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Tom Tiffany on May Day Protests
One of the people running for governor in Wisconsin is not happy that some kids in the state are not in school today.
Republican Tom Tiffany took to X to blast schools in Madison and Sun Prairie who canceled classes Friday to celebrate May Day.
“Sun Prairie Area School District and Madison Metropolitan School District canceled school tomorrow so teachers can protest deportations. Sun Prairie gave parents less than 24 hours’ notice. In both districts, fewer than 50% of students are proficient in reading,” Tiffany wrote.
Sun Prairie and Madison schools canceled classes. School leaders in Milwaukee scheduled the day off at the beginning of the year. But there will be May Day protests in both cities.
Tiffany’s 50% reading numbers don’t fully explain the problems in Madison and Milwaukee.
Statewide, test scores show that two-thirds of kinds in Wisconsin schools cannot read or write at grade level. The scores are even worse for black and low income kids.
In Madison, 90% of black fourth graders cannot read well, or solve simple math problems. In Milwaukee Public Schools, 95% of black fourth graders are behind.
Madison school managers said they canceled classes for Friday because an overwhelming majority of teachers said they would not come to work on May Day.
“Our Madison Teachers Inc. partners recently shared that they received 70% of staff signatures supporting participation in ‘A Day without Immigrants’ as part of the May Day Strong national day of action,” the district said in an announcement. “After a conversation with MTI, we understand that we may experience low staff turnout and believe this will directly affect the safety of our community due to insufficient supervision and educational support for our students.”
Wisconsin is not alone in seeing schools closed for May Day. Schools in Chicago and many other big cities also canceled classes for Friday.
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