Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction annually issues report cards measuring schools’ performance across several major categories. Whitewater’s detailed report card results appear below, first for the district, and then for each of her five schools (one high school, one middle school, and three elementary schools). These documents are available here for download – in full…
City
City, Congress, Fifth Congressional District, Never Trump, Politics, Scott Fitzgerald, WISGOP
Her Constituents Can Be Proud
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here in Whitewater, part of the gerrymandered Fifth Congressional District, we have for a congressman a septuagenarian multi-millionaire (Sensenbrenner) who votes with Trump, and his most-likely successor is a state senator (Fitzgerald) who sings a Trump train song. Men who tried all day to be embarrassments wouldn’t be able to match Sensenbrenner’s and Fitzgerald’s natural tendencies…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, November 12th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, They Shall Not Grow Old
by JOHN ADAMS •
?? This Tuesday, November 12th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of They Shall Not Grow Old @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: (Documentary/History/War) Rated R; 1 hour, 29 minutes. Through groundbreaking computer restoration technology, Director Peter Jackson creates a moving realistic depiction of World War 1, as never before…
America, City, Never Trump, Trump
Yet Again, All Eyes on Wisconsin
by JOHN ADAMS •
America, Babbittry, Bad Ideas, Boosterism, City, Corporate Welfare, Economics, Economy, Local Government, Mendacity, Newspapers, State Capitalism
What the New Dealers Got Right – What Whitewater’s Local Notables Got Wrong
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s sound reason to doubt that the New Dealers’ economic solutions to the Great Depression were effective, but there’s no doubt that Roosevelt’s Brain Trust was hard-working, smart, and candid in its description of America’s economic problems. For a critical assessment of the New Deal, written accessibly, see The Forgotten Man: A New History of…
City, Holiday
Boo! Scariest Things in Whitewater, 2019
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here’s the thirteenth annual FREE WHITEWATER list of the scariest things in Whitewater. (The 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 editions are available for comparison.) The list runs in reverse order, from mildly scary to truly frightening. 10. Meeting Videos. There must be something intimidating about meeting videos, because it takes…
City, Education, School District
Whitewater Schools’ Presentation of Goals
by JOHN ADAMS •
This morning, I posted about the 10.28.19 Whitewater Unified School District board meeting. See School Board, 10.28.19: 3 Points. That post, I mentioned that I would request copies of the goals presentations from Monday night that were not included in the agenda packet. Today, before submitting my request, I received a note from the district…
City, Education, School District
School Board, 10.28.19: 3 Points
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Whitewater Unified School District Board met Monday night. I’ll update this post with the meeting video as soon as the school district posts the video online (as its own policy requires). For now, three points stand out from the agenda items for the meeting. 1. Academic Presentations. There were three presentations on academic plans…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, October 29th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Get Out
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Tuesday, October 29th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of Get Out @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Tuesday, October 29th, 12:30 PM Horror/Mystery/Thriller Rated R (Violence, language); 1 hour, 44 min. This is an unnerving, psychological film in a “Twilight Zone”-style vein. A young African-American (Daniel Kaluuya) visits…
America, City, Economy, Health, Local Government, Opioids
Opioid Crisis : Great Recession :: Dust Bowl : Great Depression
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s a loose analogy (yet a useful one) to say that the opioid crisis is to the Great Recession as the Dust Bowl was to the Great Depression. These deep economic downturns did not cause, respectively, either the Dust Bowl or the opioid crisis, but each downturn did exacerbate the severity of its coincident calamity.…
Boosterism, Business, CDA, City, Congress, Local Government, Taxes/Taxation
Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Thinks (or Hopes) You’re Ignorant or Stupid
by JOHN ADAMS •
Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner, the gerrymandered, septuagenarian multimillionaire whose district (the Fifth) stretches all the way down to Whitewater, must think (or hope) people are ignorant. One can conclude as much because Sensenbrenner contends the reason he’s not attending impeachment hearings is because those hearings are not open to the public. Honest to goodness, Sensenbrenner must…
City, Common Council, Diversity, Local Government, Police, Public Relations
Common Council, 10.15.19
by JOHN ADAMS •
?? The Whitewater Common Council met in regular session on Tuesday, October 15th. The meeting agenda is available online. Coffee. It’s not a bad idea to have coffee sessions with law enforcement (8:00 on the video), but it’s worth noting – because it’s true – that community policing depends on positive, routine contact between officers…
City, Education, Language, Newspapers, School District, University, Writing
The Janesville Gazette‘s Sketchy Reporting on Major Topics
by JOHN ADAMS •
The nearby Janesville Gazette, a newspaper that insists ‘local matters,’ too often reports on Whitewater’s local matters in a careless way, ignoring key information. Whether that paper’s omissions are through negligence or by design, reporting like this ill-serves Whitewater. (In fairness, the Gazette long ago ran itself into the ground, and sold out this summer…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, October 8th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Rocketman
by JOHN ADAMS •
?? This Tuesday, October 8th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of Rocketman @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Tuesday, October 8th, 12:30 PM Biography/Drama/Musical Rated R (Language, sexual content); 2 hours, 1 min (2019). Step inside the story of Sir Elton John (Taron Egerton) and see his rise to…