KEWASKUM — Kewaskum School District residents will have three candidates to choose from next week for two School Board seats that are up for election.
Incumbents Timothy Ramthun and Bradley Petersen will be joined by challenger Rhett Engelking on Tuesday’s ballot. Each candidate was asked the same set of questions.
What do you think you will bring to the School Board that makes you a good choice for election?
Ramthun: My conservative values, which have served the district well; my inquiries that result in discussion/debate to ensure the board does the right thing for both students and taxpayers; my attention to detail; my conviction that enables me to say no when necessary; my dependability; ability to communicate with the board, administration and constituents; my responsiveness; my servant disposition.
Petersen: If elected, I believe I can bring many valuable aspects to the board.
Since graduating from Kewaskum in 2015, I have worked in both the private and public sector. Working with various budgets, policies and laws has helped me understand the difficulties that the Kewaskum School District faces every day.
I consider my age as a benefit, as I can engage with those who have recently graduated to see where our district helped them and where our district fell short. This helps in building our district’s future planning and resources we provide our students.
Engelking: While the Kewaskum School District rightly emphasizes that the students come first, its makeup is increasingly lacking in those who have direct contact with school-aged kids or even the staff who run the schools. I am put in touch daily with the perspective of those kids most at risk of not succeeding in school, and I regularly interact with their parents, teachers, counselors and other support staff. I work directly with school-aged kids in their homes and schools (some in Kewaskum) and practice putting their needs first. Because I have navigated the student path from KHS alumni to graduate degrees in educational psychology and physiology as recently as 2018, served on the board of a national leadership organization and established a scholarship for those applying to trade school, I feel I have a very strong sense of the type of foundation our kids will need to realize their vocation.
If elected, what are your top priorities for the Kewaskum School District?
Ramthun: Continuing the fiscal responsibility and focus that helped create the district as a destination for all families; to ensure accountability in the classroom and the academic focus that enables graduates to be effective in society. Communication is now a priority more than ever.
Petersen: Never go to referendum.
Ensure critical race theory and the 1619 Project are banned from the classroom.
Educate, not indoctrinate. Offer a private school education at a public school cost.
Use your tax dollars effectively and efficiently.
Increase quality of education and test scores.
Never raise taxes. Retain high quality educators.
Create and maintain an all inclusive learning environment.
Lower the amount of students enrolling out of our community.
Engelking: Prioritizing student well-being: Let’s build strong support systems for struggling students and families.
Revisiting i4Learning and the “elementary transition” decision: Let’s do a postmortem examination of i4L and support those impacted.
Counteracting bullying culture in schools and the community: Let’s reframe bullying as a community responsibility.
Expanding digital access and rural WiFi with county assistance: Let’s take advantage of the CARES Act of 2020.
Retaining and recruiting quality staff: Let’s create a safe forum to communicate workplace dissatisfaction.
Depolarizing public school curriculum: Let’s create an ongoing forum for those with curriculum concerns, i.e. CRT, etc.
Investing with fiscal responsibility: Let’s prudently seek out creative investment opportunities.
Deepening community partnerships and collaborations: Let’s build a bridge between our schools and community.
Communicating more effectively within the district: Let’s make intra-district communication streamlined and parsimonious, not vague or incomplete.
Strengthening Kewaskum identity through competition: Let’s encourage more diverse vehicles for achievement.
What are the greatest challenges you feel Kewaskum schools currently face?
Ramthun: Drug and opioid abuse, the need to return educational focus to include studying our U.S. and State Constitutions of our republic that countless generations fought and died to protect, and the need for the Bible to be used, shared and discussed.
Petersen: I believe the Kewaskum School District has two main challenges right now: middle and high school test scores, and high quality educator retention.
Our elementary schools rank amongst the top in the state. However, when it comes to our middle and high school, we fall short. To me, that is inexcusable. These are pivotal points in our students’ lives. We must work to identify the core issues within these buildings and correct them.
Employee retention is crucial to the foundation of our children’s education. Without our amazing educators our students would be left with nowhere to turn. We as a district must do everything we can to create a healthy and rewarding work environment, along with compensation that is competitive with other districts.
Engelking: My father used to say, “Don’t fix the blame, fix the problem.” The pandemic lockdown has increased the distance between those in both our schools and our community. From bullying culture to stunted achievement, every school problem can easily be seen as a microcosm of some similar community problem where trust and humility are absent. Parents don’t trust teachers with their kids, staff have lost faith in administrators and kids see their communities as hostile, not friendly. When concerns are brought to the board, it’s only after they have been polarized. By then, potential team members are already viewed as mortal enemies. Our opinions on who’s to blame are impeding our solutions to the problems. Instead of waiting till opinions change to collaborate on solutions, we need to start doing more things together in the faith that earnest collaboration will set all of our minds straight.
For more spring 2022 election coverage, click here.
