TOP NEWS STORIES OF 2019
2019
WAS AN EXCEPTIONAL YEAR WHICH SAW MANY IMPORTANT AND UNUNUSAL NEWS EVENTS COME OUT
OF THE MERCER SCHOOL DISTRICT. THESE
INCLUDED:
·
The worst Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction School Report Card
score in the state and dismal ACT test results.
·
The medical leave replacement of Administrator Erik Torkelson with an
interim administrator.
·
An almost complete and needed change in school board membership.
·
Criminal felony charges against three present and two former school board
members, only to be mysteriously dismissed.
·
Two teachers surrendered their licenses in the aftermath of a DPI test
cheating investigation.
·
Settlement of a $185,465 DPI claim that the administration had misused
Fund 80 money.
HERE’S
WHERE TO FIND THESE NEWS STORIES AND MORE.
* * *
MERCER’S
NEW SCHOOL REPORT CARD SCORE
Two years ago, an astute
Mercer citizen was verbally – and physically – attacked for calling the school
district’s dismal ACT scores “pathetic.” What would happen to him now if
he appropriately classified the just-announced 2018-19 Wisconsin Department of
Public Instruction School Card score for Mercer as “TRAGIC”? But that’s
what it is.
For the third consecutive
year the Mercer School District’s Report Card score hit rock bottom. And for
the most recent 2018-19 school year the Mercer School District stands all alone
at the VERY BOTTOM of the state’s 421 school districts with a score of 50.4 --
fails to meet expectations. No other school district is listed in the last
place category of fails to meet expectations. (11/12/19)
* * *
MERCER AGAIN NEAR LAST PLACE
WITH ITS ACT SCORE
The just announced
2018-19 Mercer School ACT composite score, as well as those going back at least
five years, reflect on a failed administration and an ineffective former school
board. But it gives the new school board and new administrator the
opportunity to fix a badly broken situation.
From the time former
Administrator Erik Torkelson was hired by his mother-in-law, Kelly Kohegyi, in
2011, the school’s ACT scores have been in the cellar. Mercer’s composite score
has never reached the state average for all the 422 school districts.
Mercer placed 19th
in the latest list of 20 northern Wisconsin school districts with an abysmal
ACT composite score of 17 for 2018-19. In the year before, 2017-18, it
was in 14th place with an 18.4 score and in 2016-17 it was in very
last place with a 16.6 score. (9/28/19)
* * *
ACT
PROFICIENCY RESULTS
For those who question
comparing Mercer’s ACT scores to other schools, citing Mercer’s comparative
small class sizes, the proficiency ratings may be more meaningful -- and the
results also are not good.
The 2018-19 ACT results
for 10 students tested show that 7 were not proficient in ELA (English Language
Arts), 9 were not proficient in mathematics and 8 were not proficient in
science. Or, put another way, 3 of the 10 were proficient in ELA, only 1
proficient in math, and 2 proficient in science. (10/15/19)
* * *
SHERI KOPKA PICKED AS TEMPORARY ADMINISTRATOR
Sheri Kopka, science
teacher at the Mercer School, was selected Tuesday to fill in as administrator
for the hospitalized Erik Torkelson.
Although no official
announcement has been made, it is generally known that Torkelson had a stroke
resulting in partial paralysis. The three-member Board
accepted a request for a medical leave for Torkelson for an undetermined
period.
It then agreed to enter
into a contract with Kopka to fill the district administrator vacancy on an
interim and probationary basis for a six-month term or subject to the return of
Torkelson. (7/18/19)
* * *
A NEW BEGINNING? WELL MAYBE
For the first time in
eight years the Mercer School may have a Board of Education and Administrator
which will focus on quality education and the efficient use of taxpayer
dollars.
Two new Board members,
selected at the July 30 meeting, will join two recently elected members, Bob
Davis and Jim Hannemann. This is in contrast with a Board which not too
long ago lacked the ability to manage school affairs in an open and honest
manner.
Recently retired Mercer
dentist Dr. Jeff Nehring and retired Racine schoolteacher Sue Loth were
selected from a list of five to fill two vacant board seats. The
vacancies were created by the resignations of Karl Anderson and Noel Brandt. (8/4/19)
* * *
3 PRESENT, 2 FORMER MERCER
SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS CHARGED WITH CRIMINAL FELONIES
Deanna Pierpont, Noel
Brandt, Micki Pierce-Holmstrom, Kelly Kohegyi and Denise Thompson have been
charged with Class I criminal felony counts in the Iron County Circuit
Court by District Attorney Matthew J. Tingstad.
All five defendants have
been ordered to appear before Circuit Court Judge Patrick J. Madden
for initial appearances at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, April 22, the same day as
the Mercer School Board meeting at 5 p.m. At the initial
appearances, dates for preliminary hearings will be set. At some
point, the defendants will be asked to enter pleas of guilty or not guilty and
post bonds. Eventually trial dates will be set.
Of course, in every
criminal case the defendant must be considered innocent until proven guilty. (4/6/19)
* * *
JUSTICE: THE IRON COUNTY WAY
In what was a surprising
and seemingly predetermined court proceeding, criminal felony charges against
the Mercer 5 were dismissed Monday by Iron County Circuit Judge Patrick
Madden. (For details about the charges and the defendants see MSF
4/2/19 The Wheels of Justice Turn Slowly)
Of, course, the
defendants must be presumed innocent until proven guilty. But Judge
Madden blocked even making that determination by throwing out the cases on a
technicality that the criminal charges were flawed. We will never know if the
charges actually were flawed because Judge Madden did not give District
Attorney Matthew Tingstad an adequate opportunity to prove otherwise. (4/23/19)
* * *
THE MERCER TESTING SCANDAL
A Mercer teacher has surrendered her teaching license in what
may have been affected by an investigation into test administration and scoring
by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Information posted Monday on the DPI’s Educator Licensing
website shows that Mercer history teacher Deborah Hohner surrendered her
teaching license on September 11. She resigned from her position at the
school on September 6. This followed a September 4 closed session of the
Mercer School Board which had on its agenda several items apparently related to
the investigation. (See MSF 9/9/!9 The Tip of the Iceberg) (9/18/19)
* * *
ANOTHER MERCER TEACHER
SURRENDERS HER LICENSE
A second Mercer teacher
has ended up without her teaching license in the aftermath of a Wisconsin
Department of Public Instruction investigation into “test administration and
scoring”.
The DPI website
containing teacher licensing information listed the “License Status” for Irene
Deborah Rice as “Voluntary Surrender as of 10/29/19”. An earlier listing
for Rice on the website showed her “License Status” as “Under Investigation”.
The only known
investigation by the DPI was for Mercer’s “test administration and
scoring”. The DPI had announced to the news media on several occasions
that it was conducting the investigation. The DPI also acknowledged the
investigation in responses to citizen requests for public records. (11/6/19)
* * *
THE DPI TESTING INVESTIGATION
Sweeping foreboding
information under the rug is nothing new at the Mercer School. But what
will the new Mercer School Board do about what appears to be the latest scandal
to surface?
The word is that a Mercer
teacher was fired (some say that person was given the opportunity to resign) as
a result of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s investigation into
test administration and scoring at the school. The investigation has been
ongoing for over a year and the issue apparently came to a head last week when
the DPI gave the school the chance to act or face public disclosure of its
investigation findings.
The former administrator
and his School Board never allowed any public disclosure of the DPI
investigation. There is no way of knowing how deep the investigation went or if
last Friday’s firing (or resignation) is just the tip of the iceberg. (9/9/19)
* * *
14
REASONS TO ATTEND THE SCHOOL DISTRICT’S ANNUAL MEETING
Just when Mercer
residents were beginning to hope that the new school board and administrator
would turn out to be fiscally responsible and begin to stop the waste of their
school tax dollars, what happens? The board and administrator propose a
record-high 2019-20 budget.
Under this budget, total
school expenditures will rise an alarming 9% to $3,831,953 for 2019-20,
compared with an actual 2018-19 spending of $3,518,955.
And just after settling a
$185,465 penalty with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction for
misusing Community Services Fund 80 that cost taxpayers $161,515 including
legal expenses, what does the new school board do? It raises Fund 80
spending 31% to $192,934 for 2019-20 from $147,774 in 2018-19. (10/27/19)
* * *
HOW MUCH DID THE FUND 80 FIASCO
COST TAXPAYERS?
You have to wonder why
the Mercer School Board’s settlement with the Wisconsin Department of Public
Instruction for the District’s Fund 80 abuses was approved in closed session
and Mercer residents have not been told what it involves.
The reason for the
secrecy may be because the savings from the District’s appeal was not all that
great. It appears that the District was still on the hook for about
$125,000, plus legal fees, for improperly using Fund 80 Community Services
funds. The DPI had originally claimed that $185,465 had been misused. (6/23/19)
