Fighting for Kids: Battles to Create a Public Charter School

Jane Watt's book, Fighting for Kids, will touch an emotional chord with everyone who reads it. Her work to establish the Marco Island Academy and provide a better option for the children in her community takes readers on an incredible journey. It offers a rare view into the struggle against entrenched political forces, and the personal attacks and political roadblocks thrown at those who dare to challenge the status quo in education.

Ultimately this is a story of sacrifice and triumph, a story of uncommon love, perseverance and hope. It is a testament that a small-town girl who becomes a mom on a mission can move heaven and earth for her cause.

As a mother, and as someone who faces similar resistance and adversity in the fight to transform our public education system, I found this book to be a refreshingly honest assessment of much of what s wrong and what s right about our current system.

Jane s experience not only informs the reader, but it has the power to inspire others who find themselves similarly dissatisfied with the schools available to their children. It sends a clear message, that despite the challenges, one person can quite literally change the world for individual students and families. One person with vision and determination can rally others to a just cause and open doors of opportunity through better education that would otherwise be barred.

Jane s story is extraordinary and uncommon, but it doesn t have to be. Each of us is capable of more good than we realize. Each of us has the power to overcome obstacles in our paths, to draw on unseen strength from within, and to touch the lives of those around us.

When Jane Watt began her journey, she saw herself as an ordinary mother, but it wasn t long before she was rallying political heavyweights and the neighbors next door to support her worthy endeavor of improving our country s education system, even if it is just one mom, and one school at a time.

Fighting for Kids, is more than the title of this book. It s a choice we can all make to defend those whose interests and voices are often disregarded in the halls of power. It is a commitment to give all we can for the hope of our future and for the hope of our children.

Michelle Rhee Founder / CEO StudentsFirst