Dear members,
As the summer comes to a close and many of you have headed back to school, I wanted to send you a brief message wishing you well and thanking you for your continued support of Wisconsin's students, families, and communities. AFT-Wisconsin members teach in public schools at every level. We keep our schools running in a hundred other ways. And we serve the state of Wisconsin by keeping our environment clean and our communities strong. In short, Wisconsin works because we do.
I'd like to celebrate in particular the work of two AFT-Wisconsin members who have recently been asked to serve at the state level. Ashland Teachers' Federation (AFT #1275) Executive Board member Nikki Sprague, a K-5 Communication Interaction Disorder (CID) teacher, has been appointed by State Superintendent Carolyn Stanford Taylor to the Advisory Council on Special Education. Likewise, Nerissa Nelson???librarian, professor, and president of the Stevens Point Academic Representation Council (AFT #6505) at UW-Stevens Point???has been appointed by Governor Evers to the Wisconsin Women's Council. Both Nikki and Nerissa have the experience and the dedication to play a great role on these councils, and we're very excited for them!
As you have hopefully heard by now, one of the other ways we're working to make Wisconsin stronger is by supporting the "Reaching Higher for Higher Education" package of bills. These bills would provide greater funding for the UW, our technical colleges, and student financial aid; remit tuition for our student K-12 teachers; and create a Blue Ribbon commission to plan for the UW's future quality and affordability. In short, these bills would provide comprehensive support for Wisconsin's students and educators at every level. If you haven't signed the petition yet, please do so, and share widely:
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/support-the-reaching-higher-for-higher-ed-bills
We all make a difference, every day, as union members and as public servants. So in closing I'd like to say that this time of year is a great one to reach out to our new colleagues especially, mentoring them and helping them find their voice through their union. Among them are the future leaders of our unions and our public institutions, and there's no better place for them to start showing that leadership than in their local! If you haven't already, please reach out to myself and your staff representative about how we can help with this outreach. Let's start recruiting tomorrow's leaders today.
In solidarity,
Kim Kohlhaas
President, AFT-Wisconsin
