top of page
I'm seeking a second term on our board - vote April 5, 2022!
Search


What happens when you assume?
Whether you support a potential $65 million bond issue to pay for facilities improvements in our school district or not, I hope you will...
Emily Berry
Dec 18, 20184 min read
346 views
6 comments

"Please don't say 'this is a journey'"
Three of our five school board members are professors, so if there is one way to reach them, it is with an academic study of something....
Emily Berry
Nov 14, 20183 min read
650 views
0 comments

School leaders hear what they want to hear: a "yes."
Tonight's school board meeting will include a review of survey responses from the community gauging our tolerance for borrowing and...
Emily Berry
Nov 13, 20186 min read
272 views
0 comments


Unequal access to power
There's a phrase that people use now, sometimes jokingly: "all the feels," that describes Shorewood right now. All of us watching or...
Emily Berry
Oct 19, 20185 min read
481 views
0 comments


Waiting for leadership
The last few days of "To Kill a Mockingbird" controversy in Shorewood have swirled to the surface a lot of resentments, assumptions,...
Emily Berry
Oct 15, 20184 min read
269 views
0 comments


We failed. Let's get out of the way.
I'm lucky, I guess, to have a blank page here to draft my thoughts about the district cancelling its production of "To Kill a...
Emily Berry
Oct 12, 20183 min read
521 views
0 comments


How do we define good character and citizenship? Should schools even try?
I mentioned in my preview of this week's school board meeting that our board was taking up some of the most substantive questions and...
Emily Berry
Sep 12, 20184 min read
58 views
0 comments


Take your pick of topics
Every parent I know has a certain thing about their kid's school that they are passionate about. One dad may not think school lunches are...
Emily Berry
Sep 10, 20185 min read
177 views
0 comments

Facilities plans are crystallizing - are you paying attention?
There were a good two dozen people in attendance at Tuesday's annual meeting, present to listen to the highlights of the school...
Emily Berry
Sep 5, 20183 min read
86 views
0 comments

Cheers to showing up
There were a good two dozen people in attendance at Tuesday's annual meeting, present to listen to the highlights of the school...
Emily Berry
Aug 30, 20183 min read
57 views
0 comments

Your meeting
Once a year, the school district is required to call a meeting for village residents to consider and (usually) approve a tax levy to...
Emily Berry
Aug 24, 20181 min read
84 views
0 comments


Walls have a way of getting political.
UPDATE/POSTSCRIPT: The special Friday the 13th meeting resulted in a reversal - the wall has indeed been knocked down. Lots of wasted...
Emily Berry
Jul 11, 20188 min read
495 views
0 comments


Spending plans for 2018-2019
Tuesday's regular meeting was much shorter than usual and was missing two board members, but the remaining three voted on significant...
Emily Berry
Jun 27, 20182 min read
90 views
1 comment


No summer break - school district work is in full swing
This week's school board meeting should be a revealing and busy one, as the board takes up topics that should be of keen interest to...
Emily Berry
Jun 26, 20183 min read
103 views
0 comments
Laying the groundwork for a big pile of debt
I'll start this post with a positive: a room full of people showed up last week to hear about the district's facilities plan and the role...
Emily Berry
Jun 12, 20186 min read
125 views
0 comments


If a meeting happens and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?
If you knew that the school district had a dozen work groups meeting regularly to discuss specific issues and advise school district...
Emily Berry
May 23, 20189 min read
120 views
0 comments


A Small Town Hall
The school board hosted their final linkage of the year Tuesday night, welcoming anyone and everyone for a Town Hall immediately before...
Emily Berry
May 10, 20184 min read
107 views
0 comments
Full email thread: our Superintendent on Student Transfers
Readers, our district superintendent Bryan Davis emailed me earlier today taking issue with the way I framed my recent post on transfers...
Emily Berry
May 7, 20189 min read
412 views
0 comments

Are students of color and their families giving up on Shorewood School District?
A few months ago, I started hearing talk of several African-American students leaving our high school and transferring to other nearby...
Emily Berry
May 3, 20185 min read
575 views
1 comment


Maintenance and Operations: How Shorewood Measures Up
[Important edits made to this post Tuesday, March 13 regarding the data cited here] Spend a lot of time in any of our schools, and...
Emily Berry
Mar 13, 20185 min read
229 views
0 comments
bottom of page