(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
KENOSHA, Wis. — A Kenosha Unified School District board member is accusing top administrators of misleading families, bypassing board oversight, and violating district policy — allegations district officials strongly dispute.
During an interview with Kenosha County Eye, School Board member Bob Tierney said Superintendent Dr. Jeff Weiss and Chief of School Leadership Bill Haithcock made decisions affecting school programs and funding without proper board approval or transparency.
Tierney’s claims center on changes to the Dual Language program at Bullen Middle School, the handling of proceeds from the sale of the former Dimensions of Learning Academy (DOLA) building, and staffing reductions at Ruth Harman Academy.
District officials say Tierney’s allegations are based on misunderstandings about how programs are administered and how funding decisions were communicated.
Dispute Over Dual Language Program
Tierney said the district violated School Board Policy 6300 when administrators removed Spanish Language Arts from Bullen’s core curriculum and converted it into an elective without board approval.
“I asked for a legal explanation of how they didn’t violate policy 6300 and they will not give me one,” Tierney told Kenosha County Eye. “Moving something from an assigned class to an elective is changing the curriculum in my opinion.”
Tierney said he believes the change should have required board approval.
District officials disagree.
In a written response provided to Kenosha County Eye, KUSD officials said the Dual Language program review was conducted under Policy 6320, which governs the adoption and review of instructional programs.
According to the district, the Spanish Language Arts curriculum itself has not been removed or altered.
“The Spanish Language Arts curriculum and instructional materials used remain the same; only the course’s placement in the daily schedule has changed,” district officials said.
Administrators said the scheduling change was made to improve access for English language learners and special education students while maintaining the district’s goal of providing roughly 50 percent instruction in Spanish and 50 percent in English.
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Debate Over DOLA Building Sale
Tierney also raised concerns about how proceeds from the sale of the former Dimensions of Learning Academy building were handled.
He said parents from Ruth Harman Academy have told him that Haithcock promised those funds would go to Ruth Harman during discussions about merging charter schools into district-run choice schools.
“Many RHA parents have reached out and stated that Haithcock publicly promised the profits from the sale of DOLA during the merger meetings,” Tierney said. “The board was never notified of these promises.”
District officials say that interpretation is incorrect.
According to the district, materials shared during the merger process stated only that funds from the sale could potentially be credited toward future facility improvements at Ruth Harman.
During a Feb. 24 board meeting, the district said $192,603 from the building sale was directed toward a parking project at Lakeview K-8.
District leaders say Ruth Harman has still benefited financially.
Since the merger two years ago, the district says more than $594,000 has been invested in improvements at the school, including a secured entrance, new science classrooms, office renovations and traffic improvements.
Officials say those investments exceed the amount generated by the DOLA building sale.
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Concerns About Staffing at Ruth Harman
Tierney also criticized a planned staffing reduction at Ruth Harman Academy, saying it could disrupt the school’s professional learning community model and programming.
“The staffing response is generic,” Tierney said. “If you look at the impact of removing this staff member next year it is going to limit and disrupt how they operate the current programming.”
Tierney questioned whether declining enrollment — cited by the district as a factor — actually applies to the school.
“The school is lottery-based and has a waiting list,” he said. “Declining enrollment as an excuse is questionable at best.”
District officials say the staffing changes are part of an annual districtwide review tied to enrollment projections, board directives and budget constraints.
Administrators said reductions are occurring across the district and are not related to the earlier charter-school merger.
Broader Transparency Concerns
Tierney said the issues reflect a broader problem with communication between district leadership and the School Board.
He said the board was not informed about commitments allegedly made to families regarding the DOLA building sale and has not received a legal explanation addressing the policy concerns he raised.
District officials maintain that decisions related to scheduling and staffing fall within administrative authority and that they have communicated information to the board through reports and meetings.
The disagreement highlights growing tension between some board members and district leadership as the district faces declining enrollment, budget pressures and ongoing debates about school programming.
27 Responses
Get em Bob!
The real issue: KUSD is top heavy with policies and light on results.
Bob is awesome ! He gets it and understand the parents very well. The taxpayers thrive on his tranparency on the real issues at hand, while the administrators sweep it all under the rug. I am waiting patiently to hear about the other properties the school district refuses to sell. Why do the taxpayers just get crickets on this issue? Everyone understands from those properties sold to real buying power, which is not PP or kenosha, will make an large amount of money. Why does the school district refuse to sell those properties for their taxpayers ??? But they are doing everything they can to lie and manipulate through their teeth to get the taxpayers to pay more in taxes so the administrator keep getting raises. The administrators dont deserve an damn extra cent. There are one of 3 answers and none of these will benefit the taxpayers of kenosha. To the taxpayers and parents of kenosha stand up, be heard and dont sit down until youre heard from all the administrators and make some compromise. The administrators will not lay down for their parents and taxpayers. Make them. Theres too much at stake
I’m thinking those properties might be included in their rainy day fund, something they’ll probably have to tap into to buy those metal detectors the board approved.
No, what is happening is the administrators are going to keep using the children and the fear and LE to keep pushing false agendas, such as instilling fear in the children and taxpayers, the parents. People need to wake up. The fear the administrators want to instill is ridiculous, to finally give into voting yes for upcoming referendums. Were seeing it all now how its being played out. Looking at past history they’ve successfully walked away with more of your money. Supposedly more kids are bringing guns to schools in kenosha. Its not happening, whatssover. I call total Bullshit, especially because all the inconsistent stories, from the administrators, police and those involved. Dont be surprised for one bit LE is involved in all this. Theyre more corrupt then the taxpayers understand. Those properties theyre refusing to sell theyre stockpiling for extra profit, so the administrators pocket that money eventually. We all know there will be no more schools built, so why do the administrators not selling these properties. And these properties were always bought with taxpayer money. Whats needed is an auditor like the Milwaukee Public schools did. Your emotions will run high because the amount of money there not only hoarding but spe sing on themselves. If anyone getting raises it should be the staff, not the administrators.
They are using the NEW math being used it’s called cooking the books!
Foreign languages should be elective courses. Who the hell deemed Spanish to be part of the core curriculum? WHF. That’s total bullshit. These kids can’t even read, write or speak proper English. Focus on that for the broad student body and the electives to the students who have college aspirations. The school district should be obliged to let all incoming secondary level students know what will be expected of them should they decide on higher education. The kids and the parents will sort that out when planning their class load and schedules. But making Spanish mandatory is ridiculous. Financial planning and budgeting should be a mandatory class, work on that KUSD. Education has turned into a complete joke, nothing but placating and kowtowing to one petty little contingent after the other instead of just doing the job of turning math and reading literate young adults who can actually function in the world on their own one day. Jesus Christ.
Doesn’t need to be Spanish, but learning a new language or at least attempting to learn a new language is fantastic. Foreign language is a fine requirement. Just make it one year and let the rest be electives. Spanish is the most helpful, but French, Latin, German all have value.
Agreed that there needs to be more importance on math. Agreed that reading standards are too low. But these things are not mutually exclusive. You can have foreign language and still push kids harder on the rest of the curriculum.
We have some great teachers. Like phenomenal teachers. I think there are less parents reinforcing practicing math and reading at home.
Ruth Harmon is still trying to figure out what kind of school it wants to be. DOLA and Brompton were very different schools. The merger could have been smoother, but its filled with teachers that really bust their asses. DOLA’s educational philosophy was given second fiddle status compared to Brompton’s seven habits, DOLA’s admin was sent elsewhere and DOLA’s PTA was disbanded in favor of Brompton’s. Now the sale of DOLA’s building doesn’t go to what’s left of it?
Ruth Harmon is a good school filled with staff that bust their asses. The kids are great too.
Homeschool
Not everyone has the option to homeschool
Yes Bob get them all!!!!
Bravo KUSD, you have managed to get both sides of the aisle to criticize your incompetence! 👏
I would look at the board member who didn’t have his children enrolled at KUSD until he won the seat that he holds! He had them enrolled in a private school until after he won. Also, he joined the church that the school was affiliated with to receive lower tuition. But, never attended the church except when his children had something to do during church. Which was on a rare occasion. So he was scamming a church and school for the lower tuition. Which makes me wonder what he is scamming KUSD parents into believing. I am positive that he would pull his children out of KUSD if he lost the election! He isn’t everything that he tries to have people believing he is!
I pulled my son and sent him to KLA when they yanked the principal from Grewenow two weeks before school started. I really like Mr. Creel and that is why my son is now at Lakeview K-8 with Creel as principal. My daughter has been in the district the whole time I’ve been on the board and my son is back in the district as well. We had both our kids at all Saints for a while but I cannot afford the tuition. My daughter went from Brompton to Lance and is now a freshman. I was contemplating becoming a member of the Lutheran church to get the membership discount but chose not to do so and put him back in KUSD. Of course I attended the events my sons was in while he attended KLA for his first grade time there. Any other questions about me or my children’s KUSD status?
Bob, quit lying! Before you start talking you should actually know the facts! I have proof that you joined the church just to get cheaper tuition. Shame on you for scamming the church and school! You are just doing this for votes! The truth hurts and you should stop trying to win votes! You are the only person that acts ridiculous and don’t know how to win votes on merit! You should really investigate what policies are before you speak! Because I have and you are wrong about what is happening at Bullen!
Who TF cares? Why wouldn’t you get cheaper tuition if you could? You are an idiot.
Umm, KLA offers new families a prospective member rate for year 1. I attended some of the bible studies to become a member of the church and was completely honest with Pastor Dave. I told him that I am Catholic and I was thinking of switching to Lutheran but decided not to do so. So before you claim that I scammed a school and a Church maybe you should get your facts straight and stop making wild claims about me. They also consolidated schools and closed the one that was right by my house and the cost was out of our range since I did not become a member of the Parish like you are claiming. When legal tells me I’m wrong on about policy 6300 I will gladly admit that I was wrong. Crazy they are now having a family night to explain the changes after the fact. Shared decision making is in a couple policies as well. They obviously didn’t include all stakeholders and have many Bullen families confused about what is happening. Is this an example of shared decision making?If you would like to have a meeting with KLA Pastor Dave and myself I will gladly do so to prove you wrong. Let me know and have a wonderful weekend!
You sound like a whiny adolescent throwing a tantrum. Is this how you interact in public too? Shame on your parents for raising the village idiot!
I know Bob and his family personally and your wild accusations are baseless at best. If asking for transparency/clarification from the overpaid KUSD administration is considered “scamming for votes” then you really are as ignorant as you sound. That’s literally what school board members are supposed to do for their constituents!
Get your facts together you Bullshitter ! Bullshit shouldn’t be sitting well with anyone right now!
This is not directed to Bob T. He is the magic the district has been needing for so long. He is transparent in all he has touched.
If I didn’t have my facts straight I wouldn’t have said anything! Bob doesn’t deserve the seat on the board because all he does is stir up controversy and divide!
Sounds like you are stirring the controversy hater.
Really I am creating the division? I have been busting my ass to try to improve the situation. I was able to get the district to pay for sped teachers glasses that constantly get broken by students, got them a raise, got Franks calendar back to what it was prior to the right sizing, got the district to fund the remaining costs of their playground, got teachers dress code changed so they can wear jeans, got the district to take a loan so we can get secure entrances at the 7 remaining schools that didn’t have them, made sure we get weapons detection systems, got subs a dollar raise, got hourly employees raises that weren’t going to happen, changed the recess policy to ensure elementary students get 30 minutes guaranteed, exposed the AST agreement and fought for it to be abolished but unfortunately failed, full CPI increases, and I actually listen to complaints and issues from everyone and try to address them. I’m the only Republican on the board and got more done than the 4 old Democrats that literally have the power to pass whatever they want. They haven’t done anything. Sabrina, Carl, Kristine (during her term), and myself have been working together to address issues and have constantly been blocked by our older, senior board members. What has Yolanda done besides steal Carls motion illegally, play politics with the safe student resolution delaying it by a month, and not showing up to agenda review meetings? What have Mary, Rebecca, Todd, or Yolanda accomplished? What ideas or solutions have they brought to the table? They literally do whatever our Superintendent says and never question anything or stand up for students, teachers, and staff. I’m the only candidate with children in the district and I actually understand the situation and can relate to parents. You obviously don’t like me but I have earned my seat on the board and I feel that I’ve done my job since being elected. We have a serious leadership problem and it’s obvious to anyone who pays attention. Unfortunately our board majority doesn’t care and has only made the situation worse for those of us who have children in the district and haven’t fought for or even tried to help our teachers and staff who are getting their asses kicked because of our weak leadership! Have a great weekend!
Don’t sweat it Bob. The comments are probably from Big Ol nasty Joel T. He’s salty because he can’t make a difference beyond making dissenting posts on public pages while his cuck ass sits at home living off his wife’s paycheck.
Not sure what any of this has to do with Bob’s record as a successful board member? As a parent, shame on you if you don’t always do what is best for your child. Why wouldn’t you put them in the very best situation for their growth whether it be public, private, religious, whatever? And would you pay full price if you didn’t have to? Why not take advantage of any discount you could get? How is getting a discount “scamming”? Sounds like you have a grudge.
The funds of the Dimensions of Learning Academy building should follow Ruth Harman Academy to continue to support the program and its needs and any/or facility updates.
Dimensions of Learning was a treasure to KUSD. The smaller school, caring staff, provided excellent learning opportunities to the students it served.
The merger could have been smoother- some vital key members of the Dimensions community should have been afforded the opportunity to go RHA to really make it feel like a merger, helping ease the DOL community into a new building after being in the same building/community for 24 years.
Having those same friendly faces in the building would have helped those students and family during a difficult time.
Rooting for the success of Ruth Harmon Academy.
De-fund KUSD, complete failure.