I hope this email finds you well and preparing to share the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday with family and friends. I have some important news that I'd like to share, and I appreciate your patience.

Last month at the international conference of NACOL (North American Council for Online Learning - www.nacol.org), I spoke on a panel along with our two champions in the Wisconsin Senate, Senator John Lehman (D - Racine) and Senator Luther Olsen (R - Ripon). We shared the highlights of the Coalition's grassroots victory in spurring a bipartisan bill earlier this year that changed our state education statutes to protect virtual charter schools. A slide show of our Day at the Capitol on that sunny, but brisk, January day told the audience all they needed to know about how Wisconsin parents and teachers and children got the job done, together.

As I said that day on the Capitol steps we did make history. Together the Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families made a name for itself. The Coalition remains your source for any news about moves in Madison to limit our rights to this choice in public education. Threats remain and vigilance must be part of our mission as we move forward. The arbitrary enrollment cap imposed by Governor Doyle will be hit in a few short years and children will be left out if further legislative action doesn't follow in a few years.

Four years ago I began working to organize the Coalition so parents would have a voice in the fight for virtual charter schools. We grew in numbers and in authority to become the premiere source for advocacy and information on this way of public schooling in our state. 2008 proved to be the first big challenge for us and the Coalition rose to every call and served us all better than we could have hoped.

I was most privileged to participate. As I testified to the legislature and said often then and since, for me it was about real boys and girls and the education our state owes them. My gratitude to each of you who stood with me is most profound. We did every single thing together. And that will not change as future challenges arise.

So, now it is time for me to step aside from the Coalition presidency and let others bring their energy and perspective to our organization. I will remain a member, but I am considering other ways to devote more of my time to work to improve public education in Wisconsin. The gains we have made simply can not be squandered. Just as important of a personal challenge for me: there are hundreds of thousands of other parents, students and teachers in this state who are faced with needless hurdles to educational excellence.

But, we as a Coalition are in good hands.

Bob Reber, a founding board member from Fond du Lac, will remain on the board. We are fortunate that Jane Kummer-Meyer of Rhinelander continues on the board and gratefully welcome Julie Thompson of Cross Plains. You'll hear more from them soon. These parents will serve us all so very well, but they need you. Please help grow the Coalition by telling others about it. Our strength will always be in our numbers and our solidarity. And the time will come again that those numbers will be our voice for our children. We will need that voice with our government and with our schools.

Like our work these past few years, this email is about the Coalition, not about me. However, if you'd like to keep in touch or are interested in learning about my future plans, you can email me at GreatWISchools@gmail.com . Your support and encouragement made the difference last spring; I treasure the new friends I've made, and I'd hate to see my stepping aside here at the Coalition have us drift apart.

Again, it's been my privilege to serve you on the board, and I wish the new leadership all the best success in the days and years ahead.

All the best, and Happy Thanksgiving,

Rose Fernandez

GreatWISchools@gmail.com (personal e-mail)