Board defends Wauwatosa superintendent amid group's call for his removal
WAUWATOSA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The Wauwatosa School Board president on Monday defended the performance of Superintendent Demond Means as a group of parents and taxpayers called for his removal.
The group, 2030 Tosa Task Force, organized a demonstration outside the district office ahead of the board meeting. They're demanding the firings of Means and Ted Martin, the principal of McKinley Elementary.
The task force also wants the board to revisit its decision earlier this spring to close the Wauwatosa STEM (WSTEM) charter school following the 2025-26 school year.
About two dozen protestors held signs along North Avenue for about an hour before the board meeting. A common theme from demonstrators was a sense district leaders are not listening to them.
"I don't think [Means] understands his role," Jessica Haywood, a parent of a WSTEM student, said. "I think he thinks the board works for him and are his minions and do as he please, and that's just not how it should be run."
District leaders have defended the decision to end its agreement with WSTEM, an instrumentality charter that operated under the district but with its own leadership. District officials have chosen to instead push to implement a STEM program in all schools, which has left a number of WSTEM parents skeptical.
"Everything the district has been advertising has not come true," Troy Woodard, a WSTEM parent, said. "There's been a lot of empty promises and a lot of items and just don't pass the logic test."
Other parents at Monday's meeting said they're satisfied with the district and criticized the group's approach.
Nikki Etter, a district parent also affiliated with the group Support our Schools Wauwatosa, said families should redirect their energy toward pushing the Legislature to increase K-12 education funding. The budget-writing Joint Finance Committee is scheduled to discuss school funding at the Capitol Thursday afternoon.
"I'm all for community involvement, but I think there's a difference between constructive engagement and bullying of educators that you don't agree with," Etter said. "I think that Dr. Means has made a lot of positive changes since he started in the district. Change is not always easy."
Finances have also been a concern of the task force. They pointed to the discovery of a $4 million budget oversight last summer.
Voters in the fall passed a pair of referendums that will total $124 million over a 20-year span.
Before the meeting started, Board President Lynne Woehrle released a letter offering clear support for Means.
"Based on his last evaluation and his work with the district this Spring, we are satisfied that Dr. Means is effectively managing the district," Woehrle wrote. "I want to be clear that the Board supports the work of the Superintendent and sees no reason to pursue termination proceedings."
A speaker during the meeting named Joey, who declined to give his last time citing fears of retribution against his wife who lives in the district, said during public comment he felt the statement was further evidence of a board not listening to concerned families.
"The community raised concerns, and in response, the board essentially said, 'We got it from here,'" he said.
A district spokesperson said Means, who was named Wauwatosa's superintendent in the spring of 2021, would not be addressing the group's calls, and he didn't during the meeting.
Woehrle said in the statement the board will revisit its process and timeline for its annual review of the superintendent at its June 23 meeting.