Wally Rendón
Guadalupe "Wally" Rendón was an at-large member of the Racine Board of Education in Wisconsin. First appointed to the board in September 2013, Rendón won an unexpired one-year term on the board in the general election on April 1, 2014.[1] He ran for re-election to a full three-year term in the general election on April 7, 2015, but was defeated.
In the summer of 2015, Rendón was considered as a candidate for a vacant seat on the Racine Unified Board of Education. Members could not decide on the appointment, however, coming to a tied vote of 4-4 in two different meetings.[2] As of August 7, 2015, no official appointment had been made.[3]
In a 2015 candidate questionnaire, Rendón stated his position on the nonbinding referendum question on the ballot which sought to create a separate school district for Caledonia and Sturtevant. He said, "Were this to come to fruition, financially, both the RUSD and the Village of Caledonia or Sturtevant would lose."[4]
Biography
Rendón served as a police officer with the Racine Police Department prior to his retirement. He has worked as an outreach representative with Educators Credit Union since 2005.[5][6]
Elections
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.[7] 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
Rendón 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.[8]
Endorsements
Rendón received no official endorsements in this election.
2014
Wally Rendón ran against six other candidates for four available seats in the general election on April 1, 2014.
Results
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Melvin Hargrove Incumbent |
18.6% | 4,326 | |
| Nonpartisan | Dennis Wiser Incumbent |
17.2% | 3,996 | |
| Nonpartisan | Pamala Handrow Incumbent |
17% | 3,954 | |
| Nonpartisan | Wally Rendón Incumbent |
14.4% | 3,355 | |
| Nonpartisan | Jacqueline Pinager | 12% | 2,795 | |
| Nonpartisan | Henry Perez | 12% | 2,790 | |
| Nonpartisan | Thomas Fineran | 8.2% | 1,915 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes | 0.4% | 95 | |
| Total Votes | 23,226 | |||
| Source: Racine Unified School District, "Canvass Committee Report," April 8, 2014 | ||||
Funding
Rendón was exempted from filing a pre-election campaign finance report to the school district clerk.[9] State law allowed candidates to claim exempt status from campaign finance reporting if contributions and expenditures do not exceed $1,000 during a calendar year.[10]
Endorsements
Rendón did not receive any official endorsements for his campaign.
Campaign themes
2015
The Journal Times questionnaire
Rendón 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?
Rendón: Running as an incumbent for the school board because besides caring for the quality of education for our students, we have some major projects aimed at bettering the infrastructure to provide our students with state-of-the-art educational equipment/materials.[11] |
” |
| —Wally Rendón (2015)[4] | ||
| “ | JT: What is the most pressing issue the board must address?
Rendón: The most pressing issue right now besides the construction of two new schools and the upgrading of another, is the cuts to education by Gov. Walker.[11] |
” |
| —Wally Rendón (2015)[4] | ||
| “ | JT: What is your position on the idea of municipalities like Caledonia or Sturtevant creating their own school districts?
Rendón: Were this to come to fruition, financially, both the RUSD and the Village of Caledonia or Sturtevant would lose. Caledonia and Sturtevant’s tax base would more than likely rise to pay for the school and staffing, plus upkeep of the property.[11] |
” |
| —Wally Rendón (2015)[4] | ||
| “ | JT: How do you think Unified should adjust to the cuts in state funding expected in the proposed 2015-17 state budget?
Rendón: That is something that the school board would have to sit down and discuss with the superintendent and her staff to look at options that we may have available to address those pending budget cuts.[11] |
” |
| —Wally Rendón (2015)[4] | ||
| “ | 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?
Rendón: Yes, because many of our schools have not been updated and were built in the 1900s. They need major repairs or in some cases, building a new, more modern structure.[11] |
” |
| —Wally Rendón (2015)[4] | ||
| “ | JT: How do you think the district should address discrepancies in achievement between whites and minorities?
Rendón: The programming that is in place now has shown some positive results in that area.[11] |
” |
| —Wally Rendón (2015)[4] | ||
| “ | JT: Is the Racine Unified School District failing or succeeding in its charge to educate local students? Why?
Rendón: Racine has its challenges, as do many of the schools in the state of Wisconsin. With the progress that we have made so far, I would offer that we are succeeding in that challenge.[11] |
” |
| —Wally Rendón (2015)[4] | ||
2014
Rendón explained his campaign themes for 2014 in an interview with The Journal Times:
| “ |
What makes you most qualified for a board seat? 24 years experience in law enforcement plus time spent working with nonprofit agencies. I dealt with lot of students that were falling through the cracks, through the system. That allowed me to kind of have a broader perspective of what impact not having an education does to a student. Are you familiar with the Common Core State Standards, and do you support or oppose them? Not familiar with standards. Do you favor fixing school building components like boilers when they break down or, proactively, when they outlive their life expectancies? I would support because you’d rather catch it before it completely breaks apart. … You’re really trying to, in the long run, spend a little money now so two or three years down the road you don’t have to spend a lot of money for something you could have repaired and taken care of. I can’t make a statement now as to we would use this kind of money, that kind of money. |
” |
| —The Journal Times (2014) | ||
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Wally + Rendon + Racine + School + District"
See also
- Racine Unified School District, Wisconsin
- Racine Unified School District elections (2015)
- Racine Unified School District elections (2014)
- Hot tub Gatorade, turnout in Peoria and the Wisconsin state...
- Wisconsin school districts 2014 review
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Racine Unified School District, "RUSD Vacant Board Seat to be Filled on Monday," September 13, 2013
- ↑ The Journal Times, "Racine Unified secret ballot vote was apparent violation of state law," July 17, 2015
- ↑ Racine Unified School District, "Board Member Terms," accessed August 7, 2015
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 The Journal Times, "Candidates offer vision for RUSD," March 30, 2015
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Wally Rendon," accessed February 6, 2014
- ↑ The Journal Times, "Hispanic leader picked as new Unified board member," September 17, 2013
- ↑ 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
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through e-mail from Patricia Meyer on March 25, 2014.
- ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, "Campaign Finance Overview: Local Candidates," May 2010
- ↑ 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, "Racine School Board candidates on the issues," March 18, 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 |
| 2014 Racine Unified School District Elections | |
| Racine, Wisconsin | |
| Election date: | April 1, 2014 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Thomas Fineran • Pamala Handrow • Melvin Hargrove • Henry Perez • Jacqueline Pinager • Wally Rendón • Dennis Wiser |
| Important information: | Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
