Deborah Kerr, one of two candidates competing to lead the state Department of Public Instruction, said she would move or rehire most of the agency’s over 400 employees away from Madison and into offices around the state.
“Under DPI’s current model, agency staff are plucked from the Madison area, and that’s not inclusive of any of the diversity and the needs of our Wisconsin children,” Kerr said at a press conference Wednesday in Milwaukee.
Kerr, former superintendent of Brown Deer schools, said she would perform an “equity audit” of DPI staff and look to hire new staff who live in communities outside of Madison, possibly resulting in terminations of some current employees. Kerr, who lives in Caledonia, would not move to Madison and would work at offices around the state.
Kerr’s opponent in the race, Pecatonica Area School District Superintendent Jill Underly, called Kerr’s proposal potentially a “Hail Mary to get more attention for a flailing campaign.”
My Question to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Teacher Mulligans and our Disastrous Reading Results