P: (262) 813-0144 | E: steve.brown@salem.k12.wi.us

In April of 2016, Steve was elected to a 3-year term on the Salem School Board, located in Western Kenosha County. In 2019, Steve was elected to a second, three-year term, and he was just re-elected to a third 3-year term in April of 2022.

Steve received his Ph.D. from Iowa State University in Educational Leadership. His academic areas of specialization include educational law and ethics, social justice, and educational research and statistics. Other academic degrees include: B.S. in Broadcast Journalism from The University of Florida and an M.A. in Instructional Media and Library Science from The University of South Florida.

Steve has also been a high school teacher, principal, and district-level administrator. He was a tenured full professor at Northeastern Illinois University from 1989-2012. He also served as program coordinator of the Educational Leadership program for 8 years and 2 years as Department Chair. In addition, Steve served as Special Assistant to the University President for 2 years and successfully chaired the university’s NCA (Now HLC) 10 Year Self-Study for re-accreditation. His teaching areas include graduate educational leadership courses in the M.A. programs. Courses taught include: School Law and Ethics; The Superintendency and School Board Relations.

As Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh (UWO), for four years, Steve taught graduate courses in the UWO EdD program in Educational Leadership, leading up to the Superintendent’s licensure as well as courses in the MA in Educational Leadership.

Steve is also Board Member and Executive Director of the John F. Tinker Foundation. Created in May of 2018, this 501 (c) (3) public charity was created to celebrate the 50th anniversary (in 2019) of the landmark U,S. Supreme Court decision in Tinker v. Des Moines. This court case deals with the First Amendment rights of students and teachers.

Besides his academic credentials as a tenured professor over the past twenty-four years, Steve is also an award-winning playwright and broadcast producer and writer. His broadcast experiences include serving as an executive producer and programming director for an affiliate of National Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Radio, as well as news anchor and investigative reporter for a CBS Television News affiliate in Tampa, Florida. He is also the co-founder, with Michael Ullstrup, of the 30-time award winning WGTD Public Radio Theater, based in Kenosha, Wisconsin, now in its 18th season. WGTD Public Radio is owned and operated by Gateway Technical College in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Steve is also the co-playwright of the award-winning stage play, “Brown. Thurgood Marshall and Earl Warren: A Conversation,” based on the 1954 U.S. school segregation Supreme Court case of Brown v. The Board of Education. The play was performed in November of 2015 at the President Ulysses S. Grant Historic Site in St. Louis, Missouri, by special invitation from The National Park Service.

Salem School Board Members

Ted Goergen, President

Nick Pauloni, Vice President

Nicole Hass, Treasurer

Steve Brown, Clerk

Jack Niccolai, Deputy Clerk

Committe Membership