The leadership of American Federation of Teachers Local 212 that represents MATC faculty, counselors and professional staff read with great interest the article titled “42U in the Clear for the Year” in the MATC Times edition dated Feb. 8, 2018.

We think it’s important that the MATC community understand that Local 212 played a major role in reversing the decision to eliminate the 42U bus route that provides service to not only our Mequon campus, but also to Concordia University-Mequon as well.

Local 212’s Jim Carpenter, an economics instructor, spoke at the County Board’s public hearing opposing the route’s elimination. He was joined at the hearing by an MATC student and representatives from the MATC administration.

Immediately after that hearing, Local 212’s president, Dr. Lisa Conley, sent a letter to all County Board supervisors that explained the importance of the 42U bus route to our students, warned of potential loss of $1 million in annual revenue generated by MATC students who participate in the UPASS program, provided possible route solutions, and urged them to rescind the cut.

Supervisor response to this communication was positive. Similar letters were sent to Board Chairman Lipscomb and Milwaukee County Executive Abele that included a request to meet with each to discuss this issue.

Lisa and Jim met with County Board chair, Theo Lipscomb, and secured his support. He agreed to draft a resolution in support of restoring the route.

Lisa also met with County Executive Abele’s Chief of Staff on Tuesday, Jan. 30, where she reiterated the importance of route restoration to our Mequon campus. Lisa emphasized that MATC students contribute $1.2 million annually to the MCTS to ensure service to all four campuses, and pointed out that the MCTS had the money because of a reported $2.75 million surplus last year.

The following morning, Lisa emailed all County Board supervisors seeking their support for Board Chairman Lipscomb’s resolution, which called on the MCTS to investigate ways to preserve bus service to the Mequon campus.

That very afternoon, Milwaukee County Executive Abele announced that the MATC-Concordia University route (42U) and all other threatened routes would be restored by allocating funding from the previous year’s surplus.

So please know that both within and outside of our classrooms, the faculty and staff who are proud members of AFT Local 212 have, and will, always advocate loudly and publicly on our students’ behalf.

Kevin Mulvenna

Executive Vice President, AFT Local 212

Instructional Chair, Faculty, Pre-College Education