Community members call for change amid former GBAPS member residency questions

GREEN BAY, Wis (WGBW) – Half a dozen community members spoke at the Green Bay Area Public School (GBAPS) District board meeting last night. They expressed concerns about how the district handled questions regarding the residency of former board member Kou Lee.

Speakers contended that an election held in April 2025 could have elected someone to fill the remainder of Lee’s term if the board had asked him to resign when the issue of where he lived first came out. Lee resigned this month after an investigative report by the Green Bay Press-Gazette showed that he did not reside in the district.

Madeline Vasiliev is upset that GBAPS district board members were made aware of Lee’s residency issue in March, which, she believes, could have affected the election.

“Effectively, you interfered with the election on April 1, defrauding 92,000 people who voted. For the school board on the election day or prior, because you knew that seat should be empty,” Vasiliev said.

Later, she called for all school board members seated before the April 1 election to resign. 

“ I think it’s only fair if the members who are on the school board who are listed in the email chain, I think you need to resign immediately. You have lost our trust. You have lost our respect. And you do not deserve to be sitting in any of those chairs making decisions for our children. And you need to step down,” she said.

So, whether the vacancy occurred in March or after that April election, the same process would’ve applied. The board would be required, pursuant to the law to appoint within 60 days. That person would serve until April of 2026 and then have to rerun again,”

Melissa Theil Collar, GBAPS legal counsel

Some who spoke at the meeting were candidates in the April school board member race.

“We believe in free and fair elections. We believe in democracy, and when you find out that the process might have not been as fair or transparent as it could have been, it really makes you feel like perhaps there are some gaps that could be closed,” said Katie Gentry, who ran for GBAPS District board member in the spring election. “Over 15,000 people would’ve liked me to have been sitting in one of those places. And considering how things went, I believe perhaps I should be.”

Later in the meeting, district legal counsel Melissa Theil Collar told the board members that if Lee had resigned in March, when the allegations that he lived outside of the school district first surfaced – before the April election – state law would still have required the board to appoint a replacement for Lee. 

Selecting Lee’s replacement on GBAPS District board

“ If that vacancy had occurred prior to the spring election in March, then the individual would have been appointed as well by the board, and that individual would also have had to run April of 2026. So, whether the vacancy occurred in March or after that April election, the same process would’ve applied. The board would be required, pursuant to the law to appoint within 60 days. That person would serve until April of 2026 and then have to rerun again,” Theil Collar explained.

Elliot Christenson, who, like Gentry, ran for one of the vacant seats on the GBAPS Board in April 2025, asked the board to consider the election when choosing Lee’s replacement.

“Strongly take into account the election,” Christenson advised. “The vote that happened (April 1, 2025 election) – Katie was within a couple hundred votes. I would really strongly encourage you to pick somebody that just came up short by a few hundred votes.”

People who want to apply to fill Lee’s seat can do so starting at 5 p.m. today, May 20 through June 3rd. 

“Anyone that’s interested in being on the board will submit an application, resume, cover letter,” said board president James Lyerly. “Think of it as a job application.”

The school board will screen applicants at a special meeting on June 9. They will interview and select a new board member on June 16.