PW-S School Board veteran, president will run again

Sara McCutcheon, who as Port Washington-Saukville School Board president since 2024 has helped steady a school system reeling from turnover and turmoil, said this week she will run for re-election in April in a bid to add to the more than 28 years she has served on the board.

That wasn’t her plan going into this election cycle.

“I intended to step down and talked to several board members about my plan not to run. I didn’t want to overstay my welcome,” McCutcheon, who is the longest-serving current board member by far and may hold the district’s all-time record, said. “But I received such kind words and support from them to stay on the board.”

It seems several people knew what McCutcheon had yet to realize.

“I told a close friend that I was going to turn in my non-candidacy papers and I immediately started crying,” she said. “My friend said,’ It doesn’t look like you’re ready to step down.’”

Then McCutcheon came home from work to find, by chance, her three adult children and her husband at the house and took the opportunity to further explore her election decision.

“I told them we need to have a family meeting,” McCutcheon said. “We’ve never had a family meeting, so they all thought someone died.

“I was so pleasantly surprised by their response — ‘Mom, we’re so proud of the work you’ve done on the board. We don’t think you’re done yet.’”

McCutcheon realized they were right.

“I’m just not ready to step down,” she said. “I realized I want to continue being a part of the exciting work going on in this district.”

McCutcheon was named board president in April 2024, a month after Michael McMahon was hired as superintendent in the hope of stemming the turnover in the highest ranks of administrators that had troubled the district for years. McMahon, a former Grafton School District administrator who lives in Saukville, has said repeatedly that he made a long-term commitment to the Port-Saukville District when he accepted the job.

“I don’t know that anybody realizes the gift we have in a superintendent who says he’s here for the long haul,” McCutcheon said. “Consistency at the district level and on the School Board is going to keep us moving forward.”

Already the district has made significant strides by, for instance, adopting a system of making data-driven decisions and supporting that with a strategic plan that also emphasizes accountability, McCutcheon said.

Among the district’s other notable accomplishments is winning approval of a $59.4 million referendum in April that will finance the construction of a new Saukville Elementary School and maintenance projects at the district’s other schools. 

For McCutcheon, who represents the Village of Saukville on the School Board, a new school has been a long time coming.

“I’m super excited for the new Saukville Elementary School, excited for a needed change in the learning environment there,” she said. “My children and my four grandchildren went there, so I have a great affinity for the school.”

Also running for re-election to the board is Kierstin Cira, who is completing her first three-year term representing the City of Port Washington.

Cira, a third-grade teacher in the West Bend School District, said the district has made significant strides under McMahon and, if re-elected, she will continue to champion the cause of public education.

“I feel very strongly about advocating for public education,” she said. 

The other incumbent up for election, Justin Myers, who is completing his first term representing the Town of Port Washington, has filed papers declaring he will not run for re-election.

The deadline for filing nomination papers to run in the April 7 election is 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 6.