Age: 50
City/town of residence: City of Mineral Point
Family: 17-year-old daughter
Education: UW-Platteville, Graduated Summa Cum Laude
Business Administration: Management/Human Resource Management
Occupation: Project Manager at IBM
Website: www.maureenmaygrimm.com. Also, by calling (608) 341-9545
Previous elected positions held: Currently serving 2nd term on Mineral Point School Board
What is the top issue facing this district and how would you work to resolve it?
People in Wisconsin and around the country are suffering. We are stuck in economic stagnation. Our leaders are more focused on getting re-elected than producing real results. We need to put people back to work. The best way to do that is to invest in education. We need to restore fair funding to our public education system because a strong commitment to education is proven to be the surest way to grow an economy.
Many school districts are noticing an alarming increase in the poverty rate of the students they serve. Budget cuts in recent years have made this problem worse by forcing schools to increase class sizes. We have slashed funding to public education while sending taxpayer dollars to unaccountable private schools. These schools are allowed to pick and choose the programs they provide as well as reject students they deem undesirable. This leads to a situation where private schools siphon off the cream of the crop, leaving public schools with students with higher needs. These policies will only lead to an expanding achievement gap and too many children falling through the cracks. We will never get back on our feet this way.
Our technical colleges have taken a big hit too. Recently, Lands' End in Dodgeville announced it is laying off nearly 200 employees. This is quite a contrast to 1988 when I started working at Lands' End and they struggled to find enough people to cover peak order demands. Since customers now place more orders online and less by phone, most of these layoffs impacted call center employees, many of whom have been taking phone orders for 20 to 30 years. These workers will need to be retrained to fill jobs that are available today. To do this, it is critical that our Vocational schools receive the funding they need to retrain workers. Last year, state funding to Wisconsin's vocational schools was cut 30 percent. This is the absolute worst time for us to be considering these types of cuts.
What are other key issues facing the district, and how would you work to resolve them?
We need to put our middle class families back to work, but our current leaders have refused to take up this task. Instead they have pursued an agenda, which attacked workers as well as women's health and equality, leading us away from a healthy economy.
The government has a role to play in creating jobs, which goes beyond cutting taxes for corporations and the wealthiest individuals. Instead, we could be investing in small businesses and entrepreneurs, the real job creators. Our state could be a leader in green technologies. We could be supporting our family farmers who produce our world famous milk and cheeses. We could be investing in our micro-breweries, which are becoming famous across the country for producing some of the highest quality products on the market. We could be supporting "buy local" campaigns, which keep profits in our state, rather than enriching multinational billionaires. We could be investing in manufacturing and infrastructure. If we do these things, we can get people back to work and get our economy growing again. This is the road to regaining Wisconsin's economic prosperity.
Why are you the best candidate for this office?
In my work on the Mineral Point School Board as well as in the business world, I have a proven track record as someone who will listen, consider all sides of an issue and provide needed leadership.
I have a strong background as an analyst, project manager and process improvement specialist. In addition to understanding budgets, I've developed skills in getting people to work together to achieve a common goal, fixing broken processes, and determining strategies to deal with a variety of challenges.
As a school board member, who has served without pay for the past four years, I am a strong proponent for public education. This is one of the biggest differences between me and my opponent. Mr. Marklein has been one of the strongest proponents for unaccountable, private voucher schools. He has sponsored legislation for these schools and approved reductions in funds to our public schools while increasing in funds to these voucher schools.
I will be an independent voice in Madison, representing my constituents, just as I have been on the Mineral Point School Board. My opponent, on the other hand, voted along party lines 99 percent of the time. Furthermore, he has and continues to receive extensive financial support from secretive special interest groups. These groups are investing heavily in his campaign, ensuring their interests continue to be served.
City/town of residence: City of Mineral Point
Family: 17-year-old daughter
Education: UW-Platteville, Graduated Summa Cum Laude
Business Administration: Management/Human Resource Management
Occupation: Project Manager at IBM
Website: www.maureenmaygrimm.com. Also, by calling (608) 341-9545
Previous elected positions held: Currently serving 2nd term on Mineral Point School Board
What is the top issue facing this district and how would you work to resolve it?
People in Wisconsin and around the country are suffering. We are stuck in economic stagnation. Our leaders are more focused on getting re-elected than producing real results. We need to put people back to work. The best way to do that is to invest in education. We need to restore fair funding to our public education system because a strong commitment to education is proven to be the surest way to grow an economy.
Many school districts are noticing an alarming increase in the poverty rate of the students they serve. Budget cuts in recent years have made this problem worse by forcing schools to increase class sizes. We have slashed funding to public education while sending taxpayer dollars to unaccountable private schools. These schools are allowed to pick and choose the programs they provide as well as reject students they deem undesirable. This leads to a situation where private schools siphon off the cream of the crop, leaving public schools with students with higher needs. These policies will only lead to an expanding achievement gap and too many children falling through the cracks. We will never get back on our feet this way.
Our technical colleges have taken a big hit too. Recently, Lands' End in Dodgeville announced it is laying off nearly 200 employees. This is quite a contrast to 1988 when I started working at Lands' End and they struggled to find enough people to cover peak order demands. Since customers now place more orders online and less by phone, most of these layoffs impacted call center employees, many of whom have been taking phone orders for 20 to 30 years. These workers will need to be retrained to fill jobs that are available today. To do this, it is critical that our Vocational schools receive the funding they need to retrain workers. Last year, state funding to Wisconsin's vocational schools was cut 30 percent. This is the absolute worst time for us to be considering these types of cuts.
What are other key issues facing the district, and how would you work to resolve them?
We need to put our middle class families back to work, but our current leaders have refused to take up this task. Instead they have pursued an agenda, which attacked workers as well as women's health and equality, leading us away from a healthy economy.
The government has a role to play in creating jobs, which goes beyond cutting taxes for corporations and the wealthiest individuals. Instead, we could be investing in small businesses and entrepreneurs, the real job creators. Our state could be a leader in green technologies. We could be supporting our family farmers who produce our world famous milk and cheeses. We could be investing in our micro-breweries, which are becoming famous across the country for producing some of the highest quality products on the market. We could be supporting "buy local" campaigns, which keep profits in our state, rather than enriching multinational billionaires. We could be investing in manufacturing and infrastructure. If we do these things, we can get people back to work and get our economy growing again. This is the road to regaining Wisconsin's economic prosperity.
Why are you the best candidate for this office?
In my work on the Mineral Point School Board as well as in the business world, I have a proven track record as someone who will listen, consider all sides of an issue and provide needed leadership.
I have a strong background as an analyst, project manager and process improvement specialist. In addition to understanding budgets, I've developed skills in getting people to work together to achieve a common goal, fixing broken processes, and determining strategies to deal with a variety of challenges.
As a school board member, who has served without pay for the past four years, I am a strong proponent for public education. This is one of the biggest differences between me and my opponent. Mr. Marklein has been one of the strongest proponents for unaccountable, private voucher schools. He has sponsored legislation for these schools and approved reductions in funds to our public schools while increasing in funds to these voucher schools.
I will be an independent voice in Madison, representing my constituents, just as I have been on the Mineral Point School Board. My opponent, on the other hand, voted along party lines 99 percent of the time. Furthermore, he has and continues to receive extensive financial support from secretive special interest groups. These groups are investing heavily in his campaign, ensuring their interests continue to be served.