Spring elections present reconstituted school board in time for superintendent search

Shortly after Dr. Vicki Cartwright’s resignation as superintendent, the April 6 elections provided three unique seats for a completely modified Board of Education that will be tasked with finding her replacement. The newly elected positions include Oshkosh residents Kristopher Karns, Chris Wright, and Beth Wyman. 

With controversies in the district regarding COVID-19 responses, Karns knows many have been looking to make changes. 

“Over this pandemic, you see a lot more interest in local politics as it pertains to people on that level and I've always been told that that's where real significant change can happen,” he said. “Every couple of years you have the chance for a lot of turnover and a lot of focus on what the board wants to do and so being aware of what's going on in the community is always a good thing. Bringing on three new board members is almost unheard of and having two people not run again and one that lost is a substantial change.”

Karns expects an altered focus that should be easily identified early on. 

“You have four members that were still on previously, and it's not like the new board members come in with no control of anything,” he said. “I mean it's still seven members on a board, three new members coming in that are quite different from each other in some respects, so I think it's going to be interesting to see what our focuses are and what we want to do.”

Oshkosh Board of Education president Barbara Herzog welcomes new bodies with open arms.

“I think one of the things that I look forward to in terms of new board members is the energy, enthusiasm, and the new ideas that they may wish to bring to the board,” he said. “I think that it's healthy to have new ideas and different perspectives on things.”

With the completion of the election, Karns has been taken aback by the support.

“It felt really good to win,” he said. “It took a couple days to really sink in and it’s really an overwhelming feeling at times that I was chosen by my city to do something like this. So from that standpoint, it's pretty amazing.”

The new members for the board share one trait: a self-professed passion for the students, education, and the community.

“I think everything is completely tied together between our school district and community,” Karns said. “Seeing what's going on in the world, we want to focus on making sure that we're educating people and giving them the tools to be successful.”

Wright has the same mentality. 

“I have three kids,” he said. “I have a daughter that's in sixth grade, a daughter in fourth grade, and one in first grade. I ran for school board because I want to ensure that my kids and every other student in the OASD has a great education experience.”

Karns recognizes that there have been many advancements due to the empowerment of the board, but his goals are to continue listening and to keep the district moving forward.

“Looking at the infrastructure within the district is really good, but there are areas that we can take it further and so I would like to sit down and focus on positivity and moving us forward,” he said. “We need to be better at communication. We're in a worldwide pandemic so that has to be understood as well, but through the past year, communication coming from the district just has been less than transparent - maybe not as often as it needs to be.”

Similarly to Karns, Wright realizes that getting into contact with people in the district is a main priority. 

“Communication, collaboration, and transparency,” he said. “I want to ensure that we're bringing as many people as possible together in the district to reach common goals that are in line with the school district strategic plan. I'll talk to anyone about issues, and I like to bring people together to accomplish tasks. I'm someone that likes to ask a lot of questions to make sure that we're making the best decisions for the long term for the school district.”

Connection with residents remains an important piece in developing board decisions, but Wright also sees other goals he wants to accomplish.

“I want to make sure that no one is excluded from participating in trying to make the Oshkosh school district a better school district,” he said. “There are community members that want to form groups to help the school district as a whole by getting supplies for teachers, do curb appeal projects within the district to make our schools look better, or want to donate time. I want to make sure that we're encouraging those things so that the community can feel like it's a part of the school district.”

One of the first major challenges that the new members and board must face is the selection of the new superintendent.

“It's not always easy to bring all these groups for the search together,” Wright said. “But I think we have the people in place and the skill sets to make sure that we have a superintendent that works hard to meet with all the different stakeholders within the school district so that school districts are reaching their full potential.”

Oshkosh Board of Education president Barbara Herzog gives further insight on the hunt for the position. 

“Six of the seven current board members were involved in the selection process of Dr. Cartwright,” she said. “Two of those people have chosen not to run for reelection so we will have some people who have never been through the process before assisting us in this very important role that we have, and we do take it seriously. But we also wanted to make sure that our new board is one that helps to find the criteria and make the final decision.”

Karns emphasizes that he is looking for someone who can be out in the public to talk, listen, and understand.

“We need someone really able to communicate on lots of different levels, and make people feel confident in their leadership,” he said. “Someone able to have tough conversations when they have to be had, but willing to be a positive beacon for the district.”

Wright believes that the future holds bright promise, but those in the district need to be active and vigilant in a democracy.

“Every vote could potentially affect how good of an education you're getting or if you're in school or not in school,” he said. “Or if your teacher is getting the resources that they need to make sure that you're learning everything or if they're not. That's why everyone I think needs to pay attention to what the school boards are up to and how they're voting on different issues.”

Once the new superintendent is installed, Karns believes it will provide a great opportunity for an even fresher start for the district.

“It’s going to be a really important job to just sit down and have those conversations of what we're looking for, what we want to hire for,” he said. “But communication needs to come back and I think if we can, we can do a little bit better and get people understanding that we are all working towards the same things because there is a lot more that unites us than divides us, I think we'll see some positive changes right away.”

By Javit Thao

Oshkosh West Index Volume 117 Issue VII

April 30th, 2021

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