2025 School Board Candidate Joy Buchman
A February primary will be required to narrow the number of candidates down to six. The term of office for a school board member is three years beginning on Monday, April 28, 2025. Six candidates will appear on the April 1, 2025, spring election ballot for three school board spots.
SCHOOL BOARD QUESTIONNAIRE
JOY BUCHMAN
About You:
Can you tell us about yourself — your professional background, family, education, and history in La Crosse?
Thank you for the opportunity to respond here! I’m Joy Buchman, a 5th generation native La Crosse resident. My family arrived here in 1883. I come from an entrepreneurial family, having numerous entrepreneurs over the past 100 years.
I grew up in Onalaska, moved to the northside of La Crosse when I was 14, and moved to Texas when I was 20. I met and married a native Wisconsinite, and we lived in the Austin and Houston areas for 30 years. I was a stay-at-home wife and mother raising seven children while we built several small businesses. After my children were grown, I moved back to La Crosse to help care for my aging mother in 2013.
Then in 2015, I started attending Winona State University and graduated in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a minor in Child Advocacy Studies. I went on to get my master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a focus on childhood trauma, graduating in 2021. After graduation, I opened Kinsman Redeemer Counseling Center on the northside of La Crosse where I specialize in infant and early mental health counseling. I continued my education through UW Madison where I was trained in the Infant/Early Childhood and Family Mental Health capstone certificate program. This training gave me specialized skills to support the mental health of infants, young children, and their families. I utilize this training throughout my clinical practice today.
Reason for Candidacy:
Why are you running for school board, and what motivates you to serve in this role?
As a mother and a citizen, I want our education system to produce well educated productive citizens by the time our students graduate. This can only be done if we return to the role intended for this system…to teach READING, WRITING and ARITHMATIC as our core focus in elementary ages. History, science, the arts, physical education, and other courses are also important, but the primary focus needs to be on proficiency in the core learning courses of reading, writing, and math. Our schools currently have under 40% proficiency rating in ALL these areas. We need to do a better for our children. This is what motivates me to run for school board.
Top Priorities:
What do you believe are the top priorities the school board should address and why? How would you advocate for them?
Our top priority needs to be providing a curriculum with solid academic teaching (have you seen our student reading proficiency scores?). We need to teach true science and teach our children to read, write and do math! School board members could be involved in choosing these to help ensure compliance to this goal.
I am proposing and will be advocating to:
—Create a new oversight and review committee. This new committee would have the power to veto major changes by the administration, unless approved by the full school board, and by public referendum if the board requires it. No more school closings. We can put our collective creative brains together to find better solutions in order to keep schools in our neighborhoods and provide improved student outcomes.
—Increase safety measures to prevent illegal drugs and guns from being smuggled into our schools. We need to provide safety without infringing on students’ rights.
The governance policy needs to be addressed to ensure all board members have a voice. I understand this policy works about 95% of the time. We need to ensure it is being applied appropriately.
Public Schools:
Why is public education important to you, and how do you see it shaping the future of our community?
All of us as citizens are directly affected by the outcomes of our schools. Public education shapes the direction and future for all our communities locally and nationally. It does this through the choices of our curriculum and its daily application in the classrooms. It directs how we see ourselves and our nation, and the part we play in it as maturing citizens and ultimately who we are as adults.
The emphasis on pride in our nation forms children who grow up to be solid citizens living and fighting for the values that have been established as our national identity. Things like individual responsibility and achievement, equal opportunities, freedom to live with limited government intervention, respect for all, hard work and a free market system. Curriculums that emphasize these values produces strong citizens willing to be productive and to protect this free society. Anything less harms the values that set America apart from all other societies. America-loving citizens are created not born.
Declining Enrollment and Facilities:
The district faces financial challenges due to declining enrollment and older buildings. What specific strategies would you propose to attract and retain students and address facility needs?
As with any financial undertaking we must identify the waste, then eliminate it. Our older buildings are an asset that need to be bolstered and utilized creatively by our district. We have a city full of wonderfully creative business minded men and women, and we can harness their ideas and talents. No one person has the answer to these questions, yet collectively we do. Let’s ask and listen to all of the people of our community.
This is not a recent issue. Families have been fleeing the La Crosse school district for years. I have heard many stories of couples learning they are pregnant and then moving to Holmen or Onalaska because they do not want to raise their children in the La Crosse public school system. Some reasons they shared are the schools are not safe due to all the drugs and student on student violence. They also see the low test scores and want more for their children. Let the buck stop here. Let’s hear what the people want from their school system, then let’s give it to them.
We need leadership that is highly transparent and aboveboard, who are fiscally responsible and responsive to the voice of the majority. I promise to be honest and above board in all my duties and actions as a board member.
Community Engagement:
How will you foster greater community involvement in decision-making to ensure transparency and shared ownership of the district’s challenges and successes?
I propose the following:
—Hosting open forum and round table discussions where parents, teachers, students, taxpayers, business owners, or any stakeholder is able to come and voice their concerns, questions, suggestions and hopes for what the school district can change, improve or implement.
—Creating a new oversight and review committee. This is another area where public input would be welcomed. We need more opportunities for the public to voice their opinions and offer solutions. We need to listen to the people of the La Crosse School District!
I would love to be part of this open communication. WIZM radio is helping to open the communication with this candidate forum so, I thank you.
Childcare:
Do you see a role for the district in addressing the childcare shortage? If so, what solutions would you propose?
According to a City of La Crosse news release on News 13 by Heather Knox
Published: Jun. 13, 2024 at 4:51 PM CDT
“This narrative runs counter to what many other communities are experiencing across Wisconsin and the country. While many other communities are continually seeing childcare agencies close and/or operate at reduced capacity, La Crosse has experienced growth.”
This is an issue that does not fall directly into the role of the school board in and of itself. However, I do see that it could be adopted into the creative solutions of our unused schools.
We could work with the newly implemented collaborative program of the City of La Crosse and The Parenting Place. We could repurpose and lease some of our unused school spaces to house and help support this program to ease the childcare shortage. This is just one of many things that could help in this regard. It could be a win-win. We should be looking at all the options.
Student Support:
What programs or resources would you advocate for to enhance students’ academic achievement, mental health and overall well-being?
According to US NEWS and WORLD REPORT these are the statistics for our students’ academic achievement:
Test Scores at La Crosse School District
In La Crosse School District, 39% of elementary students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 35% tested at or above that level for math. Also, 37% of middle school students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 27% tested at or above that level for math. And 30% of high school students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 22% tested at or above that level for math.
What more of a wakeup call do we need to get our focus on teaching our children academics? We need to get rid of the things hampering our teachers from being able to teach the fundamentals of learning READING, WRITING, and ARITHMATIC.
These are not acceptable numbers. Why are our children not learning? It is NOT the fault of the teachers…it IS the system! If we do not teach them to master these basics when they are in elementary school, what makes us think they will have a foundation to understand anything they attempt in high school? The numbers above speak volumes!!! Come on La Crosse school district – – Only 30% of high schoolers can read at a proficient level!!!! Absolutely unacceptable. Time for a major change in this school district. Let’s stop failing our children! Let’s start to educate them for the future!
Teacher Development and Retention:
How would you support teachers in their professional development and address challenges related to workload, compensation and job satisfaction?
I would ask the teachers these questions and get a consensus, then work to bring that about by rearranging budget items to reflect the importance we place on our teachers. I do believe we need to foster a culture of “We”, not of “Us vs. Them”. If teachers and staff are at odds, wanting diametrically opposed outcomes, then we have a real problem. That is a problem that will never allow our children to succeed. “A house divide cannot stand”. We must stop the infighting, get it together, and do what is best for the children!
Wisconsin State Budget:
What priorities would you advocate for in the Wisconsin state biennium budget to support the district’s needs?
First, I would listen to the people of the La Crosse school district. Then, I would listen to the teachers and administrative staff to hear what they want and need. Then the school board would be able to prioritize needs versus wants. This is the process that I see to bring a positive result to the end users…the students, proficient in reading, writing, and math, and ready to go forward with confidence into this new future! I am here to help achieve that for our children. Thank you.
