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John Heckenlively
John Heckenlively was a member of the Racine Unified School District school board in Wisconsin, representing District 6. Heckenlively assumed office in 2016.
Heckenlively ran for re-election to the Racine Unified School District school board to represent District 6 in Wisconsin. Heckenlively won in the general election on April 3, 2018.
Biography
Heckenlively obtained a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He worked as a reporter and editor for Racine Labor from 1995 to 2001. Heckenlively is a historical consultant. He began serving on the Racine Traffic Commission and the Racine Transit and Parking Commission in 2010.[1][2]
Elections
2018
Three of the nine seats on the Racine Unified School District Board of Education in Wisconsin were up for by-district general election on April 3, 2018. District 5 incumbent Steven Hooper did not file for re-election, leaving the seat open. Jane Barbian was the only candidate to file for the District 5 seat and ran unopposed. District 4 incumbent Julie McKenna and District 6 incumbent John Heckenlively filed for re-election and were unopposed in their bids for re-election.[3]
General election
General election for Racine Unified School District Board of Education District 6
Incumbent John Heckenlively won election in the general election for Racine Unified School District Board of Education District 6 on April 3, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | John Heckenlively (Nonpartisan) | 96.3 | 500 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 3.7 | 19 | ||
| Total votes: 519 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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.[4][5]
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.[5] 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.[6]
Results
| Racine Unified School District, District 6 Special Election, 2-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 John Heckenlively |
52.47% | 923 |
| Jim Venturini | 47.53% | 836 |
| Total Votes | 1,759 | |
| Source: Racine Unified School District, "Racine Board of Education Official Election Results," accessed June 15, 2016 | ||
| Racine Unified School District, District 6 Special Primary Election, 2-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| John Heckenlively |
40.28% | 201 |
| Jim Venturini |
32.67% | 163 |
| Ernest Ni'A | 25.85% | 129 |
| Write-in votes | 1.2% | 6 |
| Total Votes (100) | 499 | |
| Source: Racine County Elections, "4th Unofficial Election Results 02-16-2016," accessed February 16, 2016 | ||
Funding
Heckenlively reported $1,112.60 in contributions and $268.63 in expenditures to the Racine Unified School District Clerk for School Board Elections, which left his campaign with $861.22 on hand as of February 15, 2016.[7]
Endorsements
Heckenlively received the endorsement of the Racine Education Association (REA) on February 4, 2016.[8] He also received the endorsement of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO prior to the general election.[9]
Campaign themes
2016
Ballotpedia survey responses
John Heckenlively participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of school board candidates. In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on January 27, 2016:
| “ | As noted earlier, improving management-employee relations is one area I would like to work on. Unified has made progress on achievement gap issues and I want to work on that as my district contains the highest poverty areas in the city of Racine. The Racine/Kenosha area has an excellent program on non-violent conflict resolution, and we should expand those ideas throughout all grades.[10][11] | ” |
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues based on how they should be prioritized by the school board, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. Each ranking could only be used once.
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Wisconsin. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | I wish I could put the achievement gap and special education higher -- unfortunately, the labor situation over the last year has been so bad that improving relations needs to be at the top for now. [11] | ” |
| —John Heckenlively (January 27, 2016) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer nine questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are highlighted in blue and followed by the candidate's responses. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions. The candidate was also provided space to elaborate on their answers to the multiple choice questions.
| Should new charter schools be approved in your district? (Not all school boards are empowered to approve charter schools. In those cases, the candidate was directed to answer the question as if the school board were able to do so.) |
|---|
| No. Charter schools need to be examined on a case-by-case basis. Right now I would tend to lean against new charter schools because they would most likely be corporate, for-profit operations. Privatization in education is a dangerous idea. Education is too important to leave in the hands of corporations. |
| Which statement best describes the ideal relationship between the state government and the school board? The state should always defer to school board decisions, defer to school board decisions in most cases, be involved in the district routinely or only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| The state should defer to school board decisions in most cases. I am not a fan of the current state government. There education policies have been disastrous since 2011. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. We obviously need to measure student achievement, it's the whole point of education. "Are our children learning?" as George W Bush sort of said. But all too often, standardized tests are very poor measures of actual learning. They only people who win in the push for increased testing are the companies that supply the test. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| Generally for them. While districts need some flexibility to deal with their specific needs, having an over-all baseline is a good idea. And any idea that conservatives hate that much can't be all bad. |
| How should the district handle underperforming teachers? Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students, offer additional training options, put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve or set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district? |
| Offer additional training options. Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. While there are no doubt people who lack the skills to be good teachers, and should not be teaching, efforts should be made to help those who genuinely wish to improve. Many good teachers are leaving the profession as a result of the war on education, and finding replacements will be increasingly difficult. We cannot afford to simply fire people who genuinely wish to teach. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. As a general rule, I am against merit pay. I think it pits teachers against one another in competition, rather than create a collaborative environment. Good teachers should obviously be rewarded, but in a less competitive manner. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. Wisconsin has been ground zero for the voucher movement, starting in the 1980s. Vouchers are a weapon in the war against public education, used to drain funding from public schools to make them weaker. Opponents then point to the weaker schools as evidence that vouchers are needed. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Tough question. There are students who should not be in school as they are a threat to others. Sadly, if they are expelled, they are also the most likely to get in trouble with law enforcement. While expulsion is necessary, it should be used as a last resort, in extreme cases. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Student-teacher ratio All of these have a role, but in the end, the fewer students in the classroom, the more time a teacher can devote to each student. |
Additional themes
Heckenlively provided the following responses to questions about the 2016 election to The Journal Times:
| “ |
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? I strongly believe that changes need to be made on a collaborative basis, with administration and the union discussing any changes. “My way or the highway” is not a constructive model for labor/management relations. Both the board and the administration need to treat Unified employees with respect. Teachers and assistants are the ones on the front lines, we need to listen to them. 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? Currently, I am very leery that buying the Sportsplex is the best path forward for the district. While there is a case to be made that growing student populations in the west end of the district call for new facilities, it’s not clear the Sportsplex is the best solution. I would have to be convinced that buying the Sportsplex was prudent both financially and from a policy standpoint before I would vote to approve it. 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? In some school districts, block scheduling works. However, data tends to suggest it is less successful in urban school districts such as Racine. Even if the data suggested it was a good idea, there seems to be a rush to implement it. Such a major curriculum change requires a great deal of planning and professional development. We also need to involve parents in such changes, so they can help students adjust. If we are going to do this, let’s do it correctly. We should hold off until the 2017-2018 school year, so that everybody will be up to speed. 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? Racine Unified already faces huge financial challenges as a result of the expansion of the voucher program. Losing students from Caledonia, Mount Pleasant and Sturtevant would be disastrous. It also makes little sense for them to break away … It would cost them far more because they would have to build new facilities and hire new staff among other costs. If elected, what is the most pressing change you would push for the district to make? We need to work on improving employee relations. It is essential to restore a relationship of respect and trust, and to create a positive working climate in schools. After all, the working climate for teachers is the learning environment for students. There has been a virtual war on public education in recent decades, especially from certain Madison politicians. It is important to push back against that trend at the local level. |
” |
| —John Heckenlively (2016), [12] | ||
See also
- Racine Unified School District, Wisconsin
- Racine Unified School District elections (2018)
- Racine Unified School District elections (2016)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ City of Racine, "John Heckenlively," accessed January 26, 2016
- ↑ Project Vote Smart, "John Heckenlively's Biography," accessed January 26, 2016
- ↑ The Journal Times, "2018 local and school candidate filings," January 2, 2018
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namednewmap - ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Journal Times, "Election filings, Racine County school boards," January 6, 2016
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedbiemeck - ↑ Nick Katers, "Email exchange with Patricia Meyer," February 12, 2016]
- ↑ Nick Katers, "Email exchange with John Heckenlively," February 12, 2016]
- ↑ Wisconsin AFL-CIO, "2016 Spring Election Candidate Endorsements," March 10, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "John Heckenlively's responses," January 27, 2016
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ The Journal Times, "Three newcomers vie for 6th District seat on Unified School Board," February 13, 2016
| Racine Unified School District elections in 2018 | |
| Racine County, Wisconsin | |
| Election date: | April 3, 2018 |
| Candidates: | District 4: Incumbent, Julie McKenna District 5: Jane Barbian District 6: Incumbent, John Heckenlively |
| Important information: | What was at stake? |
