Reflections on a School Board in Double-Down Defensive Mode

How “equity” became a shield—and accountability, a stage act—in Wauwatosa’s fractured district

By Christopher K. Merker, Ph.D., CFA
Wauwatosa parent, civic advocate, and governance policy analyst
2030 Task Force – www.Tosa2030.com

At the final Wauwatosa School District (WSD) board meeting of the 2024–25 school year, the mood was not reflective, humble, or responsive. It was defiant. Deflective. Staged. The evening revealed a leadership culture that, when confronted with growing public concern and internal dysfunction, chose not introspection—but performance.

As someone who attended the June 23 board meeting in person, I offer this account not as speculation, but as an informed witness. What follows is a documented reflection on what I saw and heard firsthand—set against the broader backdrop of district data, public reports, and community testimony.

This wasn’t a board seeking solutions. It was a board in double-down defensive mode.

A Hollow Equity: Five Failures of Mission Under Superintendent Means

Dr. Demond Means often begins his presentations with a reverent invocation of the District’s mission: a commitment to equity, to every child, to opportunity for all. In his June 23 remarks, he used the word “equity” 13 times.

Yet under his tenure, equity has increasingly become a rhetorical shield—invoked to silence critics, deflect accountability, and justify sweeping policy decisions that have undermined educational opportunity, alleged to have harmed vulnerable students, and triggered the loss of veteran staff.

In fact, one of the most telling dynamics in WSD under current leadership is how often the language of equity has produced or concealed real inequities.

Here are five demonstrable ways the District has failed on equity under Means’s leadership:

1) Stagnant and Subpar Outcomes for Economically Disadvantaged Students

According to the most recent 2023–24 data from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, only 35.8% of economically disadvantaged students in the Wauwatosa School District are proficient in English Language Arts, and just 32.4% are proficient in math (Source: District Report Card, DPI).

These outcomes are not only troubling on their own—they fall well below state averages. Across Wisconsin, 48% of students are proficient in ELA and 49.4% in math, placing Wauwatosa’s most vulnerable students 12–17 points behind their peers statewide. 

Wauwatosa’s outcomes are not an outlier of circumstance—they are a symptom of neglect. These students are the very group equity is supposed to prioritize. Yet under Dr. Means’s leadership, their performance has not improved. It has stagnated at best, and fallen further behind by comparison.

This is not progress. This is a betrayal of the mission. Equity has been the district’s loudest refrain—and yet the students who most depend on its promise are the ones left furthest behind.

2) Alleged IEP Retaliation: The “Fall of Rome” Email and Structural Harm

The xCore Report includes a whistleblower email now widely referred to as the “Fall of Rome” memo. It outlines allegations of targeted retaliation against veteran teachers through IEP overloading and misuse of Performance Improvement Plans. (An IEP, or Individualized Education Program, outlines legally required services for students with disabilities.) If substantiated, these practices would amount to systemic harm—not just to educators, but to the students they are obligated to serve.

Here, equity is claimed—but administrative maneuvers are alleged to have actively undermined protections for special education students.

3) Disability Harms and Race-Based Discrimination

Two educators—Takela Jones and Katie Petitt—have submitted detailed public accounts documenting failures in special education supports and what they describe as retaliatory workplace conditions.

• Jones, a Black woman and special education teacher at Madison Elementary, reported race-based intimidation, inequitable caseloads, surveillance, and mismanagement of services for students with disabilities.

• Petitt, a National Board Certified teacher, ultimately resigned after facing discipline she says followed her advocacy for IEP compliance. She wrote: “I cannot faithfully serve a district that condones bullying, dishonest, and unprofessional behavior.”

Both cases suggest that those who speak up for vulnerable students are punished—not supported. In the name of equity, those protecting students most at risk were pushed out.

4) WSTEM: Shuttering Opportunity Under the Guise of Equity

The district shut down WSTEM, citing “equity concerns.” Yet in its final year, 57% of applicants were reportedly students of color—the most diverse cohort in the program’s history. What was framed as equitable reform may have erased one of the few programs where access and excellence were converging.

Equity, in this case, appears to have been weaponized to eliminate—not replicate—success.

5) From “Islands of Success” to Leveling Down

Dr. Means’s stated goal of eliminating “islands of success” has resulted in the curtailment or proposed curtailment of leveled math, accelerated STEM, world language programs—such as Spanish—and other academic pathways. These cuts came without implementation of proven, high-quality alternatives.

That is not equity. That is rationing rigor. The logic of "equalizing outcomes" was invoked to take opportunity away, not open it up.

Undermining the Mission

At the June 23 board meeting, Dr. Means argued that “proficiency shouldn’t be our only focus.” But proficiency is learning. It is not the only metric, but it is foundational. Framing it as optional suggests a system losing sight of its purpose. But proficiency has sagged under his leadership, and so it’s not surprising to see it take a rhetorical backseat to “equity.”

He also claimed equity is “a call to action, not a slogan.” But when results lag, surveys disappear, and program opportunities narrow, the phrase begins to feel exactly like a slogan.

Retention Spin and Budget Theater

Dr. Means claimed a 92% teacher retention rate district-wide. Reports and insiders challenge this figure. During the meeting itself, one educator texted to say that Underwood Elementary had lost 14 teachers. Others have reported significant staff losses at Madison, Montessori, McKinley, East, and Longfellow. The district has not released building-level data to clarify or validate the claim.

Meanwhile, teachers were reportedly asked to sign contracts based on last year’s salary levels, even though final health insurance costs and raise percentages remain unsettled. Yet the CFO presented budget forecasts as if these variables were finalized. This isn’t fiscal clarity. It’s selective certainty.

Then came the moment of celebration: Dr. Means proudly announced a $50,000 donation, followed by the CFO’s statement that the district would end the year with a $50,000 surplus—a figure portrayed as a win. But balancing the budget is not a triumph—it’s a legal requirement. If not met, it triggers a statutory obligation to file a budget amendment. The district failed to do so last year when it overspent by $8.2 million.

Also buried in the CFO’s presentation? An $11 million structural deficit. The reaction from the board? A celebration with formal congratulations from Vice President and former Treasurer, Liz Heimerl-Rolland. And Mr. Bauer, the newly elected board member—who on the campaign trail described himself as a “finance guy”—asked questions about audits that suggested the opposite.

Curriculum Chaos, Not Reform

Dr. Means touted curriculum reform as a major accomplishment. But in reality, ELA curriculum turnover in WSD has been reportedly relentless: Treasures, Lucy Calkins, Fountas & Pinnell, Sonday, Heggerty, and now Benchmark—all in just a few years. According to sources, the cycle reportedly violated the district’s own 7-year curriculum review policy and left teachers in a state of continuous adjustment.

These were not strategic reforms. They were course corrections to poorly planned shifts. And as one educator observed, “The people creating the chaos are the same ones congratulating themselves for fixing it.”

Scripted Oversight and Uneven Discipline

Board questions during the June 23 meeting appeared scripted. One member asked if the board could even remove a principal. The answer—citing vague “NEAT” criteria—suggested that leadership cannot be held accountable until two years have passed. That’s simply false. Standard administrative contracts contain termination-for-cause clause provisions that allow dismissal when warranted, regardless of tenure.

Meanwhile, teacher discipline remains swift. As one teacher put it:

“I wasn’t even put on notice. One day, I was just placed on a plan.”

This is the equity problem no one in leadership will name: accountability is a one-way street.

Voices Ignored: Jenny Leigh and the Collapse of Trust at McKinley

The district’s June 17 “Restorative Practices” email claimed that mistrust at McKinley Elementary could not be attributed to any one individual. But longtime educators tell a different story.

Jenny Leigh, a teacher with 25 years in WSD—23 of them at McKinley—submitted a public response. Her letter is a clear, unsparing indictment of the leadership failures that fractured the school’s culture:

“In all of my years of employment, I have never encountered a supervisor or principal like Ted Martin... He is not a leader.”
“Mr. Martin’s conduct has caused an irreparable amount of harm to many McKinley staff members... The trust is not simply broken—it is gone.”
“He is, in part or wholly, the reason other staff members have chosen to leave, and the reason more will leave.”

Leigh was the only staff member to participate in a restorative dialogue with Principal Martin. She did so because she was retiring and no longer feared retaliation. Others stayed silent—not from apathy, but from risk.

Her final question lingers:

“Why is one man being held as more valuable than all the others in this circumstance?”

Spin, Suppression, and a Fracturing Narrative

McKinley’s Spring 2025 staff survey remains unreleased, even as other schools reviewed theirs months ago. Reports of staff retaliation, IEP failures, and suppressed data continue to surface.

On June 12, the district sent out a now-infamous “Shell Game” email blaming state lawmakers for deceptive school funding tactics. But the message ignored its own internal contradictions: escalating deficits, teacher flight, and community mistrust.

In short: it scolded the state for playing games—while the district played its own.

Final Word: When Theater Replaces Leadership

The June 23 board meeting was polished. But it was theater—while trust erodes, staff depart, and the mission of “equity” grows more performative by the day.

The district says it is “becoming.”
But to many in our community, it feels like it’s already come undone.