2025 Summer Learning Symposium

Legislative Update
Presentation Materials

Attendees heard how the latest educational legislation, including the state budget, impacts school districts. This session provided an overview of recent changes and how they affect funding, operations and district planning.
Chris Kulow, WASB Director of Government Relations

From Crisis to Comeback: The Power of Community Advocacy
Presentation Materials

In November 2024, the Mauston School Board approved a consideration to dissolve the district. In April 2025, the community passed a $7 million operational referendum to keep the schools alive. What turned this potential financial failure around? Why did the community respond after two failed referendums? What role did grassroots advocacy play? This session delved into harnessing community power to overcome challenges and drive sustainable success.
Joel Heesch, School District of Mauston Superintendent; Brandon Luehman, former educator and currently of Re/Max Realty

Strategic Succession Planning: Building Sustainable Leadership for the Future
Presentation Materials
Post-Session Interview

This session provided school board members and district leaders with strategies for successful succession planning. Participants explored how to proactively identify and prepare future leaders to ensure seamless transitions and organizational stability. Through deliberate planning and leadership development, districts can build a strong leadership pipeline—reducing the risks of urgent, unplanned changes and sustaining district success over time.
Rebecca Toetz, DeForest Area School District Superintendent; Kelly Robinson, Crivitz School District Superintendent; WASB Consultants – Bruce Quinton, Randy Guttenberg and Pat Mans

Keynote: Leading Together for Student Success
Presentation Materials
Post-Session Interview

Dr. Phil Gore explored how school boards can build trust, strengthen teams, develop clear priorities and have the most important conversations—with student achievement at the center of it all. Drawing from his experience as a board member, governance researcher and respected voice within several state school boards associations, Phil shared real-world strategies for better teamwork, smarter evaluations and leadership that amplifies student voice.
Phil Gore, Idaho School Boards Association Chief Learning Officer

Rural Schools Panel: Challenges and Opportunities
Presentation Materials

Rural schools face unique challenges, such as declining enrollment, limited resources and faculty retention. Panelists shared case studies and described how they overcame challenges to enhance educational opportunities and student achievement.
Panelists: Kyle Cronan, Chequamegon School District Superintendent; Nate Burklund, School District of Niagara Superintendent; John Gaier, former School District of Neillsville Superintendent
Moderator: Ben Niehaus, WASB Director of Member Services

Bridging the Gap: Communication That Connects
Presentation Materials

Is your community spread out—not just geographically, but also across communication platforms? With local media outlets becoming less common and people getting information from a variety of sources, communicating with an entire school district can feel challenging. You’re not alone. This session focused on how schools can bridge this communication gap and effectively engage with community members. Attendees left with creative strategies for conveying their message and practical tools to build strong, meaningful relationships with their community.
Sarah O’Donnell, Stevens Point Area Public School District Director of Communications and WSPRA Board M; Joëlle Doye, Mineral Point Unified School District Communications Director and WSPRA Board Member; Michelle Johnson, School District of Westfield District Administrator

School Finance 101 and Financial Benchmarking
Presentation Materials

School boards make critical financial decisions that impact school children and constituents. Being accountable to these internal and external stakeholders is a key component of effective leadership and governance. This session provided an overview of the key components of the nine-part WASB Finance 101 Series, along with introducing attendees to recommended financial benchmarks board members and their leadership team should strive to meet.
Roger Price, WASB Consultant; Mike Barry, WASBO Executive Director

Social Media and Youth Mental Health
Presentation Materials

This session covered the pros and cons of social media and digital connections for youth, while also providing resources and tips for maintaining youth mental health—online and offline.
Linda Hall, Office of Children’s Mental Health Director

Friday, July 11

Presentation Materials

Charles Franklin, the nationally recognized scholar, pollster and director of the Marquette Law School Poll, shared insights into current public attitudes toward public education, K-12 schools, funding, the state budget and more.

Empowering School Communities: Watch Stakeholder-Driven Planning in Action
Presentation Materials

Attendees discovered how the Wisconsin Association of School Boards’ Stakeholder-Driven Strategic Planning Framework helps districts turn community voice into focused action. In this session, presenters walked through the five-phase process that builds trust, strengthens alignment and results in plans that communities will support. Presenters showed how engaging students, staff, families and community members leads to strategic goals that guide real decisions—not just sit on a shelf. School District of Manawa District Administrator Ryan Peterson also explained how this framework helped the district reimagine its future—and how your district can too.
WASB Consultants – Patti Vickman and Cheryl Stinski; Ryan Peterson, The School District of Manawa District Administrator

Panel: ‘You’ve Just Been Chosen to Be Your Board’s President. Now What?’
Presentation Materials

A panel of Wisconsin school board presidents discussed the responsibilities and challenges of the role. Panelists from various districts shared their experiences, insights and strategies for effective leadership in a session designed to benefit new, veteran and aspiring board presidents alike.
Panelists: Joe Martin, Milton; Kevin Blake, Merrill; Meg Erler, Stevens Point; Chris Dickinson, Stratford
Moderator: Jim Bouché, Wausau School Board Member and WASB Region 5 Director

Academic Accountability and Progress Monitoring
Presentation Materials | Handout

This session explored how making data-driven decisions can drive academic improvements by focusing on key assessments, metrics and terminology. Presenters emphasized how districts can set realistic academic goals based on student data and develop strategies for continuous improvement. Attendees learned how to turn data into actionable insights for achieving educational success.
WASB Consultants – George Steffen, Cheryl Gullicksrud and Kelly Thompson

Calling All Board Presidents

Just as superintendents, business officials and other administrators benefit from peer groups at the state and local levels, school board presidents can improve by building a working group as we navigate our own challenges and opportunities in our respective districts. Attendees were given an opportunity to have an initial, collective conversation before returning home and continuing similar conversations with their peers in neighboring districts.

Stronger Together: Collaborating Through Intergovernmental Agreements
Presentation Materials

Presenters explored how school districts and consortia are using intergovernmental agreements to share staff, recruit and retain teachers and expand access to CTE, dual enrollment, AP courses and athletics. Attendees learned practical strategies for creating relationships and building partnerships that improve services and opportunities for students, and heard about the challenges of sustaining partnerships. This interactive session encouraged attendees to ask questions and share their ideas and experiences.
Lori Frerk, Arcadia Superintendent; Ben Niehaus, WASB Director of Member Services

Leading With Efficacy: Board President Roles and Responsibilities (Expo 4)
Presentation Materials

The board chair has a legal and ethical responsibility— to their colleagues and those the board represents—to run effective, transparent meetings that consider multiple viewpoints prior to reaching consensus. This session provided an overview of the board president’s statutory responsibilities and offered best practices in how to lead with efficacy.
George Steffen, WASB Consultant; Scott Mikesh, WASB Staff Counsel

The Essential Components of Parliamentary Procedure
Presentation Materials

In hopes of conducting school board meetings efficiently, many school boards establish procedural rules or make policy statements that they will follow certain parliamentary rules, such as those established by Robert’s Rules of Order. This session examined many of the parliamentary issues that arise before, during or after school board meetings, such as motions and amendments, voting and other common parliamentary issues that school boards “need to know,” offering suggestions for ways that school boards should appropriately address these issues.
Scott Mikesh, WASB Staff Counsel