De Pere is a bad example of open government

I based this on my inital attempts last November to meet with the school board president, Adam Clayton. I wanted to talk about an ethics review committee and better transparency. Those requests went no where till I revised that I wanted to talk about ineffective policies.

The second observation was at the end of May the superintendent Chris Thompson hand picks representatives for an insurance committee. This was revealed afterward without naming those people. Maybe (but it seems unlikely), the rep we had just didn't give a shit enough to talk to the people she was supposed to be representing. While she is no angel, I'd bet there was more or a less a "keep this quiet directive" from the superintendent.

The recent operational referendum did little to achieve its purported goal of making the lagging pay competitive to retain people. Last year when other districts gave a 8% raise (and this year 4%), De Pere gave a 3% raise (and this year 6%).

Personally I'd like to see all the proposals brought forward after the referendum passed, and the reasons for and against them with names. That is what I expect from anything funded by taxes that has any elected officals in the mix. I mean without that information how is one supposed to make an informed choice at the ballot box. You deserve to know how their decisions affect your pay if you work there and your taxes if you live there.

And or course as the media has pointed out most other districts make videos of the school board meetings. De Pere does not.

De Pere School board

You may have heard of the calls for censure on president Adam Clayton from Brittony Cartwright claiming bullying and harrasment.

"body language such as eye-rolling, shaking of his head and taunting while I speak, which is not respectful treatment"

"I am a human and I’m allowed to have emotions, facial expressions and able to respond to things as they happen,” said Clayton. “To assert that goes to something such as bullying or such an extreme alleged personal attack is simply wrong.?

While I am not impressed by Clayton, I agree. Cartwright is an oddball to say the least, and the real problem is she apparently is a "snowflake" too (has an unwarranted sense of entitlement, overly emotional, easily offended, and unable to deal with opposing opinions."

In short, the article has to do with board members and public expression.

“When expressing their personal views on board matters or district business, they should make it known that they’re speaking for themselves and not the rest of the board.”

Board members are elected by the public. The public generally casts votes based on the personal viewpoints of the candidates. Put shortly, you generally vote for those who reflect your view points.

Restricting anyones viewpoint is simply un-American. The only time anyone should assume a group view point is when they are speaking in an official capacity while doing their job at the board meetings themselves. The rest of the time it's simply their opinions.

“Board member Dan Van Straten said people appreciate it when someone acknowledges their email or voicemail. “I think it is the reason why some people are reelected year after year,” he said.

It's not just appreciated, it's expected and has long been part of the job. Higher ranking positions have historically always had higher stakes attached to them. Just because the legal world's stakes have increased doesn’t mean you stop doing a part of your job.

“Thompson said the job of board members is policy and procedure”

And that cannot be done without direct feedback and communication with those who elected them.

I am glad to see nothing more became of this. As "Codes of conduct"' are often times used to consolidate executive power by eliminating dissent, maintaining a secret handbook, and gagging its own current and former officers.

The bigger issue to me is when you restrict individual voices and opinions, well thats anti-American. It also make electing anyone effectively useless thus destroying the democracy aspects. People generally look to elect people that represent their interests and viewpoints. When the candidates are effectively gaged, it begs the question of why cast a vote... and thus is borderline authoritarianism. From what I have seen power and control games have been going on in the district mostly at the admin level for some time. It's clear to see where they learn it from. Perhaps if they had better things to do, such childish games would be less? Till the admin accountability is upheld, the shit show will contunue.

(The tatics at hand aren't exclusive to the DePere School board, but that doesn't make them right either.)

Maybe it's just me but I feel any elected officals job is to serve their constituents in a conscientious and diligent manner and perform their duties in office in a manner that promotes public confidence. How on earth they are being a public servant without communicating with the public remains the mystery and begs the question of why even go to the polls?

https://gopresstimes.com/2022/09/13/school-board-members-reminded-they-speak-for-themselves/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/03/15/supreme-court-trump-block-critics-social-media/72356661007/

USDD

Sometimes I begin to wonder if the abbreaviation for the Unified School District of Depere means something else. This Unified business was the result of some failed attempts to unifiy both the East and West De Pere school districts. So perhaps it means United Soviet DePere Dictators. If they aren't dictators then surely you can agree many of the Unruly Stupid DePere Dolts, have that privileged attitude. Neither is good, neither belong in any kind of "leadership" postion.

So yet another boastful clown who can't get the job done, which sadly appears to be the whole district.

"The world is changed by your example, not your opinion" - Paula Coelho

They sure seem to like to run the show Soviet / Berlin wall era style.

Such as controlling communications rather than transparency. It reminds of when the Soviets used hotair balloons with radio jammers on them so the people could not listen to the Voice of America.

There is a nice history of the De Pere elites benefiting from their positions in an impropper conflicting ways. The all time grand champion is when Paul Sumerside who was is connected with Aurora managed to get his way and slant the tables of the districts health insurance towards Aurora (early 2000's)

There are likely quite a few other less obvious conflicts where administrators catered to specific outside vendors for personal reasons. I personally saw something fishy back in the day with a purchase of a riding scrubber.

Disconnect from reality

Fluorescent light covers, kick bands, pedal desks, and so forth.

Schools have an excessive amount of this, and that sort of thing is not preparing kids for the real world.

The real world also has prick bosses and co-workers, and you need to know how to deal with that sort of thing. Being brought up in bubble isn't helping that. You won't always get your way in life.

Does law enforcement that pull people over just to commend you on your driving? I think not.

Over rewarding expected behaviors is fueling a whole subset of problems. Namely entitled (narcissist) kids.

And while I'd like to believe older generations (like the ones preaching with this junk) should know better, their actions show differently;

Administration has the most pronounced inability to handle any criticism. And coaches and the like always have that sense of entitlement.

De Pere is very cliquey, so its not suprising the adminsations "functions" mostly as good old boys club.

To understand the cliquey part, consider the fact that a lot of affluent people have relocated over the years to De Pere.

Thin skinned management

What follows is a brief situation with A*** that was rather eye opening. It was my first glimpse at how thin skinned he is. Prior I never assumed this, I had seen a hockey guy with some aggression at times, but found his demeanor for the most part refreshing (as it was honest), whereas other co-workers saw it as unprofessional at times. Another thing I found refreshing about A*** was he was always willing to help move tables etc, nothing was beneath him like you'd see from other staff.

It was the last day before Christmas break (in the last 2-3 yrs, I’d have to check my notes), and there was a ton of garbage and other stuff to deal with, it's like a free-for-all those days. He stops me in the hall to tell me some teacher's purse is missing and to be on the lookout for it. That's fine, but it seemed like he was subtly implying to look through the trash for it. I purposely gave him the cold shoulder, and was rather short with him. Ending the conversation abruptly telling him Okay, but I had to get going. The context here is the student mess (and overall behavior all year) is a result of him.

The other context is this was a third party relay. I would have responded differently had the teachers whose purse in question was actually looking for it and asked for my help, vs the guy who is at the moment the source of my mess frustration. We had just had a similar third party request earlier in the month from a teacher asking D** if D** or I could give her a jump-start. What not in both cases, ask yourself?

Later I came to find out he talked to my co-worker, asking “have I done something wrong, I was just accosted by S****. Those are his exact words. I find that a rather disturbing stretch of a way to describe it.

That was very childish. She just threw her hands in the air and rolled her eyes at him like you have got to be kidding me.

Turns out the purse was found, and it was a student that took it.

I can't understand how you can be in managment and not be able to take some heat. It makes you wonder if these people in De Pere all lead the charmed life and were raised that way. They certainly don't like it when you aren't stroking their ego. Perhaps its the wealthier community thing, where they were spoiled being brought up. Were never yelled at as children and likely couldn't do anything wrong or something.

Wake up, dumbasses. Respect is earned, don't act like you expect it because you are so-and-so.

Happy Phoniness Day

Happy Phoniness Day!!!

While our sunshine club is out on maternity leave we purposely managed to give everyone in the building a thank you balloon yesterday, except you worms!  Normally this jackass tactic would never happen, but we are an organization built on false sincerity.  Please know that if we had balls, we'd just come out and say fuck you guys!

Five on the ballot for De Pere school board primary

Concerning the April 6, 2021 General Election:

https://gopresstimes.com/2021/02/11/five-on-the-ballot-for-de-pere-school-board-primary/

Pay attention to these two questions:

What traits should the next superintendent have to ensure success for the district?

What needs to happen for the De Pere school district to be successful in the future?

-Dan Van Straten, (b. 1968 - 326 S Ontario St, De Pere, WI 54115 [$116,100])

-Jeff Mirkes, (b. 1963 - 1103 Tanager Trl, De Pere, WI 54115 [$278,800])

-Adam Clayton, (b. 1977 - 2041 E Higgins Hl, De Pere, WI 54115 [$271,600])

+1 for:

Foster transparency

We must avoid "this is the way we have always done it" mentality and remain flexible and agile for a changing world.

-Angela Hoisington, (b. 1979 - 1617 Mayfair St, De Pere, WI 54115 [$267,100])

-Chad Jeskewitz, (b. 1974 - 5362 Sportsman Dr, De Pere, WI 54115 [$713,100])

+1 for:

Ideally, the next superintendent is not only passionate about academics, but extracurriculars and gives equal attention to all.

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So Adam's bio wasn't the normal verbal diarrhea, so I wanted to know more.  From his linkedin profile he is listed as the SE Region Design Manager at JT Engineering, Inc.

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I think from this glimpse you can see why I initially thought Dan would be a good guy to reach out to (probably a more down to earth lifestyle)