Candidates for open Madison School Board seat bring different backgrounds to race

Matthew DeFour:

Both races for Madison School Board feature matchups between a candidate with strong business acumen and boardroom experience versus a minority candidate with experience more representative of the district's growing student population.

That contrast is especially pronounced in the contest between former Commerce Secretary and Trek Bicycle executive Mary Burke and firefighter Michael Flores.

Madison Teachers Inc. executive director John Matthews even characterizes Burke as a "1 percenter" who doesn't know "what it is like for a child to go to bed or go to school hungry."

Burke, a Democrat who was endorsed by former Gov. Jim Doyle, whose wife was a teacher and whose mother served as School Board president, objects to that description.

"People who know me sort of laugh, because I don't fit the profile of what (Matthews) is saying," Burke said, adding she supports Occupy Wall Street values such as progressive taxation and reducing the influence of corporations in government.

Seat 1 Candidates:

Nichele Nichols
www.nichols4schoolboard.org
email: nnichols4mmsd@gmail.com

Arlene Silveira (incumbent)
www.arleneforschoolboard.com
email: arlene_Silveira@yahoo.com

Seat 2 Candidates:

Mary Burke
www.maryburkeforschoolboard.net
email: maryburkewi@gmail.com

Michael Flores
www.floresforschoolboard.org
email: floresm1977@gmail.com

Arlene Silveira & Michael Flores Madison Teachers, Inc. Candidate Q & A

1.25.2012 Madison School Board Candidate DCCPA Event Photos & Audio

Posted by Jim Zellmer at February 29, 2012 7:39 PM
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