Robin Doell is a kindergarten and first grade instructional aid and volleyball coach from Pulaski who has worked with hundreds of students at Glenbrook Elementary School, is active in her community, and is about to become a more recognizable face.
Robin has offered her likeness and her words, as have more than 100 educators, parents, students, business leaders and community members, to an effort to initiate discussions about Wisconsin's great schools. They are featured on billboards, and in TV commercials, magazine ads, newspaper ads, Web sites and other venues, and they volunteered to come forward and talk about what they believe in.
"I believe students deserve individualized attention, and that is why class size is so important," Robin says.
One observation from my 30 years of working in the classroom is that many of the same educators who are so articulate when they are talking to and about their students become shy and tongue-tied when it comes to talking about themselves. Part of my role as president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council is to talk on behalf of WEAC's 98,000 members.
But I am just one person and WEAC is just one organization. That is why we are featuring a variety of voices, from across a diverse range of perspectives. The top-notch, innovative public schools we have today have grown out of Wisconsin's traditions of openness, honesty and close-knit communities.
Investments in great schools build strong communities, and the excellent public schools Wisconsin has today are the result of the ingenuity and commitment of our parents and grandparents. Creating and maintaining great schools is a tradition in our state and something at which Wisconsin has always excelled.
Wisconsin's public schools have consistently achieved some of the highest graduation rates in the nation, with nearly three-quarters going on to attend universities or technical colleges. Our students have ranked first or second in the nation on the ACT college entrance exam for 18 straight years.
And local public schools mean more than excellent education for the students who attend them. Public schools build local economies by preparing young people and attracting the jobs of the future. Schools are the hearts of their communities and provide a place for all of us to come together.
In my conversations with parents, educators and others over the course of my career in education I have found that Wisconsin citizens strongly support their public schools because we all share a set of core beliefs. No matter what our walk of life, we seem to define a great school in starkly similar ways:
• They are places that are welcoming, where kids learn more than academics, including how to get along and work with others and to problem-solve;
• They provide students with an opportunity to succeed, whether it is focused on going to college or preparing for work through vocational training;
• They are built around teamwork among educators, parents, principals and the community as a whole.
• They are the embodiment of a great traditions of educational excellence in the state, and one that is worthy of constant renewal and maintenance.
We hope this effort evolves into a grassroots movement that everyone wants to be a part of. You can start by going to WEAC's Web site - weac.org - reading about what people throughout Wisconsin believe about public education, and adding your own perspective. What do you believe about public education in Wisconsin? How have schools impacted your life?
Great schools benefit everyone, and that includes you. We want to hear from you.
- Mary Bell, a library media specialist at West Junior High School in Wisconsin Rapids for 26 years and a former English teacher, began her three-year term as president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) in August 2007.
Robin has offered her likeness and her words, as have more than 100 educators, parents, students, business leaders and community members, to an effort to initiate discussions about Wisconsin's great schools. They are featured on billboards, and in TV commercials, magazine ads, newspaper ads, Web sites and other venues, and they volunteered to come forward and talk about what they believe in.
"I believe students deserve individualized attention, and that is why class size is so important," Robin says.
One observation from my 30 years of working in the classroom is that many of the same educators who are so articulate when they are talking to and about their students become shy and tongue-tied when it comes to talking about themselves. Part of my role as president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council is to talk on behalf of WEAC's 98,000 members.
But I am just one person and WEAC is just one organization. That is why we are featuring a variety of voices, from across a diverse range of perspectives. The top-notch, innovative public schools we have today have grown out of Wisconsin's traditions of openness, honesty and close-knit communities.
Investments in great schools build strong communities, and the excellent public schools Wisconsin has today are the result of the ingenuity and commitment of our parents and grandparents. Creating and maintaining great schools is a tradition in our state and something at which Wisconsin has always excelled.
Wisconsin's public schools have consistently achieved some of the highest graduation rates in the nation, with nearly three-quarters going on to attend universities or technical colleges. Our students have ranked first or second in the nation on the ACT college entrance exam for 18 straight years.
And local public schools mean more than excellent education for the students who attend them. Public schools build local economies by preparing young people and attracting the jobs of the future. Schools are the hearts of their communities and provide a place for all of us to come together.
In my conversations with parents, educators and others over the course of my career in education I have found that Wisconsin citizens strongly support their public schools because we all share a set of core beliefs. No matter what our walk of life, we seem to define a great school in starkly similar ways:
• They are places that are welcoming, where kids learn more than academics, including how to get along and work with others and to problem-solve;
• They provide students with an opportunity to succeed, whether it is focused on going to college or preparing for work through vocational training;
• They are built around teamwork among educators, parents, principals and the community as a whole.
• They are the embodiment of a great traditions of educational excellence in the state, and one that is worthy of constant renewal and maintenance.
We hope this effort evolves into a grassroots movement that everyone wants to be a part of. You can start by going to WEAC's Web site - weac.org - reading about what people throughout Wisconsin believe about public education, and adding your own perspective. What do you believe about public education in Wisconsin? How have schools impacted your life?
Great schools benefit everyone, and that includes you. We want to hear from you.
- Mary Bell, a library media specialist at West Junior High School in Wisconsin Rapids for 26 years and a former English teacher, began her three-year term as president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) in August 2007.
