Wisconsin Green Party
www.wisconsingreenparty.org
Bussiere for State Senate
www.votejill.org
July 17, 2006
Contact:
Jill Bussiere, candidate for Wisconsin State Senate, District 1
920 388-0529, 920 255-2175, jdt@itol.com
Bussiere asks WEAC for equal access to endorsement process
(Kewaunee) On Friday a candidate for Wisconsin State Senate District 1
learned that she would be excluded from endorsement interviews for Wisconsin
Education Association Council (WEAC), while the other two candidates, the
Republican incumbent and the Democratic candidate will be included.
“It feels pretty bad to be excluded from this process,” said Jill
Bussiere, Wisconsin Green Party candidate for Wisconsin State Senate District 1.
“WEAC will be recommending a candidate for Senate District 1 to its members
as the best advocate for education without having interviewed all of us. I
am asking WEAC to reconsider.”
“Like WEAC,” said Bussiere, “Greens advocate for equal access for all to the
educational system. We also advocate for equal access for all to the political system. Both are necessary to fulfill the promise of a democratic
society. I invite WEAC to work with us for such equal access. Our democratic society will be stronger if all voices are heard.”
WEAC states on their website: “To fulfill the promise of a democratic
society, the mission of the Wisconsin Education Association Council is to
promote respect and support for quality public education and to provide for
the professional and personal growth and economic welfare of members.
“I have a strong background in education, and am well qualified to address
state educational issues,” said Bussiere.
Bussiere, former Co-Chair of the Wisconsin Green Party, holds a BS degree in
Elementary Education from Penn State University, and an MS in Educational
Policy Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In graduate school, she studied child-rearing and educational systems across
different cultures, including fieldwork in schools in Otovalo, Ecuador. For
her master’s thesis, she examined Maine’s Even Start program, a federal
pilot program designed to help poor elementary students and parents be
successful in school.
Employed over the years in public and private schools, in both rural and
urban settings, Bussiere’s direct work experience in education includes the
following positions: school librarian, assistant teacher, first/second grade
teacher, and enrichment math teacher.
She has also served as a nursery school board member in Waterville, Maine,
and home schooled her children when her family moved to Kewaunee County in
1992. She now works as a line therapist, in her fourth year of working with
autistic children in their homes.
A WEAC official told Bussiere that she would be excluded because “at the
present time the WEAC practice is to invite candidates in the major parties
to participate in the WEAC PAC recommendation process. The major parties are
defined as those who have received enough votes to have a seat on the state
elections board. At the present time the Green Party does not have a seat at
the state elections board.”
She was also told that WEAC would “take her request under consideration.”
“Often Greens are excluded from the political process by the established
entities in the political system because we are not members of the major
parties,” said Bussiere. “It is good to be reminded of how bad it feels to
be excluded, just as those students that are not members of the majority
culture are excluded from full participation in society. Just as we fight
for their inclusion, we fight for our own. I hope that WEAC will change
their minds, and be inclusive.”
WEAC did interview Rae Vogeler, Wisconsin Green Party candidate for U.S.
Senate, this election cycle.
WEAC goals: http://www.weac.org/GreatSchools/gssap.htm
- A revised system of school funding that ensures that every child has
access to an adequately funded public education.
- A fair collective bargaining law for teachers and education support professionals.
Green Party Platform: http://www.gp.org/platform/2004/
“We call for equitable state and national funding for education and the
creation of schools controlled by parent-teacher governing bodies.” “We support the irreducible right of the working
people…, without hindrance, to form a union and to bargain collectively with their employer.”
For more information
Bussiere for State Senate
www.votejill.org
