Abbie Fishman Seeks Seat on Milwaukee Public Schools Board of Directors

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Longtime Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) teacher and local activist, Abbie Fishman, is running for the 5th district school board seat representing Milwaukee’s Harambee, Riverwest, East Side and Downtown neighborhoods, where her family has lived for decades.

Abbie’s experiences as both an MPS Teacher and parent of an MPS graduate inspired her candidacy.  She has additionally held a variety of positions across MPS and benefited from her work with passionate teachers, and all varieties of devoted students in MPS. She was frequently frustrated by the multitude of obstacles that have discouraged teachers and students. Her mission is to facilitate and effect systemic change by replacing the stop gap measures MPS has historically implemented to address the needs of our diverse students of color, cultures, languages and abilities.  Ms. Fishman has many ideas for initiating the change MPS needs.

In the course of her career Abbie has worked as a substitute teacher, Title 1 teacher, English teacher, International Baccalaureate (IB) teacher, Advanced Placement (AP) teacher, literacy coach and most recently academic coach supporting advanced programs such as AP and IB throughout the district. This has allowed her to observe greatness to build upon as well as despair and disparity to eliminate in our public schools. Additionally, Abbie has consulted for the College Board and presented at conferences, worked as adjunct faculty at UW- Milwaukee, Marquette University, and Lakeland College. She has also served as building representative, WEAC representative, and NEA representative for the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association.

“ Abbie is a person who will speak truth to power. She is full of integrity and truly believes in Milwaukee, our public schools, and ALL of the children that walk through its doors or, at this time, open up Google Classroom” Nakeysha Roberts Washington M.S.Ed, Master Level Curriculum Designer, UWM English Education Instructor, UWM Teacher Candidate Supervisor, UWM Urban Education Doctoral Candidate, Founder- Genre Urban Arts

On the school board Abbie will work to:

• Reform MPS to serve the 21st Century needs of all its stakeholders
• Ensure that teachers have the most recent textbooks, resources, and technology along with ongoing professional development and support to use them effectively
• Make sure students have all of the resources, materials and support they need to pursue their ambitions
• Prioritize all administrators, faculty, and staff understanding and celebration of the myriad cultures, ideologies, genders, and family dynamics of our community.  Cultural Responsiveness and Restorative Practices must be embedded in the superintendent’s priorities, district programs, and teachers’ lesson plans
• Insist Antiracist ideology guide budgetary and personnel decisions
• Make schools welcoming places for students, faculty, staff, and guests.  Schools cannot mirror law enforcement institutions if we are going to break the school to prison pipeline.
• Change discipline policies from reactive to proactive.
• Increase mental health services available in schools
• Build collaboration with our students’ families, community agencies, and locally owned businesses to provide our students with meaningful experiences beyond the classroom in order to empower every student to achieve their ambitions.

Milwaukee Public Schools is the largest school district in the state of Wisconsin, serving over 74,600 students across 159 schools. The MPS Board of Directors consists of nine members and works to oversee decision making, the budget process and overall operations of the school district.

For more information visit www.abbiefishman4mps.org or e mail Abbie at abbiefishman@gmailcom

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.