The Difference Between Winning & Achievement

While we are fortunate to live in a great community here in Milton, we cannot deny that we live in a competitive world. Our students will need to compete to secure the jobs they seek or enroll in post-secondary education that further develops and rounds out their lives. Competing is part of our lives. That competition is most often defined by winning and losing, i.e. get that job or get into college and you have “won”. Conversely, if you aren’t hired or accepted, you’ve “lost”.

In Milton, we focus on core values like Opportunity, Achievement and Community. Certainly there are similarities, but there is a distinct difference between achievement and winning. The dictionary defines winning as being successful or victorious. Achievement, on the other hand, is defined as a thing done successfully, typically by effort, courage, or skill. The difference in these definitions is significant. It is understandable that we celebrate winning, but our core value is rooted in achievement. In achievement, that core value takes on life and becomes dynamic.

I write this as someone who has been fortunate to “win” a seat on our School Board, serve as President of the School Board, and, most recently, “lost” an election. But more impactful than all of those success or failure measurements, is what we as a community have done to make our school district a place of significant achievement that we can and should celebrate for our students.

Please don’t misinterpret the tone of this post. We have a lot of areas where we can and must improve. But we also have so very much of which to be proud and we should celebrate these achievements successfully accomplished through great courage and skill.

Among these things are:

The highest enrollment ever in Milton’s proud history.

We generated significant, energized, community engagement in a Stakeholder Driven Strategic Planning Process resulting in a highly useful, living Strategic Plan that guides our initiatives.

Established the School District as a state-wide, regional, and nation-wide leader and education innovator by becoming an early implementer of a K-12, One-to-One, Technology Program. This catapulted our professional staff into leadership and resource roles among other school systems but more importantly, leveled the technology playing field for our students.

We lowered school district taxes three years in a row following a significant economic recession.

We began a community engagement process to address facility needs resulting in presenting two referendum questions.

We successfully passed an operational referendum to help maintain existing educational programming.

Our taxpayers enjoy the lowest school mill rate in the Badger Conference and throughout Rock County.

Following contentious and controversial state legislation, we designed and implemented a successful teacher compensation model designed to recruit and retain high quality staff. Milton’s model is being sought out by many other school districts.

We significantly improved relations and communications with the MEA and clearly have created a collaborative, positive working relationship based on trust, mutual respect, and professionalism.

We enhanced relationships with community partners through effective and innovative use of Fund 80, thereby enabling financial support for community programming designed to assist at-risk youth.

We launched a communications program that has drawn regional and national recognition for its impactful initiatives. Through well-planned, systematic, and creative use of our website and social media we reach thousands of people weekly. A significant advance in our competitive enrollment environment.

Our High School students consistently rank among the highest in the area in ACT scores.

Four of our seven schools Significantly Exceed Expectations as designated by our State Report Card.

These achievements were accomplished through courage and skill. We challenged the status quo with the belief that we can and should make things better for our kids and the community. I have been so fortunate to work with a dedicated group of fellow school board members, administrative and support staff and district stakeholders throughout my 9 years of service. We established and shared a vision, and, together, we achieved much for which this community can and should be proud.

For me, achievement that improves our community for our kids and for our shared future far outweighs winning any day, any time.

Even more personally, my school board service has enabled me to forge deep, meaningful, impactful, & dynamic relationships with true professionals, many of whom sit in this room tonight. I have learned from them. I have shared with them. I have grown with them. I have celebrated with them. I have cried with them They have forever changed my life positively as I watch them pour their very being into our kids.

I will end with a short quote from my favorite American author, Wallace Stegner. This is from his book, The Big Rock Candy Mountain.

“Perhaps that is what it meant, all of it. It was good to have been along and to have shared it. There were things he had learned that could not be taken from him.”

Kids Matter

Jon Cruzan

Outgoing President, School District of Milton Board of Education  

Our Kids Show Us How

Just last Thursday, I had the opportunity to spend some time at one of our schools to listen to first graders read in their annual interpretive reading contest.  I was amazed at how skilled these young students were as they stood in front of me, the other judges, and their peers to read their selections.  The inflection in their voices was indicative of how much they had been practicing, and how passionate they were about reading to their fellow students.

Their excitement and enthusiasm about school and the work they were doing was contagious.  Although the contest was very competitive, you wouldn’t have known.  These kids clapped and cheered loudly for each other, as only first graders can do, as each student finished their selection.  The few hours I spent with these kids caused me to learn and reflect a lot about our schools and our community.

Although I already knew, the point was driven home to me as to how skilled our professional staff is at engaging students and their parents in teaching our kids how to read.  Some of these students were as young as six or seven years old, yet they were reading at grade levels far above first grade.

I was also pleased to see how these students treated each other.  They sat quietly in the library and listened to each other read and, even though they were competing against each other, they spent most of their time cheering and clapping for each other.  It was as if they were celebrating learning to read and exercising that skill by courageously standing alone in front of their peers and judges to share their selections.  Rather than a competition, it was the pure joy and pride of demonstrating and sharing a learned life skill.  What a sense of community these kids have for each other.

I went to the school to listen and came away a learner. As we head to the ballot box on Tuesday, April 4, I am reminded of what these first graders taught me.  These children are our future, and we want them to learn to grow in schools that we courageously strive to make better.  And although we on the ballot are contestants, we are also all collectively members of a community, who, just like those first graders, want good things for each other.

These are our kids and this is our future.  These first graders will forever remember the experiences, like great interpretive reading contests, we are providing for them. Let’s work together and make those experiences even better for them, and the students coming after them.  We can learn a lot from them.  I know I sure did.

Please plan time in your day to vote on April 4^th.  Our kids deserve it.

OPPORTUNITY, ACHIEVEMENT, COMMUNITY – together we can make it happen.

Jon Cruzan

President, School District of Milton Board of Education 

Our Kids Deserve Better

Why The School Board Seeks To Improve Our Facilities

Since our November 8, 2016 referendum, I’ve had the opportunity to meet with many District stakeholders regarding the status of our facilities.  This is not a new conversation to me.  It’s one that I’ve been honored and humbled to participate in since I co-chaired the Citizens High School Design Team ten years ago.  Many significant needs were identified then but a challenged global economy caused us, understandably, to postpone addressing them.  Those needs have not magically gone away nor have they become any less expensive to fix.

While the Board of Education members and I are extremely grateful for all the tremendous support we receive for our schools, including the recent passage of a $2.5 million dollar operational referendum to maintain and expand existing programs, we remain at a point where “Our Kids Deserve Better”.

Speaking with students, staff members, parents, and many other District stakeholders, has given clarity to these issues. Here are some of my beliefs that are shared by many of us on our school board and many others throughout our community:

 Our Kids Deserve Better Classrooms; classrooms that have enough room to accommodate modern, flexible learning spaces.

Our High School Science Students Deserve Better Labs; labs where they are not hampered by extremely limited space and 50 year old lab fixtures & equipment. How many of us use a 50 year old phone or television?

Our High School Students Deserve Better Learning Space Options; options other than seeking space in hallways to complete group work because their classrooms are inadequately sized. This happens in nearly every type of class.  There are no free classroom or other spaces available.

Our High School and Middle School Students Deserve Better Than Closets; students attend some classes in what were storage rooms or closets.

Our Middle School Foreign Language & Band Students Deserve Better Than Sharing Space; causing them to use instructional time to assemble or disassemble furniture to use the only room available (band set-up & classroom set-up are very different configurations).

Our High School Students Deserve Better Corridors; student traffic when classes pass cause our kids to be herded through very narrow hallways that were designed for a student body half the size of our current 1,100.

East Elementary Students Deserve Better Than A Small Basement Room With Limited Accessibility; where learning to play an instrument means they have to kneel on a carpet as the room isn’t large enough for chairs.

Our High School Track Participants Deserve Better Than Always Having To Travel To Events;  track team members have no option but to use a track in such disrepair that they cannot host even one track meet this year.

Our Students & Staff Deserve Better Than To Be Denied; many are denied opportunities to learn, practice, play, or perform because of the status of our current school facilities.

Our School & Community Swim Participants Deserve Better than for us to have to consider eliminating a vibrant & robust school and community swimming program because the current 50 year old pool can no longer be repaired.

Our Students, Staff Members, and Visitors with Compromised Physical Abilities Deserve Better than to be challenged in using our bathrooms because they are not handicap accessible.

Our Students, Parents, & Families Deserve Better than to always have no option but to travel when students are competing at conference and regional events because our pool and gymnasium lack the required space.

Because Our Students Deserve Better, the Board of Education and I are continuing our conversations regarding a potential future facilities referendum.  Our goal is to continue to explore partnerships and solutions that would make our facilities better at a cost that would be as affordable as possible for all.  We believe Milton’s students, staff, and all District stakeholders throughout our community deserve that consideration.  We continue to seek ways that, together, we can right some of these issues because Milton Kids Deserve Better.

If you have thoughts on how we may be able to best accomplish that, my fellow Board members and I would love to hear from you. Our e-mail addresses and phone numbers are at: http://www.milton.k12.wi.us/

OPPORTUNITY, ACHIEVEMENT, COMMUNITY – together we can make it happen.

Jon Cruzan

President, School District of Milton Board of Education

Music In Our Schools

Last Wednesday, the first of March, I was privileged to attend a special event at the Capitol in Madison. Milton’s own, Justin Kamp, general music teacher for Harmony & Northside, took advantage of a special opportunity to have Milton kids showcased in a very moving, and meaningful event.

March is Music In Our Schools Month (MIOSM). As part of this state-wide celebration, choirs from schools around our state, submit their names for selection to perform at the Capitol. Justin became aware of this opportunity but he did more than become aware. He initiated and followed-through on the steps to have the Harmony third grade singers considered as performers. This meant extra work and preparation on his part. It meant hard work and rehearsal. It meant coordination and logistics. All in all a lot of extra time and effort. The result – our Harmony third graders were selected as the first choir to perform this year.

But, taking nothing away from Justin, this is not an exception for Milton teachers. I have found that our Red Hawk staff members consistently go above and beyond to create extraordinary Opportunities for our kids. Thank you, Justin. Your energy and enthusiasm is a joy to watch as you direct our kids. No wonder they performed so well. What a role model! Thank you for large numbers of parents and community members who drove to Madison to listen. Mike George, the representative from the Music Association made the comment that this was the first time a choir brought its entire audience with them. Milton families and parents are great.

For these kids, this trip was so much more than performing in the Capitol. They also enjoyed a guided tour of this beautiful building and, thanks to 43^rd Assemblyman – Milton’s Don Vruwink – were able to actually sit in the Assembly Chambers.

I was pleased to accept the invitation to attend and was excited to get the special concert shirt. I joined the kids for lunch in the lower level of the Capitol and then had the privilege of reading to them to help them quiet, focus, and prepare for their time on the risers. Principal Jon Lyon, (all six foot whatever of him) had their undivided attention as he reminded them of their preparation, their hard work, and that they were representing Harmony and their community the Red Hawk Way. He made me want to get on the risers and sing with them.

Then it was quiet, anticipatory, single file up the stairs to the rotunda, coming out in front of lots & lots of people. WOW, what an experience! There were our kids, all dressed in their red shirts, filling the risers with their bodies and then the Capitol with their song.

One of their selections was a song especially written for Music In Our Schools Month. What a message for all of us.

“If you sing and I sing, the world will sing along.

The music will move us, and help us get along.

I can sing for you. You can sing for me. We can write a perfect melody. Singing makes us strong. We feel like we belong. Together we can write a brand new song.

We will do our part. Music is the start. We can find the perfect harmony. Come and sing along, and sing out proud and strong. Together we can write a brand new song.

We can change the world, if we just write a brand new song.”

Here's a link - https://youtu.be/RWvQuKjC_VU

Once again our kids say it best. What a lesson for all of us.

OPPORTUNITY, ACHIEVEMENT, COMMUNITY – clearly robust & active!

Jon Cruzan

President, School District of Milton Board of Education

Our Kids Say It Best

Yesterday’s phenomenal February weather provided the opportunity for me to hit the bike trail for a 20 mile pedal. For me, biking is a time to release my mind and just muse and reflect. This serves as a reboot for me and allows me to gain perspective.

On this ride, my thoughts went to Milton students. A couple of weeks ago I met with several high school kids. I posed some open ended questions to them and just listened to their responses. These questions have no right or wrong answers. They simply elicit thoughts and responses – not unlike a writing prompt. I was struck by their responses to the extent that I feel compelled to share them with my readers.

To the question, “If you could take out a full-page ad in the New York Times, and you had only three words or three concepts to describe MHS to the world, what would be your three words?” I heard:

Technologically advanced.

High student involvement.

Our foundation.

Our fellowship.

Great experience.

Many opportunities.

Great education.

We attract students from other districts.

To the question, “What is the best part of being a student at Milton High School?” I heard:

Laptops.

Great opportunities.

A sense of community.

I feel safe here.

There are ways for me to better myself like clubs and activities.

Great teacher relationships.

Great teachers.

Teachers – they’re great. They take time to make sure I am learning.

To the question, “Who or what has influenced you the most in regard to your high school experience?” I heard:

My parents. I rather expected to hear this and was relieved that I did.

But I also heard, and this is the kicker -

My teachers & administrators – they are positive role models.

My teachers have made it a place I want to be.

Are you seeing a theme here? GREAT TEACHER RELATIONSHIPS, GREAT TEACHERS, TEACHERS – THEY’RE GREAT. THEY TAKE TIME TO MAKE SURE I AM LEARNING, MY TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS ARE POSITIVE ROLE MODELS, MY TEACHERS HAVE MADE MHS A PLACE I WANT TO BE.

WOW! I am so impressed and grateful for our outstanding staff members. I am proud and you should be also.

So, is it any wonder why the School District of Milton is growing? According to the State DPI third Friday count in January we are up 13 students since September and 53 students from a year ago. We have something that others want.

Opportunity, Achievement, Community – the kids say it best!

Jon Cruzan

President, School District of Milton – Board of Education

Doing Well & Continuing To Improve

The UW Remedial Report publishes statistics regarding the number of Wisconsin High School graduates requiring remedial math courses as freshmen in the State University System.  Some interpret the word remedial as negative or pejorative. A more broad view describes remedial as curative, therapeutic, healing, alterative, restorative, helpful, educative, and bettering. Remedial course work is best defined as a positive response to help ensure overall college success.

Milton’s staff & Board members are concerned about this recent State report.  As a learning institution, we seek to learn from our many successes, and areas where we need to improve. These test results have caused us to look introspectively at what we do in terms of preparing our students. While the numbers referenced in the UW Remedial report aren’t what we’d like them to be, we have already initiated steps to help all our students be “College & Career Ready” through a very deliberate effort to align our curriculum. Our dedicated staff continually work to strengthen instructional practices.  As an aside, our school district has twice in the past three years been recognized by State educational leaders for just those efforts.

A bit more perspective to this issue can be found in the wide variety of ways in which our school district is measured.  In 2014, MHS students led the area with the highest ACT composite scores in the region.  In 2015, the SDM had the highest Badger Forward Exam scores, and in 2016, the State’s DPI Accountability Report card found us to be exceeding expectations, with all four elementary schools receiving the highest rank of “Significantly Exceeding Expectations”.  Simply put, one assessment alone doesn’t define our school district, but instead, a wide variety of them, reviewed holistically, affords us the opportunity to learn more about our teaching and learning, and how we can best prepare our students for post high school endeavors – the very essence of college and career ready.

I have the utmost confidence in our dedicated staff to continue to use this data, as it does with all of our assessments and build upon the many things that we are doing well, while embracing improvement opportunities. The School District of Milton is about excellence and success.  We are on track with that vision.  Our programs and curriculum are rigorous.  Our culture is caring & nurturing.  Our staff members are dedicated, ultimate professionals. We are constantly moving toward improvement.

Opportunity, Achievement, and Community - alive & well & working.

Jon Cruzan

President, School District of Milton – Board of Education

Our Students & Our Future

Welcome to the first post of Kids Matter, a new venture in blogging for me and, thus, an opportunity to share my thoughts and perceptions on the School District of Milton from my lens as President of the School Board.   

Over the past several weeks I have created and taken advantage of opportunities to speak directly with Milton students.  As a School Board member, I believe this is the primary group I have been elected to serve.  Sure, most of them don‘t vote, and most of them don’t pay taxes yet.  However, students are the individuals most significantly impacted by the decisions we make every other Monday night at our School Board meetings.  Our students represent our future.

During this stretch of time I’ve had the privilege to engage students on all ends of our educational spectrum.  Whether speaking with MHS kids who chose to attend and/or speak at our Board listening session in December, or reading to our youngest of students in Mrs. Well’s Pre-K class at Milton West, I am compelled to consider not only their future and the future of our community but also how both are very much related.

As I listened to their comments and answered their questions I became very reflective.  Our family has been blessed to live in this community for fifty years.  We’ve seen a lot of change and a lot of progress across those years. Some of that change was welcomed and some met with understandable resistance.  However, those in leadership positions had the courage to try to make things better for us, and for our community.  It is for those reasons that I, and fellow community leaders, choose to serve others in positions of leadership. I like to call it paying the civic rent I owe to Milton. We are trying to make things a little bit better for this generation and the next, just as others did before us.

While visiting our schools and listening to our students I am reminded of this calling and this duty. Our facilities discussion is one that has now gone on for more than a decade.  Our students and our community will forever be impacted by the decisions we make or don’t make and the actions we take or don’t take.  While the debates are often understandably intense and clouded with the intensity of adult conversations discussing concepts like need and want, affordability and taxes, and phrases like “good enough”, I believe we must never lose sight of what these discussions are truly about – a collective effort to try to make things better in our schools for our students and our community.

The coming months will provide opportunities for you to engage me personally and our entire Board of Education as we continue this important discussion.  It is my sincere hope that, as a community, we can come together to re-focus on that shared vision, and do what is best for our students and our future.

Opportunity, Achievement, Community  - created by our drive for excellence.

-Jon Cruzan

President, School District of Milton - Board of Education