By Joe Williams
We join our friends and partners in Wisconsin today in mourning the loss of education activist Cindy Zautcke, who lost a battle with Lymphoma this morning.
Cindy was my friend for nearly 20 years, and it is hard to express how sad it feels to lose such a vibrant soul and purposeful fighter for an important cause. I can vividly remember Cindy lobbying the legislature on a charter school bill in the 1990’s with her baby son bouncing on her hip. At one rally, when I had daycare troubles of my own, she cared for her son and mine at the same time, so that I could take notes. The whole mamma bear thing suited her well.
Years later, she was a prudent sounding board when I jumped across the line and became an advocate. She helped us establish DFER’s Milwaukee chapter, and consistently focused on fighting for better school choices for families who desperately needed them.
A longtime teacher at alternative high schools for at-risk students, Cindy was a founder of El Puente High School in Milwaukee, and served as president of the Wisconsin Charter Schools Association and was a longtime policy sidekick for Howard Fuller at Marquette University.
Cindy’s soul will no doubt live on through her three children, but also through the thousands and thousands of young people whose lives are better today because Cindy fought the good fight for better educational opportunities for them.