Siena COO Awarded for Siena Safety Improvements

It takes a lot of hidden work behind the scenes to keep the school days running smoothly — and safely — for the nearly 1,700 students of Racine’s Siena Catholic Schools.

IT outages, heating issues, kitchen equipment failures — those are just some of the more mundane items on the agenda across Siena’s seven campuses. There’s also emergency preparedness and all the work that goes with it — identifying funding sources, applying for grants, keeping informed of best practices, all to be ready for situations every school hopes will never materialize.

Luckily for the Siena students, they’ve got Kurt Kayser on the job. Kayser, Chief Operations Officer at Siena, was recently recognized by the Wisconsin School Safety Coordinators Association as its 2025 Safety Coordinator of the Year.

The award was presented to Kayser earlier this year at the WSSCA’s 56th Annual Safety and Security Conference. Archdiocese of Milwaukee Associate Superintendent of Schools Bruce Varick was a presenter at the WSSCA conference.

“It’s very humbling,” said Kayser, a member of St. Francis de Sales Parish in Lake Geneva, of being recognized as Safety Coordinator of the Year. “There are so many great things being done by people throughout the state associated with school safety, so to be selected is truly an honor.”

“Kurt has championed the priority of the safety and security of all Siena students and staff for years,” Varick said. “Siena is blessed to have someone with Kurt’s expertise and experience in this area.”

In his four years at Siena, Kayser has worked to standardize the school system’s safety plans and emergency protocols across its seven campuses. He developed an Emergency Response Protocol “cheat sheet” that is recognized as a best practice in Racine County; he also applied for and received federal funding to digitally map all Siena schools and office locations to facilitate the needs of law enforcement and first responders in an emergency.

Additionally, Kayser obtained grant funding for the purchase and installation of security barricades for classroom doors and School Pass entry system at all Siena schools, in addition to a variety of other security enhancements.

“He has helped the organization understand the necessary support in policy, in practice and in the budget needed at the senior leadership of Siena for (these changes) to be a reality,” said Varick.

Kayser said he shares credit with his colleagues at Siena for these developments over the years. “The maturity of the Siena system that our senior leadership team has led is remarkable,” he said. “I am always proud of team achievements that we are able to accomplish.”

Kayser is also active in promoting the safety of all Racine-area schools as a founding member of the Racine County Countywide Active Shooter Preparedness Response and Recovery Schools Workgroup. He is also involved in the county-wide School Safety Advisory Board, which convenes representatives from all county schools on a quarterly basis to discuss safety plans, drills, procedures and training.

Kayser’s day-to-day workload also typically includes handling urgent issues that require attention — those IT outages or kitchen equipment failures that never fail to materialize, requiring a surge of resources to handle the problem without interrupting the school day. “I spend a great deal of my day keeping our Siena operations running as smoothly as possible so our principals and staff can focus their attention on our students,” he said. “We have a very lean staff, so all Siena staff have to be efficient to best support our Siena schools.”

A native of southeastern Wisconsin, Kayser is a US Air Force veteran who served on active duty for 25 years, beginning as an officer in the ROTC program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While in the Air Force, he was sent on assignments around the country and the world, including two major deployments to Yugoslavia and Iraq. He retired as a colonel and went to work for Amazon and a manufacturing company before becoming director of facilities for Aurora University’s George Williams College.

At St. Francis de Sales Parish in Lake Geneva, Kayser serves on the parish Finance Council and as the lead usher for its 10:30 a.m. Sunday Mass. He is also very involved in the Knights of Columbus and is an executive officer board member for the Catholic Central High School Board of Directors.

Kayser said that his work at Siena combines his passion for Catholic education and his aptitude for operations management.

“During our assignments throughout the world, we always sought out sending our kids to Catholic schools and having my wife teach in them,” said Kayser, whose wife Joanne teaches at St. Francis de Sales School, Lake Geneva, and whose children are both graduates of Catholic Central High School. “We believe strongly in Catholic schools and their value.”