Great Schools Stay the Course

As the school year winds down, Great Schools planners and participants are gearing up for a busy summer and fall.

“The school year may be ending, but Great Schools will take no break,” WEAC Executive Director Michael Butera said. “We will continue planning, training and building coalitions all summer long. Great Schools is moving forward and is on track to accomplish the goals we established a year ago.”

The Great Schools television advertising campaign will continue through July, followed by a radio ad campaign in August, and a billboard campaign this fall.

WEAC’s Summer Conference will once again feature special sessions on Great Schools. Great Schools academies will cover bargaining, experienced leadership, new members, Great Schools organizing, public relations, member rights, and teaching and learning.

“Great Schools is making significant progress,” WEAC President Terry Craney said. “Many districts have completed their one-to-one member interviews and are moving into the School-Community Visions phase. People are excited and eager to participate.”

More than 21,000 members have participated in the one-to-one interviews. Many districts are either finishing up the interviews, or plan to initiate them later this spring or next fall. Eight School-Community Visions meetings have been held and 17 are scheduled throughout the state. Many districts are planning to hold School-Community Visions meetings this fall.

Butera said Great Schools is reconnecting WEAC members with each other, and WEAC members with their communities.

“We are engaging our members and the public in deep, profound conversations about the future of our schools,” he said. “People are agreeing they want quality schools for all children. They want community involvement to make sure every school is a great school. They want to make sure there is support for those great schools. This is the foundation we were hoping to establish with Great Schools.”

“The success of Great Schools is revealed in different ways in different districts,” Northwest Region Coordinator Pete Roller said. “The reconnection with our members in some locals was a major coup. In others, just having the discussion is most important.”

“Great Schools has been a major success so far,” Craney said. “People who have participated in the School-Community Visions meetings have very positive comments. They appreciate the opportunity to provide input and become involved in their local schools.”

Locals throughout the state are moving through the Great Schools process. In the South-Central Region, Oregon, Palmyra-Eagle, Sun Prairie and Parkview are among the districts that have finished their one-to-ones.

“This is a terrific way to prevent burn-out and get more members involved,” South-Central Regional Coordinator Sarah Kissel said.

In Milwaukee, Great Schools has provided a foundation for discussions about budget problems in recent months.

“The school board is warning of budget cuts in nearly all buildings,” Coordinator Linda Gaston-Mounger said. “People want to use the Great Schools process as an organizing tool to get support from parents and others who care about the budget and school programs.”

Gaston-Mounger said nearly 35% of Milwaukee schools are participating in Great Schools, and more may join next fall.

Because Milwaukee has such a large number of schools, it would be difficult to have just one School-Community Visions meeting in the district. A plan is being developed to hold a number of meetings on a smaller scale.

In the Green Lake County community of Princeton, Great Schools has a different face but the same essence. Great Schools State Coordinator Karen West said Princeton holds meetings similar to School-Community Visions twice a year. A cross-section of the community comes together to discuss their visions and goals for the school district.

“They’re doing exactly what we hoped Great Schools would do,” West said.

“The sharing of ideas and the fact that everyone gets an opportunity to hear what other people have to say and think is very important,” Princeton Lead Organizer Bob Brenner said. “In the five years since we started these meetings, support for local schools has risen dramatically. Residents feel they have ownership of their schools. Once you have ownership, you care about it and will take care of it.”

In the North-Central community of Greenwood, Lead Organizer John Binder said the district made some changes as a result of comments made in the one-to-ones. In Greenwood, every staff member, from administration to ESP, were interviewed.

Butera said a second round of member-to-member contacts is now under way throughout Wisconsin.

“We are talking to members about the importance of upcoming fall and spring elections,” he said. “We are asking members to commit to some level of involvement in helping pro-public education candidates win election.”

Members will be asked to make $20 voluntary contributions or volunteer time to candidates who support the Great Schools philosophy.

Posted May 3, 2000