Six candidates will battle for five Athens School Board seats

Six candidates will face off for five positions on the Athens Board of Education. Five of them are current school board members and one of them is a challenger. Each school board candidate was asked the following same four questions: 1. How many three-year terms have you served on the Athens School Board? If you were recently appointed to replace a school board member, when were you appointed and who did you replace?

Tucker Diethelm: “This is my first experience as a school board member. I believe there was a vacant position to be filled as well as, Kenny Ellenbecker was out for medical reasons for some time. The position I filled was for Kenny’s vacancy.”

Jessica Frahm: “I have served three terms thus far.”

Steve Janke: “I have served two threeyear terms; this will be my third term.”

Tim Krueger: “I have served three terms now, the last two as school board president.”

Angie Servi: “I have not served on the Athens School Board yet.”

Kristen Winter: “I was appointed in the fall of 2022 to replace Jonathan Blake who was elected earlier that year but had to resign after moving out of the district. During the August meeting, I was appointed and sworn in, but didn’t officially partake in any board activity until the September meeting.”

2. Why have you chosen to run for election or re-election onto the school board?

Tucker Diethelm: “I want to help provide a positive and challenging school district for our youth to attend and call their own. Though much of my family was born and raised in Athens, I did not graduate from Athens High School. My goal is to give the district of Athens an outside perspective on solutions to problems and help to create an environment for positive growth and development.”

Jessica Frahm: “With two sons of my own, I have a personal interest in preserving and improving the quality of our community’s school system. It’s important to me to build positive relationships throughout the district, connect with our community, focus on the “whole student” achievements, while responsibly and strategically utilizing the resources available to our district. I enjoy learning from people around me and feel it’s important to stay connected and be informed. I’m willing to provide direction, support, and ensure accountability is held, of which are responsibilities I firmly believe I can confidently do, and I strongly believe is needed from a school board. Though, I have served three terms thus far and I have learned a great deal, there is still so much to learn.”

Steve Janke: “I’m very much looking forward to continuing my leadership with the school board. Helping with the tough decisions going forward on financial situation of the Athens School District.”

Tim Krueger: “Being an Athens Alum, I want to ensure our kids have the same opportunity I had to be better prepared for the working world.”

Angie Servi: “I was born and raised in Hamburg on a dairy farm, so I have strong ties to the area and am committed to this community. My husband and I have three sons attending School District of Athens schools (Athens Middle School and Maple Grove Charter School). I have a passion for education, with 17 years of experience in the field (I spent three years as a high school teacher and am currently teaching at the college level). I want to help our school district build on all of the great things that are currently happening, while ensuring it stays strong and stays in Athens for the long-term.”

Kristen Winter: “I currently have two children who attend Athens Public Schools – a choice we made when we open enrolled our son in 4K in 2015 since our home was located in the Merrill School District. We are now residents of the Athens School District – we live in the Town of Hamburg, one mile from Maple Grove School.”

“When Maple Grove became part of the Athens School District I knew I would finally have the opportunity to serve on the school board. My grandmother spent years on the Ondossagon School Board and I have always admired her, not only as the family matriarch, but also as a leader within our community. As I witnessed the local government in action while covering the Athens School Board throughout my 13 years as a reporter at this newspaper, I knew someday I wanted to be actively involved in that aspect of local government.”

“Many people in the Athens School District have likely never heard of Ondossagon. Let me tell you a little bit about it. Ondossagon was a rural school district, not unlike Athens, in the far northern reaches of Wisconsin. Located just off the shores of Lake Superior in Chequamegon Bay. But at Ondossagon there was not a town at all, it was all rural, mostly farm families. In the late 1980s the district faced significant financial hardships and a referendum was held to either keep the school open, or consolidate with the surrounding districts of Ashland, Drummond and Washburn. Unfortunately – in my opinion – the referendum did not pass and Ondossagon was closed. Sadly I cannot say it consolidated, as there was nothing left of Ondossagon’s identity aside from the students and their families who attended. That was, to this day, one of the most difficult transitions in my life. When Ondossagon closed, my family went to Washburn and we were one of just a couple of working farm families in the entire Washburn School District. When at Ondossagon, we were a part of the majority and everyone understood why school functions couldn’t be held “during chore time.” The closing of our school was like losing a childhood friend.”

“I mention this because I think my experiences lend me a unique perspective of the role the school plays not only within a student’s life, but also within the community. I also know first-hand what the aftermath of a school closure entails. Sadly, if our April referendum does not pass, I fear we will be facing a scarily similar situation to what I experienced as a child. I also believe my previous experience as a local newspaper reporter covering local government has given me valuable knowledge of how the governance of a school district works.”

“My husband Randy and I chose to make our family a part of the Athens school community. I would be honored to continue serving on the board of education to help make fiscally-responsible decisions that can best serve the mission to promote a safe, inclusive and engaging learning environment to promote critical thinking, citizenship and student empowerment through strong school and community relationships. I also strongly believe in the vision to cultivate and promote a positive, inclusive culture of respect with equity, integrity and dignity. As a parent I firmly believe providing children with an environment in which they feel empowered enables them to thrive emotionally, socially and academically.”

3. How important is it for Athens School Board residents to vote yes for the non-recurring operational referendum on April 4?

Tucker Diethelm: “ Athens School District needs this referendum to pass! In order for our students to have the educators, tools, and facilities to make their growth and development the best it can be, we as a community need to help. I like to consider this referendum as an investment of the future of Athens. A school is what holds a community together, and especially this community. The better we can make our youth, the better we make the future for Athens.”

Jessica Frahm: “Legally, I cannot tell you which way to vote but simply put, it is not only needed for the school district but also the Athens Community. It’s VERY important to be informed! I cannot stress enough the importance of making sure you have the facts. Our Superintendent Andrea is a wealth of knowledge and is available any time. Attend a community meeting-do your part to know how important your vote is!”

Steve Janke: “This is a very big deal for the Athens area. Without the added financial support of the district voters, I feel it would be next to impossible to continue to have a school that the voters have come to expect. High level learning, maintained buildings, great educators, and extracurricular activities.”

Tim Krueger: “It is absolutely mandatory we get this passed. Our school is the “heart” of our community. Without it, Athens will dissolve into a ghost town. The portion of our property taxes being allotted to our schools, will be the same as it was 10 years ago, comparing

the mill rate, which determines your tax amount. We must get through this difficult time, just as we made it through the pandemic. Whether I am on the board or not, I will still gladly contribute.”

Angie Servi: “Extremely important. The mill rate, which is the dollar amount per $1,000 of property value that our district schools receive, has decreased by nearly half over the last four years. In 2019-20, $10.21 for each $1,000 of property value went to fund our schools, and this year (2022-23), that rate has fallen to only $5.12 for each $1,000 of property value going to fund our schools. Since we cannot rely on the state, it is up to us as citizens to fund our schools at a level that allows our children to have the same quality experiences as they have had in the past. If the referendum fails, our district may be at risk of consolidation with another district or closure. Seeing that happen would be detrimental to our community.”

Kristen Winter: “This is something I am deeply passionate about. If our April referendum fails I don’t see where we can cut an additional $1.67 million dollars from our budget. Over the past few months we’ve been working to cut $900,000 to balance our books for the upcoming year and it has been incredibly difficult. Personally, I do not see a way to maintain our mission, vision and values with another budget cut as deep as $1.67 million.”

“My short answer is it is paramount that we get the yes vote this April. Without it I fear the School District of Athens will cease to exist after next school year.”

“My long answer is I cannot stress enough how difficult the closure of Ondossagon Public School was for me, my siblings and our classmates as students. As a child, your job is to learn, to be a student and to prepare yourself for life as an adult and to be a contributing member of society. Your identity is your school. As children you don’t even recognize that. I didn’t. But I can tell you when that identity was torn away from me, and my peers, we felt it. It hurt. We felt alone. We felt unseen. We didn’t feel understood and we were facing a new school where we’d have new teachers, new classmates, and a lack of understanding for our lifestyle. And we were certainly seen as the outsiders. And not everyone welcomed us with open arms. We were also reminded that we weren’t wanted in their school.”

“I am not from Athens. I don’t identify as a Bluejay. But my children do. Their school is their identity. Athens is the identity of those children that walk through those doors each and every day to learn and prepare themselves to become functioning and contributing members of society.”

“Looking back as an adult I can now recognize how the loss of my school affected me. And yes, it was that loss of identity that, at the time, I didn’t realize was the loss I was feeling. I don’t swell with pride at my alma mater (Washburn) the way I see my friends and neighbors here do for Athens. I didn’t grow to love my new school.”

“In my experience with Ondossagon’s closure, the taxpayers weren’t willing to cough up the dough to fix our aging facilities. We needed more classroom space and we needed a lot of repairs. The taxpayers didn’t want to foot the bill, but in the long run, they ended up doing it. The Ondossagon District became part of three neighboring districts: Ashland, Drummond and Washburn. Within a few short years all three of those districts built new elementary schools.”

“Lastly, without the school in the Athens community, I fear many of our local businesses will suffer. We have convenient and great local retail businesses here that I believe will struggle without the foot traffic from parents coming to town to pick up their students or to attend a school function. Do you think the grocery store, restaurants and gas stations will remain unaffected if the school ceases to be in Athens? I don’t. Maybe I’m wrong, but I’d prefer not to find out. I can tell you I have spent more money at Athens IGA, Cenex and A& L Oil since school started this fall than I have in the past 10 years. Driving to town every day to pick my son up from practice made it convenient to stop to get milk at the gas station or a few groceries from the IGA.” “I can’t tell the taxpayers of Athens what to do with their money. But I can tell you a failed referendum may save us all some tax money for a year, maybe two, but it will cost the students of Athens so much more.”

4. What issues is the Athens School District currently facing that you would like to see resolved?

Tucker Diethelm: “ I think as a school district we have to be much better at communicating with our community. We have to increase our engagement with the community and encourage them to engage with us.”

Jessica Frahm: “The biggest issue facing all schools is school funding and unfortunately our government and state’s calculation system is broken. The Athens School District has the lowest tax mill rate and tax levy in the area that makes it hard to sustain operations within the district. We are a rural school district, the high cost of transportation and the struggle with connectivity is real. I would love to see these items resolved but I’m also wise enough to know it won’t happen overnight. Those issues shouldn’t take away from our children and our future leaders. We as a community must care and provide for our own where others have fallen short. We have so many great things going on in the Athens School District today that I think we should focus on ensuring we have a tomorrow for our amazing teachers, staff, students, parents, and community members.”

Steve Janke: “The biggest right now is the budget short fall. Next is we need to maintain our building and grounds. We have many items that outlived their expectancy. We need to update along with bringing some items up to current building and grounds code.”

Tim Krueger: “I believe we have made steady organizational improvements for our students and staff in the past 6-7 years, but we still need to make improvements to our facilities to provide a safe place to learn.”

“Teacher shortages are an issue everywhere, but keeping class sizes smaller is important to improve student learning.”

“I would like to see our government make improvements to our internet access in rural areas, but that is something our legislators would have to do, and I’m not here for the politics. But for the record, I think cell towers and internet access are more important than wind turbines right now, but that’s just my opinion.”

“Last, instead of making budget cuts, we should be looking for ways to get aid from our government. Our kids are our future, and they are worth every penny.”

Angie Servi: “There is a lot of opportunity for our District to grow by bringing in students from neighboring districts. It will be important to publicize Athens as a school district of choice and provide information on how students can attend our district schools all the way through to high school graduation. Also, I think it is important that the district become fiscally strong and stable. The fund balance needs to be built up. I would also fight for a better state funding formula.”

Kristen Winter: “Honestly, the main issue at hand is cutting our budget for next year while still offering a valuable and effective education and learning environment for our children. As I respond to this question we still don’t know exactly where those cuts are going to be. I really don’t want to see our elementary school class sizes swell to an unmanageable level for our teachers.

I understand the value of small class sizes. I come from a family of educators, my grandmother, mother and sister were all elementary school teachers. My grandmother and sister-in-law were and are art teachers. I have spent hours since being appointed to the board talking with any staff member that has reached out to hear their perspective on the status of our school. I want to know, in their experienced opinion what and where some of those cuts can be made. Right now we have very small class sizes in the lower grades: K, 1 and 2. My daughter is in fourth grade and has over 20 students in her class. In my opinion 20 students in a fourth grade class is very different from having 20 students in a first grade class. I want to keep that in mind moving forward, yet I know we have to make these cuts, so the big struggle is finding that balance. Who am I to say what size class is right? I don’t have that knowledge. But our teachers do, so I want their input on what can and will work and what won’t.”

“Looking beyond the budget cuts, it is working to get the April referendum passed so we can keep the school open.”

“Once we tackle those issues there are certainly more that will need focus, time and attention, but if we don’t have a school we don’t have issues to fix.”

“Prior to my joining the board the school district had a survey that was sent around to students, staff and parents. I’ve spent a considerable amount of time reading through the survey responses – not the numbers but the open text comments. Some were very positive. Unfortunately, some, even many, were not. Reading through those really made me pause and reflect on my own experiences with the school. While I haven’t had the experiences outlined within those surveys I can see where some of those issues could arise. I would like our board of education and administration to take steps to improve upon some of those complaints over the next few months.”

Jessica Frahm

Steve Janke

Tim Krueger

Angie Servi

Kristen Winter