Last night was an embarrassing loss for the “Bristol Votes Yes” group and Bristol School Administrator, Jack Musha, after failing to convince voters to vote “yes” for an operating referendum for the second year in a row.
In contrast, it was a decisive victory for school board candidates, Joanne Gray and Nicole Starke. Current board member, Tina Elfering, the only board member to vote against going to referendum this year, said, “Congratulations to Joanne and Nicole on their win. They will do great things for the Bristol community and school. I look forward to working with both of them.”
The referendum was previously discussed in depth here:
The decision by incumbent Board President Adam Scheele and Vice-president Corie Bies not to seek reelection appears prudent in hindsight, given yesterday’s rejection of both their endorsed candidate, Matthew Ley, and the referendums they have championed. One voter expressed the desire for the first thing on the new board’s agenda to be the renewal (or non-renewal) of contracts, especially for leadership at the school. Clearly the voters have spoken, ushering in a new era of representation on the Bristol School Board, with the possibility of even more changes to come.
32 Responses
The “yes” voters should have gone after the coveted Dave Beth endorsement.
I assume that’s sarcasm
So happy Scheele and Bies are out and Gray and Starke prevailed! A little digging made it very clear to me that Ley does not share the values of our community. Why Scheele and Bies would both go so far as to endorse him is beyond me, but they are probably embarrassed now that no one cared about their endorsements.
For those of you who live in PLEASANT PRAIRIE, please encourage Carl Coulson to challenge the results against Mike Pollocoff.
I think it would cost him $30 but with an 81 vote spread not likely to change much.
Why not try?
Congratulations Bristol and of course congratulations to Joanne and Nicole too!
Joanne, Nicole and Tina, As a life long Bristol resident and someone who has spoken to each of you about the problems at Bristol Grade School starting with the board and secondly Jack Musha, please be tough and get right down to business on your first day. This is why we chose you and voted against the referendum for the second year in a row.
Jack is going to want to be your pal because he likes a board that rubber stamps what he may have learned at the latest administrator convention and he really wants that raise despite his horrible performance. If he threatens to quit, say “bye bye”. Your election wins and another NO for pissing away more money was yet another referendum on Jack Musha and your soon to be predecessors. Corie and Adam, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves. From horrible Covid planning, to forced face masks, to horrible electives, to rubber stamping Jacks next dumb idea, to coercing board members as being part of the “board” to support your bad decisions, you have failed your community.
Cuts need to happen immediately starting with 1 of the principals and the one that signs using her pronouns would be a good start, a dean of students that is Jacks golf buddy, 2 part time human resource people, 1 of the full time IT people and a lazy head janitor (the school has never looked worse) and a new school attorney that Jack doesn’t have jacks head up her ass that threatens parents when the he and the board sit on their hands and let rampant corruption taking place including pornographic library materials that could be checked out by our children.
Secondly, consider investing in ground’s equipment and have the custodian and a team handle the grass and possibly snow or at least look into what the comparison would be. Talk to other schools that handle their own. Equipment is cheap relatively speaking but will add additional insurance costs likely. Perhaps a deal could be cut with the town to do the snow removal. Jack doesn’t like working with the town, he likes being a big shot that pretends to know what he’s doing. Personally, I would rather see the janitor on a piece of equipment doing something rather than sitting around like a stool pigeon and spreading the latest gossip.
I look forward to your leadership and getting rid of the dead weight around that school so that curriculum can be updated and education becomes the focus rather than over staffing so the administrator can sit on his now single ass. Liberalism is disease, it destroys budgets, schools, communities, marriages and anything it touches including our children. Get rid of the cancer ladies, you have my support.
well said!!
Cutting grass. General outdoor landscaping maintenance. Snow plowing.
All should be contracted out.
Grass cutting is weekly. And all day.
Maintenance can be labor intensive while cutting is “mostly” sitting but does require some walking. Not an old man’s game.
Add equipment maintenance. Gas and oil and tool storage. Requires a whole separate building. Not to mention trucks and plows !
Plowing alone requires 24 hours service availability. At least 3am plowing. Plus all day long keeping up. Not to mention salting.
And then while they’re plowing,
who’s cleaning inside ?
The janitors / custodial staff are like your mail carrier. Same job day after day. Repetition !
That makes them efficient and consistent.
Leave outside to the pros !
It’s worth looking into and there already is a separate pole building that Ryczek built. Central high school does their own grass cutting and sidewalks – not sure about the parking lots and that why I mentioned possibly working something out with the town. There’s a reason central does their own and why they only need 1 HR person but that’s another matter. Any time there is a hint of snow school is cancelled, so your 24 hour, 3:00 am scenario is not relevant.
Where there is a will, there is a way.
They do everything now but will be contracting out the grass around the school cause the janitors take very little pride in the grounds. Better yet. Have your dean/Ad earn some of his paycheck by doing all the outdoor work instead of sitting his scrawny ass in his office watching tv. So much over paid worthless thieves In that building now. Makes me sick.
I agree, but I thought he was Jacks service animal. They create safe spaces for each other when the playdough dries out.
The bus company cancels according to set guidelines with all the local schools it serves out of their Trevor location
It’s not just Central calling the shots.
This winter we had one really cold day where the wind chill just missed the cut off by 2 degrees. They had school. By the guidelines.
But the point here is that when professionals plow snow the bosses are up 24 hours a day in shifts during the snow storm monitoring the snow and their trucks and responses to each customer’s requirements. A little much to a school’s maintenance staff.
If you feel so sure there’s cost savings then take that project on. You already have the hired out $$ numbers. Now try to figure out the cost for keeping it in house.
Gas. Maintenance. Who’s in charge.
Is that overtime pay ? Extra insurance? Who do you call at 3 am when the truck doesn’t start. Or the driver doesn’t show up. Who’s the back up when the truck breaks down at 6am ?
A professional company has all these extras figured out and just down the road. The school has no back up. One and done.
Oh yeah. Don’t forget about the pension contribution on all that overtime. Lots of cost keeping it “in house”.
Do you have the outside maintenance contract ? Everybody has an angle.
Just have plowed snow for a private contractor for 30 years. (Illinois)
I’ve been broke down at 3 am.
And before the tow truck arrived another plow truck came to finish my lot.
Then with the tow to the shop got in another, spare truck and continued on.
Mechanics on duty 24 hours around the clock keeping trucks running until it stops snowing. Then back to regular shifts till it snows again. Rinse and repeat.
Before you get too enthusiastic about saving a buck or three, figure out what you are going to do when it all goes south.
At 3 am
Who you gonna call ? Snow busters ??
Sounds like you should be running next time.
Wouldn’t it be really crappy if the current, outgoing school board extended administrative contracts and gave a raise to the administrator even after losing the referendum? Can’t think of a bigger f_ck y_u to the community than that.
Well, These same people that guilt us about taking more tax dollars for the “sake of the children” and lost the latest referendum are going to try it or are considering it. If this happens we are stuck with people we can’t afford unless of course we buy out their contracts which is what they want. This is the leadership of Jack Musha and the Bristol School Board. You can’t make this shit up. Shaking my head….
I thought is was a political courtesy to not have a board meeting after an election with the losers still sitting.
Next meeting after an election should swear in and sit the new/old members.
Changed or not.
If it’s not this way then it should be.
Does anyone know exactly ?
Yes it would be really crappy!!! Don’t do it Scheele and Bies!!
Amazing isn’t it ?
The difference of just 10 votes.
Less than that if 6 of the ones that did vote no would have voted yes .
The county reports a 37% voter turnout county wide.
Salem grade schools turnout was closer to half that. Maybe a little less of the “eligible” voters. I’m sure Bristol’s was the same lower number.
It’s disappointing that only a third or less of the property owner taxpayers thought enough to vote.
But that does show how easy it is to win, or lose !
Think about that
Those “10 Lousy Votes” are not lousy. Those votes are the difference between our tax dollars being blown away by a lousy administrator and a majority of lousy school board members who couldn’t run a lemonade stand if they tried.
I can’t wait to read a future KCE article about deep cuts at Bristol’s administration level, Mushas ouster or even his resignation. It’s going to be great.
I’m sure the author wanted to point out how so many complain on here yet not many take the time to vote (or run for any office).
This world is lazy and enjoys their comfort too much.
Some how we decided to have elections in the spring when nobody cares. Why ??
I’ve been told it’s because there are too many things on the November ballot. Really ??
Wilmot “chose” to put their referendum on the February primary ballot.
Bristol here on the general election ballot.
Is that “voter shopping” ??
Neither won. So why the two dates ?
Everything should be in November.
Election Day should be on a Sunday.
6 am to 8 pm. That’s it !
no primaries?
I’m saying, get rid of the spring elections. Altogether.
People don’t keep up on “small” local and state issues like they should.
This spring we voted on a state constitutional matter. Amazing that only a third of the voters decided something so important !!
Yes that’s on the lazy and uncaring citizen but we are not helping anyone but the motivated sneaky government to try to sneak their agendas across our apathy.
A good portion of people vote once a year. In November. And some of them don’t even bother with the August primaries. Yes we still need primaries but let’s put all the issues we go to the voters for in one election cycle. In the fall.
Let’s do that !
Once I read the name Jack Musha, the rest was inevitable hahah wow just wow.
Jack the hack Musha should be exiled immediately. He is a Low T Evers disciple. Boom
They should have just found 11 more votes after the polls closed. It works everywhere else.
Not going to happen. Our county Republican party had every nominated poll worker they were entitled to there, working all day and night. Plus there was at least one observer there. Consider signing up to work or observe if you’re concerned about election integrity
You don’t even have to sign up, you can go to the voting centers and observe unaffiliated as well.
correct!
it’s a really good idea to know the law regarding observers before you go. You can self study or you can take a training through one of the local or state parties