Superintendent Search

Hello Madison community I'm honored to be a finalist serving as superintendent of the Madison
Metropolitan School District. My name is Mohammad Chaudhary. My career dedicated to public education has been driven by a commitment to uphold the promises made to students and families. From my beginnings as a teacher to my role as a state superintendent. My mission has been to create, implement and sustain transformational initiatives that profoundly impact student success. My personal and professional journey is deeply interwoven with the values and objectives of MMSD. As a first generation American hailing from a Bangladeshi family, I navigated the challenges and rewards of high poverty schools in Los Angeles. My upbringing amongst a tapestry of diverse cultures, including black Latinx, and Korean American communities has not only shaped my worldview, but equipped me with the empathy, understanding and skills necessary to thrive in our multifaceted society. Having thoroughly reviewed the Madison strategic framework. I'm invigorated by our shared aspirations. It is a vision that resonates with my own, and one that I'm eager to advance.

Question from:
Parent:
Alexandra Jennelle

"I would love to see a “several years” Superintendent in this position. What attracts you to our school district and area, and what can the community do to keep you?"

Thank you for your question. What excites me most about the Madison Metropolitan School District is the opportunity to create a school system that stands as a beacon of excellence and innovation.
Madison is a unique place with its status as a State Capitol and the presence of a flagship university. It's a forward thinking and progressive community and I believe we can harness that spirit to shape the future of education. My goal is to establish a school system that not only sets exceptionally high standards, but consistently surpasses them. I envision every school in this district as a place where every student, irrespective of their background has an equal opportunity to excel, no zip code in Madison should dictate the life trajectory of our students, we will only be as strong as our most struggling students and we must continually drive to improve against that benchmark. This is the system I aspire to create. As a leader I view this role as a genuine calling and my commitment is dedicated to the success of every child, educator and staff in the district. Building, social and political capital will be crucial for our journey, especially in those moments when we need to make student centered decisions to disrupt ineffective practices. Ultimately, I will need to work to earn and sustain your support to cultivate the necessary social and emotional connections that allow us to make bold changes for students and staff. And quite frankly, I will need to reach a point where you not only support me in this work, but have my back. Collaboration with parents, educators, and community leaders and stakeholders is essential. Balancing work and personal life is something I haven't always excelled at, but it's a priority for me. As a husband and a new dad. I'm looking to put down long term roots in a diverse and integrated community. I want to be part of a community that looks out for our well being and establishes meaningful friendships. I aim to be a leader who is committed to building a system where I'd be proud to select any school in the district for my own daughter's pre K 12 educational experience. This balance will help me be the husband, dad and superintendent I aspire to be enabling me to lead effectively and contribute positively to both the district and the community, I
will need your help to fulfill this journey.

Question from:
Teacher:
Anonymous

"If selected, what would you do to uplift teachers' morale and support teaching and learning?"

Thank you for this very important question. To enhance education in Madison we must challenge the expectation that teachers can be everything to every student all the time. On the first day of school, no teacher should bear the burden of knowing that they can't serve every child adequately or fairly all on their own. Reflecting on my own teaching experience in Los Angeles, where I manage the diverse needs of students, many with IEPs, I recognize that playing multiple roles from educator to social worker, while rewarding is not a sustainable model. Madison's ample resources offer a special chance to create a well connected learning environment. Achieving this vision for educators and students involves linking every Madison School to a robust support system with the district and the broader community. This network is essential for reducing teacher burnout and enhancing educational quality. This transformation begins with reimagining the learning and support system. Instead of expecting teachers to be generalists with many responsibilities, I envisioned them as specialized professionals. This shift aims to reduce their workload and improve educational outcomes and boosts morale, creating innovative career paths that allow teachers to specialize while remaining involved in classroom teaching is essential. This strategy empowers educators and fosters a collaborative environment countering the often experienced professional isolation. We must proactively work to design this collective environment and counteract isolation. A collaborative network involving educators, specialists and community partners is central to this vision. A key element of this vision is the establishment of a central office dedicated to the success of each school, educator and principal. A central office that proactively works hand in hand with school leaders and teachers where every school and its needs are known. Building this supportive ecosystem around our teachers and principals, and leveraging Madison's community assets is crucial.

Question from:
Student:
Rowan Trest

"As superintendent, how will you incorporate students' voices, opinions, and concerns in decision-making processes?"

Thank you for the question. Incorporating students voices is at the core of my mission for Madison.
This includes establishing a robust student advisory council structure with diverse representation
from all levels. I'll actively engage with these councils, listening to their perspectives and ensuring
their voices guide our decisions. This ongoing feedback loop will showcase how their input shapes our decisions. To gain firsthand insights into their challenge and experience I will bring my love of
shadowing students to Madison. I will regularly shadow students as part of my monthly schedule,
immersing myself in their daily lives. No school year will end without me shadowing students at every school and at every grade level. Furthermore, we will make use of digital platforms and open forums throughout the year to provide convenient channels for students to express their thoughts. These platforms will serve as additional avenues for students to share their perspectives and concerns openly. While recognizing potential differences in perspectives will arise between adults and students, I'm committed to fostering productive spaces where the tension of our ideas leads to the best possible decisions and solutions for the challenges we face. Together we'll create a more responsive and student centered school system.

Question from:
School Administrator:
Jackie Gibson

"MMSD has a focus on early literacy and beyond. If selected as our next superintendent, how would you support a continued focus on literacy? How would you support curriculum adoption?"

Thank you for that question. In my vision for district literacy improvement, I stress a holistic approach that extends beyond effective reading instruction. It's important to recognize that literacy involves nurturing content, knowledge and subjects like math, science and social studies, which is vital for students comprehensive development. To achieve this we'll rely on research based practices and culturally responsive curricula that seamlessly integrates various subjects into the broader literacy framework. This approach aims to cultivate not just proficient readers, but also learners who can competently engage with complex subjects. Effective implementation is key to our success. Therefore, I will prioritize a pilot and scale approach allowing us to thoroughly test curriculum options before implementing them district wide. This approach ensures that teachers have the opportunity to master the delivery of instruction rooted in the chosen curriculum. A fundamental aspect of my vision is providing teachers with the necessary support coaching an adequate time to become proficient in using high quality instructional materials. Empowering our educators with the right resources and professional development is central to our success. Literacy in Madison should encompass more than just reading proficiently. It emphasizes the development of content knowledge in our students. This comprehensive approach driven by research and data, prepares students to read and explore, understand and apply knowledge across diverse subjects. This vision is grounded in a commitment to evidence based culturally responsive curriculum, Content Knowledge Building and empowering our teachers with the best instructional resources and professional development. Through these concerted efforts we will continue to enhance literacy in Madison.

Question from:
Teacher, Resident and Community Organization:
Erich Eifler

"How do you plan on engaging partner organizations in the community to broaden learning opportunities for high school Juniors and Seniors?"

Thank you for that question. Engaging community partners to expand learning opportunities for high school juniors and seniors is vital for future ready school systems. My vision centers on establishing strong partnerships with local businesses, nonprofits and higher education institutions to enrich students educational experiences. I envision creating seamless pathways for students blurring the lines between the last two years of high school and the first two years of college and industry. This approach modernizes secondary and post secondary education forging stronger connections to the world of work and careers. My vision encompasses a comprehensive range of opportunities including paid apprenticeships, dual credit and early college programs accessible to all students not only a select few. These pathways will be facilitated by community based intermediaries who play a crucial role in supporting the school system to ensure student success. This empowers students to explore high demand careers and college pathways, while gaining valuable practical experience. Additionally, I see community partners as an integral part of the school day actively participating in high quality tutoring and collaborating with our teachers and school leaders to enrich learning experiences for our students. This community partnership approach aims to create mutually beneficial relationships, broaden opportunities, and prepare high school juniors and seniors for academic success and future careers. We're ensuring Madison's education system aligns with workforce needs, emphasizing the importance of strong connections between students and partners for our city's future.

Thank you for the opportunity to share a little bit more about myself and the vision that I have for the Madison Metropolitan School District. I truly look forward to the in person experiences that I will have on February sixth and seventh getting to meet and engage with stakeholders across the system and in the broader Madison community. It is an opportunity that I do not take lightly and I look forward to it both getting to know about your dreams and aspirations as well as mine, for your community and to hope to see what we can build for our students and staff for the Madison Metropolitan School District. Thank you.

Greetings Madison Metropolitan School District. My name is Joe Gotthard the current superintendent of St. Paul Public Schools. And it is so great to spend some time with you. To some of you I'm a familiar face. To many of you, this might be the first time that we're meeting. But I just want to say that I am a born and raised product of Madison, Wisconsin. I grew up on the east side, and attended LVM elementary, Senate middle school and La Follette high school, before having an 18 year career in Madison before I left for the state of Minnesota in 2013. And I'm excited to have this conversation with you about the opportunity to come back and lead the Madison Metropolitan School District.

Question from:
Parent:
Alexandra Jennelle

"I would love to see a “several years” Superintendent in this position. What attracts you to our school district and area, and what can the community do to keep you?"

Well, thank you for the question. Miss Janelle. I think first and foremost, I'm born and raised in
Madison, and spent my entire schooling experience in the Madison Metropolitan School District and
then worked for 18 years in various positions, was also apparent for a time in my career as well. So I have a well rounded view of this district, all of its challenges, but more importantly, all the opportunities. So it excites me to come back. I've been gone for a little over 10 years, and never lost on me was the incredible opportunities I had, in Madison, the tremendous community partners, working with various school communities, and being involved in Madison in many different ways. I think the strength of the superintendent and community relationship is just that, it's based on how we work together. Through times that might be challenging, but through good times as well celebration, the pride I have in Madison has never left me I may have left the state. But certainly my heart and my experiences and my love for my home school district and home city has never left. I talk often about my experiences, my own schooling, and my own professional experiences. And this for me, this stage of my career is all about making meaning and making meaning leading Madison Metropolitan School District is of the utmost importance to me.

Question from:
Teacher:
Anonymous

"If selected, what would you do to uplift teachers' morale and support teaching and learning?"

Thank you for the question. And you know, I'm a former medicine teacher and an principal. So I understand and in many ways, some of the challenges, I certainly will not claim to know all of them. But I know that presence is important. I know that being visible. Being a listener is incredibly important. I know that teachers want to know and understand what the process is going to be and how decisions are made, and what kind of engagement and empowerment they can have, teachers can have with the decision making process. So this is all about a relationship and understanding each other, and being clear about how we're going to work together and collaborate. And again, I often fall back on my experiences as both an educational assistant at Lincoln Elementary, and as a teacher at La Follette high school and principal and Toki and La Follette to really understand what it takes and how it takes a school community to be at our best and working together. At the district level I also think it's important to find venues to engage with teachers. And one of the things that I do currently, is I have staff meetings at schools that are optional attendance at the beginning or end of the day. And I simply asked teachers what's on your mind. And I have been able to take feedback and input from those meetings and make immediate changes back with my team at the senior executive leadership level that shows staff that not only am I listening, but I'm committed to making sure that I follow through on those things that I can.

Question from:
Student:
Rowan Trest

"As superintendent, how will you incorporate students' voices, opinions, and concerns in decision-making processes?"

Hey, Rowan, I'm so glad that you asked this question. In fact, I'll share with you that this morning, I started my day at one of our middle schools. The school a couple of years ago, was getting a lot of feedback that they were having a lot of challenges, people felt unsafe, or people felt like students weren't always doing their best. So I decided to do something about that and form a boys group at this particular school. So every other week, I meet with a group of students. I'm in the second year of that and it's something I look forward to and it's something I always walk away from with new ideas, new perspectives, and always centered on what I heard from our students. Some of the other things I'll share with you is before I left Madison, I remember working very closely with student board reps. I do believe that MMSD continues to have that model in some way, shape or form. Some of the other things that we've tried after going through a series of really high profile incidents, again, I decided this was last year now that I needed to spend some time with students with high school students, and really unpack and understand deeply what they were experiencing. So these days turned into nine full days where we had students bused in to a community center in our community. And I was able to spend the entire day with nine different groups of high school students. And from that process that we called how are the children, I learned that safety wasn't really the issue that young people students wanted to talk about. It was the school experience in general, the connections that they had with teachers and staff and each other, and how many times managing the dynamics of difference, whether it's race, culture, or language really got in the way of students being able to feel like they could show up as their best self or their whole self. And I, you know, from that, how are the children, I took two students this past fall to San Diego, California, and we presented on the series, and it was really a joy for me to watch our students received by a national audience, and something I'm really
proud of. So that's one way that we can communicate with students. Lastly, I'll say that I think I need to ask our students, what ideas do you have for engagement, I don't have all the ideas or the best ideas, I think the best ideas come from understanding one another, and making sure that we can work together in a way that all of us feel respected, heard, and valued.

Question from:
School Administrator:
Jackie Gibson

"MMSD has a focus on early literacy and beyond. If selected as our next superintendent, how would you support a continued focus on literacy? How would you support curriculum adoption?"

Thank you so much for the question. Ms Gibson. You know, we are also engaged in a K through two literacy strategy, an initiative called WIN. WIN stands for what I need now. And thankfully, unfortunately, I guess we were able to invest ARP money to purchase the curriculum to provide professional development, but most importantly, hire 84 reading teachers, teachers who are trained to go in and provide tier one support side by side during our literacy block. And it has been one of the more effective strategies that I've ever been a part of. And from that, we also created a district literacy leadership team. And I've never been part of that, of course, I've been part of focus groups and things like that. But these are subject matter experts that get to gather with me, and provide me great insights in terms of how these strategies are going, what's needed. How can we promote reading to our greater community. And it's led to a wonderful movement and campaign, if you will, in our community about the importance of reading and not just reading, but the science of reading and what we know about the recent shift and many school districts to make sure that we're meeting our students where they're at, and providing them the necessary support. In terms of curriculum adoption, I think it's vitally important that we have an understanding and a clear cycle that we can review curriculum. There may always be national or state standards or, you know, different initiatives that that may force us to go off of that cycle. But nonetheless, it's up to us to monitor that, and work together in a way that everybody understands what might be coming next. Lastly, I'll say that in terms of decision making, no decisions on curriculum are made in my current district without a decision document. And what that means is that information recommendations and engagement and teacher feedback and voice is provided to the senior executive leadership team, before any decision is made. If I don't have feedback, or survey data, or qualitative data from teachers, I will reject any decision document and send it back and say, Have you asked our teachers what they prefer? Or how this will impact their work?

Question from:
Teacher, Resident and Community Organization:
Erich Eifler

"How do you plan on engaging partner organizations in the community to broaden learning opportunities for high school Juniors and Seniors?"

Erich, thank you for this great question Erich. You know, first and foremost, while we certainly must
focus on juniors and seniors, I really think our entire pre K through 12 system should be built on how can we partner with organizations and ready our young people for opportunities that are going to come their way or they're going to be exposed to. When at the junior and senior level in particular, I think it's important to make sure that we're providing our students with the relevant opportunities to bring in career experiences into the classroom to the greatest extent possible. I'm so excited to see the renovations that have taken place in Madison. Of course, these are buildings I know very well, whether it's on their fields or courts in their classrooms, and look forward to seeing what new opportunities there might be in it. It only excites me more to know that we can go to our community and perhaps create some of these 21st century learning opportunities. Two that I'll talk about really quickly. The first is we've partnered with 3M to create advanced Career Pathways center that's located on our two year college campus similar to Madison, college and Madison. And in this space, students are able to spend half of their day there from all of our high schools. They're bused there and we have college partners and career industry experts come into those spaces and it's proven to be a wonderful model with equity at the mind that it's available for all students. Secondly, next year, we're going to become the first school district and Minnesota and one of only about 50 high schools in the country that are implementing a program through junior achievement called 3DE. 3DE is a case based methodology, where students will be exposed to real cases that are happening in industries across the spectrum and across the nation, to make sure that that's embedded in their learning experience each day. And none of these partnerships are available without our community participating. Currently, I'm working on many boards and nonprofits. I spend time with executives from Best Buy, Cargill, Ecolab, Target and some of the largest fortune five hundreds in the country, I've learned a great deal about the power of partnership. And the last thing I'll say about them is it's great to open the doors to partnership, but we have to be disciplined to make sure that we're coming together, that we're looking at the objectives that we set out to create and we're holding each other accountable because our students deserve nothing but the very best of all the partnerships that we spend our time engaging in. Well, Madison, thank you so much for listening and hearing a little bit about me. I look forward to coming on February sixth and seventh, back home to MMSD to share more with you and learn more about what you're looking for in your next superintendent. Thank you very much.