Author Archives: dave cieslewicz

The latest hot issue in the Madison School District is stand-alone honors classes. This morning’s Wisconsin State Journal offered an excellent primer on the controversy, which is well worth reading. The last few paragraphs of that story did challenge my support for stand-alone honors. My main concern about eliminating the courses, offered to freshmen andContinue reading “How to be Honorable”

Madison’s Plan Commission has approved 550 units of low-income housing in a redeveloping former industrial area. That’s good. What’s not so good is that those 550 units are all low-income (no income diversity is allowed) and it’s concentrated in one tightly packed development. There are also some brown fields issues involved because the site hadContinue reading “The Wrong Way To Do Affordable Housing”

We could skip a step. Gov. Tony Evers could just submit a blank piece of paper in February as his proposed budget. Then Speaker Robin Vos could fill in all the numbers and send it back to Evers for his approval. That would be a more honest and direct process than the sham that isContinue reading “Invest in Little Kids, Not Rich Adults”

Madison is in line to get another grant from the Center for Tech and Civic Life. They should turn it down. They won’t, but here’s why they should. The Center for Tech and Civic Life has been around since 2012, but it really stepped up its work in 2020 in response to challenges presented byContinue reading “Don’t Take the Money”

The first thing you have to understand is that nothing changes. Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s move from Democrat to Independent has no practical effect. As Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pointed out, “Kyrsten is independent. That’s how she’s always been.” And the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said that President Biden expected to “continue toContinue reading “Sinema’s Smart Move”

Maybe everything just isn’t going to hell after all. This week held some good news. For one thing, Donald Trump got taken down yet a couple more notches. His hand-picked candidate, Herschel Walker, lost by 100,000 votes. And his company got nailed for tax fraud. Republican leaders have wanted this guy gone for a longContinue reading “Some Nice Bipartisan Moments”

I’m starting to wonder what I really believe in. Are there no eternal truths? Is everything relative? The thing that has brought me to this moment of crisis is soccer. I have spent a lifetime mocking it when I gave it any thought at all, which I almost never did — just like most Americans.Continue reading “What Is Real?”

When a game is put out of reach in the fourth quarter, Packers football broadcaster Wayne Larrivee likes to close it out with, “And there’s your dagger!” Unfortunately, too often this season the Pack has been on the pointed end of the knife. But, to borrow Larrivee’s phrase, was last night the dagger for DonaldContinue reading “Was That Your Dagger?”

There has been lots of news out of the Madison School District lately. I’d like to focus on three stories that are interrelated. The first is the reinstatement of Sennett Middle School Principal Jeffrey Copeland. I’ve written about that extensively, so I won’t go over the details here, but his return is a good thing.Continue reading “Why is MMSD Losing Students?”

You may not have noticed this as it has received scant coverage in the Madison media, but the UW has a new football coach. No, really, it does. You thought Paul Chryst had the job for life? Where were you in October? Okay then, surely the beloved Jim Leonhard was hired to replace him? No,Continue reading “Fickell Helps Sell Madison”