Anti-privatization candidates win

The Journal Sentinel staff

Four of five candidates backed by the teachers union were elected Tuesday to the Milwaukee School Board on an anti-privatization platform that may derail Superintendent Howard Fuller's efforts to pursue public-private partnerships for schools.

Incumbents Sandra Small, Christine Sinicki and Leon Todd were re-elected in their districts, and Joseph Fisher defeated Vel Wiley for the District 1 seat. Small, Sinicki, Todd and Fisher all were backed by the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association on an anti-privatization campaign.

The only teachers-backed candidate to lose was citywide candidate Rose Daitsman, who was defeated by John Gardner.

"All candidates in this election promised major reform," said Gardner, who collected 51%, or 31,376 votes. "The next three months will show if we are up to keeping our word."

"It's good to be over with," said Todd who received 2,972 votes, or 52% of the total in District 3. "Now we can go on to working on student achievement, safe schools and accountability. That's accountability all the way up the line." Todd's op ponent, Rose Freeman Massey, collected 2,696 votes (47%).

Small, of District 2, collected more than 65%, or 7,269 votes, while opponent Robert Bergmann received 3,832 votes, or 34%. Sinicki, of District 8, received 6,910 votes (58%), while opponent Julie Czerwinski received 4,924 votes (41%).

Fisher collected 5,288 votes (60%), and Wiley received 3,453 votes (39%) in District 1. Gardner had 31,376 votes (51%), and Daitsman had 29,569 (48%). District 1

Fisher and Wiley vied to replace Jeanette Mitchell, who resigned last year to take a job with the Helen Bader Foundation. Fisher, 64, is a retired MPS middle school math and science teacher who ran unsuccessfully against Mitchell in 1991.

Wiley, 43, is executive director of MATA Channel 14/47, a community televising organization. District 2

Incumbent Small, 59, and Bergmann, 58, agreed that school safety and the need for better grades and test scores were critical issues.

Bergmann campaigned on the need to hold the School Board accountable to taxpayers. He pledged to cut down on the amount of money Milwaukee spends on busing students within the district, and to focus more on improving and expanding neighborhood schools. District 3

Todd sought re-election in a fierce race that centered on privatization.

Todd, 54, is a self-employed business consultant. Massey, 48, a history and social science instructor at MATC, is divorced and has an adult daughter. District 8

Czerwinski, a self-proclaimed grass-roots organizer, blasted incumbent Sinicki's campaign spending.

Sinicki, 34, was seeking her second term on the board. She said supports only public charter schools.

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