Campbellsport School Board Vacancy Update

   Continued concern over a vacant seat on the Campbellsport School Board arose during its meeting on Monday, October 6.
   “My concern is the board vacancy and how long it is still vacant,” said a Campbellsport School District resident during public comment. “I would respectfully ask the board to consider making changes, be it how the board is represented, and whatever else it needs to do in order to make serving the school district more attractive to the community.”
   The school board seat representing the Town of Forest and the area of the Town of Greenbush has been vacant since May 31, 2025. The school board had received one application to fill the vacancy, but it was withdrawn due to scheduling conflicts. The school board has not received applications from residents of the Forest and Greenbush areas since.
   Later in the meeting, during consideration of the 2025 Annual Meeting agenda, the school board discussed options for filling the vacancy.
   “Instead of considering redistricting, . . . what if we just considered a small change?” asked Treasurer Maureen Koch. “If we’ve tried [to get a member from that area of the district] and failed, then make that an at-large position, only until the next election. Just to cover that shortfall, if you will, and then hopefully, we will have someone from that area at the next election.”

   “That’s something we’d probably have to run past our lawyer, and then [the] Policy [Committee] would have to have it looked at to make sure it’s permissible,” answered President Mike Weiss. “My concern is . . . we don’t do a good job of communicating with non-parent constituents. We should maybe consider doing a direct mailing of that area.”
   “If we have it sent out by a printing company, we have to do everybody in the zip code,” explained District Administrative Assistant Susan Gassner. “Some of those zip codes are 54937, so you’re hitting the entire City of Fond du Lac. They will not just segregate and send them to just these addresses.”
   “How do we communicate with them? Is mailers the only way? Because quite frankly, that’s not fiscally responsible,” said Vice President Sharon Gazzola. “Half the people throw it away or even more.”
   The school district had previously been quoted roughly $7,000 for mailing to the whole district.
   The vacancy has been advertised in the “Campbellsport News,” on the school district website, in the district newsletter, on Skyward for parents, and on Facebook.
   “If you’re not involved in our school district, you’ll never see it. Before I was on the board, there was no communication from the school district to me because I didn’t have any children in the district. That is one area that I think we could work on improving. Yes, there’s an expense to it, but I guess, for me, the people we represent have the right to get communications from us,” stated President Weiss. “I think we’re doing a disservice to a lot of people as well.”
   “It’s changed so much through the years. People get their information from so many different sources that it’s just not financially feasible to try to touch them all through all the different possible sources,” responded Clerk Jim Ninnemann. “To be realistic, . . . to go through the process of coming up with what you want to do, send it out, get all that decided, you’re talking months.”
   Clerk Ninnemann continued, “I would suggest . . . you look at getting permission for changing policy at the annual meeting to fill the seat at-large, and then, you send out a card letting people know that at the April election we need to fill the seat with somebody from that area.”
   To be on the ballot for the next school board election, a candidate must submit their paperwork by the end of December.
   School board policy 0142.5 states, “If the vacancy is not filled within sixty (60) days of the date on which the vacancy first exists, the vacancy shall be filled by appointment of the Board President.” The policy does not identify if the appointee must reside in the area of the vacant seat.
   The school board asked District Administrator Tom Wissink to contact the school district’s lawyer for clarification and about possibly making the vacant seat a temporary at-large position until the next election.
   Vice President Sharon Gazzola made a motion to approve the 2025 Budget Hearing and Annual Meeting Agenda as presented, with possible revision after the district administrator obtains clarification on filling the board vacancy. The motion passed unanimously.

School Board Matters:
• Wissink requested that the school board table approving Campbellsport High School (CHS) early graduation applications, as not all applications had been received yet. A motion to table approving CHS early graduation applications was made by Vice President Gazzola and passed unanimously.