Vision for the Future

The Monona Grove School District is being presented a unique and rare opportunity. With 3 seats open in the April election, the voters have been presented with a chance to voice themselves loud and clear. These open seats, in addition to the recent hiring of the new Superintendent, Craig Gerlach, will shape the future of the school district for the next 3 years and beyond.

This opportunity to change the face of the district is the main reason that I am seeking a seat on the next Monona Grove School Board. I would like to see the next board use this opportunity to become more visionary instead of reactionary. A school board should be a collection of people that are looking at the big picture for the district both short and long term. To that we need to realize how short term decisions will affect long term plans.

This next board needs to develop 3 different sets of goals and plans to achieve these objectives for the district to succeed both presently and in the future. I would like to see a single year, short-term (up to 5 years) and a long-term plan (5-10 years) developed for the district. These goals and plans should be specific, attainable, measureable and relevant to the overall plan for the school district.

The goals need to be set by the board, but in conjunction with the Mr. Gerlach and his administration team. As the individuals that are charged with carrying out the plan they have to also buy into the goals and plans. Additionally, the board needs to do all that it can to provide the tools necessary for the administration to carry out the plans and achieve the goals.

Once goals have been set the board then needs to develop plans on how to achieve these goals and how to measure progress towards achieving the goals. If you cannot measure progress towards achieving the goals then how will anyone know if the goals have been met?

I feel that my experience and knowledge lends itself to putting this type of broad thinking into action. As I have stated a unique opportunity is upon the entire district and to not take advantage of that opportunity would be a disservice to the children of this district.