In a battle of two write-in candidates Mike Cavalenes appears to have won a seat on the Paris School Board.
Results from the Paris portion of the school district had Cavalenes leading 286 votes to 92 votes for Doug Boss.
Part of the district is in Bristol and an even smaller part is in Kenosha. Returns from those areas were not available as of 10:13 p.m.
Since no one filed in time to appear on the ballot, both candidates waged write-in candidacies.
I wish to thanks all those that supported me! Now the hard stuff begins.
Mike
Congratulations to Mr. Cavalenes. If anyone can help make our school system solvent long term, it is him.
Paris is a great school. I hope the same can be said two years from now. I, for one, am worried.
I agree with RetroJ. I am very worried about this also. I bet there will be a lot more people attending meetings now. I find it reprehensible that someone from Paris would go out and vandalize and steal Doug Boss’ signs. How childish! I feel that gave Mike an unfair advantage.
I asked this question before: Does anyone know what Doug Boss stands for? What were his concerns and solutions to the problems this awesome school faces? I believe Mike at least laid out on the table what he is concerned about first…..Taxes. He won. I am concerned about taxes too but that is not #1 for me. The school staying open and maintaining and even improving is my biggest concern. And yes the meetings will probably be held in the cafeteria from now on due to the volume of interest in the near future.
Agree with Paris Parent and RetroJ. However I am not as worried because it is Mike’s vote against the four other board members that have done a fantastic job. But we are heading for some choppy waters, my prayers are with the board. I would like to thank Leslie Holloway for all of her dedicated 10 years on the board, she did a great job.
Thanks for your $0.02 RetroJack.
Reprehensible. Now where have I heard that word before? Yeh that’s right, taxpayers at the Annual Meeting voted to reduce the tax levy so that revenues matched expenses. A nonresident was quoted in the Kenosha News at the follow up school board meeting as saying “it was reprehensible what would happen to the Fund Balance.†I handed this individual a ten-year forecast showing the Fund Balance was good for five years. Guess who was quoted in Kenosha News, the resident taxpayer or the nonresident who pays no taxes for the school? You guessed it, the nonresident, and her unforgettable ‘reprehensible’ comment.
I don’t think a few signs most likely removed because they were placed without permission would change a 25% to 75% vote. I placed 97 signs with permission and retrieved all but 3 signs. I would say the signs reflected the support in the town.
I would like to thank Leslie Holloway for her hard work and effort. I would also like to thank her for waking up Paris residents to Paris school’s financial situation. Thank You.
Lets give Mike a break. I’m not worried about him being on the board because he has the information needed to make sound recommendations. Paris school is a good school and the test results are outstanding but the kids come from homes that make school a priority. Finally for all of you who are worried about Mike C on the board did you ever ask yourself how we got here in the first place? It can be traced back 10 years to when contracts started to get out of control. Not my view but facts right from the DPI web site. All that has changed is that there is a new voice on the board that deserves to be heard. I predict little or no additional turn out at meetings.
Even losing the election will not dampen my spirt to help the Paris school. I want to honor the memory of a past board member, and keep Paris a Blue Ribbon school. Congrats Mike, and a hart felt thankyou to Leslie Holloway, and the other board members for going the extra mile. I am currently recovering from back surgery today, but in a few weeks if needed I would be proud to help in any way. Thank you to my supporters.
While it is wholly appropriate to thank Leslie for her ten years of hard work, and I do thank her for that, it is completely inappropriate to ignore the utter disaster the school board and administration have visited upon our finances during that decade. I have noticed that those who are closest to the school are the quickest to shoot the messenger. The wider community is not as quick to do so, and make no mistake the results of this election were about finances. We did not elect Mike to destroy the school. We elected him to help save it without taxing us out of our homes. I expect that nabobs of negativity like loveparis will be unpleasantly surprised to see that the new board will actually pull together to see this vision become a reality.
Utter Disaster?? If you’re so concerned about the finances of the school, why, oh why, didn’t I see your name on the ballot for school board? It is so much easier to complain about things rather than putting yourself out there to sit on the board. Being a Board member is a thankless job, especially when there are people like you who would rather complain and throw stones than try to be part of the solution.
You need to submit paperwork by early January to get your name on the ballot. I did not chose to run until after Mr. Boss expressed his views to me by phone and after the collective bargaining laws were changed to get concessions from teachers. This was late March and I could only run as a write-in candidate. My name was on signs all over Paris and I sent a notice to all Paris school taxpayers. If you did not see the signs, get a notice, or get a phone call either you are not a Paris School taxpayer or I missed you.
I did put myself out there and I got elected. I have sent multiple fliers to residents, participated on the FACT committee (do you know what that is) and commented extensively about Paris’ financial situation and offered solutions. I will be part of the solution and I will stop complaining like you are doing. I did not see your name on the ballot. What has been your contribution?
Don Logan and his wife Joan were also members of FACT, have sent out multiple fliers, and have been active supporters of mine. They were instrumental in my decision to run as a write-in candidate.
Sometimes Mike you really irk me. I can’t believe you have the guts to thank Leslie. You have said terrible things to her to her face, arguably you were her biggest critic. You have just thanked her becuase it would look good and you said it after someone else did. That is so unbelievably low and disgusting.
Loveparis, you irk me using my name like you know me while hiding behind an alias without the guts to stand up for what you say. Leslie showed me lots of disrespect from the very beginning, cutting me off and using parliamentary tricks to try and quiet me. What got me started was the inability of this board to listen to taxpayers, making decisions in closed session and trying to force them upon residents.
I agree I was her biggest critic and it was deserved. How about the WRS debt, the referendum deception, costly Post Employment Benefits, having QEO explained to her by a resident, very generous teacher raises, etc? I can still thank her for her service. It’s opposite of the lack of congratulation I got from school staff and board members. I congratulated Beth Labell for her efforts after the second referendum passed and I can thank Leslie.
How ironic, I volunteered for the FACT committee, was removed by this school board and then I was elected to fill the spot vacated by Leslie. Residents want my expertise while this school board did not.
And contrary to school rumors, I never talked to Leslie face to face.
Xfactor: Answer to your question From KN Write-in candidate vies for Paris School Board .
Boss, 46, has one daughter who attends Paris and a second who recently graduated. He volunteers with the school, with 4-H and with sports programs, and is the former fire chief for the Paris Fire Department.
He said he decided to run for the board because he wants to serve the community.
“I just want to be able to find some balance between the needs of our kids — we want the best for them — and on the other hand, we need the best for our taxpayers. We have to find the middle ground,†Boss said. “I don’t have any school board experience, so I will have to learn on the job.â€
Loveparis you never answered this.
From the school budget, State aid has declined $240K from $623K in 2007 to $383K in 2010.
PEB for the three years, 2008 thru 2010, is $772.5K.
The PEB expense is $482K higher than the State Aid revenue.
How is this not a spending problem during Leslie’s ten years?
So there are two camps in town. Those who look at the facts and know what happened over the past ten years and those that don’t have clue what happend and make no effort to find out. Both camps want to save the school but one can actully make it happen becuasue they’ve been involved and know the details and the other that HOPES something will happen. We have a great oppurtunity to save our top quality school thanks to Mike and the Govenor.
I sure wish I knew who was behind some of these aliases because it would be very helpful to talk to you. With everyone’s input we could solve the Paris school’s financial problem. If you are so inclined email me at Northwesternmike@yahoo.com or phone me, I am in the phone book. I would like to hear from both camps.
Yes. Utter disaster, Mike No-last-name-given. It would probably surprise you to learn that I have been quite involved in solving the problem at both the state and local levels, while simultaneously casting well-deserved stones. You are beginning to see the fruits of those efforts. Speaking of supporting the school, let’s compare property tax bills. Being a taxpayer is a thankless job, especially when there are people like you who would rather complain and throw stones than try to be part of the solution.
I too hope more people attend the board meetings. The very people that are saying they will attend now that Mike is on the board should have been attending as the school finances spun out of control over the past 10 years. Where were you people then? Oh you were at home hoping everything would be ok. Please attend the meetings now and in the future. We get better government when the people are involved.
There is time for voters to speak during school board meetings during VISITORS COMMENTS. Which you often ignored which is why you were told to be quiet. As for the FACT Committee, do you know why you were removed?
Loveparis, maybe you can explain this Blue Ribbon question
Question: There is a story in KN saying Paris has the highest test scores in Kenosha County and is a nominee for a Blue Ribbon school? But enrollment numbers don’t match test participants.
Xfactor may remember familyrus on KN mentioning not every student takes the test used to determine the Blue Ribbon nomination. Being a number guy I checked it out.
Mike and his numbers
From http://www.dpi.wi.us for Paris Consolidated
In third grade, 18 out of 26 took the test. 8 students or 30.8% of the class did not take the test.
In fourth grade, 22 out of 27 took the test. 5 students or 18.5% of the class did not take the test.
In eighth grade 16 out of 21 took the test. 5 students or 23.8% of the class did not take the test.
There are 18 students that did not take the test. Why? Are there 18 Special Ed children in these three classes? Is this why bloggers have said the tests are a scam?
From http://www.dpi.wi.us for Brighton
In third grade, 21 out of 23 took the test. 2 students or 8.7% of the class did not take the test.
In fourth grade, 20 out of 24 took the test. 4 students or 16.7% of the class did not take the test.
In eighth grade 21 out of 24 took the test. 3 students or 12.5% of the class did not take the test.
There are 9 students that did not take the test.
I would expect test score to follow a Guassian distribution or a Bell–Shaped curve for a normal population.
This will serve to document the current enrollment verse test participants.
The reckless spending… while perhaps the Board did make a mistake, WEAC and the Union have their share is cornering the school. There was an incident in another school district where they school board wanted to switch insurance companies to something that was cheaper for the school and WEAC did not give the school certain information that the needed. They switched and WEAC sued the school and won. So potentally the school could have been sued and I thought you wanted to keep the school open.
As for my alias many others here use aliases but you critize me and not them because I dissagree with you.
The ironies of all these efforts to shut Mike up are almost too rich. The putative reason for removing Mike from the FACT Committee was his offhand post on the KN stating that “Payback’s a bitch.†Anybody with a pulse could see that this incident was spun up into a tornado that was nothing but a thinly disguised effort to, once again, shoot the messenger. The board, egged on by certain hostile members of the YES Committee, proved to Mike that payback is, indeed, a bitch. What is lost in all this is that we are all pulling for the same end goal: saving our school and maintaining local control. This will not happen with costs spiraling out of control. Changes to the labor laws have actually thrown us a lifeline, as anybody who has studied the problem can see. Mike is not your enemy, and I wish you’d lose the attitude. Speaking of “visitor’s comments,†it would be nice if there were a “comments from the floor†agenda item both before and after the open portion of the board meetings. A responsive board should welcome more community input, not less.
We all know why Mike was removed from the FACT Committee thanks to the K news and thier PRO Paris Reporter D Smith. Mike was elected by a huge majority so its clear that the people want him on the board regardless of the past.
Loveparis
The Visitors Comment section is the most asinine (stupid and silly) section of the agenda. How do you know what to comment on before the discussion occurs? You don’t. You need to be a mind reader to participate. This is the most effective way to prevent school board openness, which is its intent. In the past some discussions were opened for community input, but it was stopped. Why?
A school board meeting starts at 6:30pm, goes through the formalities and ends after about an hour. For the next three hours the board goes into closed session and the real business is conducted without prying eyes or ears. Between this and the Visitors Comment section all taxpayer input is suppressed.
To improve community involvement discussions at school board meetings need to be encouraged and residents need to be included. I remember a resident telling me when he was the only one at a meeting he could ask questions and when I attended he could not.
A community wide and open discussion of Paris’ finances needs to be held. I also believe a community finance committee needs to be setup to evaluate money decisions.
I never believed nor did most of the residents I talked to think ‘Payback is a B#$ch’ is a threat. It may be politically incorrect, but we are not dealing with children here. I’m convinced I was removed because I exposed the schools financial mess and the board hoped I would go away. No such luck!
Oh enlightened one, with your insider status please instruct me why I was removed.
You also never answered “How is this not a spending problem during Leslie’s ten years?†The number questions never get answered.
I wish all posters were forced to use their real name. I actually would like to know who Paris Voter and Parent is. Loveparis, I think I know who you are, but it is easier to attack someone when you don’t have to stand up for it. I could then call you and we could discuss it, but you don’t want that.
Don, who are these hostile members of the Yes committee? I’m not trying to stir things up but is there even a list of Yes committee members? Seriously, I think a committee should list it’s members so there are no assumptions.
Just wondering.
Yes I understand that you do need to be, as you said, a “mind reader” to make comments but you could infer by reading the agenda. Or you could ask questions/ comment about something from the previous meeting. However you do need to respect that time out aside for comments regardless of how you feel about it. Since you enjoy helping our school and school board out so much perhaps during visitors comments you could have suggested that we move that time frame to a different part of the meeting. But you did not and now you sit here and complain about it. Those community discussions were most likely stopped because some people were making inapropraite remarks. I’m not saying that’s why but it is my best guess. Do you have a better one?
I did answer the question about the spending problem. Not a full 100% accurate answer but it is my idea. Do you have an answer?
By infer you mean assume as in make an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me.’ You got to be kidding me. Ask a question about a discussion that took place a month prior. The discussion was probably about an action item that was voted on at that meeting. Like I said community involvement is not wanted. I have respected the comment section, but I strongly disagree with it.
I guess you were not at the school board meetings where I asked to add a comment section after a discussion item. The answer was NO. The inappropriate comments were things this board did not want residents to hear like PEB costs or declining State Aid was not the problem.
There is no solution being a resident except to elect new board members, which was done.
You provided an insurance story totally unrelated to State Aid revenue or PEB costs.
So try again and answer the question.
I have heard plenty on innapropriate comments made at the meetings and on websites. (I am NOT pointing fingers at anyone specifically.) There are people who I am sure would like to rethink what they said or typed, myself inculded. There is a fine line between stating your opinion and being rude about it. There have been incidents where people crossed that line.
@ NW Mike: The question you had about some of the students not taking the test for Blue Ribbon Nomination…
I have a child in one of the classes you mentioned. I know that last year there were 18 kids in that class at one point. This school year there are 26 children in that same class (new Paris and Open Enrollment students).
According to the class list from 3rd grade last year (4th grade this year) the class had 22 children last year.
Perhaps, this is where the discrepancy is with the numbers. It looks like all of the students took the test last year, but they are using this year’s enrollment numbers.
I hope we cut those teachers’ salaries, pensions, and other benefits.
Being a current Paris resident and former student, I strongly believe we don’t need to pay that much. How many clay turkeys does one mother need? Seriously, if the teachers were more creative and actually changed or adapted their activities year after year, then I would care more. How can you live with yourself teaching the same book year after year?
What makes the teachers look good are the parents. Paris has some of the most engaged parents ever – that is what is holding the school up.
I will say that the teachers do an excellent job of getting rid of troubled students like foster kids. We wouldn’t want them holding the school back from being blue ribbon. They also do an excellent job in prepping students on how to do well on those standardized tests.