School safety, critical race theory among issues for Germantown School Board candidates
Two Germantown School Board members, Tracy Pawlak and Tom Barney, are facing challengers at the ballot box April 2.
Pawlak faces an opponent, Jeff Voyer, who has contrasted himself as taking a harder stance against critical race theory, though Pawlak also also isn't a "fan" of the theory, a framework for understanding how certain public policies have caused or upheld racial inequality. They are competing for Seat No. 1.
The race for Seat No. 7 looks different. Barney, a conservative, faces opposition from a more progressive candidate backed by the teachers union, Fred Fleitz. Fleitz has accused the board of "censorship," for example by banning teaching on human growth and development.
All school board seats in Germantown are elected "at large," which means all voters in the school district can vote for each seat. The other five school board members, who hold staggered three-year terms, are not up for election this spring.
The candidates plan to participate in a forum hosted by the Germantown Chamber of Commerce on March 12.
Here’s what to know about the candidates.
Seat No. 1 incumbent: Tracy Pawlak
Background: Pawlak, 50, was elected to the Germantown School Board in 2021. He has a bachelor's degree from Beloit College with focuses in political science and in economics and management. He works as an AVP wealth training consultant for Johnson Financial Group and has three children in the district.
Websites: tracypawlak.com and facebook.com/pawlakforgsd
Supporters: Pawlak said he is self-funding his campaign and will not accept campaign donations. He said he is not aware of any endorsements and hasn't been contacted by political parties. Asked whether he supports a candidate for the other seat, Pawlak said he is neutral.
Pawlak started attending school board meetings in 2019
Pawlak said he started attending school board meetings in 2019 and was concerned by the low attendance. He ran for a board seat in 2020 and lost, before winning in 2021 with a commitment to improve school board transparency. While changes were already in motion, he said he pushed to get all committee meetings streamed on YouTube, as they now are.
Pawlak advocates for raising teacher pay, increasing special education funding
Pawlak said he'd like to increase teacher pay, especially for starting teachers.
"I think the biggest glaring thing for us is starting salary; we're pretty low compared to other districts," he said.
Overall, Pawlak said the district is in good shape financially and not "anywhere near" needing another referendum to increase tax funding. He does think the district should push state lawmakers to increase special education funding.
Pawlak supported proposals for school safety officer, allowing concealed carry
Pawlak supported other board members’ proposals to add a school safety officer and ask state lawmakers to give school districts more options, such as allowing concealed carry in school buildings.
He said these conversations have renewed urgency after a lockdown in October, which ended with police killing a man on school grounds.
Pawlak OK with removing some books from libraries, limiting CRT to high school
Asked for his views on removing books from school libraries, Pawlak said he thought it was appropriate to do so based on sexual content.
Last year, the district removed two books from circulation — "Dead End" by Jack Gantos and "A Court of Silver Flames" by Sarah J. Maas — after a parent and board member questioned them and administrators determined they were not age-appropriate.
Pawlak also agreed with a school board decision in 2021 to only allow two classes in Germantown to discuss critical race theory, a framework for understanding how certain public policies have caused or upheld racial inequality. The decision also required a parental consent form for the courses, "Critical Thinking & Writing" and "AP English Literature and Composition."
"I'm not a fan of CRT in K-12 education," Pawlak said. "However, I couldn't answer effectively the question of, why am I taking the opportunity for students to earn college credit in the AP class away from them, just because one of the many theories that are discussed in that class is CRT."
Seat No. 1 challenger: Jeff Voyer
Background: Voyer, 32, has a bachelor's degree in in business and finance from Concordia University Wisconsin. He works as a contact sales associate for Grand Appliance. He has two children, ages 2 and 5, the oldest of whom will be entering kindergarten this fall in the district.
Website:s votejeffvoyer.com and bit.ly/JeffVoyerforSchoolBoard
Supporters: Voyer said his campaign is self-funded. He said he has been "offered" endorsements but rejected them, saying he thought it should be a nonpartisan race. He declined to say who offered endorsements. Asked whether he supports a candidate for other seat, Voyer said he backs Barney.
Voyer opposes mentioning CRT at any level
Voyer has differentiated himself from Pawlak by opposing any mention of critical race theory in any district class. He disagreed with the school board's decision to allow discussion of CRT in two high school courses.
"I think that critical race theory is a way of rewriting history," he said. "It generates oppressed and oppressors, and it kind of restructures history and generates racism where it's not needed."
Voyer plans to prevent 'social agenda programs,' DEI
Voyer's campaign materials place red "X" marks next to both "critical race theory" and "social agenda programs."
Asked to describe social agenda programs, Voyer said, "Social agenda programs are your DEIs, your things of that nature."
DEI stands for diversity, equity and inclusion. Voyer called DEI programs a "waste of funding." Asked for examples of any "social agenda" or DEI programs in Germantown, Voyer said he hadn't seen any.
"Everything that I’m saying is future-driven," he said. "It’s not something I’ve seen but something I want to prevent in the future."
Wants parents notified about library books; opposes 'trans literature'
Voyer said he does not support fully removing books from libraries but would like to see a system for parental notifications on certain books for certain ages. He said he opposes "trans literature." "As far as trans literature or trans agenda, I don't believe it has a place in public school," he said.
Voyer says if he loses, he'll run again
Voyer and Pawlak have already competed against each other in one race. There was a primary election in February for the seat because there were three candidates. The third candidate, Bruce Warnimont, was knocked out the race with 454 votes.
Pawlak and Voyer both advanced, but Pawlak had a higher vote total: 862 votes to Voyer's 654.
Voyer said he thinks Pawlak had the benefit of name recognition. Voyer's been working on reaching more voters.
"I absolutely do think that I have a chance to win and in the lieu that I don't win, I will run again next year," he said. "I'm not going anywhere."
Seat No. 7 incumbent: Tom Barney
Background: Barney, 46, was elected to the Germantown School Board in 2012. He has a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Lubar College of Business with a focus on information systems. He serves as president of Kiwanis Club of Germantown and works as a systems administrator specialist at a financial services company. He has two children who graduated from Germantown High School and one still there.
Websites: votetombarney.com and bit.ly/TomBarneyforSchoolBoard
Supporters: Barney said he's not aware of any endorsements. He has a donation link on his website but said he hadn't received donations.
Barney has had talks with Republican party
Barney said he has had conversations with the Washington County Republican Party, but as of early March he hadn't heard of an endorsement from the party.
"It was conversations about what I do on the board, what I plan on doing in the future, to see if I was a good fit for them to possibly consider endorsement," Barney said.
Barney says referendum was major accomplishment
Barney said the biggest accomplishment in his tenure has been the 2016 referendum, when voters approved the district's request to raise taxes for renovations.
Barney said he thinks funding for the district now is "adequate." He'd like to increase teacher salaries and pursue more partnerships with businesses for classroom lessons and student internships.
Barney authored proposal to open door to concealed carry in schools
Another accomplishment: In 2022, Barney drafted a school board resolution with a number of requests for lawmakers related to school security, including the option to allow concealed carry in school buildings and provide firearm training to school staff.
"When it comes to, how do you stop a bad guy with the gun? The answer is a good guy with a gun, not, I hope the police can get there in time," Barney said, adding that he thinks any staff allowed to carry guns should have to complete advanced training.
While lawmakers haven't enacted the requests in the resolution, Barney said some have tried. Going forward, he'd like to see the state offer funding for window film for bullet-resistant glass, and weapons detection equipment.
"I think that was good to bring some attention to school safety," he said. "The school itself responded by putting barricade devices in every classroom and holding lockdown drills across every school. That's something that I anticipate will continue every year."
Barney supported decisions to limit CRT, remove certain books
Barney also considers it was a "win" that the board required parental approval for students to take either of the two classes that are allowed to discuss critical race theory.
Asked about books removed from school circulation, Barney said he did think there were valid concerns, particularly about the book, "Dead End."
"That one can get pretty graphic, so I'm OK if something like that is pulled from the school library," he said.
Seat No. 7 challenger Fred Fleitz
Background: Fleitz, 55, has a doctoral degree in organic chemistry from Stanford and is the senior vice president at Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals. He has two children who graduated from Germantown High School.
Website: facebook.com/drfred4gsdboe
Supporters: Fleitz is endorsed by the local teachers union, the Germantown Education Association, which he said is providing in-kind donations to his campaign, including postcards and phone calls. He said other community members are also donating time and money to his campaign.
Fleitz says he wants to rebuild respect for teachers
Fleitz said he was unavailable for a phone interview with the Journal Sentinel but answered questions via email. He said the "most urgent challenge" for the district is rebuilding relationships with teachers.
Fleitz said he has met with teachers about their concerns and been told that they feel left out of decisions regarding curriculum and classroom resources. He also supports increasing teacher pay.
"We cannot afford to lose any more talented educators because of low pay and lack of respect," he wrote.
Fleitz wants to bring back human growth and development
Germantown School District Policy 2414, which was revised last year, forbids instruction in human growth and development. It also blocks instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity from kindergarten through fifth grade.
Fleitz said while he would be unable to undo the ban on human growth and development as one board member, he would raise awareness about the issue.
"We must provide students with age-appropriate, science-based, and medically accurate information,' Fleitz wrote in an email to the Journal Sentinel. "Not providing this education is intentionally withholding basic information students need to live safe, healthy lives."
Fleitz rejects opposition to social emotional learning, critical race theory
Fleitz also said he thinks "social emotional learning," which helps students develop social and emotional skills, has been unfairly restricted and is important for students' mental health.
He said he doesn't think critical race theory is "an issue facing our district."
Fleitz said he would push to improve special education
Fleitz said the school board should be more active in advocating at the state level for school funding to keep pace with inflation and for more funding for special education.
"As the parent of a child with disabilities, I know how important a robust special education program is," Fleitz wrote. "We must put a plan in place to rebuild our special education program to catch up with our peer districts who are outperforming us in this area."
Contact Rory Linnane at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @RoryLinnane.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Meet the Germantown School Board candidates in April 2, 2024, election
