Don Nielsen
Don J. Nielsen was the District 7 representative on the Racine Unified Board of Education in Wisconsin. He was first elected to the board in 2006. Nielsen served as an at-large representative from 2006 to 2016.
Nielsen won election to the District 7 seat in 2016. He advanced from the primary election on February 16, 2016. Nielsen defeated Brian O'Connell for a one-year term in the general election on April 5, 2016.[1]
In a 2015 candidate questionnaire, Nielsen stated his position on the nonbinding referendum question which sought to create a separate school district for Caledonia and Sturtevant which also appeared on the ballot. He said, "If a majority of the residents favor separate districts in the referendums after being made aware of all the costs and other challenges, I would support bringing it to a binding referendum."[2]
Biography
Nielsen is a retired Racine Unified school counselor.[3]
Elections
2016
The 2016 election for all nine seats on the Racine Unified School District was the district's first using a by district system rather than electing members at-large. A primary election was held on February 16, 2016, for Districts 6 and 7 with the general election on April 5, 2016. Board candidates were required to live in their election districts. The change was enshrined in state law through legislation sponsored by State Sen. Van Wanggaard (R) and State Rep. Tom Weatherson (R), who represent districts that include Racine. The election districts approved by the school board on October 27, 2015, led to three races in 2016 where three incumbents were assured defeat because they faced fellow board members.[4][5]
Candidates backed by the Wisconsin AFL-CIO won seven of the board's nine seats in 2016. Michelle Duchow in District 1 was not endorsed due to her unopposed race and District 9 winner Robert Wittke was endorsed by The Journal Times as a candidate who would stand up to unions.
District 1 candidate Michelle Duchow was the only unopposed candidate in the race. Dennis Wiser defeated fellow incumbent John Koetz in District 2, while incumbent Michael Frontier ousted fellow board member Pamala Handrow in District 3. Julie McKenna defeated Kim Plache to take the District 4 seat. Challenger Steven Hooper defeated incumbent Chuck Goodremote for the District 5 seat. Newcomer Matthew Hanser narrowly defeated board president Melvin Hargrove in District 8. Incumbent Don Nielsen finished first in the District 7 race against challenger Brian O'Connell. Nielsen and O'Connell defeated Adrienne Moore in the primary. Three newcomers were guaranteed to join the board after this election with no incumbents running in Districts 1, 6 and 9. John Heckenlively defeated Jim Venturini for the District 6 seat, while Robert Wittke defeated Kurt Squire in District 9.[5] Ernest Ni'A was defeated by Heckenlively and Venturini in the District 6 primary. Bryn Biemeck was removed from the ballot in District 6 following a Wisconsin Government Accountability Board appeal by the Racine Education Association.[6]
Results
| Racine Unified School District, District 7 Special Election, 1-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Don Nielsen Incumbent |
59.17% | 1,820 |
| Brian O'Connell | 40.83% | 1,256 |
| Total Votes | 3,076 | |
| Source: Racine Unified School District, "Racine Board of Education Official Election Results," accessed June 15, 2016 | ||
| Racine Unified School District, District 7 Special Primary Election, 1-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Don Nielsen Incumbent |
43.52% | 420 |
| Brian O'Connell |
29.33% | 283 |
| Adrienne Moore | 26.42% | 255 |
| Write-in votes | 0.73% | 7 |
| Total Votes (100) | 965 | |
| Source: Racine County Elections, "4th Unofficial Election Results 02-16-2016," accessed February 16, 2016 | ||
Funding
Nielsen reported no contributions or expenditures to the Racine Unified School District Clerk for School Board Elections as of February 15, 2016.[7] He filed as exempt from filing campaign finance reports when he filed for his candidacy.
Endorsements
Nielsen received the endorsement of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO.[8]
2015
Three at-large board incumbents, Wally Rendón, Don Nielsen and Kim Plache, sought re-election in the general election on April 7, 2015. They faced challengers Bryn Biemeck and Lisa Parham.[9] While Nielsen and Plache retained their seats and Parham won her first term on the board, Rendón and Biemeck were defeated.
Results
| Racine Unified School District, At-Large General Election, 3-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Kim Plache Incumbent |
25.3% | 11,183 | |
| Nonpartisan | Don Nielsen Incumbent |
21.7% | 9,571 | |
| Nonpartisan | Lisa Parham |
20.9% | 9,248 | |
| Nonpartisan | Wally Rendón Incumbent | 17% | 7,494 | |
| Nonpartisan | Bryn Biemeck | 15.1% | 6,656 | |
| Total Votes | 44,152 | |||
| Source: Racine County, Wisconsin, "Final Official Election Results for 04-07-2015," accessed April 22, 2015 | ||||
Funding
Nielsen reported no contributions or expenditures to the Racine Unified School District Clerk for School Board Elections as of March 30, 2015. He filed as exempt from filing campaign finance reports when he filed for his candidacy.[10]
Endorsements
Nielsen had received no official endorsements as of January 9, 2015.
2012
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Kim Plache |
22.3% | 12,223 | |
| Nonpartisan | Don Nielsen |
18.9% | 10,383 | |
| Nonpartisan | Gretchen Warner |
18.2% | 10,012 | |
| Nonpartisan | Brian Dey | 14.4% | 7,910 | |
| Nonpartisan | Roger Pfost | 13.5% | 7,416 | |
| Nonpartisan | Scott Brownell | 12.5% | 6,840 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in candidate | 0.1% | 82 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in candidate | 0% | 17 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in candidate | 0% | 13 | |
| Total Votes | 54,896 | |||
| Source: Racine County Clerk, "Official April 3, 2012 Election Results," accessed September 23, 2014 | ||||
Campaign themes
2016
Nielsen provided the following responses to questions about the 2016 election to The Journal Times:
| “ |
Last year, the School Board was divided for months on the district’s employee handbook. What role should administrators, unions and the board have in future handbook changes? It should be a collaborative process with the School Board making the final decision. The district recently entered into a tentative agreement to buy the Sturtevant Sportsplex for $5.2 million, and the district is studying how to use and pay for the complex before the board’s May 10 deadline to approve the deal. If you are elected, under what conditions would you support the district buying the Sportsplex? I would like to (see) a 10-year facility plan prior to making this commitment. As the district implements block scheduling in high schools next year in preparation for new career academies, some have criticized the district for moving ahead on the change too fast, most notably employee unions. Should the district go ahead with block scheduling next year? Why or why not? I have stated that I feel the process is going too fast. My research has shown that to be successful in implementation you need input from all stakeholders and at least two years to prepare. Implementing this schedule while continuing implementation of PBIS, Restorative Justice, a new approach to placement of special education students, using a new software package for scheduling/record keeping, implementing a new teacher evaluation process mandated by the state, and implementing block scheduling all at the same time with fidelity, is too much in my opinion. This does not mean I oppose either block scheduling or the academies, on the contrary I support a slower timeline. Over the last year, the villages of Caledonia, Mount Pleasant and Sturtevant have been weighing whether to fund a study of leaving the Racine Unified School District. Would you support these communities breaking away from Unified? Why or why not? I have publicly stated that if the mandated process developed by the state is followed I would not stand in the way. That is still true. If elected, what is the most pressing change you would push for the district to make? If re-elected I will continue to have the district increase its maintenance budget every year until it reaches the level to truly maintain all of our facilities. Other priorities are improving staff/administrative relations, improving the overall climate in our schools and eliminating the public’s negative perceptions, developing a ten-year facilities usage plan, and improving student achievement. In closing, no board member can do it all. It is going to take an entire board working together. |
” |
| —Don Nielsen (2016), [12] | ||
2015
The Journal Times questionnaire
Nielsen participated in a questionnaire of all the school board candidates by The Journal Times. The questions and his responses are below.
| “ | JT: Why are you running for a seat on the Unified school board? What relevant experience would you bring?
Nielsen: I feel my experience will be an asset in making the hard budget decisions we face and I would like to monitor the progress on the use of referendum money. Nine years on the RUSD Board, 20-plus years on other boards and 30 years working in the district.[11] |
” |
| —Don Nielsen (2015)[2] | ||
| “ | JT: What is the most pressing issue the board must address?
Nielsen: The drastic cuts in state funding and how they will influence our efforts to improve student achievement.[11] |
” |
| —Don Nielsen (2015)[2] | ||
| “ | JT: What is your position on the idea of municipalities like Caledonia or Sturtevant creating their own school districts?
Nielsen: If a majority of the residents favor separate districts in the referendums after being made aware of all the costs and other challenges, I would support bringing it to a binding referendum. If that passed it is my understanding it would be brought to the Board of Education for a vote.[11] |
” |
| —Don Nielsen (2015)[2] | ||
| “ | JT: How do you think Unified should adjust to the cuts in state funding expected in the proposed 2015-17 state budget?
Nielsen: The District budget has been restricted by spending caps for years. There is no fat to cut. Cuts would have to come from programs or staff.[11] |
” |
| —Don Nielsen (2015)[2] | ||
| “ | JT: Did you support the referendum approved in November that will allow the district to collect about $128 million in taxes over the next 15 years? Why or why not?
Nielsen: Yes, I not only supported it, I have been waiting for it for years. Due to spending caps, maintenance has been sacrificed to reduce the impact on the classroom. This resulted in a maintenance budget that was less than 10 percent of what was needed. Proceeds from the referendum will help reduce the maintenance backlog while giving us time to make tough decisions which would increase the ongoing maintenance budget.[11] |
” |
| —Don Nielsen (2015)[2] | ||
| “ | JT: How do you think the district should address discrepancies in achievement between whites and minorities?
Nielsen: Use of new curriculum, teaching methods, reduced class size and technology will play a part. Our administration is best equipped to bring about the needed changes. The Board’s job is to evaluate suggested changes and provide funding when appropriate.[11] |
” |
| —Don Nielsen (2015)[2] | ||
| “ | JT: Is the Racine Unified School District failing or succeeding in its charge to educate local students? Why?
Nielsen: It is definitely succeeding. Could it do better? Yes, but this is not only a district problem. Our local economy needs to improve in order to make improvement more probable. Research states that poverty has more impact on achievement than the schools.[11] |
” |
| —Don Nielsen (2015)[2] | ||
Board membership
2014
The Racine Unified Board of Education voted unanimously on 97.3 percent of its votes between January 1, 2014, and July 1, 2014. Every vote recorded by the board passed.
The voting data indicates that there was no clear governing majority or minority faction on the board. No individual board member's voting record differed significantly from that of the other board members.[13]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Don Nielsen' 'Racine School Board'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Racine Unified School District, Wisconsin
- Racine Unified School District elections (2015)
- Racine Unified School District elections (2016)
- Hot tub Gatorade, turnout in Peoria and the Wisconsin state...
- Wisconsin school districts 2014 review
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedlist - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 The Journal Times, "Candidates offer vision for RUSD," March 30, 2015
- ↑ Journal Times, "Unified board race: Nielsen, Pfost on financial decisions," March 20, 2012
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namednewmap - ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Journal Times, "Election filings, Racine County school boards," January 6, 2016
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedbiemeck - ↑ Nick Katers, "Email exchange with Patricia Meyer," February 12, 2016]
- ↑ Wisconsin AFL-CIO, "2016 Spring Election Candidate Endorsements," March 10, 2016
- ↑ Margaret Koenig, "Email correspondence with Racine Unified School District Office of Communication & Community Engagement," January 7, 2015
- ↑ Margaret Koenig, "Email correspondence with Pat Meyer, Racine Unified School District Deputy Clerk for School Board Elections," March 31, 2015
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ The Journal Times, "Unified 7th District candidates on the issues," February 13, 2016
- ↑ Racine Unified School District, "Board of Education Meetings," accessed August 28, 2014
| 2015 Racine Unified School District Elections | |
| Racine County, Wisconsin | |
| Election date: | April 7, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Don Nielsen • Incumbent, Kim Plache • Incumbent, Wally Rendón • Bryn Biemeck • Lisa Parham |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
