Jay, who has lived in the Waukesha area for nearly 20 years, is an active volunteer who serves on numerous local boards and committees. He’s married to Colleen with three kids having gone through the Waukesha schools. He is the VP of a local distribution company and currently serves on several area Boards.
“Pssssst….Did ya hear? …Waukesha School Superintendent David Schmidt didn’t get the Appleton job!”
Well, in case you were out of the Country or hermetically sealed in a box, it’s true: David Schmidt will remain in Waukesha – for now. But there will come a time when he retires, or departs for another job, or changes careers. And it’s not wrong to start thinking about that time now.
First: It would be helpful if the next Superintendent candidates cannot read. This would indirectly help the next person by limiting their exposure to criticism only via phone, email with pictures, radio, and word-of-mouth. The lack of volumes of other breaking, exciting, and earth-shattering news leads the press in Waukesha to seize any District shortcoming or mistake as the Superintendent’s fault. Oh, that’s right, we pay taxes, therefore we are their bosses and can, unlike most workplaces, say whatever we want.
Second: The next candidates would be of greater value to us if they are “Internet illiterate”. Ideally they would then, if coming from another area, not be “Googling” Waukesha to educate themselves in advance about the trials and tribulations of our School District. We wouldn’t want them scared-off! And the next candidate’s computer inadequacies would also help avoid future District email controversies…
Third: A biggie! Accept the fact that there is a very real probability that we don’t want the next person seeking the Waukesha Superintendent’s job. Seriously, who amongst us applies for a job with advance knowledge that the prospective company is in serious trouble? Why would it be any different with public education? We could very possibly end up with a sadist whose idea of job satisfaction is cutting budgets and employment; fighting union battles; and hearing (remember – Internet illiterate) from others that they are liars for “telling it like it is”.
Fourth: Don’t allow for travel time for the next Superintendent when they could listen to the car radio and hear the savage, ratings-driven talk radio pundits. These self-serving radio prophets have not found a rock without a greedy, wasteful, ignorant school district hiding under it.
Lastly: I would not want to follow in David Schmidt’s footsteps. David brought a vision to our Community which manifested itself in unprecedented changes and true progress for the students and staff of this District during the last 9 years. His compassion and leadership skills have been recognized beyond the District to include, amongst others, serving as Chairman of the Waukesha United Way last year. Mr. Schmidt’s tenure will be judged in retrospect much more favorably then today’s media piranhas would have you believe.
Now does all this mean we should be cringing when the need for the next School Superintendent arises? Not necessarily…The School Board hit a “Home-run” last time when they hired a virtual unknown and unproven Assistant Superintendent from Appleton. The sheer size of our District will be an attraction for candidates moving up. And, there truly are very good “potential talents” within our District right now.
Now, will someone please pass this on to any future prospective Superintendent candidates?
But give them a hard, printed copy because this is an electronic Blog, and we truly need them to be “Internet illiterate” to survive if things continue “as is”…
