Heather Justham
Heather Justham is the at-large representative on the West Allis-West Milwaukee School Board in Wisconsin. She was first elected to the board in the general election on April 5, 2016.[1][2]
Justham previously ran for a seat on the board. She unsuccessfully ran as a write-in candidate in the general election on April 7, 2015.
Biography
Justham attended and graduated from the West Allis-West Milwaukee School District. She works as a school bus driver. Justham has been involved in the PTA or PTSA at every education level in the district. She studied music at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. Justham and her husband have two daughters.[3][4]
Elections
2016
Three of the nine seats on the West Allis-West Milwaukee School District school board were up for at-large general election on April 5, 2016. In their bids for re-election, incumbents Jeffrey Sikich and Patricia Ulwelling faced challengers Heather Justham and William Ustruck.[1] Sikich won another term on the board, but Ulwelling received the fourth-most votes and lost the election. Justham and Ustruck were both elected to the board.[2]
The term of incumbent Susan Stalewski was also on the ballot, but she did not file to run for re-election, which left it open for a newcomer. Both Justham and Ustruck previously ran for a seat in 2015. They ran as write-in candidates.[1]
Results
| West Allis-West Milwaukee School District, At-Large General Election, 3-year terms, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Heather Justham |
27.19% | 8,683 |
| Jeffrey Sikich Incumbent |
26.94% | 8,602 |
| William Ustruck |
23.06% | 7,365 |
| Patricia Ulwelling Incumbent | 22.07% | 7,049 |
| Write-in votes | 0.73% | 234 |
| Total Votes | 31,933 | |
| Source: Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Suzette Zimmerman, Executive Assistant To The West-Allis West Milwaukee Board/Superintendent," June 16, 2016 | ||
Funding
Justham filed an exemption statement detailing that she would not spend or receive more than $2,000 toward her campaign. Because of this, she did not have to file additional campaign finance reports for this election.[5]
Endorsements
Justham received no official endorsements in the election.
2015
Three at-large seats were up for election on April 7, 2015. Incumbents Patricia J. Kerhin, Sue Sujecki and Darlene Ziemendorf faced challengers Wendy DuBois and Stephanie Emons in their re-election bids.[6] The race gained another contender when William Ustruck began campaigning as a write-in candidate in early March 2015.[7]
Kerhin and Sujecki retained their seats in the election, but Ziemendorf was defeated. Emons won her first term on the board as the second-highest vote recipient behind Sujecki and above Kerhin.
Results
| West Allis-West Milwaukee School District, At-Large General Election, 3-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Sue Sujecki Incumbent |
22.8% | 2,819 | |
| Nonpartisan | Stephanie Emons |
20.1% | 2,486 | |
| Nonpartisan | Patricia J. Kerhin Incumbent |
19.2% | 2,365 | |
| Nonpartisan | Wendy DuBois | 18.4% | 2,266 | |
| Nonpartisan | Darlene Ziemendorf Incumbent | 15% | 1,852 | |
| Nonpartisan | William Ustruck (write-in) | 4% | 492 | |
| Nonpartisan | Heather Justham (write-in) | 0.5% | 64 | |
| Total Votes | 12,344 | |||
| Source: Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, "2015 Election Results," accessed April 22, 2015 | ||||
Campaign themes
2016
The West Allis Now asked the candidates in this race the following four bolded questions. Justham's responses are shown below.
| “ | Why should people vote for you? What background, skills, outlooks do you bring to the table?
I am a lifelong resident and my daughter was the fourth generation graduate from WAWM school district. I have been involved in PTA for 14 years. I am dedicated, honest, organized and driven. As a parent I can offer a perspective on my experiences. How do you feel about the new transfer policy and school boundaries? I am in favor of the neighborhood schools. It will help build a close community within our schools. I hope this will help with participation in extracurricular activities, too. Do you feel the school board is on the right track or would you like to see a change? The school board seems to be trying to make strides in the right direction. I would like to see more communication between the board and the community. Many parents do not feel they get responses to their questions and concerns. What are your feelings about Next Generation personalized learning? Nxgl can be useful in our schools, however we need to be aware this style of learning may not work for every child. I feel it is important to have individualized learning for each student to reach their full potential. We need to balance Nxgl and traditional learning.[8] |
” |
| —Heather Justham (2016)[4] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Heather Justham' 'West Allis-West Milwaukee School District'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- West Allis-West Milwaukee School District, Wisconsin
- West Allis-West Milwaukee School District elections (2016)
- West Allis-West Milwaukee School District elections (2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 West Allis Now, "Longtime West Allis School Board member to step down, 4 seek 3 seats," January 8, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Milwaukee County Election Commission, "Election Summary Final - Unofficial," accessed April 6, 2016
- ↑ Heather Justham for West Allis- West Milwaukee School Board Facebook, "About," accessed February 18, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 West Allis Now, "West Allis-West Milwaukee School Board candidates tackle questions," March 16, 2016
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Suzette Zimmerman, Executive Assistant to the Board/Superintendent," March 29, 2016
- ↑ Margaret Koenig, "Email correspondence with Suzette Zimmerman, Executive Assistant to the WAWM Board and Superintendent," January 8, 2015
- ↑ Facebook, "Bill Ustruck for West Allis-West Milwaukee school board: Wall Post," March 10, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| 2016 West Allis-West Milwaukee School District Elections | |
| Milwaukee County | |
| Election date: | April 5, 2016 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Jeffrey Sikich • Incumbent, Patricia Ulwelling • Heather Justham • William Ustruck |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
| 2015 West Allis-West Milwaukee School District Elections | |
| Milwaukee County, Wisconsin | |
| Election date: | April 7, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Patricia J. Kerhin • Incumbent, Sue Sujecki • Incumbent, Darlene Ziemendorf • Wendy DuBois • Stephanie Emons • William Ustruck |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
