Dan Clarahan for Wrightstown School Board - Summary V1

8/7/2019 Dan Clarahan for Wrightstown School Board - Summary V1

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Dan Clarahan for Wrightstown School Board

Educating, teaching and forming the next generation is among the most important thing we do as

adults. Family, faith, community and schools all have very important, and different, roles to play in the

process of raising children. I'm grateful that our community has allowed me to play a small role in that

process as a School Board Member in Wrightstown. I'm running for re-election to the School Board

and I look forward to your support.

As I've shared with many of you, during my orientation session for new School Board Members, the

President of the Wisconsin Association of School Boards addressed the assembled group with "I have

good news and bad news for you: The good news is that congratulations are in order, your community

has recognized you as an important and respected local leader. The bad news? Everybody knows

the school board are a bunch of idiots!" Well, count me among that group! Very frequently I hear from

people that it's a thankless job, but that's not true at all! I find it very personally rewarding to see ourschools grow and improve. I am proud of what our schools have achieved, but I am not satisfied

that it is good enough , so I'm running again.

Many of you reading this may not know me so I thought I'd outline (further below) a few of my thoughts

on:

1. My background

2. Student Achievement

3. School Financial Management

If you'd like to discuss any of this, please feel free to call me or e-mail me. Thanks, and I'm looking

forward to your support.

Dan Clarahan

cell: 920 540 5291

e-mail: [email protected]

FaceBook Page (hold ctrl and click to follow) the link:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dan-Clarahan-for-Wrightstown-School-

Board/191255130904337#!/pages/Dan-Clarahan-for-Wrightstown-School-

Board/191255130904337?sk=wall



1. Background:

Family - Married, two children i

Resident of Wrightstown School D

Education - Bachelor’s degree in C

Professional –Principal of CNZ SolOfficer of a EcoCombustion Energ

Community – Youth sports coachCentral District of Wisconsin Youthof children (one of my favorite quotplaying fields of Eton" --- highlighticommunity volunteer (United Way

Incumbent School Board Member iResolutions Committee for 2 years

Key Belief: It is imperative that wemother and grandmother were all

follow their example and help with

2. Student Achievement

Over the last several years Wrightsto

Achievement as measured by severa

Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts

Wrightstown is now consistently perfo

of course the State of Wisconsin is c

years of hard work and focus on the

better align the curriculum, the progra

Wrightstown has also continued to

achievement that are harder to dire

forensics, art, , sports, etc. has contin

a record number of Teams to State

Wrightstown has much to be proud of i

20.

20.0

20.5

21.0

21.5

22.0

22.5

23.0

A

verage composite ACT Score

Madison in college, both went K-12 through Wright

istrict since 1996, resident of Brown County since 1

hemical Engineering; University of Illinois

utions LLC, a Business/Technology Consulting FirmSystems (a startup Bio-Energy company)

nd organizer (basketball and soccer coach; VP FoxSoccer Association). I think sports are key activitiees is from Wellesley Wellington: "The battle of Watg the importance of sports in developing team wor

, Habitat for Humanity, etc)

in the Wrightstown Community School District; sat o(statewide Policy formulating Wisconsin Associati

improve public education in the U.S. (Wrightstown iublic school teachers at one point, and I feel like I h

the education of our improve our schools.

n has demonstrated significant and continuous i

l quantitative measures such as the ACT test,

Exam (the annual State test). As you can se

ming above the Wisconsin State average on comp

onsistently among the highest scoring States. Thi

part of teachers and administrators in the Wrightst

s and the teaching methods in Wrightstown.

improve in various "soft measures" (qualitative

tly measure. Participation in extra-curricular acti

ed to grow. The Wrightstown Future Problem Solv

level competition this year to highlight but one

n every aspect of the education we provide our chil

22.2

21.5

22.823.0

23.2

Academic Year

ACT ResuComposite S

Wrightsto

Wisconsin

National

stown Schools.

979

, and Chief Operating

x Soccer and VP Easts in the developmenterloo was won on thein children), active

n the Policy &n of School Board’s.

ncluded). My wife,ave an obligation to

provement in Student

AP testing, and the

e in the chart below,

osite ACT results, and

s is a result of literally

own School District to

easures) of Student

ivities such as music,

ers (FPS) are sending

f our great programs

ren.

ltsore

n



But is it enough? In my view no, it is not enough. We are arguably among the top schools in the area, but I

feel we need to become one of the top schools in the State.

While K-12 education in Wisconsin continues to be ranked among the best in the U.S., unfortunately our countryis continuing to slide down the international rankings and we now are behind many other industrialized countriesin various measures of Student Achievement. The following link is just one of many studies that outline thechallenges we face in education in this country, simply put we are falling behind.http://www.all4ed.org/files/IntlComp_FactSheet.pdf It seems like a daunting task, and certainly many people are working on this challenge at a State and National

level --- but ---I firmly believe we have to continue to take on this challenge at our Local level, and I believe I can

help us continue to focus on that goal.

Finance

The State of Wisconsin has obviously been in a great deal of political turmoil over the last several weeks. What I

know is that as the State budget proposal currently stands, funding of the Wrightstown Community Schools will

be significantly reduced for 2011/2012. I don't pretend to be an economist or to have a crystal ball to look into

the future, but it seems pretty apparent that we will be funding schools at a lower level for quite a while to come,

and I suspect that 2012/2013 budget will be an even bigger challenge than 2011/2012.

I believe that as a community and as a school district we have to continue to focus on Student Achievement as

our first priority. In this environment it would be very easy to focus on what we don't have or play "aint it awful".

I think we need to take on a attitude of "no excuses" for moving backward in performance during this time of

change.

I am very encouraged that we can and will continue to improve, even with fewer financial resources. A few

weeks ago I had the opportunity to participate in a Olympian Conference "In-Service" day which was held at

Wrightstown this year. On a day when many teachers from other school districts were calling in sick and

spending the day in Madison, I was delighted to see Wrightstown teachers leading seminars with their

colleagues from around the conference. Frankly it was very impressive to see our teachers sharing techniques

and practices with other teachers, and it made me very proud to be a part of Wrightstown.

The most important resource we have in the Wrightstown School District is that the people involved are

passionate about teaching the next generation: we have exceptional educators, committed custodians, cooks

and support staff, a very strong administrative team, and most importantly, a community that is committed to a

“quality education for every student” (the District Mission).

How do we balance Doing more with Less?

(Principles for continuing to improve Student Achievement with less money)

1. We cannot assume that the way we have previously evaluated the school, our programs, our budgets is

sufficient. This will inevitably mean the Board has to put more pressure on the administration and the schooldistrict to be more creative, with no drop-off in achievement.

2. Employee costs comprise 75-80% of the school, so management of employee cost will remain the most

important "control knob" for the Board to manage. The arithmetic of Employee Cost is very straightforward:

(Cost/Employee) x (Number of Employees) = Employee Cost. Both elements need to be carefully managed

.

3. The Board need to resist hiring new employees at every turn, we need to ask: "can we do the same or better

with the people we already have?". We need to give our staff the opportunities to grow and stretch and

demonstrate just how good they are!

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Dan Clarahan for Wrightstown School Board - Summary V1