OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — With less than a week until school starts, the Winneconne Community School District is in turmoil.
A recall petition is underway, targeting the school board's president and vice president over their handling of legal counsel von Briesen & Roper, s.c..
Petition organizers have until mid-September to gather around 1,500 verified signatures. They're currently just a couple hundred away. If the petition succeeds, it would trigger an election on the Tuesday of the sixth week after the date of the certificate of filing.
Bob Ronk, a former Winneconne school board president, says the effort centers on concerns about the direction the current board leadership is taking the district.
"This group appears to have come in with an agenda to bring some fairly radical change to the school system. Changes like ousting the district superintendent."
NBC 26 reached out to WCSD Vice President Dean Ackmenn, who deferred all questions to President Kati Calewarts. Calewarts did not respond to requests for comment, but has posted a statement on Facebook defending herself. She claims she has the authority to sign a contract with legal counsel before the board votes on it.
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When I asked Ronk about that claim, he was direct.
"That's a crock of the brown stuff. It definitely is without precedent. Von Briesen & Roper has the reputation as being the firm that a board will engage if they want to impact the district and make some changes."
Ronk said that regardless of the outcome of the recall petition, he has one hope.
"That we can get back to being Winneconne again and have a board of seven that functions as a as a collegial group and independently without influence uh takes action in the direction of what's best for students."
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