THE OFFICIAL WEB SITE OF THE MADISON TIMES WEEKLY NEWSPAPER

“We are the potential tone setters of the world, and we can do anything we want to do.”

— Betty Franklin-Hammonds

August 4, 1995

BY THE WAY

EDITORIAL PAGE

Help! and Si por Nuestro

On some levels, 2003 was the best of times and the worst of times for The Madison Times. It was the best of times because we received several awards in recognition of our commitment to excellence and to the community. I was personally touched when I received the 2003 YWCA Racial Justice Award.

What also made it the best of times was the number of comments we received as we went about our business from people whose lives have been favorably impacted by stories we have published. Those comments are the greatest award of all. The Madison Times has truly evolved into a community paper and it is the community that keeps it strong.

It was also the worst of times because we experienced a significant decrease in advertising revenue that has placed us in a very fragile financial position. When the State of Wisconsin began to slash spending and the number of state employees to cure the $3.2 billion budget deficit, we quite literally felt their pain. We experienced a large drop in state, county, and city classified advertising as the public sector instituted hiring freezes and began to eliminate positions.

We weren't able to reduce our expenses to the same level to keep our budget in line. While I and other members of the staff are doing more tasks today than we did last year, we couldn't go deep enough and still publish the paper, and so we ended up in a deficit situation. We cannot experience another year like 2003 and remain in business.

People always say that minority-owned businesses need to diversify and enter private sector markets. We have tried to enter the retail and restaurant advertising market with little or no success. Look at previous and current issues of the paper. It isn't there.

We need to be able to market the paper better and we need to be able to give advertisers a sense of who our readership is. That's where, you, the reader, can help us out.

On this page is The Madison Times Readership Survey. While it is hardly scientific, the results of the survey will give us a better handle on who reads the paper. We need you, our reader, to fill out the survey and return it to our office by mail or in person. The survey should only take about 5 minutes to complete and mail. This little investment of your time will pay big dividends - I hope - for the paper.

I know you probably receive a pile of surveys in the mail every day and get calls at night. In spite of the fact that surveys can be a big pain, I ask that you suffer through ours and get it back to us. The Madison Times is a free newspaper and that's the way I like it. This little investment of your time - and a stamp - will help us remain free and viable.

I thank you, most sincerely, for your help at this time!

***

I have a language deficit. I was raised in an era when our educational system felt that English was really the only language a child needed to know. While foreign languages were offered, they were looked upon more as ways to appear sophisticated or to speak romantically with the girls.

The world has changed, but I am feeling increasingly left behind because I cannot learn a new language for the life of me. I have a language deficit.

In today's and tomorrow's labor market and economic system, bilingualism is an asset that every student should be equipped with during their early academic experience. Why? The earlier the experience, the easier it will be for the child to learn. And the child will also be able to put his/her native language in a positive, but proper, context as it relates to the languages of the world. Different languages - and the people who speak them - are to be cherished, not ridiculed.

On January 12, the Madison Metropolitan School District Board will be acting on a proposal to establish the Nuestro Mundo charter school. Nuestro would be a two-way language immersion, elementary school where students would receive 90 percent of their instruction in Spanish in kindergarten and transition to an even split between Spanish and English by the fifth grade.

This is an excellent idea!

I don't have to argue the merits of a two-way immersion model. The MMSD administration has bought into the concept. The issue is the structure and who should administer the school.

I support the semi-independent charter school concept. Nuestro will be a type of research and development pilot project that could positively and profoundly influence how language is taught throughout the district. For that reason it needs to be a part of the district and not a private school. However, the charter school structure will place the pilot project one step removed from the give and take and stresses of the traditional school influences.

The group operating Nuestro will be able to focus 100 percent of their effort in making the concept work and not have to worry about other issues that don't immediately have anything to do with the school. The charter school status will also allow a greater level of parental and community input, allowing the concept to evolve into one where school, community, and parents are united in their approach to support student achievement in the area of language development.

It has been said that the Nuestro concept will add to the district's deficit. More than likely, that is true. However, the amount of the increase is anyone's guess. When the first group of students is selected, it could mean no additional teachers and class space are required because of where the students are drawn from and possible class reductions because of fewer students in the schools or it could mean a whole new set of teachers and space is required.

In all likelihood, MMSD will be asking the voters this spring to approve a $9 million referendum in order to keep the same level of academic instruction in the 2004-2005 school year that the district has in 2003-2004. Any additional costs for Nuestro can be made raised at that time. I hope the voters - and parents - would be eager to support this investment in R&D that will pay off handsomely for the students and the community in the future. It is a small price to pay.