Dan Nerad gets it!
Madison's new superintendent is serious about listening to students

Natalia Thompson:

Last month, I wrote about the potential for the Madison school district's new superintendent, Dr. Daniel Nerad, to make Madison schools more receptive to students' voices ("Daniel Nerad, Stop Shutting Out Student Input," 7/24/08).

When the piece was published in Isthmus, I was traveling in central Mexico. The day after it appeared, I sat down in front of a computer at an Internet cafe in Mexico City, half expecting a barrage of messages criticizing my naiveté and idealism.

After all, how many people would take seriously a high school student who suggests not only "holding a series of listening sessions [for students] at several of the district's middle and high schools," but also "advancing students [on school advisory boards and task forces] from the confines of tokenism to a position of shared power"?

When I opened an email from my mom relating that Dr. Nerad had called our home shortly after my column was printed, I almost thought she was joking. He wants to meet with you, she wrote, to hear more about your ideas on student engagement.

She wasn't kidding -- and neither is Nerad, whom I met with recently at the Doyle Building, the school district's administrative headquarters. As he told me, "When I read your article, this first thing I wanted to know was, 'What's her phone number?"

It appears that Madison Superintendent Dan Nerad has taken a much different approach to community engagement than previous administrations. As always, the proof is in the pudding (or was it "Trust but Verify"); we'll see how these interactions play out in terms of rigorous curriculum, discipline policy, budget transparency, program effectiveness, expanded educational options and ultimately, growing enrollment after decades of stagnant numbers.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at August 20, 2008 8:28 AM
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