Eric Brooks for Waukesha School Board
Here Are My Key Priorities
Parental Rights
As an educator, I know that kids do best when their parents are actively engaged in their education. That’s why I fully support the efforts of the current board over the past three years to enact policies that support parental rights in education. Parents should never be told that their voice doesn’t matter or that they don’t have a right to know what is going on in their child’s classroom. I have been a tireless advocate for parental rights, and as a board member, I will make sure that families ALWAYS have a seat at the table.
Driving Academic Achievement
We owe it to our students and to our community to make sure that by the time they leave the School District of Waukesha, they are college and career ready. This means meeting students where they’re at and providing them with the tools to be successful in whatever path they choose after graduating. This starts by working tirelessly to improve our reading scores. When students are below grade level in reading by the 4th grade, they are less likely to graduate and less likely to get a family-sustaining job in the future.
As a legislative aide in Madison, I had the privilege of working on a bipartisan reform that refocuses the way that we teach reading in our schools by shifting towards a science-based, phonics driven approach.. Thanks to the leadership of the Waukesha School Board, the School District of Waukesha was already ahead of the curve in teaching the Science of Reading and bringing phonics back to the classroom. As a board member, I will make sure that we continue to support teachers in successfully implementing the Science of Reading in Waukesha and improve reading scores across the district.
Improving Student Behaviors
Our district is blessed with the gift of amazing teachers. Today’s students are faced with new challenges, and our educators are asked to go above and beyond to meet them. One of the common concerns that I hear from teachers as well as parents is that student behaviors have been getting out of control. As a former educator, I saw this on a daily basis. Not only do these behaviors disrupt classroom learning, but they can take a mental toll on the teachers as well.
When classroom learning is constantly disrupted by negative behaviors, and when teachers are asked to spend more time correcting some students and less time educating all students, that’s when educators become burnt out. We need to make sure that our educators feel empowered and supported when dealing with classroom behaviors.
Fighting for the Taxpayer
Thanks to the current board’s leadership, the School District of Waukesha has been able to adequately address key capital projects without having to go to the taxpayers and ask them to raise their taxes via referendum. This is something we should be proud of, and it’s a trend that I look to continue.
As inflation continues to take its toll on Waukesha families, we need to make sure that the School District of Waukesha continues to spend within our means. As a board member, I will make sure that we always seek to fund our priorities while still having the best interest of the taxpayers at heart.