PWSSD Candidate Answers
Forward Ozaukee asked each candidate for the Port Washington-Saukville School Board to answer five questions in 100 words or less. Here are those replies.
You may elect up to 3 candidates on April 5: 1 candidate for the at-large seat and 2 candidates for the City of Port Washington seats. Candidates have been arranged alphabetically by last name for their responses. For more details, you may directly contact each candidate with the information provided below.
2 Candidates for 1 At Large Seat:
Yvonne Klotz
Age: Do you really want to know?
Address: 124 S Tower Drive, Port Washington 53074
Previous Public Office: Only local seat I've been in was the AT LARGE seat I am running for this time
Community Involvement: I currently work for the City of Port in Parks&Rec. I am an avid supporter of the Music Booster group at PWHS. As a board member I visit schools annually and meet with a variety of staff on my own.
Contact Information: Cell: 262-685-6533 or klotzgang@sbcglobal.net
Richard R. Sternhagen
Age: 65
Address: 755 N. Milwaukee Street Port Washington, WI
Previous Public Office: (none)
Community Involvement: Lions Club-Port Washington
Junior Achievement-Sheboygan
United Way-Sheboygan & Ozaukee County
RPW/RPOC
Contact Information: email risternh@gmail.com
Cell: 262-488-9065
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/richard4PWSSB; http://www.sternhagenforpwssd.com/
3 Candidates for 2 City of Port Washington Seats:
Karen L. Krainz
Age: 58
Address: Port Washington, WI
Previous Public Office: None
Community Involvement: Port Washington Main Street Economic
Restructuring Committee Co-Chair
Business Development Committee member
Wisconsin Humane Society - Ozaukee Campus
People & Animals Learning (PAL) children’s program
Dog walking & socialization
Photographing dogs for website
Contact Information: website: https://www.krainzforpwssd.com/
linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-krainz-a152a41b/
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Karen-L-Krainz-for-PWSSD-School-Board-107068715247586
Johnny Lanser
Age: 35
Address: 1015 Fairview Dr – Port Washington
Previous Public Office: none
Community Involvement: St. John 23 – Finance Committee Member
Port Washington-Saukville School Foundation Member
Park and Rec Youth Flag Football Coach – 4years
St. John 23 Youth Basketball Coach
Former Port Hoops Board member – Vice President and voting member
Contact Information: Cell: 262-339-0734
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnny.lanser
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnnylanser/?hl=en
Brian Stevens
Age: 53
Address: 1550 North Holden St, Port Washington
Previous Public Office: PWSSD Board member since appointment in 2014
Community Involvement: Member of the PWHS STEM advisory committee previously member of the Port Washington Main Street Economic Restructuring and Design Committees
Contact Information: email: brian.stevens@pwssd.k12.wi.us
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrianStevensForPortSchoolBoard
1. In your opinion, what should be the 3 top priorities of your school board?
Yvonne Klotz 1. Keep the focus on students 1st; many different needs and aspirations.
2. Support staff at a variety of levels. Learning environments include a variety of people that make the school a comfortable and safe place to learn.
3. Funding to sustain a well rounded program as costs continue to rise, along with retaining staff to provide consistency with instruction and relationships is going to have to be addressed.
Richard R. Sternhagen
Create a culture and policy that supports transparency through continuous communication.
Review and allocate all resources based upon the contribution towards education excellence for all students.
Enhance education experience through an aggressive solicitation of community input and involvement.
Create policy that mandates common sense, conservative financial stewardship.
Karen L. Krainz
· Supporting high quality education for our students with a strong teaching staff and curriculum;
· Fiscal responsibility in allocating school district funds and resources;
· Ongoing communication and engagement with our community to ensure goals, priorities and values are being represented
Johnny Lanser
a. Overall student achievement and success. Providing resources to the students so they can become the best possible version of themselves.
b. Providing support to teachers and staff to aid in their ongoing success and development. If teachers don’t have the support and/or tools they need, how can we expect them to live in a culture of success.
c. Community engagement by way of transparency and involvement. Share what’s going on in the schools such as curriculum and live stream or post video and discussion of board meetings. TRANSPERENCY = TRUST = OWNERSHIP
Brian Stevens
1. With a District Office Leadership team that has been with the district less than one year, ensuring that the team is focused and collectively headed in the direction desired by our community.
2. Continuing to improve transparency, communication, and marketing within and for the district.
3. Continuing to be fiscally responsible with the resources we have been provided
2. What are the central events/or ideas our country was founded upon, and how important is it to teach these in the classroom?
Yvonne Klotz Two ways of learning history I’m aware of are: step by step of events or thematically. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Depending on the approach of teaching the events or themes, there are various ideals and struggles left out, ignoring that America has been built upon struggles and sufferings. America continues to grow with struggles and suffering. Teachers have opportunities to help students learn about our growth as a nation with its struggles and sufferings. Teachers think critically about diving into the truths that students seek, which is important for learning together. I see this as an ongoing process.
Richard R. Sternhagen Policy should require curriculum at all grade levels that include a comprehensive review of World History, Economics, U.S. history, Wisconsin History and Civics education. It’s critical all students understand the conditions and motivations that inspired the creation and the evolution of our great country and their responsibilities as citizens.
Karen L. Krainz Our country was founded on the idea that all people are created equal and that we all have fundamental rights such as liberty, free speech, freedom of religion, due process of law, and freedom of assembly. The origins and historical events of our country through the years, good and bad, along with effects on our people is important for students to learn, discuss and understand.
Johnny Lanser Freedom and free thinking. Teaching our children HOW to think instead of WHAT to think. I believe that it is extremely important to teach the students the history of this country and how/why we are here today living in the best country in the world.
Brian Stevens The primary events or ideas of our country’s founding are the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War, and the Constitution. Understanding these events, the ideas, and people that led to them are crucial to understanding the basis of our country and should be known by anyone graduating from our district. These events, ideas, and people set the stage for other events in our country going forward, and forced us as a country to face our shortcomings, and work to fix them, and can still be drawn upon today when evaluating current events in the world and how we as individuals, or our government react to these events.
3. What should the district's position be on teaching CRT, or topics related to it?
Yvonne Klotz For the CRT question, I would first like to ask the person or group who ask about CRT, what is it? Can the person(s) give me detail about what this looks like to them. I’ve visited all schools over the course of my term several times as a SB member. I have not seen anything like what I hear people explain to me what they think CRT is. So, at this time, I’d like to learn what people are fearful of if they think we’re doing something in our schools with specific examples they have seen or experienced.
Richard R. Sternhagen All curriculum development should be assessed based upon the contribution towards preparing the student to have a competitive advantage within the global economy. Topics including CRT and iterations of CRT do not inspire the development of critical thinking or support excellence in the education. Much of CRT demands compliance of thought and is not an honest assessment of history.
Karen L. Krainz Critical Race Theory (CRT) is taught at the collegiate level and should NOT be part of the K-12 curriculum. However, where racial differences had a significant impact in historical events, these facts and their effects on people of different races should be taught in social studies and literature.
Johnny Lanser To answer this directly, CRT and/or any topics related to it do not belong in our schools here in Port Washington-Saukville or anywhere in the country for that matter. CRT is a divisive idea of which none should be taught to the children and taking time away from real academia. The district should take a strong stand that they will not allow CRT or any related idea to be taught in our schools.
Brian Stevens I only know what I have heard about CRT. … That said, based on what I have heard about CRT, I don’t think that teaching anyone they are a victim, or an oppressor based on race or skin color benefits anyone and should not be practiced.
I think we should teach history, both the good and the bad. Along with that, we should be teaching how things changed and the people that facilitated that change. All of this formed us as a country, and we would all benefit from more people having a broader understanding of how we got to where we are now.
4. Can you explain your understanding of equity vs equality and what this means for education?
Yvonne Klotz Equity vs Equality: The two words are different. Equity is having access to the resources, then you begin to work with delivering equality in the educational world. Access to our resources and having familiarity with something will help all when diving into whatever content you are teaching. PWSSD is a public school that serves ALL kids that walk through the doors. We take the student where they are at. We have to. We also have to remember to not put them down for something they aren’t even aware of (i.e not understanding water fountain vs bubbler).
Richard R. Sternhagen There should always be equal opportunity for all students to thrive and learn. Students should be the “hero” with educators doing everything they can to support their success. Demanding equal outcome encourages a reduction of expectations discouraging students and educators to strive for excellence.
Karen L. Krainz Equality is providing the same to all. Equity is the quality of being fair and impartial. Equality in education means that every child has the same rights, opportunities and resources. Equity in education means that each child receives what they need to develop to their full academic and social potential. Equity is individual focused and takes into account each child’s differences.
Johnny Lanser Everyone deserves an equal opportunity, not equal results. Every student deserves the right to the same education regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation. However, this does not mean that everyone will achieve the same result. The standard education should be the same for all students with additional resources available to those that require specialized instruction outside of regular schooling. If you want equal results, you must put in the work to do so. It is the responsibility of the school to provide necessary resources.
Brian Stevens Everyone learns differently. For learning to occur, teachers must understand the student in front of them, and what methods are successful in helping them learn. It would be a mistake for anyone to make assumptions about an individual’s ability to learn based solely on demographics and create policies based on these assumptions. Multiple methods that align with an individual student’s effective method of learning successfully must be used, and teachers must have relationships with their individual students so that they understand what methods enable success on an individual level.
5. Do you think enhanced pay in recognition of high performing teachers should be part of a district's compensation package?
Yvonne Klotz I do not believe enhanced pay in recognitin of high performing teachers should be part of a district's compensation package. I state this because I was an educator in the CSD and saw how it created competition rather than collaboration between teachers. Guys and gals that didn't have families could do extra things, and they get recognized for that on top of the extra pay they received for coaching or being a club advisor. There are so many ways that leaders discrimminated against women in the teaching field, and I was experienced the high turn over rates. I saw half
Richard R. Sternhagen Exceeding meaningful and measurable goals that contribute towards student success should be rewarded through compensation or recognition.
Karen L. Krainz Enhanced pay in recognition of high performing teachers is a good idea but would be difficult to apply in practice. I am an advocate for greater compensation to retain and attract high performing teachers, as they are the backbone of a high quality education.
Johnny Lanser I am all for having a larger portion of a budget go to increased pay to teachers. These teachers spend a lot of time with the students and are greatly responsible for who these kids become if done right. I do however think that with greater pay, comes greater expectations and less tolerance for teachers not living up to the expectation. The expectation would be nothing short of excellence in the classrooms.
Brian Stevens Conceptually, I think rewarding high-performing teachers as part of the district’s compensation package should be considered as a way to attract and retain the best teachers in our district.