TOP NEWS STORIES OF 2014

The following is a summary of 2014 top news stories from mercerschoolfacts. For full articles see the specifics dates cited.

¨ Mercer School District Administrator Erik Torkelson and the District are found guilty of violating Wisconsin’s open records law, fined and ordered to pay attorney fees. The violation stemmed from a faked hacking scheme intended to intimidate the Woodsperson blogsite author who researched the 2013 tax increase referendum and found that Torkelson and School Board members had “intentionally misrepresented or concealed important facts” and “intentionally deceived the taxpayers.” (Dec. 1, Sep. 3, Jul. 19, Jun. 6, Jun. 3, Apr. 23, Mar. 15 Jan. 28, Jan. 15)

¨ An open meetings law complaint was filed against the Mercer School Board for holding an illegal Oct. 28, 2013, closed meeting. Election law charges were filed with the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board against School Board Member and Clerk Denise Thompson for mailing an illegal anonymous flyer in the 2014 School Board election. Both cases are pending, but Iron County District Attorney Marty Lipske has said that the School Board “violated the (open meetings) law.” (Dec. 1, Mar. 30, Feb. 19)

¨ Torkelson and School Board refused free meals to students while continuing to use school tax dollars to provide free meals to “well-heeled” community residents and visitors. Torkelson cites as reasons nonexistent Department of Public Instructions “mandates, rules and statutes.” (Dec. 28, Dec. 11, Dec. 6, Nov. 23, Nov. 2, Oct. 16, Jun. 20)

¨ Torkelson’s 2014 school budget fell far short of dropping 2014 school taxes to $11 per $100,000 assessed property valuation over the 2012 level, the amount he repeatedly promised. Hoping residents would forget about the punishing 37.1% increase he snuck through in 2013, the 2014 level was still $29 over 2012. (Dec. 20, Nov. 9, Oct. 27)

¨ School Board President Kelly Kohegyi, mother-in-law of Administrator Torkelson, ordered a deputy sheriff to remove a Mercer citizen from the School Board meeting while the citizen tried to exercise her First Amendment right to free speech by asking why Kohegyi had come to her business and told her to “get out of town.” (Jul. 25, Mar. 19, Feb. 25)

¨ The Mercer School District moved up in student performance for the 2013-14 school year, according to the DPI’s annual report card. The school’s rating “exceeded expectation” at 80.0, which represents a comparison with previous years. However, another rating service, Greatschools, gave Mercer only a 4 out of 10 score based upon test results. (Sep. 30, Apr. 17)

¨ The Lakeland Times gave Torkelson and the Mercer School District a big F-Failure as a 2014 open records grade. “These people should be removed as records’ custodians. They cannot be trusted by the public and couldn’t spell FREEDOM if you spotted them F-R-E-E-_-O-M,” said the Times. (Mar. 21)

¨ Community Service Fund 80 abuses continued to abound with wasteful spending on totally non-educational programs.  In building patronage and “buying“ community support, Torkelson gives out free meals to a small group of community residents and visitors, and hands out $400 of tax dollars to each worker at a business having no connection to the school. Despite Torkelson’s claims that “everyone in Mercer wants it (Fund 80)” and “a great majority of Mercer residents use these programs,” an independent study showed that 60% of Mercer residents were totally unfamiliar with Fund 80 and a small percentage of those familiar with it actually participated in some of the programs. (Jun. 24, Jun. 20, May 30, Feb. 5 Jan. 6)

¨ A comprehensive study of the 2013 $650,000 tax increase referendum proved Torkelson and School Board members “intentionally misrepresented or concealed important facts” and “intentionally deceived the taxpayers” by saying that taxes would go up a mere $11 per $100,000 assessed property valuation when, in fact, they went up $160. (Aug. 8, Jan. 28)

¨ The Mercer School District continues to set all kinds of records -- mostly bad: At a cost of $22,342 per student Mercer is second most expensive of the state’s 426 school districts; at $132,308 salary and benefits Torkeslon is one of the highest paid administrators in the state, based upon a cost per student of almost $1,000; almost $1 out of every $10 of Mercer taxpayers money is wasted or unaccounted for in Fund 80. (Aug. 22, Feb. 5)

There will be a School Board election this April. When you go to cast your vote, REMEMBER what you just read and ask yourself if you want change.  If you do want change, don’t vote for any incumbent.