WAUPUN — The Waupun School Board election is seeing some good competition this year with candidates Stephen Chene and Karen Gibbs.
Chene and Gibbs are running for the at-large seat, each with a strong campaign ongoing with public outreach and yard signs across the district. The at-large seat represents the entire Waupun School District, while other seats may represent specific sections.
The seat is left open after the previous board member, Karly Yuds, announced she would not be running again this year.
Previously representing the City of Waupun within the School District, Stephen Chene served on the board from 2020 to 2023, and was president of the board before losing the election last year to Dustin Gassner, a relative newcomer to the community.
The primary reason that Chene is running again is his view that over the last year the board is lacking the leadership he brought to them.
“There have been a series of things that happened over the last year that I’ve been away that I certainly do not like,” Chene told WPN in a statement. “What’s been going on with AgTech, what’s going on with staffing—we lost one senior administrator, and the softball coach going away. Each one of those—and there’s a couple more—they would have been handled differently by me than the way they were actually handled.”
Some of these issues he touched on in a Facebook post he made earlier this month where he described his background and his priorities for the district if he gets elected, with a more recent post discussing safety concerns for school buses.
Chene also pointed out that he has a lot more time to work with the board and other educational organizations such as CESA-6, which can improve Waupun’s standing in the education industry across the state. While he had served on the School Board, he also served as Waupun’s representative to CESA-6—a position that no one took up after he left the board, and a position he’d like to reclaim.
“I am that committed to education,” Chene said. “If I can get back on the board, I would absolutely do it. That was a joy to be on.”
On top of this, Chene had been heavily involved in reviewing and updating the district’s policies while he served on the board, emphasizing his familiarity with the inner functions of the schools.
Chene also had some words to say about his opponent, Karen Gibbs.
“What Karen is doing, I applaud her. I like that I see someone that’s making an effort to run for the board,” he said.
As for Gibbs, this will be the first time she’s run for school board.
Karen Gibbs grew up in Princeton, Minnesota and moved to Fox Lake to be with her husband Johnathan on his family farm in 2004. She has two children, 13 and 15, both of whom attend school at Waupun Junior/Senior High School. She currently works as Development Director at Church Health Services in Beaver Dam, helping the underinsured get treatment.
She also has served on the Governance Board at SAGES, an application school in the Waupun School District that is located in Fox Lake.
“I believe the leadership in our district begins at the top and continues down to the most basic element, the student and family, which drives me to serve at the board level,” she said in a Facebook post to her campaign page. “I believe the story of our amazing educators needs to be told, encourage them to meet their aspirations, and retain them in our district.”
“I also want to build upon past successes in our district to retain the students that live within our district and have students and families outside of our district see that the Waupun Area School District is an attractive place to attend school and participate in amazing activities and opportunities.”
Some of the concerns that she’s bringing up on her campaign include the staff turnover rate and leadership. The main reason she’s running for school board is to be part of the process that can solve issues that the district faces, and that she is in the right position to make a difference.
“I feel like if you have concerns or places and spaces you want to support—specifically our students’ education—that you should take a turn at responsibilities and be a part of change and support and continue to do better things for your community and your family,” she said in a statement to WPN.
Gibbs has been holding weekly coffee meetups at Wind and Unwined with people who want to talk about her plans if she is elected. She will also be attending the Business Alliance banquet being held next Thursday, March 28.
There is also an election for the board seat representing the City of Fox Lake, Towns of Fox Lake and Westford. The position is currently held by incumbent Jodi Schultz, who faces challenger Rebecca L. Droessler Mersch. Neither have a campaign Facebook page.
The deadline to submit a Campaign Finance Registration Statement to be eligible for write-in on the ballot is Friday, March 29.
The election will be held Tuesday, April 2. To see what is on your ballot ahead of time, go to https://myvote.wi.gov/en-us/My-Ballot.
