05/22/12

Madison Metropolitan School District Superintendent Dan Nerad met with the editorial board this week and outlined his revised plan for closing the achievement gap in our schools. It's clear the numerous community listening sessions influenced revisions to the plan and in fact reinforced Nerad's strong desire to have new community partnerships as part of the plan's foundation.

But the Building Our Future proposal is going need a champion, and Nerad's lame duck status as superintendent is an issue. He'll promote the plan to the extent he can and he will be the person who will integrate it into the budget discussion. But as far as we can tell, it will then be up the school board -- with two new members -- to move it to reality.

There are a lot of good elements in the plan. And the board seemed to smoothly decide its leadership roles this week. We're eager to see some willingness to be the "face" of this ambitious plan and hence the "face" of the future of Madison's schools.