‘A firm believer in public education’

A balancing act more than a decade ago showed how much local education means to Arcadia’s Randy Nilsestuen.

It was 2011, and Nilsestuen had just started substitute teaching in the Independence School District, but he also wanted to make sure he could still drive school bus part-time, all while still cash cropping as a farmer after selling the dairy cows from the farm he co-owned with his brother.

Nilsestuen would call the bus garage at the end of the school day for a quick job swap. 

Nilsestuen would hop in the driver’s seat of the bus fresh out of the classroom, hand the person from the garage his car keys to take his vehicle back and help bring kids home on the school bus, all to likely be back in the classroom the next day substitute teaching.

“I found that I like kids, and I think kids can tell if you like them. And I thought it was great prep for being a school board member,” Nilsestuen said last week.

The longtime Arcadia school board member resigned from the board in July, a big change for the community — Nilsestuen first got on the board at 28 years old in 1980.

He served until 1991 and then decided to get back on the school board in 2008, serving for the last 15 years. In nearly 30 years of working to better education in Arcadia, Nilsestuen, now 72, has seen a lot.

He graduated from high school seven weeks before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, was in school during the Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy assassinations and experienced the shift to Act 10 that changed how public school employees are paid to this day.

The school buildings themselves have changed “dramatically” since Nilsestuen first got on the board in 1980. There were six portable classrooms sitting outside of the building on Main Street back then, two failed referendums and multiple superintendents during Nilsestuen’s first 11-year run on the board.

Nilsestuen was never afraid to ask questions to understand complicated topics, but he also balanced trusting administrators to do their jobs.

Arcadia Superintendent Lance Bagstad has seen that firsthand over the last handful of years, and he spoke highly of the recently departed board member.

“He always had the best interest of kids in mind when he was approaching anything. He’s a firm believer in public education. He believes that public education is what can drive the future of local communities, the economy, the future of Wisconsin, the nation and beyond and has always approached it that way.”

Nilsestuen, who continues to substitute teach today — though not as often as he used to due to a self-diagnosed ‘farmer’s knee’, he joked — went to UW-River Falls for a college degree in agriculture and grew up on a dairy farm. As a college student, he joined the student government group on campus and learned to be active in political issues focused on protecting students and education.

“It was because I dealt with university professors and administrators on a daily basis (that) I felt comfortable even at a relatively young age of having a seat at the table,” Nilsestuen said. “Not that I thought I knew everything, but this (education) is something that is important to me, that I believe in.”

Multiple referendums, the addition of the Wanek Center, the COVID pandemic and technology changing education are among some of the evolutions to Arcadia education the now former board member has seen. 

Nilsestuen’s great grandparents settled in Arcadia in 1866 to farm, and the family has made the county community its home since. Nilsestuen has lived there for nearly his entire life outside of college, and he is proud to have been on the board, he said.

“We’re not debating the latest issue on Twitter or Fox or MSNBC or whatever it is. We’re going to talk about kids and learning and teaching. Nobody elected us to discuss climate change, which I think is important, or the war in Ukraine, which I think is important, or any other issues. That’s not in our job title. That’s not what we signed up for. And we stayed out of that.”

Arcadia school board President Paul Servais pointed to the high school, middle school and Wanek Center referendum projects as examples of how Nilsestuen helped the district grow.

He also helped reignite the Trempealeau Valley Co-Op 2.0, representing Arcadia to work with other county schools and help students and teachers share resources.

Whenever the Arcadia school board would get sidetracked thinking about dollar amounts or the fine details of serving on a school board, Nilsestuen always reminded them what their true focus should be, Servais said.

“A lot of times when we’re having a discussion or debate, he’ll pause and say, ‘Are we putting the kids first? What’s important is the kids.’ And I always appreciated that because sometimes it brings you back to reality because so often in board meetings we get caught up in dollars or caught up in our position, but how does it positively impact the kids? And he always brought us back to that.”

Both Bagstad and Servais say Arcadia and its schools have benefitted from having Nilsestuen on the board for so long.

Nilsestuen is a “thinker”, Servais said, adding that he always grounded the board and thought about how their decisions might affect future generations and education in the community.

“The biggest thing I learned from him was really putting the kids first. The kids are why we’re here, and it’s about educating children,” Servais said. “That’s where everything stops, and ever since I learned that from him a few years ago that’s the perspective I operate out of.”

Nilsestuen provided a lot of value to the district and school board because he brought a wide variety of experiences in education, serving on the board on either side of Act 10, revenue limits from the state and salary negotiation changes, Bagstad said.

Nilsestuen also pushed for weekly communication between the board and district leaders to be sure that everyone was on the same page and up to date on the latest happenings across the schools.

At the end of the day, Bagstad said, Nilsestuen always made sure that the board and its discussions were focused on the right priority — the kids.

“His one issue (focus) is what makes for the greater good of public education.”