The Madison City Clerk is holding a public test of new voting equipment this week:

This is to give notice that the Office of the Madison City Clerk will conduct a public test of the electronic voting equipment (including the AutoMark Voter Assist Terminals) in accordance with Section 5.84(1) Wisconsin State Statutes:
August 28 – September 1, 2006 8 a.m.-Noon and 2-4 p.m. (or until complete)
Room 104 of the City-County Building
210 Martin Luther King, Jr., Blvd., Madison [Map]
Maribeth Witzel-Behl, Interim City Clerk

Check it out!

From Channel 3000:

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Paul Malischke:

Because of Madison’s close School Board election, you may be witnessing the last manual recount of election results in Wisconsin for some time to come. A bill in the Legislature, poised to become law, will outlaw manual recounts for municipalities that use machine-readable ballots.
Under current law, the board of canvassers may use automatic voting machines for recounts, but the board may also perform a manual count of the ballots.
Senate Bill 612 would change that. Buried on page 18 of this 120-page bill is a requirement that all recounts be done by machine for machine-readable ballots, unless a petition for a manual recount is approved by a circuit court. The bill passed the Senate unanimously and is under consideration by a committee in the Assembly.
This bill should be changed. We need to preserve the ability to conduct a manual recount.
In September 2005, the non-partisan U.S. Government Accountability Office summarized the flaws in the computerized voting machines now being sold. The conclusion of the GAO was that “key activities need to be completed” before we have secure and reliable electronic voting systems.
In the Madison School Board race there was a large number of undervotes (ballots that were not counted by the machine). Seven wards had an undervote of more than 20, and three more were more than 10 percent.

I observed the recount of Ward 52 this week. Interestingly, hand recounts (by two different people) confirmed Maya’s 231 votes while the same people counted Arlene’s votes and ended up with 300, twice. The machine, however, counted 301 on election night and during the recount. I agree with Malischke.
Greg Borowski and Tom Kertscher looked at another unusual election issue (from the November, 2004 election) last spring, voting gaps:

“In Madison, the city counts of the number of ballots cast, but doesn’t routinely try to reconcile that figure with the number of people recorded as having voted in an election. The firm found in Madison 133,598 people were recorded as having voted but 138,204 ballots were cast, a difference of more than 4,600. The actual number of ballots cast overall was 138,452, but the city doesn’t have a figure for the number of people recorded as having voted, Deputy City Clerk Sharon Christensen said.”

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Channel3000 mentioned the recount today.
Room 103, City County Building [map]

Maya Cole released the following to the media this afternoon:

The State Journal has more.

• Susan Troller: New Blood for Schools:
  

  Madison voters want tighter fiscal control from their School Board, said one longtime schools observer in the wake of Tuesday night’s vote.
  Newcomer Lucy Mathiak unseated four-term incumbent Juan Jose Lopez in one race while Arlene Silveira squeaked past Maya Cole by just 86 votes to win the seat being vacated by Bill Keys’ decision not to seek re-election. Cole said this morning that she is still thinking about asking for a recount.

• Channel3000
• NBC 15
• Sandy Cullen and Danya Hooker
• New Blood Bodes Well for Madison Schools – WiSJ Editorial

I would like to thank the four candidates for their hard work and unflagging good cheer. Congrats, Arlene and Lucy. I direct special heartfelt warm thanks to you, Jim, for all the time, effort and good will that you put into providing this site and also to all its regular contributors. This forum is such a useful public service. For me it has been a lifeline. You have successfully brought many important issues into public view for a much-needed airing. Judging from yesterday’s results, people are starting to pay attention. Please let’s keep it up. Much more work ahead.

Click to view a ward by ward analysis of the differences in the Mathiak / Cole vote. City of Madison Ward map is available here.

And thank you to Juan and Maya.
I hope that everyone who posts on the blog and who worked in the campaigns will do everything possible to help Lucy and Arlene accomplish what they articulated for the MMSD in their campaigns.

I just voted. We like to bring our children to vote, so we waited till after preschool. My parents did the same thing.
I love voting. I love being part of a democracy. Usually, even when I think my candidates will lose, I leave the polling place with a little spring in my step. I especially love school board election, in part because I study school board elections. Today was different.
This was the first time I have decided who to vote for while in the booth. It is a strange election. On one hand I could rejoice that I can see good things about more than one candidate, but that’s not what I’m feeling. There has been too much bitterness and nastiness and the lines have been drawn boldly, but strangely. Some have called it the status quo vs. change, but I think even the status quo candidates think that MMSD can do better in a multitude of areas.
What has been called the “transparency” issue has loomed large. I prefer to think of this as being about how much deference should be given to the administration and how active a role should the board take. The3 budget and MTI negotiations are part of this, but it is bigger. This issue also presents problems. If you support expanded roles for the board (as I do), then the question of who fills these roles becomes very important. It isn’t enough to just support those who agree with you about the roles of the board, you have to look closely at what they (and their opponents) would do with that power.
An example of the strange ways the lines have been drawn is the ability grouping issue. Both ability grouping and mixed ability grouping are the status quo in MMSD. Neither has a whole lot to do with the deference issues that seemed so central to the races a few weeks ago, but the lines have been drawn and some of us are uncomfortable with the choices we now face.
Lastly there is the issue of supporters. It is a strange time when self-proclaimed conservatives actively support self-proclaimed progressives. I don’t even know what this means, except that perhaps true conservatives see no chance of electing one of their own (and whatever you think of Mathiak and Cole, they are not movement conservatives).
I also love the secret ballot, so I’m going to leave it at this. I’d love to hear from others who also struggled with these choices.
TJM

Arguably every school board election is important, but this one is critical—this is a race for control of the majority. Maya Cole and Lucy Mathiak, two admirable, excellent candidates on their own, if elected today will shift the majority, in combination with Ruth Robarts and Lawrie Kobza. The result will be a new day in district politics. This new era will be marked by civility, public accessibility, accountability and cooperation, a far cry from the way the current board majority has run things. But BOTH Lucy and Maya must be elected for this to happen.
Arlene Silveira, Maya Cole’s worthy opponent, is firmly in the Carstensen, Keys, Lopez, Vang and Winston camp. Arlene has their support along with the endorsement of MTI. I have been impressed with her easy, professional manner. However, I disagree strongly not only with her blanket commitment to heterogeneity but also as to what her election would represent–business as usual,
If nothing else, this race has shaken up Madison politics. So-called progressives smear a graduate of Camp Wellstone/social justice activist as conservative. The liberal newspaper endorses what would in any other year have been described as the “pro-business” candidate while the conservative paper endorses her opponent, the stay-at-home mom. Local “progressives” spread rumors about PAC money from conservatives despite the strenous protests of an incredibly independent candidate who has always disavowed PAC money.
The only way I can really make sense out of it is that it’s outcome-based –do you want the board to continue on the current path, or is it time for a change? Thus, the CapTimes can endorse Mathiak and Silveira because this will keep the status quo in charge. The WSJ wants to see a change so endorses Cole and Mathiak.
Today is a perfect early spring day in our fair city. My neighborhood will echo with the happy shouts and laughter from the Randall playground when I leave the house this morning. Please take the time to stop by your ward and vote. This is for them.
One last thought: thank you to the candidates and all the members of the school board. While I may disagree profoundly with some of you, I have the greatest respect for your commitment to our schools and dedication to public service.

Dear Editor,
I was glad to see the Capital Times’ endorsement of Lucy Mathiak for the Madison School Board. Mathiak will tackle the problems facing our school district with vigor and clarity, and she will demand accountability from administrators. Mathiak’s advocacy in our schools represents a wide range of needs and interests; she wants to ensure the best academic opportunities for all students.
Unfortunately, parents from Madison Partners for Inclusive Schools have mischaracterized Mathiak, as well as candidate Maya Cole, as wanting to limit students’ access to educational opportunity. Nothing could be further from the truth. Mathiak and Cole are skeptical of the District’s push toward compulsory heterogeneous classrooms precisely because this practice hobbles many students’ opportunities to learn. Administrators of our middle and high schools have eliminated course options in core subjects, reduced the choice of instructional levels, and prohibited motivated students from advancing with appropriate curriculum and learning peers.
Administrators have argued that advanced academic programs segregate students unfairly, since the advanced classes have been populated mainly by white, middle-class children. They think to address this injustice by doing away with the programs. This tactic reveals a prejudice of low expectations on their part: they apparently do not expect that low-income, minority students will ever qualify for advanced placement.
In fact, depriving gifted children of support and opportunity at school most hurts those gifted students from low-income families and traditionally marginalized groups. Families with money and connections can get educational enrichment for their children outside of school; families struggling to make ends meet cannot. The District’s own report on high school dropouts identifies 27% of them as having shown high ability as younger children; a large portion of these were minority students. Nurturing these students by identifying them early on, grouping them with learning peers, and pulling them into advanced, accelerated classes might have kept them engaged in school and fostered their potential.
Proponents of “equalizing” educational opportunity believe that filling classrooms with children of widely ranging abilities will help motivate students at risk. But, they have not evaluated the data to see if this is actually so. Administrators are moving ahead to expand the standard course/heterogeneous classroom initiative without studying whether or not it has helped struggling students to succeed. In contrast, supporters of Mathiak in the Madison TAG Parents group have compiled a long list of studies on the issue of heterogeneous classrooms vs. ability grouping. Jeff Henriques, a leader of the TAG Parents group, provided not only a summary of this research with citations and abstracts from some 60 articles, but also hard copies of approximately 40 papers to the School Board earlier this year. I myself have sent similar information, in smaller doses, to various school officials. Anyone looking for these sources can easily find them on the TAG Parents’ website.
Lucy Mathiak and Maya Cole will not endorse curriculum policy without taking a hard look at the data and carefully considering the complex issues involved. Our diverse student body has diverse learning needs. We need equal opportunity for every child, not the same education for all.
Sincerely,
Lorie Raihala
Madison

MP3 audio file of this recent interview. Lucy and Mitch discussed heterogeneous classes, among other issues.

Lets face it. We all take sides whether in the school yard, the Board room or the School Board Race.
Already, we see the lines of division. The Mathiak/Cole group on one side, the Lopez/ Silveira group on the other. What is ultimately at stake is the best interests of our children.
What do we do? In the case of the School Board race, I believe it all comes down to Who gets to run the show. And blame is at the root of it all.
As I look over all the candidates, skills, commitment, ability to articulate, ability to form solid opinions and positions I know who I will vote for. But when I lift the covers and look underneath something smells very fishy to me, it looks like one of the factions in the School Board race wants to change Superintendents. The BLAME game. We hear statements like, “We got here because he is in bed with the Teachers Union”; or “He doesn’t make good fiscal decisions”; or “He is responsible for cutting this or that, that “I” want for my child!”
An opinion piece in the April 1 Wall Street Journal by the School Board President of the Glen Ridge Board of Education in Glen Ridge, NJ states the case very well. She says “…Anyone with even a passing familiarity with New Jersey’s property tax woes knows that the real problem is not superintendents’ contracts, but legislators’ unwillingness to fix a school funding system that is irretrievably broken…” She went on, “Superintendents are responsible to local boards and taxpayers and on call 24/7. They build budgets, negotiate contracts, meet with parents, serve as the ‘public face’ of their districts, deal with facilities and construction projects, hire, evaluate and mentor administrators, observe teachers, and much more.”
On April 4 we have decision to make. Do we start over, as Ms. Cole says, and tear down what we have? Or, as Ms. Silveira says, do we build from a strong foundation? Do we bring in new talent as urged by Ms. Mathiak who has no public service record, or go with a proven child advocate, namely Juan Jose Lopez, who has a solid track record in the district?
These are the questions we must ask ourselves. We need to remember; when challengers to the current system say that we are spending more than we take in, keep in mind who made that misleading claim since our own legislature has mandated spending caps and rules that FORCE us to spend more annually than we take in. Some $8 million more.
This is not the fault of the Board or the Superintendent. And, although candidates for “change” Cole and Mathiak — state that they want to review the budget for more effective ways to use existing funds, I doubt that the current School Board hasn’t already examined all the options. Ms. Cole wants some type of 5 year plan to deal with the $40 million budget. That still leaves $8 million less per year to run the public schools. Ms. Mathiak, who wants to sell the Doyle building, is essentially saying, ?OK, here are a few bucks for this year and a de-centralized administration for the future. This makes no sense at all. It is hard enough to find the right person in one building let alone the communication nightmares we will would encounter as the school staff tries to work together from disparate locations.
The only plan that will help the budget crisis that our schools are in is for us citizens to elect public officials, local and statewide, who will give us more realistic budgets for our schools!
What to do. I am biased. I want stability, I want representatives that know change comes not from wholesale “slaughter” of our current system during an ongoing fiscal crisis, but from within. I want representatives for MY CHILDREN and ALL THE CHILDREN of Madison. I will vote for stability and sanity. Please join me in voting for the best interests of our children and vote on April 4 for Juan Lopez and Arlene Silveira.
David Wandel,
Past PTO President, Midvale/Lincoln,
Commissioner, Community Services Commission and Community Activist

NBC15:

Vying for Seat 1 on the board are Maya Cole and Arlene Silveira. On the matter of budget cuts, Silveira says keeping as many cuts as possible away from the classroom is her first priority, along with finding a better way to fund public schools.
“The state funding is broken and that’s going to continually strain all districts in the state of Wisconsin. That’s something we have to focus on lobbying the legislature to try and fix.”
Cole agrees that state funding is not working, but says the district needs to get organized first.
“I don’t see that we have the political capitol yet. Does that mean I’m not going to work on it? Of course not, but we need to be organized as a district and get the trust of our constituents before we can say it’s all the legislators fault.”
Cole also says the board needs to simplify the budget process, so the public knows exactly what it’s voting on if it comes down to a referendum.

The Northside Coalition sponsored a Candidate Forum on March 30, 2006 at the Warner Park Community Center.
The video of the forum is 170MB and 1 hour 50 minutes long. Click on the image at left to watch the video. The video will begin to play almost immediately so you can watch the forum as it continues to download; at DSL speeds, you should not experience any disruptions. The video contains chapter headings which allow quick navigation to each section and question asked (after that portion of the video has been downloaded), so you will be able to quickly view those portions of interest to you.
The candidates are, from left to right, Maya Cole and Arlene Silveira, vying for Seat 1, and Juan Lopez and Lucy Mathiak, vying for Seat 2.
One caveat. I was unsuccessful in my attempt to have the forum preceedings paused to allow me to change video tapes. Therefore, there is a 30 second gap in the video during the public questions portion, wherein a question was asked concerning the Reading Recovery program. The question itself was not recorded, and only a portion of Arlene Silveira’s response is present. The responses by Maya Cole, Juan Lopez, and Lucy Mathiak are complete.
If anyone recalls the missing question, please include it in a comment to this entry.

This past Monday, I learned that the PAC Get Real planned to take out independent ads urging people to vote for Maya Cole and me for school board.
I have spoken with Get Real members and have been clear with Get Real and its leadership from the start: I do not accept PAC money or group endorsements. Its members need to read my responses to MTI and other campaign statements to see if they agree with my positions before offering support, because there are issues on which I do NOT agree with Get Real or its individual members. I am talking to all groups who invite me because I want all voters to understand what I believe and stand for.
After learning about the planned ads, I called Nancy Harper, as did several other people including Maya Cole, Ruth Robarts, and Lawrie Kobza. Some of us also called current Get Real president, Sam Johnson. Our message was clear and simple: you do not have permission to use our names, and we do not want you to run an ad in our behalf. They didn’t listen.
I, and other people, then consulted the editors of the two dailies and Isthmus to ask what recourse we had under the circumstances. It turns out that we have no recourse, legal or otherwise, if an independent political group wishes to post an ad using our names. That information was confirmed by my consultation with a lawyer.
While I support freedom of speech, I am deeply disappointed that Get Real chose to insert itself into my campaign at this time and in this way. And troubled that there is no way to prevent the false impression that I sought and accepted their endorsement.

Sandy Cullen:

Who wins the two seats up for grabs on the Madison School Board could have a major impact on how the seven-member board deals with challenges ranging from budgets to curriculum.
The outcome of Tuesday’s pivotal election could shift the board majority from members some perceive as being too accepting of a course set by the administration to those clamoring for new ways of doing business.
If candidates Maya Cole and Lucy Mathiak win, they will join the two board members who support them – Lawrie Kobza and Ruth Robarts – in calling for new ways of approaching the district’s budget and other growing challenges. But incumbent Juan Jose Lopez – who faces Mathiak in his bid for a fifth three-year term – and Arlene Silveira – who is running against Cole – said they are anything but status quo.

Channel3000:

Tuesday’s school board election will bring big changes as the winner replaces veteran school board member Bill Keys.
Maya Cole and Arlene Silveira both want to take over for Keys. Each woman has been aligned with one of the two factions of the school board.
But both candidates told News 3 the education of of the must rise above petty differences.
Cole on Friday told a local radio audience that she’ll ask a lot of questions as a fresh voice on the school board. Cole is cast in the role of a maverick who represents change, WISC-TV reported.
“That’s the way some people are perceiving it, and I think it’s unfortunate,” said Silveira. “I’m a very independent person, and I’ve been saying from day one that change is necessary.”
Silveira has the campaign literature and buttons that show she has the backing of the teacher’s union. She’s been cast in the role of a person who would stay the course, WISC-TV reported.

I think the State Journal received so many pro-Mathiak/Cole letters, they had to leave a lot of them out! Here’s my 200-word submission that didn’t make the cut:
Dear WSJ,
I am voting for Lucy Mathiak and Maya Cole on April 4. As a long time advocate for academic excellence for all students, I believe these courageous and independent-thinking women understand the complexity of the issues and will not settle for simplistic solutions. They understand, for example, that we cannot honor, much less celebrate, much less meet the educational needs of our diverse student population by treating all students the same. Cookie-cutter curricula and one-size-fits-all classrooms in our middle and high schools may make some adults feel good; but research shows clearly that those simple-minded approaches meet no student’s needs well. As Jefferson said, “Nothing is so unequal as the equal treatment of unequals.”
I am also deeply concerned about the longstanding culture of bullying on the BOE. I believe it has rendered the Board completely ineffective. I am convinced that a change of membership is the only way to bring back respectable and respectful behavior — not to mention increased transparency of operations and a thoroughgoing accountability to the public.
I am voting for Lucy Mathiak and Maya Cole because I believe that, as our elected officials, they will insist on data-based decision-making and refuse to collude with the current culture of secrecy.

Laurie Frost
Madison

Maya and Lucy have been clear about wanting a different budget process and document that might reflect the district’s commitments, policies, and activities. The current budget document and process don’t. The process uses a black box into which the administration inserts last year’s expenditures and presto! this year’s cuts come out.
I can’t find Juan or Arlene saying much about changing the budget process or document. Could those of you who support them (or even those who don’t) cite their discussions or suggestions on the budget process and document? Maybe I’m just not looking in the right places.

The Wisconsin State Journal ran a number of letters to the editor in yesterday’s “Spectrum” section. Check them out here.

Yesterday, Juan Jose Lopez and I had the honor of debating in Mr. Borowski’s AP American Government and Politics class. The debate was open to anyone at East High School who wanted to attend. The students organized it, wrote and asked the questions, and managed one of the best debates that we’ve had since the campaign season began. Kudos to East and the class. Here is the Channel 3000 report ( Neil Heinen’s Sunday morning show will be taped dialogue with all 4 candidates)
School Board Candidates Face Off In Debate
Two Seats Are Open On Board
UPDATED: 9:25 am CST March 31, 2006
MADISON, Wis. — School board candidates up for election next Tuesday brought their debate to a Madison high school classroom on Thursday.
Incumbent board member Juan Jose Lopez and challenger Lucy Mathiak debated in a Madison East High School civics class.
During the debate, the students asked questions about some of their concerns, including curriculum questions about math and advanced placement classes.
Candidates responded by expressing their hopes and intentions for the district, WISC-TV reported.
Lopez said that he supports where the district is headed and that focusing on certain expectations have translated into the schools’ success.
“I’ve focused on student achievement. Student achievement is one of the most important things for young people in this community,” he said. “We value public education. We value excellence. We value what’s important to our young people in this community. Our public schools are No. 1 because that’s what we value.”
Mathiak said that she supports changes in district policy on things like the budget. She said that it’s important to plan for the future to keep the city’s schools ahead of the curve, WISC-TV reported.
“In Madison, we take a lot of pride in having strong schools,” she said. “We have excellent teachers, we have very strong programs, but I don’t think we can afford to be complacent. And by that, I mean we cannot afford to sit back and think that we have always had great schools so we always will”
Retiring school board member Bill Keys said that what’s at stake in this election is really an attitude toward public education.
“It’s going to have a decades-long impact to make the right kind of vote,” Keys said. “They should make an informed vote. They should read the literature.”
The two open seats for the school board have four candidates. Mathiak and Lopez are competing for one seat and Maya Cole and Arlene Silveira for the seat that Keys is vacating.
Lopez and Silveira have endorsements from Madison Teacher’s Inc., the teachers’ union. Mathiak and Silveira have been endorsed by the Capitol Times in their respective races.
The current board is split on who it will endorse, WISC-TV reported.

WKOW-TV:

The Monona Grove School District referendum is just five days away, and the tension has just gotten thicker.
The issue has split the community, and now it has Monona’s Mayor and the School Board divided.
Both sides issued statements today and exchanged some heated words.
The Board accused the Mayor and Council of meddling in the District’s business, and Mayor Robb Kahl says the Board is personally attacking him.
This all started after the Mayor came out and publicly opposed the $29 million referendum, saying there’s a cheaper solution.
“When you can find a solution for about half that cost, it’s something where I don’t think I had a choice but to come out and make that known,” says Mayor Kahl.

Capital Times, March 30, 2006
By John Nichols
Paul Wellstone has been dead for a long three years, and yet there is rarely a national political debate that does not cause me to think: What would Wellstone do?
The late Minnesota senator was an epic political figure, who fought not just against right-wing Republicans but against those in his own Democratic Party who would warp it into a pale reflection of the GOP. Wellstone’s willingness to challenge the accepted political “wisdom” of the moment often put him at odds with folks he expected or at least hoped would be his supporters.
Madison School Board candidate Maya Cole, a graduate of “Camp Wellstone,” the candidate training program developed by the former senator’s family and friends to train a new generation of rabble-rousing contenders, knows that feeling. She’s a passionate progressive who has poured her energies into struggles to stop the war in Iraq, reduce gun violence, defend voting rights, challenge racism and reorder economic priorities so that society will be more just.

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Isthmus:

• What kind of Madison school district referenda will you support and what kind will you oppose over the next three years?
• Considering the demands of family, work, and other commitments, how will you fulfill the demands of serving on the school board?
• What will you be doing on election night?

Beth Swedeen: Silveira best pick for School Board
A letter to the editor
Dear Editor: Arlene Silveira is the best choice for Madison School Board. She has shown her commitment to the overall issues facing the district through activities such as the effort to support a referendum last year and tireless work on the boundary task force. Instead of flip-flopping on tough issues, like whether a new school should be built to alleviate Leopold crowding, she has taken consistent stands and done the research to support her positions.
She doesn’t use jargon like “transparency” as an excuse to put off hard decisions. She has listened with respect to many stakeholders: parents, community leaders, school staff and those whose voice isn’t always heard. Because she has an asset-based approach, she will work for constant improvement in the district, not just for the sake of change.
Beth Swedeen
Madison
Published: March 29, 2006
The Capital Times
Michael Maguire: No business as usual for Cole, Mathiak
A Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor: The recent years’ actions of our Madison School Board create a nice template for a new reality television series, “School Boards Behaving Badly!”
The passionate, yet appropriately measured, and get-things-done approaches of Ruth Robarts and Lawrie Kobza would be complemented quite well by Maya Cole and Lucy Mathiak.
Cole is a bright, out-of-the-box child advocate who has a very clear focus on short-, mid- and long-tem thinking about how to tackle the school district’s toughest, high-priority issues of budgeting and enrollment. She brings no baggage of influences created by long-term relationships with district personnel, the major point of contention I have with Arlene Silveira’s candidacy. I worked with Arlene on the Memorial/West Task Force and I know that she has some good ideas.
With Maya Cole, district stakeholders can be assured that there are no favors to be made in doing what’s best for our district’s children, their families and taxpayers.
Lucy Mathiak is simply the better candidate. To date, she’s only delivered a no-nonsense, non-emotional vision for good district planning that, like Cole, is not burdened with a “business-as-usual” approach often assumed by incumbent board members.
Let’s create a majority of transparent doers on the School Board! Vote Cole and Mathiak!
Michael Maguire
Madison
Published: March 29, 2006
The Capital Times

From The Capital Times, Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Dear Editor: Old problems facing the Madison school district will continue and worsen unless the School Board opens its mind to new solutions.
We must raise public confidence in our decision-making, in order to gain support for the programs that our children need and the construction of new schools that is on the horizon. An open process that considers all the options would greatly increase confidence in our decisions, the likelihood of passing well-conceived referendums and business support.
I am supporting Maya Cole and Lucy Mathiak in the April 4 board election because both candidates bring new perspectives and independent thinking to the important public discussion of the future of our schools. Both worked their way through public schools and have children in our schools. Both volunteer in the schools. Both are committed to giving the public a bigger role in setting the course of the Madison schools. Both are aggressively looking for new approaches, and both understand that board members are the voice of the community when it comes to choosing curriculum to meet our children’s needs.
At the same time, Maya Cole and Lucy Mathiak are very much individuals. They offer different skills and work experiences. They think their own thoughts and communicate with a wide range of different friends, neighbors and colleagues. They are not clones of each other or anybody. They offer us a new synergy on the School Board.
Albert Einstein said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” He was talking to us. Let’s give his idea a serious try.

From The Capital Times, March 29, 2006
Dear Editor: The recent years’ actions of our Madison School Board create a nice template for a new reality television series, “School Boards Behaving Badly!”
The passionate, yet appropriately measured, and get-things-done approaches of Ruth Robarts and Lawrie Kobza would be complemented quite well by Maya Cole and Lucy Mathiak.
Cole is a bright, out-of-the-box child advocate who has a very clear focus on short-, mid- and long-tem thinking about how to tackle the school district’s toughest, high-priority issues of budgeting and enrollment. She brings no baggage of influences created by long-term relationships with district personnel, the major point of contention I have with Arlene Silveira’s candidacy. I worked with Arlene on the Memorial/West Task Force and I know that she has some good ideas.
With Maya Cole, district stakeholders can be assured that there are no favors to be made in doing what’s best for our district’s children, their families and taxpayers.
Lucy Mathiak is simply the better candidate. To date, she’s only delivered a no-nonsense, non-emotional vision for good district planning that, like Cole, is not burdened with a “business-as-usual” approach often assumed by incumbent board members.
Let’s create a majority of transparent doers on the School Board! Vote Cole and Mathiak!
Michael Maguire
Madison

Under the headline, Mathiak for School Board, the Capital Times editors, wrote:

The recent years’ actions of our MMSD Board of Ed create a nice template for a new reality television series, “School Boards Behaving Badly!”
The passionate, yet appropriately measured and get-things-done approaches of Ruth Robarts and Laurie Kobza would be complemented quite well by Maya Cole and Lucy Mathiak.
Cole is a bright, out-of-the-box child advocate who has a very clear focus on short-, mid- and long-term thinking about how to tackle MMSD’s toughest, high-priority issues of budgeting and enrollment. She brings no baggage of influences created by long-term relationships with MMSD personnel, the major point of contention I have with Arlene Siveira’s candidacy. I worked with Arlene on the Memorial/West Task Force and I know that she has some good ideas.
With Maya Cole, district stakeholders can be assured that there are no favors to be made in doing what’s best for our district’s children, their families, and taxpayers.
Lucy Mathiak is simply the better candidate. To date, she’s only delivered a no-nonsense, non-emotional vision for good district planning that, like Cole, is not burdened with a ‘business-as-usual’ approach often assumed by incumbent board members.
Let’s create a majority of transparent do-ers on the BOE! Vote Cole & Mathiak!

A Cap Times editorial
It has been a good long while since Madison Metropolitan School District voters have had an opportunity to vote for a new School Board candidate who is as prepared as Arlene Silveira is to hit the ground running and to have an immediately positive impact on the process.
The parent of an 8th-grader, Silveira currently serves as the president of the Cherokee Middle School PTO and is the past president of the Leopold Elementary School PTO. She’s been a highly engaged member of the school district’s West/Memorial demographics task force and has worked closely with the Madison Foundation for Public Schools. She’s on the steering team of Madison CARES, the group set up to inform voters about referendum issues. She’s a regular at School Board meetings, and she showed up for her Capital Times endorsement interview with a copy of the budget in hand and a clear familiarity with the document.
To a board where new members are often marginalized by a demanding learning curve, particularly when it comes to budget issues, Silveira will bring knowledge, skills and contacts that are likely to make her a more significant contributor than several veteran members.
That’s important, because difficult budget, referendum timing and curriculum issues are on the agenda immediately and this board is no place for a newcomer who will simply fall in line with one of the two relatively well-defined factions that have developed around Carol Carstensen, the current board president, and Ruth Robarts, the loudest and most frequent critic of the board majority and school district administrators.
Silveira is backed by Carstensen and other members of the board majority, while her opponent, Maya Cole, is backed by Robarts and board member Lawrie Kobza. But Silveira, who works for the Promega Corp., is too sharp and too concerned about issues facing the school district to fit easily into one of the board’s existing camps. Her own experiences as the mother of a Latina daughter in the public schools, as an active parent at the elementary and middle school levels, and as a member of bodies charged with advising the board on critical issues regarding overcrowding and new construction, have made her exceptionally sensitive with regard to the achievement gap, to curriculum and to spending matters that have divided the board in the past. As such, she is refreshingly blunt about her desire to build new coalitions so that the board can present a more coherent message to the community particularly when it comes time for referendum votes.
It is this combination of experience and independence that underpins our faith that Silveira is the better choice in the contest for Seat One on the board, which is being vacated by former board President Bill Keys. We think her no-nonsense approach will help the board overcome some of the pettiness that has distracted it in recent years, and we are excited by the prospect that as a savvy newcomer she will forge an effective working relationship with Kobza, who has much to contribute.
The only qualm we have about endorsing Silveira has nothing to do with her. Rather, it has to do with her opponent.
Maya Cole is an exceptionally appealing candidate. Like Silveira, she is a genuine progressive, with a track record of activism that is as long as it is impressive. Cole would be a fine School Board member, and we hope that she will run again in the future.
But, at this essential turning point for the schools, we are convinced that Silveira is better prepared to join the board as a fully prepared and fully engaged member. She is ready to serve as the progressive coalition builder that the board needs to get focused and to win the confidence of all the constituencies students, staff, parents, taxpayers whose support is essential to maintaining one of America’s great urban school systems.
Published: March 27, 2006
Copyright 2006 The Capital Times

Recent post from the Madison United for Academic Excellence (MUAE) list serve:
Dear MUAE Friends,
When we volunteered to oversee a District-wide “TAG” parents email list back in 2002, it was in part to help out the District “TAG” staff and in part to make the list available for explicit “TAG” advocacy efforts. We never expected that it (or we) would become explicitly political; but then, never in million years did we expect to have the crystal clear choice in BOE candidates that we have before us this year.
As fellow members of this on-line community, we think you need to know that Juan Lopez — however laudable his other views and positions may be — has the most extreme and consistent anti-“TAG” voting record of any BOE member who has served on the Board in the ten years that we have been involved with the issues. Juan once actually said to Jeff in a budget-focused BOE meeting, when Jeff was arguing in support of “TAG” funding, something like “Jeff, why should I support this? It has nothing to do with minority students.” Not surprisingly, Juan has shown absolutely no interest whatsoever in the District dropout data that we have “put out there” many times in the past three years.
In very stark contrast, we first met Lucy Mathiak almost ten years ago, when we were still relatively new Franklin ES parents. We had attended a couple of District-wide “TAG” parent meetings and wanted to do some organizing and educating within the Franklin community. Someone gave us Lucy’s name as a very well-informed east side parent and excellent speaker. We invited her to a meeting; she came; she educated us about Standard t and how to influence our school’s SIP (“School Improvement Plan”); and she inspired us to greater things, as both parents and education advocates. In a word, we were thrilled last fall when we learned that Lucy had decided to run for School Board.
It is our firm belief that if the District’s academically talented and motivated students are to have a fighting chance at having their educational needs met in our schools, they need a strong voice and representation on the BOE. They need someone on the BOE who understands their lived experience; someone who understands the issues facing the District in a way that includes them. Lucy Mathiak thoroughly understands these students, their needs, and the issues, in part, because she has lived them as a parent. As we see it, Lucy has the experience, the knowledge, the commitment, and the deep confidence to make sure that the brightest students of all colors and backgrounds are well taken care of by the Madison schools. In our opinion, no one else even comes close. For voters who care about academic excellence for all, the choice couldn’t be more clear.

VOTE FOR LUCY MATHIAK FOR MADISON SCHOOL BOARD SEAT #2 ON TUESDAY, APRIL 4.
What about the race for Seat #1? The truth is, we do not know either Maya Cole or Arlene Silveira nearly as well as we feel we know Juan and Lucy. Nevertheless, we know who we are voting for.
Consider the following paragraph from an op ed piece of Arlene’s that appeared in the Wisconsin State Journal in January:

(bold added)

Frankly, that last line scares us. We have asked Arlene more than once what she means by it, but she has yet to respond. Arlene is openly pro-heterogeneous classrooms, we know that; but her vision sounds like Camazotz, the evil place in “A Wrinkle In Time.”
In contrast, we have spoken at length with Maya about her candidacy, her vision for the BOE and the District, and her own experiences as a parent. It is our very strong impression that she has started down the road that the rest of us are already on and that — like Lucy — she “gets it.” Maya is a courageous and independent thinker who will insist on data and documentation and who will not be cowed by bullies. She understands the need for increased transparency and increased accountability on the BOE and in the District administration. She does not support cookie-cutter curricula. She does not support heterogeneous classes. Like Lucy, she wants to find ways to increase minority participation in “high end” classes, not get rid of the classes according to some misguided notion of what constitutes educational equity. If you care enough about rigorous curricula and high academic standards to be on this list serve, then Maya Cole is the one for you.
VOTE FOR MAYA COLE FOR MADISON SCHOOL BOARD SEAT #1 ON TUESDAY, APRIL 4.

There is one more reason why we are voting for Lucy and Maya on April 4. As longtime observers of the Madison School Board, we are deeply concerned about the culture of bullying and secrecy that exists in the Doyle Building and on the BOE. We feel it has paralyzed the Board and rendered it completely ineffective. We are convinced that a change of BOE membership is the only way to bring back respectable and respectful behavior — not to mention increased transparency of operations and a thoroughgoing accountability to the public — to the task of educating our children.
Many thanks for your consideration,
Laurie Frost, Ph.D., and Jeff Henriques, Ph.D.
West HS and Hamilton MS Parents
Former Franklin-Randall ES parents
Former Franklin-Randall PTSO Board member (Diversity and Community-Building Committee Chair) (LF)
West HS PTSO Board Member (Treasurer) (JH)
Advisory Board Member, Wisconsin Center for Academically Talented Youth (WCATY) (LF)
Madison United for Academic Excellence

MAFAAC (the Madison Area Family Advisory/Advocacy Committee) and Communities United (a broadly-based coalition of groups and individuals representing Madison’s minority communities, and other citizens working on behalf of social justice and civil rights) held a school board candidate forum yesterday. MP3 Audio clips are avaible below:

• Opening Statements: [10.7MB mp3]
• Question 1: What do you think the causes are of the achievement gap? [7MB mp3]
• Question 2: What role do community groups play in addressing the achievement gap? [4MB mp3]
• Question 3: How would you rate the leadership of Superintendent Art Rainwater? [7.5MB mp3]
• Question 4: What are the sources of the discord, the disagreement on the board? [7.5MB mp3]
• Question 5: Barbara Golden Statement on Dissent, David (I could not catch his last name) has a question on the budget & Candidate Responses to the budget priorities. [6MB mp3]
• Question 6: Latinos Unite for Change in the Classroom. What are you going to do to support the needs of the ELL students? [3.5MB mp3]
• Question 7: The district insists that a young child go through an ESL program. The parents disagree. What is your role if someone brings you a case like this? [4.5MB mp3]
• Question 8: The chair of Communities United’s Statement and Question: What specifically would you do to insure that there is equity in the (District’s) programs. [8.5MB]
• Question 9: Audience questions regarding heterogeneous vs homogeneous classrooms; can people in the community who care about an issue like heterogeneity, get that in front of the school board? The way the board is currently comprised, the answer is no. [10.5MB mp3]
• Complete Event: 2 hours, 30 Minutes [65MB mp3]

A letter to the editor
Dear Editor: We believe supporting Arlene Silveira for Madison School Board is the best choice.
Large organizations like the school district need care and attention. Silveira has communicated with broad constituencies in her PTO, referendum and task force work awareness. She seems to know that you have to problem-solve and promote at the same time in order to keep the school system from suffering the consequences of many modern institutions.
We urge a vote for Silveira on April 4 so that our schools keep delivering the value they are known for.
Bridgette and Gregg White
Madison
Published: March 24, 2006
The Capital Times

12MB mp3 audio file from today’s WIBA interview.

Isthmus:

• The percentage of elementary-aged children in the Madison school district defined as “low income” increased from 29% in 1995 to 42% in 2005. What implications does this trend have for Madison schools?
• Extra Credit: What is the single biggest problem that you hope to address as a school board member over the next three years? Besides this, what worries you most about the future of Madison schools?

Susan Troller:

It’s an old truism that our strengths are our weaknesses. When a citizen runs for local office, he or she is likely to learn that in the glare and scrutiny of the campaign, the very qualities that make them an appealing candidate may cause some anguish in the tussle and turmoil of the race.
Madison School Board candidates Maya Cole and Arlene Silveira have both taken some flak: Cole for a hurtful comment that infuriated supporters of the Leopold Elementary School addition and Silveira for her business background and thoughtful style that has been occasionally characterized as too corporate.
For both, issues of personality have become a part of a race that offers significant differences in perspective on the school district as well as distinct choices of style and personality.

It’s interesting that the Cap Times raised this issue, given that Maya’s drawn quite a bit of partisan attention at recent (mostly thinly attended) candidate forums (Ideally, these things should be cordial, but that has not always been the case). A reader emailed this link to the first post failed May, 2005 Referenda Long Range Planning Committee meeting. This is the meeting where a number of people spoke, including Seat 1 candidate and very active referenda supporter (Madison Cares, a group Arlene spearheaded, spent over $40K promoting passage of the questions – fwiw, I told Carol I thought that all 3 questions would pass while she was leafletting the Farmer’s Market, up until the ballot error/reprinting problem) Arlene Silveira.
The Cap Times’ article discussed Board members behaving poorly toward one another:

She said she was surprised by the number of people who follow the School Board meetings on television, and said that some of the occasionally fractious behavior on the part of board members diminishes the group’s credibility. “That must stop,” she [Arlene] said firmly.

Certainly, this video fuels the discussion, with Arlene first up.
From my perspective, the Fitchburg school saga must include the mid-1990’s MMSD turn-down of Bill Linton’s offer of free land near Promega (Current President Carol Carstensen and incumbent Juan Jose Lopez were on the board at the time). That land became the private Eagle School. A Promega partnership may well have spawned more by today. Interestingly, I learned about this years ago, while waiting for luggage at the Dane County Airport next to then Superintendent Cheryl Wilhoyte. She seemed excited about the possibilities.

Wayne Bigelow:

Dear Editor: On March 8, almost 100 members of the Dane County Democratic Party endorsed Arlene Silveira for Madison School Board.
Although it had been more than a decade since the Democratic Party made an endorsement in a School Board race, we felt that Silveira was an extraordinarily well-qualified candidate who will be a great addition to the board. She combines a long history of a advocacy for all students, leadership positions in her school involvement and a commitment to challenging curriculum for Madison’s youth.

(more…)

A letter to the editor
Dear Editor: For years I have been fairly passive about working on local campaigns, but this year the School Board election has me so alarmed that I feel I have to do more than just vote or put up a yard sign.
Anyone who has attended recent forums has seen Arlene Silveira continually giving superior answers to all questions because she is much more familiar with the issues schools face today. Arlene has gained her information through experience and study. She has put in her time supporting our schools and not attacking them.
While some think her opponent is a nice person, I have never seen any sense of depth on educational matters coming from her; in fact, most of her answers at forums are non-answers, attacks on school administrators or worse, naive and unrealistic proposals to save money.
I have not heard one positive statement about our schools made by those candidates endorsed by the people behind the “school info systems” blog.
We have one candidate who states that parents of younger children haven’t been “tainted” by our schools yet and who has called Fitchburg parents “whiners” because they didn’t get a school. A second candidate promises we can have all the programs we want if we just get rid of more administrators. Since these people have no trust in our schools and believe every bit of information given to them is flawed, how are we possibly going to get a positive dialogue going on the real, substantive issues facing our schools? Frankly, the incessant attacks on our schools are beginning to wear thin.
For honest answers to our problems I suggest going to two Web sites:
1) www.mmsd.org. Read under “Hot Topics – Recently Answered Questions” and discover, among other things, that school administrators have been reduced by 28.4 percent over the last six years with four more administrators up for elimination in next year’s budget. This means that the remaining administrators are doubling, tripling and even quadrupling their responsibilities.
2) www.arleneforschoolboard.com for a truly reasonable discussion of issues characterized by good judgment and sound thinking.
Personally, I don’t want angry, negative people running our schools, and so this is not an election to be neutral about. It is time for the press and our entire community to support a candidate who wants to take an already great school system and make it even better. It is Arlene Silveira’s confidence in our schools as well as her quiet dignity and intelligence that we need on our School Board.
Marjorie Passman
Madison
The Capital Times
Published: March 15, 2006

Ed Hughes, writing in the Capital Times:

The most important qualifications for a School Board member today are a willingness and ability to grapple with the budget challenges our schools confront under the state’s ill-advised school funding laws.
School Board members will have to think boldly and creatively about how best to preserve the quality of education our students deserve under the limits the law sets. While committed to excellence, they should also be independent and tight-fisted enough to win the confidence of taxpayers.
Unfortunately, our current School Board majority has been a disappointment on budgetary issues. As the results of the last referendums show, the current board has been unable to earn the trust of the voters.

(more…)

David Wandel emails:

I am glad that your group, as limited and as narrow as it is, has a forum. It is a shame that your beliefs about the “majority” of the current School Board are so militant and out of focus.
One of those School Board members is Juan Jose Lopez. Here is someone that has devoted 12 years to improving the life of the children of Madison. Without delving into the depth and detail to pose only the minute narrow issues that you seek to blow out of proportion I would like to suggest that instead of postulating on what is needed you need to do something positive. Help elect the candidates that will help solve the problems instead of making current situations worse.
Change your focus of vehemence toward those at the state level that set the budget for our school system. In doing so you will address the real issues.
Mr. Lopez has apparently offended your sensibilities by representing the greatest number of children in the most appropriate way instead of focusing on the narrow group of students you seem to represent – only your own children.
In my case, I have 5 children. They range from a 15 year old fresh-person at West to a 31 year old lawyer in the Chicago area. Never, in all the years that I have represented my children in numerous school systems have I seen such an angry group. You seem like professionals. Act like them.
I personally find that our school system is the best I have come across so far. Perfect, no. Better than others – yes. Likely to help my children succeed – definitely.
Well, I’m done. On April 4 I will vote. For the candidates that care about the majority. Candidates that represent youth in the most appropriate fashion. Candidates that are interested in finding solutions not complaining and hiding in a Blog. Not your candidates but candidates for the people of Madison, not the special interests. Juan and Arlene. Real people that will fight for all our children. Put away your swords and get with it.

March 7, 2006 Madison School Board Candidate Forum

Thoreau Elementary’s PTO held a (reasonably well attended – roughly 24) candidate forum last night. Excerpts, questions, links and video available below:

(more…)

Genie Ogden and Mitch Nussbaum:

Dear Editor: We feel that Maya Cole would be an excellent addition to the School Board. She is progressive, and we feel she would represent our children’s interests better than anyone else.
She was running the “Opt-Out” campaign. This campaign helps parents opt their children out of the requirement from the “No Child Left Behind” law that makes a student’s personal records available to the military.

(more…)

Vicki McKenna interviewed Seat 1 Candidate Maya Cole recently. 12MB mp3 audio file [podcast link]. Cole’s opponent, Arlene Silveira was evidently unable to make today’s program but, according to McKenna will hopefully appear on a future show.

Isthmus:

1. Three-quarters of Madison homeowners don’t have kids in school, and almost half ($2,087) of the average Madison homeowner’s property tax bill ($4,633) this year goes to fund the Madison schools. What do you say to taxpayers who feel they’re paying too much?
2. Extra Credit: If you could change two ways in which state law affects individual school districts, what would they be?
3. More Extra Credit: How many lottery tickets have you purchased over the last year?

John Stossel:

Citizens can petition to put an initiative on the ballot, which the public can then vote to pass. Some citizens, thinking they were already paying plenty, organized a movement to repeal the tax increase. Two local radio hosts, Kirby Wilbur and John Carlson, spent lots of time on the air explaining why they think the gas tax is a bad idea.
The nerve!
In response to this challenge to their authority, a group of politicians turned to campaign-finance laws to silence Wilbur and Carlson. The theory is this: Radio airtime is valuable. So if a radio host expresses strong political views, that’s a contribution, just as if a caterer were providing free food to the campaign’s volunteers. Washington law limits contributions in the final three weeks of a political campaign to $5,000, so Wilbur and Carlson must shut up. Or at least the anti-tax group must count the minutes they talked about it on the air, assign some price to that and report that under campaign finance limits. Or something — Mike Vaska, the lawyer acting as prosecutor, has suggested that if Wilbur and Carlson distanced themselves enough from the other people on their side, they’d be allowed to speak freely on the radio. Ironically, Vaska just happens to be a member of a big private law firm that stands to make big money off a higher gas tax — maybe millions in legal fees — $25,000 per bond backed by the tax. For some reason, Washington legislators seem to think that’s OK. No one’s telling him to shut up.

I’m actually in favor of a realistic look at energy taxes, however, I think this article raises some useful points. I think we’re seeing a small (so small) uptick in local interest in elections. I hope that continues.

More from the Journal-Sentinel editorial board.

A letter to the editor
Dear Editor: Arlene Silveira is a great resource to this entire district. I’m looking for a School Board decision-maker and solution-provider. Arlene is a facilitator willing and able to bring discussions and concerns to the table.
When boundary changes were released last year, she let me know this issue reaches beyond the West and Memorial attendance areas. She told me where to find information on other district schools. To understand, I visited Hawthorne and Lakeview (East attendance area). Arlene attended Hawthorne’s meeting, sitting next to me, listening to each speaker’s concerns.
After researching a district map of the referendum results from 2005, I believe it’s time to evaluate how we engage our entire district all attendance areas and all Madison citizens. The West attendance area has been affected by overcrowding at Leopold for more than five years. I believe the lack of responsiveness caused even the Fitchburg community to be torn, producing a split vote.
Maybe, like the rest of us, they are frustrated with the legislative process for getting a new school and for funding our programs. MMSD has yet to be a leader with the state Legislature in considering options for new ideas and formulas. I’d like to see us start talking about budget constraints and possible solutions. Arlene Silveira has recommended it’s time.
Marisue Horton
MMSD parent
Verona
Published: February 27, 2006
The Capital Times

Tony Castañeda interviewed Seat 2 candidate Lucy Mathiak this morning on WORT. 12MB MP3 Audio. Mathiak’s opponent is 12 year incumbent Juan Jose Lopez. More on the election here. WORT is raising money here.

Arlene Silveira and other Leopold referendum supporters addressed the MMSD Board of Education a few days after the failed referendum. I posted my reactions on June 6, 2005:

You can watch Arlene’s presentation here
For comments on my original post go here.

By Susan Troller
Although Madison School Board candidate Arlene Silveira’s 48 percent showing in Tuesday’s primary has established her as the front runner in the race for a Madison School Board seat, an opponent’s supporter says a primary win does not assure a general election victory, especially when the turnout is very low.
School Board member Ruth Robarts is a supporter of Maya Cole, who trailed Silveira in Tuesday’s primary with 35 percent of the vote. Robarts noted when she ran for the School Board in 1997, she finished a distant second in the primary with just 22 percent of the vote. Robarts picked up about 11,000 votes following the primary and won the general election.
“What was established (in Tuesday’s primary) is that there are now two viable candidates, each with an opportunity to pick up a significant number of votes in the general election,” Robarts said.
Silveira and Cole both have strong credentials as volunteers in the community. They held off 27-year-old doctoral student Michael J. Kelly to advance to the general election to compete for the School Board seat being vacated by incumbent Bill Keys. Under 5 percent of the district’s voters turned out for Tuesday’s election.
“Given that this was the only race, I thought the turnout was actually fairly good,” said Silveira. “And I was very happy for support across the whole district. I heard, again and again, that the needs of children are the issue.”
Silveira, who is single and has a middle school age daughter, has been an active school volunteer for nine years. A member of the West/Memorial area boundary task force, she supports that group’s recommendation to build an addition at Leopold Elementary and a new far west side elementary school to address issues of overcrowding and growth. Silveira is a marketing director for Promega Corporation.
Cole is a stay-at-home mother of three elementary school age boys, and has been an activist in opposition to concealed carry legislation.
“Obviously, I hope that there’s a bigger turnout in the general election,” Cole said today. “I’m looking forward to working really hard over the next 40 days and to getting people fired up about this School Board race.”
The former editor of a medical journal, Cole is the community/communication chair of the Franklin/Randall PTO. She takes a cautious approach toward building, and has called for what she calls a more transparent budget.
Kelly, who moved to Madison from Boston last summer and is pursuing his doctorate in medieval history at the University of Wisconsin, was a surprise late entrant into the race, which prompted the citywide primary. Given his low-key campaign, which included just a handful of appearances at forums and candidate debates, he said he was happy with his showing. And he clearly liked the process, saying he intends to continue to be involved in Madison politics.
“I have learned a lot from this campaign and look forward to taking that knowledge and experience, along with my active and progressive vision for Madison and my strong voter base, with me into future campaigns,” he said.
SCHOOL BOARD RESULTS
• Arlene Silveira: 3,191
• Maya Cole: 2,338
• Michael J. Kelly: 996
E-mail: stroller@madison.com
Published: February 22, 2006

Isthmus:

6618 voters in the Madison Metropolitan School District have spoken: school board candidates Maya Cole and Arlene Silveira will move on the April 4 general election. Cole received 2338 votes (or 35.32%), Silveira received 3191 votes (or 48.21%), while third place candidate received 996 votes (or 15.04%).

With that, week five of the Take Home Test is condensed to four candidates: yesterday’s winners in the Seat One race, along with Seat Two candidates Juan Jose Lopez and Lucy Mathiak.

This week’s questions:

Extra credit question: ” Role playing exercise: Convince a family moving to the Madison metro area that Madison schools will provide as good as or better educational opportunities than they would receive in a suburban school district.”

Today’s primary election results will be available here.

Gentle reminder:
Remember to vote in today’s primary

I’ve added several items to the Spring, 2006 Madison School Board election page:

• Arlene Silveira’s response to the Northside Planning Council’s Questions;
• Letters supporting candidates:
  • Progressive Dane’s Nick Berigan: Silveira’s actions prove she belongs on School Board (Duplicate post with more comments from Joan Knoebel, Jerry Eykholt and Marisue Horton)
  • Madison School Board Member Ruth Robarts: Cole has kids’ best interest at heart
  • Parent Jim Zellmer: Cole is the best choice for Madison’s future generations.

Parent Marisue Horton posted words for Arlene in the comments below.

Sandy Cullen:

Two of the three candidates running in Tuesday’s Madison School Board primary election want to change how the board functions. But they are approaching it from different directions.

Much more on the school board elections here

Jim Zellmer:

Dear Editor: The election of Maya Cole to the Madison School Board is the best choice for Madison’s future generations.
Our public schools face a number of challenges, including flat or declining enrollment (despite a growing metropolitan area), providing our children with a world-class curriculum and significantly improving taxpayer confidence in the budget process so that referendums pass.
Maya’s advocacy for much stronger school district interactions with the city and local community groups, of which Madison has many, is a smart approach to increasing parent and public support (and therefore enrollment and resources) for the school district. The district has, under some current board members, declined community opportunities, such as Fitchburg biotech powerhouse Promega’s offer of free land for a school in the mid-1990s. That land became Eagle School.
Maya has extensively discussed improving the district’s curriculum by working closely with local world-class resources, such as the University of Wisconsin and adjacent higher education institutions. Maya’s words stand in stark contrast to the district’s current efforts to reduce curriculum choices and quality for our next generation.
Maya notes that many school districts provide taxpayers with a detailed school-by-school budget and a long-term forecast. Transparency and long-term budget information are critical to taxpayer support for future referendums.
I’m supporting Maya Cole, a Madison parent of three young children who attend our public schools, for Seat 1, and I hope you do as well.
Jim Zellmer
Madison
Published: February 17, 2006

Ruth Robarts:

Dear Editor: Maya Cole gets my vote in Tuesday’s School Board primary because she believes that we can do better by our children, she’s actively looking for new solutions to old problems, and she’s committed to bringing parents and the community into policy-making.
She’s a mom on a mission to reform how the Madison schools do business at a time when we need change. Maya understands, for example, the important role that the community should play in evaluating the effectiveness of our curriculum.
We need her kind of leadership to keep all kinds of families in the public schools and serve all kids as well as we possibly can.
Ruth Robarts
member
Madison Board of Education

A letter to the editor
Dear Editor: I’m voting for Arlene Silveira for Madison School Board because she has, with words and actions, shown leadership about school resource policy. From the last year’s dialogue I’ve concluded that candidates need to be judged on how they respond to the complex issues. Does he or she problem-solve or position?
I think it’s useful when a candidate focuses on improving communications and helps devise ways to get wider circles involved in resource issues. If a candidate has actually organized people to address resource issues, then she has demonstrated credibility. Arlene has helped organize people toward solutions. I don’t think it is useful when candidates talk ambiguously about trust and perceptions without offering solutions.
I think it’s practical when, in response to state funding failures, a candidate supports interim solutions to minimize the damage. Arlene took a stand on the referendums. I think it’s disingenuous when candidates avoid taking such clear stands, preferring instead to criticize the real outcomes that result from those state failures.
I think it’s responsivewhen candidates offer interim solutions to resource issues so the community can re-evaluate as circumstances change. Arlene helped make those decisions. I think it’s “spin” when a candidate attempts to portray short-term solutions as ignoring planning just to make a political point (especially when long-term planning IS occurring).
I think it’s strategic when candidates talk about districtwide solutions that engage the support of a range of interests from real estate agents to homeowners, parents of students and teachers. As a businesswoman Arlene is credible across that spectrum. I think it erodes support for schools when candidates “work” narrow interests, promising narrow solutions.
Times are tough for our schools. Neocon policies at other levels of government are designed to reduce the expectations of publicly delivered education here and elsewhere. Candidates who resist that drift by bringing people to the process and seeking real solutions counter those damaging intentions.
Arlene has demonstrated a view that school resource policy is not just about her kids, their school or this or that program but is a matter that impacts shared expectations for our schools across the district.
Nick Berigan
Madison
Published: February 16, 2006
Copyright 2006 The Capital Times

Nick Berigan:

Dear Editor: I’m voting for Arlene Silveira for Madison School Board because she has, with words and actions, shown leadership about school resource policy. From the last year’s dialogue I’ve concluded that candidates need to be judged on how they respond to the complex issues. Does he or she problem-solve or position?
I think it’s useful when a candidate focuses on improving communications and helps devise ways to get wider circles involved in resource issues. If a candidate has actually organized people to address resource issues, then she has demonstrated credibility. Arlene has helped organize people toward solutions. I don’t think it is useful when candidates talk ambiguously about trust and perceptions without offering solutions.
I think it’s practical when, in response to state funding failures, a candidate supports interim solutions to minimize the damage. Arlene took a stand on the referendums. I think it’s disingenuous when candidates avoid taking such clear stands, preferring instead to criticize the real outcomes that result from those state failures.

(more…)

Isthmus:

So what do the Madison school board candidates think about teaching Creationism/Intelligent Design as science in the schools? Given the proposed Wisconsin state legislature bill to ban it, we thought we’d dedicate week four of the Take Home Test to the issue.

This is the final round of questions before the primary election on Tuesday, Feb. 21, for Seat One on the Madison Board of Education. The three-person field of Maya Cole, Michael Kelly and Arlene Silveira will be winnowed to two candidates on the April 4 general election ballot. There is no primary for the Seat Two candidates, Juan Jose Lopez and Lucy Mathiak.

Kristian Knutsen:

We are in a Carboniferous period of communications, with personal media pumping tremendous volumes of oxygen into the infosphere. Here’s one example:

Last Thursday, Jim Zellmer, an organizer of School Information System (SIS), sent a memo to editors and news directors at 13 local publications, including Isthmus. It is titled 2006 Madison School Board Elections: Memorandum to Local Media, and is posted at SIS, a well-trafficked group blog devoted to educational issues, particularly as they revolve around the Madison Metropolitan School District.

There are many local techniques used to influence the media. These include op-ed pieces, letters to the editor, phone calls, lunches, meetings, editors invited to be “superintendent, mayor or principal for a day”, press conferences, blogs and events.

The Falk Elementary School PTO [map] would like to extend an invitation for you and the members of your school and community to join us for our February PTO meeting. On Tuesday February 14 from 6:30-8:00pm the Falk PTO will be hosting a School Board Candidate Forum for the community to meet the candidates running for the two open seats and be able to ask them questions. Juan Lopez and Lucy Mathiak will be running for seat #2 and their will be a run-off on February 21 for seat #1 between Arlene Silveira, Maya Cole and Michael Kelly. Learn more about the candidates here.