Michele Hancock

One of the agenda items of new business on last night’s Kenosha Unified School District Board meeting was the approval of the renewal of the employment contract for the superintendent of schools, Michele Hancock.  Mary Snyder, board president, said that the item was being deferred due to one of the board members (Tamarra Coleman) being out of town in Nebraska with the Tarzan group.  Also, Snyder stated that they are in the middle of the discussions of the evaluation procedure, and cannot proceed until that discussion is completed.

“The item will be deferred to a special meeting to be held within the next two weeks,” Snyder said.  She wanted to make sure all board members were present for the discussion.

There were several comments from the public showering Hancock with accolades and praise for the job she’s done so far.  Raydeen Edenhoffer stated that Hancock brought leadership and patience with her towards all Kenosha adults.  “She didn’t give up on the students when things got rough,” she said.  Rebecca Stevens, a member of the board, spoke passionately as a community member.  She spoke of the importance of  “listening and being open-minded and not cutting people off.  Respect and dignity for both sides is so important.  We need to come to a common ground for the students.  We need to listen to all the voices.  A quote I heard on TV last night was, ‘The opposite of war is not peace.  The opposite of war is creativity.’  We need to build trust with everyone in this district,” she said.

Jeff Cassity stated that “he hated to break up the ‘love fest’ for Dr. Hancock.”  He cited several reasons why he thought her contract shouldn’t be renewed, namely, qualified Hispanic candidates being overlooked for open administrative positions, the lack of caring on Dr. Hancock’s part when it came to a civil rights complaint, the resignation of an administrator earlier this year, with that same person receiving a five-month paid vacation and $58,000, and other reasons.  Dan Hunt then got up and continued the ‘love fest.’   Hunt stated that Hancock will be judged along two lines:  the financial aspect, and student performance.  “Student performance is the key,” he said.