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Mark Strozinsky and Frederic Iausly recall, River Valley School District, Wisconsin (2017)
| River Valley School District Board recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Frederic Iausly |
| Recall status |
| Recall election date |
| May 30, 2017 |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2017 Recalls in Wisconsin Wisconsin recall laws School board recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall Mark Strozinsky and Frederic Iausly from their positions on the River Valley School District school board in Wisconsin was defeated on May 30, 2017. Both members kept their seats.[1][2] In his bid to keep the Area 5 seat, Strozinsky defeated challenger Joyce C. Atkisson. Iausly defeated former board member Herman Kaldenberg for the Area 7 seat. The two previously faced off in the 2015 general election, when Iausly defeated Kaldenberg to win his first term on the board.[3][4]
The recall was started after the school board voted 6-3 in December 2016 to close schools in Lone Rock and Arena and consolidate the school district in Spring Green. Strozinsky and Iausly voted in favor of closing the schools, and Superintendent Tom Wermuth said the action would save the district nearly $1 million and cut into its deficit.[5][6] Recall supporters opposed the closures. They said there were other solutions and that closing the schools would affect the area's economic development.[7]
Strozinsky and Iausly's terms were next up for general election ballot in April 2018. The River Valley school board consists of nine members elected to three-year terms.[8]
Recall vote
| River Valley School District, Area 5 Recall Election, 2017 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan |  Mark Strozinsky Incumbent |
69.3% | 1,071 | |
| Nonpartisan | Joyce C. Atkisson | 30.7% | 475 | |
| Total Votes | 1,546 | |||
| Source: River Valley School District, "May 30, 2017, School Board RECALL Election Results: Results from Canvassing Meeting," accessed June 6, 2017 | ||||
| River Valley School District, Area 7 Recall Election, 2017 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Frederic Iausly Incumbent |
69.4% | 1,073 | |
| Nonpartisan | Herman Kaldenberg | 30.6% | 474 | |
| Total Votes | 1,547 | |||
| Source: River Valley School District, "May 30, 2017, School Board RECALL Election Results: Results from Canvassing Meeting," accessed June 6, 2017 | ||||
Recall supporters
The recall effort against Strozinsky and Iausly was started after the district voted 6-3 to close elementary schools in Lone Rock and Arena and consolidate the district in Spring Green. The PALS Group (Citizens of Plain, Arena, Lone Rock, and Spring Green area) led the effort. On its website, the group said,
| “ | We are dedicated to finding a comparable solution, a better solution, than school consolidation and school closings. This move will strike a blow to our area's economic development. But it doesn't need to be that way. There are other things we can do.[9] | ” |
| —PALS Group (2017)[7] | ||
The group also said they wanted to remove the school board members who voted in favor of closing the schools and gain a majority on the board.[7][10] Recall supporters endorsed a slate of candidates in the district's regular 2017 election cycle. They endorsed Ron Miller and Jeff Flint for the Area 1 and 2 seats, but they were both defeated in the primary election on February 21, 2017. The PALS Group also supported Dan McGuire for the Area 4 seat. McGuire won election to the board after defeating a write-in candidate in the general election on April 4, 2017.[10][11]
| Before the primary election, Flint published a letter in support of the recall effort and the PALS Group-endorsed candidates in the general election. Scroll in the box to read the entire document. |
Recall opponents
A Facebook page called RV United was started in opposition of the recall against Strozinsky and Iausly. The group's about page said, "We support the school board's decision to consolidate the elementary schools. This will strengthen educational programs for All of our students."[12]
RV United endorsed Kathy Jennings and Deborah Nelson, both of whom voted to close the Arena and Lone Rock schools, in their bids for re-election on April 4, 2017. The group also endorsed write-in candidate Jessica Knoble. Jennings and Nelson won re-election, but Knoble was defeated by PALS Group-endorsed candidate Dan McGuire.[11][13]
Strozinsky published the following letter in March 2017 in reaction to the recall effort and in support of the board members who were running for re-election on April 4, 2017.
| “ | I am writing this so that I can share with you some of my feelings about the upcoming election and the subsequent recall that will follow. I am sorry that the situation that we find ourselves in has taken us to this point, but many of the issues (if not all) have really been outside of our control. Cuts in funding and lowering enrollments have forced our hand. While the decisions that I have made have been very difficult I still stand behind them 100%. We have a very large district with a sparse student population along with 4 fully functioning communities that are fiercely independent and distrusting of each other. This too has propelled us into this situation.
I have spent the last two years and literally hundreds of hours working alongside Kathy Jennings and Deb Nelson and I have found them to be thoughtful, knowledgeable , caring and experienced. Some of the people in this district are attempting to smear their names and reputations but I assure you, they are wrong! A vote against these two qualified and capable people will not be for the betterment of the district or its students, but will be one cast in spite. I have no crystal ball but I am sure that we will receive little, if any, additional funding from the state or federal government. Therefore, if you want to keep our outstanding staff and all the great programs that are already in place, then something has to give. We are not lying to you, there is no conspiracy out there. Sooner or later, schools will have to close. It's just a matter of how much taxpayer money will be spent in the process.[9] |
” |
| —Mark Strozinsky (2017)[14] | ||
Background
School board votes 6-3 to close schools
The River Valley school board voted 6-3 to close two of its four elementary schools on December 8, 2016. An elementary school located in Lone Rock closed at the end of the 2016-2017 school year, and an elementary school in Arena closed at the end of the 2017-2018 school year. Approximately 170 students and 19 staff members, including some teachers, were affected by the vote to close the schools.[5]
|
Strozinsky and Iausly voted in favor of closing the schools along with board President Kathy Jennings and members Deborah Nelson, Sara Young, and John Bettinger. Members Paul Cummings, Brice McCauley, and Dick Cates voted against.[6] The district covers 296 square miles, making it one of the larger geographic school districts in Wisconsin. It serves 13 townships and four villages in four counties. At the time of the vote to close the schools, the district had four elementary schools, one in each village (Arena, Lone Rock, Plain, and Spring Green).[15][16] Jennings, who won re-election to the board on April 4, 2017, said her vote to close the schools was not an easy decision. "It's a very emotional issue right now. But I think in the long run it's going to be really good for the kids. The kids are going to do well, I honestly believe that or I wouldn't have voted the way I did," said Jennings.[5][11] "We're at a point where we have to make some changes to our structure in order to financially survive," said Superintendent Tom Wermuth. He said the closures would save the district nearly $1 million and help cut into its deficit.[5] A number of parents in the district opposed the school closures. "I think they're dollar and cent-ing us and I don't think they've considered what it's going to do to a bunch of four, five, and six year olds," said Richard Brander, parent of a kindergarten student at the Lone Rock Elementary School.[5] The school district conducted a survey in 2010 discussing options for the district's financial struggles. A total of 43.48 percent of the 867 respondents said they were strongly opposed to closing three elementary schools and consolidating them into one centrally-located school. A total of 17.19 percent of respondents were strongly in favor. A total of 23.02 percent of 860 respondents were strongly against the district closing one elementary school due to declining enrollment, while 22.09 percent were strongly in favor of closing one school.[17] The charts to the right show the breakdown of the results from the two survey questions. |
|
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Wisconsin
Recall supporters had 60 days to collect signatures from district residents to get the recall on the ballot.[18] The by-district recall election was held on May 30, 2017. The effort was defeated, and both members kept their seats.[1][2][19]
Challengers on the ballot
The recall election functioned similar to general elections. The names of the board members facing recall appeared next to the challengers who filed to run against them. If a challenger had won, the board member would have been removed from office, and the challenger would have been sworn into that office. Because both board members won, they kept their positions on the board.[2]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'River Valley School District' recall. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- River Valley School District, Wisconsin
- Recall campaigns in Wisconsin
- Political recall efforts, 2017
- School board recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 River Valley School District, "Recall Election May 30, 2017," accessed May 10, 2017
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 River Valley School District, "May 30, 2017, School Board RECALL Election Results," accessed May 30, 2017
- ↑ Facebook, "RV United post from May 5, 2017," accessed May 10, 2017
- ↑ Wisconsin State Journal, "Election 2015: River Valley School Board," March 3, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 WKOW, "River Valley school board votes to close two elementary schools," December 8, 2017
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 River Valley School District, "Regular Meeting Minutes: Thursday, December 8, 2016," accessed May 10, 2017
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Saving River Valley Elementary Schools, "Who We Are," accessed May 10, 20170
- ↑ River Valley School District, "School Board," accessed May 10, 2017
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Saving River Valley Elementary Schools, "Vote Jeff Flint & Ron Miller For School Board," accessed May 10, 2017
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 River Valley School District, "April 4, 2017, School Board Election Results," accessed May 10, 2017
- ↑ Facebook, "RV United About page," accessed May 10, 2017
- ↑ Facebook, "RV United post from April 2, 2017," accessed May 10, 2017
- ↑ Facebook, "RV United post from March 29, 2017: Letter from Mark Strozinsky," accessed May 10, 2017
- ↑ River Valley School District, "District," accessed May 10, 2017
- ↑ River Valley School District, "Schools Home," accessed May 10, 2017
- ↑ Saving River Valley Elementary Schools, "Survey Results," accessed May 10, 2017
- ↑ Saving River Valley Elementary Schools, "Answers to Questions About Recall Petitions," accessed May 10, 2017
- ↑ River Valley School District, "Policy Manual: School Board Elections," accessed May 18, 2017
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