Eric Duncan (Wisconsin)

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Eric Duncan

Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

April 3, 2018

Education

High school

Green Bay East High School

Personal

Profession

Attorney

Eric Duncan ran for election to the Green Bay Area Public School District Board of Education At-large in Wisconsin. Duncan lost in the general election on April 3, 2018.

Biography

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Duncan graduated from Green Bay East High School. His professional experience includes working as a lawyer for 28 years.

Elections

2018

See also: Green Bay Area Public School District elections (2018)

Three of the seven seats on the Green Bay Area Public School District Board of Education in Wisconsin were up for at-large general election on April 3, 2018. Two of the at-large seats were up for three-year terms and one seat was up for a one-year term. Incumbents Andrew Becker, Edward Dorff, and Rhonda Sitnikau defeated challengers Paul Boucher, Jason Davies, and Eric Duncan. Dorff won election to the one-year term because he won with the lowest number of votes.

General election

General election for Green Bay Area Public School District Board of Education At-large (3 seats)

The following candidates ran in the general election for Green Bay Area Public School District Board of Education At-large on April 3, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Rhonda Sitnikau (Nonpartisan)	23.9	9,182
✔		Andrew Becker (Nonpartisan)	21.6	8,317
✔		Edward Dorff (Nonpartisan)	17.8	6,834
		Eric Duncan (Nonpartisan)	13.7	5,267
		Jason Davies (Nonpartisan)	13.0	4,996
		Paul Boucher (Nonpartisan)	10.1	3,888

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 38,484
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Campaign themes

2018

Campaign website

Duncan listed the following priorities on his Facebook campaign website:

“	I’m excited to be running for a seat on the Green Bay Area Public School Board. I am a graduate of East High School (go Red Devils!) and my daughter is a recent graduate of Southwest. I believe that public education is THE most important investment that we can make in the future success of our community and society as a whole. As a board member I hope to: Improve our ability to attract and retain high quality educators, primarily with better systems to evaluate, coach, and support principals and staff in the field so that our children have the very best in our schools. Protect our students, especially at-risk students, from the effects of dwindling resources, working especially on programs such as nutrition, safe schools, trauma-informed care, and special education needs. Increase the District’s administrative efficiency by applying my experience with business management principles, negotiation, and continuous improvement. I believe in transparency from the top down to the community. We as parents and taxpayers have a fundamental right to know exactly what is going on in our public schools at all times. Build the connection between our district and the local economy. I have reviewed a sampling of minutes from the past several years of Board meetings and see a lot of unanimous votes. Please know that I will NEVER be a rubber stamp.	”
—Jason Davies 2018

Green Bay Press Gazette survey

Duncan participated in the following survey conducted by the Green Bay Press Gazette. The questions provided by the Green Bay Press Gazette are bolded, and Duncan's responses follow below:

“	Relevant experience: 28 years as practicing attorney, including 10+ years as in-house counsel for both a global manufacturing company with a US subsidiary in Waukesha and a national manufacturing company based in Appleton; extensive employment law, labor, and general business experience; graduate of Green Bay East High School; parent of recent Southwest High graduate, who is now studying secondary and special education; spouse of public school special education teacher (over 26 years) Why are you running for office? Specifically, I am running for office because, as a long-time business attorney, I believe I can bring a different set of problem-solving tools to the Board which they currently lack. I believe that a decision-making and policy-setting body such as the Board is healthiest and most effective if it has members with a variety of problem-solving perspectives and experiences. With my business and legal background, I can help direct the District to a more proactive, responsive, and transparent approach to its current issues. Generally speaking, I am running because I believe that public education is THE most important investment that we can make in the future success of our community and society as a whole. I further believe that Green Bay is a special place, that our District is blessed with some really great schools staffed by many really great educators, and that we can do a much better job tapping into those reservoirs of wisdom and experience by creating more open channels of communication between District administration and both educators in the field and the public at large. Are you satisfied with the district’s response to student behavior and discipline issues at Washington Middle School? Why or why not? Briefly, no, I am not fully satisfied with the District’s response to the discipline issues at Washington Middle School. Before explaining why, I’d like to emphasize that the problem of violence and disruptive behavior in schools is a multi-faceted problem that will not be solved overnight— mental illness-related issues are tied up with trauma-related issues are tied up with poverty-related issues are tied up with cultural issues and so on and so on. Accordingly, the best response to these issues will be a persistent, long-term, multi-stepped program of action that will take place over many years. In my view, anyone who suggests that these problems can be solved with one or two simple steps is fooling themselves. That being said, my thoughts on the District’s response to the situation are as follows: 1. One of the obvious root causes of the Washington situation was that they’d been through seven principals in six years. I believe that the job of principal is probably the most important/influential job in the District (a good principal can really raise up the performance of a staff and his or her school, and a weak one can bring them down). Part of the District’s current plan is to hire a principal with specific experience in turning troubled schools around and with proven leadership skills. I support this decision, but why did it take almost a year to make it? 2. I don’t believe the problems at Washington are unique to Washington. The District’s current plan seems to be focused almost entirely on Washington (hiring the new principal and hiring an outside consultant with expertise in school turn-arounds). In addition to taking steps at Washington, we should also identify the other schools in the District with similar issues and then put principals with good leadership and turn-around skills in place at those schools, too. 3. As noted above, the problems at Washington are part of a multi-faceted set of issues. In my view, the Board can best account for the many factors involved by opening up the channels of communication among all of the stakeholders (parents, teachers and principals in the field, administrators, and the kids). In my view, we can do a much better job of opening those channels of communication. Also in my view, honest input, even highly critical input, from educators in the field or the general public is not a problem to be overcome, but an opportunity to learn about the issues we should be addressing. What do you consider to be the key issue or issues in this race and what would you do to address them? I believe the key issues in this race, and my suggestions for addressing them, are as follows: 1. Our District’s organizational structure is notoriously “top-heavy” (meaning that we have layers upon layers of administrative bureaucracy which does not directly interact with students in the classroom). In my view, we can substantially reduce these bureaucratic inefficiencies and re-direct those resources back into the classroom to achieve reduced class sizes, better professional development for the principals and educators who work directly with our kids, and better systems to evaluate, coach, and support those principals and educators in the field. 2. We need to improve our ability to attract and retain good educators, partly by re-directing resources back into the classroom as described above and partly by actually focusing on the issue of teacher attraction and retention. As things stand, we make only a minimal effort to investigate and analyze why we have educators leaving the District. Is it because they don’t feel that the District administration listens or responds to their concerns? Is it mostly a wage issue? Or is it something else entirely (either within or outside of our control)? Right now, we don’t really know, and we should. 3. Similarly, we need to address the bleeding that we are currently suffering from open enrollment (we lose roughly $11 million in funding every year). Our ratio of students enrolling into the District against students enrolling out is worse than almost every other large district in the state (including Milwaukee and Madison!—only Racine is worse). Why is this happening? What factors are most likely to cause a parent to enroll out? We need to seriously investigate and analyze these questions, then focus our attention on improving those specific areas. 4. We need to improve our channels of communication between the District administration and both the public at large and educators in the field. Our many excellent principals and teachers are our best resource for improving the education our kids receive. They should be micro-managed less and allowed to exercise their professional expertise more. We can start enabling this change by honestly listening to and responding to their input, something we are not currently doing well. Similarly, we can make better decisions as a Board by more actively seeking real public engagement. Under the current system, the public is allowed to make statements in a relatively formal setting—this is clunky, off-putting, and not very user-friendly. I suggest that, as a first step towards better public engagement, we start a series of town hall-style meetings where the public can engage in a real give-and-take with the Board. What makes you the best qualified candidate to hold this office? I bring a set of problem-solving skills which the Board currently lacks as well as a more proactive, results-oriented perspective. It is not apparent to me that the Board or the administration has much experience with ideas like continuous improvement, collaborative (and transparent) communication and decision-making, effective risk management, or even how to run a focused meeting, all areas in which I can help create a change for the better. As a proud graduate of the Green Bay Area Public Schools, and the parent of another, my commitment to this community, our schools, and our children is unwavering. I will never “fire off” canned responses to any questions, nor try to sweep difficult topics under the rug. I take this position very seriously and believe in constantly questioning, contemplating, and making wise decisions. That being said, if an action needs to be taken, I won’t be afraid to take it, without endless debate.	”
—Eric Duncan, 2018

Recent news

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Eric Duncan (Wisconsin) - Google News

See also

• Green Bay Area Public School District, Wisconsin
• Green Bay Area Public School District elections (2018)

External links

Suggest a link

• Green Bay Area Public School District