Three Things – 7/17/23
In the second edition of Three Things, we’re covering the July 19 School Board Meeting, the Summer School Musical at Waukesha West, and an update on the contract termination of Melissa Tempel.
In the second edition of Three Things, we’re covering the July 19 School Board Meeting, the Summer School Musical at Waukesha West, and an update on the contract termination of Melissa Tempel.
The Waukesha School District terminated a teacher yesterday because the Board and Superintendent brought negative attention to the community.
Today the Alliance is introducing a new, weekly communication feature called “Three Things.” Each week we’ll share three different happenings, issues, or stories that impact the members of our school district community.
The Alliance is concerned about the District’s ongoing misuse of policy as a shield for its pattern of harmful decisions negatively impacting the students and school community and the potential impact of her termination on First Amendment rights, teacher retention, and the promise for more transparent communication with parents.
This Teacher Appreciation Week, there is one partner missing from our first-grade classroom at Heyer: Maestra Melissa. Her class has been without her, or any permanent teacher, for 25 school days and counting.
Thank you to all of the teachers out there making a difference in kids’ lives, past, present, and future! Thank you to the teachers who taught us when we were kids!Thank you to the teachers who are teaching our children now!Thank you to the teachers of the future who will teach the coming generations! We invite everyone to give a shoutout to an influential teacher in their lives in the replies!#TeacherAppreciationWeek2023
The Alliance for Education in Waukesha (AEW) would like to commend Dr. Underly for her letter and her involvement. At the same time, AEW would like to respond to comments made by Dr. Sebert and local legislative leaders in their answers to Dr. Underly’s letter.
Dear Superintendent Sebert and School Board members, The international hubbub arising from the bottom end of Larchmont Avenue–my spouse’s elementary alma mater–brings to mind the fable of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Made famous by Disney’s Fantasia, Goethe’s poem has plenty of interpretive layers that extend well beyond this controversy, but the image is provocative–for me at least: You created a monster with this “controversial signage” policy–and doubled down with an unnecessary (and unnecessarily cruel) “parental rights” resolution. And now, every time you try to cut the rainbow, you just end up with two rainbows. Then four. Then eight. And the next thing you know, […]
It is time for Ms. Tempel to be returned to her students and for the district to take accountability for starting this mess in the first place simply, because they wanted to keep rainbows out of a first-grade classroom.
STATEMENT ON BIAS IN WAUKESHA SCHOOLS
The School District of Waukesha (SDW) made national news for banning the song “Rainbowland.” This decision is a consequence of nearly three years of bad policy implementation by the SDW Superintendent and Board. Rainbowland is merely a symptom of an on-going pattern of bias, bullying of students, staff and parents, and failure to appropriately document and respond to incidents of discrimination and harassment.