“Strong Schools Make Strong Communities” – how well does this frequently used quote apply to the role that Chippewa Valley school districts play in their communities?
In an effort to explore that question, the Chippewa Valley Post has interviewed the superintendents in six area public school districts. The results of those conversations will be published periodically, beginning with the following report on the Altoona district. Reports on the school districts in Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire, Elk Mound, Fall Creek and Menomonie will follow.
Although school boards, staffs and students are all crucial to school successes, we chose to provide a look at each district “through the eyes of the superintendents,” since they are the primary leaders and therefore are responsible for the overall performance of their districts.
This series of interviews is not an in-depth look at any of the school districts. Rather, it is an overview that we hope will help community members understand the values, strengths and achievements of their own school district as well as the challenges that it faces, and relate these to other Chippewa Valley districts.
One challenge faced by all six districts is that the population of the Chippewa Valley is steadily becoming more culturally diverse. This reality challenges the public schools, which must accept any student who walks through their doors and must make sure to address the needs of diverse populations. This, along with new mandates from the state and federal governments, requires school districts to design new teaching methods that will help all students learn to the maximum level of their abilities.
To begin to get at how the public schools are addressing these and other challenges, we posed a series of basic questions to each superintendent. These included how districts are implementing their vision and mission and how they deal with any achievement gaps that may exist.
Among the other areas covered in these interviews were financial challenges, communication efforts and evaluation procedures.
Michael Hilger conducted most of the interviews in this series and was joined, in some cases, by David Gordon, CVPost board chair and associate editor. Hilger, an English professor emeritus at UW-Eau Claire, is a member of the Altoona school board. Because of his inevitable conflict of interest in reporting on that district, the interview with Altoona School Superintendent Dr. Connie Biedron was conducted and reported by Gordon, with input from Hilger.
We hope that our “Through the Eyes of the Superintendents” series will help our readers come to a better awareness of school district operations and goals, and how these contribute to the quality of life in each community and in the Chippewa Valley as a whole.