Chuck Goodremote
Chuck Goodremote is a former at-large incumbent on the Racine Unified Board of Education in Wisconsin. He was appointed by the board on March 23, 2015, to replace Chris Eperjesy.[1]
Goodremote lost election to the District 5 seat against Steven Hooper in 2016. He ran for a two-year term in the general election on April 5, 2016.[2]
Biography
Goodremote is the chief information officer at Modine Manufacturing.[1]
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.[3][4]
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.[4] 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.[5]
Results
| Racine Unified School District, District 5 Special Election, 2-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Steven Hooper |
55.20% | 2,994 |
| Chuck Goodremote Incumbent | 44.80% | 2,430 |
| Total Votes | 5,424 | |
| Source: Racine Unified School District, "Racine Board of Education Official Election Results," accessed June 15, 2016 | ||
Endorsements
Goodremote received the endorsement of The Journal Times prior to the general election.[6]
Campaign themes
2016
Goodremote answered the following questions from The Journal Times:
| “ |
1) 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? If you do research, you will discover that a normal Employee Handbook is provided for informational purposes only and is designed to provide employees with a general summary description of their employer’s personnel policies, programs, and employee benefits. An employer generally has the right to change, modify, delete, deviate from, or add policies and procedures at any time. Employee handbooks are not a substitute repository for collective bargaining language and procedures. If we are to become more normal and follow state law, I believe Human Resources should maintain the handbook and changes should be approved by the board. 2) 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 think we should be very cautious when considering adding any ongoing fixed costs that might drive local property taxes higher. Based on data from the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), our cost per student is already higher than many other large school districts. I will only support this acquisition if the study concludes that overall cost per student goes down, educational quality goes up, and it fits into the district’s long-term strategic facilities plan. 3) 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? All forms of scheduling have pros and cons, but I think the pros of block scheduling outweigh the cons in our situation. Ford Next Generation Learning, our mentor in this endeavor, suggested block scheduling as a prerequisite to implementing the academies. They believe it to be a key success factor. It is clear to me that longer class periods should better enable internships with local businesses. I also like the idea of the reduced number of transition periods between classes. I think we have very talented teachers that have the best interests of our students in mind and will be fully capable of making block scheduling a resounding success. 4) 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? In theory, a larger district should be able to take advantage of scale and be more economical in providing a high quality education for all students. If we find a way to come together and overcome the obstacles that are preventing improvement, I’m confident there will be no reason to break up the district. Together, we can make RUSD the district of choice! 5) If elected, what is the most pressing change you would push for the district to make? I’m convinced that the most serious issue in RUSD is disruptive behavior in the classroom. There appear to be no easy answers to this problem, but I think finding ways to better leverage the collective brainpower of educators, parents, and community leaders would be a good step. We might also research other schools in the US that have overcome similar problems. We must all come together on this one! [7] |
” |
| —Chuck Goodremote (2016), [8] | ||
Recent news
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See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Racine Unified School District, "Board of Education Selects Charles Goodremote to Fill Board Vacancy," March 23, 2015
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedlist - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namednewmap - ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Journal Times, "Election filings, Racine County school boards," January 6, 2016
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedbiemeck - ↑ The Journal Times, "Journal Times editorial: Journal Times endorses eight candidates for Racine Unified School Board," April 3, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ The Journal Times, "Chuck Goodremote on the issue," March 14, 2016
