Issues

Stone Bank School is a special school that offers small class sizes, fantastic staff, and a great campus.  I'm interested in making sure Stone Bank School remains strong and continues to be a part of our community long term.  We need to be transparent with the community so that we can properly plan together and achieve long term success. We need to also show the community all the great things that go on inside our special little school. 

Declining Enrollment 

We have a serious problem with declining student enrollment at Stone Bank School. People are choosing to send their children elsewhere for their education. We need to find out why, and we need to do it now. I want to suggest we survey families that have left the district and ask them exactly that, why have they chosen to send their children elsewhere for their education?  We need to get to the root of the declining enrollment issue, before more families decide to send their children elsewhere for their education.  Stone Bank School currently receives $11,839 from the State of Wisconsin to fund and support a child's educational needs.  When that child is open enrolled out of Stone Bank School, and for example sent to Merton School, then $8,962 of that funding goes with that child to Merton School. However, the operational costs of our Stone Bank School remain the same, therefore creating larger deficit numbers and causing the school to struggle with funding the daily operational needs to run the school and provide a high-quality education for our children. 

The declining enrollment is a MAJOR ISSUE. Why is this not a top priority of my opponents?  

We need to get back to the Level of Excellence that Stone Bank School has achieved in the past and strive to keep Stone Bank families at Stone Bank School.

Restoring Academic Excellence

Stone Bank School is a high achieving school with a good ranking within the state, but we have room for growth. Our DPI scorecards have been in a steady decline for some years now, including the current incumbents' terms.  Here are Stone Bank School's State DPI scorecard ratings for the last several years:

You can also see the report cards for yourself, here on the DPI.gov website: Report Cards - 2023-24 - Stone Bank

Are you wondering what a DPI score card is?  Check out this link for all the info: Report Cards Home | Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

We need to make sure our school and staff have the resources they need to grow our students into high achievers.  I believe restoring academic excellence at SBS will also help us grow our enrollment.  Let's get back to the level of Academic Excellence that Stone Bank School had for so many years and brought so many of us to this great community.  

Fiscal Responsibility & Honesty, Infrastructure, & Consolidation 

We must be fiscally responsible with the resources we have.  This includes spending wisely and also includes maintaining our current assets.  The current building is still in solid condition, but we need to work to keep it up.  A number of the infrastructure pieces have surpassed their life expectancy.  A plan needs to be developed to address these concerns for today and future years.  We need to make sure that school remains open with children in classes.

SBS has projected deficits in their budgets in recent successive years.  The most recent audit for school year 2023-2024 reports a loss of $83,306.  This can be seen on page 4 of the 2023-2024 Baker Tilly Audit.

Past financial records also indicate additional deficits would have likely been incurred in previous years if it had not been for non-recurring federal funds related to Covid.  Despite these clear numbers, my opponents are claiming to have produced a balanced budget.  It's time to be honest with our constituents and stop hiding behind political labels in an effort to get reelected.  

Preliminary discussions regarding consolidation with the other Arrowhead feeder schools have already begun.  This is a complex and multi-faceted issue; one that must be discussed and evaluated thoroughly and logically considering all stakeholders.  Stone Bank School administration and the elected school board need to continue to be involved in those discussions, while sharing the details of those discussions with the community, so we can decide what is best for Stone Bank. 

Student Safety at School

Student safety needs to be a high priority at SBS.  I'd like to review our District's Safety Plan and collaborate with administration to make sure it is widely encompassing and regularly reviewed in an effort to keep our students safe in our constantly changing world.  Our safety plan policy can't be limited to reactions to incidents at other schools.

Non-Partisan

While personally I am politically Conservative, I believe there is no place for the sort of politics we have seen in school board races.  I have not and will not accept donations from any political parties or related political organizations.  We owe it to our students and community to make our decisions locally.  Members outside of our community should not be influencing our local policies.  I am personally funding my own campaign with the help of some individual local donors along with our generous families.  It appears my opponents are at least primarily funded by outside political action committees (PACs) that are sending out mailers on their behalf.  One of these PACs is out of the Washington DC area!  I am 100% invested in Stone Bank School and this community. 

Why I am running for Stone Bank School Board

As a parent with children in attendance at Stone Bank School, I feel I bring an important perspective to discussions and decisions about the future of Stone Bank School.  (Note that one of my opponents does NOT have any children in attendance at SBS.)  We need to grow our school to grow in enrollment by providing a safe, quality education in the most cost effective way possible and promoting the quality education available at Stone Bank School.

I'm asking for your support by voting for me on or by Tuesday April 1st.