Candidates square off on two sides of political divide in what is supposed to be a nonpartisan race for Waukesha School Board
Editor's note: This story has been updated to indicate Stephanie FIdlin and Angelique Byrne have been recommended by the Democratic Party and Wisconsin Education Association Council.
Five candidates are running for three seats on the Waukesha School Board on April 2.
Incumbents Kelly Piacsek and Anthony Zenobia are being challenged by Stephanie Fidlin, Angelique Byrne and Eric Brooks. Incumbent Patrick McCaffery is not running for reelection.
The candidates have essentially divided themselves into two blocs. Brooks, Piacsek and Zenobia support each other and are all supported by the Waukesha County Republican Party's WisRed Initiative. Byrne and Fidlin also back each other and are endorsed by Blue Sky Waukesha, which defines itself as “a place for progressives, liberals, and independents in crucial Waukesha County.” Byrne and Fidlin are also recommended by the Waukesha County Democratic Party and Wisconsin Education Association Council.
Here's more about the candidates, in alphabetical order:
Eric Brooks
Background: Brooks, 29, is a legislative assistant for Republican state Sen. Duey Stroebel. He has volunteered for Rebecca Kleefisch's gubernatorial campaign in 2022, and also worked on the campaign for Republican state Sen. Rachel Cabral-Guevara. Brooks also worked as a special education paraprofessional in the Wauwatosa School District for 2 ? years.
Website: brooksforwaukesha.com; www.facebook.com/BrooksForWaukesha
Supporters: Brooks has been supported by WisRed, a political action committee connected to the Waukesha County Republican Party. He said he's also supported by the Wisconsin Young Republicans, a group he has volunteered with. He also acknowledged the 1776 Project political action committee has endorsed him.
Brooks said he brings experience in education to the board
Brooks said after hearing McCaffery was not planning to run again, he decided he had something to offer, with his background in education. He also said he has gotten to know the district and Piacsek and Zenobia from past local elections.
"I know that quality education is the key that opens the door to success and opportunities for kids when they grow up. When our students are able to thrive; when they're at grade level for reading and math and when they're college and career ready, that means their community is able to thrive because they're finding ways to give back to the community here in Waukesha," Brooks said.
Brooks said his priorities are parental rights, driving academic achievement and maintaining the district's tradition of fiscal responsibility
Brooks said that he wants to continue making parents feel heard in the district, but said communication can be improved. He cited his experience as an educator, saying that the more successful students in his classroom had one or both parents very involved in their education. Brooks said it's important to keep classrooms "free from ideologies or indoctrination" where students are free to learn and that the focus should be on academic achievement and not "academic activism."
Another priority is driving academic achievement, Brooks said, referring to the district's implementation of science of reading curriculum for reading instruction.
Brooks also talked about the district's revamping of district curriculum across content areas and grade levels, which he said is "more sequence" and "more evidence-based." He said the district is seeing the results of those changes, outpacing the state average for learning recovery. The district has gotten back to where it was before the COVID pandemic faster than other area school districts.
As for fiscal responsibility, Brooks said he'll always ask two questions: whether a budget item will improve outcomes for most or all students and whether it is the best use of taxpayer resources. He wants to make Waukesha "a destination district" to help attract new students and keep current students in the district.
Brooks also said the district will face tough decisions in the next few years.
"When you look at the enrollment trends compared to district resources, we need to make sure we're being efficient and that we're spending taxpayer dollars wisely," Brooks said.
Brooks is campaigning with Piacsek and Zenobia
On his campaign Facebook page, Brooks posted photos of himself with literature encouraging voters to vote for him, Piacsek and Zenobia. The three also appeared together at a meet-and-greet candidate event at Sunset Bowl in Waukesha.
Angelique Byrne
Background: Byrne has two children in the district and has a bachelor's degree from Carroll University in art teacher education. She is an instructional coach in the Wauwatosa School District's Vel R. Phillips Juvenile Justice Center School, in the Milwaukee County Children's Court Building.
Website: www.angeliquebyrneforwaukesha.com; Facebook - Angelique Byrne for Waukesha School Board
Supporters: Blue Sky Waukesha has endorsed Byrne. Byrne has also received an in-kind donation from the Wisconsin Democratic Party, and is recommended by the Waukesha County Democratic Party and Wisconsin Education Association Association Council.
Byrne declined a phone interview
Byrne declined a phone interview request from the Journal Sentinel, saying she did not think it would help her campaign.
Byrne's priorities include addressing literacy across content areas, building trust and clarity, among other things
Byrne's campaign website says she wants to focus on "foundational literacy, literacy across content areas and literacy intervention" to improve the district's academic success. She also said she wants to build clarity and trust to retain students and quality teachers and said the lack of transparency in the district's planning causes "distrust in the community."
Byrne also wants the district to expand partnerships with local businesses and educational institutions, and build more accessible programs through internship partners, Waukesha County Technical College and four-year colleges and universities to help students know what options are available for them upon graduation. She also wants to "identify the strongest assets of each program" in each of the district's schools.
"This way, if we need to consolidate due to declining enrollment, we can use what the teachers identify as best for all students to build new programming and curriculum that is engaging and successful," Byrne's website said.
Byrne also wants to improve communication "with all stakeholders" and wants to work with all families and community members "on any topic." She said she wants the community to come together "instead of creating division."
Byrne and fellow candidate Stephanie Fidlin are campaigning together
Both Byrne and Fidlin have posted on their Facebook campaign pages in support of each others' campaigns.
For example, the two co-hosted a candidate meet-and-greet event at the Waukesha Public Library, and both appeared on the same door-hanger literature.
Stephanie Fidlin
Background: Fidlin, 40, is the parent of three children in the district. Fidlin holds a bachelor of science in nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and works as an emergency room nurse. Fidlin is also co-president of the Summit View Elementary Parent-Teacher Organization.
Website: stephanieforsdw.com; Facebook – Stephanie Fidlin for SDW
Supporters: Blue Sky Waukesha has endorsed Fidlin. She has received an in-kind donation from the Wisconsin Democratic Party, and is recommended by the Waukesha County Democratic Party and Wisconsin Education Association Association Council.
Fidlin is running because she thinks the board has been too focused on divisive politics rather than academic achievement
Fidlin said the Waukesha School Board has become politicized and divisive, while academic performance has declined.
"Having kids that go to this district and wanting a better education made me decide somebody needs to run for the board and get the focus back on academics. So I guess that somebody was me, and that's what I decided to do," Fidlin said.
Fidlin also said that seeing teachers be villainized was another reason she got into the race, saying they need more support and an advocate on the board.
Fidlin wants more transparency and timeliness in district communication with parents
Along with supporting teachers and creating family engagement, Fidlin wants to improve the transparency and timeliness of the district's communication.
Fidlin said the district does not communicate well with parents, saying the district's communication is reactive instead of proactive. As an example, she cited problems the district faced at the beginning of the school year with not having enough bus routes covered.
"It's not the district's fault that the contract wasn't able to be fulfilled," she said, "but they could have been more transparent about it. They could have been more timely about it and taken up that issue earlier so that families wouldn't have been in a bind.
"Families were literally on Facebook scrambling to make carpools with strangers."
Fidlin opposes bill that would prosecute librarians for obscene material
Fidlin said she opposes a bill that would remove protections from school librarians and teachers if obscene materials are made available to children.
"The frustrating piece of that is who gets to decide what's obscene? 'Romeo and Juliet' has premarital sex, teen sexuality, teen suicide. 'The Scarlet Letter' deals with adultery," Fidlin said.
Fidlin said she stays engaged with what her children are reading, and encouraged other parents to similarly stay involved, know what their kids are reading and read it with them. Fidlin also noted that schools screen books when the titles are brought in.
"To just say they want to remove things that are offensive, you have to define what's offensive. You have to define what's obscene because that's the piece that they aren't saying. There's this big net of who decides what falls in this camp because what one parent might find offensive ... If my middle schooler is reading a book and a character uses a swear word, I'm OK with that, but other parents might not be. So then is that offensive? Is that obscene? I think that's the really frustrating part. Once again, they've gone out of their way to take an extra step that didn't need to be in place," Fidlin said.
Kelly Piacsek (incumbent)
Background: Piacsek has been on the school board since 2021 and has three kids attending school in the district. She is the executive vice president for a behavioral health company and holds a doctorate in biomedical engineering and functional imaging from the Medical College of Wisconsin and Marquette University, as well as a bachelor's in biomedical engineering from Marquette University.
Website: www.piacsek4sdw.com; www.facebook.com/piacsek4sdw
Supporters: Like Brooks and Zenobia, Piacsek has been supported by WisRed and endorsed by the 1776 Project PAC. Piacsek said she is aware her name was published on the 1776 Project PAC's website, but she did not know anything else about them and she did not seek that endorsement; however, she added that she fully agrees "with the priorities they call out under the pro-achievement slate."
Piacsek said she's proud of work on curriculum, facility projects
Piacsek said that she's proud of the work the board has done on curriculum. She said there have been 11 new curriculums across different subject areas, including social studies, reading and math.
"We've invested significant resources in curriculum, and we doubled the minimum expected amount of our ESSER funds that we put into learning recovery. I think that's just a testament to us having learning recovery and overall educational outcomes as the top priority," Piacsek said. ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) provided pandemic relief money to schools.
Piacsek also was proud of the district's fiscal responsibility, including investing in building projects such as the replacement of Waukesha South High School's stadium bleachers.
"We have the lowest tax rate in Waukesha County, which is also a testament to fiscal responsibility to boards before us, but also our ability to get things done without referendum. So I'm proud of that," Piacsek said.
Piacsek is also proud of the parental rights resolution
The Waukesha School Board passed a parental rights resolution in January 2023, another accomplishment Piacsek said she's proud of during her time on the board.
"I think over the last few years, we've come to take for granted that things that are happening in the classroom, the kids are coming home and telling their parents about, or maybe not. There were enough questions for us, as parents and as board members, that I felt it was necessary that we bring our philosophies into one place and say, as a board, this is what we're committing to do to respect the personal priorities and interests of parents in the district," Piacsek said.
Piacsek said there's been "a significantly misleading narrative" around books
Piacsek said discussions over the age-appropriateness of books in schools gets confused with free speech issues. She thinks there's an obligation to shield children from sexually explicit materials.
"If we want to call that 'banning' and 'censorship,' it's inaccurate. It's actually setting conscious, responsible boundaries for what our children have access to," Piacsek said.
She said moving books from the middle school level to high school doesn't mean those books are "banned."
"We brought something that had sexually explicit content in it — that might have been accessible previously to an 11-year-old — and put it to a level to where the child might have the right level of maturity to understand it. But in the same vein, we implemented parental communications on titles that kids are checking out because they are still minors. Parents have the right to know what their kids are reading," Piacsek said.
Piacsek wants more special education funding, state support for school safety
Piacsek said she supports more special education funding for school districts.
"I know there's a concern at the state level that increasing reimbursement for special education will lead to increasing identification of special education needs. We're operating at such a low rate of reimbursement as it is that I don't see that happening. I also think there are some more creative models that could be considered than the flat reimbursement rate, and we have some ideas about that that we think could be effective," Piacsek said.
"We want to serve all students. We want to meet their needs and we want to challenge them to their greatest potential. But right now, the cost to the overall system is likely unsustainable."
School safety was another area Piacsek thought the state could help out with.
"School districts shouldn't have to have inconsistencies in school safety because of budgetary limitations. I think there are safety-related things that the state can be a good resource for," Piacsek said.
Anthony Zenobia (incumbent)
Background: Zenobia has been on the board since 2021 and owns a business in the metalworking industry. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha for one year before transferring to Hillsdale College in Michigan, where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics.
Website: votezenobia.com; www.facebook.com/votezenobia
Supporters: Zenobia has been supported by WisRed, as he's listed as such in their 2024 voter guide, saying the group has offered support both this year and in 2021 that he accepted. The 1776 Project PAC has also endorsed Zenobia.
Zenobia is proud of investment in curriculums
Zenobia said he's proud of the district's investment in curriculums across various content areas, including math, literacy and science, and across grade levels during his time on the board.
Zenobia supports parents rights resolution
He supports the board's parental rights resolution and the board's work to remove age-inappropriate materials.
"The parental rights resolution was to affirm the rights of parents and let the board and administration follow those guidelines," Zenobia said.
Zenobia opposes "inappropriate materials in our schools and libraries"
On his campaign website, Zenobia said he wants to "remain a courageous voice against inappropriate materials in our schools and libraries."
"All we've done in the district is to raise awareness, to try to keep ourselves from buying these books, to review what's coming in, to review classroom libraries that have had some of these books in them, to make it known to our staff that it's not okay to just read any book on your shelf that you want to read to kids," Zenobia said.
Zenobia, along with Piacsek, submitted written testimony in support of a bill that would remove protections from school librarians and teachers if obscene materials are made available to children.
Contact Alec Johnson at (262) 875-9469 or [email protected]. Follow him on X (Twitter) at @AlecJohnson12.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Learn about candidates for April 2 Waukesha School Board race
