In an advisory referendum held yesterday, a majority of residents in the Palmyra-Eagle School District voted in favor of dissolving their school system: Of the 2,298 votes cast in the Nov. 5 advisory referendum, 1,218 (53%) voted in favor of dissolution; 1,080 voted against it, according to unofficial results released Tuesday night by the school…
Education
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, 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…
Education, School District
Whitewater Schools: The Search for a New District Administrator
by JOHN ADAMS •
? The Whitewater Unified School District now finds itself in need of a new district administrator. To that end, the district released a brief statement two days after current administrator Dr. Mark Elworthy submitted his resignation: On Tuesday, October 8, Dr. Mark Elworthy notified the Whitewater Unified School District that he plans to resign as…
Culture, Education, Local Government, School District
On Changes at the Whitewater Unified School District
by JOHN ADAMS •
One reads this morning that the Whitewater Unified School District’s administrator, Dr. Mark Elworthy, has taken a position with the St. Francis School District, and will be leaving shortly. One wishes him, and his family, truly the best in his new role. It would be tragic for this district – and a call to action…
Education, School District
School Board, 9.23.19: Educational Goals
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater has a public school district, and so she has public schools, and those public schools have goals for the students under their care. On September 23rd, eight days ago, some of the district’s principals (and two administrators) presented the goals for their students. (Other presentations will follow, presumably in October.) These goals are at…
City, Crime, Cruelty, Education, Ethnicity, Immigration, Local Government, Mendacity, Migrants, Police, Race, University, UW System
‘Do Deportations Lower Crime? Not According to the Data’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Anna Flagg writes Do Deportations Lower Crime? Not According to the Data: In one of Donald J. Trump’s earliest moves as president, days after his inauguration, he revived the deportation program known as Secure Communities. Proponents argue that it helps prevent crime and also increases the police’s ability to solve crime through collaboration with federal…
Education, Law, Open Government, Public Records, School District, Wisconsin
School Board Applicants’ Letters of Interest
by JOHN ADAMS •
Last week, I posted on the applicant interviews with the Whitewater Unified School Board for a vacancy (following the resignation of board member Jean Linos). See School Board, 9.16.19: Applicant Interviews and Reporting. Seeing that the agenda for the meeting lacked key information, and a local newspaper’s reporting (Gazette; Beleckis) was deficient, I submitted a…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Education, Ethics, Law, Marketing, Misconduct, Negligence, Nepotism, Official Misconduct, Sexual Harassment, University
For UW-Whitewater’s Administration, Talking Points Won’t Be Enough
by JOHN ADAMS •
Yesterday, I posted on The Marketing of Misinformation: UW-Whitewater’s Use of a Counterfeit ‘Campus Safety’ Study. Today, here is a look at some of the university administration’s talking points in response to long-standing acts of sexual harassment and assault on campus. (They’re from the new university chancellor’s recorded interview with a local newspaper.) From the video…
City, Education, Fact Checking, Marketing, Mendacity, Public Relations, University, UW System
The Marketing of Misinformation: UW-Whitewater’s Use of a Counterfeit ‘Campus Safety’ Study
by JOHN ADAMS •
Education, Health, School District
School Board, 8.26.19: Health
by JOHN ADAMS •
School Board Meeting 08/26/19 from Whitewater Community TV on Vimeo. Whitewater’s school board met in regular session on Monday night, with an agenda of 17 items. Item 8D was a mental health presentation from Dr. Lanora Heim, the district’s director of pupil services. The presentation appears from 1:01:00 to 1:19:36 on the video above, and…
America, Democrats, Education, Politics, Republicans
Differing Partisan Views on Education
by JOHN ADAMS •
A few days ago, a commenter (‘J’) at this website linked to the Pew Research Center’s latest survey data on partisan views of education. See The Growing Partisan Divide in Views of Higher Education. Kim Taylor (of Pew) summarizes the survey: Americans see value in higher education – whether they graduated from college or not. Most say…
City, Education, School District
School Board, 8.12.19: 4 Points
by JOHN ADAMS •
Updated 8.13.19 afternoon with video. Whitewater’s school board met in special session on Monday night, with two main agenda items: hiring a new middle school principal, and considering among several expenditures from five-hundred thousand dollars available to the district. A few points to consider: 1. The school board unanimously selected Chris Fountain, most recently of…
