Award-winning author to speak to Winchester Academy
By Maggie Jones
Barbara Miner will present “Fighting for the Soul of Public Education” at 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 15, at the Waupaca Area Public Library.
Hosted by Winchester Academy of Waupaca, the program is free and open to the public.
Milwaukee and Wisconsin have become ground zero in the fight to defend public schools.
Miner brings a journalist’s eye and a parent’s heart to analyzing the state’s educational controversies and how they relate to struggles across the country.
An award-winning journalist and photographer, Miner is the author of “Lessons from the Heartland: A Half-Century of Public Education in an Iconic American City.” The book won the Studs and Ida Terkel Prize, given annually by New Press to celebrate authors “who share Studs Terkel’s commitment to exploring aspects of America that are underrepresented by mainstream media.” Copies of her book will be available for purchase Monday evening.
In March 2013, Miner was presented the Eunice Z. Edgar Lifetime Achievement Award by the ACLU of Wisconsin, for “her tireless fight in support of public schools.” In May 2013 she received the Education Advocacy Award from Marquette University’s College of Education for her contributions “to the betterment of the Milwaukee educational landscape.”
She has been a guest panelist on the Bill Moyers’ PBS show, Frontline.
Miner has been a reporter, writer and editor for almost 40 years, for publications ranging from the New York Times to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to The Progressive. The former managing editor of Rethinking Schools, she has co-edited numerous books on education, including the groundbreaking Rethinking Columbus.
Miner’s two daughters graduated from Milwaukee public schools, and her husband, Bob Peterson, taught fifth grade in Milwaukee public schools for almost 30 years. In 2011 he was elected president of the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association.
Miner has a bachelor’s degree in journalism, a master’s degree in English literature, and an associate degree in photography.
Winchester Academy programs are funded through sponsors and tax-deductible donations. Miner’s program is sponsored by Patti Kile and Glen Bullick.
For more information about Winchester Academy and the summer program series, check winchesteracademywaupaca.org, follow on Facebook, or contact Executive Director Ann Buerger Linden at 715-258-2927 or [email protected].