Schools advocate TJ Mertz talks about Madison Prep, teachers and school ‘reform’
If you’ve kept up on the local debate on educational achievement in the Madison Metropolitan School District, you’ve probably heard of Thomas J. “TJ” Mertz. If you haven’t heard of him, you probably will soon, since he announced a run for the School Board last week.
A vocal critic of the controversial Madison Preparatory Academy proposal last year that brought the achievement gap back to the top of the schools agenda, Mertz has been involved for years in local school issues. He served on a school district equity task force, worked with the grassroots Communities and Schools Together referendum support group, and still is involved with the state-policy-focused Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools.But Mertz perhaps is best known for his online presence. His blog, Advocating on Madison Public Schools, and frequent Facebook posts have an influential following. “It’s how you reach people today,” he says.
A well-read, sometimes loquacious student of education history and policy, Mertz is the father of two children attending Madison public schools. An instructor of U.S. history at Edgewood College, Mertz said he became actively involved in education issues in an effort to leave the kind of legacy for his children that his mother, who was involved in open housing campaigns in the Chicago area, gave him.
Capital Times: What’s the most important issue facing the Madison Metropolitan School District today?
TJ Mertz: Trust. There’s a lot of distrust in the community on all sides — between community and the school district, within the school district between administration and classroom staff, between
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