Do not expect Gibraltar Area School Board Member Kari Baumann to be content with her reading advocacy efforts just because she received an award from Rep. Joel Kitchens. Baumann was surprised by Kitchens with the Reading Advocate Award at the last school board meeting on February 10th. The pair worked together on the bill now known as Act 20, which requires schools to use a phonics-based curriculum to teach reading skills and provide a plan of action for young students who are not reaching state standards. Baumann is humbled by the award since her advocacy efforts only became what they are because of her desire to help her son, who was struggling with dyslexia.

School districts across the state have begun to implement Act 20, shining a spotlight on their success while discovering their shortcoming. The Green Bay Press-Gazette reported on Friday that nearly half of K-3 students in the Green Bay Area Public Schools are below the bottom 25th percentile nationwide after they took a reading assessment screener required by Act 20. As happy as she is with the success and growth seen at school districts like Gibraltar and Luxemburg-Casco, she is happy that the process will benefit students who may have slipped through the cracks otherwise.

Baumann serves on the school board for Gibraltar and represents the district on the CESA 7 School Board, which oversees several districts in northeast Wisconsin. Earlier this month, test scores from the National Assessment of Educational Process showed that only 31 percent of young Wisconsin students are proficient in reading. The news came less than a month before Tuesday’s spring primary, which will have the state superintendent race on the ballot.

Picture courtesy of Kari Baumann's Facebook page