City Times Staff

A previously-planned closed session meeting to decide disciplinary action against three members of the School Board on Monday has been rescheduled.

The new time and date for a meeting to discuss possible censure, or some other formal disciplinary action, against members Alex Kochanowski, Lisa Totten and Kim Shirek has not yet been released.

Kochanowski was elected to the Board last April and is currently running for mayor. He had been on a leave of absence from his employment as a city bus driver to focus on his campaign.

But on Friday city leaders did confirm Kochanowski had been terminated from his position in the city’s transportation department. The reason behind his termination has not yet been released by the city. An open records request is pending with City Attorney Andrew Beveridge.

Totten and Shirek, who are both serving in their second term, respectively, currently are attending a state school board convention in Milwaukee. Both have recently come under fire for inappropriate and verbally abusive behavior during publicly televised meetings.

According to district documents, the Board will enter into closed session at Monday’s meeting to discuss, “preliminary consideration of specific personnel problems or the investigation of charges against specific person…which, if discussed in public, would be likely to have a substantial adverse effect upon the reputation of any person…specifically, the reputation of board members.”

Reasons for the possible action, and what form the censure could take, was not immediately known. School Board President Angel Faxon, along with a majority of the Board and Superintendent Attila Weninger, was in Milwaukee attending the state School Board convention on Friday and could not immediately be reached.

More as we have it.