The newest Onalaska school board member vents about colleagues, issues

Jake Speed promised to shake things up

The last Onalaska school board meeting was almost as entertaining as verbal exchanges between professional wrestlers. Only unscripted.

Jake Speed is the newest board member. He and two others, including board president Ann Garrity, got into a heated argument at a recent meeting on the heels of a discussion regarding a teacher compensation agreement. 

Being the new guy doesn’t appear to be easy. 

“Three of them have been great to work with,” Speed said of his board colleagues. “But then there’s three officers who have been absolutely terrible.

“They’ve harassed me. They’ve chased me out in the hall. They’ve gotten in my face and told me stuff. The president doesn’t seem to want to follow statutes and says “Hey, I’m the president, that’s my discretion.”

You can watch the meeting clicking here (go to about 52:15 for the fireworks).

Speed has lived up to his campaign promise to shake things up on the board, and he doesn’t plan on refraining from giving his opinions.

“I’ve been told that I’m acting as an individual,” Speed said. “I have my own brain. I can think. I don’t have to act as a collective. 

“I have to support what’s voted on and act out on it but I can act as an individual when it comes to determining how I want to vote.”

Speed was the lone no-vote for a recent teacher compensation plan, as he felt a lower raise for teachers in their 12th years disincentivize those with seniority. 

Speed says more board members need to stand up against the administration.

“The administration comes, they set policies, they approve the policies and then, when they don’t want to follow the policies, they break them,” Speed said. “There’s no checks and balances. The board doesn’t do anything to make sure the superintendent is following policy.”

In getting elected, Speed was involved in a contentious campaign battle, in which he challenged the nomination papers of Garrity and incumbent Tim Smaby

Those two had their names removed from the ballot because of that challenge – they forgot required information on their nominating papers. Both had to run write-in campaigns. Speed won easily, being he was on the ballot. Garrity defeated Smaby for the other position.