Balsis responds to Medford School Board candidate questions

involved in programs that promote academic growth, social & personal development, positive mental health, and an ideal learning environment for all. We must keep our youth involved in activities and classes that develop strong positive relationships, so they mature into healthy, strong, and independent adults, not resulting in children experimenting with drugs, criminal activity, and other types of delinquent behavior. I believe investing in our school system and community is a must! For our schools to excel, we must have the very qualified, dedicated teachers and staff who invest in our students. We should foster a strong work environment to retain our investments made into all our educators instead of seeing them leave for greener pasture. A solid education system passes knowledge, skills, and habits from generation to generation playing a huge role in developing the foundation and backbone of society. I think we can all agree that environments that foster positive reinforced relationships with others excel above and beyond all else. I believe the updates to the high school are something that will need to occur now or within the next few years regardless. I believe if this is going to happen, why not make it happen now. Interest rates for loans are historically low and we can realistically expect a rate to be below 3%. I believe if we postpone now, interest rates, overall building & infrastructure costs will increase in the future. If a decision is made in the future to proceed with these updates, it could realistically cost the community millions of dollars more in just interest costs alone.

Do you support the $39.9 million referendum to renovate and expand the high school and why do you feel this way?

In the past decade, there have been many issues for public education across the state of Wisconsin including but not limited to Act 10, increased state funding for private schools, and years of budget cuts. All school districts including Medford rely on revenue from local property taxes along with state and federal aid. Many, if not most of our rural communities are slowly losing population, resulting in lower enrollment numbers and local tax bases, putting pressure on budgets. The way districts can increase local property taxes to increase funding for their schools is through the local referendum process.

With that said, yes, I support the school district’s proposed referendum. I voted yes in November 2020 and I will again vote yes on April 6th.

Many of my reasons for support are explained in my previous responses, however, in the last year COVID has brought many challenges to our local Medford community as it has our entire nation. It has affected our entire way of life, our livelihoods, and it has exposed many issues of concern. With all the many negatives of COVID, I have recognized one specific positive and that one thing is “there is absolutely no substitute for in person education.” Yes, I fully understand a virtual learning experience works for some individuals, but across the nation virtual learning for our youth is an utter failure, especially with younger students and those in need of a structured environment. We have seen exponential increases in failing grades and ridiculously high truancy rates. While some students excel, many do not. I believe the social isolation creates issues with declining mental health, a lack of social interaction and development, and for many children, our schools are sadly a safe place for them to go. There is a monitoring system set up where many aspects of a child’s life are checked, and concerns are brought forward as it relates to mental health, physical and sexual abuse, child neglect, etc. Without these checks and balances, many of our most vulnerable children will fall through the cracks causing delays in response, or even worse, no intervention at all. I, like most parents, rely on our teachers to educate our children academically with some hands-on support at home, but like most families, my wife and I work full-time outside the home every day and simply to do not have the time or ability. We do, however, maintain a strong parent-school / parent-teacher relationship regarding our children which is also very important.

What can the school district do within budgetary limitations to attract and retain quality educators and staff?

I believe this question could and would be answered by making long term financial and infrastructural investments into our school system. I not only see these issues within the schools, but they are also clearly visible within local law enforcement agencies across the state and nation. There is a shortage of quality qualified law enforcement officers, just as much as there is a shortage of educators. I believe providing the increased financial funding through referendum would allow more money to be invested in other areas of our district, including our educators and staff. I believe this in turn would attract and retain staff by promoting a healthy, positive, and safe working environment with other financial incentives. It is clearly obvious that if we are not competitive with neighboring districts or other areas within our geographical area, many educators may very easily look for opportunities in another district that offers a better work environment, better compensation, and overall better benefits. We cannot expect people who have invested a lot of their time and finances into their own education to simply sacrifice their wants, needs, goals, and desires without offering them something worth staying for.

How do you feel the school district can be more responsive to the needs of the community in regard to setting the school calendar?

I feel there is no real good response to this question. I believe this is a clearly a damned if you, damned if you don’t type of situation. As it is now, the school district puts forward the following year’s school calendar over a full year in advance of the start of that school year allowing parents to know their child’s schedule. Parents can then plan when their child will be attending school or on a scheduled break.

I do, however know in our local community that many individuals may argue they would prefer to see a full week off school for their child during the Thanksgiving break. We all know the Wisconsin’s Gun Deer Season is a tradition in Wisconsin. I believe many parents would support having the full week off rather than their child having to attend school for two days during that week. It is my understanding many students starting in middle school and continuing into high school already do not attend school during this time, causing issues with attendance. There have been arguments that these days during Thanksgiving week be rescheduled to days during what is now the school’s spring break.