The spring election is a little more than a month a way, and voters have a great opportunity on March 2 to learn more about the eight candidates running for four seats on the Wauwatosa School Board.
All eight candidates are scheduled to appear at a two-hour forum organized by the Wauwatosa Council of PTAs. It will be held in the auditorium of Longfellow Middle School starting at 6:30 p.m., and those who cannot attend in person can register in advance to view the forum on Zoom.
"Our goal in hosting the forum was to give the community another opportunity to learn about the candidates," the forum planning committee, including Abby Neuberger, Gina Dee and Kristin Hagen, said in a message to Tosa Forward News. "We solicited input from the community in formulating questions to present to the candidates. We wanted to maximize the number of questions in order to give community members as much opportunity as possible to differentiate among candidates."
Election Day is April 7. The School Board candidates, in alphabetical order by last name, are Heather Birk, Liz Heimerl-Rolland, Todd Koehler, Melissa Lamers, Christopher Merker, Dan Stemper, Jason Wautier and Lynne Woehrle. Heimerl-Rolland, Wautier and Woehrle are each incumbents seeking re-election. Tosa Forward News profiled each of the candidates in this Feb. 6 article.
The March 2 forum will be moderated by Derek Gottlieb, a Wauwatosa resident who works as senior research director for the education surveying firm School Perceptions. Gottlieb also has examined a range of local district issues in his personal podcast The Referenda.
"School board candidates — whether incumbent board members or challengers — so rarely get to step back and speak concretely to what they want to do to address the district’s most pressing issues, and why," Gottlieb told Tosa Forward News. "I’m excited to hear candidates clarify their views on some of the stickier issues we face."
David Paulsen
Longfellow Middle School is at 7600 W. North Ave. Its auditorium's capacity is 430, and although forum organizers are not expecting a capacity crowd, showing up early wouldn't hurt.
Attendees are advised to park in the lot north of the school, which can be accessed from North 81st Street. The organizers also ask everyone to leave signs, buttons or other candidate material at home.
The format will feature four topic rounds. Each topic will consist of two questions, with each question answered by four of the eight candidates. The organizers have randomized which candidates will answer which question and in which order, while ensuring that each candidate will get to be first to respond once.
The West High School PTA hosted a similar forum in 2023 that received positive feedback, prompting the PTA Council to organize this year's event.
The PTA Council is made up of 11 individual PTAs, which are members of the Wisconsin PTA and National PTA. As independent nonprofits, they "collaborate with and provide feedback to district administration on issues facing our schools, our members and our district," said Rita Wiesneski, president of the Wauwatosa Council of PTAs.
"The PTA's mission is to make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children," Wiesneski said. "The purposes of this council are to unify and strengthen local units, provide for the communication, training and cooperation of the local units in order to further the mission and objectives of the PTA, assist in the formation of new PTA units, promote the interests of the National PTA and the Wisconsin PTA."
David Paulsen
