This information will be available throughout the election period. If you have any questions, please contact the MTI office at mti@madisonteachers.org.
MTI Candidate Profiles
MTI Board of Directors Secretary Candidates
Name: Lori Kluetzman
Primary Work Location: Hawthorne
Position: Instructional Coach
Years of experience in MMSD: 26
What office or position are you seeking: Secretary
Describe your Union engagement:
When I began my teaching career, I had strong union leaders at my school that taught me the importance of union membership and I have been a member since day one. As a student teacher, I participated in working to contract and calling in sick. During Act 10 in 2011, I worked with the union leadership at my school to help communicate and mobilize. I never considered union leadership until I began attending CENTRS (now Educational Justice Center) events and realized that I had no choice but to be both an instructional leader and a union leader.
At that time, I became the Faculty Rep for Equity and Diversity (FRED) because I signed up for it, but by the time it became an elected position, I’d learned the importance of social justice unionism in creating the schools our students deserve and that was the work I wanted to do. I continued to grow my communication, organization, and outreach measures to increase union membership and participation in CENTRS events. The more I learned about social justice unionism, the more I wanted to change how the union is viewed and how it supports our work in becoming an antiracist institution. During this time, I was also working with the NEA and MTI on continuously improving the community school model at Hawthorne. This work with our national union was instrumental in helping me understand that working with teachers, families, and the community is our only way to fully support our students and teachers.
In the last 5 years as a FRED, I have continued to actively support social justice unionism by leading antiracist work in our school and having the learning conversations that we need to become a transformational system. I have also revived the fierce advocacy that my predecessors instilled in me for the bread-and-butter unionism that continues to be important during a difficult time to work in our schools. At my school, I have improved communication with our membership, recruited and signed up new members, and participated in regular CPS meetings to discuss issues before they become big problems. For the past 3 years, I have served on the Handbook Committee as an elementary school rep fighting for the changes needed to help all our elementary staff not just survive, but thrive. For the past 2 years, I have also worked to organize the elementary school coaches in their fight to be paid a fair wage for the work that they do in the summer.
Provide a short statement about yourself (where are you from, hobbies, interests, etc:
I have been a Madison East sider for 30 years. My husband and I have 3 kids, including a senior at East High School, making it my 22nd and final year as an MMSD parent. I am a strong supporter of youth arts in Madison and an ally for our LGBTQ+ youth. After a year back in school myself to get a reading license, I am enjoying watching local theater and music performances, walking my long-legged dachshund around the lake, baking cakes and cookies, and visiting the spa in my free time.
What does your Union mean to you?
Our union is the only way to get the schools that our students, staff, and community deserve. I am passionate about school improvement, continuous growth, and improving outcomes for all our students, especially our most vulnerable students. I am driven to undo the systemic barriers to equity that exist in schools and compelled to support teachers, whether they are pre-service or nearing retirement, in seeing their own bias, creating action steps to undo the harm that we have caused, and being able to maintain their resilience, work-life balance, and joy of teaching while doing it. Our union is the only way to achieve all this.
Through the years, I have seen us, the membership of our union, work together to fight for what is right for us and for our students. In my early days in the union, I saw the bread and butter pieces of unionism up close as I called in sick along side my cooperating teacher in 1995 to fight for cost of living, filed a grievance and won with my teaching team over a year of lost planning time, and was represented by the union in a legal dispute with our insurance company a couple of years later. I used the union for the usual planning for parental leaves when my kids were born or an MOU when I went part time for a year. It was not until 2011 that I saw the power of us, the rank-and-file members of our union. We were able to mobilize and fight so quickly because of our union siblings. While we lost collective bargaining, we gained a belief in ourselves and an opportunity to become a social justice union. Year after year since then we have voted to stay a union and work together. Through our union, we have created and supported community schools, we have created the Educational Justice Center and participated in book groups, planning sessions, and discussions to lead the social justice work that needs to be done, and we have supported each other in fighting for more equitable pay for all of our members in all of our bargaining units.
I want to be on the board of MTI because I believe in the power of us. When we work together to support our students and support each other, we can make a difference. Our great MTI staff in the office will continue to work for us in those technical and legal pieces that are still so important, but we need to act together as the union if we are to continue to advocate for the staffing and resources our students deserve, the planning time and autonomy that our teachers need to be healthy and resilient, and the pay, benefits, and respect that all our staff require.
Why should members vote for you?:
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Name: Caitlin Lodahl
Primary Work Location: Orchard Ridge Elementary School
Position: Second Grade Teacher
Years of experience in MMSD: 7
What office or position are you seeking?: Secretary
Describe your Union engagement:
During my 7 years as an educator I have been an active member of my school’s PTO, culture and climate, and SBLT. I have also proudly served as our school’s union representative for 3 years. As Orchard Ridge’s union representative I have consistently attended rep meetings, volunteered for committees, and supported MTI efforts at school board meetings. During the campaign for “the schools our students deserve” I was able to secure signatures from nearly 100% of my staff as well as participate in the bigger school mapping effort. I have worked alongside other union members to rally at board meetings, collect signatures for and deliver petitions, recruit new educators to our union, participate in the union sponsored Skills to Win training which provided me with organizing skills that I utilize in my school and our union as a whole, and attended the WEAC representative assembly.
Provide a short statement about yourself (where are you from, hobbies, interests, etc):
I grew up in Madison and was a student in MMSD. I went to UW – Eau Claire where I majored in elementary and special education before returning to Madison to start my career at the same school where my mom was (and still is) a teacher. I absolutely love my job! Outside of teaching you can find me playing with my daughter, trying new recipes, and traveling to new places. I am at my happiest on a warm spring or cool fall day with a full cup of coffee surrounded by my family.
What does your Union mean to you?
My union represents the power we have as educators to be the change our students need and deserve. As the boots-on-the-ground workers we know first hand what needs to be done to make education meaningful and impactful. Our union makes change and gives me a voice. I love working alongside other members to increase my activism. My union also means I am not alone when something goes wrong. I have people to turn to and work alongside to solve problems and find support. As your union secretary, I would continue this work alongside our union siblings to strengthen our union by continuing and increasing my involvement with member recruitment, being a consistent presence in our union actions, and supporting my colleagues. I strongly believe that staff working conditions are our students’ learning conditions and that education justice is social justice. Especially right now, our students deserve a staff that is supported and united, which comes from having a strong union.
Why should members vote for you?: