Former public health administrator criticized for delaying progress on infant mortality program

Attorney Matthew Mac Kelly (left) with Janelle Grammer (right) at Grammer's
hearing before the City Council Tuesday evening.

Embattled Public Health Administrator Janelle Grammer's trial before the City Council continued Tuesday night with bruising testimony that portrayed the department head as a nonexistent leader who gave half-hearted support to a program to prevent baby deaths.

The entire trial is playing out in public at Grammer's request. It's a stunning move given the barrage of negative testimony that's coming her way from former employees and her former boss. But the highly personal case is open to the public, including the media.

The bulk of Tuesday evening was spent on testimony from former City Administrator Ben Hughes, who Grammer accused of intimidating her for taking Family Medical Leave. A state investigator dismissed Grammer's claim.

Hughes testified that when he was hired former Administrator Steve Nenonen described Grammer as an underperforming city employee who was "in over her head." Hughes said he drew the same conclusion after working as her boss. (The JT's story from the first day of the trial also reported criticism of Grammer's job performance.)

Grammer's attorney Matthew Mac Kelly, of Milwaukee, attempted to pick apart Hughes' testimony during a two-hour cross examination. A key point was that Hughes sent Grammer a performance evaluation while Grammer was on medical leave in December 2008.

Hughes said it was only a follow-up to previous performance evaluations and was not in any way a retaliation against Grammer.

Infant Mortality Program

Regardless of the outcome of Grammer's trial, unfortunate details were released about the lack of progress in establishing a program to reduce Racine's infant mortality rate.

Dr. Teresa Johnson, of UW-Milwaukee, testified Grammer's leadership was "nonexistent" on creating the program, despite the city receiving $500,000 from the state to run the program. Johnson worked from the beginning to establish a program to review and prevent infant deaths in Racine.

"She provided no leadership whatsoever," Johnson said of Grammer.

Johnson added Grammer "slowed down" city efforts to implement the program.

Grammer's attorney entered a RacinePost article into the record as evidence that the infant mortality program was making progress under Grammer's leadership. Our article from February 2009 quotes state Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine, as saying the program is "moving forward" and that he's "happy" with its progress.

As background to that story, we'd been hearing that Mason wasn't happy with the progress and that he'd been working with city officials to get the infant mortality prevention program going. That was supported by a memo from Hughes stating Grammer hadn't hired nurses for the program seven months after she was first asked to make the hires.

I've been following the infant mortality committee's work in Racine because the city has the highest infant mortality rate in the state. Mason's $500,000 grant was designed to help reduce the mortality rate (aka keeping babies alive), but there seems to be relatively minor progress for a program established over a year ago.

Fortunately, the city's Health Department is now making progress, according to monthly reports to the Board of Health. At last month's meeting, Healthy Birth Outcomes Coordinator Ana Stier reported hiring two nurses to make home visits to pregnant moms, and this month the program reported 47 home visits this year and 18 total cases.

But the program is still behind schedule, Johnson testified. The city was supposed to take over data collection responsibilities by the end of 2008, but wasn't ready to take on the job, Johnson said. Instead, UW-Milwaukee retained control of the collection and then stopped altogether, because the money ran out, she said.

Acting Public Health Administrator Marcia Fernholz said Tuesday night that the city intended to resume collecting data. She added that she's seeing progress in the infant mortality program, a fact Johnson reiterated during her testimony. Johnson said the program began moving forward once Fernholz was named acting head of the Health Department.

"She was able to provide leadership," Johnson testified about Fernholz.

But Johnson said the program has been embarrassment for the city of Racine.

"I can't tell you how many times I've had to apologize in public to state leaders," she testified.

Hearing extended

To get an idea of the unusual circumstances of Grammer's hearing, no one on the City Council can remember ever holding a similar proceeding. (Usually, departing department heads reach some kind of settlement with the city and leave without demanding a trial.)

The case comes down to the city serving as prosecutor and making the case to remove Grammer, Grammer's attorney serving as the defense, the City Council is the jury and Mayor John Dickert and City Attorney Bob Weber act as judge.

The trial began Monday night and ran three hours before continuing Tuesday night for another nearly three hours. It's hardly close to finished.

The attorney representing the city said Tuesday he had six more witnesses to call and Grammer's attorney said he intended to have Grammer testify. The City Council also needs to deliberate before making a ruling.

The trial is expected to continue Thursday evening and probably extend into Friday. Alderman Aron Wisneski suggested it should continue into Saturday, if needed.

Dickert initially suggested to the council that the trial continue on June 24th and 25th, but Alderman Bob Mozol objected, saying the case should be finished as quickly as possible. Aldermen Terry McCarthy and Wisneski backed up Mozol, the lawyers got together and agreed to push on this week. (They couldn't continue Wednesday because a meeting could not be legally posted 24 hours in advance.)

Thursday's session is expected to start earlier - probably around 5:30 p.m. - to allow more testimony to be squeezed into the evening. The trial will resume with Mac Kelly's cross examination of Dr. Johnson, followed by the city's witnesses.

21st Century Prep promotes its latest 8th graders

For just the third time ever, Racine's 21st Century Preparatory School held a promotion ceremony.

On Tuesday, the charter school that began life as a K-4 school in 2002, adding a grade a year until it became K-8, sent its third class of eighth graders off to high school. There were 28 in all, about half of whom entered the school as second graders when it opened. The promotion ceremony was held in the Communication Arts Theatre at UW-Parkside; the school's charter was issued by UW-P.

Above, proud father Stephen Ogungbe, takes a picture of his daughter, Faith, alongside 8th grade Social Studies teacher Brian Gaudio, who began his teaching career two years ago, with this year's class. Faith was an honor graduate who received the President's Award for Educational Excellence, having earned a perfect 4.0 record. She moved here from Nigeria in 1998, and entered 21st Century Prep in the third grade. Now she's off to Prairie School.

As the promotion ceremony ended, graduates and guests were treated to a short film incorporating pictures of the students when they were young (er) ... and as they are today. Here are a few examples:

Police asking help in locating missing young woman

Police are asking for help in locating an 18-year-old woman of diminished capacity who has been missing since May 26.

Missing is Carrie M. Mack, who goes by the nickname "MeMe." She is an African American, 5'4" tall, weighing about 180. Her last known address is 4121 13th St.; she was last seen on the near south side and Jacato Drive areas.

She is described as non-violent, but may or may not be taking her required medications, which contributes to her endangered status, according to her mother, Carol Brown.

Anyone seeing her is asked to call the Racine Police Department Investigations Unit at 635-7756, or Crimestoppers at 636-9330, or by texting to CRIMES (274637) and referring to Tipsoft I.D.# TIP417 with your text message.

Last chance for GM's Janesville plant?

U.S. Sens. Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold and Reps. Tammy Baldwin and Paul Ryan will meet with executives from General Motors Wednesday, to discuss the automaker's recently-closed plant in Janesville.

Troy Clarke, head of GM’s North American Division, and Tim Lee, vice president of manufacturing, will attend the meeting, in Kohl's office at 1:15 p.m. Last week it was announced that the Janesville plant was one of three GM facilities under consideration for retooling to make small cars.

The meeting will give members of Wisconsin’s Congressional delegation an opportunity to make the case for GM’s Janesville plant and its workers. The 90-year-old truck assembly plant, with 1,300 workers, shut down in April.

No tornado siren outages reported Monday, officials say

Severe weather approaching Monday. Photo/Pete Selkowe

A RacinePost reader sent us an email saying she didn't hear a tornado siren Monday during the severe storms in the county. She lives on the north side near the Racine Zoo. I can attest the alarms went off Monday on the south side, so we checked with city and county officials to see if any sirens were out.

The answer: probably not.

David Maack, Racine County emergency management coordinator, said he received no reports of sirens out on Monday. Maack, a Racine alderman whose district is on the city's north side, said it's not surprising someone didn't hear a siren. They're not designed to be heard inside of homes, and the storm could have masked the alarm. Also, Maack noted all sirens in Racine County are triggered by the Sheriff's Department at the same time. So, a severe storm on the west end can result in sirens going off on the east end of the county, even if there's no severe weather on the east end.

I suspect that's what happened Monday. We heard the tornado alarm go off Monday while it was still sunny outside. When we turned the TV on, severe weather was reported on the northwest end of the county.

Maack said Racine County's sirens were turned off Monday prior to severe weather alerts on TV.

Tom Eeg, assistant commissioner of public works for the city of Racine, said the tornado sirens in the city were tested and repaired last week. A few sirens had to have batteries replaced, he said.

Eeg said he received no reports of siren outages Monday.

Uptown photos: Progress on arts district, sculpture placed and Brantner's exterior

Arts District coming along

Work is progressing on the city-owned building at 1526 Washington Ave. The new second-story windows look great and Katt Construction is well on its way to transforming the building into an attractive store front. (See the building pre-construction here.) Next up is exterior work on 1418 Washington Ave. down the street.


Sculpture placed
Uptown's new sculpture was placed on Tuesday. The 9 1/2-foot tall sculpture, donated to the city by artist Nic Noblique, sits on a 2-foot-8-inch pedestal at the corner of Washington Ave and 13th St. (See our post here.)


Brantner's
We're overdue on this, but Brantner's new storefront at 10th and Washington Ave. looks great.

Showing Progress: Four Unified schools improve scores to avoid state rebuke

Racine Unified showed encouraging results Tuesday on a state test designed to measure "adequate yearly progress" (AYP) for public schools around the state.

But even though four Unified schools showed improvement this year after falling short in 2007-08, Superintendent James Shaw said the district still had work to do.

"The district is not currently where it needs to be in terms of academic progress, but I believe that the district is poised to develop a comprehensive strategy to improve mathematics achievement at all schools," Shaw said in a prepared statement. "The development of our North Star vision has given the district the framework to ensure that all students graduate career and/or college ready."

Here's a breakdown of Unified's results:

The Good

Racine Unified as a whole received "satisfactory status" from the state Department of Public Instruction. The district had missed AYP the year before.

Goodland and Wadewitz Elementary Schools and Mitchell Middle School missed AYP in the prior year but met AYP this year. They're designated to be in satisfactory status.

McKinley Middle School also met AYP and is designated as Improved. However, the school must meet AYP for two years in a row to be removed from the "Schools Identified for Improvement" (SIFI) list.

Criteria for "satisfactory status" include:

• 95 percent of enrolled students must take the state's standardized test
• Elementary and middle schools must have an attendance rate of 85 percent
• High schools must have a graduation rate of 80 percent
• Schools must have a reading proficiency index score of 74 percent
• Schools must have a math proficiency index score of 58 percent

The four schools that made AYP this year after missing it in the prior year all took part in Unified's "Data Retreat" during August 2008. Knapp, which missed AYP in one category, and Gilmore also participated in the retreat, which will be expanded to all of Unified's schools this year, according to the district.

The data-driven model is part of Superintendent James Shaw's plan to create a "data warehouse" for teachers, parents, students and the public to access Unified student data to evaluate public education in our community. The hope is putting data in people's hands will help them identify and solve problems, leading to better results.

Shaw talked about this on his blog. We reported on plans for a data warehouse here. A district-wide "data retreat" is scheduled for August where school districts from around the country will present the strategies they used to dramatically improve student achievement and close achievement gaps.

The Not-So Good

Two schools missed AYP this year in one or more areas for the first time. Jerstad-Agerholm Middle School missed AYP in reading and Gilmore Middle School missed in reading and math. These schools are designated satisfactory because they missed these areas for only one year.

Four schools continue in SIFI status. Case and Horlick High Schools missed in three areas, reading, math, and graduation rate. Park High School missed in math, graduation rate, and test participation.

Knapp Elementary was designated as a SIFI this year after missing AYP in math for two years in a row. Since Knapp is a Title I school, sanctions will apply and the school must meet AYP for two years in a row to be removed from the SIFI list. Sanctions include development of a school improvement plan (which is already a district requirement for all schools) and providing Knapp students with the option to transfer to another public school within Racine Unified.

Unified noted about Knapp's scores: "Knapp missed AYP for only one demographic group in math. The school did in fact make AYP across the other twenty-eight categories of the Wisconsin formula for determining AYP."

Unified said in a prepared statement plans are already underway to improve Knapp.

District administration will assist and support Knapp Elementary students and staff through a three-step process. Administrators began planning with central office staff last Friday and will conduct an Administrative Services Center (ASC) Data Retreat this week to create a school assistance plan for Knapp.

ASC staff will meet with Knapp staff next week to explain and discuss next steps. A meeting with Knapp parents will take place within two weeks. Further strategies which may be employed will include developing a more rigorous math curriculum, providing student tutors and teacher coaches, smaller class sizes, extended time for instruction, and best practices regarding parent engagement.

What else is being done

Unified officials saw hope for all of the district's schools in the results achieved by McKinley and Mitchell Middle Schools and Goodland and Wadewitz Elementary schools.

The district is also working on implementing a more rigorous reading and math curriculum for first and second-grade special education students. The inclusive practices will be expanded to more grades in future years.

And, the district is also rolling out a new research-based math program for sixth- to eighth-graders next year.

New fire station proposed for Durand Ave and Memorial Drive

Racine Fire Chief Steve Hansen hopes to use federal stimulus money to build a new fire station near Durand Avenue and Memorial Drive.

The chief proposed the idea Monday night while seeking permission from the City Council's Personnel and Finance Committee to apply for $2.5 million in stimulus money to build the new station. It would cost the city about $500,000, Hansen said.

If the money comes together, the Fire Department would move Station 6, 2101 16th St., to the south side location, Hansen said. There is plenty of land - including city-owned land - available near Durand and Memorial for use, he said.


The current Station 6 was built in 1973 as a temporary building in anticipation of the city growing to the south, Hansen said. The station was actually built as a residence with a garage for fire trucks. If a new station is built, the old station could be converted into a home or possibly a community-oriented policing (COP) house, he said.

Hansen said the major reason for moving the station is concern about coal trains rolling through the city. We Energies' two new coal-fired generators are set to go online this year and next. Both will require longer trains that will have the potential to block intersections and delay emergency response times from Station 6, Hansen said.

Moving the station south will add 30 seconds to response times in the neighborhoods along 16th, 17th and 18th streets, Hansen said. But it will give fire and rescue workers direct a route under the railroad tracks on Durand Avenue to Racine Street. As it stands, if a train is running, fire trucks and ambulances would have to drive from 16th Street south to Durand to get around the train.

Hansen added that the train companies use the tracks through Racine to stage their cars heading toward the power plant. That means the long trains slow down and take even longer to clear intersections.

"They do that at 2-3 a.m.," Hansen said, "but we have fire and rescue calls at 2-3 a.m."

Committee members approved Hansen's request to apply for the grant, but were noncommittal about using the money if it comes through.

Alderman Mike Shields asked Hansen if he'd considered what would happen to the old fire station if the city built a new one.

"If we're going to spend $500,000 we don't want to see that neighborhood deteriorate," Shields said. "If we spend $500,000 we want to see everything come up together."

The grant for the new fire station isn't a guarantee, Hansen said. Racine would compete with communities around the country for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's Assistance to Fire Fighters Fire Station Construction Grant. The money would be available through the Department of Homeland Security.

The grant requires a 20 percent match from the city. Hansen suggested the money could be borrowed as part of the city's capital improvement program. He said city officials should know if they will receive the federal grant in time to include the matching dollars in next year's budget.

"We can always turn down the grant," Hansen said. "I'm not asking to accept, just to apply."

Alderman Tom Friedel made a motion to allow Hansen to apply. The committee voted unanimously in favor of the proposal, which still needs approval from the full City Council.

Journalist starts Union Grove-area news website

Another local news website has stuck its toe into the Southeastern Wisconsin cybersphere. RacinePost is no longer alone!

The new arrival is Know More, and its proprietor, Denise Lockwood of Racine, focuses on Union Grove, Yorkville and Raymond. Her site is full of photo slide shows and local reporting -- and newsfeed links from the Journal Sentinel and Journal Times.

A sample of Know More's photography; more here.

A journalist for 10 years, her most recent job was at the Kenosha News. She was laid off last October during a 20 percent newsroom reduction. Lockwood has covered news in a lot of area communities: Kenosha, West Allis, Franklin, Muskego, Cedarburg and Union Grove. She's now freelancing for Milwaukee Magazine, Southern Lakes Newspapers, Conley Publishing, and Prime Magazine (a new magazine from the Kenosha News).

After being laid off, Lockwood went to the Poynter Institute in Florida, a journalism think-tank and training center, to learn how to do multimedia reporting. "Since then," she says, "I've discovered a number of traditional smaller news organizations have been reluctant to do two things... larger enterprise reporting stories and web-based stuff. So I started my own site, but I also still have many freelance gigs actively going on.

"My old job at the Westine is actually open, but because of the economy and my availability they've decided to use me as a freelancer and I'm writing five stories a week. There are four communities and five school districts, so there's a hole there that needs to be filled. This is actually an experiment of sorts. I'm wondering if a community like Union Grove, Yorkville and Raymond can support a site like this. If so, great; if not, I have other ideas.

"I might also start one for West Allis because I know Community Newspapers used to have 23 papers and 100 in staff, then they went to 16 papers and 50 staff and now they are three papers and 20 staff.This breaks my heart"

In an early post she laments that the discussion about newspapers' economic woes mostly revolves around their declining ad revenues. "The discussion surrounding newspapers needs to move beyond academia and industry circles because if it does not move into a community discussion, there are some very real consequences as those sources of knowledge disappear.

"What price do we pay when no one is covering local issues? ...I wonder how many other journalists have ever been the only one at the school board meeting, the plan commission meeting, the city council or the county board meeting besides the elected officials. What price will our businesses and our community member pay if we don't demand strong journalism?"

Lockwood hopes to support her site with advertising. To place an ad, or continue the discussion, you can email her here.

Lehman wants teen drivers off their cell phones

State Sen. John Lehman, D-Racine, proposes to take a baby-step forward, adding his support to a bill that would ban cell phone use by "minors driving with a probationary license or instructional permit." First offense carries a $20 - $40 fine.

HELLO? Could this be any less effective? What about all the distracted adults who drive while talking on cell phones? How dangerous are they?

We've sent a query to Lehman, asking him why the bill doesn't go further -- banning all cell phone use by anyone driving any moving vehicle would make sense to us -- and will print his response as soon as we hear from him. In the meantime, here's his press release:

Madison – Senator John Lehman (D-Racine) joined Representative Sandy Pasch (D-Whitefish Bay) and Senator Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) in introducing legislation to restrict cellular phone use by minors who are driving with a probationary license or instructional permit.

“Drivers under the age of 20 account for 7% of the driving population but are involved in 14% of fatal accidents,” Lehman said. “There are enough distractions for inexperienced teen drivers without having phone conversations behind the wheel.”

A study by the New England Journal of Medicine found that the risk of an accident quadruples during a cell phone call. Another study, conducted by the University of Utah, concludes that driving while talking on a cell phone can be as bad as driving drunk.

The legislation (LRB-0978/2) would provide an exemption for emergency calls and would impose a $20 to $40 fine for the first offense. The bill is currently being circulated for cosponsorship.

Life after SCJ is souper for William Perez

Life after SC Johnson is turning out souper for William Perez, after all. He's just been elected to the board of directors of the Campbell Soup Co.

The former SCJ chief executive officer left here in 2004 to become CEO of Nike -- a job that lasted only 13 months but earned him an $11 million severance payment (and stock options). Then in 2006 he became CEO of gum maker Wrigley -- which soon was sold to candy maker Mars. That, too, produced a big payday: at least $28 million, according to Corporate Dealmaker.

Was Pledge ever this lucrative?

Car vs. motorcycle accident on North Main Street

Local photographer Kevin J. Barz was on the scene Sunday of a car vs. motorcycle accident on North Main Street by the Racine Zoo. One woman was injured and taken to the hospital. Both people on the motorcycle were wearing their helmets. Here are the photos:

Signs and license plates add the personal touch

Sometimes, a car lacks just a pinch of customization ... that a decal, or maybe a personalized license plate, can provide. Here are some of the ways Hot Rod Power Tour owners sent another message about themselves...

Hot rods in every style and color transform Racine

The promenade down Pershing Drive...

At 8 a.m., the rain came down. "It was just pouring," said Eileen Arnold of the Racine County Convention and Visitors Bureau. It stopped for a while, only to resume at 9:30... more rain.

But at 11 a.m. or so, only puddles remained, as the first of thousands of hot rods made their way from Madison into Racine, the second stop on this year's week-long Hot Rod Magazine Power Tour. By later in the afternoon, the sun actually came out, lighting up the fantastic paint jobs in every bright color under the sun, as long as it came in pearl or metallic or turquoise, yellow, red, orange... or flame. Long after some of the owners parked their cars for the day, they could be seen lavishing still more hours of obsessive cleaning and polishing. "I want to see myself in those rims," one wife good-naturedly told her husband. No problem.

The final personal touch...

The cars stretched up and down Main Street, side streets from Third to Sixth and all along the west side of Pershing Drive; the east side was devoted to tents and trailers erected by the commercial groupies for this kind of car tour: the vendors who sell the treats that keep these hot rodders happy: performance products, engines, mufflers, transmissions, tires, air horns, you name it: Painless Performance Products, Speed by Spectre, Nitro Tires, Rocket Brand Racing Fuel ... even a t-shirt or two.

Impossible, of course, to pick a favorite; there were roadsters, coupes, a "Got Milk?" delivery van, a Woody station wagon, a few race cars; the '30s were well represented, but so were fairly new Corvettes. Inexplicably, there even was a Smart car parked at Monument Square...it's a long stretch of the imagination to call that a hot rod.

If you weren't Downtown, here's what you missed:

'33 Willys Sedan Delivery truck, owned by Dick Spencer of Bay City, MI

The exception that proves the rule: Not every car was brightly painted

'It doesn't feel right if it isn't clean everywhere,' said William Echols
of St. Charles, IL, as he polished -- again -- his 2000 Pontiac Firehawk

Bob D'Amore of Kenosha, using a red paint marker
to touch up the engine on his '92 Buick Roadmaster

This is Main Street from ground level...

But to get a real view, you needed to get onto a rooftop

...which Doug Nicholson kindly provided access to.

This is part of Festival Hall's parking lot...

So many cars had stories behind them...

Rudy's '34 Chevy truck, with trailer; owned by Dob and Micky Rudolf of Dow, IL

An Auburn kit car, built on an Olds chassis

Never did find out what this car's story is, but it attracted a lot of attention

Richard Betchkal's '39 Ford, built by a neighbor who knew
he'd buy it. Betchkal says he's "more into bikes" -- he owned
Racine's Harley dealership from 1975 to 1992 -- but he likes black cars.

Tim Etes of Racine's award-winning '55 Chevy truck,
with a Corvette engine, a 'a father and son project!'

Blair Pfeffer of Racine, interviewed about his '37 Ford by CAR 25

Don Pichelman's '32 Ford, with a Cadillac engine. Pichelman,
of Racine, died a year ago, just after the restoration was finished.

Patrick Connell's '55 Chevy with matching camper trailer that he
built 'from scratch.' Asked if he camps in it, the Greenfield, WI,
resident -- who used to live in Racine -- said, 'Only if I have to.'

Our earlier story on the Hot Rod Power Tour is here.