Seven vie in primary for state superintendent seat

By Kim McDarison  

With Tuesday’s spring primary election just around the corner, voters might be wondering who are the seven candidates vying for the open state Department of Public Instruction (DPI) superintendent’s seat?

The top two voter-getters will advance to the spring general election in April. 

In alphabetical order, they are: 

Sheila Briggs

Sheila Briggs is an assistant state superintendent, leading the Division for Academic Excellence. She was appointed to that position in 2011 by then-state Superintendent Tony Evers and reappointed in 2019 by current DPI chief Carolyn Stanford Taylor.  

Stanford Taylor is not seeking another term.  

Prior to that, her Linkedin resume states, she was employed by the Madison Metropolitan School District for nearly 10 years, serving as the director of state and federal programs — with responsibilities including managing the district’s state and federal grants — while continuing in her previous position as the elementary lead principal, which focused on supporting the assistant superintendent for elementary schools. The job further entailed providing leadership support to 32 elementary school principals. 

Briggs earlier had served as an elementary school principal, and a teacher of five-year-old kindergarten classes at three elementary schools within the Madison Metropolitan School District.

Briggs holds a doctorate degree in education leadership and policy analysis earned at University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2012. She received her master’s administration capstone certificate from the same institution in educational leadership in 2007. 

She also holds a master’s degree from Cardinal Stritch University in educational administration, earned in 2001, and a bachelor’s degree in child and family studies from UW-Madison in 1991. 

A campaign platform outlined by Briggs includes several tiers of priorities. For children, according to her website, her priorities include making more counselors, social workers, nurses and psychologists available to children for improved mental health; more funding for special education; and closing opportunity gaps. 

For teachers, her priorities include giving them a voice and involving them in decision making, addressing the teacher shortage by inspiring more students to become teachers, and engaging in active learning, defined as nurturing the natural wonder within students.

For schools, priorities include fully funding public schools, turning away from initiatives to expand taxpayer-funded private school voucher programs, and recognizing unique needs of rural schools, including scarcity aid and transportation funding.

More information about Briggs and her campaign may be found at https://www.briggsforkids.com.

Joe Fenrick

Joe Fenrick, according to his website, is a high school science teacher in Fond du Lac and a geology lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh campus in Fond du Lac. He also is a member of the Fond du Lac County Board of Supervisors. 

“The future of our public education system is extremely important as I have a child in high school, in middle school, in elementary school, and one who is just learning to talk,” Fenrick stated on his website.  

He grew up in a family of educators, he noted, citing his father’s 35-year career as a teacher and principal in the Campbellsport School District and his mother’s 20 years teaching at St. Mathew’s Catholic Elementary School in Campbellsport. 

Fenrick attended public school in Campbellsport, graduating from high school in 2001. 

Rural living gave him an appreciation for hard work, and an interest in agriculture and science, he said, and his passion for science was further developed when he attended UW-Oshkosh. He graduated in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in education, having majored in natural science and minored in earth science.  

Fenrick completed his master’s degree in education also at UW-Oshkosh, he wrote. 

In 2017, he received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award from his alma mater. 

In 2006, Fenrick was hired by the Fond du Lac School District, where he continues to serve as a teacher today. 

“I have led committees that included an inclusive special education model, literacy for all, equity in excellence, and a new teacher advisory committee,” he wrote on his website. 

He was the recipient of Fond du Lac High School’s Teacher of the Year recognition in 2012. 

He has been a night class teacher for seven years at the UW-Oshkosh’s Fond du Lac campus.

Fenrick is an active volunteer in his community. He has served as a tee-ball, soccer and track coach, and has volunteered for Ducks Unlimited, a habitat restoration program, and Pheasants Forever, a program focused on keeping Lake Winnebago clean. 

In 2016, he was elected to the District No. 15 seat on the Fond du Lac County Board of Supervisors. He currently is serving his third term. 

“I believe in strong public schools where education leads our children into the future. A strong quality school can energize neighborhoods and be the focus of a community,” Fenrick wrote on his site. 

More information about Fenrick and his campaign is available at https://fenrickforeducation.com. 

Troy Gunderson

Troy Gunderson, his website states, grew up in Colfax, where he received a K-12 public education. 

After high school, Gunderson attended the University of Minnesota, graduated and embarked upon a 35-year career in public education. 

Gunderson has served as a high school classroom teacher and a high school principal, enjoying that role for 16 years. He next served 12 years as a school superintendent, with 10 of those years at the School District of West Salem.

Today, he is an adjunct professor of school finance in the superintendent certification program at Viterbo University in La Crosse. 

On his website, Gunderson outlines his platform to include the following: to create a vision for Wisconsin, which he defines as using a framework offered by “No Time to Lose: How to Build a World-Class Education System State by State”; expanding upon work completed by the Blue Ribbon Commission on Education and ensuring that all efforts are clearly aligned with the vision; to ready children to learn, which he defines as increasing investments in programs to better serve 3- and 4-year-old students; and working with communities to improve and expand options for affordable daycare, as well as to better serve families with school-aged children.

He said he also wants to ready teachers to teach, which he defines as committing to teaching as a professional career, supporting programs to attract the next generation of teachers, supporting professional development, and coordinating an effort to offer world-class curriculum and instruction, and readying graduates for their future, defined as applying a framework by Redefining Ready, to ensure all graduates are career, college and life ready, improving the connection between secondary and post-secondary institutions, and expanding private industry participation in career and technical education. 

A resident of West Salem, Gunderson lives with his wife, Jill, a retired middle school science teacher. The couple has two adult children, both of whom graduated from West Salem High School and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

More information about Gunderson and his campaign is available at https://www.troyforstatesup.com/content/about-troy.  

Deborah Kerr

Deborah Kerr says on her website that she has 40 years of experience in education, 21 of those as a superintendent of public rural and suburban school districts. She stepped down in 2020 after serving 13 years as the superintendent of the Brown Deer school district.  

The website describes her career as spanning all sectors, including parochial, private and public schools. 

She has served as a co-chair of a UW System task force, charged with advancing teachers and leaders into the pipeline. 

Kerr is a past-president of the national (AASA) and state superintendent (WASDA) associations. 

Kerr received her doctorate of educational leadership from National-Louis University, her master of education degree from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, and a bachelor’s degree in arts and science from Valparaiso University. She also attended Walther Christian Academy in Melrose Park, Ill. 

The website lists among her achievements serving as an adjunct professor at local universities, championing opportunities for all students, serving as a mentor and advocate for women, coaching a state championship girls varsity basketball team, serving as an athletic director and physical education teacher, and serving as a middle school principal and assistant principal.  

Among issues of importance, Kerr’s website lists her initiatives in calling for equity within schools so all “students feel loved and supported.” It also names her as among founding superintendents of the Wisconsin Closing The Achievement Gap Consortium, which includes 36 public, private, choice, voucher and parochial school districts in southeastern Wisconsin. 

“The organization pursues issues of equity, justice, diversity and achievement for all children,” according to Kerr’s website. 

She is cited as being a proponent of closing achievement gaps and the Building2Learn program, described on its website as a “new-age tech-ed shop.” 

Kerr is described as “a passionate advocate for women in athletics” and “a former student athlete and beneficiary of Title IX” who “took steps to bring high visibility to girls sports in her school district.” 

More information about Kerr and her campaign is available at https://kerr4kids.com.   

Steve Krull

Steve Krull, according to his Linkedin online resume, is a United States Air Force veteran. He identifies himself as a “proven leader for change.”

According to his website, “Dr. Krull has vast experience coordinating and implementing successful programs that lead to higher levels of student achievement.” 

Professionally, Krull has served within the Milwaukee Public School System as a principal, assistant principal, school support teacher and teacher.  

Krull is running for the DPI superintendent seat, according to his website, because “there is a teacher shortage in the thousands” and he “sees our public educational system crumbling in Wisconsin.” 

The site further lists Krull’s concerns being “a student loan debt crisis,” adding that, according to Krull, “to solve these issues, we need to reform school financing.” 

Krull discovered his joy of teaching while serving for six years as an instructor in the military, the site states. 

He earned his doctoral degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in urban studies in 2016, a master’s degree in teaching from Cardinal Stritch University in 2009, and a bachelor’s degree in human services from Wayland Baptist University.

As an educator, Krull worked to ensure his students liked school, and had engaging lessons, the website states. He developed individualized learning paths for his students to help them reach “their true potential.” 

Krull’s teaching methods brought positive results, and Krull was promoted to the role of instructional coach, in which he helped other teachers refine their practices to achieve success, the website states. 

As a principal, the website continues, Krull has been credited with leading his educational staff toward providing a “‘Grade A’ experience for all children.” 

Krull has won several awards, including “East Principal Rookie of the Year” and “Leader of the East” in 2020. 

Krull has developed skills in management operations, building systems that increase productivity and efficiency, and marketing and conservative budgeting,” according to his website.   

Other achievements include working with the Council of Great City Schools and coaching other Milwaukee Public School principals on budgets. 

Krull is a member of a principal professional development review committee, according to his website.

Krull met his wife, Amanda, while in the Air Force. They have been married for 19 years and have two children, one of whom is a sophomore in high school. The other is a freshman in college.

More information about Krull and his campaign is found here: https://www.krullforschools.com/about-steve.  

Jill Underly

Information posted on Jill Underly’s website notes that she knew she wanted to be a teacher as early as 1986, when, as a third-grader, she was inspired by Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher to launch into space. McAuliffe and her fellow astronauts died just after liftoff when the space shuttle Challenger exploded.

Since 1999, Underly has worked in many facets of education, including teaching high and middle school social studies, serving as an elementary school principal and as a University of Wisconsin College of Letters and Science academic advisor, a Title I consultant, and as an assistant manager at DPI. 

She currently is superintendent of the Pecatonica School District, where she has served for six years. 

Underly and her siblings are first-generation college students. A native of Indiana, Underly arrived in Wisconsin in 2005 to attend UW-Madison, earning a doctoral degree in educational leadership and policy analysis in 2012. 

Underly also holds two master’s degrees: one earned in 2008 in educational administration from UW-Madison and a second earned in 2004 from Indiana University-Purdue University in secondary education curriculum and instruction. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in history and sociology earned in 1999 at Indiana University, Bloomington. 

In 2015, her website states, Underly “was the youngest female superintendent to lead a public school district in Wisconsin with a research-doctorate degree.” 

“With over two decades of public education experience … and five years at (DPI) in both Educator Licensing and Title I, Dr. Underly has been committed to ensuring that every child, every day, has the opportunity for a first-class public education in the State of Wisconsin,” her website states.  

According to her website, she is credited with leading “initiatives to mitigate the open enrollment problems that plague rural school districts.” 

In 2017, The Pecatonica Area School District was among the first public schools to offer a full-day 4K program and a daycare program, expanding the 4K program, in 2019, to all district families. The model has since been replicated in public schools, and especially rural schools, throughout Wisconsin.  

Underly and her husband, John, have two children, both in middle school. The family lives on a small farm in southwestern Wisconsin. 

More information about Underly and her campaign may be found at https://underlyforwi.com/about/.  

Shandowlyon “Shawn” Hendricks-Williams

Shandowlyon “Shawn” Hendricks-Williams, according to her website, was influenced by life in a small rural Illinois town where most earned their living in industry or agriculture. 

When factories closed, the town was negatively impacted, the website notes. As a teenager, she moved with her family to Milwaukee, where her father was appointed pastor of a church. 

Hendricks-Williams is the mother of two children, one of whom is gifted and talented. The other has multiple severe disabilities, according to the site. 

Feeling “disempowered during the IEP (individualized education program) team process,” the site notes, was a catalyst behind Hendricks-Williams’ desire to become a special education teacher.   

Hendricks-Williams is a first-generation college student. She holds an associate degree in human services from Milwaukee Area Technical College, a bachelor’s degree in human services from Springfield College, a master’s degree in education from Cardinal Stritch University, and a doctorate degree in education leadership from National Louis University. 

Among her achievements, she lists moving, as a single mother, from depending on the state to serving at the executive level. 

She has more than 25 years of experience in public, private, charter and higher education and has served as a teacher assistant, special education teacher, supervisor, assistant principal, principal, district administrator and adjunct faculty member. 

In addition, she has served as the assistant director of the Teacher Education, Professional Development and Licensing team at the DPI, and as the director of the Milwaukee Office of the Governor. 

Hendricks-Williams also is an author, certified coach and consultant, the website states. 

She has established a nonprofit organization providing housing for adults with disabilities and adults who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. 

Hendricks-Williams outlines issues of concern facing the state that include equity, which is defined as “sweeping structural changes to ensure every student has a chance to fulfill maximum potential”; liberty, defined as providing students with the opportunity to form opinions based on truth and fact while supporting parents’ rights as their child’s first teacher; innovation, defined as pioneering dynamic reform to the structure of schools, including funding and content in the classroom; and community, defined as uniting parents, teachers, community members and students to achieve a common vision. 

More information about Hendricks-Williams and her campaign is available at  https://www.drhendricksforeducation.com/about.