March 26, 2014 at 3:25 p.m.
School board candidates speak out on issues, what it means to be a board member
School board candidates speak out on issues, what it means to be a board member
Incumbents Merlin Van Buren, Mike Roberts and Ray Burgan are vying to keep their seats on the board while newcomer Duane Frey will be looking to unseat one of them.
The three candidates who get the most votes on April 1 will begin a three-year term on the board.
The Northwoods River News asked each candidate to fill out the same questionnaire. Answers are below.
Ray Burgan (Incumbent)
1. How will your name appear on the ballot?
Ray Burgan
2. Candidate background. Please provide a brief review of your education and experience.
I have a bachelor's degree from UW-Oshkosh in chemistry. After college, I went to work for Appleton Papers, a large paper company in Appleton. I worked there for 28 years starting in research and development and then moved through management jobs in quality control, manufacturing, strategic planning and acquisitions. When my company bought the former American Plastics, I moved to Rhinelander to oversee the acquisition process and do more acquisitions of companies similar to American Plastics. I eventually left Appleton Papers and bought and ran a small business in Rhinelander, Enterprise Wood Products. I sold the business in 2013 and was able to retire. In the time I was at EWP we were able to double our sales, even with the recession. I now am involved with the school board, the Ministry Medical Hospital Board and am the Economic Restructuring Chairman for Downtown Rhinelander, Inc. I also am an adjunct instructor at Nicolet College, teaching marketing and quality processes and was recently appointed to the Marketing and Business Management Advisory Council at the college.
3. Why are you running for the school board?
Our children went through the Rhinelander school system and I am grateful for the quality education they received. Both were able to get into great colleges and have successful college careers. I am happy that I can now give back and help ensure that quality education continues in the School District of Rhinelander.
I also strongly believe not everyone wants or needs to go to college to have a successful and rewarding career. I believe in our mission for our students to be "college or career ready" and we need to prepare our students to be successful in whatever path they choose. Because of my experience in running a local business, I feel I have valuable insight into what skills are needed to prepare students for alternate careers. I also know many business owners that can help provide insight. One of the largest problems in Rhinelander is that our students cannot find rewarding and good-paying careers and therefore leave town. Hopefully, we can reverse this trend through strong partnerships between our school district and local businesses. I feel I can contribute significantly to this process.
4. Why should voters elect you?
A good educational system is the foundation of a community. I enjoy and am honored to be a part of ensuring the School District of Rhinelander provides the best possible education to the students.
I bring a good blend of talents to the board. My experience as Director of Strategic Planning for a large company will help the board in developing our long-range plans and goals. A strong strategic plan will guide our decisions on what needs to be accomplished to make us the school of choice in our area.
As a business owner, developing and meeting budgets was a key to our success. School district revenue from the state is on the decline and the recent referendum was needed to keep valuable programs intact. We need to continue our past success of increasing revenue and decreasing expenses so that we can continue to reduce the tax burden for our residents. As a small business owner during an economic recession, developing realistic and tight budgets was the only way to survive.
I am now learning how rewarding but challenging teaching can be through my work with Nicolet College. Ensuring that every student understands and can apply the material, no matter what the different learning abilities are, is a much greater challenge than I first expected. Lucky for me, Nicolet has great resources to constantly help me be a better teacher. I certainly have a newfound respect for all the great teachers we have in the district and how challenging their jobs can be.
I am currently the chairman of the Employee Relations Committee. One of our goals this year was to develop plans to help curb our growing labor expenses while providing a salary and benefit structure that makes us the district of choice for talented teachers. We also were charged with implementing a pay for performance plan within that salary structure. With the help of some innovative teachers and administrators, I think we accomplished our goal without the use of any outside consultants. I am very proud of this effort.
5. What are the major issues facing the district right now, and how would you address them?
Our ability to fund district needs with the current decline in state aid will constantly be an issue for us. While we will always lobby Madison with our representatives, this will be an uphill battle as there will unfortunately be winners and losers with any change in the funding formula. As we have talked at the board, increasing revenue will come by being the school of choice in our district, including online courses, thus drawing more students from other districts. Cutting expenses is becoming more of a challenge, but we constantly need to reduce non-value added costs.
We also need to face the issue of our changing demographics as our communities are getting older and our younger generation leaves Rhinelander. We therefore need to develop a strong facilities plan to address our building and maintenance needs if and when enrollment decreases. Our new strategic plan needs to address this issue and we need to develop a 10-year plan for our facilities.
One of the toughest issues facing our administrators and teachers is the changing role of our schools and teachers. We need to not just teach content but how to apply the content to problem-solving and logical thinking. Businesses are demanding this skill and hiring those that have it. Luckily, our administrators have been moving in this direction but it is not an easy task. Throw in all the standards and assessments that are coming from the federal and state level and it can sometimes become overwhelming for our administrators and teachers. Our board and board members can help this process by providing support and commitment to funding these types of efforts.
6. What specific policy goals would you have as a board member?
Our current board focuses on and does a great job in reviewing and updating our policies. I think the board needs to focus more on our vision, mission and strategic plan, and become somewhat less of an influence in the policies that administrators can develop and implement without our input.
7. In your view, what is the role of a Board of Education member?
Our first duty is to our students. We have to make sure they are college or career ready. This means we need a measurement system to determine whether this goal is occurring, and to provide funding to the proper areas. If we fail at this mission, we have failed as a board.
Another role is to understand and meet all our customers' expectations. Our customers are the community, parents, taxpayers, students and employees. Each may have differing needs and we constantly need to listen to our customers to actively understand those needs.
Customer expectations form the basis of our long-range planning, budgeting, vision and developing goals for our district. We should have stated measures and yearly objectives towards achieving these customer needs. Discussing whether we are meeting our goals and objectives should form the majority of our agenda for our board meetings. The board's main role then is to be the driving force toward achieving our mission and meeting customer expectations.
As usual, there are day-to-day issues that boards need to address, such as employee issues, capital expenditures, monitoring spending, etc. These are very important but should not subtract from our main role of being the agent for implementing a well thought out strategic plan.
Mike Roberts (Incumbent)
1. How will your name appear on the ballot?
Mike Roberts
2. Candidate background. Please provide a brief review of your education and experience.
I was born and raised in Antigo, a community much like Rhinelander. My parents, both retired teachers and varsity-level coaches, exposed me to all aspects of the educational experience. As a multi-sport scholar athlete I spent much of my time at school and quickly realized the teachers, administrators and support staff made themselves available to everyone all hours of the day. Thanks in part to them, I and many others stayed on the right track and continued our education. Upon graduating I attended Michigan Technological University receiving a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering. Immediately after graduation I began working for MSA Professional Services. In 1996, my wife Angie, a Rhinelander native, and I were transferred back to Rhinelander where we have firmly put down roots, now raising two young children: Luke (16) and Olivia (14). I spent 12 years with MSA working on and managing a multitude of municipal projects. In 2006 I began working for the State of Wisconsin's Department of Health where I am responsible for federal regulatory oversight and plan review for all licensed long-term care facilities in the northern region of Wisconsin.
3. Why are you running for the school board?
As a parent, involved community member and professional living, working and raising my children in Rhinelander, I felt compelled to run for the school board for a variety of reasons. As a parent, I feel strongly about all aspects of education. As a community member and professional in Rhinelander, I believe that schools are the most important part of making a community successful.
4. Why should voters elect you?
I believe that my education, training and skills uniquely position me to assist the School District of Rhinelander work through the continued difficult times. My experiences on the school board have given me the knowledge to continue the work that has been completed in the recent past. I want the opportunity to continue to give back to a community that has been so good to me and my family.
5. What are the major issues facing the district right now, and how would you address them?
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6. What specific policy goals would you have as a board member?
The major issue the district is faced with year after year is financial problems. The way that Wisconsin schools are funded is fundamentally flawed and for districts such as the School District of Rhinelander, it does not keep up with the rising costs of inflation. So, year after year, without change and despite fiscally responsible policies, the gap between costs and revenue increases. District policies need to continue to focus on fiscal responsibility and efforts to increase revenue, all while maintaining rigorous school programming and maintaining existing facilities. Also, a strong effort needs to be made to modify Wisconsin school funding to more fairly address the issues of districts like Rhinelander.
7. In your view, what is the role of a Board of Education member?
The role of a Rhinelander Board of Education member is to look out for the best interests of all of the students that enroll in the School District of Rhinelander and ensure that their education is completed in a fiscally responsible way, yet give them every opportunity to maximize their abilities while giving them the skills to be successful members of the community.
Merlin Van Buren (Incumbent)
1. How will your name appear on the ballot?
Merlin Van Buren
2. Candidate background. Please provide a brief review of your education and experience.
I graduated from Waupun High School in 1978 and received my bachelor's degree from UW-Madison in 1982. I also did some graduate studies at Northern Illinois University and received my teaching certification. I have some teaching experience and have many years of management and supervisory experience. I am currently employed by Expera Specialty Solutions in the Coated Products Lab. I am finishing my first three year term on the school board and am looking forward to working for the voters and our children for the next three years.
3. Why are you running for the school board?
I am running for school board to continue to make the School District of Rhinelander the best school district for our children. We have an excellent school district. We continue to make strides in improving the education we provide to our children and those efforts need to continue. Our teachers have been beaten down at the state and national level, and we need to support them. We have great teachers. Anyone who wants to bash teachers needs to walk a mile in their shoes. You don't need to look far to find great things happening in our schools. We need to continue to hold up these accomplishments. At the same time we need to continue to look at ways to improve what we do. We need to make sure that all students are "on the bus" as we move forward.
4. Why should voters elect you?
Experience would be number one. Most people do not realize everything that is involved in being on the school board. Secondly, I have no axe to grind. My only purpose for serving on the board is to make sure our children receive the best education possible while controlling spending. We have diverse opinions on the board, but I believe we have balance. I consider myself one of the moderate voices on the board.
5. What are the major issues facing the district right now, and how would you address them?
Funding is always a major issue facing a school district. We need to continue to look for cost savings and ways to increase state funding.
Teacher motivation. We are currently working on a compensation program for teachers with incentives. What we need to realize is that money is a short-term motivator. Working conditions and job satisfaction are better motivators. We need to continue to support our teachers and their efforts as a board and as a community.
We need to continue to work to increase parental involvement in education. This is the biggest factor that determines how our students perform. Parents/grandparents/guardians need to be actively involved in the education of their student. Students that have active involvement by these adults in their education will perform better than those without this support.
6. What specific policy goals would you have as a board member?
Teacher pay/compensation. We are currently working on our compensation program. We need to make sure that we are competitive so that we attract and retain the best staff possible and at the same time reward our exceptional teachers.
We also are currently working on our strategic plan for the district. We need to have balance in this plan, that it not be just about facilities and buildings, but be about making sure that we are at the forefront in technology and education.
7. In your view, what is the role of a Board of Education member?
The role of the board is oversight. A school board needs to set the goals of the district, challenge the administrator and the staff to meet those goals and monitor the progress made toward achieving those goals. A school board should operate much like a board of directors for a corporation.
Duane Frey
1. How will your name appear on the ballot?
Duane J. Frey
2. Candidate background. Please provide a brief review of your education and experience.
I received my bachelor's degree in education from UW-La Crosse and my master's degree in administration from UW-Superior. After graduation from UW-La Crosse, I accepted a teaching position in Melbourne, Australia. After two years of teaching in Australia, I headed back to Wisconsin, moved to Rhinelander and was a teacher/administrator at Rhinelander Catholic Central for 19 years. I then accepted the position of elementary principal in the Northland Pines School District where I remained until my retirement in 2011.
3. Why are you running for the school board?
I remain interested in the welfare and education of our students. Parents put their children in our care expecting we treat them with dignity and provide them every opportunity to learn how to be successful in school and in life. Administrative and instructional staff have the responsibility of keeping a child's education the number one priority. The board's responsibility is to develop policy adhering to these principals, be responsible with taxpayer money and ensure the School District of Rhinelander hire and retain quality employees.
4. Why should voters elect you?
I have been involved with children and families my entire professional career.
I am very sensitive to the trust families put in our educational system. I firmly believe that as a board member our responsibility is not to micromanage the day-to-day activities of school life, but to put the best possible people in administrative and instructional positions and provide them the tools to be successful within the parameters of the district budget.
5. What are the major issues facing the district right now, and how would you address them?
I believe finances are foremost on the minds of taxpayers. Any working citizen knows it is not wise to spend more than your individual budget allows. Our responsibility as a board is to spend wisely and look for alternative funding, whether that be supporting the Rural Schools Initiative for changing the state transportation formula or pursuing state and federal grants to help fund district goals. The board appears to be on the right track with the development of a new strategic plan that will identify future building, education and activity goals. Employee/employer relationships are a concern of mine. Boards have the general responsibility for the management and supervision of the school district including a rigorous and continuous evaluation function that applies to policies, people and programs. I will be very interested in supporting a comprehensive evaluation function that will support our quality employees as well as determine where help is needed.
6. What specific policy goals would you have as a board member?
A. Give teachers every opportunity to be successful in the classroom.
B. Support a fair and comprehensive administrative/staff evaluation system.
C. Strive to raise reading and math scores across grade levels.
D. Plan strategically for, and solicit input from, staff and the community for effective decision making.
E. Budget responsibly.
7. In your view, what is the role of a Board of Education member?
My interest in running for the board is not to micromanage the day-to-day operation of our school buildings. That's why we hire administrators and staff. As a board member, I believe our function is to manage the budget responsibly, strive to continually improve student achievement, set policy, establish evaluation tools that ensure the highest quality of work and instruction, work cooperatively with the community, fellow board members and district administrators, and have a strong commitment to the district and to its vision.
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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