Opinion: 'Steve Dunn is Committed to Excellence For Our Children'

Editor’s note: Brookfield Patch will accept letters to the editor on behalf of political candidates through Wednesday, Oct. 28. Email your letter to wendy.mitchell@patch.com.

A Letter to the Editor by Susan Johnson

A Letter To the Editor:

In 2009 my family moved to Brookfield from a neighboring town for two main reasons: the quality of the town’s schools and its charm and small town feel.

At the time, we had two kids at Whisconier Middle School, two kids in preschool, a six-week-old, and two who weren’t even born yet.

I am embarrassed to admit that for the first five years we lived in town, I was not involved in Brookfield’s town politics at all. In fact, I was completely uninformed and clueless. When you are a parent of young children, you might think you don’t need to bother getting involved in local politics until your children enter school. Once they are in kindergarten, then you will participate.

What you don’t realize is that the education your children will receive, the services and programs that will be available to your children, the condition of the buildings your children will spend the majority of their time in Monday through Friday, all those things are determined in the two or three or four years before your children enter the school system.

I have seen the class sizes for my children increase and the programs being offered to them decrease in the time that we have moved to Brookfield. And because of my lack of involvement, it is partially my fault.

But it doesn’t have to be yours. Don’t wait for your kids to be of school age. Don’t wait at all.

Vote for Steve Dunn on Tuesday.

I moved to this town because I wanted the best for my kids. I wanted excellence. But I was uninformed and uninvolved. I didn’t vote. And now my kids are paying the price.

Next year we will have six children in the Brookfield Public Schools, a kindergartner, first grader, second grader, fifth grader, sixth grader and a senior in high school. We will have one child in each of the schools here in town.

I want the best for them. But what is happening right now is not the best.

Because the current leadership in this town is satisfied with “good enough.” The current leadership in town does not envision excellence.

But Steve Dunn does. And it’s not just lip service. Steve is a lifelong volunteer in Brookfield, and he has been giving to this community for years.

And he hasn’t just been giving his time.

Twenty years ago, Steve’s wife Cassie was the high school track coach. There hadn’t been a home meet in over ten years due to the terrible condition of the track. Steve and his wife were instrumental in getting a new track at the high school. And they didn’t just get a new one. The got the best one in the state.

Because Steve Dunn is committed to excellence for our children.

And he gets things done (no pun intended).

Since then, Steve and his wife Cassie founded the Mother’s Day 5K and have continued to run it for the last 20 years. This race has raised $60,000, and all those proceeds go toward the maintenance and support of the track.

If you are one of the hundreds of people to have attended the Mother’s Day 5K, you know that it’s not only a lot of fun, but it’s the only race in town that gives out mother-son, mother-daughter, grandmother-granddaughter awards. I know, because my daughter and I won one of those awards this past Mother’s Day. And it was one of the highlights of my daughter’s year.

In addition to raising tens of thousands of dollars for our an invaluable resource for our schools and children, the Mother’s Day 5K literally brings families and the whole community together.

That’s what this community needs. We need to come together.

And that’s why Steve Dunn is getting my vote.

He’s not only focused on restoring excellence to our schools, he’s focused on restoring excellence to our entire community. Just as he has been for the past twenty years.

That’s why he’s getting my vote, and that’s why he should also get yours.

Susie Johnson, Brookfield