Embed from Getty Images Last night’s school board meeting had a lengthy agenda: well-deserved awards and recognition, public comment about a recent termination, and presentations on the performance of Lakeview Elementary and Whitewater Middle School, among other topics. Considering the recent termination, one confronts this uncomfortable question: if determining the right course in an isolated…
School District
Law, Open Government, Public Records 2, School District
Public Records Request, 5.20.19
by JOHN ADAMS • • 6 Comments
Update on the afternoon of 5.20.19: A email response from Dr. Elworthy and my reply — Dear John, I am in receipt of your records request regarding any audio or video recording of the 5.13.19 Whitewater Unified School District board meeting, including a recording of only part of the full session. The City of…
Charity, City, Education, Poverty, Press Release, School District
What Matters, What Doesn’t
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
Some contrasts are so clear that, on seeing them, one can tell immediately what matters and what does not: Number of homeless students in Whitewater School District reaches ‘crisis level’: The number of homeless students in [Dr. Lanora] Heim’s district last school year was more than double what it was three years ago—going from…
Education, Elections, School District
Local Elections 2019: School Board (Part 2 of 4)
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
The Whitewater area – the city proper and smaller townships nearby – are jointly part of a unified public school district. These last years have been difficult for Wisconsin educational funding, for the rural economies in this part of the state, and surely for Whitewater in both matters. The district has recently completed both a…
Charity, City, Culture, Local Government, Poverty, School District, University
The Recent Cold
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
It’s been unseasonably cold in southeastern Wisconsin this week, and in Whitewater that presents a challenge for the disproportionately large number of impoverished residents (some of whom occasionally lack utilities, even at the most unfavorable times). The three large public institutions in the city – municipal government, school district, and public university – have collectively dozens…
Elections, Politics, School District
About That ‘Same Ten People’ Problem…
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
If Whitewater wants – as some profess – to be free of a ‘same ten people’ problem (where a tiny few remain in office seemingly forever), then the solution is no harder than electing representatives other than from a tiny group of the same ten people. How funny, then, that one finds from among the members…
City, Local Government, Newspapers, School District
The Not-So-Daily Union
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
One reads that local Daily Union will begin delivery by mail, and that this will push forward the publication deadline by twelve hours. While the change of delivery matters to subscribers, the change in publication deadline will matter more. The Daily Union will no longer be able to get a story on an evening meeting or…
City, Elections, Local Government, School District, Walworth County
Elections, Contested or Uncontested
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Assault Awareness & Prevention, CDA, Charity, City, Corporate Welfare, Culture, Dogs, Economy, Education, Federal Government, Foxconn, Free Markets, Government Spending, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Local Government, Police, Politics, School District, State Capitalism, State Government, University, UW System, WEDC, Wisconsin
The Broad Outlines of 2019
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
For many years, I would begin the year with predictions for the twelve months ahead. Events since 2016 have made predictions harder, but one can still discern some short-term developments for the city. These prospects, of course, form an online of topics to ponder, and about which to write (often requiring that one return to the…
Babbittry, City, Culture, Local Government, Politics, School District, University
The Beauty & Opportunity of Ordinary Time
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
In the calendar of the Church, Ordinary Time is that part of the year between the seasons of Advent, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. Perhaps it seems less momentous to some, but Ordinary Time is no less important, offering as it does “time for growth and maturation.” Far from being a lesser time, I find it beautiful…
City, School District
School Board Meeting of 11.19.18
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
The City of Whitewater’s Vimeo page now has a copy of the school board meeting of last night. (For more about the cable access programming that took the place of the live meeting Monday night, see After the Referendum.) The meeting had a significant agenda, and the session is likely worth watching more than once.…
Open Government, School District
After the Referendum
by JOHN ADAMS • • 4 Comments
In response to an email last night and two more today, here are some quick thoughts on the school district and Whitewater. The gist of these messages is similar: was support for the referendum a good idea, in light of district report cards, and the airing of a Shirley Temple movie (The Little Princess, Twentieth…
City, School District
The Whitewater Schools’ Operational Referendum
by JOHN ADAMS • • 4 Comments
The Whitewater Schools have an operational referendum on the ballot this November. The referendum figures, for a conventional four-year term, will allow the district to continue regular programming and services without interruption. Nothing in this operational request involves more capital (construction) or expansion of services – the amounts authorized will simply allow Whitewater’s schools to…
City, Culture, Local Government, School District, University
No Principle But Principle
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Over these years that I have written, Whitewater has seen two city managers, three chancellors, four district administrators, and dozens upon dozens of other municipal, school district, and university officials. During this time, this ilk has relied on projects, press releases, committees, and conferences to advance itself at the expense of the community it professes…