Speaker's Task Force on Alzheimer's and Dementia Report Release
I was privileged to be a member of the Speaker's Task Force on Alzheimer's and Dementia chaired by Rep. Mike Rohrkaste. The task force traveled throughout the state, holding public hearings to get input on the needs of Alzheimer's and dementia patients as well as their caregivers. These hearings led to the composition of the Wisconsin Cares Legislative Package of bills, three of which were signed into law. Also coming out of these hearings, is a report with six recommendations for further initiatives with Alzheimer's and dementia. The six recommendations are:
Promote DHS Dementia System Design
Address Dementia-Capable Health Care Provider Shortage
Address Alzheimer's and Dementia-Related Crisis Situations
Fund Alzheimer's and Dementia Research
Balance Patient, Guardian, and Family Rights
Promote Alzheimer's and Dementia Education for K-12
On Wednesday, Rep. Rohrkaste, Rep. Swearingen, Sen. Tiffany, and I were at the Oneida County Health and Aging Building in Rhinelander to present the recommendations and the report. I want to thank everyone who came out to the public hearings to give there input on this disease. Based off of your suggestions we are working towards a cure for this currently incurable disease. If you wish to read the full report you can do so here.
DNR Sec. Cathy Stepp Listening Sessions
This past week, DNR Secretary Cathy
Stepp visited the 35th Assembly District
to hear your concerns and explain what
was going on in the department. On
Tuesday, we were in Antigo at
Northcentral Technical College and on
Wednesday, we were in Merrill at T.B.
Scott Library. I want to thank her for
coming to the
district so that you could have a
one-on-one interaction and voice your
concerns. Also, thank you to everyone
who came to the sessions. It was a very productive
visit.
Throughout the rest of the summer, I will continue to bring up the heads of the departments in Madison so that you can voice your concerns or compliments.
Speaker's Task Force on Urban Education Final Report Release
While I am showing my colleagues the rural schools I am proud to have in my district, I also got to see the urban schools of Wisconsin as a member of the Speaker's Task Force on Urban Education. We traveled throughout the state to urban schools in Madison, Racine, Kenosha, Green Bay, Milwaukee, and Eau Claire to hear their struggles and successes. Based off of these hearings, a final report was released on June 15th which outlined the findings and the twelve recommendations from these findings.
-
1. Reevaluate the Peer Review Mentor Grant Program
-
2. Streamline the license renewal process for experienced teachers who serve as mentors to new teachers.
-
3. Encourage teacher preparatory programs to provide instruction in how to teach in urban settings and in how to teach reading to all teacher license applicants.
-
4. Clarify the definitions of "truancy" and "habitual truancy" and specify what constitutes sufficient evidence to initiate court proceeding without providing a student with educational counseling or other evaluative services.
-
5. Explore creating a Medicaid Billing Code for consultation time between mental health care providers, parents, and school personnel.
-
6. Investigate barriers to communication about a student's mental health between physicians and mental health care professionals.
-
7. Review the collegiate transfer programs between the technical colleges in the Wisconsin Technical College System and UW System.
-
8. Review state funding to school districts for summer school.
-
9. Review the state requirement that school districts report pupil nondiscrimination data.
-
10. Consider funding interim assessments and academic interventions.
-
11. Evaluate the potential to permit schools and school districts to accept student scores from ACT assessments taken at any time during a student's 11th grade year for accountability purposes.
-
12. Review state funding for four-year-old kindergarten and explore additional options for investing in early childhood education.
