LETTERS to the Editor

Support for PSD staff

We all want fairness

To the editor,

I am writing today in support of our professional educators and school administrators here in the Prescott School District. I love having my kid come home telling me about treaty rights and the importance of learning about the past 'all of it mom.' (Shout out Mr. Ryan!) Or the other talking about how they can help people in the community. 'Even me.' It's exciting watching them learn to be more and more of themselves every day.

Our teachers deserve our respect and our support. The school administrators strive to create environments where this kind of education and discovery can happen daily.

Like I tell my kids, in our house, we value all families, we study our history, and we work for justice and equality everywhere. And we believe we live in a community and have a responsibility to the people around us.

I'm so grateful that's what they're learning in the Prescott schools. My kids will be better community members because of it – now and in the future.

Teachers and schools work best when they have our resounding support for access to resources and professional respect and the freedom to make instructional decisions that they are best equipped to make. The schools and teachers of Prescott have mine and I hope they have yours.

Tasslyn Magnusson Prescott

To the editor,

ometimes a small person with a quiet voice says something big, and it captures our attention.

The legislature held a public hearing last week on the proposed maps that will determine our state assembly, senate, and congressional districts. More than 200 people registered to testify against them. NO ONE from the general public registered to testify FOR the maps.

That’s because the maps are unfair. Wisconsinites are all kinds of things—different colors, different religions, different political parties— but we all want fairness. These maps are drawn to skew the results of elections for at least the next 10 years to favor the majority party.

The speaker of the house testified that the districts were drawn to, among other things, favor incumbents. Shouldn’t incumbents earn their seats in each election by working for your vote?

A League of Women Voters official testified that LWV chapters across the state are having trouble setting up their traditional forums for candidates to appear before voters and answer questions prior to the election. Majority party candidates refuse to appear before the voters. Why should they? Their seats are safe. Questions are inconvenient.

This quiet testimony by the small woman who waited hours to give it, caught my attention. I checked, and Warren Petryk, Shannon Zimmerman, and Clint Moses did not participate in candidate forums. They serve not the public, but the party.

Please contact your representatives to oppose the proposed maps.

Peter Rayne Trimbelle Township