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. I have yet to receive any kind of email replies from him. And have a less than 50 percent return call rapport with him. Please do no reelect people like this.

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/