Stevens Point school board adopts initialed written ballots, elects Erler president and fills committee posts

The Stevens Point Area Public School District school board voted 6–3 to use written ballots with members’ initials for officer elections and then elected Meg Erler as board president, Ted Kowalski as vice president and Marnie Mercer as treasurer at its regular meeting.

The vote on the voting method — an agenda item the board labeled as item 6 — followed a short debate among board members about transparency and protection from intimidation. During public comment before the vote, Chris Scott urged the board to “be transparent” and said in his view initials on ballots allow the public to confirm who voted without hiding the vote entirely. After the board chose the initials option, the election proceeded by ballot and the board named Erler president and reallocated committee leadership and memberships.

Why this matters: the board’s choice of voting method directly affects how officer elections are conducted and how much of those records are available to the public. The officers and committee chairs who were selected will help set agendas and priorities for committees that oversee business services, human resources and educational services.

Board discussion and vote Board members presented three options for officer-election voting: written ballot with initials, secret ballot without initials, or roll-call vote. Supporters of the initialed ballot described it as a compromise that preserves public access while protecting members from peer pressure; others said public transparency requires that votes be clearly attributable. A public commenter, Chris Scott, told the board that initialed ballots are “transparent” and allow community members to verify results.

The motion to use a written ballot with initials was made and seconded, and the board conducted a roll-call vote. The recorded tally was six yes and three no. According to the roll call, board members voting yes included Mr. Pope, Miss Mercer, Mr. Kowalski, Miss Erler, Mr. Shader and Mr. Liebrecht; members voting no included Mr. Summers, Mr. Liepak and Jen Bushman. The board proceeded with officer elections using the chosen method.

Officer elections and temporary chair Superintendent Hirschbrenner was appointed temporary chair to oversee the nominations and ballots for president and other officer positions. Nominations for president were opened from the floor; Meg Erler and Jen Bushman were nominated and each spoke to the board. After ballots were collected and tallied, the board announced Meg Erler as president. The board later elected Ted Kowalski as vice president and Marnie Mercer as treasurer; G. Pope was appointed clerk. Nicole Baumann was approved as the school board secretary by a separate motion.

Committee chairs, memberships and other organizational business The board appointed Marnie Mercer as chair of the Business Services and Human Resources committee and G. Pope as chair of the Educational Services committee. Committee rosters were filled: Educational Services was listed with G. Pope as chair and Jim, Jeremy and Alex as members; Business Services/HR was listed with Marnie Mercer as chair and Jen Bushman, Will and Ted Kowalski as members. The board also named representatives to several ad hoc and external committees, including Boston School Forest, the district’s tech steering committee, the negotiations committee, and CESA 5; Jen Bushman was appointed as the Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB) delegate for the delegate convention scheduled for January 2026.

Schedule and administrative items The board voted to keep its regular monthly meeting start time at 6:00 p.m.; Educational Services committee meetings were set for 5:30 p.m. and Business Services/HR for 6:30 p.m. The board approved the annual signature facsimile resolution that authorizes use of electronic signatures for routine documents and directed Nicole Baumann to collect necessary signatures from board members.

Process distinctions This article separates discussion, direction and formal action consistent with the meeting record: the board debated the voting method (discussion), appointed a temporary chair and opened nominations (direction/process), and completed formal actions by ballot and roll-call votes for the voting-method selection and the officer and committee appointments (decisions). Public comment from residents was recorded as such and did not constitute board action.

Looking ahead The board noted its next regular meeting date as June 9 and tentatively scheduled a board retreat for June 23. Several committee meetings and external events were scheduled in the coming weeks, including a CESA 5 meeting on May 15 and the WASB delegate convention in January 2026.