Mary Bell takes the helm
 Mary Bell |
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Promoting positive change
Arriving for her first day on the job as a library media specialist in Wisconsin Rapids, Mary Bell came face to face with teachers conducting informational picketing to protest unfair labor practices.
Since that day, she has walked a long and devoted path to promote positive change for teachers and public education in Wisconsin. Bell will face her greatest opportunity to bring about change as she takes over as WEAC’s newest president.
Bell succeeds Stan Johnson, who served as WEAC president since 2001. WEAC rules limit a president to two, three-year terms.
As she prepares to build off of the existing strengths of WEAC, and undertake new initiatives, Bell said “action” will define her term in office. “As the time-honored advice goes, ‘don’t complain about it, change it,’” she said.
Building strong relationships
Bell was moved to seek the position of president because of her love for the children and the teachers of Wisconsin. “As an executive officer, you get a chance to talk with people across the state,” she said. “You get a sense of what really needs to happen. I am a person who can do this.”
In her spare time: Bell pursues varied musical interests. In fact, she joined with other WEAC members and staff to form the Great Schools Union Band, an effort to raise money for the NEA Fund for Children and Public Education. She performed vocals and played the guitar. The most recent book she read: “Where Have All the Leaders Gone?,” by Lee Iacocca. (It was a gift from Central Wisconsin UniServ Council Director Tom Ivey.) The best advice she ever received: “You seldom regret the things you do, but it is easy to regret the things you neglect to do.”
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With strong communication and coalition-building skills, Bell said she will devote herself to the WEAC mission. She is looking forward to working with its 98,000 members, UniServs and WEAC staff to foster strong relationships.
“That will allow us to focus on issues that really matter to our members,” she said.
WEAC Executive Director Dan Burkhalter welcomed Bell to the office, saying, “I am sure she will be building on the progress Stan Johnson made.”
Burkhalter said Bell has a keen understanding of and a strong interest in the key issues facing WEAC. He praised Bell’s strength in coalition-building. “Mary is devoted to maintaining strong advocacy with members,” he said. “She’s determined to strengthen partnerships to move our agenda forward.”
Making a difference
Bell loves talking about educators and what needs to occur to make all of Wisconsin’s schools great. “I am absolutely fearless when it comes to talking about education,” she said. “The people I work with, and for, spend long hours working for children and communities.”
“I have a sense of purpose about the organization and how it spends the money with which we are entrusted,” she said. “I have a responsibility to make a difference.”
It is with that sense of purpose that Bell plans to approach all of the tasks before her as president. “Something needs to be changed,” she said. “And I believe, at this time, there is a chance we can make significant change.”
Bell said she is seeing a groundswell of support from communities all through the state – towns and cities that know education has been stretched to its fiscal limit. The school funding system and the health care system must be fixed, she said.
“Our schools aren’t going to survive much longer without acceptable remedies,” she said.
Discovering teaching
Bell discovered her passion for teaching by accident while a freshman at UW-Oshkosh. Her original career choice was also her first love - library science.
“I had no intention of becoming a teacher,” she said. “Had you told me I would be standing in front of 30 students teaching a class, I would have been terrified.”
She was soon, however, asked to proctor a group of 10 freshmen in English composition and found the opportunity fulfilling. “I worked with three outstanding professors who convinced me to become an English teacher,” she said, noting that she transferred to UW-Madison as a sophomore.
It was a career move that nobody who knew Bell, including herself, could have predicted. Upon graduation, she took her first job as an English teacher in Rhinelander. Later, she returned to UW-Madison for her master’s degree and then took a job as library media specialist in the Wisconsin Rapids School District. It’s a position she has held for 26 years.
As a library media specialist, Bell quickly became active in the Wisconsin Rapids Education Association. She began attending general membership meetings and building representative meetings. Later, she served on the bargaining team, as her local's treasurer, as a local delegate to the NEA Representative Assembly, and as president.
Accomplishing goals
Bell continued to be active in her local, as well as in the Central Wisconsin UniServ Council, where she was selected as a WEAC board member representative and served on the budget and finance committee.
She served as chair of the WEAC Resolutions Committee, co-chair of the Statewide Bargaining Goals Committee, as a member of the Public Relations Committee and in 1992 was elected to the NEA Board of Directors representing educators throughout Wisconsin.
Bell was elected in 2003 to the post of WEAC secretary-treasurer.
Through her work, Bell found a special aptitude in the areas of budget and finance. “I found there were things I could do and things I wanted to accomplish,” she said.
One of those accomplishments was the move to a two-year biennial budget, allowing time for evaluation and planning between budget cycles. Another undertaking was the process of preparing WEAC to meet all requirements under new federal regulations regarding non-profit organizations.
Focusing on success
Bell said she will focus on the success of WEAC for the benefit of its members during her term as president. That is nothing less than what the state’s great schools deserve, she said.
“Every school is different, because it responds to the community in which it lives,” she explained. “We have great teachers who care about kids, making them want to come to school in the morning. These great teachers are finding ways to engage their students in learning, making it a natural process that students find fun and rewarding.
“We have hard-working and dedicated support staff who are there for students and teachers every day."
“And great schools also need leaders who will allow teachers to teach, and provide them the support they need to do their jobs,” she added. “Great schools need community involvement that fosters an overall sense of pride in the school staff and what they do.”
Posted August 1, 2007