Wake Up! Waukesha

In one of my other endeavors, I serve as Chair of the Waukesha Education Foundation (WEF).
The WEF raises money to give back to the District in grants, scholarships, and endowments. These funds can only be used for programs and opportunities outside of traditional education rigor. In short, the WEF accentuates the learning experiences for the students in the Waukesha School District.

As the WEF Chair, my proximity to the District often encourages comments from parents and other concerned parties about the extreme financial challenges confronting Waukesha schools. After explaining what the WEF can and cannot do, their follow-up questions mostly deal with "How bad is it really?" and "Why isn't anybody doing anything about it?"

Answer to question #1: It's bad...really bad! And unless something changes, almost immediately, it will have a compounding effect which will be felt by students, parents, teachers, area businesses (employers), real estate agents, and everyone else in the path of this ripple. Larger average size classes, continued cuts in staffing, elimination of "unneeded" (band, sports, drama, clubs, DECA) programs, and many more cuts are awaiting us in the upcoming years.
Alarmist opinion??!! No - Much more a realist approach!!

On to question #2: No one person can do anything about it! The basic State funding program (forged in the mid-90's) increases the amount of money for the District in lesser amounts then the District's costs increase. In this scenario, and in order to balance the budget, cuts must be made. One can argue where to cut costs including educator salaries and benefits, class size, get back to "readin', writin', and 'rithmetic," and many other theories. The facts are; Cuts are happening as you read this and every local, legal remedy is being considered by the Waukesha School Board.
In summary: "District funding is insufficient to maintain status quo, and there is nothing any one person can do!" There are opportunities for change available, but in all sincerity, it will take many to accomplish this.

Writing to Gov. Doyle is one avenue - but why stop there? He's 60 miles away in Madison. Get your local State Representatives attention - this is theirs and our "Ground Zero", and isn't this their official purpose anyhow - to represent us? And if they cleverly and conveniently push the blame off on Doyle, high taxes, Funding Formulas, the opposing political party, etc., ask for their "clear and concise" professional and personal opinion on what is occurring and what the effects will be if this problem continues? Simplistically raising taxes for Waukesha schools won't be the answer from any currently-elected officials, and it's truly not a good solution long-term.

Now is a very good time to get educated on the challenges of school funding today! There are workshops and listening sessions occurring. Visit one and learn more. If you sense and believe in the importance and urgency of what lies ahead, then maybe you too will engage. And ultimately the power of one has the potential to become the voice of many.

The Waukesha Civic Theatre is full-throttle ahead on a number of fronts. Their fund-raising is in full-swing with over $650,000 collected towards their goal of $1 Million. In addition, following are (3) opportunities to become a part of the Theatre in a passive, engaged, or committed fashion.
Read on – if something catches your eye, you could catch-on and become a part of one of Waukesha’s true jewels; the Civic Theatre!
 
THE WAUKESHA CIVIC THEATRE ANNOUNCES THEIR THIRD ANNUAL NEW YORK THEATRE TOUR, SPRING 2007 
The Waukesha Civic Theatre’s third annual New York Theatre Tour is scheduled for May 10-13, 2007. This tour is intended for those interested in freely exploring New York City. The tour will depart from Milwaukee to New York City on Thursday, May 10 and will return to Milwaukee from New York on Sunday, May 13. Trip cost includes:

• 3 nights lodging in NYC at a moderate Midtown Hotel
  
• Hotel luggage handling
  
• Accident Insurance
  
• Comprehensive Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance (optional addition)
  
• Round Trip Airfare via Midwest Express
  
• Motor coach transportation between airport and hotel
  
• Metro Card for bus and subway transportation
  
• Manhattan street map
  
• NYC Tour Books
  
• Three Broadway Shows (orchestra or front mezzanine seating).  Titles under consideration:  Grey Gardens, Curtains, and Deuce.  (Titles subject to availability.  Guests can choose one alternate title, but will be responsible for the difference in ticket price and will not be escorted to the theatre.)

·        Admission to the Guggenheim museum

The Waukesha Northstars Players’ Production of “The Sting” has just completed a “standing-room only” run. Everyone involved has a right to be proud!

Casting, directing, acting and producing of this show is worthy of accolades from all. Drama Club Director/Coach/Instructor Nathan Berish has inspired the kids to soaring heights of achievement with their adaptation of this 1973 movie classic. Replacing Robert Redford with Aaron Klein in the role of “Hooker” and Ryan Shaw, “filling-in” for the Paul Newman part as Gondorf, brought believability to the North stage. The supporting cast were the perfect complement to bring the viewer back to Chicago in the 1930’s. 

 

But how does Nathan Berish do it??

 

How does he coordinate over 50 students over months of rehearsals? Where is “the hook” for these kids to stay focused for more than the typical high-schooler’s 6-7 minutes? What magic does Mr. Berish bring to motivate young adults to perform as seasoned veterans? And, in his first year at North, it’s inspirational to witness his “taking command” while maintaining an easy affability and congenial approach to bringing the best from these kids.  Kudos to Nathan Berish for his dedication and obvious motivational talent.

 

Note: The musical score is crucial to the “feel” of the production. Pianist Seth King-Gengler’s deft handing of the music was the punctuation point to this production. 

 

Our resident critic, mother-in-law Ginny, attended and demanded these kids (and Mr. Berish) receive recognition for their outstanding efforts! She left “Amazed by how well everyone worked together.”

 

I agree. Congratulations to all!

 

Let’s get this straight: A “missed-call” for school closings on a cold day (and the following day) brings out talk radio, letters to the editor, TV news reporters, senior citizens, parents, students ,and just about anyone else with an opinion on what “shoulda/coulda  been done…”  And the comments generally are mean-spirited, personal, emotional, confrontational, and second-guessing in nature.

People, get a grip on priorities!

Where is the news coverage of the financial budget challenges facing schools all across Wisconsin? Where is the public outrage at the school program cuts being reviewed right here/right now in Waukesha? Where are the immediate “solutions” to this from the lawmakers and naysayers? What are the doable “fixes” which respect fixed-income taxpayers while maintaining a quality level of education? Why are the school funding opponents and State lawmakers great at telling the public what’s wrong without offering a legal, timely, workable plan of salvaging education as we know it today?

My gosh…it’s easy for the critics to blame teachers and their benefits; administrators and their staff; maintenance budgets (remember when they used to do preventative maintenance?), curriculums that are unfunded mandates from the State and Federal Government (“No Child Left Behind” anyone?), the School Board for not making better decisions (there are no “right” decisions anymore), and so on. It’s also easy and convenient for critics to say “The schools get enough money”. Let them back that rationale up with their own plan for education which is legal, compliant with today’s funding realities, and addresses the needs of education both today and tomorrow.

The convenient truth is: The critics of school funding and State politicians are “talking the talk - not walking the walk” when it comes to finding answers to rising costs, responsible tax rates, and the need to educate our kids to a good standard. And that’s not sitting well these days. In fact…

…My kids will have completed their public education in Waukesha after this year. Yet I am reaching a slow boil over this issue and am choosing to go public with my anger! It is outrageous that our local State Representatives literally run from education issues because it could impact their “electability”... People are growing angry that these policy-making people won’t accept their responsibility to “fix” what’s broke at the State level thereby effectively hiding from it by blaming the “other party”, the teachers, the tax rate, their polls, etc… There is extreme frustration with the lack of bi-partisanship problem-solving for this long “overdue for overhaul” issue… We should shake our heads with personal disappointment that our regionally-elected State representatives put their own elected careers well ahead of the needs of the people who put them in office (remember Chvala, Jensen, Foti, Schultz?)…

Back to the underlying reason for these comments: Programs, staffing, teachers, extracurriculars, maintenance, and more are being reviewed “right now” for cuts in this year’s Waukesha School District budget with even bigger cuts due every year thereafter. There is an extreme urgency for public outcry as these cuts will… not could, will impact thousands of students every day – not for 1 or 2 days – but for years to come!

Politicians – Listen up!
We all want and need a responsible, conservative tax rate in Waukesha! (Duhhh…) School taxes are as big a part of the local tax rate as they will be for years to come. Accepting that, I am aghast that our elected State officials continue with the simplistic “Raise your money via referendum…” Great – recommend a process that has proven to turn “neighbor against neighbor” while keeping these politicians in Madis

 
The Sadie Hawkins Dance Night has arrived. Our daughter had her “group” over. The (8) seniors enjoyed dinner and stories after the hum-drum of perfunctory picture-taking. And now they are off to their second-to-last formalized school event before graduation.
It’s also my wife’s and my second-to-last event - the difference being that our run of events was quite a bit longer then our daughters’. We started “our” run (8) years ago with our oldest. A quick count shows our picture archive should have (35) different sets of pictures: Homecoming, Sadie’s, and Proms times (3) kids times (4) years with only the last prom to go.
Sometimes the same date shows up for multiple appearances – some “runs” were longer then others; often the faces changed as often as the Events; and the longest “same couple” series continues as our collegiate sophomore son is still dating the same sweet girl.
What about the dresses and sport coats they wore? Did we rent an offsite storage space to save these items – assumedly to give them back to the kids some day? Or is there a secret, very large closet lurking in my house where these clothes remain - hoping the styles (in the correct sizes?) come back some day?
Regardless, the lasting memories won’t be wrapped-up in the pictures (Who was that girl with Jordan at sophomore Homecoming anyhow?). And the dispersal of these “memorable, one-time” garments to the kids when they have room to store them will assuredly bring tears to my wife’s eyes as she realizes another phase of raising our kids has come and gone. And could I really remember back to where they had dinner at Homecoming 2001?
The memories started coming back to me tonight: The excitement of the girls looking for dresses with their Mom. Finding a sport coat that would fit my ever-growing son (4) weeks after we bought it. Secretive phone calls to the parents of the date to make sure the flowers matched the color of the dress or tux. Getting pictures printed the next morning (pre-digital era) so the kids could re-live the night the next morning. Post-prom sleepovers where we force-fed juice and breakfast to kids attempting to function on 2-3 hours sleep. Limos for (18) pulling into our cul-de-sac and then watching the guys get in before the girls. Dried flowers with petals falling off still hanging in corners of our basement from some long-forgotten time.
And now, after all the build-up, all of the anticipation, all of the hopes for “The Very Bestest Whatever Event ever”, it’s coming to an end… The kids have mostly forgotten most of the particulars of these events and they continue moving on. Amazing - they’re moving forward… and my mind and the memories are reflecting backwards.
Thanks, kids – thanks for the memories of your Homecomings, Sadie’s, and Proms.