What started out as a normal first month of the year city council meeting where three ordinances were passed appropriating different funds for the new year quickly turned into a continuation of the debate about residency of the school board president.
This all began at the most recent school board meeting, Thursday the 23rd 2025, when Kathy Watts presented evidence which she claimed to show the just recently reelected school board president did not reside in Valparaiso. Kathy, who was Erika Watkins’ campaign manager in her run for Indiana State Representative, ended her public comment at the school board meeting by saying. Iโm requesting that the Valparaiso Community School board thank Dr. Behrend for his service to the School Board and ask for his resignation and Erika Watkins be appointed board president as she currently serves as the vice president.โ
School board president Dr. Robert Behrend did not at the time respond saying later at the council meetings the school board meetings are held in public but not intended for public debate. Erika Watkins did however respond to the comments by saying โI must admit that you ladies took the air out of the room this evening and that I’m now probably just catching my breath.โ Ladies being Kathy and another woman who came to speak at public comment during the school board meeting to claim Dr. Robert Behrend no longer lived in Valparaiso.
Erika continued โbut I want to pause just for that, we usually don’t or I usually don’t respond back or comment back, but I’ve been under attack as a board member since the day I got here, right, but one thing I will say, that I’ve emphasized before is that whenever I decide to leave this space that my character will speak for itself.”
This all started off again at the end of the city council meeting while Emilie Hunt, at large council members, gave her liaison report for the school board. Ending with acknowledging the recent newspaper articles and emails concerning the school board president, saying he โsent out a moving announcement with his Christmas card this yearโ and that residency is a โmost basic qualification.โ Emilie continues on about the role of the city council in appointing school board members but that the council body does not have any authority in their removal, that this must be done by the school board and that a school board member has called an executive session.
Council member Robert Cotton commented saying of the school board president โI think it would be a great gesture of his magnanimity to voluntarily step downโ this after months of requests for Robert himself to step down.
Barbara Domer commented โIt is unfortunate that his final months on the board are overshadowed by a controversy of his own design.โ Not until council member Peter Anderson spoke did we get a different perspective on these matters. Peter explained Dr. Behrendโs vacation home near his sons new dental practice adding needed context to the events and further saying about questions of his residency โthankfully the question was asked and the context and and nuance was explained to fellow school board member Erika Watkins well in advance of last Thursday’s meeting, unfortunately what brought this issue out of the realm of accountability and into the world of partisanship was Kathy Watts calling the issue out at the school board meeting and demanding Dr. Behrend’s immediate resignation knowing full well he lives in Valparaiso.
What has ensued since then has been an all out political charade that has been participated in by members of this council.โ Peter then motioned towards the council members and continued. โThat has not only damaged our city and its children but the integrity of a historically non-political board. It is a travesty, a complete farce. I am embarrassed for our city and the faux outrage on display is gross and purely political.โ Jack Pupillo used the opportunity to clarify with City Attorney Patric Lyp that Dr. Behrends had indeed provided legal proof of residency. Attorney Lyp confirmed that he had today received proof of residency and then went into a fascinating five minute deep dive surrounding Indiana legal code for school boards appointed rather than elected.
The last hour of the meeting consisted of public comments, Kathy Watts again and others. Most notably though, was the School Board President Dr Robert Behrend. โWhat some people in this room have put my family through, nobody in this community should ever, ever have to be put through. What I have seen displayed in this community, on Facebook and on social media is disgusting, absolutely disgusting, this is not the best of us, this is ridiculous. I’ve got my wife crying at home thinking she made a mistake. My wife didn’t make any mistake, I have text messages from October saying the Dems are coming after you, from October. The Christmas card had nothing to do with it, this was all planned. On top of that I had a four minute phone call with Erica Watkins from six days ago. I was advised by council not to speak here tonight but when I started hearing the stuff that was being said, yes some nice stuff but some of the things were completely false and for a council member to sit up here and talk about the size of my house, are you kidding me? What kind of world do we live in guys? To the point where someone puts my summer home address in Wisconsin in the Post Tribune? This is absolutely uncalled for, this is not how we behave in Valparaiso.โ Dr. Behrend then went on to describe a conversation he had with school board vice president Erica Watkins before the school board meeting detailing his Valparaiso residency and new Wisconsin vacation home, saying all the other board members knew of his vacation house by his son’s new dental practice, it was no secret and that ‘This type of politics was dangerous. And the whole charade to be set up by the campaign manager of my vice president’
Behrend then described the non political responsibilities of running a hundred million dollar school budget and the other communities that look up to our school system as โThe beacon on the hill, that is all being taken away by politics, I ask you to stop this here,โ Dr. Behrend concluded.
To Hear Dr. Behrend’s talk for yourself, You have to turn up the volume all the way, Click here and Scroll thru to the 1hour and 23 minute mark. Click here (Look for the date Jan 27, 2025)
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Aftermath Cidery & Winery ; Bao’s Pastry ; Be Good Juicerie ; Designer Desserts-Valparaiso;
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Susie Young Baxter, CEO, has published PanoramaNOW Magazine for 31 years. Her hobbies are Camping, Boating, Hiking, Nature, Gardening and Outdoor Activities. She is an Artist, Graphic Designer, an Avid Seamstress, Dabbles in Homemade Crafts and Landscaping. Since her Father was a Health Teacher, she also likes homeopathic Health Solutions. Since blogging started over 10 years ago, PanoramaNow has been added to Newsbreak – a national news affiliate.
