imsmart2---No you're not. Pick a different username

but if one had a medical condition that precluded one from doing his/her job and resulted in dismissal would that information be made public? one has protections by hippa, serpa, and all of the other privacy acts. why, if this didn't affect the spending of the tax dollars, the tax payers' children, or no crimes were committed, do we need to know???

I agree with SarahB. this is none of our business. It is a personnel issue, not a board/district/community issue.

Walczak has dropped the case -- records should be reported soon . . .

No laws were broken: so no drugs, sexual harrasment, nor violence. Didn't involve money and nothing involving children. So he must have violated code of conduct rules.

Either he was habitualy late, swore like a GM employee, didn't wear socks (and I AM SERIOUS about that one), or used tabacco on school grounds. The last being something that would fit all of the paramaters.

well spoken NaVyGuY.

imsmart2: Actually, I usually back privacy laws. And, no, I have no connection to this dispute or those involved. I just feel that one's employment records (unless one is in an elected position) should be private.

If Mr. Walczak wants to release the information, then that is fine with me. However, according to this article, Walczak has never been told the reason for his being discharged. This I find most disturbing and, because of it, can understand his not wanting information released at this time.

Also, what is meant by your comment about cigarettes?

jmsmart2-are you joking about the cigarettes or serious?

Think this one through, Sarah. You're usually right there on governance issues.

Well, navyguy explained it well, and AndrewJackson put it succinctly. At the risk of repetition: We taxpayers deserve to know if the employee deserved to be fired, or if the administration acted improperly. The only check on the school district is the public (usually via the media). So yes, we don't just deserve to know, but we really NEED to know in order to ensure that our government is acting properly.

This is a situation where there are competing principles. The public's right to know and Wisconsin sunshine laws suggest that the district should be as open as possible, but privacy laws and the need for confidentiality in employer-employee relationships are in conflict with that. What I am happy with is that we have an institution like the Gazette who will go to court and demand answers, and that the decision will be in the hands of an impartial judge who will basically tell us what happened, or tell us that what happened is not something we really need to know about.

Aha! Another piece of the puzzle appears!

SarahB1....JMO....IT IS OUR BUSINESS! Especially when my children go to school and I have the right to know what goes on there! So what the statement was made that it had nothing to do with children etc......he still was a principal for a school in this town...therefore...yes, it should be our business!

Put me down for differ. ;-)

Not everything is everybody's business ... even if one's job is taxpayer funded. (Still my opinion. Can we just agree to differ?)

Bottom Line: if you hold a position where your salary is paid with public tax dollars, the reason you are terminated becomes public information. It couldn't be more logical, yet everyone wants to argue about it.

The taxpayers have the right to know who was inept, the fired or the firee. This will bring out the grammar police.

Your analogy is shallow and baseless. IMO ;-)

No, I still don't think it's anybody's business. The district has said the firing had nothing to do with students or laws being broken. That means the kids were safe and no laws were violated. To argue that one's personnel records are public information is like saying that the personnel records of all of us should be open to the public because we (take your pick) drive on taxpayer-funded roads, utilize taxpayer-funded police and fire services, visit the public library, etc. (Again, IMO.)

This is absolutely everyone's business. A public employee is being fired and we deserve to know why. If the superintendent and the school board want to run a private enterprise, let them do it with their own money. We are paying the bills, we deserve to know.

Nobody's business (IMO).

First of all, this is pretty clear cut in my non-legal eagle opinion. Mr. Walczak is a public employee and so is Ms./Mrs. Schulte as a result the taxpaying public has a vested interest in knowing why Mr. Walczak was allegedly terminated by Superintendant Schulte via a letter in July. If the school district had a valid reason for the termination (for cause) then it should be made public. If the school district was on shaky footing then they should have offered severance and executed a confidentiality agreement to avoid liability. Since neither of these things have occurred the public is left to assume the worse about both Mr. Walczack and the Janesville School District