Incumbent President Van Loenen bumped from school board in Tuesday’s primary
February 21, 2012 at 2:22 pm in Hudson Star-Observer
In a big upset, current School Board President Barb Van Loenen was eliminated from the April 3 election, finishing seventh in Tuesday’s primary. Continue Reading

Very interesting. It was clear from my observation of the school board that Van Loenen was a complete puppet of the superintendent. When the superintendent whispered in her ear “Say yes,” Van Loenen said yes. When the superintendent whispered in her ear “Say no,” Van Loenen said no. When the superintendent said “Jump!” Van Loenen jumped. She was more of a puppet than even Mr. President Puppet Tjernohoj, and that’s saying something. So if Van Loenen gets bumped, one has to wonder what would happen to the superintendent if her job was ever put to a citizen vote. I think it would be a big thumbs-down.
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Ahhh Houston ….. I think we’ve got a problem…..
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Mary B-E wants the dog track so badly that she is willing to allow her school board members go down for it. Barb became the face of the dog track and as a result paid the price.
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Holland is as big of bobble-head as Van Loenen. This may well be a prelude to the April vote on the dog track referendum. If Mary loses that one plus three of her stooges on the school board, then look for another house for sale at the White Eagle golf course.
The question is why the union let one of their yes people to be voted off the island.
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Rumor has it that some (perhaps many?) teachers don’t want the referendum to pass because it may mean less money in their pockets in the years to come. Reality is, passage would mean less money in ALL of our pockets for years to come. Anyway, it is sometimes entertaining to watch the unions take out their own supporters.
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Hudson K-12 proficiency ranking dropped a full twenty places last year and that is an incredible statistic. We have been behind River Falls for several years (now ranked more than twice as high as us), way behind Woodbury and Stillwater for years and now find ourselves ten places behind Baldwin-Woodville. The administration and school board are widely despised by teachers and support staff creating low morale and poor performance. This district is a disaster and it shows. If you vote for an incumbent you are voting for more of the same.
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Could not have said it better myself.
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my question is …..WHY do you have a late start on monday- presidents day, and THEN have no school on friday…
PICK ONE FRIGGIN DAY AND TAKE IT OFF.
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It is conference time-
At least there were no “sign up to bring the teacher a meal” forms in the backpack this year.
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What cuts? Doesn’t the school budget rise every year? Just because the budget doesn’t go up as high as the board wants doesn’t make it a cut.
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I am surprised there is not a government funded program to provide teachers free hot lunch on conference days. Shhhh….WEAC might start lobbying for it!
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Surely you jest!
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You’d think they could get this training and “meetings” taken care of during the 2.75 months they have off during the summer?
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oh thats right- ia ms sooo negative–for the reason of having to take a half day off monday and then a full day off friday to the teachers can have “confrences”…..guess it must be nice to not have to work for a living and stay home….
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I’ve always wondered why conferences and/or inservice days can’t be held on a Saturday.
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I’ve always wondered why people have children that they can’t afford to take care of and then dump on the school to babysit for them.
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joe,
Teachers are working during the conference times–consider them “client meetings” if that is more in line with your work experience.
The late start on Monday was for teacher workshops; the high school staff had three sessions that morning on numerous topics from learning the signs of kids at risk of suicide to ways ti improve student learning in classes.
I can agree that it would have been less disruptive to have scheduled the late-start trainings on Friday after conferences.
Realize, too, that many teachers are parents and have the same challenge of arranging childcare on those days which other working parents have.
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I’m not surprised by this end result at all. Generally it is indeed the leadership that is responsible for the downfall of the team. I’m guessing that’s why the incumbents did not fare so well, either, and rightly so. The Board overall has appeared careless and jumbled on a number of fronts over the past year.
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