Last night Cameron a small school from Cameron Wisconsin, played the Milwaukee Academy of Science in the WIAA men’s basketball tournament. Cameron won a big triumph for a very small school in Northern Wisconsin by simply being here at the Kohl Center. That their school survives at all is a testament to the challenges the community overcomes to keep rural school open.
Labor radio spoke with Dan Beck of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, who outlined the biggest challenges facing rural schools in Wisconsin.
TAPE [32 seconds ] connection to local school.
Without any real connections to the local schools this group opposes any tax increase. We asked what factors have contributed to producing such a nonfunctional system?
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The elimination of collective bargaining made a difficult situation even worse. Beck continues
TAPE: [35 seconds] urban areas.
Beck addressed the question what needs to be done to respond to the challenges. Bringing the teachers voices into the discussion is paramount
TAPE 39 seconds deal with that”
Aside from the issue of voice Beck pointed to two other impediments to being able to address the issues that rural schools face. Noting that over forty years Americans have been fed a constant anti-tax and anti-government narrative, starting with President Reagan Beck added
TAPE: 23 seconds
That was Dan Beck Regional Director of Region 1 of WEAC discussing the challenges that rural schools face.
Reporting Courtesy of Frank Emspak for Labor Radio
Image Courtesy of Fred Leaders on Flickr
