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3/24/2009
Fernandez ready to take on challenges as DPI top gun
Known as a fighter for the rights of children, DPI candidate Rose Fernandez, says she knows what it will take to invigorate the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. “I would bring to this office the perspective of having always put children first in my life; I think that we need that perspective, a fresh, independent approach at the Department of Instruction.”
She believes difficult choices will have to be made and we must examine priorities because the tax dollars are being pulled in so many directions. “Our investment in education needs to continue. I call for a keen eye to the return to that investment. My independence and enthusiasm for innovations and for looking at new solutions to the problems that we are grappling with, and my firm belief that this post is a non partisan, non political post. This is not a law making post, this is a post of advocacy for the boys and girls that are growing up in Wisconsin,” said Mrs. Fernandez.
Rose Fernandez sees the challenges our students are facing today as the need for higher standards, more honest workable reliable assessment methods and the need for more choices in our schools. “Wisconsin academic standards are too low. We have been rated as being in the middle of the pack nationally. Last week President Obama called on the entire country to look at their standards in their school system and to end the race to the bottom. We need to put in place standards that are high, real, measurable and obtainable,” she said.
Fernandez believes this is an opportunity to get back to the basics. She wants students to gain the core knowledge that they need in math, reading, science, and history to prepare them for increasing levels of challenge during their grade school through high school experience.
Fernandez is also a charter school supporter. “We find many good answers with the creative approaches through the freedom of charter schools. I also support the Milwaukee parental choice school program and certainly want to see it continue as one of the bright spots showing us the way to do a better job with urban education,” Fernandez added.
Concerning minority students and our graduation rates, Fernandez believes we are failing generations of children. “Particularly in the city of Milwaukee, the ratio of disparity Wisconsin demonstrates is a horrible situation. I am appalled that our Department of Public Instruction has refused to take leadership in turning that around. My opponent, a deputy superintendent at the Department of Public Instruction has been there for 8 years, and has had Milwaukee within his area of responsibility for those eight years. We have had a number of joint appearances over the last couple of weeks and he invariably expresses pride in his work in Milwaukee and fails to mention the racial disparity that is of such concern and can’t be denied. That inability to recognize our biggest needs, identify the problem, face up to it and take leadership in solving it is one of the most obvious ways in which the entrenched bureaucracy in Madison has been falling Milwaukee public schools,” added Fernandez.
She believes one must make a clear path for a turnaround in the Milwaukee public school district. Fernandez believes it requires a dramatic solution, which she details on her website, www.changedpi.com. “We are paying a price statewide for the floundering of the Milwaukee school board and that board would have to be set aside. I have high expectations for and great faith in children and our parental choice school program in Milwaukee. I am very concerned about Milwaukee and the students of color in all of our cities. We must make it a priority to do the best job for the children who need it most,” continued Fernandez.
Fernandez would like to see more minority educators in the classrooms. “I am concerned about bringing more teachers of color into the classrooms and I am in favor of alternative certification that would allow us to bring experts in their own field into the classroom more easily. That has to be a priority for us too,” concluded Fernandez.
Fernandez is an education reformer, pediatric nurse, patient care administrator of the emergency department trauma center of Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and a business owner. She is married to Javier Fernand ez, they have 5 children. The election for Superintendent of Public Instruction is held statewide on April 7th. Polls are open from 7 AM to 8 PM.
Camille Solberg- Quiros is nationally published columnist, Hispanic activist and the state of Wisconsin Hispanic Coalition Chairwoman for the McCain-Palin campaign. She resides in New London,Wisconsin.
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• Solberg: Healing After an Abortion
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• Join the blaze orange army and say ‘Enough is Enough’
• The future of government-run health care
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• Talk health reform with Feingold (Th), Petri (today)
• Give the Mayor power over MPS - if he can break contracts
• Burri: Yup, Dems really are going to bypass a conference
• The $2.7 billion Wisconsin deficit no one told you about
• Walker launches county accountability website
• Rahmlow: Why is Van Hollen dodging the Nebraska deal?
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| 2009 |
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• The Lawton-Bader files
• Yup, it’s the TAX LEVY, not the tax RATE
• Ellis: costly automobile insurance laws must be rolled back
• If not Barrett, who?
• The subsidy game
• Burri: Bailouts, Banks, Health Care, and the Mob
• Attend Appleton Schools budget meeting tonight
• A public option WON’T increase costs? That’s delusional!
• Appleton Schools budget meeting Monday
• Wisconsin should be screaming for accountability
• Burri: If anything, we need more obstructionism around here
• WI on the leading edge - in the wrong direction
• Rep. Montgomery: Utility Customers Join State’s Crime-Fighting Efforts
• Public Conservation and Recreation Lands Total 16.5% of State
• In the crow's nest of the Titanic, shouting 'Iceberg!'
• Is Rep. Nelson a political hack?
• Health care: The road ahead will be brutal
• Kagen's pandering again
• Birthers - good stuff for you
• How much do we bend over backward for seniors?
• The trouble with health care is paying for it
• Two-parent families: The Gold Standard
• Burri: Kids... the joys and blessings
• Very, very worried about health care
• Rep. Huebsch: Wisconsin is proof government health care isn’t the answer
• School district contracts push up tax levy
• What? Obama, the Peace Prize?
• TODAY - hearing on Campaign Finance Reform
• Appleton School District tax levy up way too much
• CBO report is out - and the bill isn't even written yet?
• So, how much do YOU budget for health care?
• Burri: Copenhagen trip was amateurish
• “Sotomayor, you have blood on your hands...”
• Cap and Trade. Always follow the money
• Rep. Kagen gets (almost) free health services
• I actually agree with Rep. Kagen
• Future Wisconsin Conference for Conservatives, October 10, Wauwatosa
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• Important votes Tuesday, including Appleton Common Council
• Democrats are becoming supply siders??
• Further debunking Hillary myths
• WEAC has created an unsustainable monopoly
• From Mark Gundrum: One of the greatest honors an American can experience
• 'Operation Chaos' working?
• Joe Martin the best candidate in Appleton's 8th
• State programs to cut? - Volume II
• Oh the naivete of youth
• Not just disingenuous - flat wrong
• Steve - you will be missed
• Make cuts only AFTER you're elected....
• Getting serious: What programs can we cut?
• Rep. Steve Kagen joining me on Jerry Bader Show today
• Rep. Van Roy: Dental Care Pilot Program
• Has Dave Obey turned the corner on earmarks?
• Speaker Huebsch: Governor turns down Federal Aid?
• Mark Rahmlow: "We're Broke."
• As taxpayers, how do we know if it's a Chevy or a Lexus?
• This is trash talk - about a veteran
• Frank Lasee: Take time to get the Compact right
• 'The Gableman Ad' - is it racist?
• Roth thankful, Kagen shaking money tree
• Gov. Doyle's office not enamored with Freedom of Information
• Governor Doyle will never do it
• Leadership on smoking ban? Not Hanna
• Rep. Van Roy speaks out about smear ads
• You're threatening me about potholes?
• Losing the Hastert seat is NOT a trend and NOT curtians for the GOP
• First suggestion for 'slashing' programs
• Big money-saver for municipalities
• More one time fixes. Nuts.
• Any chances???
• I'm doing the Jerry Bader Show, today, the 11th
• Representative Frank Lasee: Final Waltz of the Season
• Guest Blog: It's not the county's business to be in the nursing home business
• Yup, Hillary won Texas and Ohio
• Gableman/Butler race featured - and it isn't pretty
• Lies from Planned Parenthood and NARAL
• He who sacrifices liberty.....
• Duh.
• The Troha sentencing, Doyle and that $200K
• Guns, passion and "originality"
• How hard is it anyway, to shut down a government program?
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• Guest Blog: Governor Doyle, cancel your Ireland trip
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• Lots of ideas. No money.
• The Cigarette Tax - "Poor Policy Instrument?"
• School budget Lite?
• Frankenstein - not in the library, but in the legislature
• A librarian, a legislator, a president
• $1.25/pack - NO, NO, NO, and NO
• Kagen and Reagan in the same breath?
• Menasha: behind the 8-ball, but not biting the dust
• Any way you slice it, Wisconsin government wants (further) in on health care
• The World is Flat...what about health care?
• The PAC - too precious to fail. Day 3
• News follow-ups: Appleton West, Kagen at the White House
• Fox Cities PAC - too precious to fail - Day 2
• Fox Cities PAC - too precious to fail
• New Transit Tax coming your way
• Rep. Petri has his finger in the dike - I guess
• AASD Retirement Costs Burdensome
• Health care, health care, health care, health care
• Water rate increase was no slam dunk
• Education for all is just a bad dream
• New Year's resolutions from a parade snob
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