Sun Prairie schools’ new leader wants to turn the page after scandal
“Although we had some negative stories, that did not tell the story that was going on in everybody’s school throughout the school year,” Reed said in an interview. “And that is the kind of space I wanted to be at.”
Brad Saron, the superintendent since 2015, left the districtat the end of last school year. As the district’s new leader, Reed said school officials can’t be “naive” that bad things may be happening, and he is confident the district has enacted adequate changes.
Reed said he wants to home in on the future of the district and concentrate on other challenges, including inadequate state funding, losing students to nearby charter and private schools, and gaps in student achievement.
“I have shied away from continuously speaking on something that’s happened prior to July 1st (his start date) to give my staff an understanding and feel for what it looks like to work on a new environment and a new team,” he said. “I think I have pushed where we’re going — not where we’ve been — as a district norm.”
Reed’s path into education started as a football and track coach at the high school he attended in Chicago. A mentor at the school encouraged him to go into teaching, and he worked his way up the ranks to become assistant principal of the school.
Reed went on to lead other schools across the Midwest, including West Milwaukee Central High School. He most recently worked as an assistant superintendent of Rockford Public Schools in Illinois.
Reed was named one of three finalists for the Sun Prairie superintendent job earlier this year. The school district said it held more than 60 focus groups with over 130 participants and reviewed survey responses from more than 1,300 individuals in its superintendent search.
