Good morning.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 86. Sunrise is 5:16 and sunset is 8:33, for 15 hours, 18 minutes of daytime. The moon is full with 99.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
The Whitewater School Board meets at 5:30 PM.
On this day in 1776, the Continental Congress appoints Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to the Committee of Five to draft a declaration of independence.
A few remarks appear below on recent Whitewater Unified School District actions for a new superintendent and about a school resource officer (SRO) agreement.
Chronology. On 5.27.25, the Whitewater School Board voted 6-1 (Tortomasi dissenting) to offer a contract to Samuel Karns, currently employed in the Beloit School District. On 6.5.27, the board met in closed session, returning to open session, to consider both an employment contract for Karns and a school resource officer for the district.1
The Draft Minutes of the 6.5.25 Board Meeting. The draft minutes of the 6.5.25 WUSD meeting include the following key paragraphs:
- ADJOURN INTO CLOSED SESSION
A. Adjourn into closed session – Hicks moved and Aranda seconded the motion to
adjourn into closed session, pursuant to the provisions of §19.85(1)(c), Wis. Stats.,
considering employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of
any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises
responsibility, and pursuant to the provisions of § 19.85(1)(e), Wis. Stats., deliberating
or negotiating the purchasing of public properties, the investing of public funds, or
conducting other specified public business, whenever competitive or bargaining reasons
require a closed session. Specifically, to discuss and take action on the terms of the
employment contract to be offered to the new superintendent. Pursuant to the provisions
of §19.85(1)(e), Wis. Stats., deliberating or negotiating the purchasing of public
properties, the investing of public funds, or conducting other specified public business,
whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session. Specifically, to
discuss and take action on the proposals related to school resource officer services and
the terms of contracting for such services. Motion carried 7-0. Also present was Brian
Dorow, Sean O’Neal, and Tom Czarnecki from Secure Resources Unlimited. Jeff
Tortomasi left at 6:46 p.m.
- OPEN SESSION
A. Reconvene into open session – Hicks moved and Aranda seconded the motion to
reconvene into open session at 7:36 p.m., pursuant to §19.85(2), Wis. Stats., for
possible action on any matter discussed in closed session. Motion carried 6-0-1-0
(Tortomasi – ABSENT). In the interest of transparency, the Board wishes to provide
further information to the public regarding its closed session discussions concerning its
efforts to contract for SRO services. The Board deliberated regarding its strategy for
negotiating a new SRO contract with the entities that have shown interest, including
those who responded to the District’s RFP and the City of Whitewater. We believe the
strategies discussed will lead to the type of cooperative relationship with the eventual
SRO provider that will best serve the safety and security needs of the school community.
The Board intends to be open and transparent regarding this matter to the extent
possible. In furtherance of that goal, the board will now entertain a motion in open
session regarding the action to be taken on the Board’s efforts to contract with an SRO
provider. Hicks moved and Aranda seconded the motion to extend the term of the First
Amendment to the School Resource Agreement for a period of thirty days from the
original date of June 30, 2025, making the new expiration date to July 30, 2025. Motion
carried 6-0-1-0 (Tortomasi – ABSENT). Hicks moved and Aranda seconded the motion to
accept Sam Karns’ Superintendent contract for the 2025-2026 contract period. Motion
carried 6-0-1-0 (Tortomasi – ABSENT).
Actions of the Board on 6.5.25 on an SRO. The draft minutes (acknowledging that it’s a draft) are plain on the board’s decision to extended an existing school resource officer agreement with the Whitewater Police Department for an additional month (“Hicks moved and Aranda seconded the motion to extend the term of the First Amendment to the School Resource Agreement for a period of thirty days from the original date of June 30, 2025, making the new expiration date to July 30, 2025”). (It’s also plain from the minutes that the board did entertain in closed session representatives of a private security firm.)
Extending the existing contract, with the goal of approving a new contract with the Whitewater department, is the only sensible course for this district.
Ambiguities of the Draft Minutes on a New Superintendent. The 6.5.25 minutes leave key aspects of a new superintendent’s contract ambiguous. I don’t think that’s intentional; I think the language of the draft is imprecise. The minutes state that “Hicks moved and Aranda seconded the motion to accept Sam Karns’ Superintendent contract for the 2025-2026 contract period. Motion carried 6-0-1-0 (Tortomasi – ABSENT).” Accepting the contract would mean an offered contract (by the district) has been accepted (by Samuel Karns). The district is the offeror (unless, improbably, these minutes are a discussion of a counteroffer by Karns.) It’s possible the minutes mean that a draft to be presented to Karns was approved at the 6.5.25 meeting. Again, it’s imprecisely written, and does not follow conventional legal usage.
The “2025-2026 contract period” described in the minutes would be for only a single year (July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026) but it’s likely the draft minutes mean to convey a two-year period (July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2027).
A further question comes from the language of the 6.11.25 (tonight’s) closed session agenda. The agenda for tonight includes the following sentence:
Specifically, to discuss and take action on the terms of the employment contract to be offered to the new superintendent.
This sentence suggests that there has been no final offer to the board’s preferred candidate before 6.11.25, and that the 6.5 minutes are not describing an accepted offer (but, instead, board approval and acceptance of something else, or no real acceptance at all). There are other possibilities that might come into play in back and forth discussions between the parties, but I will not speculate on these other possibilities now, as the draft minutes are of limited reliance in that regard.
Deficiencies of the 6.5.25 School Board Meeting. The 6.5.25 board agenda did not include an online live viewing option (in violation of WUSD Board Policy 822.12), does not have even at this date a recorded version, and the draft minutes for the 6.5.25 do not include a return-to-open-session explanation for the absence of a virtual viewing option or a recording of the open session. In the absence of a stated explanation, one cannot tell whether the violations of WUSD policies were negligent or intentional.
Note well: if this community had followed Yesteryear’s Familiar Tune, much about these public issues, about these public officials, and at public expense would have been confined to a dark corner among only a few people.
Whitewater would have known even less.
The best record of an open session is a recording, both live and for reference later, and the interests of transparency are best served in following good open government practices and the board’s own published policies.
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- On the school resource officer see from FREE WHITEWATER Discussion of Whitewater’s School Resource Officer Merits a 120-Day Contract Extension, More on a Whitewater School Resource Officer, Update on School Resource Officer Discussions Between the Whitewater School District and the City of Whitewater, Status of a School Resource Officer for Whitewater’s Schools, and City of Whitewater Renews Proposal and Encourages School District to Negotiate. ↩︎
- “Regular and Special School Board meetings will be broadcast live to community residents with the link posted on the agenda,” Whitewater Unified School District Board Policy 822.1 (revised March 20, 2023). ↩︎
Strange lasers in the sky captured by aurora and sky cams in the UK caused by train: