Schools

School Board Election a Choice of Experience vs. Change

Greco, Phillips say knowledge of district finances will be a vital resource in lean times, but Kearney said she will bring a fresh perspective to the board.

The Whitefish Bay School District has some important decisions ahead in the next three years, and the three candidates for School Board have different opinions on whether the board would benefit from experience or a new voice.

Whitefish Bay voters will make that choice in Tuesday's election, as attorney Anne Berleman Kearney, a political newcomer, is challenging six-year incumbents Marie Greco and Jim Phillips in a three-way race for two board seats. Terms are three years long.

Kearney previously interviewed for a post on the school board in 2009, when Joe Martinelli resigned after serving one year of a three-year term. The board instead appointed Pam Woodard, who is running unopposed this year to serve the final year of that term.

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Kearney is a principal with Appellate Consulting Group and practices civil litigation. She also is an adjunct professor at Marquette University Law School and is vice president of the Rosalie Manor board of directors.

Kearney said her experience as an attorney will aid her in analyzing problems, asking tough questions and bringing parties together to develop “a more interactive process.”

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“If someone comes in with a new voice and actually asks tough questions, it can have an effect," she said.

Kearney, who has lived in the village for seven years, has three children, two of whom are enrolled in the district. She said her oldest child is in middle school at the University School of Milwaukee.

Aside from Woodard, Greco and Phillips have the most experience on the school board. Three of the board members have less than two years experience.

Greco and Phillips both said experience and knowledge matter more than ever, as the district enters a period of strategic planning and the world of public education undergoes a significant transformation under the biennial budget and budget repair bill proposed by Gov. Scott Walker.

“The experience I’ve had as a board member and as president of the School Board will really help as we move forward into strategic planning,” said Greco, who has been on the board for six years and has served as board president for the past two years. “I just think this is a time when we don’t need a learning curve. We really need people who are ready to work immediately on strategic planning that will set us up for the future.”

Given her career experience, Kearney said she did not think there would be much of a learning curve.

“I’m not as concerned about that as the folks that are running against me might be,” she said.

Greco is co-owner and vice president of Lexicom Corporate Services. In addition to her work as School Board president, she has served on the Parent Teacher Council at Cumberland Elementary, as PTO president at Cumberland, as board member of Choir Friends and as co-chair of the January Pops concert.

A village resident of 14 years, Greco has four children, two who graduated and two who still are in the district. She said she has volunteered in classrooms and programs, where she has had the chance to form relationships with teachers in the schools, as well as other stakeholders in the community.

Phillips is a shareholder with the law firm of Godfrey & Kahn, S.C., and he serves on the board of the Whitefish Bay Public Education Foundation, Inc., the Experimental Aircraft Association and ARC of Milwaukee.

A 30-year village resident, he is the father of three children who have graduated from Whitefish Bay schools.

Phillips said a knowledge of school district issues is vital at this point in time. He said the board works with complex issues, such as the state funding formula, contracts, the Chapter 220 program, cultural competency issues and facilities issues.

That experience, partnered with his membership on various boards and his 30-year career in business and tax law, serve him well in contributing to the board’s decisions, he said.

“I think a good board member is someone who is familiar with the organization, willing to listen to others, become informed on issues brought to the board and is flexible and also careful about decision making,” he said. “I think that’s the type of board we have at this point.”

Kearney said she is challenging the six-year incumbents because she believes she could make a valuable contribution, she wants to be part of the planning process as her young children progress through the district and she wants to increase communication between the district and the public.

In terms of improving communication, Kearney said, if elected, she would write a blog about district news, and she said board members could be informally designated to each school to inform the board of any issues at that school.

Greco said the board has prioritized communication improvements, as the district underwent a to determine how the district can improve communication with the public. One of the recommendation from that study was to improve the district website, which Greco said is being updated and redesigned.

“My goal would be to continue to implement that communications plan so we can effectively communicate in a two-way manner,” she said.

Phillips said the district website not only needs to be updated to provide more information, but the board may also have to look at more active means of engaging residents.

“We have to come up with a way to try to make the information easier to find, maybe in the sense of pushing the information out,” he said.

While the school district faces , Greco said the board learned at a recent school board committee meeting that, based on preliminary numbers, the district should be able to avoid layoffs, and if layoffs are necessary, there would be very few.

If further spending cuts are necessary, all three candidates said reductions in classes and programs would be a last resort.


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