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…
School District
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…
Newspapers, School District
Gazette Story on Whitewater’s District Administrator: Omission & Innuendo
by JOHN ADAMS •
Yesterday morning, I posted on Whitewater School District administrator Dr. Mark Elworthy’s decision to take a position with the St. Francis School District. See On Changes at the Whitewater Unified School District. Last night, the Janesville Gazette published a story on the topic. See Whitewater’s Elworthy named interim superintendent for St. Francis School District. The Gazette’s story…
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, Local Government, School District
9.19.19: State of City & State of District Presentations
by JOHN ADAMS •
League of Women Voters: States of the City & the Schools 09/19/19 from Whitewater Community TV on Vimeo. Whitewater’s city manager, Cameron Clapper, and the Whitewater Unified School District administrator, Dr. Mark Elworthy, presented on the states of the city and school district, respectively. Embedded above is a full video of their presentations. The municipal…
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…
Newspapers, Open Government, Public Records, School District
School Board, 9.16.19: Applicant Interviews and Reporting
by JOHN ADAMS •
On Monday night, the Whitewater Unified School District’s board met to interview four applicants for a vacancy on the board (following the resignation of board member Jean Linos). The agenda for the meeting, although posted online, listed none of the applicants: not by total number, let alone by name or with their accompanying letters of…
City, Conflicts of Interest, Ethics, Local Government, Newspapers, School District, Whitewater, WI Conflict of Interest Gallery™
The Whitewater, WI Conflict of Interest Gallery™
by JOHN ADAMS •
Ours is an era of conflicts of interest and self-dealing. Conflicts of interest sometimes begin with ignorance but they persist through arrogance. Simple principles of separation between roles that were once understood and respected (in the main) are now commonly rationalized away. If one bemoans degraded national ethics, one should be clear that local officials…
Babbittry, Bad Ideas, Boosterism, CDA, Local Government, Politics, School District, Taxes/Taxation
School Board, 8.26.19: Insatiable
by JOHN ADAMS •
School Board Meeting 08/26/19 from Whitewater Community TV on Vimeo. Update, evening of 9.9.19: Although this discussion of tax incremental financing (TIF) took place at a school board meeting, a program like this is (obviously) very much an initiative of city government and special interests. School districts like Whitewater’s have a role on a joint…
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…
Conflicts of Interest, Newspapers, School District
Public Officials Should Not Be Reporters
by JOHN ADAMS •
It is a simple principle that public officials should not be newspaper reporters on their own meetings and actions. For readers, reporters, editors, publishers, and public officials this should be obvious. Worse: public officials should not be newspaper reporters when their roles as public officials are not expressly identified. A Whitewater-area newspaper and a Whitewater school…
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…