and Stephanie Hicks — offered concerns and suggestions to promote better board communication.

Public comments

Addressing the board during public comments, Wayne Redenius, a resident of the district, said he believed important concerns revolved around “leadership, communications and operations.”

He said he had spent the last 19 months attending regular board meetings, Policy Review Committee meetings, and meetings about contract negotiations regarding the Whitewater Aquatic and Fitness Center.

During those meetings, he said, he had heard a former school board member read a “lengthy statement regarding leadership and constructive communication,” along with the evaluation of the superintendent, after which, he said, staff and community members gave “very emotional input,” to the board, citing issues of leadership, trust, faith, and fear of retaliation, and dysfunction in the district, which, he added, he believed “continues to exist.”

He noted that some two months ago, he attended a Policy Review Committee meeting during which, he said, several board members spoke about the need for improved communication when discussing the interpretation and development of a policy, which, he said, “over the last two months has put major division within the community members, board members, and so forth. It has required attorneys from school board members, attorneys by the school board.”

Citing an example, he said according to Policy 840 and 840 rule, “it states that the board must act individually on donations of $1,000 or more. I feel … that’s important for you to recognize the people that are giving those kinds of monies, and even if they were giving a few dollars you should recognize them. That’s very important.”

Citing information he said he had recently read, and addressing the board and superintendent, he continued: “I do find it ironic that the administration (and) superintendent can authorize raises without full board approval as stated in a previous policy meeting two months ago, and basically demanded when you were discussing these things that the superintendent should be given full authority to authorize raises for employees who might threaten to leave the Whitewater district for another district.”

Redenius continued: “This has resulted in the board needing an attorney, individual board members needing attorneys, division in the community — who is on which side, what is truth, what is not truth, and so forth.

“I guess I would ask the board that, and recommend to you that, you take a long look at who is causing these continuing issues in the district of trust, dysfunction and division, and how you may remedy it.” 

At the podium, district resident Neil Hicks, who also is the husband of school board member Stephanie Hicks, and president of the Whitewater Common Council, said he was addressing the board as a “resident of the city of Whitewater.”

In February of 2023, he said, the city’s common council formed a Whitewater Aquatic and Fitness Center subcommittee and appointed the late Jim Allen, then-council president, as chair.

“Since that date, 405 days have elapsed with no signed (aquatic center operating) agreement,” Hicks said.

Over the course of that time, he noted that a joint subcommittee, which included members from both the city council and the district’s board of education, had met four times, and a signed agreement was still not achieved.

He cited “countless hours of attorney’s fees,” which accrued without results.

He additionally quoted Board of Education President Larry Kachel, who served on the joint aquatic center subcommittee, as saying in July of 2023: “We need to move forward,” and in August of 2023: “We just need the attorneys to dot the i’s and cross the t’s,” and, within the same August meeting: “the heavy lifting is done.”

In October, 2023, Hicks noted, the two groups “reached an agreement in principle,” further recalling that the groups “just needed to get attorneys to finish the legalities.” He said Kachel, during the October joint subcommittee meeting, said: “We never vote here; we always go back to our board and vote in closed, which would be the 23rd of October, so that’s the deadline we are shooting for …”

Following its October closed session meeting, Hicks said, the school board reconvened with “no action taken.”

In November, 2023, he said, the aquatic center negotiations were not included on the district’s regular meeting agenda.

Hicks said he did not exclusively blame the school district for a lack of a signed contract.

“The entire process has had its ups and downs,” he said.

He asked that the district place the item on its next meeting agenda so that the two bodies, the council and the school board, could “get an agreement signed.”

Kachel, responding to Hick’s comments, said he would contact the city manager the following day (Tuesday) and make arrangements to move the contract negotiations forward.

Said Kachel: “It’s not quite as one-sided as you presented it, Neil, but anyway.”

Additionally, Hicks said that while he noticed on Monday that some board members were taking notes while members of the public spoke, he stated: “I feel it’s disrespectful for the superintendent to look at her computer the entire time, not acknowledging the speaker, and when Wayne (Redenius) was speaking, you (superintendent) didn’t even look at him one time. It would be great just to be understood, be heard, and see that you hear what we are saying.” 

School district resident Nick Baldwin, arriving at the podium, said he had similarly addressed the board last month, asking for transparency.

“While I don’t expect overnight change, a little effort goes a long way,” he said, adding: “I also understand that perhaps the district has been without public transparency for so long we’ve forgotten what it should look like.”

He spoke about an experience he had while trying to obtain public records from the district, saying that in February, he had submitted an anonymous records request looking for “emails over several years and records of current administrator salaries.”

He said the district responded to him asking for $3,300 per week to fill his request, citing, he said, “searching and redaction.”

Baldwin said he next narrowed the scope of his request, asking for “emails between two parties on a specific date and records of the current salaries of various administrators at district office.”

He said the district said he would be informed about processing times and costs associated with his second request. Twenty-one days later, he said, he had not yet received the information about costs and processing times.

Baldwin cited information he said he had found on the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s website, noting that an authority “shall fill or deny a request ‘as soon as practicable and without delay,’” further noting that the authority is expected to make a “good faith effort to respond to requests without undue delay and to communicate with the requester about the process.”

He suggested that the board might appoint a different custodian of records. The current custodian is the district’s Superintendent Caroline Pate-Hefty. 

At the podium, district resident Geoff Hale cited “unanswered questions” by the board and the district’s superintendent.

He alleged that there had been retaliation from the superintendent towards another district resident, Nick Baldwin, who spoke immediately before him, and had previously spoken during the public comments portion of the board’s meeting in February, saying: “The first time I spoke to this board, I got a free, disparaging email sent to the superintendent of my school district where I work, courtesy of this one.” 

Baldwin said in February that he is an employee of another school district where he has worked for 17 years.

Hale additionally alleged that Pate-Hefty had “targeted” a board member, Maryann Zimmerman, for, he said, “simply displaying the courage to have foul play investigated.”

Zimmerman has been at the center of an ongoing dispute between the superintendent and some members of the board regarding the handling of an employee contract and its relationship to board policy.

Hale further alleged that the district, “in one calendar year,” had lost “more than 50 teachers.”

He said that over the course of the last two years, there have been “impassioned cries from residents, teachers and staff,” referencing what he termed “questionable conduct of our superintendent of schools.”

He noted public comments made by a former district employee, Molly Fuller, in May of 2022, and cited a decision to leave the district made by former principal Mary Kilar, who, in May, 2022, accepted employment in a neighboring district.

Earlier stories, published in WhitewaterWise’s sister publication, Fort Atkinson Online, including comments made by Fuller, and other members of the public, in 2022 are here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/whitewater-school-board-addressed-concerns-over-faculty-resignations-supports-superintendent/, and here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/whitewater-residents-share-frustration-with-school-board-amid-resignations-cite-poor-communication/.

Pointing to residents in the room Monday, Hale said: “We’re not going away, Maryann (Zimmerman) is not going away, and Duffy Dillon (an attorney representing Zimmerman) is not going away.”

District resident Lexy Maas said she addressed the board two years ago, then “making a plea for transparency, collaboration and communication.”

Maas said her “perception” of transparency likely differed from that of the district’s superintendent.

Citing some statistics, she said that between July 2016 and June 2021, some 28 district employees resigned or retired. Between July 2021 and June 2022, she said, at least 53 employees resigned or retired.

In April, 2023, she noted, the district’s constituents elected three new board members. Further, she said, an incumbent, who was serving as school board president, lost his bid for reelection.

Following the election, she said, “my perception was one of hope and a promise for a different direction.”

She continued: “Several months ago, Ms. Zimmerman asked a question. My perception is that the question remains unanswered.”

She cited information, which, she said, she had read, noting that: “Dr. Pate-Hefty spoke with (former school board president) Thayer Coburn, (then school board member and current school board president) Larry Kachel, and (school board member) Jen Kienbaum about Director of Business Services Mr. (Ben) Prather’s raise. I have read that Dr. Pate-Hefty was told to act quickly. I have read a statement from Dr. Pate-Hefty and I quote: ‘If the board does not want the CEO of their organization to work to keep and recruit employees within a reasonable salary range/regional comps, then revise policy 672 to clearly outline the board’s vision that it does not intend for “contracts” to mean administrator contracts.’”

Said Maas: “The policies in question are not vague. The request for a revision is impertinent to Ms. Zimmerman’s question.”

Pointing to police officers assigned to peace-keeping measures during two previously held school board meetings, Maas said: “We have added police presence; we have added lawyers. I am asking for this to stop. I am asking for the CEO of the Whitewater Unified (School District) to resign.”

Arriving at the podium, Jeff Tortomasi, who is running for a seat on the school board in April, introduced himself to the public. On April 2, district residents heading to the polls will find the names of three candidates on the ballot, however one candidate, Kachel, has publicly stated that he is no longer interested in running for his seat. His announcement came after the ballots were printed. Incumbent Zimmerman and newcomer Tortomasi, are the remaining candidates looking to fill two board seats up for reelection this cycle.

Board discusses communication, placement of agenda items

Toward the end of the meeting, discussion focused on improved communication and future agenda items.

Returning to the podium, Redenius said that he had spoken and presented at numerous board meetings about agenda items, noting that in September or October of last year, he and his brother, Carl, had met with the superintendent and Kachel to talk about items he hoped could be added to the Policy Review Committee meeting agenda.

Redenius said he had requested three items for agenda placement: among them he proposed including language to change board policy, allowing for an earlier publication time for school board meeting agendas, noting that publication on Friday for a Monday meeting, left little time to read and research issues presented on an agenda. He also was looking to change policy to allow meeting minutes to be made available to the public in advance of board approval. He also suggested, he said, that items requested by board members for placement on meeting agendas should become part of the agenda so those items could be discussed.

During his meeting with district officials in September or October, he said two of his three requests were discussed.

Last month, he said, he was informed that there was a “chain of command” which was in place to have agenda items considered. Items needed to “go to the superintendent,” Redenius said, and the item could be placed once it was deemed appropriate by the superintendent.

He said he was still waiting for a response regarding his agenda item requests.

Redenius said he was aware of requests made by board members to have items placed on agendas which had yet to be honored. He cited board members Lisa Huempfner, Christy Linse, Miguel Aranda, Hicks, Zimmerman and Kachel as among members whom, he said, had asked for some 18 different items to be placed on future agendas.

Said Redenius: “If I can’t get it on an agenda, and a board member can’t get it on an agenda, why do you have a policy, I believe it’s number 151, that states that a parent, a student, a community member, a board member can request for things to be placed on a policy committee agenda?”

He said he had noticed items that were associated with Policy 671, which had been requested, but not placed on the agenda for discussion, adding: “It seems like that’s what we’re fighting about now.”

He said items are habitually listed as future agenda items, but do not go on the agenda to allow for a discussion to take place.

Directing his comments to the board, he said: “You’re not addressing anything.”

Additionally, he expressed frustration with the handling of two open records requests he had placed with the district, with the first one seeking copies of administrator contracts. He said he was informed by the district’s records custodian, that filling his request would come at a minimum cost of $654.

“I was astounded by that,” Redenius said.

He said he additionally asked the superintendent, in her role as records custodian, what the cost would be to receive one contract. He said his question was never answered.

Redenius said he contacted the Delavan-Darien School District and was told that most contracts are about five pages. The Delavan-Darien records custodian told Redenius, he said, that his request would be filled at a cost of $1.25 per contract.

Addressing the board, he asked: “What are you trying to hide?” 

Zimmerman, too, expressed concerns about communication and future agenda items, noting that she had eight points she wanted to make. They included:

• A need for the board to receive information about the aquatic center agreement and any pending negotiations.

• An understanding about “unreasonable costs” quoted to members of the public for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

• Increased budget transparency. Said Zimmerman: “We can’t ask for money for referendums if our budgets are not transparent.”

• A discussion about replacing the superintendent as the district’s records custodian. Said Zimmerman: “Dr. Pate-Hefty, most of these FOIA requests are regarding you, and the board needs to appoint someone else as the district’s custodian. It’s inappropriate and it’s a conflict of interest at this point.” 

• A discussion about homeschooling and its impact on the district’s enrollment numbers, including strategies to attract homeschooling families to the district.

• Fewer “short meetings.” Said Zimmerman: “Agendas, the last two board meetings have been extremely short, and there are tons of agenda items I have requested, that others have requested, that can be on these agendas. We are not doing our due diligence as a board if we don’t have things on here. We’re not taking about things. We’re racing through. That’s great that we have donations, but we also need to tackle some of the harder things.”

• A full reporting of the use of policy 672.1.

• A meeting about issues of transparency. Said Zimmerman, “we need to meet as a board and we need to discuss it.” She said the discussion needed to be held “immediately … not next month, not next year … we have a duty as a board to address this.”

She added: “This is destroying our district, it is destroying morale, and we cannot kick this down the road any further.”   

Stephanie Hicks additionally noted that she had two issues of concern.

Regarding placement of agenda items, Hicks said: “I will put in a second request for us to be able to talk as a board, whether that’s a special meeting — whatever it needs to be — but I do think it needs to be sooner than later.”

Referencing the upcoming April election, she said: “I really don’t want our board to turn over and the problems just go to the new board members, because I don’t think that’s going to solve anything. So I’d like to have some things in place before that happens.” 

Additionally, she said: “I also agree with the aquatic center. I think, again, two boards, the city and the school district, change over. It might be nice to be able to meet prior to that to figure out, I mean, we’ve already been there. We invested the time, we invested the conversations, we’ve all been in agreement of it. Why would we want to switch that with new board members coming in? We might have to start from ground zero again. So I do think I’d like to request a special meeting for that as well, or in connection with the other special meeting.

Hicks said her “biggest frustration” revolved around a lack of consistent scheduling regarding the board’s agendas.

“I do think that there probably needs to be some type of — trying to think of the solution. Obviously it’s a problem. I don’t think anybody’s gonna deny that, but I do think that we have to have some type of schedule of how we do our agendas. Whether it is every other month, it’s going to be this on the agenda so that we can be discussing or however it’s gonna be — that everything is kind of being addressed or touched on in a bimonthly, monthly — however the importance of it is, the priority of it,” she said.